Moontide

by Amanda V. Shane

With that cryptic order, Ronan turned and scrambled for the far side of the stables to the bemusement of Finn and James. He didn’t want her to see him, didn’t want to risk being near her. Just as he rounded the stables to where he couldn’t be seen from the hill, he heard Cully’s voice ring out.

  “Good morning to ye friends. I found a wayward fairy princess wandering about.”

  Cindy laughed at Cully’s description of her and Ronan halted in his retreat to steal a look around the side of the building. Cully held her hand gallantly on his arm. Gods! He wanted to rip her away from his friend’s grasp. A grinding sound caught his attention and he had to force himself to relax his jaw when he realized it was his teeth.

  She was wearing a soft blue scarf from one of the chitons tied around her neck to form a top that left her arms and shoulders bare. The gray gemstone from his ship hung from her neck. On her lower half, she had donned those same tiny bloomer type pants that revealed more of her long golden legs than they covered. He had distinct memories of those legs wrapped around him on his ship and his groin tightened thinking of them. He clenched his fists. She wasn’t making it easy for him to stay away from her.

  “It’s a fine day for a stroll,” he heard James say. “Did you make it around to the back side of the villa?”

  James glanced towards the stables and Ronan ducked back behind the structure before they all noticed him peeking at them. Fool, hadn’t James picked up on the idea that Ronan didn’t want her to find him there? Just then, a wet snuffling sounded in his ear and he jumped. The stallion had come over to investigate.

  “Not yet,” Cindy was saying, “actually, I had just barely made it outside when I saw Cully. Have any of you seen Ronan around?”

  James, ever helpful, piped up.

  “Actually you just mi…aagh,” Finn shunted him with one big shoulder, effectively cutting off his words.

  Ronan leaned sideways a bit more to see better.

  His mates looked at one another then back at her with wide-eyed innocence and shook their heads mumbling that they hadn’t seen him. Ronan rolled his eyes skyward. They were such bad liars! The horse nosed his shoulder and he batted at it.

  “Go,” he commanded the stallion in a harsh whisper but the animal just gave him another damp nudge, this time with more force.

  Ronan caught himself against the building with a thump. All eyes jerked to the stables at the sound and he jumped back out of sight.

  “Waster,” he hissed through his teeth but the beast only dropped his head, butting Ronan’s thigh out of the way and started to chomp loudly at the pile of hay he was standing in.

  “You’ll be the fattest nag in the stable,” Ronan remarked under his breath. The horse’s only response was a huff through its nose.

  He stole another glimpse at Cindy, relieved to find his men steering her back toward the villa, although he didn’t miss the look of disapproval Finn shot over his shoulder. He’d explain things later. First, he had to figure out what kind of information the crystal Poseidon had given him could conjure up. He pulled the thing from his waistband and examined it. It looked worthless. He wondered what rituals would have to be performed to make it work. The god hadn’t felt it necessary to elaborate beyond hurling the thing at him.

  He pushed away from the stable and walked away from the horse only to collide into something else after half a step. A sharp jerk of his head brought him face to face with a pair of glinting yellow eyes.

  He started for his knife on impulse just as the creature spoke.

  “Captain,” it said bowing its head, “or Anax rather.”

  The term jogged something in his brain, it meant king in Atlantean. The realization halted him in his tracks and it took him a moment longer than it should have to recognize his serpent friend.

  “Krav, what are you doing here? I thought you were on earth.”

  “I was but I got called back on business,” the demon bent his head to indicate the stick Ronan held.

  “Poseidon sent you?” Ronan asked.

  Krav shook his head.

  “No, another, but it doesn’t matter who. We’re all on the same team here.”

  Ronan wrinkled his brow but Krav went on.

  “My mistress sent me to help you unravel the mystery of your heritage,” again, his yellow eyes glanced at the crystal, “she saw that the great sea god had given you the device but not the means to operate it. One of the complications of omnipotence is that, sometimes, you have a hard time breaking things down,” Krav shrugged, “he tried.”

  “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

  Ronan had never known the demon to be so vague.

  “Come with me and you will,” Krav said, then, caught himself, “that is, if it pleases you, Anax.”

  He bent his torso into an elegant bow of deference, it was so at odds with the devilish character that Ronan knew, that he nearly choked.

  “Umm, yes, that is it does and stop calling me that!”

  Krav smiled.

  “Whatever you say, Captain. Come on, we need to bring you up to speed before all hell, essentially, breaks loose.”

  Ronan shook his head and followed the demon away from the stables.

  “What happened to the mustache, serpent, it went well with your forked tongue.”

  Krav didn’t break stride or turn around to respond, he just raised his hand, one finger extended in a time honored gesture that, for some reason, Ronan found both irreverent and comforting at the same time.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  The Mountain

  Trent bolted upright, sucking in a sharp breath. His eyes popped open just as something wet fell into his lap. He was wet all over, in fact, and so was the bed beneath him. He tried to stop his chest from heaving as consciousness stole in to clear away the dream he’d just had. A chill racked his body. It had been snowing on the mountain for days but that had nothing to do with the cold he felt now.

  With his eyes still closed, he tried to cling to the images from the dream. This nightmare had rocked him but its details were already slipping away. He rubbed his hand over his face, trying to grasp at the meaning of the terrible visions. There wasn’t any time to wait. He needed clarity now but all he could get were garbled flashes of his sister and demons and people dying.

  “You’re awake.” Leslie said from his doorway. She walked into his room and set a mug of something down on a file cabinet that served as a nightstand.

  Trent grunted and shook off another chill.

  “You have a fever this time,” she noted and pulled the wet washcloth out of his lap.

  She sat on the bed facing him. Her heavy dark hair was swept up into a ponytail that made her eyes stand out. Concern filled her features.

  “Do you remember anything,” she asked.

  Trent stared across the room. He narrowed his eyes, straining to recall something, anything. He was trying too hard.

  Finally, he let out a breath and shook his head.

  “Nothing,” he said.

  “Don’t worry, it will come. Here drink this,” Leslie put the mug in his hands.

  He sipped, making a face then thunked the mug back down on the cabinet.

  “What are the others doing?” He asked.

  “Just waiting mainly,” she said. “Shep called from the road, I guess they had to wait out some rain on the way into Miami. Simms is trying to figure out what’s going on with the storm that’s revving up down in the vortex and we’re all sitting tight here under the mountain while it snows.”

  Trent nodded.

  “Snow on the mountain,” he said absently, nothing strange about that.

  Then it struck him like a thunderbolt. Pain seared his skull like a hot lance and he flinched. His hands flew up to either side of his head. Then it was all there. A collision of the oceans crashed before him as he re-saw the dream all at once. Snow and smoke, fire like water, a black flood and his sister lying dead. But, this time, she didn’t rise up again to take on the form of the moon
goddess like she always did in his dreams. End death.

  “Trent!”

  The vision snapped to a close and Leslie’s face came into focus.

  “Are you alright?” She was asking him over and over. He blinked and gave his head a shake.

  “Yeah, I’m good,” he answered. “We have to go.”

  “Go where? We’re in the middle of a blizzard.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” he said, “we have to get to Miami. Everything’s about to go down, I just saw it all.”

  “Are you sure?”

  He nodded.

  “We’re about to lose our princess for good. If that happens…”

  “The Great Destruction begins,” Leslie finished.

  It was prophecy. One of many that the Keepers were privy to but, for them, it was the main one.

  “Okay,” Leslie swallowed, “what do we do?”

  Trent was already off the bed and getting dressed.

  “Throw some things together.”

  “What about her cats?” Leslie said, at a loss.

  There it was Trent thought, that reluctance to believe that this was actually happening in their time.

  “Leave them here. They’ll give Simm’s something to stare at besides a screen.

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Cindy hadn’t seen Ronan in days and he hadn’t come back to his room at night either. She’d lain in his massive bed all alone. Well not entirely alone, her little lightening-bug friends had shown up to visit her again that first night. She’d seen them earlier that day too, deep in the middle of the garden. When she’d pointed them out to Cully, he’d been amazed by their appearance.

  “They seem to fancy you,” he’d said.

  “Moon sprites,” had been his answer when she’d asked what they were.

  “I saw them earlier today too,” she’d told him, “inside the villa.”

  That had caught the Irishman’s attention. He’d looked at her wide-eyed.

  “Really, they were all around me as soon as I woke up.”

  “I believe ye mistress. It’s just that they don’t usually come near people. We rarely see them.”

  “Well, they were all over me. What did you call them again?”

  “Moon sprites, they’re not native to the island. From what we’ve been told, this is the only sea isle that they reside on. Legend says they’re from a far away land but who knows? I’m just surprised that they came close to you.”

  She hadn’t thought anymore of it but later on, she was glad to see the little creatures again before she went to bed. All that night she’d tossed and turned, alert to every sound, hoping that Ronan would come slinking back into his room in the dark.

  “What is wrong with me,” she had muttered to herself, “I just met the guy. Just because we had sex doesn’t mean we have to spend every waking second together.”

  Even though, it had been cataclysmic sex, in her opinion. Granted, she was an inexperienced judge but, on an Olympic scale, she gave them tens all around. And then there was all that crazy chemistry and the weird déjà vu moments when they were together. As strange and terrifying as her life had been since she’d plowed into Ronan that night at the bar, her world had never felt so right and she craved him.

  It didn’t help that he was the only man she’d ever been able to get close to, physically and emotionally. Or that he’d whispered things like ‘mine’ and ‘forever’ in her ear during those intimate times they’d shared. With each passing moment though, doubt crept in and gained a foothold on her heart. What if he didn’t feel the same way she did?

  Of course he didn’t, he was centuries older than her and lived on a freaking mythical island! They were, literally, from two different worlds. He’d needed her help surviving the Tides and she’d naively obliged.

  She had almost died, in her own defense, but she would have done it no matter the circumstances, because a universe without Ronan in it didn’t bear considering. Whether he felt the connection between them or not, she’d fallen in love with him even though they’d only known each other about ten minutes and she hated him for leaving her alone. That made her feel even worse about herself. Who was the old fashioned one here believing in love at first sight and all that garbage? She stared up at the gauzy canopy on the bed and worried, then she made excuses for him, then she cursed herself for making excuses for him, then she worried some more.

  ***

  Ronan had been sneaking around his own island for three days. Not very king-like, he decided, but that didn’t bother him as much as the hurt look he’d seen on Cindy’s face the one time their eyes had met and he’d made himself turn away. Staying away from her was torture but he knew he couldn’t be alone with her, especially not after the things he’d learned.

  Krav had shown him how to work the crystal that Poseidon had given him to throw images and whole scenes from the past up on the wall. He’d spent hours watching.

  Visions of himself as the blood hungry King Gadeiros were etched in his memory. The king he’d once been had spent every waking moment waging battle just for the sport of it.

  Ronan had left off watching his past and called a meeting with his men in the villa’s war room. Now that he’d seen King Gadeiros in action, the room’s presence in the villa made perfect sense.

  “Thank you all for meeting with me today,” he started out saying as his crew gathered around a table in the center of the room, “I have matters to discuss with you.”

  Bewildered looks passed between them.

  “As you know, we have a new influx of underworld demons invading the island.”

  “Hardly a worry Captain,” Cully broke in, “we’ll deal with them as we do all the others.”

  All the men nodded in agreement as Ronan went on.

  “Our task from Poseidon is to stop the Miserians from entering the earth realm through the Tides. We must keep a constant watch for any underworld beings. I have a feeling that our work on that front could get much harder very soon. Your task from me is to keep watch over the woman, keep her safe from the demons, the gods…even from me.”

  Their looks turned to confusion at that.

  “From you?” James repeated.

  “Aye,” Ronan nodded, “my encounter with Poseidon revealed many things, one of which is that…I am not the man you all thought me to be.”

  They started to protest but he stayed them with a hand and went on.

  “I am not even the man I thought myself to be, I need your help in keeping Cindy from harm at all costs.”

  They mumbled their assurances that, of course, they would defend her against any danger.

  “But why would we need to protect her from you?” Will asked.

  Ronan sighed under his breath. His men deserved to know all that he knew.

  “When Poseidon came to the island,” he said, “he made the circumstances of the curse I bear very clear.”

  The men shifted in their chairs at the mention of Thema’s curse and the torture their captain endured at her hands.

  “Tis good news for all of you, for it seems that that which I thought had been wrought by Thema never was. If she wasn’t able to affect an ill state on me, then all of you shall be safe as well. The curse I bear is beyond any Nereid’s capabilities. It is a matter of birth.”

  Before any of them could give voice to their confusion, he went on to describe everything that Poseidon had told him about Atlantis and even all the new information he was learning from the crystal image maker. When he was done, they sat silent not knowing how to go on until Will spoke up.

  “So, ehm, what do we call you now?” He looked at Ronan then at his friends but none of them said anything. “I mean now that you’re a..uh…a king? My liege? Your Highness? Your Royal Greatness…”

  By now, the men were snickering around the table and Ronan’s face broke into a wide grin just before they all burst into full out laughter.

  “What?” Will asked. “What did I say? I mean he’s the son of a god now for fuck’s
sake.”

  This gave way to another round of laughter before Ronan cleared his throat.

  “Just Captain will do, Will, or Ronan for that matter. I will go on as I always have before. I just may have a few more duties to perform for Poseidon than usual. We all will I suspect.”

  He was still their captain, still the same man...he hoped.

  As for Cindy, each one of them agreed to protect her with his life.

  “I worry she may be a target of the Miserians after all that happened on earth. Poseidon has vowed to return for her as well. I don’t know where the safest place for her might be but see that she stays away from the water.”

  The men all assured him of their support in this endeavor then dispersed to comb the island, once again, for any sign of intruders.

  Finn stayed behind.

  “You should tell her Ronan.”

  Ronan shook his head.

  “No, I need to steer clear of her until I can find a way to send her back to earth safe.”

  “The demons will find her there easily if they are looking, she’s safer with you and you know it. You need to tell her who you are and all that Poseidon said.”

  Ronan glanced at his friend then shook his head again.

  “I must stay away from her. Even looking at her causes the beast inside me to awaken, each time, it gets stronger. I’ve seen who I am Finn, a man of violence. I can’t trust myself around her.”

  “Are you certain it’s the beast inside that responds to her and not the one without,” he looked down between them at Ronan’s crotch then back up and quirked a ruddy brow.

  Ronan scoffed.

  “Of course there’s that but it’s more than just lust with her.”

  Finn half-smiled still unconvinced.

  “It’s the fury that comes over me, just like in battle but it’s even stronger. The visions…if you could see what’s inside my head, Finn, then you would agree with me.”

  “All I know is that, a woman with ill-conceived notions left to ferment inside her mind is more dangerous than any beast, man or demon. You should tell her all that you know. She came through the Tides with you Ronan; I think she’s proven herself to be open-minded. Besides, what woman wouldn’t want a king in her bed?”