Hyperion's Shield

by Nathan Schivley

  Once the pool room was entirely filled with water, the nymph queen raised her hands and an incredible current blew open the control room door. The Gartune began to panic as water swirled around them. Soon, she was in there with them, swirling around as they feebly attempted to strike her with their eürocs. Loras held onto a handle on the back of the wall while the water churned around him. The white-eyed nymph grasped him around the waist and the two of them watched the chaos unfold within the control center. It was not long before the five Gartune came floating, unconscious, through the door and out into the pool room.

  Loras swam into the control center and found the button that the Gartune had pushed to flood the pool room. He pressed it and the water quickly began to drain from both rooms. As the water drained around her, the queen nymph remained standing, her dark watery form shimmering in front of him. She waited, expectantly, staring at Loras with her large, black eyes. Loras turned toward the wall with the rows of buttons, not knowing what he was looking for. Then he laughed. He remembered a conversation with Gracien where he asked, sarcastically, if there was just a button that one had to press in order to deactivate the shield. Now he knew why Gracien was not concerned with the actual process of retracting the shield. There was, indeed, a button.

  There were actually two buttons. One with an up arrow and one with a down arrow. They were larger than all of the rest and sat on a panel at the center of the wall. Could it really be this easy? thought Loras. The button with the "up" arrow was currently illuminated while the down arrow flashed next to it. Loras shrugged his shoulders and pressed the "down" arrow. Above him, Loras heard gears begin to turn. Then, a rapid clink clink, clink as sections of metal began to stack on top of each other. The sound repeated at precise intervals, and then, after less than a minute, the gears stopped turning. All was silent. The "up" arrow began to flash and the "down" arrow stayed illuminated. It's down, thought Loras. Now, to make sure it never goes up again.

  Loras pressed the pad in his right hand and a flaming sword sprang to life. The light from the sword reflected in the black eyes of the queen nymph. She continued to watch Loras, her face unreadable. Loras regarded the queen warily, then turned back to the control panels. He swung his sword violently through the center of the panel, shooting sparks all over the room. Then he swung again and again creating cross-hatched slashes all over the walls of the room. Anger filled Loras' heart as he thought back to what the shield had meant to him. He thought of the parents he hardly saw, and he slammed his sword into a monitor on the wall. He thought of the two Gartune who had taunted Tinko in the streets, and he swung again. Memory after memory flooded Loras' brain and each one fueled another swing of his sword, as if destroying the shield's control room could somehow vanquish the past.

  Finally, after each monitor had been destroyed, each button cracked and each lever sliced; after the entire room lay in smoldering ruin, Loras let out a long sigh. But any sense of relief that he felt at accomplishing his mission was quickly extinguished when he looked up at the queen nymph who was still staring at him with expectant eyes. She could care less if I retracted the shield. That's not why she's here. Loras looked around the room. If there was a mechanism for detaching the anchor, Loras had surely destroyed it along with everything else.

  The queen nymph made a sound. It was a mixture of a groan and a gurgle and it coincided with a sudden rise in the water level. Loras looked up at the queen and saw that her placid face was now drawn in an undeniable frown. She was becoming impatient. Just then, something brushed against Loras' leg. It was a eüroc. Loras picked it up and noticed that the end of it had transformed into a round blade. I've seen one of these enhancements before, thought Loras. And if this one is like the others... he searched the base of the staff for a button and found it intricately carved into the pattern of the metal. He pressed it and the blade at the end of the eüroc began to spin.

  Loras remembered thinking what kind of sick Gartune chooses this as his eüroc tre'ance? There were so many more practical enhancements to choose from. This is all for show. Well, maybe this time it will actually be useful. Holding the staff with the spinning blade in his hand, Loras waded toward the door. The water was still rising and was almost at his shoulders now. As he passed the queen nymph, he raised the eüroc to show her and said, "I have a plan! But I need your help."

  The queen remained motionless and the water continued to rise. But Loras felt a familiar hand on his leg and a reassuring warmth in his chest. He knew that he could do what needed to be done.

  Loras ducked into the water and swam through the door into the pool room. He had to brush two lifeless Gartune bodies out of the way in order to make his way down through the hatch. The white-eyed nymph stayed with him the entire way until they both came to the giant iron chain that attached the ship to the anchor down below. Loras lifted the spinning blade to the nearest chain link and sparks began to fly. Does Gartolian steel cut Gartolian iron? Loras wondered. As it turned out, it did, but not quickly.

  For several minutes, Loras labored on the chain, slowly creating a thin slice in one of the links. While he was working, the queen nymph slipped out of the hatch and watched Loras for a moment. When she seemed satisfied that Loras' plan was going to work, she slipped away into the darkness, her escort of nymphs following her – all except the one holding on to Loras. Her hand never left his arm as she continued to pump life-saving oxygen into his body while he labored.

  After about ten minutes, Loras' blade finally sliced all the way through the iron link and the chain slowly fell to the ocean floor. Freed from its tether, the floating tank above them lurched forward. Loras and the nymph had to quickly dive to avoid the propeller as it passed over the top of them.

  Loras watched the tank float away. For a moment he wondered where it would go, but then realized that he didn't really care. As long as it goes far away from here.

  The nymph yanked on Loras' arm. It was time to go. They looked into each others’ eyes as they circled upward toward the surface. Just before they reached the open air, the nymph swam in front of him, looked him in the eyes and kissed him. More warmth than he had ever known filled his body, but only for an instant. As soon as her lips left his, she pushed his head above the water and released her grip on his arm. Loras gasped for air as if he had been holding his breath for hours. By the time his breathing had returned to normal, the nymph was long gone and, though the sun shone brightly overhead, Loras felt a little bit cold inside.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight: Revelations

  "I still can't believe he did it," whispered Regan as she looked through the windows of Reysa's command center. It had been thirty minutes since the Gartolian sun shield retracted and the late afternoon sun flooded the courtyard of the capitol building. The Lotus' petals were pulsating with energy as golden liquid poured into the orb at its center.

  "He really did it," Regan repeated. She looked around at the other Reytana in the command center. They had only taken a few moments to watch the shield retract and then went directly back to manning their posts at the various consoles. There was still much work to be done. But, for the first time, there was an air of confidence in the room.

  "You should have more faith in your brother," said Lucan as he joined Regan at the window.

  Regan turned to her old professor with an eyebrow raised. "This, coming from you? The same teacher who reprimanded Loras on a daily basis for the better part of three years?"

  "It was for his own good. Look at him now – he's the savior of Reysa," said Lucan proudly.

  "Just don't let him hear you say that," said Regan. "This day is going to give him a big enough head as it is."

  Lucan looked over his shoulder to where Dario was standing. He could tell that the governor had been listening to the conversation and was deep in thought. Finally, Dario raised his head and looked at Lucan. He gave a small nod.

  Lucan turned back to Regan. "Regan, there's something that I need to tell you."

  Suddenly, three loud
booms came from the courtyard. Regan and Lucan both looked down. Their jaws dropped. There, standing in the courtyard, was Hadrian with the hundred Gartune that had just been captured, and standing in front of them, awkwardly shielding themselves from the sunlight, were the Fallen Reytana.

  "Rey help us. He's freed them," said Lucan. All of the Reytana in the command center looked up from their stations.

  Hadrian struck his eüroc into the ground three more times. The ground splintered away from him and the sound echoed off the walls of the courtyard. Dario joined Regan and Lucan in peering down through the windows.

  "This was always his end game," said Lucan. "To make them fight for him. He knows we won't kill our own."

  "No, I don’t think so," said Dario. "He'd rather they had stayed in prison forever, along with the rest of us. That's why he built the damn thing – so he could control us and keep The Scales from balancing the equation. He didn't want to risk the Fallen Reytana being killed and re-born. Right now, he controls the balance. As far as The Scales are concerned, the Tormada are even because there are an equal number of Reytana and Gartune alive. The Scales do not know that Hadrian has incapacitated such a large number of our ranks. If these Reytana were to die, he might lose control of that situation. No, this… this is a last resort."

  Hadrian stamped his eüroc three more times and then, sensing that he had the occupants' full attention, shouted up at the capitol building.

  "Dario! I know you're up there. Deactivate the city's defenses and surrender yourselves and I will let you live. Refuse, and I will order your brethren here to attack everyone inside. There is no escape. Give yourself up now or I will make sure that I'm personally waiting at your pool of life in two weeks to scoop up the aftermath of todays' battle – just like I did with these ones!" He nodded toward the young Reytana shuffling nervously behind him.

  Inside the control room, the Reytana had returned to their jobs manning the various consoles, but the smiles had left their faces. Only Dario, Lucan and Regan stood at the window looking down at the scene below. Dario turned to Lucan. "Tell her," he said. "It's time."

  "I know about the Fallen Reytana," said Regan, "I know how Hadrian collected them when they were babies." There was disgust in her voice. "Xander told me all about it. I know that they now have a connection to him and will do what he says."

  "That is true," said Dario. "They are bonded to Hadrian. They will follow him even against their own will if it comes to that. But there is a stronger bond; one that supersedes the paternal connection that Hadrian stole."

  "What bond is that?" asked Regan.

  "The bond to their king," interjected Lucan. "Or in this case, since their king is somewhere splashing around in the ocean... to their queen."

  Regan's eyes widened. She looked back and forth between her professor and Dario. Both of them regarded her with dead seriousness. She started to speak but then stopped. Then she started again.

  "No... no... it can't be me..." stuttered Regan. She shook her head back and forth, refusing to accept what she had just heard.

  "Ah, but you are the queen," said Lucan as he tried to comfort his former student. "That is why we hid you all of these years. That is why we sent you to Gracien and the Lost Reytana. And that is why, eighteen years ago, I plucked you and Loras from the river before Hadrian could collect you in the pool of life."

  "The aura of King Atholos lives within you," added Dario. "And the aura of King Calan, all the way back to Octavian. We Reytana have a royal blood line. It is one of the ways in which we differ from the Gartune. Our kings and queens are born kings and queens, and we follow them whole-heartedly and without question until the day we die. And you, Regan, are our queen."

  "But, it doesn't make any sense. How did you know I was the queen when I was just a baby? I'm no different than any of those poor Reytana down in the courtyard. How did you know to collect me from the river before I got to Hadrian?"

  "Because you wear the rings," said Lucan. He gently angled Regan toward the window so she could see her own reflection. Then he brushed back her hair behind her ears.

  "What? What am I looking at?" asked Regan.

  "Clench your fists," said Dario.

  "What?" said Regan.

  "Just do it."

  Regan clenched both of her firsts together as tightly as she could. Suddenly, she saw in the window a golden ring appear behind her left ear. It was like a large earring except emblazoned into the side of her head. She quickly swung her head to the other side and there was another ring in the same exact spot behind her right ear.

  "The twins wear the rings..." she whispered to herself.

  "I stood upstream of the river for days looking for that mark," said Lucan. "It disappears from an infant shortly after they are collected and doesn't resurface until they receive their light." At this point he bowed his head regretfully. "It was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life, letting all of those other children flow past me when I knew the fate that awaited them. But finding you and your brother was too important. The leader, or in this case, leaders, of the Reytana could not be imprisoned."

  Regan thought for a moment. "So that means Loras..."

  "Wait," said Dario with a confused look on his face. "You didn't know Loras was king? Didn't he tell you?"

  "He doesn't know!" exclaimed Regan.

  "But he wears the crown!" shouted Lucan. Regan gave him a confused look. "The headband that Loras wears, it is the symbol of the king. Didn't Gracien tell him what it meant?

  Regan shook her head and laughed. "He said it shot fireballs."

  "Unbelievable," said Dario, turning away from the window to think. "How could he not have told him?"

  "He must not have thought he was ready," said Lucan, thoughtfully.

  "Wait a minute," said Regan. "You can't just blame Gracien. He wasn't the only one who hid the truth from us. You didn't tell us either!"

  "That was to protect you!" said Dario. "If you were captured, I didn't want anyone to know who you really were. But I figured once you were safe at The Hole..."

  "Regardless," interrupted Lucan. "The Reytana at The Hole know what Loras' circlet means. They know the truth even if he doesn't. All you have to do is look at the way they regard Loras. They follow their king. Now you need to do the same for those young Reytana out there."

  Regan shook her head again. "This is all wrong. It should be Loras to lead them, not me. Can't we wait for him to come back?"

  Three more booms rang out from the courtyard.

  "This is your last chance!" yelled Hadrian. Some of the Gartune began to prod the young Reytana forward toward the door of the capitol building. They looked around, confused, but did not resist.

  "Look at them, Regan," said Dario. "They are lost. Right now there is a terrible struggle going on inside of each of them. They don't want to listen to Hadrian, but their bond compels them. You can free them from that. You need to lead them! It is time for them to know who their queen is!"

  Regan looked down into the courtyard at the hundred and fifty Reytana shuffling back and forth. Many of them were still covering their eyes from the sun. The source that was supposed to strengthen and comfort them was causing them pain because it had been kept from them for their entire lives. Anger began to fill her. She looked down and realized that her fists were still clenched. She gazed at her reflection in the window to check and see if the rings were still glowing behind her ears, but what caught her attention instead was the golden fire that was shining in her own eyes.

  She turned to Dario. "Tell me what to do."

  Dario smiled and nodded. "First things first, there's something that I need you to wear."

  The courtyard was eerily quiet for the number of people that stood in it. The young Reytana had finally started to acclimate to the sun and only a few still shielded their eyes. But they all were listless and confused as they looked around and tried to process their new surroundings. Outside, the tank fire had slowed now that Reysa's defenses wer
e operating at full capacity. Occasionally a cannonball would explode off the city's shield, but it was more of a probing for weaknesses tactic than a full-on assault.

  Hadrian stared up at the top floor of the capitol building but did not see any movement. He's really going to make me do this, thought Hadrian to himself. He eyed the Reytana shuffling around in front of him. Very well. Time to drive the herd.

  "Fine, have it your way, Governor!" yelled Hadrian. He motioned for the Gartune to push the Reytana forward. Then, a voice called out from the street behind him.

  "Hello, Father."

  Hadrian turned slowly. Xander stood alone. He leaned slightly on his eüroc while his violet cape fluttered gently in the breeze. There was a small, mirthless grin on his face.

  "Now that's a voice I wasn't sure if I'd ever hear again," said Hadrian.

  "Would that have been your preference?" asked Xander.

  "To be determined," responded Hadrian.

  Xander grunted. "So how do you like what I've done with the place?" he asked as he opened his arms out wide. Hadrian scowled.

  "All of this, right under your nose," snarled Hadrian. "If I didn't know any better, I would have thought Rankin was in charge the whole time."

  "Nah, Rankin was too busy whoring in Spirea to pay any attention to what was going on here."

  Hadrian's eyes narrowed further. "I'll be sure to discuss that with him the next time I see him."

  "Hmmmm," said Xander. "That's going to be tricky."

  "Enough!" shouted Hadrian. "I've heard what you've done and I'm willing to chalk it up to living with the Reysene for far too long. Now, come stand by me and try to learn something. We will address your deficiencies when we return home."

  "I'm afraid that isn't going to happen," said Xander.

  "What did you say to me?" said Hadrian in a voice barely above a whisper.