Birth of the Alliance Page 21

  They knew he was here.

  He pulled out the chip and dropped it on the ground. No sense letting them follow him through the GPS in Dane’s chip, or letting them trigger the sedative or any possible residual poison into him. They’d need to get a version of the newest chips another day.

  Will threw up his Energy Shield, pulled the scutarium mask over his face, and triggered the button on his belt that activated the invisibility feature in his clothing. He wrapped his body with nanos and accelerated skyward. After hitting fifty feet in elevation, he stopped, rotated in the air toward the clearing, and watched.

  Athos appeared a moment later, sword drawn, looking around for Will. He’d been correct: Dane was nothing but bait to lure him here. They’d captured a prime human target for recruitment, and set him loose upon the city, waiting for Will to take the bait. As soon as they’d heard Will’s voice, they’d triggered the poison and began travelling to the spot.

  How many others were set out upon the world as nothing more than bait to capture him or other Alliance?

  Will silently cursed himself as he watched Athos scour the area, looking for the missing Alliance leader. Dane had accepted his claims too easily. No Aliomenti programmed by Arthur for obedience would so readily agree to deprogramming. Will’s failure to notice that had caused a man's death. While his self-fury raged, Will let the nanos move him out over the English Channel, and let his mind go blank as the anger simmered. He knew that the anger was, in part, due to his string of failures. Adam’s death. The inability to find Eva. The long-lasting inability to find the cure to ambrosia.

  An image flashed unbidden into his mind, an image from a long ago dream, a dream in which he’d realized that the inland valley lake on the island they’d named Atlantis had served as both stopper and drain for the excess waters that could flood that body of land. He remembered the platinum blond hair floating on the surface of the salty, inland lake.

  Gasping at the realization, Will changed course and headed west, accelerating at top speed, his face and body protected from the brutal winds by a shield of nanos. It took just under twenty minutes to reach the rocky, inhospitable island of Atlantis.

  Will landed next to the lake, grateful he'd not traveled here during a flood-inducing storm. The scent of salt and surf was overpowering here; the island regularly flooded with seawater that surged over the slight barriers the island brandished, onto the perimeter, before filling the deep valley comprising the interior. He walked to the lake, a body of water he’d thought of as nothing more than a means to get water to the elevated city they’d constructed here centuries earlier, a city they’d destroyed before moving on. Now he looked through the hazy, salty water to the depths of the lake with new understanding, and saw what he’d never noticed or comprehended before. The depths were formed of shards of rock that formed a jagged bottom floor of the lake, like three dimensional puzzle pieces. He squinted to better focus his eyes, and noticed that there were gaps between the rocks, which swayed as the lake moved with the inflow of new water from the inbound streams. He wondered where the water that trickled through those gaps went.

  “There's an underwater river below, and the streams and lake above drop down to it. Rather amazing, is it not, Will?”

  Will smiled at the sound of a voice he'd not heard for nine centuries, the voice of a tall, imposing woman with hair that looked nearly white.

  He turned around and held his arms open. “It's good to see you again.”

  Eva smiled, and moved forward to embrace him. “It is good to see you again as well, Will. And it is about time you got here. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever understand the messages I sent you.”

  XVII

  Secret

  1969 A.D.

  Will released Eva. “The dreams… those were from you?”

  She nodded. “I apologize for the lack of direct communication.”

  Will waved his hand, dismissing the concern. “I’m just sorry it took me so long to realize what it meant. I haven’t seen you in centuries, Eva. Where have you been?”

  Eva sighed. “I fear the answer to that question is a very long story.”

  Will chuckled. “As it turns out, I happen to have the time to listen to a long story today.”

  Eva nodded. “Follow me, then, but stay close and do exactly what I do. We will travel to my home.” She nodded at the lake. “The salty water will sting your eyes for a few seconds, but it will pass quickly.”

  She turned to the lake and dove in. Will dove in after her.

  She was right: the salty water stung, and his eyes screamed in pain. He blinked quickly, and his eyes acclimated to the salty water. The water found minor cuts and abrasions in his skin, and the stinging sensation nearly caused him to shout in pain. Such a move would have resulted in him inhaling a lung full of water, and he managed to stop himself just in time.

  Will watched as Eva moved to a pair of large rock shards at the bottom of the lake and she lifted the larger of the two as though it was a trapdoor. The opening it formed was sizable enough to admit large volumes of water—and adult humans. Eva disappeared into the gap, and the “door” fell back into the gap after her. Will swam over to repeat the process, lifting the rock “door” open and swimming into the darkness, wondering how much longer he’d need to hold his breath. His eyes had numbed to the effects of the salt, but still hurt, and he wanted nothing more than to get out of this water and clear them.

  The water plunged downward, carrying him with it. His body passed through a substance that felt like gel, clearing away the salt and lake water debris coating his skin and clothing. He passed through the membrane and dropped a few more seconds before splashing into a stream. Instinctively, he stood up, and realized he was in an underground cavern, and the closing of the rock shard trapdoor had stopped the flow of water.

  Will glanced up. He’d fallen roughly thirty feet since passing through the door, and landed in a stream about four feet deep. The gelatinous cleansing membrane had slowed his descent about halfway down, preventing the splash from being far more painful. He scrambled out of the water, breathing in the clean—if humid—air as he glanced around.

  The stream flowed at the bottom of a tunnel about thirty feet in diameter, and Will realized that there must be some mechanism that opened the trapdoor when the island flooded. There were probably many of them, all dropping excess water down into this underground riverbed. He wondered where the tunnel led, but his first priority was locating Eva. He spotted her on the opposite side of the riverbed heading into a tunnel. He darted back into the stream, emerged on the opposite site, and entered the same tunnel. The path wound around for several hundred yards before it sloped sharply upward, and Will emerged into another underground cavern. The air here was much fresher and dryer than the air in the underground riverbed, and Will took a few deep breaths as Eva watched him.

  “Are we under one of the hills?” he asked.

  Eva nodded. “To be precise, we are presently under the hills at the north side of the island. I found these caves the first time I traveled here, shortly after the Aliomenti chose to leave. It was a perfect home for me. The Aliomenti were unlikely to return to a place they had abandoned, especially after going to the trouble to destroy the city they built.” Her face clouded. “It was also a place I knew Hope was unlikely to visit, and for both reasons a place you were unlikely to visit as well.”

  Will nodded, but the sadness returned. “I’m glad I found you, Eva, but I have news that I need to pass along to you.” He took a deep breath. “Adam is… gone.”

  She looked at him sharply. “I do hope he has not fallen victim to Arthur’s lies and given himself to the cause of the Aliomenti.”

  Will shook his head. “No, it’s not that. I don’t think he could ever have done that. He’d never liked Arthur. No, I mean he’s gone. Permanently. Forever. I was there when it happened, and he demanded that I find you.” He paused, as Eva’s face registered understanding. “I’m sorry. He died nobl
y, protecting Hope from attack by Arthur's armed Hunters. It doesn’t make the loss any less, though. For any of us.”

  Eva stared at him in horror, and for the first time since he’d known her, Will watched Eva cry. It was a strange sight to see from a woman who’d always been such a monument of strength and deep resolve. “He’s really gone, then?”

  Will nodded, and held out his arms to her. She moved to him, burying her face on his shoulder as the tears came in silence. He held her until her eyes were dry and his shirt was drenched.

  After a few moments, she composed herself and wiped the tears on her face with her sleeve. “I apologize. That was quite inappropriate of me.”

  Will shook his head. “It's both appropriate and normal, Eva. It’s not every day that you learn your brother is dead. I wish there was something I could do or say to lessen the grief.” He gave her a friendly squeeze, and then released her.

  Eva backed up a few paces, wiping the remaining moisture from her face. “Tell me what happened. You said he died protecting Elizabeth?”

  Will nodded. “She goes by Hope now, actually.” Eva nodded, the look on her face suggesting she knew that detail, but had forgotten the name in the centuries of separation. “She was protecting someone, a human, and Arthur's men arrived because she'd used enough Energy to expose herself to their tracking. They captured her and tried to stab her to death, but Adam teleported between Hope and the Hunters and took the blows meant for her. He used himself as a shield. He died soon after from the wounds.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why he did that. She was safe. He had to know she was safe. She’d been drained of her Energy, but he had to know I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”

  “One moment, please,” Eva said, frowning. “What do you mean by saying that she was drained?”

  “Oh, right.” Will paused, realizing that Eva was likely unfamiliar with the more recent Aliomenti. “There’s a member of the Aliomenti now named Aramis who can drain your Energy from your body if he touches you. He had hold of Hope and drained her until she fell to the ground. When he finished, he moved away so that the two men with him could kill her.”

  A tear fell from Eva’s eye. “Adam would have chosen no other way to give his life, Will. He thought of you as he might a brother, and I know that he was exceptionally fond of Hope as well. He would not risk her life, even though he likely knew you had her protected. To protect her life, to enable the two of you to remain together… he would consider preserving that as something pure and noble. Few of us can choose our manner of death, Will, and fewer still can choose to give their lives preserving something they consider a greater good than themselves. Adam had that rare chance, and he took advantage of his opportunity. Never forget that.”

  Will considered her words for a moment, and then nodded once. He envied Adam; he could only hope he’d have the same chance to choose how he’d go, the chance to preserve something greater than himself. “Before he died, he told me a few things.”

  Eva tensed for a moment, but it was so brief a reaction that Will wondered if it was merely his imagination. “What did he say?”

  “He told me to find you. I suspect that he wanted you to know that he was gone.”

  Eva nodded slowly. “That was… thoughtful of him. I would suspect something a bit more dramatic from a deathbed confession, though. What else did he say?”

  Will blinked at her reaction. “A deathbed confession? What would he need to confess to me I didn’t already know?” He paused a moment as the realization came. “He told me he killed Ambrose, but he committed that crime long before he died that day.”

  “He told you that?” Eva asked, looking startled. “That… surprises me.”

  Will shrugged. “He was working with me and with Hope. We’ve been trying to figure out how to reverse the effects of the ambrosia. We’d like to one day have a family of our own, and never got the chance to make that decision before that day so long ago. We have friends who did understand the consequences who have since met someone they’d like to start families with.”

  “Did he tell you why he did it?” Eva asked. She spoke slowly, as if dreading asking the question.

  Will nodded. “It was based on what Arthur might do. If Arthur ever figured out that Ambrose had the formula to reverse the effects of the ambrosia, he’d use it as a weapon. Reverse the immortality secretly and permanently, reverse the sterility so that potential threats became parents and therefore subject to their death penalty—”

  “What?” Eva's voice was sharp. "What is this death penalty of which you speak?”

  “They—the Aliomenti—they have a rule, somewhat moot though it may now be, that Aliomenti cannot have children under penalty of death. The argument is that children born to those who are Energy-trained will be too powerful to control, and they pose a unique threat to the anonymity the Aliomenti wish to preserve. Since ambrosia prevents that and they require all members to take ambrosia, it’s a pointless rule. I suppose it’s still there for the newest members who aren’t yet… impaired. They don’t want any new members to unlock their Energy and have children before the ambrosia takes effect.”

  Eva looked thoughtful, processing this new information. “I have only seen Adam on a few occasions over the centuries, and our conversations have been brief. He has alluded to obscure rules the Aliomenti have devised and enforced among their membership. I struggled to accept that idea, for I could not see you allowing such rules to exist.”

  “I argued against them,” Will said both in his own defense and in agreement. “Ideas of caution became rules which became Oaths made with a death penalty attached. But the larger issue the Oaths have revealed is this: Arthur has been brainwashing every new recruit since the beginning. They’re incapable of defying him, even if they know his orders and opinions are wrong. I cannot change people who are literally incapable of such change. I therefore left and started a new group, which is called the Alliance. There is no brainwashing. Children are encouraged for those who wish to be parents. The effects of morange, zirple, and ambrosia are fully explained before being administered, and you need not take any to remain part of the group. Roughly a quarter of our members choose to not take the ambrosia, and they are still members. About five percent choose not to take the morange and zirple. But they are all welcomed in our group. We look for good people and they elect the tools they’re most comfortable working with.”

  Eva smiled. “That sounds much more like a group I would associate you with.” She paused. “Hope… is she still in hiding?”

  “Somewhat, though not from me or the Alliance,” Will replied. “We reunited shortly before Ambrose’s death; she showed up just in time to save my life. The Hunters, the three men responsible for Adam’s death… were close to delivering the same end to me.” Will shook his head. “They aren’t very original. Drain your Energy. Stab you with a sword. We need to adapt to that strategy, teach our people to avoid that contact, maybe devise armor that can stop swords, and…”

  “Hope?” Eva asked.

  “What?” Will asked. He realized he’d started chasing a tangent on potential defensive technology to counter the Hunters’ tactics, rather than answering Eva’s question. “Sorry. Yes, Hope is fine. She’s part of the Alliance, where she’s known as The Shadow because she often wears a concealing cloak and comes and goes unexpectedly, typically staying away for years at a time. But we’re always in contact in now. She’s been looking for you as well. Has she… have you… noticed?”

  “We have not spoken since that day,” Eva replied, and though she tried hard to conceal it the pain was evident. “I am happy to hear that she is doing well.”

  “She’s not actively avoiding you, Eva,” Will said. “She and I have both been searching for you these past thirty years, and—”

  “What about the centuries before that, Will?” Eva’s voice shook. “She searches for me now only because she needs me. You looked in the early days, with far more vigor than she did, and—”

  �
��I wasn’t the one with a murdering maniac on my trail!” Will snapped. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten that she’d watched her own father allow her to be beaten by an out-of-control mob? She hasn’t forgotten. I don’t think she’ll ever forget it.”

  “Perhaps you have forgotten, Will, that she chose to avoid me. And you. For centuries. She didn’t look for me. Even when she chose to reunite with you, she never looked for me. I would have known.”

  Will paused. “I didn’t like it either, Eva. And I admit that the hurt I felt for so long has dissipated over the past few centuries. I know now why she left both of us, why she stayed so far away, and that’s helped. But after so long apart, with no idea where you might be… we also had no way to know if you were alive. I think she feared learning you were gone so much that she feared to search.”

  Eva took several deep breaths. “I am happy to hear that she has explained her decision to you, Will, and to your satisfaction as well. But I have not yet been given that explanation. Perhaps she did not intend to stay away so long and hurt me so deeply. Yet she did, and she seemed very focused and determined when she left. I thought she would spend a few years away and return to our small island home in the Mediterranean. But she never did.”

  “I know she wants to see you, and she didn’t leave to hurt you any more than she meant to hurt me,” Will replied. “But I think she’d want to explain everything to you herself.” He paused. “I can take you to see her.”

  Eva's face lit up, then faded back into its usual mask of emotionless calm. “I am… not sure I can do that.”

  Will shook his head. “Of course you can. There’s plenty of room where we live, and the people of the Alliance all know the story of the early days, the first people who ever unlocked their Energy. You’ll be respected and appreciated for who you are.”