Shades of Atlantis (47 page)

This time he managed to get his arms underneath his chest, and I saw that he was about to push off from the ground. I clung to his shoulders, digging my razor-like nails into his skin, tearing at the sinew and muscle.

Lucien was on his feet with me still on his back, my legs wrapped around his hips. A deafening roar came from his lips when I dug my nails in further, and he slammed me backward against the far bank. A rock that was embedded in the grass dug into one of my kidneys. Excruciating pain rocketed through my entire body, making me scream so loudly it seemed to echo everywhere around me.

My grip released, and I slid limply down Lucien’s back onto the wet grass. He swung around to catch me by the throat, lifting me and holding me one-handed, cutting off my air supply. His nails grazed my skin, yet he didn’t cut me. I couldn’t breathe; my lungs were on fire. I struggled in vain against his long fingers as they strangled my neck. His free hand rose. My eyes widened, and I thought, this is it. I’ve failed. I had actually thought we had a chance, and we had gotten so close. The pressure in my head made my eyes throb.

But his hand didn’t come down on me. Instead, he lifted it high into the air. A moment of triumph, perhaps? I lost focus for an instant. Everywhere I looked I saw white twinkling lights. The pain at my back was gone, replaced by the agony concentrated in my neck, making my face feel numb.

The clouds swirled above our heads; the looming storm upon us. The sheep bleated and cried. Lucien was calling the weather again, trying to make an already impossible fight harder for my family. I struggled against his fingers again and felt his grip intensify. I kicked out at his legs impotently.

Lucien! A roar came from behind him. A white-haired angel was standing at the top of the mound surrounded by stars.

Lucien turned, startled to see Eila sliding down the slope on her side, her leg bolted out straight. She caught his ankle, and we all came crashing down in a tangled heap. I twisted out of Lucien’s grip, feeling his nails ripping at my back and my legs, but Eila had a hold on him. She tore at his face and back, crawling over him and holding him there.

I clawed my way up the hill, not allowing myself a chance to heal, trying to ignore the pain, and not knowing what was waiting for me. I needed to help my family. I had to get to the Stone. Thunder crashed overhead, and lightning strikes hit the ground with explosions of dirt and smoke.

I saw Caleb; he was battling a woman. She had the appearance of a rabid dog snarling at him; his jacket was soaked with rain and blood, and he had rips through his jeans. I looked around quickly, but I couldn’t see Ben. Annice and Samuel were in the distance, crouched over what at first looked like a man, but at second glance I saw it was actually a mangled pile of flesh and bones. I tried hard to stay calm and not call out to anyone, realizing distracting them could do more harm. Joshua was on his back near another mound, his feet pushing at the man that was trying to get at his torso with long sharp nails. The blond man was young and slighter in stature than Joshua; he looked no more than a teenager from where I stood.

He viciously attacked Joshua, but his swipes never seemed to make contact before he was flung backward, landing with a splash at least ten feet away on the sodden grass.

Again I rushed toward the Stone only to be caught in a headlock two feet away from it by Lucien’s arm around my neck. His hot, sweet breath was at my ear and on my face. I heard him groan with pleasure, constricting my airway further. His powerful chest pressed against my back. He kissed my face softly as if we were in an intimate embrace; my hands caught his arm, but it tightened once more. He groaned again, enjoying my struggle.

Terror rocked me when I heard Caleb’s voice.

Triona, he screamed.

The thing he was most afraid of during the fight was happening: I was distracting him from his opponent. A lightning fork hit the ground nearby, blinding me for a moment. I had to think fast; I had to do something. With all my strength, I bent forward, pulling Lucien with me. He instinctively pulled back a fatal error. Using the leverage he created, my legs whipped into the air, landing on the shaft of the Stone. Foot over foot, I ran up it and then used the Stone to springboard into the air backward over Lucien’s head. The astonishment at his own mistake made his grip slacken, but he didn’t let go.

A loud roar echoed around us, shaking the ground like before, only this time it seemed to come from somewhere deep within the earth’s core.

A shattering sound ruptured the air around us, louder than the thunder and piercing the noise of the storm. It was originating from the Stone but sounded as if it was coming from inside my body instead of outside. My blood boiled again as it had on the journey here; every inch of my body was on fire with the power surging through it. I landed in a split stance on the ground behind Lucien, facing his back.

In the fraction of time before he could react, or before I could consider what I was about to do, I thrust my hand forward with such force it cut through his clothes and skin. It was as easy as putting my arm into a bath of warm water; his rib cage crunched with the pressure, shattering into shards, giving way to my hand as I found my target. Still acting on nothing but instinct, I retracted my arm, pulling with it the pulsating mass of Lucien’s heart. He didn’t move or make a sound, just staggered on the spot as I stood there with the pounding rain washing the blood from my hand like a red waterfall.

The woman fighting against Caleb abruptly stopped. I stared at the mass in my hand and then to Caleb’s startled eyes, unable to move. The roar of the earth was now a ringing in my ears. The woman got to her feet and fled, blurring into the distance. The young blond man who was fighting Joshua didn’t get up from the ground; he just lay there on the wet grass, defeated, terrified at what he had just heard and witnessed. Annice and Samuel watched us from where they still stood a short distance away, and Eila came up over the edge of the mound. All the while the storm still raged around us and the heart I held in my hand still beat, although it was weakening and fading fast. Lucien continued to stand in front of me, swaying side to side as if listening to some music I couldn’t hear, before his body finally gave out as his heart stopped beating. With its last thud, Lucien’s knees gave way. He fell, his skull crashing against the Stone with a sickening crunch before he hit the ground.

The next thing I knew, Caleb was beside me. He put one hand at my back and with the other he took my wrist. I looked down at the dead heart I was still holding. It seemed to deflate in my palm, shriveling up like a dried prune. It began to desiccate until it was so brittle that the splashes of rain hitting it started to break it apart. It crumbled and fell apart until it resembled burnt paper absorbing the heavy droplets of rain, and I just stood there watching, until Caleb pushed my hand into the air, flinging the pulpy mass away from us. My body wasn’t reacting; I couldn’t move unaided. He had to maneuver me backward before he could kick Lucien’s lifeless corpse out of the way. It rolled down the side of the mound in a crumpled mass of limbs. Then Caleb took me in his arms, even though my hand still held the shape of the heart I had torn from Lucien, and I was unable to return his embrace. The rain was already washing the blood from the Stone. That was good; I couldn’t bear for his blood to taint such a precious monument.

Another crack of lightning roused me from my stupor. I pushed against Caleb and stepped back; he resisted, trying to keep me close, but I was stronger. I closed my eyes and lifted my face to the rain, isolating the part of my mind I needed and seeing the clouds in my mind as they would appear when they dispersed. I concentrated on the metallic taste at the back of my throat, willing it with all my strength to fade. I raised my hands as I had watched Lucien do and took a deep breath. Then I exhaled slowly, listening as the rain eased. I felt the heat on my wet skin as the clouds evaporated and the rising sun, still low in the sky, shone down on me. I opened my eyes, blinking at the suddenly bright light, and lowered my hands. Caleb stood by me, his eyes wide and his expression amazed. Annice and Samuel looked on with a combination of what seemed like relief and slight panic by the way Annice gripped the fabric of Samuel’s jacket and bunched it in her fingers. Eila’s lips turned up in a smile, and her shoulders rose and fell sharply. I could have said her expression verged on admiration if it wasn’t for the fact she was holding her breath. Joshua was frozen, watching curiously and waiting. All their eyes studied my face, waiting for something. They were looking for the fear and panic to hit me, but there was none. This was natural to me; it was what I was born to do.

Ben! I yelled, sweeping a glance over the ground around me.

I spotted Amanda and John first. Amanda was crawling over the top of the mound away from the small cell where we had left them, keeping herself near to the ground. John was following her. He appeared to be attempting to grab her leg, but each time she managed to wriggle from his grasp. I looked northward to see where she was headed, but I should have guessed. Beyond the mound in a flat area of land I could see Ben. He was still fighting against a blond man whose long hair was pale gold against the dark clothes he wore. His hair swung about his shoulders as he thrashed on the grass with Ben. First he was on the bottom, then Ben, then him again.

It had to be Zeal, refusing to give in. He was smaller than Ben, slighter just like the man-boy that Joshua fought moments ago. I looked behind me to see he was still lying on the grass, his arms crossed over his face. Zeal’s son, maybe? Ben was on his back again protecting his torso. Bright red gashes appeared on his sleeves as Zeal lashed out at him.

Ben locked his hands together and with great might slammed them against Zeal’s chest. I expected the blow to crush Zeal’s sternum, but it hardly managed to wind him. He slumped back slightly, and in that moment Ben’s legs came up and caught him in a scissor grip around his neck. Ben brought his legs down, flinging Zeal over his head and away from him, and jumped to his feet. Amanda was getting closer to them, still close to the ground. This time John caught her by the ankle and held her there, out of harm’s way.

I glanced at Caleb and then leaped from where we stood to the top of the first embankment. I didn’t ask anyone to follow, but I should have known they would follow anyway. My legs were stronger, though, and I was ahead of them. The grass was slippery under my feet, but I rushed forward, barely even touching it.

Ben and Zeal circled each other, each ready to spring at his adversary.

Far away dark specks began to appear over the horizon from every direction. Zeal saw me coming for them; a sneer touched his lips, and his eyes darted for less than an instant in the direction of Amanda and John. He knew they were there. Ben waited, slightly hunched, his arms held out from his side as he moved defensively. His face was completely focused on Zeal.

He didn’t notice Amanda above them near the top of the mound, starting down the slope that led precariously downward to where they stood. It was happening so fast, faster than I was moving.

Zeal reached over his shoulder to his back and pulled at something. I hadn’t seen him carrying it, but I could hear the ringing sound of metal being drawn from metal. He held the long sword high above his head. It looked like it was made of pure white light gleaming in the sunlight. I couldn’t see Ben’s face, but I could see the terror in Amanda’s expression.

Zeal moved nearer to Ben, swinging the sword in circles over his head and then in front of him, his knees slightly bent as if he were a samurai. Flashes of color glinted off the sword again, making Zeal’s blond hair shimmer.

The Sword of Nandu! Annice cried from behind me.

I remembered this the sword of light that once drawn from its battle-scabbard no man could resist. In the distance the specks grew larger; there were people coming. I only had time to act, not to think about what I was doing. I could see the fury in the dark murky colors that surrounded Zeal.

Amanda, seeing the sword, kicked out hard at John’s face. I heard him scream and saw the blood splattering from his nose. Ben looked up to see Amanda dive from the mound in front of him as Zeal plunged the sword forward.

I was less than a heartbeat away but too late. No! I screamed. A fiery pain shot through my heart.

The sword cut through Amanda’s chest right at her heart and came out cleanly through her back. Her hands flew to the point of the entry. Ben froze in horror, and John lay in a curled up heap on top of the mound clutching his face. I heard the footsteps and speeding heartbeats of Samuel, Annice, Joshua, Eila, and Caleb behind me. I felt Caleb’s hand brush through the air near my shoulder; he was trying to touch me, but I was just out of his reach. Amanda was silent, bewildered. Zeal grinned maliciously as he first twisted the sword and then pulled it slowly from her chest. I could hear the metal slicing through her flesh. There was no blood on the sword, just the white light; the blood was all pouring from Amanda. A dark red stain spread out across her back, and bright, clear red gushed over her hands as if she was holding a bunch of red roses close to her body, their petals wither-ing and dropping to the ground. Ben caught her as she fell backward, her body limp as a rag doll. He collapsed heavily to his knees holding her, and his head lowered over hers.

Zeal corrected his stance to bring the deadly weapon down a second time; his eyes glinted at me before he swung at Ben. I took a final leap and landed with my knees bent in the space between them, my arms extended from my body to protect Ben. My heart pounded frantically, and my chest rose and fell in exaggerated movements with each jagged breath as I crouched beneath Amanda’s murderer. My eyes scrunched tight in readiness for the lethal blow, but nothing happened. There was no pain, no burning sensation from the blade penetrating my skin. Nothing. Hesitantly, I allowed my eyes to unclench and open, and stared disbelieving at the sword of light no more than an inch from my face.