Denzso stood, moving several of the tokens around on the map. “Laugh all you want. I've been studying the enemy. It may interest you that their tactics have changed very little.”
“Denzso, aren’t you being a little bit presumptuous?” Helen asked.
Jaren started chuckling. “We’ve only fought them once before. It’s not enough to draw on.”
“I agree,” Sagan said. “We should exercise caution and consider our blood supply.”
Denzso folded his arms across his chest. “So you all want to wait here until the next attack?”
“Sagan is right,” Alexia said. “If we're not careful with our blood supply, we could end up in a worse situation than last time. Already we've begun issuing rations.”
In a fit of rage, Denzso tossed his chair across the room. “If we wait for the next attack, we will be in a worse situation! Our couriers to the other Rheans have just returned. All of the reports are nearly identical.”
“What's the verdict?” Gavin asked.
“We're screwed!” Denzso answered. “Remember the first time the Pelasgians invaded. They would attack and fall back. This did this over and over again. After several times they gathered outside the city, like they're doing now.”
Even Marus couldn’t argue. “So you think this is it? The big one.”
Denzso nodded. “We haven't even seen all of the Pelasgian units from last time, and our courier to the Khothu reported new ones more powerful than anything we have ever encountered.”
Alexia's eyes were fixed on a window with a good view to the city. “Denzso, have you sent for any help?”
“As soon as I read the reports,” Denzso answered.
It was hard for Alexia to maintain her composure. Of the Council she was the most scared for her people. “Then it's decided. All of Rhea will gather here, at Vesuvia. And we will either conquer the enemy as we did before, or we will fall as one.”
Jaren knocked one of the tokens over. “You're crazy if you think we can sustain an attack on the Pelasgians, Denzso. Ain't gonna happen. Not against those numbers. It's just gonna provoke them.”
Denzso sunk against the table, looking as though he was watching a sunrise. “It's going to be real fun when they outnumber us a hundred to one.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Perak, wake up,” Gillan said, splashing the Draco's face with conjured drops of water.
Slowly opening his eyes, Perak found himself on the floor with his friends and wyvern standing over him.
“That was a heck of a landing,” Caycee said.
Perak rubbed the side of his head as he sat up. “What happened?”
“If you don't remember, good,” Melkor said, helping his friend up.
Gillan gave Perak a bottle of water. “Are you going to be okay?”
“I'm fine…I think,” Perak answered. “My noggin hurts a bit, but that's about it. I think poor Spire took the brunt of the impact.”
“Your wyvern seems fine,” said Gillan. “You should see about getting some medicine, at least to be on the safe side.”
Perak took the reins to his wyvern. “I’ll do that. Thanks, guys. I'm going to check in with my caste, see what the damage is.”
“Get that head checked out,” Gillan said, before turning to Caycee. “I really appreciate you doing this.”
“I don't mind,” Caycee said with a wink. She focused her attention on the numerous piles of rubble nearby and began pacing back and forth between them.
Melkor eyed Gillan’s pocket. “I don't think it's a good idea keeping that rock.”
“I don't know what to think,” said Gillan. “But that snake guy wanted me to have it.”
“Maybe he did, but that don't mean you had to take it. How do you know it's safe?”
Gillan made sure to not lose sight of Caycee. “Those people, whoever they are, could have easily killed all of us. But they didn't. Don't you find that odd?”
“Nope,” Melkor said sharply. “A friend of my enemy is my enemy. And after seeing what they were able to pull off, I wouldn't take any chances. Besides, it's only a rock. I say toss it.”
“If it's only a rock, then there's nothing to worry about. But I think there's more to it. Appearances can be deceiving.”
Melkor clinched his fists in frustration. “All the more reason to throw it away.”
Caycee suddenly stopped. “Here!” she said, pointing to a massive pile of rocks that was once a building. “Someone is trapped under here, somewhere. They're hurt bad.”
Melkor examined the debris, sensing out as many of the individual pieces as he could. He placed one hand out and caused much of the rubble to shift upward.
“Wait!” Caycee cried. “Careful, you have to be very careful.”
“I can control the rocks,” Melkor said. “But I can't tell what direction they need to move. Not if I can't see the person.”
Gillan crawled around the debris. “Hold up. I think I can get in.”
“Make it fast,” Caycee said.
Light coming through the cracks let Gillan see where he was going as he inched his was along. “Hello! Can you hear me?”
From the darkness came a faint moan.
The crawlspace opened up enough for Gillan to get to his knees. Around the next corner he found a female covered with small rocks. “Found her!” he yelled. “Caycee, Melkor, can you hear me?”
“We hear you,” Caycee hollered.
Gillan picked the debris off the woman. “Relax, you're gonna be okay. Melkor, there's nothing pinning her. She just got a little banged up. Go ahead and lift, slowly.”
As the rubble around him began to rise, Gillan felt himself moving with it. “Stop!” he cried out.
Feeling the ground, Gillan figured it was a large slab of rock.
“What is it?” Melkor asked.
“Looks like a chunk of wall,” Gillan answered. “We're sitting right on top of it. I'm going to have to pull her out, I guess.”
“No,” Melkor said, raising both hands and closing his eyes. “Sit tight, Gillan. I can do this. I just need to find that piece.”
As the woman came to her senses, the rubble around her trembled as it slowly rose.
Caycee and other Khothu arriving on the scene went in as soon as they could to help carry the woman out.
Melkor set the debris back in place. “Well done, Gillan.”
“It's not me she has to thank,” Gillan said with a glance to Caycee. “If it weren't for her, we would have never found that girl.”
Nasia gently made her way through the crowd. “Gillan, who in the name of Fyodor were those people?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Gillan answered. “It's a safe bet they're not from around here, though. And by here, I'm not just talking about Rhea.”
Nasia waved her hand in the direction of several small fires to extinguish them. “Yeah, but they didn't look like your ordinary Pelasgian either.”
Melkor grunted. “Or a Myrmidon, and their powers over the elements seem to exceed ours.”
“I just hope they don't come back,” Caycee said. “Not if they're immortal.”
Gillan pulled the jade from his pocket and showed Nasia. “Here, take a look at this.”
Nasia had no idea what to make of it. “A rock?”
“Souvenir, I guess,” Gillan said. “One of those elemental guys gave it to me right before he left. Any idea why he would do that?”
Nasia studied the jade for a moment before handing it back. “On the island of Okami, it's customary for the defeated warrior to give the victor a trophy. Of course, that's only in games of contest.”
“I wouldn't say we won either,” Gillan said. He began to put the jade away when it suddenly flashed bright green and made him dizzy.
Caycee quickly grabbed Gillan. “Hey, you okay?”
“I knew it!” Melkor said. “I kept telling him he should've tossed it.”
Gillan’s head felt woozy. “Whoa…that was...neat. The Caidoz...”
“Those people, the ones that attacked us. They call themselves Caidoz,” Gillan said.
Caycee's face lit up like a kid with candy. “Oh! You just had a form of extra-sensory perception. Psychometry. Very similar to what happened to me when we went to the Shadow Realm. Remember?”
Gillan wasn’t exactly sure of what Caycee had just said. “Uh...yeah, well, I guess we know what this rock is now. It's a way for them to communicate. They said they're very sorry for attacking us. That the Pelasgians forced them to do it.”
Melkor waved in disgust. “Rubbish! With the kind of power they have, they'd make short work of the Pelasgians. They could have wiped out the whole city.”
Gillan held the jade tightly and closed his eyes. After a few seconds the jade flashed again, and he looked to Caycee. “Remember what you saw in the Shadow Realm? The ball that changed everything?”
“How could I forget?” said Caycee.
“The Pelasgian leader threatened them with it. They left this rock so they could talk to us without him knowing. They want to help us, but they don't know how.”
Melkor crossed his arms. “And you trust them? C'mon, what if it's a trick?”
“Not a chance,” Gillan said. “Even you said it. With the power they have.”
Caycee could sense how sure Gillan felt. “I agree. It would be even easier if the Pelasgians used that ball-thing to assimilate us.”
“Why not use it then?” Nasia asked.
Gillan remembered what Lilith had once said. “It wouldn't work in the Netherworld. So, we think it's the same for Rhea.”
Melkor didn’t like any of it.
“Makes sense,” Caycee said. “They can't assimilate us, so they just go to the Caidoz and threaten them to do their dirty work.”
Gillan pocketed the jade. “I'm sorry, Nasia. I meant to tell the Chiefs about what happened in the Shadow Realm, but there was no time.”
Nasia’s head felt like it was spinning.
“It’s a lot to digest,” Gillan said.
“You think?” Melkor mocked.
“Time,” Nasia whispered, looking around at the city. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? Everything is happening all so fast. Only minutes before I found you, a Vesuvian courier gave us information that the Pelasgians were gathering outside Vesuvia.”
A horrible feeling of dread filled Caycee, as bad memories filled her.
“What about Tiamat?” Melkor asked. “We can’t just abandon the city.”
“I can't promise anything,” Gillan said. “Nasia, I know we're in bad shape, but I'm begging you. The Khothu must join the Vesuvians.”
Seeing so much of Tiamat in ruin filled Nasia with sadness, then anger. “I will see what the other Chiefs can spare, but we must make haste. None of us can win this fight alone.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
In the Netherworld, a small house sat in the middle of nowhere with only a single dead tree for company. Inside, Sara moped near a window.
Leon slowly paced back and forth nervously. At one point he veered toward Sara, but then decided it best to leave her alone.
“I can't believe you, Leon,” Sara finally said. “How could you?”
Leon felt a tinge of relief that at least Sara spoke to him. The friction between them was palpable. “Sorry,” he said.
Sara grew teary eyed. “Sorry? You're sorry?”
“What would you have done?” Leon asked.
“You lied to me,” Sara snapped. “And worse you told no one about Nibiru. All this time, you knew. You knew, Leon and you didn't say a damn thing!”
Leon lowered his head in shame.
Sara turned, glaring in anger. “You said sunlight wouldn't kill them.”
Leon stood by the window opposite of Sara. “Okay, it probably will. But good luck getting them anywhere near it. They avoid it like the plague.”
“What about you, your Vesuvian Starlight?”
“I tried, once,” Leon answered. “Almost killed myself.”
“But did it work?”
Leon shook his head. “The other guy just got a bad sunburn. I can't generate the light needed to kill them. It takes too much out of me, and I'm no good to Rhea if I'm dead.”
“There has to be a way,” Sara insisted.
“If you have any ideas, I'm all ears,” Leon said. “But short of taking the sun and throwing it at them, I doubt anything else is going to work.”
“What about Nibiru?”
“I wouldn't worry about him.”
“What?” Sara said in shock. “You know what he's capable of. You know that at any time he feels like it, he can erase our entire world.”
Leon seemed like he wanted to laugh. “Please trust me. Nibiru won’t do it.”
“What makes you so sure?” Sara asked.
“Think about it,” said Leon. “If he uses the Shadow Seed, then he changes me as well. And where does that leave him? He needs me to join him as a Myrmidon.”
Sara was at a loss for words. She didn't think of Leon as the egotistic type. Though at the same time, she couldn't argue with him. There was a certain sense of logic to his chutzpah.
Leon moved close to Sara. “As long as I'm around, we'll be fine.”
Too mad to even look at Leon, Sara walked away and sat on the couch. “What happens when Nibiru changes his mind and decides he doesn't need you?”
“It won’t come to that,” Leon said confidently.
“How can you possibly say that?” Sara asked. “How do you know?”
“Nibiru would have done it by now. If he could have gone somewhere else, we wouldn't be here right now.”
Sara leaned over, running her hands through her hair. “Just tell me one thing, Leon. If and when that Shadow Seed is hanging over your head, what are you going to do?”
Before Leon could answer, a portal opened with Lilith stepping through. “Are we ready to go back to Vesuvia?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Leon said. “The second we go through, the Kanara will know everything Nibiru told Sara. They can’t read me because I was made with the Council’s blood.”
“They need to know,” Sara demanded. “Everyone has a right to know.”
Lilith closed the portal and stepped away.
“What for,” Leon asked. “Telling them won't help anything. It'll make it worse.”
Sara was feeling more stressed by the second. “Maybe there's something that can be done. Something you haven't thought of.”
“No,” Leon said. “We've both seen what Nibiru is, what he can do.”
“You have to tell them, Leon,” Sara countered. “Doesn't it bother you at all that the whole world is fighting and dying for you?”
The coldness in Leon’s eyes was reflected in his tone. “Let them die. It’s better than living in fear the rest of their lives. They'd all be slaves right now if it weren't for me.”
A strange silence filled the room. The kind you get when everyone is beside themselves.
Knowing what the argument was about, Lilith wanted nothing to do with it.
Sara got up, slowly walking toward Leon. “Did you ever think of joining Nibiru? Do you think he’d spare the rest of us if you just give him what he wants?”
Leon barely gave the idea a second thought. “No, and I can't say what Nibiru will do, but I'm not taking any chances.”
After another short moment of silence, Lilith opened a portal. “Maybe I should come back.”
“Forget it,” Sara said. “Do Leon a favor and send me to New Haven. There’s no point in fighting anymore.”
In an instant, the sight of Sara being so upset made Leon begin to question himself. He gently grabbed her by the arm when she began moving toward the portal.
Depressed and angry, Sara pulled away.
“Please wait,” Leon begged. “You're right. And I'm sorry if I hurt you. I’d take it back if I could. You have to believe that I was only trying to protect everyone. But you're right. I should have
told them.”
Lilith stood by Leon. “Do you know what you're saying? Sara, I understand your concerns, but trust me. People can easily lose all resolve if they believe there is no hope.”
“No,” Leon said. “I can't do this alone. Not anymore. Send us to Vesuvia. The Council will need to see what Sara saw.”
Doubtful, Lilith changed her portal’s destination with a mere thought. “Good luck.”
Back in his house, Leon stood patiently a short distance from the front door as Sara sat at the table and waited.
Minutes went by.
Angry with Leon as she was, Sara didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. She sobbed as her thoughts of Nibiru and the Shadow Seed raced uncontrollably through her head. Thoughts she knew would be used against Leon.
It wasn't long until Leon sensed several people approaching. The door swung open with Marus and Helen entering with a few others escorting them.
Marus strolled right up to Leon. “Have you peeked outside your window recently?”
Helen sat with Sara. “The Council wishes to express their deepest apologies. I promise we will do all we can to find a solution. And don't worry about Leon. We're not quite as unforgiving as you think.”
Sara said nothing as she simply stared at the table.
Parting the curtains slightly, Leon could see his home completely surrounded by fellow Vesuvians. It didn't look like an angry mob, but they didn't seem too happy either.
“Leon, you fool,” Marus said. “Over half the city knows your little secret. You should have told the Council at least. The elders are up in arms.”
Leon scanned the crowd. “There was no need to cause a panic. Take my word that these people are either not going to fight anymore, or they’re going to try to cut a deal with the Pelasgians.”
Marus put his hand on Leon’s shoulder. “Right now may not be the best time to be in the city. You need to get out. Take Sara back to New Haven. Hopefully, everyone will have simmered down by the time you return.”
“Do you really think I was wrong?” Leon asked.
“Between you and me, no,” Marus answered. “But I have to play the uptight politician. You, you're in a tight spot. There's absolutely no way we can guarantee your safety. Not with everything going on. The Council has to focus on the Pelasgians.”
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