by Starla Night
Sickness, like a raiding party, could change everything in an instant.
Bella closed her eyes. A quiet, tinkling, holy music filling her with peace.
She didn’t want to think about the surface. She didn’t want to think about her son, where he was, whether he was even still alive.
Her heart filled with molten glass hardened into spikes.
“Bella.” Balim’s voice vibrated beside her, and his powerful arms pulled her into the safety of his embrace. “Lighten your thoughts. Your soul is sick and dark.”
She opened her eyes and let her current reality filter back to her. “I’m here.”
“The Life Tree sanctuary should soothe you.”
“I guess my problems are larger than most. The Life Tree can’t heal everything.”
He did not look convinced.
She, more than anyone, wanted him to be right. The Life Tree must cure anything. Leukemia, infertility, anything.
Anything…
“Balim!” Pelan’s bride burst from the sanctuary, fear on her face. “Pelan’s having trouble breathing.”
“What do you mean?” Balim tightened his grip on Bella. “He is a warrior of the mer.”
“I know, but he’s arching his back.” She demonstrated. “Like he can’t breathe. Come look.”
Balim linked Bella’s hand with his and flew into the sanctuary, keeping her close as though he could sense the ripples of danger on the currents.
Inside, Pelan arched like his bride had described. The other warrior, Zoan, huddled over him with worry. Zoan called to Balim, “His soul is darkening. He is not responding to the Life Tree.”
Balim released Bella, shifted his feet to human, and knelt at Pelan’s side.
Pelan’s bride stood next to Bella, horror mixed with helpless inevitability. Bella knew that feeling too well.
“What’s wrong?” Elyssa crowded in with the other warriors. “Why isn’t Pelan being healed?”
Balim rested on his heels and straightened, a dead expression on his face. “Because he has an incurable illness.”
“What? What to do you mean?”
Balim pointed to the small interlocking blue loops crossing Pelan’s chest encasing him in silver-blue chains. “He has Oannes’ Curse.”
“No,” King Kadir growled.
“Yes.” Balim looked sick. “The official name is Blue Ring.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Balim knelt before his patient. An unfamiliar rage twisted him.
It was as if his old king had arisen from the dead and taunted him. “You will never succeed your father. You did not even recognize he had Blue Ring, and yet you are the only warrior of this era to have seen it with your own eyes when you murdered me.”
Warrior Pelan, the young, hopeful male who had sacrificed so much to reach Atlantis, should have a happier life ahead of him with a bride. Not be suffering and dying young from this curse.
Warrior Pelan moaned.
His bride knelt beside him and tried to take his hands. “Pelan? Can you hear me?”
He dragged his hand free. And otherwise, Pelan had no reaction to her. Just as before when she’d refused the marriage ceremony.
She grimaced, rose to her feet, and backed away. “It’s not working.”
Behind him, the warriors and queens discussed what to do.
“Is Blue Ring contagious?” Queen Elyssa asked. “Are we at risk?”
“Perhaps it is not Blue Ring,” a warrior interrupted in the back. “No one living has seen it. Healer Balim is mistaken.”
Others pressed forward, encroaching on his patient, to get their own look while the more distant warriors argued.
Second Lieutenant Ciran’s vibration leveled their words. “Respect Healer Balim’s expertise.” He met Balim’s gaze, revealing nothing. “If he says it is Blue Ring, Warrior Pelan is infected with Blue Ring.”
“Then is it not too late?” An unidentified warrior asked the fearful question. “We are exposed. His sickness infects us.”
Panic edged the rumbles.
“Empty this sanctuary,” King Kadir ordered the nearby warriors. “Those who remain must be quiet.”
Nilun covered his flea bite with one hand and stood to the side, his worry palpable. Half the warriors flew out, leaving a quieter crowd.
Pelan had to respond. Balim pressed Pelan’s shoulders into the Life Tree.
The warrior thrashed. His blood had been corrupted against resonance, and he reacted as a dull human. Balim released Pelan, and the warrior collapsed in a heap.
Disconcerting.
Bella floated beside Balim and leaned over him. “Are you at risk?”
“Normally? No.” He flexed his own fingers, finding no cuts or injuries, not even the tiniest break of skin. “The disease is confined to Oannes Field. It afflicts only those who touch or handle the cursed weapons. But how has Warrior Pelan contracted it?”
“No one entered the sanctuary since he arrived,” Zoan affirmed.
“Then he touched the weapons before.” Just as Balim’s instincts had told him. “Possibly any of us touched the weapons without knowing. Or perhaps Warrior Pelan is the weapon.”
Queen Elyssa floated forth. “Let me try.”
Balim’s first impulse was to deny her. She should not risk herself. Queen Elyssa was the light and hope of Atlantis. As the first queen, she had welcomed all warriors with her heart.
But she was Warrior Pelan’s best hope now.
Queen Elyssa knelt and rested her hands on Pelan’s feverish brow.
Pelan whipped his head back and forth as though trying to shake her off. He flung an arm. It cracked against Queen Elyssa’s shoulder.
She opened her eyes and gasped. “Ow!”
Prince Kael flew toward his mother with a cry.
“No!” Queen Elyssa tried to stop him. “I’m all right. I promise! Just surprised.”
King Kadir intercepted Prince Kael, soothed him, and gave the young fry to Second Lieutenant Ciran with grave instructions. “Confine the young fry to my castle until the Life Tree sanctuary is purified. Guard them with our most faithful warriors.”
“My king.” Ciran turned away without meeting Balim’s eye. He gathered his select guard, and they escorted the young fry out with Queen Lucy’s gentle but worried encouragement.
Balim checked Queen Elyssa’s arm. The skin was reddish from the contact but not broken.
She laughed, a little shaken. “I don’t know if I should try again. I felt nothing from Pelan. It’s like something’s blocking me.”
This was a nightmare.
“Healer Balim!” First Lieutenant Soren’s gruff vibration called out from the entrance to the sanctuary. Warriors parted to make way. “We have grave news from your human hospital.”
The massive first lieutenant was the size of two warriors and covered in black tattoos. Once he had declared that he possessed no honor, but now he quieted that declaration around his brilliant queen, pale Aya.
“We have grave news here,” Queen Elyssa said, curling her hand around King Kadir’s bicep. “Pelan has Blue Ring.”
“Blue Ring?” The dangerous first lieutenant rested at the edge of the dais. “I heard he has Crab-Cut Disease.”
“That is what Healer Balim thought also. But it is Blue Ring.”
“The cursed coral field,” First Lieutenant Soren murmured to his smart bride. “Where the coral grows into perfect tridents but none may harvest it because of Oannes’ curse.”
“Now, he has cursed Atlantis.” King Kadir gazed on his injured warrior with deep unhappiness. “Why?”
“The All-Council would say we face a fit punishment for having broken the ancient covenant,” First Lieutenant Soren growled. “How lucky for them we should be the new center of this legendary illness.”
If Atlantis became a cursed battlefield like Oannes Field, then their rebel voice would die.
Aya kicked forward, her light even more brilliant with power. “Balim, how contagious is this
Blue Ring?”
He shook his head for the second time. “There is no way to know… No. My mentor studied Blue Ring for years. He might know how it has escaped the field and whether there is any hope.”
“Can Pelan travel? Where’s your mentor?”
“No.” King Kadir straightened. “The more important question is ‘who is your mentor?’ Correct, Healer Balim?”
They were both good questions. And Balim only had impossible answers. “My mentor is Dalus, Healer of the All-Council, and he lives in the great hall of healers inside the All-Council stronghold.”
The warriors murmured his answer. Healer of the All-Council. Pelan was as good as dead.
King Kadir gritted his teeth. He had devoted much effort to sneak into the archives when he had been a bright, young assistant to his city’s representative.
So they would drag the injured Pelan across the ocean, break into the most guarded All-Council stronghold, and beg the rulers to treat a rebel warrior infected with an incurable disease.
Queen Aya asked the hard question they were all thinking. “Can Pelan survive the journey?”
“I do not know.” Balim rubbed his forehead. So many unknowns. “I will go. Healer Dalus studies illness, not politics. The mystery of how the disease traveled into Pelan’s blood will entice him.”
Pelan’s not-bride crossed her arms over her chest. “Pelan was shot in the heart.”
“By a human. And you swam with him, yet you are not ill.”
Her soul light was strong. She did not so much as sneeze. She was healthy.
Bella made a small noise. “The fake merman. He walked into the hospital. He could have dumped something in the tank.”
“Again, no one besides Pelan became ill after the interaction with the mystery warrior.”
Queen Aya glanced at Soren. Their eyes met with wordless communication.
“What is it?” he asked.
Queen Aya answered. “Just now, we were coming to tell you that your scientist, Mitch, has gone to the emergency room for strange bruising.”
No.
“Another had the same flu-like symptoms, but she recovered. Mitch’s just got worse.”
This could be no coincidence.
“They both were exposed to the same cursed package,” he said.
Queen Aya’s hands clenched into fists. “So humans can get this disease?”
Balim speculated. “Many warriors fought over the small Oannes Field. Many more humans share space in New York.”
“Oh.” Bella covered her mouth even though her chest was vibrating. “Of course. The Sons of Hercules will love this.”
“Exactly. An incurable disease transmitted by mer contact?” Queen Aya laid out the facts, and Bella agreed with every point. “This will go before Congress. It will affect the UN. We’re fighting for basic rights, and now they will see us as the vector of a health panic. This is not just a disease. This is a PR nightmare.”
Queen Elyssa hugged King Kadir. The other warriors endured the knowledge that humans would turn against them and deny their chances for brides. Their women would run in fear while the mainland governments made laws to hunt them. They would abandon Atlantis. No one would choose them. They’d have to go back to their origin cities and face exile.
The All-Council would win.
“The Sons of Hercules are behind this,” Bella declared. “It’s too convenient.”
“I agree,” Queen Aya said.
Balim did not.
“If I surface,” Bella started, soul flaring, “I can get ahead of this. My campaign is prepared. I’m just waiting until…until…” Her soul light dimmed and she didn’t complete her thought; she sensed his intense gaze and looked away. “But maybe this is more important…”
Her offer rested on the silence. No one knew what to say.
Balim was cursed with another twist of betrayal. Would she lose sight of her dedication to her son? Now she was here, would she give up and sacrifice Jonah?
It hurt his heart. He reflected her emotions like a mirror, so he knew she was hurting too, but the betrayal inside him was like a sea beneath the sea. Darkness swirling so deep, he tried to contain it to prevent her from knowing it was there.
He had murdered a king. He had plotted for years. His determination had never wavered.
He had seen the same determination in Bella and respected that she could never love him as much as her Jonah because she could never take her gaze from her son. But if she lifted that gaze…if she betrayed her son, to walk away from him…
She did not match Balim’s darkness. Not because her gaze fixed on a nobler purpose, but because Balim was too horrible for her to love.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The bitterness of Bella’s sliver of doubt poisoned the back of Balim’s tongue.
Queen Elyssa broke the awful silence. “But Nora’s not sick.”
Bella blinked. “Who?”
Pelan’s not-bride pressed her hand to her chest. “What do you mean, who? Me. Nora.”
“Your name’s Nora?”
“We were introduced forever ago. You don’t remember? I’ve been here the whole time.”
“Sorry. I kept thinking of you as Pelan’s bride and…that’s not an excuse. I’m not usually bad with names. I guess I’ve had a lot on my mind.”
“Well, don’t forget it again.” Nora tipped her chin at Pelan. “And, Doc Balim, she’s right. I was swimming in the water with Pelan even after it got dosed by the fake merman, and here I am, healthy as a horse.”
“A seahorse,” Queen Elyssa said, smiling.
“I like that.” Nora uncrossed her arms to stroke her hair. “Yeah, a healthy sea horse.”
Even amid tension and fear, Queen Elyssa had an ability to soften the mood, connect people, and give a moment’s smile. The entire sanctuary brightened as the warriors and queens reacted to her simple statements, and the Life Tree reflected their gentle kindness outward.
Her presence was possible because of the vision of Atlantis.
The vision could not be clouded.
Atlantis could not be lost.
And there were so many ways to lose it.
He had to think. Why was Nora healthy and Pelan so ill? Why was Mitch sick with suspicious bruising when Nora had no bruises?
“You remained by Pelan’s side?” Balim pressed, searching for the clues to unravel the mystery of this disease. “You left him many times for long periods.”
Nora tightened her arms around her chest again. “Are you saying him getting sick is my fault?”
“Was Mitch closer to Pelan than you?”
“Of course not.”
“You are certain?”
“No, I’m not certain.” She hugged herself. “I’ve been feeling guilty for weeks. For everything I did. Everything I didn’t do. Even now, this place is so beautiful. I feel guilty for enjoying it, even for one second, when my soul mate is sick.”
Bella’s soul light darkened. “I know what you mean.”
“Do not feel guilt, my queens.” Zoan floated nearer to them, trying to ease the darkness knotting around their souls. “Happiness and sadness can exist together in Atlantis.”
“I’ve never seen it,” Nora grumbled.
“One full warrior swims beside his friend who has skipped lunch, or Nilun, who has slept long while I have flown double patrols.”
Nilun reddened. “You slept in the sanctuary.”
“My vigil over our mutual friend is unceasing. Unlike yours, which is divided by fights with water fleas.”
Nilun clapped the other hand over his injury.
But, like Queen Elyssa, his teasing lightened the mood once more. The other warriors did not snap. They allowed Balim to mull over the clues.
Queen Elyssa kept up the light tone with Zoan. “Har har. The day you’re serious, Zoan, is the day Balim examines the inside of your head for injuries.”
“Healer Balim only ever examines my outside, so you have issued a good challenge, Queen Elys
sa.”
“It’s not a challenge, it’s an observation.”
Zoan cleared his throat and straightened to give his faux-serious lecture. “Happiness and sadness are two warriors in your heart. They are separate, although the same. They work together, and apart.”
“How generic,” Balim commented.
“Look at me.” Zoan tapped his scarred hand on his chest. “My twin brother was captured, imprisoned, and tortured in the All-Council prison. He was released to impersonate me and destroy our Life Tree. I am happy he was freed and sad he nearly killed King Kadir. Two emotions entwined.”
His confession quieted the sanctuary. But within his tragic history lay the true hope of their city. They had endured catastrophic destruction in the past and survived.
Nora cupped her own elbow. “I guess I know what you mean. I’m happy Pelan’s survived. He was hurt just because he talked to me. If I could go back in time, I would oversleep and miss our date.”
Queen Elyssa released King Kadir, swam to Nora, and touched her shoulder. “What happened to Pelan wasn’t your fault.”
“I know, but the last weeks could have been really different in both our lives.”
Zoan also lowered his vibrations to speak kindly. “Accept your burden.”
“But Zoan, it’s not her fault.”
“Queen Elyssa, next you will say I am not tainted with my brother’s badness.”
“You’re right. You’re not.”
“Roa held the same ideals as I did when he was captured and I escaped. He was tortured and I was not. I could be captured. I could be tortured. Would I not want revenge against the brother who had failed me?”
Her brows drew together. “Would you?”
He shrugged. “Have not many fine warriors broken under torture? Not everyone can hold their vision under the press of death like King Kadir.”
The king’s mouth twitched in a slight smile. “I was not offered any opportunity by my captors to release that vision, Zoan.”
“Then my brother’s badness is within me. But this truth does not define me. It is not who I am.”