Oceanborne (28 page)
Morwena chuckled “And nothing is forbidden to willing adults in their search for pleasure so long as ⦔
“No one else is harmed or embarrassed,” Rhiannon finished. “I'm afraid we're a sensual race,” she said to Elena. “As you know all too well if you keep company with Orion.”
Elena felt her cheeks grow warm. “Keep company?” She forced a chuckle. “That sounds so old-fashioned.”
“You're lovers,” Morwena supplied. “Direct enough for you?”
Rhiannon rose. “I think we could all use some wine. Morgan got a shipment of Malbec from Argentina. It's wonderful, but I have to keep the wine cellar locked. My maids are all crosses, and you know how they are. They'd be too intoxicated to do their jobs if they had access to alcohol.”
“Crosses?” Elena asked. “I don't understand. What are crosses?”
“A particular species,” Morwena answered. “Not exceptionally bright, but very loyal. Unfortunately, they have no resistance to wine.”
“That sounds racist,” Elena said. “Surely, that pretty girl who showed us in isn't stupid.”
“I'm sorry if we appear uncaring,” Rhiannon said. “But it's true. Some people believe they aren't capable of gainful employment. It's why we hire so many in the palace at fair wages. There is prejudice against crosses, partly because speech is so difficult for them.” She smiled. “And they are wonderful with children, so patient. Danu loves them.”
Morwena looked around. “Where is Danu? Usually she comes running the minute I step through the door.”
“Danu's spending the afternoon with Lady Athena. But they should be back soon. She spoils the child almost as much as you do.”
“And why shouldn't I?” Morwena asked. “She's my only niece, and she's adorable. She has such a wonderful sense of humor, and she's so inquisitive.”
“We're blessed to have her,” Rhiannon agreed. “She brings such joy to our home. I can't imagine our lives without her. Danu's adopted,” she explained to Elena. “Her life before she came to us was an unhappy one, and we're doing everything we can to make up for it.”
“I'm looking forward to meeting her,” Elena said. The remarks about the maids had disturbed her. How could Atlantis be the paradise it was supposed to be if some classes of Atlanteans were treated as inferiors?
Shades of apartheid.
Shades of apartheid.
She wished Orion would come back. Again, she wondered where he was and why the explanations Morwena and Rhiannon gave sounded more and more like excuses. Surely, he wouldn't just abandon her here.
“I can't imagine what's happened to the girls with our food,” Rhiannon said. “I'll go and get that wine, if you'll excuse me. I won't be long.”
For the first time since they'd arrived, Elena felt a sense of awkwardness between them. Rhiannon's smile didn't reach her eyes. And Morwena seemed too relaxed. Were they hiding something from her?
“You mustn't judge us too quickly,” Morwena said when the two of them were alone again. “We mean no disrespect to the crosses. On the contrary, my mother has always insisted we treat them with kindness.”
“The maid seemed competent enough to me,” Elena said.
Morwena got up and stared past her into the courtyard. It was lovely, a peaceful spot with fountain, white shell paths, and rows of sea grass and greenery, interspersed with marble statuary and benches, and surrounded on all sides by columned porticos. Under other circumstances, Elena would have liked to explore the mazes and walkways.
“Stay here!” Morwena went to the doorway.
Elena followed anyway and was shocked to see three of the soldiers, who'd stood on guard at the entrance to Rhiannon's home, on the ground. One rolled and beat at his head with both fists. Another knelt, howling like a dog and drooling from the mouth. The third man clutched his stomach and cried.
“What's happened to them?” Elena asked.
Morwena pointed to a figure standing in the shadow of the statue of a leaping porpoise. “It's Halimeda, Caddoc's mother, the one I told you about. She's bewitched the soldiers. Go back inside.” Morwena ripped down a piece of filmy curtain from the wall and tore it into pieces. “Put these in your ears. If she casts a spell over you, you could end up on the ground like the guards.”
“What are you talking about?” Elena asked. “Cast a spell on me? That's superstitious nonsense.”
“Just do as I say! You've heard of the sirens, haven't youâthe women who lured sailors to their deaths on the rocks with their singing? Trust me.” Morwena seized her bow, set an arrow to her bowstring, and stepped out into the courtyard. “Go away!” she shouted at the old woman who walked toward them. “Go back, or I'll shoot.”
Elena dropped the wads of material to the floor and followed Morwena back out to the courtyard. Had Orion's sister lost her wits to be afraid of this pathetic creature? Surely Halimeda, if this was who it was, was more to be pitied than feared. Wisps of gray hair sprang from a scarred, nearly bald skull that loomed over grotesque features blotched and misshapen as a burn victim's.
It was hard for Elena not to stare. This was the king's beautiful wife who'd tried to murder him? If she wasn't so tragic in appearance, she would have been comical.
A jeweled coronet balanced precariously on her oversized, bald head, and her ragged garment, consisting of nothing more than lengths of rotting seaweed, fell to her bony ankles. With every hobbling step, Halimeda's twisted legs flashed obscenely to the thigh through gaps in the gown. She was so frail and ill looking that Elena wondered how the poor woman managed to stand upright, let alone walk.
By no standard of any society could this woman be described as beautiful. She was a nightmarish caricature of a queen, weighed down with gold rings and necklaces set with gems too large to be real. Pearls the size of eggs drooped from elongated and ragged earlobes, and a scarlet mouth showed only blackened stubs where teeth should be.
Senseless words spewed from Halimeda's blistered lips, words in no language that Elena had ever heard. Growing more agitated with every passing second, the woman pointed a trembling hand in Morwena's direction and began to chant even more bizarre gibberish. Even Halimeda's fingers were a horror, a series of bones held together with shreds of rotting flesh and tipped with yellowed nails so long that they curled into talons.
“Go back or I'll shoot!” Morwena warned again. “You have no right to be here! If my father sees you, you'll be put to death!”
The young guard on the ground by the woman's feet began to convulse.
Morwena let fly the arrow. It plunged into Halimeda's hand, and blood welled up and dripped down the front of her garment. She clutched the injured appendage to her withered breasts and shrieked in pain.
“Go back!” Elena cried as she moved toward the old woman. “She means it. She will shoot you.”
“I'll put the next arrow through your slimy heart!” Morwena shouted.
“Stop!” Elena turned to her friend. “You can't kill her. She's no threat. She's pitiful.”
For the first time, Halimeda seemed to notice Elena. “Pitiful? You dare to call me pitiful? Don't you know who I am, human? Don't you know that I can turn you into a sea slug with a single glance? That I can rip out your lungs with the force of my gaze?”
Elena couldn't help it. She burst into laughter. She tried to stop, but couldn't hold it back. This was utterly ridiculous. Not even the Mad Hatter's tea party had been this crazy. “I'm sorry,” she said, covering her mouth in an attempt to stifle her outburst.
“Sorry,” Halimeda whimpered. “You'll be sorry.”
“No, sorry for you,” Elena said. “You poor thing. Is there someone who takes care of you, someone who could ⦔
She broke off, staring again as the weird became even weirder. Halimeda began to turn round and round, faster and faster. Sand churned around and around her in a gray column, and then, in an instant, she vanished before Elena's eyes.
CHAPTER 26
R
hiannon came running from the house. “What happened? There's something wrong with my servants. They're all vexed!” She stared at the guards who shook their heads as they climbed unsteadily to their feet, looking dazed and disoriented.
hiannon came running from the house. “What happened? There's something wrong with my servants. They're all vexed!” She stared at the guards who shook their heads as they climbed unsteadily to their feet, looking dazed and disoriented.
“Halimeda.” Morwena glanced at Elena and then her sister-in-law. “She tried to bewitch us, but I stuffed my ears so I couldn't hear her sorcery. Elena ⦔ She grinned. “Elena just faced her down. I tried to tell her to protect herself, but she didn't. I don't know what happened. Maybe Halimeda's magic doesn't work on humans. She tried to put a spell on Elena, but Elena wasn't fazed.”
“How did you do it?” Rhiannon asked Elena.
“I don't know. None of this makes sense to me.” Elena glanced at the soldiers as they hurried away, presumably back to their posts at the gate. “I saw a demented old woman, nothing more. I saw Morwena shoot her with an arrow, and then ⦔
She vanished before my eyes. It was impossible to say the words out loud, but it was what happened. Halimeda had spun like a top and disappearedâjust like the Cheshire Cat in
Alice in Wonderland. “I saw her standing in the garden. Then she wasn't there anymore.”
She vanished before my eyes. It was impossible to say the words out loud, but it was what happened. Halimeda had spun like a top and disappearedâjust like the Cheshire Cat in
Alice in Wonderland. “I saw her standing in the garden. Then she wasn't there anymore.”
“Elena laughed at her.” Morwena reached out to clasp Elena's hand. “You didn't see Halimeda as I did, did you?”
Elena shook her head. “I didn't see a beautiful woman. I saw an aging woman who'd been in a terrible accident or who suffered from some loathsome disease. She was scarred and deformed, bald as an egg, and dressed in rags and jewels.”
Rhiannon shook her head in astonishment. “Illusion.”
“But whose?” Morwena asked. “Elena's or mine?” She squeezed Elena's hand tightly. “Why would she appear differently to us?”
“You saw her as beautiful?” Elena asked.
Morwena nodded. “Richly gowned, with curling black hair that fell nearly to her knees. As young as Rhiannon. And fair beyond belief.”
“But you shot her,” Elena repeated. “I couldn't believe you'd do such a thing? Why?”
“To keep her from entering Rhiannon's house. I don't know why she came, but she meant to do her harm. Don't forget, she tried to poison my father and would have succeeded if he hadn't switched cups with her. Instead, she poisoned herself.”
“But she didn't die, so maybe it wasn't a potent poison,” Elena argued.
“It was potent enough. Witchcraft saved her, and we suspect it was Melqart's doing.”
Rhiannon motioned them to follow her into the sitting room. “I'll send for Mother,” she said. “She'll bring her guardsmen. Some of them have earned priestly ranks and are more experienced than Morgan's soldiersâor, at least the ones he left here. No one expected Halimeda to attack me in my own home.”
“But it wasn't an attack,” Elena said. “She didn't do anything other than babble gibberish.”
“No?” Morwena's eyes narrowed. “What about what she did to Rhiannon's guards? Did that look harmless? Those men were in pain and clearly terrified.”
“If she wasn't demented, if Halimeda was in her right mind, why would she come here?” Elena asked.
“It had to be for something important,” Rhiannon said. “The king has signed her death warrant. She knows that if she's captured, it will be execution, not prison.”
“It's clear she didn't come here to find me or Elena,” Morwena said. “She seemed shocked to see me, and Elena was a complete surprise to her.”
“Maybe she wanted to hurt Prince Morgan,” Elena suggested.
“No.” Morwena shook her head. “Everyone knows that Morgan and his brothers are away.”
“Everyone but me,” Elena said. “Away where? What aren't you telling me?”
“There's been an earthquake off Crete,” Rhiannon said. “The princes are leading a rescue operation, to save as many humans as possible.”
“From the earthquake?” Memories of being in the sea with Orion swept over Elena, overwhelming her senses. She remembered fish and dolphins rushing by, trying to escape some disaster. The memory had been buried, but now she recalled it all.
But that had been hours ago ⦠or days. She wasn't sure. Time didn't seem to add up right down here.
But that had been hours ago ⦠or days. She wasn't sure. Time didn't seem to add up right down here.
“Worse,” Morwena said. “Our far seers tell us that Melqart is sending a tidal wave to destroy Crete and the people on the island.”
Elena's brow furrowed. “Melqart?”
“I'll explain later,” Morwena said. “It's complicated.”
“But why didn't Orion tell me where he was going?” Elena demanded.
Her crew! She should be there with the members of her expedition, not here. All those lives in danger ⦠The people and historical treasures on Crete could be lost. And the Phoenician shipwreck ⦠her shipwreck ⦠What if the earthquake destroyed the site? Priceless knowledge could be lost forever, along with her one chance to prove herself.
“Orion swore he wouldn't deceive me again.” Rising anger made Elena's tone sharp. “He lied.”
Her crew! She should be there with the members of her expedition, not here. All those lives in danger ⦠The people and historical treasures on Crete could be lost. And the Phoenician shipwreck ⦠her shipwreck ⦠What if the earthquake destroyed the site? Priceless knowledge could be lost forever, along with her one chance to prove herself.
“Orion swore he wouldn't deceive me again.” Rising anger made Elena's tone sharp. “He lied.”
“Not a lie,” Rhiannon said. “An omissionâto protect you. You're only human, Elena. You have courage and a good heart, but in the midst of a tsunami, if you'd insisted on going, you'd have been a danger to him and to his mission.”
“Let me go to your maids,” Morwena said. “They may need assistance to recover. Crosses are susceptible to witchcraft,” she explained. “They'll be weak andâ”
“We may as well all go,” Rhiannon said. “If Elena's faced down Halimeda at her worst, a few puking girls won't upset her. And you seem good in an emergency. I'd appreciate your help, Elena. If you would?”
“Of course,” she agreed, “but I'm still not convinced that Halimeda is anything but a disturbed old woman.”
“Princess Rhiannon!” A distressed male voice echoed through the room. Seconds later, one of the soldiers from the gate appeared in the archway, his face pale and anxious. “Forgive me for intruding, Princess. It's Lady Athena. She's been hurt! She's calling for you.”
“What happened to her?” Rhiannon asked. “Danu was with her. Is she unharmed?”
The guard stood numbly, unwilling or unable to speak.
“Where's Danu?” Morwena demanded.
The soldier looked as if he would burst into tears. “She's gone, Princess. Our Danu is gone. The witch Halimeda struck down Lady Athena and stole your daughter!”
“Let go of me!” Danu cried. “I don't like you. You hurt Lady Athena.”
“Quiet, brat, or it will be the worse for you!” Halimeda kept walking through the dank tunnel, dragging the child after her. Nothing had gone as she'd planned today, and now she'd be forced to substitute this nasty little wretch for Morwena. When she got her hands on the Samoan, Caddoc would feel her wrath. She'd serve him Tora's balls and staff in an oyster shell with lobster sauce.
A simple thing she'd asked of the two of them. Snatch Morwena and bring her to Melqart's temple for sacrifice. It should have been easyâtwo warriors against a junior priestess. But, no, they had to mess that up. Since he'd been a boy, Caddoc had disappointed her. She'd kept hoping that with Melqart's help he would act like the prince he'd been born, but so far, he was laughable.
This brat was a princess, and that should satisfy Melqart and his priests as a respectable sacrifice, but it gave her little satisfaction. Halimeda had wanted to strike at Poseidon's heart. This Danu wasn't the grandchild of his loins. She'd once been human. Not only inferior, but disgusting. Luckily, Melqart's priests, humans themselves, wouldn't care.
She was still providing an Atlantean princess for the fires, and that was what was important. But the loss of Poseidon's favorite daughterâthat bitch Korinna's whelpâburned like gall in Halimeda's throat. How could Caddoc have been so lazy as to send Tora to carry out her orders? Why had she trusted him? And now neither the Samoan nor her son were to be found, not in Atlantis, and not in range of Melqart's vision, which meant they were either dead or beyond his reach. They'd fled far away, but Caddoc always returned. And if he came, Tora would follow. And when they did show their faces again, she'd make them both regret their bumbling.
Caddoc couldn't manage without her, and wherever he went, Tora came sniffing after him like a dogfish. The big Samoan could be ferocious in battle, but he didn't have the brains of a sponge and a cuttlefish combinedânot that cuttlefish were known for their intelligence. Halimeda had always considered cuttlefish rather dense, however tasty they might be in a chowder. Too bad Melqart didn't fancy oversized and tattooed warriors of the male gender, but his tastes tended to be ordinary, run-of-the-mill. Melqart preferred nubile, screaming, and virgin females as fuel for his fires. Virgins, in Halimeda's opinion, were vastly overrated.
The passageway grew ever lower and narrower. Moisture dripped from the ceiling and the floor choked in rotting seaweed and tidal mud. Fish bones and decaying mollusks jutted out of the sludge. The stench clogged Halimeda's sinuses and formed a palatable and cloying cloud at the back of her throat. She hoped she hadn't taken a wrong turn in the temple maze. The tunnels were cursed with dead ends, pitfalls, and lakes full of flesh-eating plants.
Poor Melqart. History had ignored him, and his wonderful maze had been falsely abducted by something known as a Minotaur. Greek legend told of maidens and young men sacrificed to the bull god of Crete, obviously the fantasies of some hack writer or bard who ran out of material in the middle of an important gig.
Virgins were taken as offerings from Crete as well as Carthage, mainland Greece, the islands, Thrace, and the area where Troy had once stood. They'd been gathered by the dozens from Tyre, Ashkelon, Cyprus, and the lands which would one day come under Roman rule, not for a bone-headed Minotaur, but for Melqart, himself. True, he did possess the ability to assume the form of a bull-headed man, but that was a minor apparition. And Crete had never been important. Crete was a backwater nothing, certainly not the center of his worship.
With the passing of centuries, the civilized world had moved on to newer gods and newer superstitions, but at the cost of Melqart's power. He'd held on for eons, remaining formidable long after the cults of Jupiter and Artemis had withered and been abandoned. Deities such as Zeus, Mars, and Diana required worshipers. Without believers, they gradually lost power and faded away. Melqart stood in danger of such a fateânot yet, but within the realm of possibility. He needed priests and sacrificial lambs and living beings to praise his name. He needed
her
to give him some backbone.
her
to give him some backbone.
“My daddy will come and get me,” Danu said, interrupting Halimeda's thoughts.
“Shut up!” She scowled at Danu. What kind of a sacrifice didn't weep and scream and beg for mercy? The brat was unnatural. No wonder, having been born a lower species.
Once a human, always a human,
she thought. But she'd have to do. There were other female offspring of Poseidon's, but this one, at least, was young enough to be certain she was a virgin.
Once a human, always a human,
she thought. But she'd have to do. There were other female offspring of Poseidon's, but this one, at least, was young enough to be certain she was a virgin.
“You're going to die,” Halimeda said slyly.
Danu thrust out a stubborn chin. “Nope. You're telling lies. And when my daddy and Uncle Alex come, you'll be sorry you were mean to me.”
A frisson of icy water dripped onto the nape of Halimeda's neck. “I'm a witch,” she said. “I could turn you into a sea slug.”
“No,” Danu said. “You can't.” She pulled her hand out of Halimeda's grasp. “You're a big stinker.”
Halimeda drew back and began to whisper incantations.
Danu stuck out her tongue. “Stinker!”
“What is this you've brought to me?” boomed Melqart's toad voice.
Halimeda turned and peered into the darkness. There wasn't enough water here to swim and she hated being on solid ground, even if it was a muddy and disgusting tunnel that led to a rundown and second-rate temple. Atlanteans would scorn such an edifice. Still, Melqart retained enough power to cause an earthquake and tidal wave, so she needed to tread carefully on his ego.
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