The Gift From Poseidon: When Gods Walked Among Us (Volume 2) (29 page)

*****

Tears rushed into Evagoria’s eyes.  The light and dark shapes of Adamarcus and Taharqa blurring into memories awash in color reminded her why she adored them.  She set her forehead against the wooden wall and took in a flurry of deep breaths.  Next, Evagoria set the daggers down without a sound and shook her head at such shameful thoughts.  The weapons quickly turned to dust.  Bronze-making was a great gift, but much like the magic Marseea and Penthesilea still wielded, its impulsive nature could get you into just as much trouble as it could get you out of.

Evagoria’s spine began to shiver and her hands shook wildly –
was this the first crack in that merciful shell?

Thrust into and hurtling through an abyss of despair, Evagoria raised her head and again locked onto Persepolis.  He still hungrily fed on his boar.  The quirky slurping and sucking sounds he made as if a dinner tune he sang to himself, to hear this ‘music’ made Evagoria smile.  Even her birthmark no longer burned.

Who would have thought that the sounds of a life taking another could lead her out of the hurtful abyss the sight of it had thrown her down?

Evagoria came up behind Adamarcus and Taharqa.  “Well, shows over,” she said quietly.  Her voice cracked a bit as her thoughts still dwelled on the will to dominate others, but she fought to push them away.  As if the show they had long waited for was finally about to start not end, Adamarcus and Taharqa shot her equally stunned looks.

“You don’t mean to …” Evagoria wondered aloud, careful to keep her voice down.  “
Seriously?
  Upon learning that you are eating perfectly good elephant seal meat, you both act as if poisoned – as if death is upon you – and yet you eagerly wish to watch Persepolis turn his prey into … into soup?”  Heads nodding back stupidly left her stunned.

Adamarcus and Taharqa spun away from Evagoria to resume their spying.  Both shook with excitement as they watched Persepolis begin to liquefy the tasty insides of the boar.  No one left to meet her gaze, Evagoria pointed her bewildered stare downward.

That these two fools believed they were acting rationally bugged Evagoria, yet such silliness endeared her to them even more.  She threw her best scowl at their backs, but behind this frown cracked an envious grin.  In spite of the morbid thoughts that had just taunted her, Evagoria could not inflict actual cruelty on another – this was true for now at least.  Still, their tomfoolery deserved punishment.  To deliver it, she would have to fess up to a tiny, white lie.  She raised her head high and worked up her best pout.  Of course,
no one
could mimic the infamous pout of her mother, but Evagoria gave it her best effort.

“Remember the elephant seal meat I said was of the male’s
snout
?” she asked in a voice so shady the two Centaurs had to have felt its cold.

With an eerie slowness, both turned around.  Adamarcus’ face painted in fear, Taharqa’s face sketched in horror; it warmed her insides to see them now cringe at what revelation might come next.  Evagoria leaned in close and whispered.  She then backed away and a sly smile wiped away her pout.  The creepiest silence wafting about these dual statues to let her ghastly words sink in – they sprang to life.  With watery eyes, both keeled over in tandem.  Next, they dropped to their knees and the bottoms of their mouths followed right behind.

“The bucket, the bucket,
where is that bucket
?” Taharqa gagged.

“I left it below,” Adamarcus choked.

Both looked into their upturned, bone-dry canteens as if their souls lay deep inside.  “Water …
water
.…”  Unsure as what to do next, they looked about wildly.

Evagoria waited a few moments to admire her handiwork.  She then turned and glided away.  About to begin down the angled walkway, she twisted her head to her right.  “I’ll be waiting by the fountain outside when you jokers are finished,” she called back in a motherly tone.

To tell a lie the surest sign of weakness her Queen Mother often told her, Evagoria promised herself that this would be the last one she ever told.  No doubt heading for the life-giving waters of the fountain, Adamarcus and Taharqa suddenly stormed past her as if ghouls chased hot on their hooves.

Back down on the first level, Evagoria peeked into the stable.  As Persepolis happily continued to feed, those slurping, sucking sounds now a bit louder brought another smile.  Evagoria suddenly felt thankful for three things: First for her family, second for her friends, and third that these friends had no idea as to the raging malice embedded deep inside her and made many times stronger by Poseidon.

Cassiopeia promised this malice would someday tear through not only her, but through their world as well, but in Evagoria’s mind, resistance was
not
futile.  She simply loved too many others to accept this.  Perhaps she could not stop such rage from overtaking her, but Evagoria would fight it with every breath until she no longer had the strength to do so.  Or if it came to it, there were no more breaths left to take.

The monster does not just want to see Evagoria.  It wants to make her its own.  If still a part of the Yeturi colony that knows nothing of possessions or beauty, it would see the princess as just another meal.  Her radiance would mean nothing to it.  But the covetous troll is no longer with its kind.  It resides in Atagartis, as does what it desires above all else.

– Adamarcus, Aeropid Centaur

– Mid-Fall, Year 4,253 KT
[29]

Now close to midnight on their third night in Atagartis, Adamarcus, Taharqa, and Persepolis enjoyed the raucous party.  But things suddenly began to go downhill in a hurry.  As if they formed a receiving line not to arrive, but to leave, Mermaids a shade of green more than light blue now excused themselves from Evagoria’s birthday party.

“As I become convinced some of our food was not prepared quite right,” Queen Diedrika seethed, “it’s a sure bet that someone in the scullery will lose his head tonight.”

King Judiascar and Xavier chuckled at the thought.

Diedrika wrapped an arm around Theodoric.  She then winked and offered a sly smile to Adamarcus; he clumsily smiled back.  To hear the queen say such a thing suggested there was a decent chance she would follow through with such a threat.  But these words AND that wink and smile told him it was all but a done deal.

“‘Tis a shame Betrugen and Verrator are not here to partake in whatever has made so many so sick,” Andromeda mused aloud.  Cassiopeia laughed at this, but Perseos just appeared embarrassed to hear his sons’ names.

“Not that they would have, but I told them not to come,” Perseos told them.

“Still,” Andromeda chortled, “I would not mind shoving whatever it was that made others ill straight down their throats.”

“It is all so suspicious, I must say!” Penelope added.  “I cannot remember the last time such a thing happened at a banquet.”

Adamarcus was not particularly thrilled to be a part of this conversation; he just stood in place like a statue and nodded politely.  With Penelope’s words giving them all pause, now was his chance to escape.  He turned to the dessert table.  Sure enough, there was Taharqa gorging on sweets as Persepolis stood at his side and rambled on.  Adamarcus did not know of what they spoke of, but as it had to be better than this exchange about vomiting and scandalous brothers, he happily joined them.

“Try this one, Adamarcus!”  Taharqa drooled as he shoved a pastry into Adamarcus’ hand.  “No, no – this one!”  Another pastry went into the other hand.  “Wait, I think you will like
this
one best!”  His mouth barely open, the giddy Nubian shoved a third pastry straight into it.

Adamarcus really, really hoped Evagoria did not see him in such a silly ––

“Hello, my friends,” called the sweetest voice his ears had ever or would ever hear.

The three turned around and met the glassy gaze of the birthday princess.  She sat wobbly atop Zacharias.  Even when sick, to Adamarcus’ eyes she looked as spectacular as ever.  Even when sick, she still looked at him with those kind sapphires that,
of course
, had to have noticed the mess around his mouth.

“Happy birthday, Princess!” Adamarcus mumbled through the pastry that stuck like sap to every tooth.  It was at least the tenth time he wished her this, but he would do so ten times more if he could.  And each time, she had smiled wide, but the smile she now offered him was barely one at all.

“I am so sorry,” Evagoria said in a soft voice.  “I have stayed awake as long as I can, but just cannot do so any longer.  I do not know what has made so many of us so sick, but I must bid each of you goodnight.”  Evagoria a renowned night owl like her mother, for tonight at least, this would not be the case.

After many hugs – Adamarcus wiped the pastry from his puss first – sad faces, her repeated appreciation for the gifts they had brought, but she had yet to open, and deep growls from Zacharias for getting too close, the three followed as Theodoric escorted Evagoria to her quarters.  Her bedchamber was a tall tower that one could only enter by way of identical sets of sweeping Kauri wood ramps that wound around each side.  Polished lapis lazuli covered the granite blocks that made up this tower.  Once father and daughter were out of sight up the southwest ramp, Zacharias flew off without even a parting word.

Although sickness had knocked many out of the party, those left to celebrate still made a good bit of noise.

“Will so much noise not keep her awake?” Adamarcus asked after Theodoric had put Evagoria to bed and returned to where the friends waited.

“
Evagoria?
” Theodoric returned incredulously.  “HA!  Her voice, her manners, everything she does might appear as if soft as a pillow, but when her head hits that pillow, she hits it
hard
!”  They all laughed at this.  “Orcas could fall from the sky and she would just sleep through it!  Come, I’ll escort you to your quarters.”

*****

Still awake long into the night, Adamarcus, Taharqa, and Persepolis enjoyed the breezy night amongst the salty air.  Flames from a fire pit in the middle of a large balcony overlooking the sea kept them warm.  Up above, the moon fully hid itself from their world on this crisp, delightful night that would soon bleed into morning.  Without the twin torches to light the doorway and lit fire pit, even if they were right next to him, it would have been hard for Adamarcus to see Taharqa and Persepolis.

“What time is it, Persepolis?” Taharqa asked as they leaned against a thick bronze railing.

“Time for you to get a clepsydra,” Persepolis returned dryly as he gave Taharqa a not so friendly look.  “I’m not your timekeeper – go look for yourself!”

The next moment, the homely, but still working clepsydra inside their quarters did as Taharqa asked and let out four dull chimes.  His smirk at Persepolis made the Arachna’s joke look even clumsier than it already was.  Adamarcus stood between them and could only chuckle at the silliness of it all.

The Mermaid palace was a grand structure Centaur engineers had built fourteen centuries earlier.  Although so old, its granite blocks still gleamed bright.  The rear base underwater, it rose out of the sea as if made of steep cliffs.  This design recreated the cliffs where, in their shadows, Desdessandra had turned Thessalonika into the first Mermaid.  Insane jealousy had conquered pure innocence that fateful night.  Still visible today, carved reliefs in the vertical granite face retold the fabled story of love, jealousy, bewitching magic, and revenge.  Adamarcus had never seen the carvings himself, but every Centaur old enough to speak knew the stories of how his kind had built the palace.

The two let Persepolis be and now gathered close to the fire to warm up.  All was still.  All was quiet.  Persepolis, of course, had to be the one to break the calm.

“Adamarcus!  Taharqa!  Come over here and tell me what moves on the wall face over there.”  With his pedipalps, Persepolis pointed down and to his left as Adamarcus and Taharqa rushed to the balcony’s railing.  “I know something is there and moving quickly, but I just can’t make it out.”

“Oh, I see it too!” Taharqa said excitedly.  “Wait, now it’s gone.  No, no – there it is again!”

“I don’t see anything,” Adamarcus drawled with a yawn.  His eyesight was not so bad, but probably not as good as the sight of a young Centaur should be.  “It’s the lights behind us that make it hard to see,” he proclaimed after a few moments of thought.

Taharqa pulled each lit torch from its holder and tossed them into the fire.  Next, he motioned for Persepolis to stand in front of the fire pit to block out as much light as possible.  He rambled over and did so.

“Tell me again how it’s possible Arachna have eight eyes, yet can barely see?” Taharqa begged.

“I only have to watch my prey as it flickers by, not as I eat it!” Persepolis shot back.  Although an Arachna’s eyesight was by far worse than that of any other kind that ruled their world, they were much more adept at spotting even the slightest movement.

Taharqa returned to Adamarcus’ side and they again peered down to where the palace base met the sea.

“It’s so dark, but I can make out at least a smidge,” Adamarcus said.  “It almost looks like the shape of a Sapien.”

“It moves fast – very fast!” Taharqa added.  “But it must be dozens of pike lengths straight down.  How can this ‘whatever it is’ so easily climb such a tall vertical wall?”

The shadowy blur now bolted west.  Repeated sighs behind them told Adamarcus that Persepolis was less than thrilled they were using him as a door.

“It’s gone!” Taharqa gasped.

Persepolis bounded over and looked over the railing.  “What should we do now?”

“GO AFTER IT!” Adamarcus and Taharqa shouted in a single voice.  And with these words, they rushed out of their quarters.

The trio now wandered about the bowels of the palace.  Their first task was to find anyone else who might have witnessed this ‘ghost’ as well, but it appeared all were fast asleep aside for a couple of Gryphons patrolling the main grounds.  Smartly, they avoided these winged guardians; a spat between one of them and Persepolis would just serve as a needless distraction.

When they arrived in Atagartis two nights ago, Adamarcus had asked Evagoria about these sentinel Gryphons and any trouble they might give them.  “They serve more a ceremonial role than a functional one,” she told him.  “As there are so few scattered around the palace grounds, an intruder with half a brain could easily find a way passed them.  Considering a half of any other brain is but a speck of yours, I’m sure you, Taharqa, and Persepolis will be just fine.”

Their meandering about the palace suddenly cut short as a messenger atop his Gryphon rushed by them; another male Mermaid now came into view.

“Oh look, its Perseos,” Adamarcus informed the others as they did their best to keep themselves hidden.  Unable to make out the murmurs the Mermaids shared, only once Perseos finally raised his voice could the three sneaks hear of what they spoke.

“You are certain of this?”

“Yes, General!” the messenger replied after a deep gulp.  “I saw the horrific carnage with my own eyes.  The escaped Yeturi murdered one guard!  The other still lives, but barely.  And now – the ogre is nowhere to be seen!”

Perseos and the messenger disappeared.  Their next task, no doubt, would be to awaken and gather a good many others to hunt the wild beast down.  All three friends now stared at each other with the same bewildered look.

“The monster escaped?” Persepolis gasped.  “But how?”

“What we saw moving, was
that
the Yeturi?” Taharqa asked incredulously.  “Its outline shaped like a large Sapien, it did have two arms and two legs.”

“What else could it have been?” Adamarcus added.  “It had to be.”

Locked in its cage – how could it have escaped?

In Adamarcus’ mind, the fiend’s objective slowly slid into view … that piece of metal in its claw!  The Yeturi had not only forced open the lock to its cage, but also waited to do so until the time was right.  Adamarcus had no idea how this mindless troll could do such a thing, but it had devised a means to escape and did just that.  But there had to be more: The marketplace was in the eastern part of the city and close to land, yet the beast moved west.

And west was where Evagoria – what the devious monster coveted most – now slept.

“The way she told us: ‘It just seems different today’,” Persepolis waxed aloud.  Adamarcus cocked his head in amazement – their two minds were suddenly one.  “Sitting there as if … ‘thinking’?  How it watched her with stalking eyes the whole time we were at the marketplace, how it bellowed in sorrow right as she departed.  You don’t think?”

Taharqa answered these questions with another, “Is it possible?”

“
Evagoria
,” Adamarcus gasped.  “Come on!  We have to protect the princess!”

If the monster was heading for Evagoria’s tower, then so would they.  Fright now turned to flight as sixteen legs attached to three bodies exploded westward.  They trampled through gardens, slid along polished stone walkways, and each fell down more than once, but onward they scampered.

“There it is!” Taharqa announced.

To Adamarcus’ surprise, they found Evagoria’s tower quicker than he thought they would.  The three exploded up the eastern ramp.  So many signs something was amiss that had led only to worry to this point, the wide open door into Evagoria’s chamber turned this worry into abject terror.

Adamarcus in the lead, they rushed through the entryway – what they feared most now stared back at them.  Near the ledge of a large window that overlooked the city stood the bloodstained Yeturi they had seen earlier in the day.  It gave them but a single deep growl.  Devilish eyes flashed neither anger nor spite, but a methodic purpose.

Although there was so much more to see, even in the dark lit by just a single torch Adamarcus saw what kept Evagoria from fighting back.  The Yeturi had gagged Evagoria’s mouth and bound her hands – palms away from each other.  It had done this with the same fabric Adamarcus had noticed scattered around its cage floor that late afternoon.  Helpless atop her watery bed, she struggled to break free but this was for naught.  It was now obvious to Adamarcus: This was not some random act, but a scheme that took many days, perhaps even weeks, to plan.

The beast flung Evagoria, who at most weighed one-third as much, over its right shoulder.  Upside down and her head cocked just enough, Evagoria and Adamarcus shared a hopeless look.

“YOU CAN’T HAVE HER!” Adamarcus screamed as he charged the Yeturi, his front hooves kicking high in the air.  He had no weapon, no shield, no armor, and did not care. 

A single swoosh of the fiend’s free claw smashed flush into Adamarcus’ lower chest and he now tumbled wildly into multiple pieces of wooden furniture.  Through blurred eyes, he watched eager ones become slits.  With a triumphant growl, the monster then leapt through the window with its prize.