A second fortnight of travel had passed when the warriors scouting the way ahead brought news that they had found the portal. That lifted everyone’s weary spirits. A passage into an ancient cavern led to an excavated rotunda where a column of shadow signified the magical lift up to the surface.
After one night’s camp, the caravan forged into the cavern in a single file of wheeled sledges and small teams of men to pull them through. To an unacquainted eye, the portal was no more than a dark shaft descending from a sightless distance. But Dam remembered traveling through the portals. He remembered the strange energy that had tangled up his stomach and the shocking, wintry chill like the clutch of death.
Aerander would go first with a team of boys to scout their landing. The remainder of the company would help the old men through. Dam found his cousin through the dense queue of people. It was time to say good-bye. He and Aerander regarded each other silently for a moment, and then they came together in a bear’s embrace. Aerander sniffed back tears and patted him on the back. “Remember this place. I’ll send a wreath of vine to let you know we’re settled.”
Dam nodded. The warriors were already etching the walls of the rotunda with their sacred symbols.
“You’ll come visit, won’t you?” Aerander said.
“Of course. I told Calaeno I would.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
Dam handed him back his amulet. “It’s not magical anymore. But you’ll need it to show your kingship.”
Aerander smiled.
“We’re always brothers,” Dam said. “And more than that. Twin Masters. The Master of Light and the Master of Sound.”
Aerander held Dam fast to his chest again, and he brushed a kiss against his cheek. He pulled the necklace over his head, and then he looked to Lys. Happily, Aerander had made any amends that he had needed to make after neglecting Lys. The two boys led the scouting party into the dark shaft of the portal.
Dam blinked once, and the group was gone, swallowed by magic crafted from an ancient time.
*
On the trip back to the city, the escort party was untethered from the train of carts and barges to ferry the old men and the provisions. Their pace was doubled. They could rappel straight down gullies to lower shelves.
At the crests of mountains, the warriors unpacked winged contraptions from their freight. Harnessed at their shoulders, those wings of tarpaulin on scaffolds of light metal allowed them to glide great distances. It was a type of travel that required skill and practice, so Dam rode strapped beneath Hanhau. During their flight, the warriors summoned light into their bodies. They were a flock of man-sized fireflies coasting over continent and sea.
Parts of that journey were thrilling to Dam, but the freedom of their travel felt sorrowful to him as well. He was starting a new life with Hanhau, but now that Aerander was gone, a lobe of his heart seemed to have been cut away, as Calaeno had said when she had been separated from her sisters.
Thoughts about the future drifted into Dam’s head and distracted him from that sagging feeling. Dam knew he did not possess the gift of the oracle. As his thoughts took form, what he saw in his mind’s eye was more like waking dreams, though they felt clear and true.
After centuries, the old men would breathe the fresh air of their country and feel the strength of the sun against their skin. Their deaths, though certain, would be peaceful. At night, they would look up at the sky and see the multitude of their ancestors sparkling in the heavens and welcoming them to the afterworld.
For the boys, the return would be joyous. Dam imagined Aerander leading the charge of getting straight to work with lumber and limestone to build a new city. It wouldn’t be grand, but in time it would be a home of which they could be proud. There would be marriages to the women. There would be cries of babies in time. That sound would lift their spirits high. They would forge a new country to continue the legacy of their fathers.
Calaeno would have the company of people after a millennium of exile. Maybe she would find a place among them as a priestess or a queen as was her right. Maybe she would prefer to live a simple life among her countrymen, and she would rediscover love with one of the men when her heart was ready. Perhaps, as she had said, she would still feel apart from the earthly world and decide to return to the heavens where she had gotten used to looking over everyone. In any case, she would know she was no longer alone.
Happiness welled up in Dam in such abundance that he felt that he might burst with tears. He thought about the life that lay ahead of him. He knew he had to retrieve Zazamoukh’s body and put his soul to rest. That’s what Calaeno would have wanted, and he owed her that. Strangely, it didn’t feel dreadful to do it. As Hephad had said about Calyiches and his band of criminals, they could let the gods make a reckoning of the priest. Dam’s time to judge him was done.
In the city, he would make a home with Hanhau. When the birthing season came, Hanhau would become a nikwah to the children as he always wanted. They had already talked about it, and Dam told him he would be happy to leave Hanhau to that vocation.
As for Dam, he knew where he would be most useful. His adventure in the backcountry had been astonishing, but the place where he felt he belonged was the infirmary. Dam would apprentice with the wise healer Sacnite to learn to set broken bones and to perform surgeries to save men’s lives. Just as he had in the above-world, Dam would learn the cures that could be derived from the plants and minerals that the underworld provided. The magic of the Oomphalos kept people healthy and strong, but someone needed to mind the ancient knowledge of medicine in case the stone was ever lost again.
Dam’s own magic was fading. His senses couldn’t penetrate the darkness beyond a few yards to uncover the secret world of sound and vibration. Capturing those sounds was like trying to grasp fistfuls of sand in his hands.
He wasn’t sad to lose that magic. Dam had claimed it because he needed it, and now it would be returned to the mori-mori well where it belonged. Perhaps someday, someone else would discover it when he needed it just as badly as Dam had.
It would make a good story for Hanhau to tell the children, a boy from the surface who became the Master of Sound. Hanhau would tell it with all its daring turns to make the children’s eyes go wide and have them laughing in disbelief.
That story would always make Dam proud. He had done a very brave and honorable thing. Though if someone was to ask him to tell his story, he would say it was about a boy from the surface who discovered that he belonged below the ground.
About the Author
Andrew J. Peters is the author of the Werecat series and two books for young adults: The Seventh Pleiade and Banished Sons of Poseidon. He grew up in Buffalo, New York, studied psychology at Cornell University, and has spent most of his career as a social worker and an advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Andrew lives in New York City with his partner Genaro and their cat Chloë. For more about him and his books, visit: andrewjpeterswrites.com.
Soliloquy Titles From Bold Strokes Books
Banished Sons Of Poseidon by Andrew J. Peters. Escaped to an underworld of magical wonders and warring, aboriginal peoples, an outlaw priest named Dam must undertake a desperate mission to bring the survivors of Atlantis home. (978-1-62639-441-4)
Breaking Up Point by Brian McNamara. Brendan and Mark may have managed to keep their relationship a secret, but what will happen when they find themselves miles apart as Brendan embarks on his college journey? (978-1-62639-430-8)
The Orion Mask by Greg Herren. After his father’s death, Heath comes to Louisiana to meet his mother’s family and learn the truth about her death—but some secrets can prove deadly. (978-1-62639-355-4)
The First Twenty by Jennifer Lavoie. Peyton is out for revenge after her father is murdered by Scavengers, but after meeting Nixie, she’s torn between helping the girl she loves and the community that raised her. (978-1-62639-414-8)
Taking the Stand by Juliann Rich. There�
�s a time for justice, then there’s a time for taking the stand. And Jonathan Cooper knows exactly what time it is. (978-1-62639-408-7)
Dark Rites by Jeremy Jordan King. When friends start experimenting with dark magic to gain power, Margarite must embrace her natural gifts to save them. (978-1-62639-245-8)
Driving Lessons by Annameekee Hesik. Dive into Abbey Brooks’s sophomore year as she attempts to figure out the amazing, but sometimes complicated, life of a you-know-who girl at Gila High School. (978-1-62639-228-1)
Asher’s Shot by Elizabeth Wheeler. Asher Price’s candid photographs capture the truth, but when his success requires exposing an enemy, Asher discovers his only shot at happiness involves revealing secrets of his own. (978-1-62639-229-8)
The Melody of Light by M.L. Rice. After surviving abuse and loss, will Riley Gordon be able to navigate her first year of college and accept true love and family? (78-1-62639-219-9)
Maxine Wore Black by Nora Olsen. Jayla will do anything for Maxine, the girl of her dreams, but after becoming ensnared in Maxine’s dark secrets, she’ll have to choose between love and her own life. (978-1-62639-208-3)
Bottled Up Secret by Brian McNamara. When Brendan Madden befriends his gorgeous, athletic classmate, Mark, it doesn’t take long for Brendan to fall head over heels for him—but will Mark reciprocate the feelings? (978-1-62639-209-0)
Searching for Grace by Juliann Rich. First it’s a rumor. Then it’s a fact. And then it’s on. (978-1-62639-196-3)
Dark Tide by Greg Herren. A summer working as a lifeguard at a hotel on the Gulf Coast seems like a dream job…until Ricky Hackworth realizes the town is shielding some very dark—and deadly—secrets. (978-1-62639-197-0)
Everything Changes by Samantha Hale. Raven Walker’s world is turned upside down the moment Morgan O’Shea walks into her life. (978-1-62639-303-5)
Fifty Yards and Holding by David Matthew-Barnes. The discovery of a secret relationship between Riley Brewer, the star of the high school baseball team, and Victor Alvarez, the leader of a violent street gang, escalates into a preventable tragedy. (978-1-62639-081-2)
Caught in the Crossfire by Juliann Rich. Two boys at Bible camp; one forbidden love. (978-1-62639-070-6)
Tristant and Elijah by Jennifer Lavoie. After Elijah finds a scandalous letter belonging to Tristant’s great-uncle, the boys set out to discover the secret Uncle Glenn kept hidden his entire life and end up discovering who they are in the process. (978-1-62639-075-1)
Frenemy of the People by Nora Olsen. Clarissa and Lexie have despised each other for as long as they can remember, but when they both find themselves helping an unlikely contender for homecoming queen, they are catapulted into an unexpected romance. (978-1-62639-063-8)
The Balance by Neal Wooten. Love and survival come together in the distant future as Piri and Niko face off against the worst factions of mankind’s evolution. (978-1-62639-055-3)
The Unwanted by Jeffrey Ricker. Jamie Thomas is plunged into danger when he discovers his mother is an Amazon who needs his help to save the tribe from a vengeful god. (978-1-62639-048-5)
Because of Her by KE Payne. When Tabby Morton is forced to move to London, she’s convinced her life will never be the same again. But the beautiful and intriguing Eden Palmer is about to show her that this time, change is most definitely for the better. (978-1-62639-049-2)
Asher’s Fault by Elizabeth Wheeler. Fourteen-year-old Asher Price sees the world in black and white, much like the photos he takes, but when his little brother drowns at the same moment Asher experiences his first same-sex kiss, he can no longer hide behind the lens of his camera and eventually discovers he isn’t the only one with a secret. (978-1-60282-982-4)
The Seventh Pleiade by Andrew J. Peters. When Atlantis is besieged by violent storms, tremors, and a barbarian army, it will be up to a young gay prince to find a way for the kingdom’s survival. (978-1-60282-960-2)
Meeting Chance by Jennifer Lavoie. When man’s best friend turns on Aaron Cassidy, the teen keeps his distance until fate puts Chance in his hands. (978-1-60282-952-7)
Lake Thirteen by Greg Herren. A visit to an old cemetery seems like fun to a group of five teenagers, who soon learn that sometimes it’s best to leave old ghosts alone. (978-1-60282-894-0)
The Road to Her by KE Payne. Sparks fly when actress Holly Croft, star of UK soap Portobello Road, meets her new on-screen love interest, the enigmatic and sexy Elise Manford. (978-1-60282-887-2)
Swans and Clons by Nora Olsen. In a future world where there are no males, sixteen-year-old Rubric and her girlfriend Salmon Jo must fight to survive when everything they believed in turns out to be a lie. (978-1-60282-874-2)
Kings of Ruin by Sam Cameron. High school student Danny Kelly and loner Kevin Clark must team up to defeat a top-secret alien intelligence that likes to wreak havoc with fiery car, truck, and train accidents. (978-1-60282-864-3)
Wonderland by David-Matthew Barnes. After her mother’s sudden death, Destiny Moore is sent to live with her two gay uncles on Avalon Cove, a mysterious island on which she uncovers a secret place called Wonderland, where love and magic prove to be real. (978-1-60282-788-2)
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