Banished Sons Of Poseidon

by Andrew J. Peters

  His eyes nearly burst from their sockets.

  The amulet glimmered, and a glow as strong as a fully fueled lamp radiated from it. The light scorched Dam’s eyes, and he glanced away for a painful moment while his vision readjusted. A blessing from the heavens was in his hand. Aerander had never mentioned such a thing. Dam wondered if his cousin had even beheld such magic coursing from the amulet. Wouldn’t Aerander have told him about it?

  Dam recalled Aerander saying that Calaeno would help him if he needed it. Dam had doubted that. Truly, the idea of the amulet possessing a magical connection to some centuries-old princess had seemed crazy at best and sinister at worst. Here he was in the most desperate situation he could imagine, and somehow the amulet had sensed that. Dam had light. There really was a goddess looking out for him.

  He held the amulet out in front of him and looked upon his surroundings for the first time. It was a cobbled bank of rock around the tar pit. The ceiling was beyond his sight, and he could make out the depths of the bank only a few yards from his position. But he could explore down that way. He could root through the caverns of the mountain and find fresh water now that he had a beacon to guide his way.

  First, it seemed proper to thank the spirit that inhabited the amulet for giving him the gift of light. Dam squinted at the glowing bone trident. Aerander had said to clear his head and let Calaeno’s voice come to him. That would count as the most bizarre thing Dam had ever done. Even when he had made prayers to the gods, he had never expected to receive an answer back.

  He shut his eyes and opened his mind to the possibility. The amulet’s vibrations seemed to spread out from his chest and up into his head, a ticklish sensation at first. Dam supposed that the best thing to do was to call out to Aerander’s heavenly guardian. How was he to address her? She was Atlas’ daughter, a Pleiade, patroness of virtue and justice.

  “Princess? Your Grace?”

  *

  A woman’s voice called back. “Prince Damianos. I was afraid we might never meet.”

  She sounded so ordinary and so clear and so close by, Dam broke from his concentration and glanced around him. He wondered for a moment if he wasn’t alone in the tar pit cavern and someone was playing a very elaborate trick.

  “Have I lost you?” She muttered to herself. “Aerander was to explain to him how to use the amulet.”

  The glowing amulet wagged like the clapper of a bell. Dam struggled with the impossibility of that for a moment. Then he concentrated on answering her.

  “No, your Grace. I’m still here. And Aerander—he did explain how to use the amulet.” Another wave of disbelief passed through him. Had he lost his marbles, imagining voices in his head? No one was around to take stock of what he was doing and to point out just how batty it was. So he allowed himself to explore it further. He spoke words in his head: “I’m sorry. This is a bit strange to me.”

  “Strange,” the voice repeated, as though it was a word with which she was unacquainted. She came back to Dam cheerily. “That’s precisely how I would put it if someone asked me to describe it. But I haven’t had anyone to talk to except Aerander, and now you.”

  Dam sat back, not knowing what to say or what to do. Was it truly a goddess of the heavens he was speaking to? On the other hand, who else could it be? Dam remembered the strange sensation he had felt against his chest while approaching the mountain pass.

  “I’m sorry if you were trying to get my attention before,” he said. “I didn’t understand.”

  “You’re very polite. Like your cousin. Are all men in Atlantis well-mannered now?”

  “I think they would be in such circumstances.” Dam felt himself veering warmly toward her. “I thank you for the light.”

  “Most unnecessary. I only hoped to draw your attention. I’m pleased that it did. I was worried that something dreadful had happened to you. And if the amulet was lost, I might never be able to speak to a soul again.”

  Dam’s mind fidgeted about. “May I ask you, Princess, how is this possible?”

  “If I may call you Damianos, you may call me Calaeno. Or would you prefer just Dam? That’s what Aerander calls you, and we’re family, after all.”

  That struck Dam as very generous. They were family if you considered House Atlas to be a tree that grew as large as a giant poplar. She was a deep, vigorous root. He was at the very top, a tiny leaf on the shoot of a many-forked limb.

  “I’m sorry, Dam. You were asking me a question,” she said.

  “Yes. I wondered if you could tell me how is it possible that we can speak to each other like this?”

  “Through the amulet, you mean? Hasn’t Aerander told you the story?”

  “He has, but I’m afraid I’m still a bit confused.”

  “Then I shall be delighted to tell you all the way from the beginning. The amulet was given to me by my father. There was nothing special about it back then. I used to think it was a bit gruesome, actually.”

  Dam grinned at that.

  “It is a special heirloom, though, handed down to my father from my grandfather. I gave it to Eudoros. He’s the one who made it magical. He summoned power from the New Ones’ stone so that our thoughts could travel to one another. So that we would always be together when he was wearing my amulet, even when we were worlds apart.”

  “Who’s Eudoros?”

  “I forget. You know him as Zazamoukh. He never liked that ugly name that had been given to him at his birth. So he took a new one. He was my suitor.” She paused. “Surely Aerander told you that story?”

  Aerander hadn’t mentioned Zazamoukh being her suitor. Dam would have remembered that. It had never occurred to him that Calaeno and Zazamoukh had even known each other, though he remembered that the foul priest had lived through centuries and kidnapped men as old as the prisoner Silenos, who had lived when Atlas and his daughters had made the Citadel their home.

  A chill crept up Dam’s spine. The amulet in his palm had been worn by Zazamoukh. It had been enchanted by the crooked hand of the man who had threatened Dam’s life and smuggled hundreds of his countrymen into slavery. What sort of person would want to marry him? Calaeno must have heard from Aerander about the evil things he had done, yet she brought him up so casually and fondly?

  Dam shied away from saying any of these things to her. Respect was owed to a goddess, though he felt quite a bit uncomfortable all of a sudden being linked to her so intimately. It was like they were speaking to one another through a supremely thin wall even though he could not see her.

  “I didn’t know. You’ll pardon me, Your Grace, but I haven’t much time to talk. I need to get back to my expedition. I left the others above in the mountain pass when the seizure struck. Can you tell me what happened?”

  “I’m sorry, Dam. I cannot tell you that. The amulet is my only way to look into the underworld. And that of course is only when the person wearing it tells me what they see.”

  Dam bit down on the side of his hand again.

  Calaeno spoke out encouragingly. “But I can help you find your way to safety. Eudoros showed me all around Agartha. Through the centuries of my exile, I had little else to do but put to memory every acre of that kingdom. I thought it would be helpful if I was to return one day. It’s a beautiful place, isn’t it?”

  “I need to find water and food.”

  “All right. Describe to me where you’ve been and what you see.”

  “We started at a mountain range on the side of a lake. A swarm of fireflies was mating there. We were traveling a narrow pass through the mountains. The earth shook, and it cleaved open. I fell into the mountain’s belly and landed in a tar pit.”

  Calaeno was quiet for a moment, but he could hear her faint breaths as she took it in. How could she possibly guide him? She was two realms above where he had gotten himself trapped.

  “Is the rock around you blue-gray or gray-black?” she asked.

  Dam shone the amulet on the wall of the cavern. “It’s blue-gray.”

  “
That’s good, Dam. You see, those are water crystals in the mountains. That’s what the blue marbling is. You’d have to do a lot of chiseling to get them out, but you can find a deeper passage where those crystals have been squeezed out by the weight of the mountains. That tremor that you spoke of may be a boon. It might have pressed open an aquifer.”

  Dam thirsted as he envisioned it. He thanked Calaeno, strapped his xiphos on his back, and went to search the walls of the bank for a cleft that might lead downward.

  Chapter Two

  A short hike ashore from the tar pit, Dam found a rent in the cavern that looked big enough for him to climb through. He crouched down to the floor and shone the amulet inside. That didn’t help much, other than ruling out that he was headed into some snapping creature’s lair, at least not for the few yards he could see. But he wasn’t going to find drinkable water inside the tar pit cavern. He had to search it out. Dam crawled into the burrow and followed a bumpy passage on his hands and knees.

  He had never minded traveling alone, even at night, but now he was fumbling his way through unfamiliar parts of the backcountry, many leagues from the city. It might have been nice to hear Calaeno’s voice, like someone was traveling with him, but Dam had decided to close off his thoughts to her for a while.

  Prior to meeting Calaeno—if one could call it that—he would have considered speaking to a goddess to be a feat of grace. Only the aged priests of the oracle were said to have been gifted with the ability to hear the voices of the divine. Strange. His wonder had fallen away, and an uneasy feeling had settled into his gut. She had sounded so ordinary, a lonely girl who desperately wanted him to like her.

  Dam supposed he should reserve his judgment. He didn’t understand much about her nature, like how did a person come to be exiled to the heavens and freed by the answer to a riddle? Somehow, Dam had expected her to sound more noble and self-assured, like the ladies of the palace court, like Aerander’s stepmother Thessala. Calaeno had shared so easily that she and Zazamoukh had been lovers.

  That made Dam’s palms dampen with cold sweat.

  Why wouldn’t Aerander have told him that? The priest had nearly killed them both. It was hardly incidental that Calaeno had been associated with him, even if it had happened centuries ago. She had spoken of Zazamoukh as a loving suitor. Did she still hold an allegiance to him? Dam couldn’t understand why his cousin trusted her given their history. And Aerander expected Dam to trust her as well? Calaeno had also said she had put a map of the underworld to memory in case she was to return some day. What had she meant by that?

  The passage declined and emptied into a broader vault of rock. The air was damp and cool. Dam sighted a way ahead that was high enough to walk through. He breathed in fresher air, and the cool density of moisture surrounded him. That was encouraging. Dam quickened his pace. Some strides ahead, he heard streaming water. His legs carried him toward that sound. Icy water pooled at his feet. He launched his amulet in front of him to see where he had arrived.

  He stood on the edge of a cistern cavern. It was filling from a spout of water some yards in and some yards above the floor. Dam stepped farther into the water and shone the amulet on that water flow. It was coming from what looked like fractured ice crystals, but they were deep blue like a lode of precious gems.

  Dam waded into the cistern and cupped his hands to drink from it. Water in heavenly abundance! By the gods’ mercy—Calaeno’s mercy—he had a drink and a washing. Dam doused his head and pulled out clumps of tar from his hair. He scrubbed his face, his arms, his legs, his sandals, and his feet.

  When he had rid himself of the tar as best as he could, he trudged over to the cistern bank and lay down on his back for a spell while the chiming waterfall resounded in the cavern. He would make his way back to the others. Finding water was a good start. He just needed to take things step by step.

  The amulet flapped against his wet tunic like a beached minnow. Dam stared at it for a good while before deciding on what to do.

  He emptied his thoughts.

  “Hello.”

  “Hello, Dam! I was beginning to worry that I had lost you again. How goes your search for water?”

  Dam sat up. “I found it. Thank you.”

  “I’m glad. You must be really happy to have something to drink.”

  Dam said nothing. A long silence stretched between them.

  “Is everything all right, Dam?”

  “It’s fine.”

  “I know using the amulet is strange to you. But we were talking so easily before. I wonder, was there something I said that bothered you?”

  Dam scratched at his chin. An itchy beard had grown in over many nights without shaving. “I have a lot on my mind.”

  “Naturally, you do. When I have a lot on my mind, I find it helps to share those things with another person. Would you do that, Dam?”

  Her voice seemed to grope inside his head, searching for what he was holding back from saying. Dam lightly fingered the amulet. His first impression had been that it was haunted by a sinister spirit. Unquestionably, the goddess who was bound to it had helped him, though he truly knew little about her character. She sounded eager and friendly, but the gods played tricks on mortals. Dam was suddenly afraid to say anything to her.

  “I did say something to upset you, didn’t I? Won’t you tell me what it was? I only want us to be friends.”

  Dam hesitated. He wished that he could see Calaeno. The tone and cadence of her speech could disguise her intentions. If he could see how she held herself and could look her into her eyes, he would be better able to judge her motives. In the end, he blurted out what he thought.

  “Do you still love Zazamoukh?”

  She was silent at first. “Is that what’s bothering you?”

  “You know what Zazamoukh did to Aerander? What he did to our country? What he did to me?”

  “I knew him when he was a young man. He was different then. But yes, I know about his crimes.”

  “I was his attendant. I know the kind of man he became.”

  “I’ve watched Eudoros from afar for many centuries. I’ve watched him change. It makes me very sad.”

  “Sad?”

  Calaeno trailed off again. When she came back to Dam, her voice had a spark of challenge. “It does make me sad. I thought that you would understand.”

  “Understand? Why?”

  “Aerander told me you shared your heart with a boy named Leonitos. A boy who became a traitor to his country.”

  Dam’s heart skipped a beat. “Aerander told you that?”

  “He did. We used to talk about everything.”

  Embarrassment sawed through Dam, and then the Furies lashed at him. That was a private matter. Aerander had no business sharing it with Calaeno like it was everyday news.

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t see what one thing has to do with the other.”

  “Love transcends the deeds of men. It transcends reason, but it is no less honorable for it.”

  “I don’t know what Aerander told you, but I fell out of love with Leo a long time ago. I don’t feel sad about the traitor he was or the even bigger traitor he became. He’s paid his price now, so there’s no point holding a grudge either. If you think I’m still mooning over him, you’re mistaken.”

  “I’m sorry if I presumed, Dam. Listening to Aerander talking about you all this while, it felt as though we already knew each other. I’ve been separated from the world for so long, Aerander’s stories are all I had. Can you imagine what that’s like, being nothing but a pair of eyes that cannot look away from a world you can no longer touch or even hear? Without a soul to speak to? Perhaps my imagination got the better of me, thinking about Aerander’s life and your life and thinking what it would be like to be part of that, like we were friends.”

  Dam thoughts stumbled around in his head. He had never heard of gods who were lonely for the company of men. He knew of loneliness, however.

  “How can you still love Zazamoukh after everything
he’s done?” Shielded to himself, Dam thought, Zazamoukh was a master of deception. She was a child. He must have tricked her into loving him and bound her loyalty with lies.

  “Do you think that’s foolish of me?”

  Dam didn’t answer. She was still a goddess.

  “Would you like to hear a story about the two of us from a time long ago? I think it might help you understand.”

  Dam nodded. “Yes. I’d like to hear it.”

  And so, Calaeno told her story.

  Chapter Three

  The first thing you must understand is that I was not always a girl.

  Surely, that sounds strange to you. Impossibly strange, it must be. But by the larnax of my mother’s ashes, I swear that it’s true. I was born into the world swaddled in the cerulean lambswool of a prince.

  From the time I can remember the kind face of my mother and the violets pinned in her hair, she dressed me in a boy’s square-collared shifts and goatskin shoes. My playthings were wooden soldiers and exotic finds from my father’s adventures around the world. He brought me war masks, blowpipes for shooting darts, and lacquered arrowheads from the barbaric people he had conquered.

  They called me Atlas. They told me I was my father’s pride. I was a miracle. After six daughters, at last the Emperor had made an heir. I had no reason to question anything anyone told me, being so little. When I was old enough to wonder why I could not play games and braid my hair with my sisters in the women’s harem, my mother explained it was improper for a boy. I was joined with my sisters at suppers, and of course at the fancy feasts to hail my father’s return from this or that campaign from across the seas. On those occasions, my eldest sister, Alcyone, always insisted I sit on her lap. After suppers, she would recount to me stories about the faraway places my father had been. But mainly I was kept to the parlors and the gardens of my father’s side of the palace. It was a world apart from the girls.