The Last Archon

by Richard Watts

  “We see you, Bel-Tarran, son of Talovir and Anar, Warbreaker, Painkeeper, Hearthslayer. We honor you as worthy of our enmity. You invoke the Pact Adamant, as is your right. We invoke the price, as is ours.

  “Long is Atlantis vanquished by your power, yet Atlantean blood must be given. Who will pay for the knowledge that you seek?”

  Deckard considered his words carefully. “You will take only that which the Pact offers you, no more, no less. I will need one year to complete arrangements. At that time, I will return and offer you what you require in acknowledgment of your victory.”

  “What price will you provide that we would wait so long to achieve it?”

  “The last Knight of Atlantis.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “You’re kidding me,” Vivian said.

  “Nope.”

  “Isn’t that hard to pull off?”

  “Not when you can make a ramp of light and drive it straight onto the roof of the school. Getting the keys was the hardest part.”

  Vivian and Hayden sat on the restaurant veranda, under a roof of ivy and dark stained wood. Heat lamps, well-positioned between the tables, warded off the evening chill. Hayden had been a gentleman and given her his jacket. Hot soup and warm bread had helped, too. They’d talked about everything: family, music, school, travel. Somehow, she’d asked about his first case.

  “What did he do when he saw it?”

  “Oh, he was furious. He called the cops in, demanded that students come forward with information.”

  “Did they know it was you?”

  “Nah. I was careful, and I wore gloves. Besides, the best part was I locked the keys in the car. They had to scratch his precious Porche to get back in.”

  Vivian smiled at his smug tone. “All that for a pretty face?”

  Hayden grinned sheepishly, then it melted into something decidedly more wolfish.

  “Well...you know how it is for guys. Launch a thousand ships, commit grand theft auto, fight werewolves.”

  Vivian blinked in mock surprise. “Hey, now. I helped.”

  “Does driving like a madwoman count?”

  “At least I didn’t pass out.”

  “That’s right, you weren’t shot. Because…?” Hayden waited with one eyebrow arched and that cocky grin back in place.

  Vivian shook her head. “Oooh, wrong question. And tonight was going so well for you, too.” She took a sip of her wine and smiled from behind the glass as Hayden sputtered and blushed.

  Movement inside caught her attention. A waiter seated a group near the window, all in business attire. Vivian noticed a tall, trim man in a dark suit was pulling out a chair for one of the women. She wore a navy dress with white trim and a saffron scarf. Her dark hair hung loose to her shoulders, and she smiled pleasantly at the man seating himself across from her.

  Vivian watched Marcus Wolfe finish assisting the woman and walk out of view. A chill that had nothing to do with the weather crawled up her spine as Mandy Alvarez looked out the window, and Vivian locked eyes with the woman who’d tried to murder her.

  The night paled as light rose in Vivian’s vision. She closed her eyes, floundering with her will, but images began to assault her.

  Alvarez sobbed, moans of loss pouring out of her uncontrollably, unheedingly. She tried to tear her eyes away, but David’s face bound her. He stared sightlessly out of the wall, the fingers of one hand reaching out to her from the brick. They’d warned him not to experiment in house. She’d told him! And still he reached for help with his dead, cold hand.

  Arms wrapped around her, pulling her from the room. She writhed against them, shrieking. She couldn’t leave him there. She had to get to her son!

  Vivian fought her way free. It wasn’t her panic, it wasn’t real. She felt the Axiom welling up again. She tried to stay present, to be here.

  “Vivian?” Hayden leaned in, concern etching his face.

  A wave swept her away.

  She held it in her fingers, watched the light refract off the black skin of the pills. This little drop would have saved her son, made him strong enough to teleport through. It turned the twins into powerhouses instead of berserk beasts. Imagine what it could do once the clinic was up and running, all the people it would help. If only it would bring him back. If only it kept the pain at bay.

  Angrily, she popped the Shard into her mouth.

  Vivian severed the connection, forcing the Axiom away from her thoughts, struggling to breathe. Her vision cleared, revealing Alvarez frowning through the window.

  Oh, hell.

  “Noah.”

  Chains swam groggily up through a medicated haze, struggling to focus. He wasn’t sure where he was, only that the light stabbed at his eyes. A single bright lamp burned directly over him, leaving the rest of the room shrouded in shadow. His mind lurched this way and that; thinking hurt.

  “I’m disappointed, Noah.”

  Chains blinked. A familiar voice. Who? He turned his pounding head. His eyes found a face and slowly focused.

  The voice smiled.

  “Ah, there he is! I was worried you might not be you in there, Noah, which would be a tragedy.” The smile slid off like a shed snakeskin. The voice went flinty.

  “Then who would tell me what happened to my Shard?”

  Chains snarled and jerked, intending to wrap one of his steel whips around the thing’s neck and squeeze the self-righteousness out of him.

  Pain coursed down his left arm, shooting into his ribs and driving the spike in his head deeper. His muscles went rigid, and he held his breath. Eventually, the pain passed and his eyes fluttered open. He looked down to see his own chains holding him down. They wrapped around his medical cot a dozen times over, covering his torso and upper legs, the ends padlocked onto the rails of the bed. They’d strapped down his ankles with padded restraints.

  “Noah, calm down! I know you’re upset, but not to worry. I’m making sure you get the best of care.” Fingers held up a thin tube running from an IV to the bandages covering Chains’ hand. “We even saved some Shard just for you.”

  Fear wrapped its hand around Chains’ heart. “No!” He jerked at his bonds again, thrashing against himself, trying to tear the bed apart. He had to get out, before…

  “Noah. Calm down.”

  Something vast and low rolled in behind the voice. It echoed in his head, and something brushed against him, inside him. Animal panic dulled to human fear, then to surprise, then to mild interest. Chains knew he should be screaming, but the best he could muster was questions.

  “Whadda you want?”

  “Tell me how you let Arclite take the Shard vessel.”

  Chains grunted. “Man, like I just handed it over. I threw him through a window and...” Pain flared in his head as his airway squeezed shut. Chains gasped for breath for a few seconds, before the feeling released and he coughed, sucking cool air in. His head throbbed, and his parched mouth pleaded for water.

  “I don’t care about the manner of your failure. How did he know you had the vessel?”

  “I don’t know! “ Chains wheezed. “He musta’ followed me from a sale.”

  “That could only happen if you went off-script. Noah, did you betray me for side money?”

  The truth welled up Chains’ throat, though he tried to hold it back, shaking his head. “Nnnh...ngh...Yes!”

  “I thought so.” The voice circled the bed as it spoke, gliding out of the darkness like a shark. Someone leaned over from behind Chains, and the voice whispered in his ear. “What do you think we should do about that?”

  “Wadda you want? I’ll get it. I’ll get more Primes. I’ll kill Arclite! Just let me go…”

  “Too late, Noah. You had your chance to hire workers for me. Now you get to build the ark yourself.” The voice laughed. The thing behind the voice slithered inside Chains’ head. It picked up his voice and laughed along.

  Tears dripped from Chains’ chin, and he couldn’t remember why. He watched, unmoving, as the mon
strous voice turned its human face to speak to someone else. The light finally caught the face clearly...

  The vision faded from the cloud of iridescent mist hovering between Deckard’s head and the mask. Tendrils of gem-hued thought receded into the carved amethyst eyes. Deckard blinked and re-oriented himself. If the vision was true, if those thoughts had been Chain’s in the recent past…

  “The boon is given, Knight of Atlantis. Victory is honored with truth.”

  Deckard shoved away fear and impatience. The Axiom quaked beneath his will, but he could show no weakness.

  “I will honor truth with victory.” He adjusted his construct, and a thin blade grew from the top of the staff. He reached up and drew the side of his thumb along the edge. Blood stained the golden weapon. “As I live, my blood shall whet the knives of the Legion. One year and one day from today.”

  “We await the Last of Atlantis.” The eyes of the mask flared with light, and the deep voice dripped with malice. “If you give in to cowardice, the Pact shall rend the flesh from you and the Legion shall follow your soul into the farthest abyss. Our victory shall be complete. We have spoken.”

  The light from the mask flashed, and the eyes went dark. Deckard released the Axiom with a groan and dispelled his armor. He groped for the table edge in the sudden dark and lowered himself to the floor, slumping under the strain. He couldn’t have held on much longer.

  He’d fed the Legion a false prize. There existed no world in which he lived for the next year, but they could not know that. Their hatred would be terrible when they discovered his duplicity, but he would be beyond caring.

  What mattered was now. He fumbled his phone from his pocket and called Hayden.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “Hayden, we have to go. Right now.” Vivian clutched at his hand, but her eyes locked on the window behind him.

  “Why? What’s the matter?”

  “The woman from the clinic is sitting in there with your boss.” Hayden craned his neck around, and sure enough, there sat the nurse that had been on stage with Wolfe the day of the shooting. She laughed at someone’s joke and looked over the menu, the picture of a professional at a business dinner.

  “Okay,” Hayden said as he turned back around. “Has she spotted you yet?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, don’t panic. She can’t do anything to you in a crowded restaurant. We just need to play this one off.”

  “But…”

  Hayden covered Vivian’s hand with his. “Hey, look at me.” Vivian tore her eyes off the window and met Hayden’s gaze. He smiled and squeezed her hand. “I’m not letting her touch you.”

  Vivian gave him a tight flash of a smile but still looked like a nervous rabbit. “What do we do?” she asked.

  “We’ll flag the waiter the next time he comes by and ask for the check. Then we stroll out of here like nothing is wrong.”

  “But what if…”

  “Hey.” Hayden took leaned over the table and lowered his voice. “If you’re serious about being a superhero vigilante, you need to learn to wear a mask as well as a cape, yeah?”

  Vivian gave a nervous chuckle. “You don’t even wear a cape.”

  “I never claimed to be a wardrobe wizard. Look at this shirt.” Hayden watched some of Vivian’s fear melt away.

  The door into the restaurant opened, letting the susurrus of conversation and the tinkling of glasses and silverware spill onto the veranda. A waiter exited, carrying a tray of food to a nearby table. Hayden caught his eye as he returned and asked for the check. The waiter nodded and headed back inside.

  “I’m sorry our night got cut short,” Vivian said.

  Hayden shrugged. “There’ll be other nights.”

  “That sounds like a promise, Mr. Lucas.”

  “It is, Ms. Hale.” He ran a thumb gently over the back of her hand, drinking in those blue eyes.

  The door opened again, and the sounds of the patrons brought Hayden back to reality. He let go of Vivian and accepted the check from the waiter. Vivian fished Deckard’s credit card from her clutch and handed it to him. The waiter took both check and card and vanished back into the bustle.

  Vivian sipped her wine, and Hayden drummed his fingers on the table. Waiting was always the worst part. Vivian kept glancing in the window and Hayden could see the nervousness creeping back in.

  “Hey, what’s your favorite season?”

  Vivian blinked at him. “Really? Twenty questions?”

  “If you want to think about it like that.”

  She arched an eyebrow a bit, then rolled her eyes and said. “Spring, I guess. Flowers and weddings and sunshine without the heat. You?”

  “Fall.”

  “Why?”

  “Cathartic representation of the temporary nature of reality,” Hayden rolled off drolly.

  “Oh, really?”

  “Sure. Also, football and pretty girls in short jackets and tight jeans. But mostly the nature of reality thing.”

  Vivian shook her head, laughing. “You are impossible, you know that?”

  Hayden waggled his eyebrows at her. It was good to see her laugh. The door opened again, and the waiter returned, but with no black check folder.

  “Is everything okay? Was there a problem with the card?”

  “Your meal this evening was taken care of by a third party.” The waiter gestured to the window, and Marcus Wolfe lifted a champagne flute in silent toast to Hayden.

  “Hayden.” The warning was clear in Vivian’s voice. They had to get out of there.

  “Thank you,” he said to the waiter. The man nodded and went to check on the other outside table.

  Hayden turned back to Vivian. “This just got complicated.”

  Vivian was shaking her head, her face pale. “Hayden, no. I can’t just go talk to her.”

  Hayden stood and went to Vivian’s side, gently pulling her to her feet. “It’s two minutes. I thank Mr. Wolfe, we shake hands with some big wigs, and we walk out just like we planned. Two steps instead of one, that’s all.”

  Vivian trembled under his hand. She clutched at Hayden’s arm, pleading at him with her eyes.

  Hayden’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He fished it out and checked the number. Deckard? Hayden mashed “Reject.” There was nothing he wanted to hear from the old man right now.

  Hayden returned his focus to Vivian and nodded in acquiescence. “Alright. You wait here, I’ll go shake a hand or two and be right back.” Vivian sank back into her chair, and her nervous tension visibly eased. Hayden squeezed her hand once in support and then headed inside.

  Wolfe met him a few feet from the large table full of upper-class wealth, smiling like his namesake.

  “Hayden!” He offered Hayden a hand. They traded a quick handshake.

  “Mr. Wolfe, thank you for dinner. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Are you kidding me? I know what I’m paying you.” He smiled at Hayden’s embarrassment. “Least I could do for all the effort you’ve been putting in.”

  He gestured with his champagne flute at the table, where Bernie chatted with an older woman. Several other guests were glancing at Hayden with barely disguised interest, including Mandy Alvarez. “Bernie’s impressed, though he’d never say so. I hope the rest of your extracurriculars are going as well?” He gestured his head toward Vivian out the window. She was on the phone and had turned her face away from them.

  Hayden coughed and tried not to blush. “Well as can be expected. My date’s a bit shy of such a large group.”

  “Understandable. Here, let me introduce you.” Wolfe ushered Hayden around to shake hands and exchange pleasantries with lawyers, a state Representative, a husband and wife pair of doctors, and the provost of Emory University. Hayden kept his smile polite, and his comments bland, until he reached Alvarez, who stood to her feet to greet him.

  “And you may recognize Mandy Alvarez from the opening of her clinic,” Wolfe was saying.

  “So nice to meet you, Hayden.
I’m glad the events at the rally didn’t scare you away.”

  Hayden tried not to let his smile harden. “It takes more than that to rattle me, ma’am. Thank you for your concern.” He offered her a hand.

  “You’re welcome.” The little nurse took his hand in both of her own. She lowered her voice slightly, leaning in close, the picture of concerned motherhood. “I’d be happy to speak with you any time, if you need anything, yes?”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Alvarez released his hand and resumed her seat. Wolfe nodded at his party and steered Hayden back toward the door.

  “Well, now you’re on a first-name basis with some of the city’s best and brightest. I hope that lays some groundwork for the future.”

  “Sir, I thought you were going to be distancing yourself from the Elevation clinic?”

  “Ah, right. Mandy saved it. She gave the most impassioned interview of her life, taking responsibility for flawed hiring and medication controls, going over improvements, highlighting the necessity of the work there. She even talked about her own son’s death which, frankly, amazed me. She never mentions him. From the way she fawned over you, you may remind her of him.”

  “At any rate, she took the heat completely off of the campaign, and that let me highlight two certain paragons of Prime society for the press.”

  Hayden glanced at the table, but Alvarez had turned away.

  “Something wrong?” Wolfe asked.

  “No, nothing.” He pasted on a smile and shook Wolfe’s hand again. “Thank you, sir.”

  Wolfe winked. “You’re welcome.” He raised his voice a bit. “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow. Enjoy your evening.” Wolfe returned to his table.

  “I will, sir.” Hayden waved at Bernie, who returned the wave politely and returned to his conversation partner. When Hayden turned to leave, Vivian had opened the door to the veranda a crack and was pressing herself through.