by Geonn Cannon
Dorothy closed her eyes. “I didn’t see enough to get... to know even where to begin.”
“Then find the most likely answer. Who built this? The Greeks? The Romans?”
Dorothy sighed. “No. They wouldn’t have had the technology to descend this deep. It would have to have been carved before the Flood. The Athenians or the Carians.” She felt buoyant and lifted her feet off the ground. She was floating now. “Most likely the Carians. If it was built before the Flood...”
“Or?” Trafalgar said.
“The Athenians or Carians,” she muttered. “Carians were here first... but the Athenians stole their land. Tore their ancestors from sacred burial grounds and moved them to other locations around the Cyclades.” Her heart was pounding as she swam toward the wall. She rested her hand against the stone and tried to organize her thoughts. “That would mean this isn’t nearly as old as I thought it was. Still unbelievably ancient, but... not Biblical.”
“Dorothy?” Trafalgar shouted, and Dorothy realized she had been muttering.
“I’m here! I’m just thinking.” She chewed her bottom lip. “The Carian cemeteries were desecrated for the Athenian religions. If that happened to you, what would your response be when your people continued to die?”
Trafalgar said, “I would put them somewhere I was certain they wouldn’t be disturbed.”
“Underwater,” Dorothy said. “In a necropolis fronted by a trap no one was supposed to survive. There must have been a way for the Carian people to protect themselves so they could visit loved ones or bury someone new. But this chamber existed in case the Athenians came back, or if any future civilizations tried to disinter their ancestors. It’s a cemetery. This is just a security measure.”
Trafalgar said, “Well done, Lady Boone.”
Dorothy sighed. “I thought you said solving this mystery would make me feel better.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” She was swimming now. The ceiling looked to be seven or eight feet above her now, and she could see there were no openings to grant her a last minute reprieve. “My time is counted in minutes now. You should return to the ship. I’m sure Beatrice could use your help.”
“You need my help.”
“I’m beyond help.”
Trafalgar sighed. “Your chamber will be filled before mine is. When you can no longer speak, then I will... I’ll leave.”
Dorothy said, “I suppose that would be acceptable.” She felt tears welling up, but forced them away. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
Trafalgar said, “Use the tubes and your suit to stay alive as long as possible. Just in case one of us has a flash of inspiration. Give yourself every second. Promise me, Dorothy.”
“I will.”
They remained silent, unable to find the words to say everything that remained to be said. The water had risen to Trafalgar’s chest. Soon she would have to put on her helmet.
“Dorothy.”
“Is it time?” The water was nearly to the domed roof.
Trafalgar said, “I believe so. I’m very sorry.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry for. I’m honored to have a partner who would fight so hard against impossible odds. But there is no recourse.”
Trafalgar was surprised to discover she was crying. “Goodbye, Lady Dorothy Boone.”
“Goodbye, Miss Trafalgar of Abyssinia. It was an honor working by your side. I just wish our time had been longer.”
With great effort, Trafalgar managed to push herself away from the wall. She pushed through the water, waves of it splashing over her shoulders with her movement. She fitted her helmet on and made the connections blind. It felt like years since she and Dorothy had checked each other’s seals. Once she was sure it was on properly, she ducked down under the water level and swam forward. It was only then that she realized she hadn’t been panicking about the water or her own danger of drowning. She had thought the idea of being in a room slowly filling with water would paralyze her. Dorothy had given her something else to focus on so the fear never had a chance to grab hold.
Another thing I owe her for, she thought miserably.
She reached the opening - no longer a pool or a pond, just a hole in the rock floor - and pushed her way through. The submersible sat where they had left it eons earlier, silent and dark. As she swam toward it she thought about Dorothy’s theory about the Carian people. The cemetery, the trap for Athenian bastards come to steal their dead. It was brutal, but she could understand why they had felt the need to protect their ancestors.
She stopped in front of the submersible and opened the hatch. They’d left it flooded when they left, so she would have to climb in and close the hatch, then...
Drain the water.
Trafalgar stared into the submersible, currently filled like a fishbowl. She couldn’t see the drains the ship would use, but she knew they were there. What if a Carian funeral delegation showed up and there were a bunch of Athenians drowning in the antechamber? There had to be a way to drain the water so the cemetery could be used. She wet her lips behind her mask and tried to think, crouched on top of the submersible.
There had been nothing on the walls in the main room. There was no evidence of a way to control the antechamber or drain the water from within. But there had to be a way. The water flooding in couldn’t have been a natural tide; the timing was far too perfect. No, somehow the Carian people had found a way to spin the room and begin filling it with water. That meant there had to be a way to reverse the process.
Trafalgar abandoned the submersible, clutching Dorothy’s helmet to her chest with one arm as she swam back. She prayed Dorothy would need it again soon.
Chapter Twenty-One
There was a girl. Blue eyes that seemed too big for her face, pale save for her freckles. Messy red hair that is tied up behind her head to keep it out of her face. The girl had a stick that she used to poke holes so she could see what kind of creatures would come out. Sometimes the little cat following her would give chase to the animals the girl flushed out. Her pants and shirt are too big for her, rescued from the trash even after she told her mother she didn’t mind hand-me-downs. “Girls don’t wear trousers,” her mother had said. But she also wasn’t allowed to get her dresses dirty. There really wasn’t any other option.
The girl who was now a woman floated face-down in the last room she would ever enter. She wore trousers under the protective clothing, and a lavender tie, and her hair spread out around her head like a spray of blood. Before the room completely filled with water, she had figured out how to cover her nose and mouth with a plastic cup from her suit pockets. She threaded the hose between the edge of the cup and her mouth, and now the last gasps of air in her tank were being fed into the small pocket of air she’d created.
She was going to die.
Dorothy could hear the tank alarm sounding through the water. She was almost out of air. She closed her eyes and pictured the lovers she had known, the women she’d taken to bed and those she’d only kissed or held hands with. She remembered their lips on hers, their hand at the nape of her neck, and their breath on her throat. Her thoughts drifted then to Beatrice and she smiled. She had been Beatrice’s first female lover, and their first few times together had been awkward. But Beatrice was a quick and enthusiastic student.
She wished she had written a letter to Beatrice. Something to tell her how she really felt, to make sure it was never questioned. She also wished she could apologize to Desmond. He would need someone else to protect him, a new beard for his true relationships. Just someone else she’d let down. Like her grandmother. But at least Trafalgar would finish her grandmother’s final mission. People would know what was waiting to be uncovered beneath the Aegean Sea.
Her eyes drifted closed. She was quickly running out of air. Going to sleep seemed like the most peaceful option, so she let her consciousness slip away while holding on to thoughts of Beatrice and the way she made her feel. As last thoughts went
, she could hardly think of anything that would be better.
#
Beatrice jolted awake. She tried to pull her arms forward, but they were trapped behind her back. She was seated on the floor in drenched clothes, various aches and pains registering throughout her body. Some of it was from behind thrown around the deck, while she knew others came from overuse of her magic. She could feel the throbbing start of a migraine behind her right eye and tried to ignore it as she examined her surroundings and took stock of the situation.
One, her arms were bound behind her by metal cuffs. She was resting against a pipe, and she assumed that was what her arms were wrapped around.
Two, she was on the bridge. Captain Mederos and his crew were lined up along the opposite wall in various stages of beaten and bleeding. Huey was conscious and looking at her. He nodded when he saw she was awake and she returned the nod. Bert was next to him looking frightened but ready to fight.
Three, her heart was broken and she was on the verge of tears. She didn’t understand that and chose not to examine it.
Four, Virago and a man she’d never seen before were standing at the controls. Two golems were standing guard outside the bridge doors.
Virago turned and saw Beatrice was awake. “Ah, there she is. My worthy opponent. Don’t feel too badly about being defeated. After all, I had to use the entire sea to take you out.” She crossed the room and straddled Beatrice’s legs before dropping down to face her. “If I’d known how special you were, I would have approached you back in London.”
Beatrice glared and said nothing.
“I suppose you’re wondering what I mean. Your shirt burned a little bit. I noticed it when my dummies were dragging you to the edge of the deck. They were about to hurl you into the water, but I was curious. Aren’t you the lucky one?” She sat down on Beatrice’s lap and put a hand on her neck, fingers slithering like snakes to peel back the collar of her shirt. “I took a peek while you were unconscious. Don’t worry, there was no untoward peeking.” She winked. “But I saw your tattoo.”
Beatrice’s lips curled into a sneer.
“Oh, don’t be like that. It’s a gorgeous work of art. Had it since you were a baby, right? I assume you know it ties you to earth magic, given the way you went after my boys.”
She withdrew her hand, reached up, and pulled open her own collar. She twisted and leaned forward, revealing her own back. Beatrice intended to feign disinterest, but her breath hitched at the sight of the water tattoo.
Virago laughed. “I thought that might get your attention. That’s how I was able to use the ocean to sucker punch you. Sorry about that, by the way. Again, had I but known what Dorothy Boone was hiding away, I would have treated you with the respect you deserved. I’ve been looking for you a very long time, Beatrice.” She reached out to stroke Beatrice’s cheek.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Come now. We’re practically family, love...”
Beatrice glared at her.
Virago stood up. “You might want to rethink your position. When your current employer and her partner get back to the surface, I’m going to find out what they discovered and then I’m going to kill them both. You, though. I could never bring myself to destroy something as precious as another elemental. I’ll make you a fair offer of employment.”
“I’ll accept,” Beatrice said, “if just so I can kill you in your sleep.”
Virago pursed her lips. “If you’re in my bedchamber, I hope you find an activity we could both enjoy. But there will be time for that later. And don’t bother trying to use magic to break free of those cuffs. They were made special from some kind of stone which absorbs magical energy. Anything you try to conjure up to escape will just make the chains stronger.” She walked back to the controls. “Any change, Captain Baker?”
“The submersible is still locked, mistress.”
She sighed and rested her hands on the controls. “I’m torn, Miss Sek. I grow impatient for them to return. But the longer they remain stationary, the better chance there is that they’re exploring something magnificent. It’s a struggle, to be certain.”
Beatrice was also torn. The longer Dorothy and Trafalgar remained on the seabed, the more opportunity she had to turn the tables and subdue Virago. But the more time they spent underwater, the higher the chances something had gone horribly wrong. She still felt that horrible hollow ache in the center of her chest, the sudden sharp pain that had drawn her out of unconsciousness. She looked out the window at the deceptively still sea and wished she knew what was happening under the surface.
#
Later she would struggle to describe it, finally settling on the sensation of waking up and being punched in the stomach at the same time. She coughed violently and spit up water, and someone rolled her onto her side so she wouldn’t choke. Her ears were ringing, but she was aware of someone speaking. She coughed again as she was put on her back again. Her chest was heaving as she sucked in the gorgeous, thick oxygen. She stared blindly at the rock formations on the ceiling and took a moment to appreciate the fact she was alive before focusing on how it had happened.
She looked to her right and saw Trafalgar sitting beside her. She had been perched on her knees but was now fallen back into a seated position. She had one hand pressed against her mouth. Dorothy couldn’t tell if the water on her face was from taking off her helmet before the water had fully receded or if she’d actually been crying.
“You kissed me,” Dorothy said with a rough, weak voice.
“It’s called artificial respiration.”
Dorothy smiled. “You kissed me.”
“See if I ever do it again, if this is your response.”
Dorothy reached out and grabbed Trafalgar’s hand. She squeezed hard. “I can’t... I can’t even...”
“Then don’t. Just do the same for me sometime.” Trafalgar got to her feet. “Do you think you can stand?”
Dorothy nodded but stayed where she was. “Give me a moment.” She looked around until she saw the antechamber, which was once again standing open. Water dripped from every surface, and there was still a shallow puddle on the ground. “What happened? How did you get it open?”
“I didn’t. When I got back to the submersible, I thought about the drains I would have to use to empty it out. I figured whoever built this would have something similar to gain access to whatever was on the other side. The fill was automatic, so I thought perhaps the drainage would be as well. If I was right, there was a chance I could revive you. But I had to be here the second the doors opened.”
“You went inside to retrieve me. Dragged me out here.”
“Yes.”
“You risked becoming trapped yourself.”
Trafalgar said, “At that point I was still wearing my helmet. I’d just discovered that the room seems to open itself up again after a set amount of time, so I was confident I would be safe.”
Dorothy got to her feet. “You risked your life to retrieve me. That’s not something I’m likely to forget, Trafalgar.”
“Yes. Well, as I said... you would do the same for me.”
“This is the second time you’ve refused to let me die. You dragged me out of the Minotaur’s lair, and now...”
Trafalgar nodded. “If next time you could refrain from surrendering quite so easily, I would be much obliged. Saving your life should not be a full-time profession.”
Dorothy smiled and turned to look into the antechamber. She could see through the room where she’d been trapped to the other archways.
“It’s a shame we can’t just... hurry through.”
“Don’t even think about it.”
“I’m only saying that we’ve come this far.”
Trafalgar said, “I just saved your life. Don’t make me want you dead.”
Dorothy sighed and held her arm out. “It’s right there! I can run through now that I know it’s a trap. And if it closes again and floods, this time I’ll take my helmet with me.”
“
Your air tank is empty. Your suit will hold a little air, but not much. Just enough for the swim back to the submersible, in fact.”
“Virago is nine hundred meters above us right now. If we leave, she’ll come down here. She’ll destroy this antechamber and everything on the other side will be pillaged. It will be destroyed, and every remnant of that once-great civilization will be lost so she can pay for a few more guns and a bit of ammunition.”
Trafalgar said, “You risk being trapped there with it. Dying after I risked my life to save you. That’s some gratitude.”
“I am grateful,” Dorothy said. “More than you could possibly know. But...” She turned and looked through the arch again. “How could I just walk away, Trafalgar? The path is wide open to us. How can I not walk through?”
“If you walk through there, you’ll do it alone.”
Dorothy said, “It’s hardly suicide. It might just take longer if the room closes and we have to wait it out. The opportunity to see what is waiting on the other side is worth it! Now that we know what to expect, we can prepare. I can wear my helmet. I can move quickly instead of lingering. If I hadn’t paused to examine the antechamber I could easily have made it through to the other side. And maybe there’s something on the submersible we can use...” She stopped speaking suddenly as a smile spread across her lips. “Oh, Trafalgar, we are so brilliantly stupid. Ignacio’s case.”
“What about it? We both went through it and there was nothing that could possibly help us now.”
“No, the case was full of random items. Useful in any expedition. But the case itself... it was metal. Incredibly heavy, strong metal. Strong enough that if we placed it in the doorway, it would prevent this room from closing all the way. It could prevent the entire trap from springing.”
“Or the water could sweep in, knock it out... the rock could be stronger than you think it is, and the case could be crushed...”
Dorothy said, “For which I’ll take extra precautions.”