“He was up there.” I said, pointing back to the capital.
He stared at me for a second; the implications of what I told him began to sink in. I saw his shoulders slump as the weight of the situation fell heavily on him.
Another fighter, one who looked more seasoned and almost cut from a mold made to build warriors stepped forward.
“It is as I have said. He is gone, we must move forward. The chaos must be brought under control, we are now exposed, and decisions need to be made.” I saw a few others surrounding him, nodding in agreement.
Jessif sighed deeply; he also had a small group of supporters.
“Yes, I agree, but we cannot do it with force, we have to be compassionate.” It seemed like they were having an internal dispute for the future of Atlantis.
“Compassion only goes so far. We also have to deal with the remaining soldiers. They will not be dissuaded with nice words.” He argued.
I saw Jessif sigh deeply, rubbing his nose.
“I hate to interrupt, but I need to speak with Jessif there for a second.” I said, as all eyes turned on me.
“Yes, of course. Please give me a moment.” He said to the warrior who eyed me sharply then nodded once.
“What is it? I’m busy.” He said.
“I can see that. I need to know where Kim and Arendiol are. Brigand said they would be kept safe. I have to see them.” I said.
Jessif nodded. “They are about a block that way, with the rest of our families.” He said, pointing behind him.
“Thanks.” I said, turning to leave.
“Wait, where are you going, you are needed here.” He said, grabbing my arm.
I slowly pulled away, looking at him sharply.
“You have this under control, you know more about what’s best for your people than I do. I have a promise to keep. I’m going home and I’m taking Kim and Arendiol with me.” I said.
“That cannot be allowed. No one is permitted to leave. Not until we can access our situation.” Warrior said.
I turned to him, facing him squarely. “I’m leaving. No one will stop me. Do you understand?” I said to him.
“You will not leave.” He said, motioning to his men, who began to take a step towards me.
“Stop!” Jessif's voice had lost its previous uncertainty.
“What are you doing? That is the same mentality that led us here. That is how the Warlord operated. That is not our way. Remember it was you who came to me, looking for a different course.” He said, glaring at the warrior.
The large soldier looked at me for a few more seconds then turned his gaze on Jessif, seeing something there. He then visibly relaxed.
“Fine, let him go. We don’t need him anyway.” He said. His men too backed off.
I nodded my thanks to Jessif and then left, leaving him and his friends to decide the course of Atlantis.
“Jack!” Kim said as she saw me walking towards them.
She was outside with Arendiol and a large group of others, those who were old or injured.
She ran up to me and I knelt down, hugging her tightly. As she reached me, something about the way she smelled staggered me.
Smell is a primitive sense, one that could convey tons of information and something that had been ignored for so long, especially since mankind moved into cities and no longer feared the large predators that hunted him. In the brain, smell is linked to memory so that even a whiff of a familiar odor can bring back memories of childhood.
I held her at arm’s length, studying her face, looking at the structure of her brows and nose, the way her mouth quirked up on one side and I realized this is what my mom would have looked like when she was a kid. Not my biological mom, the queen, but the one who raised me, the one who loved me and who I trusted.
It was then that I realized why I loved Kim so much, why I had grown so fond of her so quickly, why she tugged at my heart. She was my mother, a clone who was made to worm her way into my soul.
I watched her smile, “What is it?” She asked.
I realized all that didn’t matter.
“Nothing, let’s get out of here.” I said.
“About time.” She answered.
A small trek through the city later and we finally made it to the tunnels that had led Neal and I into Atlantis. I wasn’t sure if the tunnels would still be intact after everything, but knew if they were, we would be able to get to where we were going, now that everything was above water.
In an amazing act of stubbornness, the tunnel remained intact and I led Kim and Arendiol through, exiting on the newly formed beach that surrounded the city.
I had to squint for a few minutes while my eyes adjusted, the clear breeze blew my hair back and its freshness was a relief. I hadn’t realized how stale the air in the enclosed city had become, but now that I was outside the difference was obvious.
Even though we were on a large island, on which sat Atlantis, didn’t mean we wanted to stay there. Since getting back to the mainland would require a trip of hundreds of miles we needed a way to get home without swimming.
I wasn’t sure how much of the surrounding sea floor would be lifted with the city, but knew that our transportation would be near. I saw the submarine sitting about fifty feet from the beach, it sat in water that covered half of its surface, the waves lapping at its hull.
The water all around was muddy as the violent and enormous feat of creating an island this size in such a small amount of time had stirred up the ocean for miles around. Thousands of birds circled overhead, diving into the water to pick off the myriad number of organisms that had been disturbed by Atlantis’s ascension.
I held Kim’s hand and just stood looking out over the water, taking a deep breath of the air, reveling in the purity of it, basking in the warmth of the sun.
My tranquility was destroyed by a voice, a voice that screamed one name, “RAAAIIPPHHHHAAAIIIIIMMM!”
I leaned down to Kim, “I want you and Arendiol to get in the sub, if anything happens to me, I want you to take the sub and get to the mainland. Do you understand?” I asked, speaking with heavy intent, looking her right in the eye.
She looked at me and then over my shoulder. Arendiol was also looking that way, her face had gone pale and she hugged herself. I made eye contact with her, projecting the seriousness of my words.
She came over and took Kim’s hand. Before they left Kim turned to me and said, “One more time.”
I took a deep breath and stood up, turning around.
Warlord Karakatos had probably seen better days.
His armor was cracked across his chest and on one leg. He stood, favoring the cracked one. His eyes were filled with hatred and his face was covered in a myriad of cuts and bruises. He stood with his trident fully extended, using it as a crutch. His whole body was covered in dust and dirt. He looked just like I felt.
On either side of him stood ten soldiers, twenty in all. Each one of them held a very powerful looking firearm, obviously of Atlantean design. They all stood at rapt attention, their weapons looked ready to be used.
“YOUU!” He took a step forward, ignoring his leg and holding his trident with both hands.
“You will pay for what you’ve done. You have made quite a mess, but all is not lost. First, in order to establish order, the agent of chaos must be destroyed.” He said, snarling the words.
“I take it that the agent of chaos is me?” I asked, focusing my mind and breathing, taking all my pain and fatigue and putting it in a box.
“I will kill you, and then I will bring your body back with me, to display it on the rubble of the capital. That way everyone will know what happens when they defy my will. All will see, all will understand.” He recited, without a hint of doubt.
“Do you ever just shut up?” I asked.
“You are right.” He said, focusing solely on me. “The time for talk is over.”
He moved with the same confident quickness I had witnessed earlier. His leg seemed to not be as badly hurt a
s I had assumed, or maybe he just hid it, like I did.
His trident raced for my head and I blocked it, careful not to get my sword caught in its prongs. I thought about bringing my pistol out, but I wasn’t sure if it had been damaged and feared it might blow up in my face when I pulled the trigger.
He swept the butt of his trident upwards, faster than I could counter. I spun and brought my elbow up, letting the brunt of his attack hit my forearm, instead of my chin. Pain swept through my arm and it tingled numbly from the impact, but I kept moving, swinging low, forcing him to move onto the defense.
He had lost a step somewhere, perhaps it was his injuries, or it was the psychological impact of me destroying his immediate plans of world war. Whatever it was it had slowed him, just a fraction. I was used to fighting through pain and injury, and his loss only fueled me.
I went after the side of him that was injured and watched him move, seeing how he defended against my attacks and how he shifted to offense when he could. Our fight was fast and nasty, but neither one of us gave an inch. After we had each landed a few minor, but painful hits we stepped back, taking a breather.
I watched him as he took a moment to get his wind back and for the first time I examined his armor. It had blunted my sword a few times allowing him to shrug off an otherwise debilitating strike. I noticed it looked like normal armor, with hard to see seams at the joints, places that I assumed would be weak, places I could attack.
I almost slapped myself for being so dumb. It was something I should have noticed earlier, something I should have seen, no matter. I saw it now.
He leveled his trident at me, smiling mischievously, then without warning he did something on the shaft and one of the forked ends shot from it and flew at me, giving me no time to react before the metal spike sunk into my shoulder, causing pain to race through me.
I yelled out in pain and put that shoulder behind me as the Warlord came in with confidence and the look of someone who knows how it’s all going to end splashed across his face.
He thrust the trident at me again, but this time instead of attacking his body, I went after the chinks in his armor, bringing my blade across the inside of his elbow and felt as my sword cut through skin and muscle.
This time it was his turn to scream out and he spun the trident, keeping me from pressing. He switched hands as blood dripped from his elbow and from mine. We both stood there for a second, our blood hitting the ground the only sounds that could be heard.
His face was now one of pain and uncertainty, he looked to his left and right, knowing his honor and reputation depended on the outcome of this fight.
He snarled and raced back at me, bringing everything he had, thrusting, stabbing, punching and kicking, forcing me back. I managed to hold him off and when he spun, trying to kick my head I dropped and stabbed his knee, sinking four inches of my blade into the delicate joint.
He dropped to one knee and I brought my sword overhead, swinging it down again, holding it with both hands as he held his trident up, in a desperate bid to block me. My sword made contact with his trident and the power of my swing shattered his weapon, sending small pieces of metal everywhere.
He cringed from my sheer aggression and began to scramble away, holding his hand up in surrender.
“Wait! Wait!” He said, his voice stopped my killing stroke.
“There is one more thing you have forgotten.” He said.
“Please enlighten me.” I said, knowing he was beaten.
“My men know what it takes to bring about order. FIRE!” He said, as all twenty soldiers raised their weapons, aiming for me.
From behind me I heard what reminded me of Atlantean rifle blasts, only much louder and the ten men on the right were ripped apart as Arendiol, piloting the submarine, fired its assault cannon at them, providing me the protection I needed.
The scene erupted into chaos as everyone scrambled for protection from the sub’s superior firepower. I raced towards the Warlord, who was limping away, his leg and arm streaming blood.
“Hey, asshole!” I yelled, stopping him.
“You forgot one thing.” He looked at me like I was crazy.
“Don’t fuck with my family.” I answered bringing my sword across in a clean stroke, separating his head from his shoulders.
I didn’t wait to see how his men reacted as I spun towards the water and ran. Hoping one of them didn’t shoot me in the back. I managed to get all the way to the water’s edge when a sharp pain erupted in my calf and I dove underwater, trying to hide from them. I swam in a few feet of water as Arendiol continued to pound the shore with the sub’s weapons. My leg wasn’t responding like it should and I feared what kind of damage had been done, but I kept going, quickly making it around to the back of the vehicle.
The sub’s door opened and I hurried inside as it closed behind me. I slumped to the floor as all the pain and hurt of the last few days settled over me. My exhaustion finally took its toll and my vision dwindled as I let it all in.
“Jack, oh my god, your leg.” I heard Kim say as she came near.
“It’s cool, tis merely a flesh wound.” I said, before once again, passing out.
I awoke to pain, everywhere. I was lying on the floor of the sub; Kim lay next to me, her head resting on my shoulder. Her snoring was soft and her chest moved up and down in a steady rhythm. It was dark and quiet. I tried not to wake her as I sat up, my shoulder screamed as I used it, but I managed to get up.
I looked down at my leg and saw my skin suit was sealed, which was a good thing.
“You shouldn’t try and move.” Arendiol said from the pilot’s console.
“You could reopen your wounds.” Her voice was soft and filled with care.
“How bad is it?” I asked, keeping my voice down.
“It looked worse than it was. A lot of bleeding, some muscle damage, nothing a little rest can’t fix.” I saw her staring at me, or at Kim and me and something in her eyes became soft.
“Thank you, for you know, saving us.” She said, her eyes met mine and I felt the temperature rise about ten degrees.
I coughed and turned away. “Yeah, well, I wasn’t doing anything anyway.”
She smiled again, this time our eye contact lasted for a few long moments. Kim stirred and I went still, hoping not to wake her.
“So where are we?” I asked.
“We’re about ten miles off the coast of Texas. I wasn’t sure about approaching, there seems to be a large military presence amassing off shore.” She answered, looking at the sub’s screen.
“Well, I guess that was inevitable.” I knew it wouldn’t take long for the world’s nations to be interested in a new island surfacing, complete with a whole city and population.
“I wouldn’t worry about it; Neal said this craft is undetectable by modern technology. We should be able to approach a river and travel upstream for a while.” I said, laying back down, letting sleep take me.
My mind kept trying to wrap itself around the idea of Neal being a “said” and not a “says”. I already felt an empty hole inside, the space that Neal used to fill.
“Hey, put that down, you aren’t ready to be carrying things that heavy yet.” Kim said, hurrying over to take the box I was trying to unload from the van we had rented.
“Okay, okay.” I said, feeling helpless.
Reaching over I grabbed my cane, it helped keep the weight off my leg while it healed. It was taking a little longer than usual, but Arendiol thought it might be because of all the trauma my body had sustained. Even with my Atlantean healing, it still took time to regrow a portion of my calf.
I looked around my new place; the cool humid air coming in through the open windows was refreshing. I could smell the ocean, which was only a few blocks away, living in Miami offered many things that Oklahoma City did not, namely the ocean.
The sound of the nightly news came across the room, the anchor still talking about the most amazing story of the century. He was analyzing the military’s
latest reports about the strange city that just appeared off the coast a month ago. A city some were speculating to actually be the Lost City of Atlantis, other experts were claiming that it was the first wave of an alien invasion. Still others said it was the Russians, or even terrorists, plotting an attack.
Media helicopters were kept out of the airspace due to national security, so the reports about the island came only from the “official” government channels, and those few brave souls who flew planes or boats across the military’s lock down.
I went to shut off the television, when I heard a knock at the door.
Arendiol was out getting some things for dinner and Kim was busy in her room, decorating and playing with her new puppy. I couldn’t have separated them if I tried.
“I’ll get it.” I said out loud, to no one in particular.
I used my cane and hobbled over to the door, reaching over and checking the familiar weight of my pistol in its sheath under my arm, the cloaking pin keeping it hidden from sight. I never went anywhere without either it or my sword. Kim said I was too paranoid, but I called it insurance. I knew what Neal would say, he’d say it was practical.
I opened the door, and was greeted by a man in dirty clothes. My first instinct was that he was a panhandler, tired of asking for money on the street and was now going door to door. He had his head down, his dark hair hung over his face, his shoulders were slumped in defeat, but his frame was obviously robust, it was an odd combination of strength and surrender.
“I hear you can find lost things.” His voice was low, something about it tugged at me.
“I’ve found items that people needed, but these days I’m mostly hired to find people, people that are missing.” I answered. “Although I just opened shop here, how did you hear about me?”
“Are you good at it?” He asked, ignoring my question.
“Yeah, I’m pretty good.” I answered, something about him seemed familiar.
He stood up and looked at me, his eyes held a deep intelligence that I immediately recognized. However his face was covered in a month of unkempt beard and his hair was in dire need of a cut, yet it still held the rich black color I had grown used to.
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