The Return of the Titans

by James Thompson

  “Good. Now, pick the old man up. Gently! And let's get out of here. The cops will be arriving shortly, I'm sure.”

  Justin watched as they picked up Wilson and then the sand was falling apart and the floor of the dome was smooth once more.

  “Sir. Mr. Fitzgerald. They've got Wilson! He's alive!” Justin was both elated and terrified. Wilson was alive! But they had him as a prisoner. What must he be going through? He wasn't a young man. How much could he take?

  But Justin knew that Wilson was a pretty tough guy. He had heard stories about his war years, his time as a beat cop when he was young. He could hold out. Unless...Justin felt cold suddenly. Unless they had killed him. No! Not possible. He refused to even consider that. He finally looked at Mr. Fitzgerald.

  The man might have been reading his thoughts, because he nodded as he caught Justin's eye. “I wondered whether they had really killed him,” the man said. “It seemed to me that they would not destroy such a potentially useful prize as Wilson. It appears I was right.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Fitzgerald. If you hadn't done this, I would have always believed that he died defending me. But now, it's such a relief.”

  “For me as well.” Mr. Fitzgerald smiled. He reached into a pocket, took out a black stone and handed it to Justin. He recognized it as a teleport rune. “This is the only way for you to get back, I'm afraid.” Then he reached into another pocket and took out a small flask. He opened it and poured a stream of water onto the sand. “Quickly, lad, step on the wet spot.”

  Justin wanted to keep talking about Wilson but he could see the sand quickly absorbing the water and so he stepped firmly on to the patch of dampness.

  He experienced the sensation of sinking into deep water again but it only lasted a few seconds. Then with a splash, he was standing next to the fountain in the courtyard. The ground was soaked all around him but he was perfectly dry. The stone had disappeared.

  Justin stood there for a moment, waiting for Mr. Fitzgerald. When he didn't arrive immediately, he decided to sit down on the edge of the fountain. He realized just how exhausted he was. In fact, he was shaking with fatigue. He glanced up at the clock on the fountain. Wow, he thought. We've been down there almost two hours.

  He waited a few more minutes and then decided to head back to his room. Mr. Fitzgerald hadn't said anything about waiting for him and now Justin's stomach was loudly complaining that it was empty. Between his hunger and exhaustion, he wasn't even sure he would get back to his quarters before he collapsed. But he stood up and started to slowly walk back across the courtyard.

  Justin finally made it to the corridor leading to the boys quarters. As he started to slowly walk down it, he heard someone hurry up from behind him and put an arm around his shoulders. The support came just in time as Justin felt his knees buckle. The arm held him up until he got control of himself and then he looked to see who was holding on to him.

  Aaron was staring back at him. His hair was almost hiding his whole face as usual but Justin could see that his friend was looking very pale.

  “Hey bud,” Justin whispered. “Always there when I need you.” He grinned weakly at Aaron who just looked determined.

  “Save your thanks until I get you home, Just,” he said as he slowly walked Justin down the hall. But Justin saw a quick smile come and go on Aaron's face and that made him feel a lot better.

  They managed to stagger into their quarters and Aaron got Justin on to his favorite couch. “You sure you don't want to lie down, Just? You look like death warmed over.”

  Justin sat back and closed his eyes. “No thanks, Aaron. I'm beat but I'm also starving. Please tell me I didn't miss lunch.”

  Aaron sat down across from his friend. “Nope. Mrs. Mallon should be along any time now.” He leaned forward as Justin opened his eyes. “And try not too look so beat when she comes in or she's going to fuss over you.”

  Justin took a deep breath. “Ugh, good point. I think she's terrific, but I feel a bit smothered when she starts that.” He leaned forward to untie his shoes and almost fell on to the table. “Whoops,” he muttered. “Bit dizzy.”

  Aaron hurried around the table and pushed him back. “Just sit there, you idiot. I'll do it.” And he quickly got Justin's shoes off and put them in the bedroom.

  Justin sat back and tried not to move. His feet were throbbing so much he thought he could almost hear them pounding. And his stomach was now past growling and had started a constant grinding sound. Aaron came back in and sat down again. He stared at Justin with a worried expression.

  “Don't worry, Aaron. I'm just sore and tired. And thanks for the help with the shoes.”

  “No problem, bud. So where did you go that got you so tired so quickly?”

  Justin closed his eyes again. “The past,” he said quietly.

  “The past? What do you mean?”

  Before he could answer, Justin heard the door chime ring. He opened his eyes and sat up carefully. Aaron had been watching him and nodded when he saw Justin sitting up.

  “Come in,” Aaron called.

  The door opened and Mrs. Mallon was standing there holding a tray. She walked in and smiled widely at Justin.

  “You're back!” she said and set the tray down on the table. Mr. Bellisle followed her in and put down a pitcher and two glasses. “Hey Justin, how ya doing?” he asked cheerfully.

  Justin smiled at the two adults. “I'm good, thanks. A bit tired but otherwise I'm fine.”

  Mrs. Mallon sat down abruptly beside Justin and he suddenly found himself in the middle of an enormous hug. After a second he gently hugged her back. He was surprised to feel tears stinging his eyes and as she released him, he turned away for a moment and cleared his throat. When she stood up, Justin swallowed the lump in his throat and turned to look at her with a grin. She dabbed her eyes and then shook her finger at him.

  “I want to see that tray completely emptied when I get back. You're too skinny. I don't think they even fed you in medical.” Then she walked out, muttering to herself.

  Mr. Bellisle chuckled. “She was worried about you, Justin. We all were, come to think of it. Glad to see you feeling better.” As he reached the door, he turned back and looked at them both. “Make sure you do finish everything on that tray, or she'll have a fit.” He grinned and left the room.

  “Wow, that was unexpected,” Justin said as he watched the door close behind Mr. Bellisle.

  Aaron reached out and took the cover off the tray. “Hey, burgers! And fries with gravy! Yeah, like we'd leave anything on this tray.” He passed a plate to Justin and set his own in front of him. As he ate, Aaron looked over at Justin. “So, what was that about visiting the past?”

  Justin told him about his morning and the things he had seen. Aaron's eyes got bigger as the story unfolded. When Justin was finished, they had cleaned off the tray and both sat back contentedly.

  “The whole thing sounds amazing, Just. Especially the part about your friend. So, you think they'll try a rescue or what?”

  “Well sure. They'll have to, won't they?” But as he said it, Justin felt some doubts flit into his mind. Would they try to rescue Wilson? And even if they would, could they? The forces they were up against were powerful, both the government and the rebels. Aaron broke into his thoughts.

  “Maybe you should ask Mr. Fitzgerald? He'd tell you.”

  “Would he, Aaron? Why? I'm just one kid out of how many? Thirty-five or so? Even if he planned a rescue, I don't think he'd mention it, if only for security's sake.”

  “I think you might be wrong, Justin,” Aaron said thoughtfully.

  Justin looked at Aaron in surprise. “What?” he asked.

  “Well, think about it. You're the one he took with him this morning. No one else. And you're the only one who was marked by Cronus. I think that's important.”

  Justin snorted. “Well, if it is, no one's told me about it.”

  Aaron just rolled his eyes. “Just, you're my best friend here. But sometimes you're a bit thick. No,
hear me out. If it wasn't for you, we might have lost that battle eight days ago. It was you who somehow got through to the Sentinels. No one else. Not even Mr. Fitzgerald could get them to move and he's the leader here. I think that means something. Something important.” Then Aaron smirked a bit. “And Benson has started bad-mouthing you at every opportunity.”

  Justin sat up so quickly that he almost toppled over again. “He's what?”

  Aaron laughed. “You heard me. That's almost proof that you're important. That pompous ass wouldn't waste his time putting down somebody that he didn't see as a threat to his popularity.”

  “Aaron, what the hell are you talking about? How am I a threat to that idiot's popularity?”

  “Well, you've become a bit of a hero to the others. Even some of the girls can't seem to stop talking about you.” Aaron looked slyly at Justin who felt his face getting red.

  “I'm no hero! I was just desperate and angry. All I did was slap the minotaur. I had no idea that it would actually wake him up or whatever it did.”

  Aaron shrugged. “Doesn't matter,” he said. “It's the results that count, and we're alive and they're not. So, tada, instant hero.”

  Justin sat back. “What a load of crap,” he muttered. Aaron just laughed.

  Later that day, Aaron came into the room with an armful of scrolls. Justin had asked him to go to the library to find anything he could on the last days of Atlantis. He didn't really feel up to walking any more and he wanted to know more about what had really happened at the end. Aaron said he was happy to do it.

  “Well, here you go, bud,” Aaron said as he dumped the dozen or so scrolls on to the sofa beside Justin.

  “Any trouble finding them?” Justin asked as he started to make a neat pile of the scrolls.

  “Nope. There was a Guardian in there. I think she must be acting as the librarian. Anyway, I asked her and she showed me exactly which ones to choose. It was easy.” He dropped some papers that had been tucked under his arm. “Oh and guess what? They have copies of some of the major newspapers in there now. The Guardian said we'll be getting new ones in once a week.” He held up a newspaper to show Justin. “New York Times! And the major papers from Britain, Canada and some others. Finally, we can find out what's going on in the world.”

  He sat down happily and started reading. Justin chuckled and went back to the scrolls. Each one had a label on the outside, written in Titanian. He could almost read them but his brain felt too tired to decipher the runes at the moment, so he pulled out his knowledge rune and held it as he read the labels.

  Ominously, they were listed in a sort of countdown. The oldest one was labeled: Thirty-six months until the Fall. The next one said: thirty-three months until the Fall. They all seemed to count backward at three month intervals until the last one. It was labeled simply: The Fall.

  Justin was tempted to begin with the Fall, but he wanted to do this properly and so he began reading the oldest scroll first.

  The writing on the scroll was miniscule and a lot of information was crammed on to it. It told a deceptively peaceful story. It spoke of the day to day lives of the citizens of Atlantis. There were records of elections of local officials, trade lists of supplies bought and sold, even descriptions of high holidays. It was all quite serene and rather dull. But occasionally a detail would be mentioned that caught Justin's attention. Something that didn't fit in with the bland and tedious records in the rest of the scroll.

  The first small hint of trouble that Justin read was just a couple of lines mentioning an assault on a human trader by several Titans. The offenders had been arrested and detained. And that was all there was about it. But it was the first time that any violence had been reported on in the scroll. The next scroll mentioned the mysterious death of a city guard. No cause of death was listed. Further on in the scroll came the tale of a brawl that had broken out in a tavern. The city patrol had to be sent in to break up the violence. The story said that the fight had been started by members of the house of Hyperion. There had been no deaths and no arrests.

  On and on it went. Each scroll contained more reports of violence, more assaults, more unrest. By the time Justin had reached the second last scroll, there were more tales of violence than there were lists of events, prices of trade goods or other more mundane items.

  As Justin was reading through the scrolls, Aaron had been scanning through the newspapers. Justin glanced at him occasionally and began to notice Aaron's expression becoming more somber and grim. It almost seemed to reflect what Justin had been reading in the scrolls.

  As he was opening the final scroll, Justin was interrupted by a loud exclamation from his friend.

  “I don't believe it!” Aaron said.

  “Don't believe what, Aaron?” Justin asked, a bit surprised by the tone of his friend's voice.

  Aaron stared at him then back at the newspaper he was reading. “I think, well I don't know for sure, but I think the rebel Titans have begun attacking regular humans.”

  Justin sat up with a jerk. “What?”

  Aaron nodded. “Yeah, I think they are attacking. And I think they are using those creatures that we were told about. You know, the ones that were, I dunno, stored somewhere since Atlantis fell?”

  “What makes you think so? What's the paper say?”

  “There are several articles of events around the world.” He pointed to a spot in the middle of the newspaper. “For instance, a bus in southern India was destroyed, the people killed and the bus ripped apart. According to witnesses, a flock of giant birds attacked them.”

  “Giant birds? You're kidding.”

  “Nope. The police are more than skeptical but the people who saw it swear it a bunch of giant birds. The kicker is that the birds had the heads of women.”

  Justin felt his mouth drop open and Aaron nodded. “My reaction exactly, Just. And doesn't that remind you of something?”

  Justin thought about It sure seemed familiar. Wait a second. He looked at Aaron. “Harpies!” he said.

  “Exactly. And there's another one. This time in Newfoundland. A fisherman was snatched off of his boat and disappeared. His ship-mates swear that he didn't fall overboard. They say he was pulled in by a man, with a fish's tail.”

  “Merman? I don't remember reading about those.”

  “I do. They were the children of the sea god, or something.” Aaron waved the paper. “And there are a half dozen other stories. All of them are incredible and the reporters are treating them like the people involved are lunatics. But I don't think so.”

  “I don't understand why they would even be attacking, Aaron. I mean, what's the point in random attacks anyway?”

  Aaron shrugged. “Fear? Create confusion, maybe? I dunno. Remember they told us that Hyperion hated humans. Maybe that's reason enough for his descendants to attack.”

  “Maybe. That seemed to be what happened in these scrolls too. Random acts of violence broke out, more happened over time and then...civil war.” Justin looked at Aaron intently. “Seems to be the way they operate, doesn't it?”

  “Yeah, maybe.” Aaron went back to scanning the paper and Justin opened the last scroll.

  It was grim reading. Justin didn't say anything as he read but apparently his face betrayed his feelings because Aaron eventually spoke up.

  “Justin, are you okay? You've gone totally white. Maybe you should lie down or something?”

  “No, Aaron. I'm all right.” He looked at his friend. “But I didn't realize how bad it got in Atlantis at the end.” Justin held up the scroll. “According to this, Hyperion and Cronus met one last time, just before the end. Hyperion arranged the meeting, saying he wanted to end the conflict, bring peace to Atlantis. And Cronus agreed to the meeting.” He shook his head in disbelief. “They murdered him, Aaron.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah. Hyperion couldn't take on his brother alone. It took dozens of Titans to kill Cronus and it says that he took out at least ten of them before he fell.”

  Aa
ron was watching Justin with his mouth wide open. “But, why would Cronus trust him in the first place? Didn't he know that his brother was working against him?”

  “I think...I think that he was too pure, Aaron.”

  “Pure? I don't understand.”

  Justin tried to grope his way to an explanation. “From what I've read, if Cronus had any fault or weakness, it was that he was too trusting. Too ready to believe the best in people. I think he honestly never considered the possibility that his brother would betray him.”

  Aaron just shook his head in disbelief. “Justin, that's nuts. What kind of ruler is that trusting?”

  Justin smiled sadly. “A good one. Too bad the world doesn't seem to understand that.” He sighed and sat back. He was very tired now and he had a lot to think about. Aaron seemed to sense this and quietly went back to reading his paper.

  Suddenly, Justin sat up and looked at the clock. He still had an hour before dinner. He stood up carefully and waited until he felt steady on his feet before turning toward the door.

  “Where are you going?” Aaron asked. “You don't look strong enough to go for a stroll.”

  “I'm not going for a walk,” Justin answered with a smile. “I want to talk to Mr. Fitzgerald.” He walked to the door and waited until it opened.

  “You want to talk to him now?” Aaron got up and followed him. “What's the rush? Is it about the scrolls?”

  Justin began to walk up the corridor and Aaron joined him. “No, not about the scrolls. I've decided to ask him about Wilson.”

  Aaron looked confused. “But I thought you didn't think he'd tell you.”

  They turned at the four-way junction and headed toward the Court. “Maybe he won't,” Justin shrugged. “But I have to ask. Wilson was a good friend. I know that if something had happened to me, he would want to help.” He glanced at Aaron. “You don't have to come along.”

  “I'm just coming to make sure you don't faint or something. I'll wait outside his office while you talk.”