Maiden of Atlantis

by Maidenofatlantis(Lit)

  They had not gone a block when a woman rushed from the crowd and grasped Thor’s lifeless hand, sobbing. The sound tore at Claire, made her feel like weeping herself, but it jolted her, as well--because except for the splash of the water lapping the quay and the light padding of bare feet against stone, she realized she had not heard a single sound.

  Stunned, she looked around at the people crowding nearby. They wept in silence. Not one spoke—not even the few children she saw.

  It was the silence of a secret world—one without vocal speech, without laughter, without singing, without music. How could they bear the silence? How could they live without laughter and music?

  Or did they? It hadn’t occurred to her until that moment that she was accustomed to listening with her ears. Perhaps, if she were telepathic, this entire scene would be transformed. In their minds, they wailed their sorrow, exclaimed in dismay, begged for news of loved ones who had followed Thor and had yet to return.

  But what of the woman who walked by Thor’s side now, holding his hand to her cheek? She wore a head band, similar to the one that she had been given. She had cried aloud.

  She must be an outworlder, Claire decided, feeling the sort of leap of joy one would feel on suddenly spying a dear friend.

  It burst abruptly when she realized the woman must hate her if she learned what Claire had done—when she learned.

  Dropping her gaze to her feet, she followed the procession uneasily, wishing they had left her with the rebels instead of bringing her to this place to face Thor’s loved ones.

  As they rounded a curve in the street, she saw that the streets converged before a building far taller than any around it. A spire jutted higher still, towering well into the artificial sky above the city.

  As they neared the building a group of people emerged, moving slowly down the stone steps. A shock went through Claire. In all the time she had been held in Atalantium, she had not seen anyone who appeared old, and yet the people coming toward them now looked ancient. They stopped before they reached the last stair except for one woman, who walked slowly, with great dignity toward the soldiers carrying Thor.

  Claire swallowed convulsively when she saw the tears on the woman’s withered cheeks. As if she couldn’t stop herself, she lifted a hand and lovingly caressed his cheek.

  Tears filled Claire’s eyes. She knew who the woman was then. Thor’s mother.

  * * * *

  Once they had entered the building, Claire realized that the soldier was no longer following behind her. She stopped, glancing back at the doors at the entrance to the building as they closed, then turned to watch the procession as they moved down a long corridor.

  She had no desire to follow them. She wasn’t certain what, if anything, that she could do for Thor. She still wore the head band, but Thor’s life force was the most powerful that she had ever encountered. It seemed doubtful that she could heal him without taking the life force of a dozen men.

  That was why they had used her. They could not defeat him themselves. Only someone with her gift, who drew energy to use in healing, could have done it. She felt that she should have known, or suspected, but how could she? Always before, her strength had come from within herself. It would never even have occurred to her that she could draw from anyone around her—she supposed she couldn’t without the band.

  The corridor was bare of so much as a bench and Claire realized abruptly that she was so tired she could not bear to stand any longer. Finding a darkened corner, she sat on the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs and dropping her forehead to her knees.

  How she longed for her own world! She desperately wished that she could time walk, and undo the chain of events that she had set off. It didn’t make her feel the least bit better to accept that she had been nothing but a pawn from the start. She’d been the pawn used to destroy so many lives.

  I am High Councilor, Aurora, mother to Thor. Eros tells me that it was you Zeus used to drain my son’s life force.

  Claire looked up sharply and surged to her feet guiltily. She could not read accusation in the woman’s face, but she knew it must be there. She nodded, bracing herself for a blast of anger, hate, contempt.

  Instead, Aurora placed an arm around her shoulder. Shhh. I do not blame you for that which was not within your power to prevent. We were too complacent and we are paying the price … Can you help him? He is so weak. I feel that he is fading still, but not beyond help.

  Claire burst into tears. "I don’t know. I didn’t realize what was happening, only that Eros was wounded, dying, and that I had to help him. They must have designed it for that purpose alone, to connect my mind to whomever was nearest to me so that I could draw strength from them."

  Come. I have taken him to my apartment. We must try to help him. The rebellion has begun and without Thor we will be lost.

  Reluctantly, Claire allowed the woman to lead her down the corridor. She hesitated at the door, looking beyond the woman. Thor had been laid upon a narrow, backless couch. Eros was kneeling beside him. It was almost a relief that the young woman who’d been weeping over Thor was no where in sight. Claire wasn’t certain she could have faced her.

  She is Alex, his wife. I have made her sleep for now.

  Eros looked up just then, his gaze focusing on her, and Claire shivered at the look in his eyes—for he seemed to look straight through her. He frowned, looking down at Thor for several moments before he rose.

  The rebels are advancing, High Councilor.

  Aurora nodded. Gather the army. I leave the defense of Atlantis in your hands, Eros.

  He nodded sharply, executed a salute strongly reminiscent of the roman salute, a balled fist against his upper chest, and strode toward them. Claire stepped out of his way as he approached and he passed without even glancing at her. She watched him as he strode down the corridor, sensing that he was still weak. Despite what she’d done and his own ability to regenerate swiftly, she knew he could not be fully recovered.

  It scared her to think of him fighting again when she had almost lost him twice.

  Or, perhaps, she truly had lost him. Thor was a dear friend of his, not just his commanding officer. He would never be able to look at her again without thinking about what she’d done.

  The woman patted her arm. Do not look so distraught, child. He does not blame you any more than I. He blames himself. He feels that he has failed us all and his mind is on the business of trying to redeem himself.

  Come. Let us see what the two of us can do for my son.

  Chapter Fourteen

  They knelt together on the floor beside the couch where Thor lay. Aurora closed her eyes, almost as if she was praying. Perhaps she was, but Claire didn’t think so. She thought it far more likely that Aurora was a healer like herself and searching for that point of weakness that, if healed, would bring Thor back to them.

  It occurred to her then that, despite the band she wore, Aurora had spoken to her telepathically and read her thoughts. That could only mean that she was very powerful, far more powerful than most Atalanteans.

  If, as she’d guessed, Aurora was a powerful healer, then perhaps the two of them together could bring Thor back from the brink?

  After a moment, she took one of Thor’s hands and held it between her own, closing her eyes, concentrating on searching. The spark was there, as it had been before, no weaker, no stronger. His will was strong. He clung to the last spark of life that remained to him, but he hadn’t the strength to use it to heal himself.

  She sat back on her heels, feeling the tiny spark of hope she’d felt before wither. If she understood how it was that they healed themselves, perhaps she could feed his own abilities, but she didn’t, not in a way that she could promote it. Her own healing ability came, in part, from an understanding of medical practices. She used her mind to probe for wounds, or illness, and the heat she generated to remove any disease she discovered and seal the wound. Thor’s problem was beyond her, not only bec
ause she didn’t understand how they promoted their own healing, but also because she couldn’t pin down a specific area of injury.

  There was no specific wound. Every cell, in every organ in his body had been diminished in strength.

  I can’t do it. I don’t have the strength. I don’t have the understanding I need to help him.

  You have the band still, Aurora pointed out.

  But I don’t even know how I used it—and if I tried, it would kill you. I can’t take one life to give to another! As much as I love Eros, I didn’t decide his life was more valuable than Thor’s—only that it meant more to me than my own life.

  Aurora’s face twisted in pain. Thor’s life means more to me than my own. I have lived my life. I am the past. He is my future, the father of my grandson, and, just as important to me, the guardian of my people. Without Thor, there is no hope for us. The rebels outnumber us. No matter how valiantly our men fight to defend us, they can not overcome the odds. The rebels will overrun us and seize the device—and it will not raise Atalantium. All will be lost.

  Help me to help him! Help me to save my son! My people! My homeland!

  Claire studied the woman’s face. She empathized completely, understood, but Aurora was distressed. She couldn’t make a sound judgment in her current state of mind, and who was to say who was most valuable to the world? She was in no position to judge. More than that, though, she knew she didn’t have it in her to do what Aurora asked. She couldn’t set out to take a life, even to give to another.

  "I will give you the band. You are strong already. Perhaps you won’t even need it. If you do, then you can draw what I have to give."

  Aurora thought about it and slowly shook her head. It won’t work for me. It was designed for one such as yourself. It blocks as much as it channels. It would only hamper my own abilities.

  I will join my mind with yours and guide you, but you must be the one to channel us. In this way, I can guard myself and preserve my own life force. We need only give him enough strength to heal himself.

  Claire stared at her doubtfully, but she saw nothing to convince her that Aurora was lying—and she knew Aurora had probed Thor. She understood the method Claire would need to heal Thor. After a moment, she nodded, placed her hands on Thor and summoned her healing.

  * * * *

  Eros studied the channel entrance grimly, then glanced around at the army he had assembled to defend it. Like the spokes of a wheel, channels led from the outer cities to Atlantis in every direction, and at each channel a similar army had been stationed, led by Thor’s other captains. For all that, they were woefully undermanned.

  They’d lost almost a dozen men in the trap Zeus had laid for them and they couldn’t afford to lose even one. In the back of his mind, he wondered if any of them had truly wanted to save Atlantis.

  Zeus had been clever, but not so clever that they hadn’t known the extent of his preparations. Save Atlantis herself, not one city on all the continent had remained completely loyal to the council. Below each, a rebel compound had been carefully excavated so that the compound itself was a weapon. As with the one beneath Oceanus, Thor could not use his power to destroy the rebel nest without destroying the city above it.

  They should have amassed an army large enough to strike the rebel strongholds and wipe them out one by one as he and Thor had tried to convince the elders to do. The High Council had forbidden it. They had refused to accept the loss of life that type of operation would entail. They had refused to risk the chance that the rebels, if they realized the tide was going against them, might be willing to destroy the cities above them themselves, only to thwart the council.

  It was possible that they had been right, indeed likely, and yet, without Thor, there was no hope at all for any of them. He was willing to do the best he could with what he had, but his men were hopelessly outnumbered and they all knew it.

  An alarm rippled through the army and he snapped his attention back to the task at hand, watching as a swarm of flying men erupted from the mouth of the channel. Below them, a rank of mermen emerged from the water. His lips tightened. He would have to divide his men yet again to meet them. Ordering them to form two groups, they shifted and raced out to meet their enemies and try to drive them back into the channel.

  If he and his men managed to drive them back, he would blast the channel closed. Whatever the council thought of it, if they could seal the rebels out even for a short while, they still had a chance.

  Zeus, he saw, was leading the battle group. Leaping toward the waves, he shifted in midair and shot toward the group heading toward shore across the bay. When he surfaced, he had covered more than half the distance between the shore and the rebels. Lifting his sword, he uttered the battle cry and surged forward.

  * * * *

  Claire felt her strength draining from her at a frightening rate. With an effort, she pulled back, slumping wearily, gasping for breath.

  We can not stop now! I sense an awakening. A little more. Only a little more and he will find the strength he needs to heal himself.

  She couldn’t sense it herself. She could not, in fact, sense any change in him at all, but she rallied at Aurora’s command and focused once more. She owed it to all of them to try her best. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t.

  Time passed. She had no idea of how much. She became lost as she submerged herself once more. She sensed Aurora beside her, feeding her own strength, guiding her. Finally, when she thought she would simply expire from weariness, she sensed another presence. Hope leapt in her. She sensed it in Aurora, as well. Together, they fed the budding awareness, sensed it growing stronger by the moment.

  Withdrawing slightly, she searched for her reserves of strength and focused again. This time the awareness had a sense of self, searched her in return.

  Cease!

  The thought was so weak that for several moments Claire wasn’t even certain that she had heard it. She knew it was not Aurora. She wondered if it was her own sense of self that demanded it, that demanded she pull back from self destruction.

  Mother! No!

  Peace, my son. I will take care. But you must come back to us—now! The rebels are at our gates. We can not hope to defeat them without you. Take what I offer so that you can be strong for all of us who need you.

  The command was stronger that time—Aurora’s response far weaker--and it jolted Claire into an awareness of her surroundings. To her dismay, she discovered that she couldn’t pull back. Aurora was holding her, forcing their life forces to merge, feeding them into Thor. She began to struggle, knowing she must pull back or she would be lost.

  It was her last conscious thought before she felt herself floating away, felt the warmth of her own body fading.

  * * * *

  Blood bobbed on the surface of the water like oil, mixing slowly as the waves churned it. Eros had lost sight of Zeus. He had become submerged in his own narrow little world of struggle, lost all but a peripheral awareness that similar struggles waged around him. His arm and shoulder were numb, hardly felt like a part of himself any longer. He had long since lost count of the number of men he had hacked to pieces.

  Dispatching his current opponent at last, he looked around.

  There was no sign of Zeus. Rising from the water, he shifted wings, disposed of the tail and fins, and lifted into the air. The fighting had moved away from his position.

  The rebels were trying to outflank them. Summoning a dozen men, he sent them to intercept and consulted with the captains defending the other channels.

  His heart sank when he discovered that Hermes and Andromeda had fallen. The rebels had overrun their positions and were fighting in the streets of Atlantis even now.

  Mars! Atlas! We are overrun. Pull back! Pull back! Defend the citadel! Summoning his own men, he formed a line of defense and ordered the bulk of his men back.

  When he turned to survey the damage, he saw that the city was on fire. The residents, maddened by their fear,
ran in every direction, most empty handed, though many struggled with bundles or baskets filled with their belongings. The rebels, he saw, were already pounding at the doors of the citadel.

  Claire was inside the citadel.

  Rage and fear blinded and deafened him as he plunged full force toward the rebels. He landed hard, but he was scarcely aware of the jarring impact as his feet struck the paving stones. Roaring a challenge, he fell on the man closest, cleaving him from neck to sternum with one blow. Inch by inch, he and his men battered their way up the steps of the citadel, slipping in the blood of both friend and foe.

  Even as they fought their way through the rebels and at last gained the door, he sensed the arrival of many more. With a final heave of desperation, he and his men forced their way to the door and turned to face the rebels pouring through the streets toward them in every direction.

  Gasping for breath, Eros wiped the blood from his eyes, checked the men beside him and realized they were in as bad a shape as he was, or worse. Grimly, he looked out over the enemy that was converging upon them.

  Behind them, the door opened abruptly. They struggled inside, barred the door and began building a barricade.

  Eros looked at the few men he had left to him. Choosing a dozen, he directed them to hold the portal as long as possible. Commanding the remainder to follow him, he strode down the corridor in search of the High Councilor. Only she could order the destruction of the device—Only she knew how to reach it.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Gritting his teeth with effort, Thor struggled to rise as the roar of battle reached him, the sound of soldiers’ boots pounding closer and closer along the corridor. He forced himself to his feet, turned to face the door to his mother’s apartment even as it burst open.