City of Gold (14 page)

Cody followed Dace out of the tiny hut. A mass city of thatched houses blanketed the rolling hills. The entire city was veiled by a glimmering force field. The dome tainted everything blueish, as though seen through a colored lens.

Dace pulled his sword and clanged it against a hanging gong in the courtyard. Cody grasped his ears. “What was that for?!”

Then, like a raging river bursting through the dam, people began streaming out of the huts. Hundreds of people rushing and forming a mass cluster around them. Cody stared at them in shock. There was something very peculiar about them—they were short, even by Under-Earth standards. Like little men. Then it hit Cody. Dace had been correct; it was something he hadn’t seen in a long time. The people weren’t just little men or women—they were children.

32

The Ageing City

THE CHILDREN’S FACES BEAMED as they gazed at Cody, wonder sparkling in their eyes. The entire courtyard teemed with young people from toddlers to teenagers.

“I haven’t seen children since I came to Under-Earth,” Cody muttered in bewilderment. Dace grinned. “That’s because you’ve never been to The Ageing City.”

Dace stepped up on a ledge. “Younglings, I present to you…the Book Keeper!” The children burst into crazed applause and began cheering. A shiver shot down Cody’s back. He found himself waving to them and giving a few slight bows. His actions drew increasingly feverous cheers.
Time for a little show.

He twirled his hands in the air. “How about some fireworks?!” he called out. The children shouted wildly. Dace grabbed Cody’s shoulder. “Perhaps now isn’t the best time….”

Cody pushed him off. “
Duomi! Illumchanta! Fraymour!
” He readied himself for the explosion of magnificent color, for continued cheers, but nothing happened. Nothing at all.

Cheers morphed into laughter. Even Dace joined in, slapping Cody on the back. “Nice one, hero.
Very
impressive....”

As a droning horn rang, the children hustled away in all directions, leaving Cody once again alone with Dace. “Why didn’t it work? That was humiliating!”

Dace shrugged. “
I
for one was
thoroughly
entertained,” he chuckled, “but before you make a complete joke of yourself, I should probably inform you that your power won’t work here.” He pointed to the blue haze arched over the city. “Within this bubble the Orb has no effect.”

“
That’s
why I feel so unusual. I can’t feel the Book’s energy flowing through me anymore! I feel…”

“Mortal?” Dace finished for him. “Indeed, you are standing within the only location in all of Under-Earth where you can age. An Under-Earth infant is just as immortal as an Under-Earth adult, but we wouldn’t last long as a race of babies now would we? That’s why all babies born in Atlantis are sent here to mature into adulthood.”

Cody tried to wrap his mind around Dace’s words. “I
knew
it was odd that I didn’t see a single child in Atlantis. But who looks after these kids? It must be severe punishment to sacrifice immortality and become a constant babysitter!”

Dace shook his head. “Quite the contrary actually. Serving a term in this city is the highest honor and reward.” Dace paused, noticing the look of utter confusion on Cody’s face. “We always desire what we don’t have. A mortal lacks eternal youth; but the Orb has allowed us underlings to remain unchanging forever. Therefore our greatest yearning is not for youth, but for age. It is a sign of wisdom and accomplishment. Men such as Wesley and Levenworth wear their great achievement in every deep wrinkle.”

“Then why do you still look so youthful?” Cody blurted before he could stop himself. His face turned red as he realized what he had said. Dace laughed. “Because it would be the greatest tragedy to all the women in Under-Earth to deprive them of my roguish good looks,” he said with a wink.

“Where did the blue bubble come from?” Cody asked, but Dace shook his head. “I wish I knew. For all we know it
always
existed. Personally, I like to think that nature itself was providing us with the necessities for life.”

Cody suddenly had the sensation of eyes on him. He spotted Tiana standing across the courtyard. Dace glanced between the two. “We abandoned all our gear at the caves when we fled. I’ve sent Tat and Chazic back to salvage what they can. I thought they could use some
bonding
time. Regardless, we can’t depart until the morning so you might as well have a look around.” With a slap on Cody’s back, he departed.

Cody jogged to Tiana’s position. “Thanks for rescuing me,” he said as he reached her.

“Same to you. Book or no Book—that was a stylish getaway,” Tiana replied.

Cody stood straighter. “This is some place isn’t it?” he commented nonchalantly, poorly masking his glowing pride from Tiana’s compliment.

Tiana shrugged. “It loses its luster fast. I abandoned this place the first chance I could.” Cody waited for her to elaborate. Instead, without notice, she turned and began strolling through the village. Cody scampered after her, matching her stride.

As they walked children would pause to stare at them like animals in a zoo. There was something very
earthy
about the city. Without the power of the Orb, the thatched buildings and dusty roads gave Cody the sensation of stepping back in time.

He looked down a lengthy road that led outside the blue shield to a large cluster of thatched buildings. “Why aren’t those buildings inside the dome?” he asked.

Tiana kept her eyes straight ahead but answered, “The sleeping quarters. Consider it population control. When you live forever there’s less need to grow up quickly. The children are only permitted to be within the ageing dome during their lessons. Otherwise they would grow too quickly for Atlantis to accommodate them.”

Cody noticed that her tone was bitter. She shook her head in disgust. “It is obviously more convenient to keep your children in far off banishment.” she added. The intensity in her eyes provided clear warning that the conversation was over.

They came to a stop in the center of the city. Whereas the rest of the buildings were thatched together, the structure in the middle was constructed entirely of stone. In fact, the building looked as though it had been carved in a single, massive boulder.

“
The Hall of Names
,” Tiana offered as explanation. “A record of every person ever born in Atlantis’ realm.”

“
Every
person?” Cody asked, eyeing the structure with heightened curiosity. “What sort of records are kept?”

Tiana’s face was stern. “It’s no more than a jewelry box of unwanted memories; records of a past I’d rather not remember. Come, let’s go. There’s nothing more to see here.” She turned and departed the opposite way. Cody took one last glance at the building. A dozen names popped into his mind.

One name in particular.

33

Hidden Pasts

CODY PEERED OUT HIS DOOR to the blackened courtyard. The coast was clear. Elevating to the balls of his feet, he scampered into the clearing and between the huts that flanked both sides.

He looked beyond the blue taint of the dome to the sleeping quarters. There were no lights.
Good, they’re all sleeping
. Confirming the coast was clear, he dashed down the alley toward the center of the city.

Reaching the end, he halted.
The Hall of Names
. He pushed himself from the wall, sprinted to the door and disappeared inside.

The interior consisted of a single, rounded room. The outside had been deceiving, masking the room’s vast size; the domed room was like a gigantic dancehall. Lining the walls were shelves reaching all the way to the ceiling. Filling the shelves were thousands of bins full of various trinkets. Each bin was labeled with a name.

Cody paced around the room examining the alphabetical names of children past and present. He stopped at one bin labeled Fincher Tople.
If only I had more time.

At last his eyes found what he was searching for: Tiana Hubrisa. The bin was on one of the upper shelves. Cody glanced around for a ladder but there was none in sight. He pulled up his sleeves and began climbing up the shelf.

Reaching the top he drew the bin down and eagerly dumped the contents on the floor. Compared to many of the other boxes, her tub was noticeably sparse. He picked up a rock with two smeared eyes and a smiling mouth painted on it. The unsophisticated toy made him smile. He couldn’t imagine Tiana ever being so young or innocent. The idea of Tiana as a child was somehow strange, as though she had arrived into the world as the same troubled, young woman he now knew.

He picked up some loose pieces of paper. They were labeled as yearly grading reports. He chuckled as he began to read them:

“Tiana is an exceedingly gifted child. However, she struggles from a very short attention span and low motivation.”

“Tiana’s tendency to beat up the boys remains an issue….”

Cody’s glee vanished as he continued.

“Another year has passed without a single visitor. Tiana is remarkably strong willed, but her eyes don’t lie.”

“Her nightmares persist. She has taken to sleeping isolated from the other girls. She seems embarrassed. Still won’t talk to anyone about her nightmares but the girls complain that she screams in the night.”

“Tiana is always alone.”

Cody dropped the paper. He didn’t want to read anymore. He picked up a small nameplate carved into the stone. It seemed to be a form of birth certificate:

Name: Tiana Hubrisa

Parents: Unknown

God-Parent: Sally Peatwee.

Sally?
Cody hadn’t seen the spunky diner owner since she had returned above ground prior to Randilin’s attempted hanging.
She’s Tiana’s guardian? Why?
Cody racked his brain, but couldn’t think of any possible connection between the two.
I’ll ask Randilin
.

He heard noise from outside the hut. He held his breath until the silence had returned.
I should get out of here
. He turned to leave but paused as another bin caught his eye:
Arianna Levenworth
.

He glanced to the door and then back to the bin. His curiosity was too great. Turning back, he pulled the bin from the shelf.

Name: Arianna Levenworth

Parents: Gongore and Tamarah Levenworth

He examined a portrait of her.
Wait…I’ve seen her before
. Flipping through his memories he finally found it,
she’s the woman holding hands with Kantan in the picture kept in the Prince’s chamber.
Like then, Arianna was radiant despite not being overly beautiful. There was something else familiar; around her neck hung a beautiful silver necklace with a flower emblem. Each of the petals formed the shape of a heart.

Cody reached into his pocket and pulled out the metal object he had retrieved from the floor of the Caves—it was an identical silver flower necklace, although rust and grime had stolen its luster.
She was in the caves?
Cody’s face hardened as he realized what that meant:
Randilin murdered her? It can’t be…

“Where did you get that necklace!?”

The voice startled Cody and caused his heart to skip. Tiana stood in the entrance to the hut.

“Ti! What are you doing here?!” Cody felt ashamed.

“I asked you a question…where did you get that necklace?” her voice was cold and stern.

“I—uh—it—caves—um…I’d forgotten about it,” Cody stammered. Tiana rushed at him, backed him against the shelf, and snatched the necklace from his hands. She swiftly shoved it into her gown. Her eyes found the scattered bin on the floor with her name on it. All color left her eyes. “What have you done?”

Cody dropped to the ground and began frantically replacing the items. “I’m so sorry, I couldn’t help myself. I just wanted to…”

Before he could finish Tiana’s hands yanked him to his feet. “I told you to stay out of my past,” she said, her voice quivering. The rage in her tone terrified Cody. With a violent shove Tiana sent Cody crashing against the shelves, causing an avalanche of bins to tumble down.

“You think you have the right to just barge into anyone’s business?”

Cody found himself tumbling across the room, his face skidding on the floor.

His cheek burned as he pulled himself to his feet. “Ti, I’m so sorry.” His skin went cold as he saw the gleam of a dagger across the room. He fell to the ground as the blade soared through the air and pounded into the wall just above his head. “Ti, please!” Cody raised his hands and braced himself for an attack, but instead he heard something unexpected—the sound of crying.

Tiana stood motionlessly, leaning against the wall for support, her eyes red. She pointed at him. “Look what you’ve done!” she wailed. She looked as never before—meek and helpless.

“Ti, what’s going on? Why have you been avoiding me?” Cody probed gently.

A single tear rolled down her cheek. “Because I care! I actually care, and I’m not supposed to.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were just a silly game; a way to pass the time; a way to make Jade jealous, to make her as miserable as I was. I showed you romantic sunsets while inside I was laughing as you bumbled about like a lovesick fool. It was perfect—until it happened. It wasn’t supposed to, but it did. When I held you in the courtyard, after the ambush, and I kissed your cheek—it happened.”

“
What
happened?”

“I realized it was no longer just a game. I realized…I
cared
about you.”

Cody felt the air in his lung exhale. “Then…why…what?…If you did, then…why did you avoid me?” he managed.

Tiana released a single sarcastic laugh. “Because that’s what I do—I run. You think I’m this perfect girl, but you don’t know me at all! I’m not perfect. I’m a lying, scheming, selfish witch. The only person I look out for is me.”