“Too bad we have no bed here.”
“Actually, we do,” he said, looking up. “Maybe we can’t see it right now, but it’s up there, beyond the Void and the oceans, beyond the clouds and the sky. And every evening when the sun slips beneath the waters, the heavens give rise to a bed of stars. They shine so bright in their multitude. I wish you could see them. They’re deafening in their silence. But sometimes, if you watch closely, you can see them flying overhead. When they do, people make wishes on them.”
“And what do they wish for?”
“Anything. Everything. Love. Riches. Peace.”
“And do they ever come true?”
“All the time, I expect.”
She nudged him. “Have they ever come true for you?”
Columbus shrugged. “Not yet. But I have hope.”
Elara smiled. Even in the half-light, it was radiant. “Close your eyes, mariner, and make a wish.”
With a smile, Columbus did. That’s when Elara leaned over and kissed him. He looked at her in surprise.
“Was your wish answered?” she asked. He nodded. “Good. Then let’s see to mine.”
She kissed him again and pulled him back into the sand.
“What is it?” Nyx asked. “What’s happening?”
“Another party is heading out,” Fanucio answered. The first mate was standing on his tip toes looking through the cell’s small window out to sea. “I count six, and the king is with ‘em.”
Nyx vaulted from her seat. “Do you see Elara?”
“No. But Vespucci is there.”
Nyx cursed. She knew Vespucci had read the book, which meant he understood the trident’s potential as a weapon. Columbus’s fascination with gold was one thing, but if a man like Vespucci gained the trident and returned with it to their world, he might upend the balance of power in Europe and beyond.
“This is bad, Fanucio. Really bad. We have to get out of here,” Nyx said, kicking the invisible barrier that kept them locked inside the brig. Once again, it shot a wave of energy though her boot that shocked her foot. “Earthquakes, shrinking voids. This city’s coming apart, and this damn invisible wall won’t give an inch! Do something!”
“Me? What can I do?”
“Anything! You’re Columbus’s first mate. What would he do in a situation like this?”
Fanucio thought about it. “Seduce the warden’s daughter? I don’t know! Start a riot. Or a fire.”
Nyx looked down at his wooden foot.
“Don’t even think about it,” Fanucio warned.
“We have to do something.” She looked at the Pygmies, asleep on their beds. “These two are useless. Why does the captain even keep them around?”
Fanucio slipped his hand inside one of their coats and pulled out a hidden flask, offering a toothless smile only a bat would love.
“Figures,” Nyx said. “This is what he leaves me with.”
“What are you doing here?” Fanucio asked.
Nyx was confused. Then she realized, he wasn’t talking to her. She whirled to see Dion standing outside the barrier door, his face wan and brow furrowed.
“Come to gloat like some damn ghost?” Fanucio continued. “Or do you plan to murder us now—”
“Shut up,” Nyx said before stepping closer to the barrier. Something about the giant was different. “Something’s happened, hasn’t it? What is it?”
Dion said nothing, but his eyes darted between the four prisoners.
Nyx pressed on. “We saw the king leave, which means the third key was found. Was it you?”
Dion’s eyes narrowed.
“No, Elara won it. She solved the final challenge!” Her smile quickly faded. “So, why didn’t we see her come back? Did something happen to her?”
Dion looked down. The man was wracked with pain. Even Nyx, so unversed in love, could see how deeply the man felt for his princess, but the depth of his suffering hinted at something worse.
“Is she dead?”
The giant held Nyx’s gaze. It was answer enough. Fanucio muttered softly before tossing the flask aside.
Nyx put a hand to her belly to fight the sickness blooming.
“How?” she whispered.
Dion turned to go.
“Wait!” Nyx said. When the giant looked back, Nyx stepped as close to the barrier as she could. “I’m sorry. I know what she meant to you.” Dion snorted, about to turn again. “I mean, I don’t know exactly. But I understand your loss. I feel it too. For my mother. Even Columbus. I’m not sure why. The man was never nice to me. Some people, you have an idea who they are, of how they’ll see you, but it never quite works out the way you think it will. People invariably let you down. Why do we stay loyal when all they do is hurt us? I’ll tell you why. Because when we look at them—when we really look at them—the parts we see missing are the ones we fill ourselves. The best we can hope for is to be there when we’re needed.”
To Nyx’s surprise, Dion appeared moved. Fanucio was too. He muttered, “Well said.”
Nyx realized something else. “You didn’t go with her. Who did?”
Dion’s eyes narrowed again. He pointed at them before raising a hand with five fingers.
“Vespucci?” Nyx said. “Impossible. The man is a coward. There’s no way he could have retrieved the key unless…”
Dion stepped forward, sensing something.
“Unless what, lass?” Fanucio asked.
To their surprise, the Pygmies had also been roused.
“I have to tell you all something. I didn’t want to say it for fear everyone would think I was going crazy. Hell, I thought I was going crazy, but…I’ve been hearing voices.”
“Voices?” Fanucio said.
“One voice. It’s spoken to me since we first arrived here. In my dreams too. For what purpose, I can’t say, but when Columbus stepped into the Void, the voice disappeared. And then it returned, fainter, as if it was a long way away. Fanucio, I know this is going to sound nuts, but I think Columbus is alive.”
“Alive?” Fanucio stood. “But they said he passed through that wall. And no one’s ever come back.”
“True. But no one’s ever recovered the keys before either. And they’re supposed to open the Temple of Poseidon. Elara said the temple rests outside the Void, correct?”
Dion nodded.
“But we saw the king headed there himself. So, there must be a way through. And if you can pass to one side?”
“The cap’n can come back from the other,” Fanucio finished. “So, where’s he now?”
Nyx looked back to Dion. “If I had my guess, with the princess. That’s why you’re here isn’t it? You think she might still be alive too, but you can’t go after her. The king ordered you to remain behind. Why?”
Another quake rattled the city. Dion held a fist to his chest. Nyx understood what it meant. Orders.
“And you always follow orders,” she said. “So, if you can’t go in search of her, maybe someone less scrupulous can.”
The Pygmies sat up. All eyes turned to Dion.
“Well, big fella?” Fanucio asked. “What’s it gonna be?”
Dion took a heavy breath. And then the barrier came down.
The Void loomed just beyond the tip of the northern isle. King Atlas knew it had been shrinking fast, but even he was surprised to see how far it had come. The nearer they drew, the more it pulsed, as if it might collapse at any time, taking them with it in a sea of storm. To his surprise, the eldocks remained calm.
King Atlas turned to Vespucci. In the Nave, he’d seemed so sure of himself. Out here, however, he looked paralyzed with fear.
“Well?” King Atlas said into his mask. “I won’t waste my breath threatening you. I’ll merely allow you to go first.”
Vespucci held out a shaky hand. “The keys, sire?”
King Atlas shook his head. “Pass and return. Do that, and I’ll accompany you to the temple. Don’t and…”
Vespucci understood. Looking back at the Voi
d, the man almost lost his will. Then without another word, he spurred his eldock forward and entered the Void.
“Now, we see,” King Atlas said.
The seconds stretched. The king felt the others growing tense. Nearly a minute had passed when a shadow appeared, and Vespucci returned.
“Shall we?” he said.
King Atlas nodded, and the entire party entered the Void.
“Oh, my god!” Nyx shrieked. “What are you doing?”
Columbus saw Nyx avert her gaze, but by then it was too late. She’d already seen him and Elara, naked as babies, rolling in the grass.
Columbus and Elara fumbled for their clothes. What irony, Columbus thought. One minute they were the last two people on earth and now they were surrounded by his entire crew.
“Nyx, it’s not how it looked,” Elara said, as she dressed quickly.
“It looked like you two were having relations.”
“Then, it’s exactly how it looked,” Columbus grinned. “Albeit at a very high level.” Elara glowered at him. “What? Could any less be expected from the Hero of the Ages?”
“Hey!” Fanucio said, pointing.
“I know!” Columbus responded.
Suddenly, Nyx rushed into his arms. The move surprised him. What surprised him more was how good it felt. When she looked up at last, she had tears in her eyes.
“You have to believe me,” she said. “I never meant—”
“I know, Brommet,” He knelt to her. “You were only doing what your heart told you. And that is never a bad thing. But promise me something. When we make it out of here, we must work on your aptitude for prevarication. Honesty might be the best policy to some, but for adventurers like us, it’s a terrible burden.”
Nyx hugged him even tighter.
“Vespucci?” Columbus asked.
“Headed to the temple with the king,” Fanucio replied.
“Then we must hurry. If he claims the trident from his resting place, it will awaken Poseidon’s guards. If that happens, the Void will be the least of our worries.”
“Follow me,” Elara said as she hopped atop the nearest eldock. “The path is north. Let us pray we reach the temple in time.”
After Fanucio distributed the breathing masks, everyone mounted their eldocks and submerged. Once under water, Elara cut a course for the temple at breakneck speed, only pausing when they approached the Void. Columbus knew she had been afraid of it all her life. And even though he’d successfully passed through it, the thought of doing the same must have terrified her.
“If you’re scared, Princess,” Columbus said. “You can always wait here.”
With a huff, Elara charged her eldock into the barrier and beyond. The others followed. Monday and Tuesday drew up at the last.
“Are we really going in there?” Monday asked.
“Of course,” Tuesday answered. “We need a cliffhanger for the final chapter of our biography. I’ll call it, ‘Into the Great Beyond.’”
“Wasn’t that chapter six’s title too?”
“Indeed!”
The laughed as they prompted their eldock forward and passed into the inky night.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Passing through the barrier the second time was no less terrifying than the first. Only when Columbus crossed the bridge, he felt drawn by something on the other side. This time, he was alone. Of course, he understood it was the eldocks who safeguarded the transition. And yet the spotted eldock had gone silent. He took it as a bad omen. If something had silenced that ancient voice, what could it do to his?
The passage was the same. Disorientation, nausea, followed by a kind of vertigo that felt as if one had been turned inside out. Then all at once, they were through. Elara activated the light on her staff, followed by the others. The water was much darker and colder on this side.
“He’s not here,” Nyx said.
“Who?” Elara asked.
“The owner of the voice I told you about.”
“You heard it too?” Columbus asked.
“Since we arrived. I thought it was a dream.”
“It’s not a dream. The voice belongs to the spotted eldock, the oldest of its kind. It aided me when I crossed the first time. Has anyone else heard him?”
“I often hear voices,” Fanucio said, “though it’s usually when the rum’s run low. And then, the advice is almost always shit.”
Columbus kept his eyes on Nyx. “He’ll be back. For now, we’re on our own.”
They moved forward at a brisk pace. After a few hundred yards forms appeared out of the dark, a mixture of Greek and Atlantean architecture. While inside the Void, these works of art remained pristine. Down here though, time and the depths had eaten away at them, leaving scattered ruins that looked truly haunting.
“Which way?” Columbus asked.
Elara pointed toward a set of stone caryatids, sculpted in the forms of female bodies. They formed a path that led deeper into the dark. Some were toppled. A few towered into the fathoms above.
As they continued, the ocean floor gave rise to more ancient buildings, covered with sand and age. Stoas. A great stone amphitheater. Various temples, through which their path cut.
“This road had a name once,” Elara said. “I’m embarrassed to say I’ve forgotten it. I certainly never thought I’d see it with my own eyes. The colonnade above us once supported an entablature made from gold and precious stones. Presumably it was vast enough for Poseidon’s chariot to pass through.”
“I’ve seen the ruins of his temple in the Aegean,” Columbus said. “The Cape of Columns it’s called, though it holds no candle to the spectacle before us.”
Their eldocks pushed forward, passing through the debris until a colossal building materialized. It was Greek in nature with columns ten feet in diameter, vaulting a thousand feet into the sky.
“Do you feel it?” Elara whispered breathlessly. “This is the home of a God.”
Mighty steps led from the ocean floor to a set of towering golden gates. Those gates were slightly parted. Something shimmered in the lock.
“The first key,” Fanucio said as he pulled it out and handed it to Columbus. “They come this way, all right.”
Columbus pocketed the key before pushing through the gates. That’s when he saw two unfathomably large doors at the temple’s entrance. These were not opened, nor did he see any key. “They must’ve found some other way inside.”
“There,” Elara said, nodding to the right. She led them to the base of the temple where a cleft in the wall led inside. Once through, the group rose until they saw the silhouettes of six eldocks waiting above.
They broke the surface of water to find themselves in a marble room lit by two braziers. Six masks laid strewn, and wet footprints led to an archway at the end of the room and a set of stairs beyond.
“Looks like they went this way,” Columbus said as he set his mask down. He headed for the stairs, surprised to find them pristine.
“I don’t get it,” Fanucio said. “This place’s as tidy as a priest’s frock. And we’re moving without the sea horses protecting us.”
“Poseidon’s house,” Columbus said. “Poseidon’s rules.”
Fanucio swallowed as they continued to rise.
Eventually, the stairwell led to an immense room filled with a glowing light. The party before them had lit several braziers, revealing a host of towering statues of the Greek Gods. Far above, the ceiling glimmered with dazzling frescos of the Gods at play and at war.
Nyx turned her sonstave light on each of the statues as they passed. Elara named them one by one.
“Hera. Chiron. Demeter. Hestia. Hades. Zeus. Poseidon’s brothers and sisters.”
“And this one?” Nyx asked, illuminating a statue of a scantily clad woman bearing a crown, water at her feet.
“Amphitrite,” Elara said. “Poseidon’s wife. It is said the other Gods reduced her title to consort to punish Poseidon.”
“She doesn’t look reduced to me,” C
olumbus said of her ample bosom. Elara pushed him forward.
The group continued up another set of steps into a second, massive room. Once again, they were awed by what they found. On one side was a chariot made of wood and gold. It was adorned with seashells, glimmering gems, and engraved with Greek lettering that looked like waves.
“Poseidon’s chariot,” Nyx said. “And look there!”
On the opposite side of the room was a long, narrow wooden ship with three masts and a bevy of sails. Columbus gaped, having never seen anything like it.
“What is it?” Columbus asked. “A galley?”
“A trireme,” Fanucio answered. “I believe the Athenians used ‘em during the Peloponnesian War.”
“It’s huge.”
“If that impresses you,” Nyx said. “Wait until you see this.”
At the far end of the room, a final statue stood alone. Poseidon. He sat atop a seat of waves, holding his trident in one hand and the world in the other.
“That is more gold than I have seen in my lifetime,” Columbus said. “Enough to make kings of us all.”
He bent over and sunk a tooth into one of Poseidon’s golden toes. Elara struck him, glaring. He shrugged as she passed. Columbus glanced back at the Pygmies, both of whom had removed knives. He motioned for them to wait until they were gone.
“We have a problem,” Nyx said. “The rooms end here.”
“But we followed my father’s tracks,” Elara said. “They must have come this way.”
Everyone shone their lights around, but there were no other doors.
“Maybe they went to Elysium,” Fanucio said.
“They didn’t go up,” Columbus said. “They went down.”
At the back of Poseidon’s statue, the second gem-encrusted key twinkled from a hidden keyhole. Columbus turned it. A rumble shook the floor as a secret staircase appeared. One by one, the group descended. Columbus took up the rear, pocketing the key before the darkness swallowed him.
“What trickery is this?” The king’s voice echoed in the cavernous room. They had managed to enter the Temple of Poseidon and pass through its halls. They’d even found the secret keyhole and staircase that allowed them to reach the underground sepulcher. Now, they stood two dozen feet away from a room that glowed, presumably from the trident. It was within their sight, but not their reach. After all their work, they were stymied, stuck behind a twenty-pace pool of spring water that looked as placid as ice until one of the king’s men tried to cross it. Only then did the water rise in an instant like a giant wave, propelling the man against the far cavern wall and smashing him against rocks until he ceased to move.
Christopher Columbus and the Lost City of Atlantis Page 31