Halcyon Rising

by Diana Bold

  She wished she had a weapon, something that would blast through Simon and his men like a knife through butter. If she could think of any feasible way to come to his rescue without endangering the submersible, she would do so in a heartbeat.

  With a shuddering sob, she buried her face in her hands. Would she feel it when he was gone? If Simon finished what he’d begun last night, would Sebastian’s death resonate inside her?

  She had to believe it would, since they’d been linked in every possible way. His loss would echo in every cell and fiber of her being.

  So she waited, and she cried, deep sobs wrenched from her very soul. She’d never cried this way before, never imagined a circumstance in her life that would warrant such grief.

  But the minutes ticked slowly by, and nothing happened. Exhausted, her eyes burning and her head pounding, she could no longer bear the uncertainty.

  Was he safe? Was he dead? She couldn’t leave until she knew for sure.

  She reached out with her thoughts, terrified she’d find nothing left of him for her to connect with.

  To her immense relief, she slid effortlessly into his mind once again. His pain, grief and exhaustion almost overwhelmed her and for a moment she was so caught up in trying to keep his emotions from drowning her she couldn’t even comprehend that he was still alive.

  “Sebastian? Are you all right?”

  “Rhoswen,” he replied wearily. “I told you not to contact me again.”

  “I couldn’t leave without knowing what happened to you. Are Simon and his men still there?”

  “They are gone. But it changes nothing. You must go back where you came from. Stop worrying for me. You have already given me far more than I ever deserved.”

  She wiped the tears from her eyes with new determination. Though her people would never understand, and she’d be called to explain herself a thousand times, she couldn’t leave him behind.

  “Can you swim to the island?”

  “No. I fear my strength has deserted me completely.”

  “Well, then. I shall come and get you.”

  His horror at the thought of her putting herself at risk to save him sliced through her. She also understood his fear that his brother had not actually left, but was still lying in wait, watching and waiting for him to meet up with her again.

  “I can swim to the island. Just wait there and promise me that if I cannot make it you will not do anything foolis.”

  “No. I’m coming to get you. You’ll never be able to make it. You’re too weak. And I won’t leave you behind.”

  Ignoring his angry protest, she guided the craft into a shallow dive, heading toward shore. She couldn't even imagine Sebastian's reaction when he saw the vessel and didn't want to think about what the people of Halcyon would do when she brought a stranger into their midst. But nothing mattered right now except Sebastian's terrible wound. He needed rest, medicine and someone with medical experience to extract the arrow and sew him back together.

  Guiding the craft back to the surface near shore, she inched as close to the beach as she could. When she was mere feet away, she left the vehicle running and opened the hatch, meeting Sebastian's stunned gaze. He was sweating profusely. The steep walk from the cliff seemed to have sapped every last bit of his strength.

  "Come on." She waved him forward. "Get in."

  He approached with hesitant awe. "This vessel goes beneath the water?"

  She nodded. "My home lies beneath the sea."

  He opened his mouth as though to ask more questions, then abruptly shut it and climbed through the hatch. "Ah, Rhoswen. I had a lot of thoughts about where you might lead me, but I did not expect this."

  She smiled, glad he'd decided to trust her, despite his obvious doubts. "I'm going to take you to a place called Halcyon." She shut the hatch and aimed the craft toward her home. "We have technology beyond anything you've ever dreamed of, and our doctors will be able to heal you good as new."

  "That's good news,” he told her wanly. “For I am not ready to leave you. Not for a very long time."

  Though his words thrilled her, she sensed he'd reached the end of his strength and feared he’d collapse if he didn’t get some rest soon. "Our journey will take many hours. There's a bed in the back. Once we’re safely underway, I’ll come back and clean and bandage your wound." Why don't you lie down and try to sleep?"

  He nodded and made his way to the back of the vessel, where a small bed tucked against the bulkhead. "When I am healed, you must promise to show me how this…under-sea boat works."

  She blinked away a tear of profound relief and set a course toward Halcyon. "Of course, Sebastian. I'll be glad to.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Sebastian caught his breath, pressing closer to the window of the craft as his first glimpse of Halcyon came into view. Like a pearl of light in the dark depths of the ocean, the city shone from beneath what seemed a glass bubble of unimaginable breadth—unsurpassed loveliness, unlike anything he had ever imagined.

  Rhoswen turned from her place at what must be the helm to offer him a shy smile. “This is why I didn’t tell you where I came from sooner. You’d never have believed me.”

  “How could I?” he asked in a hushed voice. “I am not sure I believe it now, with the proof of it right here before my eyes.”

  “Our civilization flourished thousands of years ago. My people made their home on an island in the Atlantic.” She manipulated the controls of the craft so that it began to dive toward the glass bubble. “I am sure you have heard the legends. Some call it Atlantis.”

  Atlantis.

  Had he lost his mind? Perhaps the fever had roasted his brain, because this must surely be a dream. Far easier to believe he was hallucinating than that he was about to enter the lost city of Atlantis.

  “But for all our technology, we had no defense against the heavens. When a huge ball of fire fell from the sky and destroyed our island, we came first to Britain, and then built Halcyon.”

  “How long have your people lived down here?”

  She guided the craft so close to the bubble that he could see the individual buildings. People walked upon the paved streets, and, amazingly, he spotted what appeared to be a small copse of trees and several fields. The city appeared to consist of three rings, with waterways surrounding each. A body of water beneath the sea! Incredible.

  “For thousands of years. We keep our numbers the same, never having a child until an old one has died, keeping everything in perfect balance.”

  A hole opened in the glass, and she guided the craft through the large round entrance. She landed the vessel in a docking bay filled with amazing underwater crafts of different shapes and sizes. The hole closed, and the chamber she had landed in emptied of water with a loud whooshing noise.

  Rhoswen opened the craft’s hatch and helped Sebastian out, leading him toward a doorway that obviously led to the rest of the city.

  Before he could open it, Rhoswen caught his hand, holding him back. “They’ll be surprised and perhaps not too happy to see you here,” she warned, her tone grave. “You’re the first stranger to ever walk through these doors.”

  * * *

  Rhoswen led Sebastian into Halcyon with a deep sense of foreboding. If it weren’t for his injuries, she never would have had the courage to bring him here. She couldn’t imagine what her father would say about the matter.

  And her mother… Titania would be horrified.

  As the leader of Halcyon, Oberon would be ashamed to know his daughter had failed in the task set before her. She hadn’t managed to secure the tunnels beneath Titania’s Tower, and she had also lost her partner, which was perhaps even more inexcusable.

  No one from Halcyon had ever been left behind on the Surface before.

  She squeezed Sebastian’s hand as they entered the main control room, hoping to gain courage as well as impart it. Loralei, the head engineer, glanced up from her bank of monitors and froze when she saw Rhoswen’s guest.

  “Rh
oswen? Who is this? What have you done?”

  “He’s hurt,” Rhoswen said, hoping to stave off whatever questions she could. “We need to get him to sick bay as quickly as possible. I fear his wound is infected, and he needs immediate care.”

  As she spoke, she hurried past Loralei, dragging Sebastian in her wake. His fevered gaze took in the bank of data units and monitors with a look of wonder mixed with delirium, but she couldn’t afford to stop and explain things to him.

  She needed to get him help, and she wanted him safe in sick bay before very many of her people realized he was even there. Surely, not even Titania would dare to interfere with a man who was under a doctor’s care.

  Rhoswen hustled Sebastian down a long corridor, then out into the first courtyard, which connected the docking bay to the medical wing. Once inside, she guided him straight into Kaylee’s office.

  Kaylee was Rhoswen’s closest friend. Long accustomed to Rhoswen’s fascination with the Surface, Kaylee did not seem nearly as shocked as Loralei to see what Rhoswen had brought home.

  “Great Poseidon,” Kaylee murmured in their native tongue, staring at Sebastian with a physician’s practiced eye. “He’s in bad shape. How long has that projectile been sticking out of his shoulder?”

  “Almost two days,” Rhoswen answered grimly, speaking in Latin, so Sebastian could understand. “He saved my life, Kaylee. I need you to help him.”

  Kaylee stood up and circled Sebastian, peering at the arrow shaft which still protruded from his shoulder. “I‘ve never seen anything so barbaric,” she answered, also in Latin.

  Rhoswen helped her friend guide Sebastian toward an examination table. “We’ve been riding hard ever since it happened. He’s lost a lot of blood, and he’s exhausted.”

  Excitement sparkled in Kaylee’s eyes as she assessed the extent of the damage. It wasn’t often she got to practice her medical skills on anyone who needed her help so badly. Not very many life-threatening injuries occurred in the safe environment of Halcyon.

  “I need to get him undressed,” Kaylee murmured. “Can you help me?”

  “I can understand your words, my lady” Sebastian told her wryly. “You need not act as though I am deaf and dumb, nor some wild animal incapable of speaking for himself.”

  Kaylee exchanged a guilty look with Rhoswen behind Sebastian’s back. “I’m sorry,” she replied, as she helped him shrug out of his cloak and shirt. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”

  He laughed at that, a pained soft sound. “Aye, Rhoswen told me I was the first outsider to ever enter your city.” He shook his head and lowered himself to the table. “I feel as though I have died and gone to Paradise.”

  Kaylee stared at his bare chest with undisguised appreciation. Rhoswen fought a surge of jealousy even stronger than when the lovely, red-haired healer had smiled at him. She couldn’t believe how much she wanted to keep Sebastian to herself.

  Flushing, Kaylee turned away and began to gather supplies. “You’ll need to talk to Oberon. He’ll be furious when he finds out you brought him here.”

  Rhoswen sighed and avoided Sebastian’s concerned gaze. “Just make sure he’s all right, Kaylee. I’ll deal with my father later.”

  “Ah, Rhoswen,” Sebastian murmured. “I never wanted you to get in trouble for helping me.”

  Rhoswen met his gaze with a small smile. “Why not? You did the same for me. You defied Simon, exiled yourself and took an arrow in the back on my behalf. I can at least withstand my father’s displeasure.”

  * * *

  Sebastian forced himself to relax under Kaylee’s gentle ministrations, though in truth, every light touch made him want to cry out in pain. He had pushed himself far too hard. The infection had raced through his body, and he had lost so much blood he could not believe he still lived.

  Rhoswen seemed to have complete trust in her friend’s ability to heal him, but he still had his doubts. He had never seen anyone survive after the fever of infection had gotten into their blood.

  He would surely die, but perhaps Kaylee had something to dull the pain. And Rhoswen would be here with him, holding his hand and caring for him, which was more than he had ever expected. He had always assumed he would die alone and forgotten.

  At least Rhoswen was safe from Simon, Trevelan, and anyone else who wished to do her harm. He wanted his last thoughts to be of her in this beautiful place. He wanted to think of her in the rain box, which he now knew must be real, with the water pouring over her beautiful body in a cascading stream.

  He only wished he’d had more time to explore this amazing place before he died. He had been overwhelmed by what he had seen so far — the towering buildings of steel, flawless glass and a stone-like substance he was not familiar with. Beautiful blond people walked the wide, clean streets and the vast parks and gardens and moved from one ring of the city to another in well crafted boats.

  They seemed to have everything they needed in this underwater paradise, and he longed to explore the technology that had made such a thing possible so far beneath the sea.

  Kaylee eased the last of his clothing from his body, leaving him bare as a babe beneath the thin blanket she had provided. His clothes were stiff with dried blood, the amount of it making him a bit queasy.

  A grimace curved Kaylee’s lips when she saw the damage that had been done to him, and she shook her head. She and Rhoswen looked so similar in appearance they could have been sisters, so Sebastian found it easy to trust her.

  “You’ve lost far too much blood,” she chided. “We may have to give you a transfusion.”

  “Transfusion?” He did not know what she meant, but he did not like the sound of it.

  She nodded as she cleaned his wound with a sharp-smelling, clear liquid that burned like the very devil. “If your blood type matches any of ours, we will give you someone else’s blood to help until your body can replenish what it’s lost.”

  While he was still trying to digest the impossibility of that, she gave him a wry smile. “This will hurt, but I can’t make you better until it’s done.”

  Leaning him forward, she clipped both ends off the arrow with a gleaming steel cutting instrument.

  He shuddered as the shaft shifted slightly within him. Bloody hell, that hurt.

  Without any further warning, she gripped the shortened base of the arrow and pulled it from his flesh with one quick jerk.

  Bright light exploded inside his head. Excruciating pain raced through his body. Then his entire world went black, and he sagged back against the table, wishing he had told Rhoswen how much he loved her.

  * * *

  Rhoswen leaned forward, fear gripping her heart as Sebastian’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he lost consciousness. Kaylee’s face tensed with concentration as she stemmed a new rush of blood, which poured from where the arrow had pierced his flesh.

  “Is he all right?” Rhoswen met her friend’s gaze, panic racing within her. “Please, Kaylee. Tell me he’s going to be all right. I can’t bear to think of living without him.”

  Kaylee’s eyes widened in surprise. “You care so deeply? What happened up there? What did he do to you?”

  “He showed me that not everyone who lives upon the Surface is a barbarian.” Rhoswen leaned forward and tenderly brushed a lock of silky dark hair from his brow. “You have no idea how amazing he is. How tender, how sweet. And the lovemaking… He’s so passionate, so incredibly intense.”

  “He is a lovely beast,” Kaylee conceded, as she began debriding the wound. “I always thought Surface men would be cruder — monstrously ugly and angry.”

  “Some of them are. His brother is. But Sebastian’s different. He’s special, Kaylee. I care about him more than I ever knew it was possible to care about a man.”

  “My ears must be deceiving me.” A low, icy voice spoke from the direction of the door, and Rhoswen’s blood ran cold. Not now. Not yet. She needed more time.

  Turning away from Sebastian, she spared a glance at the tall, elegant wo
man who had entered the sick bay and stood staring daggers at her. “Hello, Mother.”

  Titania frowned and entered the room more fully, letting her gaze drift across Sebastian’s unconscious form.

  “I thought Loralei had lost her mind when she told me that my daughter, my own daughter, had broken our most cardinal rule.” She gave Rhoswen a fulminating glare. “What were you thinking? To bring someone from the Surface into Halcyon? Don’t you realize the danger? How could you put us all at risk this way?”

  “He’s hurt,” Rhoswen asserted quickly. “But even if he wasn’t, he would do no harm. I care for him, Mother. He saved my life.”

  Titania frowned, shaking her head in disbelief. “I will pretend I didn’t hear that. You’re clearly not yourself.” She advanced even closer to Sebastian, wrinkling her nose in obvious disgust at the pile of blood-soaked clothing that lay on the counter beside him.

  To her credit, Kaylee ignored Titania’s anger and concentrated all her attention on Sebastian. She finished his sutures, and then filled a syringe with antibiotic, giving him a shot to stop the raging infection.

  Titania said nothing, watching grimly.

  When Kaylee turned at last from her patient, Titania met her gaze. “Will he survive?”

  Kaylee nodded. “I believe so. Though I’ve never seen such infection. He left his wound untreated for too long, and he’s lost so much blood.”

  “His wound wasn’t tended because he was helping me escape from danger,” Rhoswen cried, determined to defend him. “If it weren’t for him, I would been raped, perhaps even killed. I would have failed completely.”

  “You’ve lain with him, haven’t you?” Titania seemed horrified by the very thought. “How could you? Have I taught you nothing?”