Chapter Seven.
Poseidon/Jase
H e held himself above the water, glowering at the scene before him. An Atlantean had attacked his mate, and Poseidon was beyond fuming.
Siera was only allowed to remain in the seas at his sufferance, and she had dared interfere with Willow?
Even worse, one of the most noble creatures to exist in his oceans was helping the Atlanteans.
Poseidon eyed the dragon with barely hidden rage.
“Someone explain to me right now, what is happening?” Poseidon snarled, his temper whipping up large, rolling waves.
“Atlantis heard this scum claims to be king’s mate. The Atlantis will provide king with filthy head,” the merman explained, bowing low.
“The Atlantis?” Poseidon asked, amused. “Do you mean Siera? The ruler of Atlantis.”
“She is now The Atlantis,” the merman retorted with reverence.
Poseidon snorted.
“Siera is nothing unless I give her status. Remember that I hold the power, not her,” Poseidon reminded the merman with amusement. “You chased Willow on Siera’s orders? Did I ask for help?”
“No, no, Great King. The Atlantis decided to solve king’s problem for him,” the merman warbled.
Poseidon could see that his casual use of Siera’s name rankled.
Willow leaned forward. “You little liar! You told me The Atlantis is married to him!”
“Shut up, human filth!”
“And worse, I think he’s enslaving that dragon!” Willow shouted at Poseidon.
Poseidon turned on his tail and eyed the creature.
“Speak, old friend,” he commanded.
The sea dragon’s muzzle opened, but no sound apart from a frustrated scream escaped his maw.
“Poseidon, there is a gold chain with a big pearl attached. He put one on me, too,” Willow said, holding up her necklace.
The merman’s eyes narrowed on Willow.
“It is broken. It did not control you,” he sneered, then realised what he’d said. “That was a gift from The Atlantis.”
“Well, you just claimed it didn’t control me and then changed your mind. Which is it?” Willow challenged.
Poseidon was amused, which was far better than what he’d been half an hour ago when the cries of Willow’s court had reached him.
Warrior had utilised a system rarely used by sea life, one only used in emergencies. He had appealed directly to Poseidon for help, showing scenes of Willow being kidnapped and the Trench.
Warrior had also sent images of Segory and Luna chasing after Chatter and Willow. And Poseidon had panicked. The whales could not breathe that deep underwater, and should Willow head into the Trench, he wasn’t sure she could either.
“Dragons are free creatures, revered by sea life everywhere. To enslave a sea dragon smacks of treason,” Poseidon drawled as Willow came to attention. “To then further attempt to kidnap the mate of the King of the Seas and Oceans goes beyond treachery.”
Willow darted forward as the merman sought for something to say. The smell of burnt seaweed wafted towards her, but Poseidon noticed her focus was on the entrapped dragon.
Willow’s hands stretched outwards, and she grasped the pearl and using her feet, she braced against the dragon and pushed off. The merman shrieked and raised his trident and threw it at her.
Poseidon reacted and launched his own trident, which split the merman’s. With a loud roar, Poseidon aimed his hand at the merman, who was dragged from the back of the dragon and hauled towards him. The merman blanched at the look on Poseidon’s face as he pulled him in close.
“Attack my mate?” Poseidon growled.
“The dragon belongs to The Atlantis; that human has no right to break his bond,” the merman slurred.
“Didn’t I mention Sea Dragons being free?” Poseidon snarled.
His fist clenched, and the water solidified around the merman, freezing him in place. A boom came from Willow’s direction, and Poseidon turned alarmed.
The Sea Dragon was clawing the golden chain on his neck, and Willow was flying backwards, looking stunned. In her hands was a large pearl.
The dragon craned his neck and roared before leaping towards Willow. Poseidon rushed to her defence but hit a barrier as the dragon wound his neck in front of her body and glared at him.
“The Atlanteans took my kind prisoners with your permission,” the dragon growled.
“Not with my approval,” Poseidon said, shocked.
“The Atlantis claimed it was. And you did not answer our calls for help. The Atlantis claims to be Queen of the Seas and Oceans and is enslaving everyone around Atlantis. She sits on your throne, King of the Seas and Oceans. She rules in your absence,” the dragon accused.
“Without my permission,” Poseidon refuted, his anger growing. What had that bitch in Atlantis been doing?
“You know nothing of this?” the dragon asked, curling his body even more protectively around Willow.
“No. But I shall end it.” Poseidon growled, his anger rising.
It was bad enough to fight the humans. Now he was fighting his own kind. His temper grew hotter and wilder than it had been in years.
Poseidon’s eyes narrowed on the merman.
“Your people have betrayed me and my subjects. You will pay the price,” Poseidon snarled.
The merman started gurgling, but Poseidon slapped seaweed over his mouth. His skin began to turn, and he shifted into his mermonster shape.
Within seconds, his secondary form was present, and Willow’s eyes were huge from where she remained with the dragon.
“You are tasked with protecting my mate,” Poseidon ordered, and the dragon nodded.
“My name is Lyris,” the dragon said.
“I shall make all wrongs committed against your people right. And Atlantis will be severely punished,” Poseidon stated.
“We reside within your domain but are not your subjects. Relationships have been damaged,” Lyris warned.
“Why do you protect me?” Willow asked, finally finding her voice.
“Because you were an innocent. Misused by the king and by The Atlantis, you were a pawn. And one The Atlantis would see dead. That made you a victim, along with my people.”
“You attacked me,” Willow stated.
“Not from my own choice. The Atlantis has enslaved my kind. We are under the Atlanteans’ control. The only reason The Atlantis was able to govern my people was because she kidnapped our princess and held her hostage. We willingly submitted to them to save the princess’s life, not expecting to become slaves. Once she began enslaving us, we automatically fought back. But we were too late. Most of our community already wore the pearl and gold chain around our necks. Signs of our enslavement.”
“Why was I not informed? Enslaving Sea Dragons has been forbidden since ancient times. They would always be respected as the peacekeepers of the Seas and Oceans,” Poseidon snarled.
“Because The Atlantis claimed she was your queen and therefore had your permission,” Lyris stated.
Poseidon’s mermonster form swelled up.
Willow watched as those around him flinched, yet she didn’t. Somehow, she knew deep down he truly cared for those who lived in his domain, and he’d never hurt them.
“It is time to end this,” Poseidon snarled. He waved a hand, and a shimmer of sparkles surrounded Willow and her court.
Poseidon nodded smugly; now they could all go to the depths of the Mariana Trench and face the Atlanteans.
Siera had far overstepped her boundaries, and he was about to slap her straight back to where she belonged.
While Poseidon took a step backwards in the everyday lives of the sea creatures, he would not let certain things happen.
Wars happened between clans, and he deemed it not his place to interfere.
Poseidon believed his own people needed to evolve without him micromanaging them. But he frowned upon enslavement and didn’t allow genocide.
“You may accompany my mate down to the Trench. The markings on your heads will allow you to dive deeper and breathe easier. You’ll not need to surface while we are down there, and the markings will disappear when you touch the sun,” Poseidon said.
“I’m not your damn mate!” Willow snapped and recoiled at a stern look from Poseidon. “Right, not the time to argue. Got to slap back a fishy bitch.”
Segory snorted in amusement even as Poseidon tried to control his own smile.
“You’ll free the princess?” Lyris demanded, and Poseidon nodded.
“Siera has many amends to make, and Atlantis will pay for the slights they have wrought,” Poseidon promised.
Lyris smiled and bowed his head.
“Come!” Poseidon ordered and dived. He dragged the merman behind him, still captive in the hardened water, and gagged from the seaweed.
Poseidon caught sight of Willow swapping glances with her court, and then she climbed on Chatter’s back as the others surrounded her and followed him.
He also noticed how Lyris seemed intent on protecting her and wondered what Willow would think about having a Sea Dragon in her court.
In actual fact, Poseidon was amazed at how well Willow was dealing with everything. As much as he despised the idea of a human as a mate, he was starting to feel the tug of a mating bond. It was faint but definitely present. He still wished to break it, but a tiny part wanted the bond.
Oh, he didn’t want Willow, but he did crave the experience and love a mate brought.
Poseidon glanced at Willow as she ignored all protocol and urged Chatter to ride beside him. She, point blank, refused to follow in his wake, and Poseidon felt pride in that.
His mate was strong and stubborn; in time, she would be something to witness. His feelings didn’t mean he accepted she was his mate, but he found, like Emmaline, he was slowly mellowing towards Willow.
Her calm acceptance of all she’d seen and witnessed spoke volumes about her potential to lead. Because she would take charge as his other half.
Willow would be the queen to his king. Every ocean inhabitant would view Willow that way, and her bravery would be legendary.
Willow had been confronted with the ability to talk to sea life, growing gills, imprisoned, and finally kidnapped and attacked.
Poseidon guessed that Willow felt no fear towards him. She stood her ground way too often for his liking.
And she certainly had a temper and had no qualms about unleashing it on him. If he was to be brutally honest with himself, Poseidon would admit he enjoyed their arguments. They scintillated him in ways he’d not been stirred for thousands of years.
They reached the edge of the Trench, and he dived straight over and paused. Atlantis’s wall guards would react the moment they saw the prisoner.
“I’m asking you to stay behind me. The city guards will undoubtedly act the second they see our prisoner here. Let me deal with them please, then we’ll enter,” Poseidon forced himself to ask and not order. Willow would certainly disobey an order.
“Okay,” she replied, and he blinked in amazement. That had been easy.
Poseidon sent her a suspicious look, which she returned innocently. Did she truly believe he was a fool? No.
He sternly looked at Lyris, who ducked his head and seemed to be studying something below him.
With a growl, Poseidon gripped his trident and darted below. The rest quietly followed, aware of the unpleasantness ahead.
Willow
This whole day had the epic beginnings of a fantasy novel, Willow thought as she followed Poseidon down. She kept sending glares at the trapped merman, remembering how casually he’d killed the jellyfish. They may have been her jailors, but she hadn’t wanted to see anyone die.
Even though Lyris was now free of the pearl and the evil influence the merman had wielded, she wasn’t sure she could trust him. Lyris appeared honest, but Willow knew honesty wasn’t guaranteed.
As they swam into the darkness, her eyes adjusted, and she started to see forms and shapes. The sun didn’t reach here. They were too deep for the bright rays of sunshine.
Despite knowing she was surrounded by those who cared about her, Lyris and Poseidon aside, there was a desolate feeling as they continued deeper. It was as if the missing sun had taken all the warm feelings away.
Danger lurked here while coldness and sadness seemed prevalent. There was life, but it felt like it etched slowly out an existence and wasn’t living the best possible life. Everything here seemed like a challenge; therefore, when Atlantis appeared, it took her breath away with its sheer beauty.
Atlantis emerged out of nowhere, a bright, shining light amid darkness.
“The outer walls,” Lyris said with a sneer.
Willow nodded as they came into better view. They glowed a whitish pink and were as high as the Empire State Building in America. Like tiny ants, Willow could see figures moving in the far distance. What amazed her was Atlantis seemed to be separate from the seabed, and she cocked her head, trying to figure out what was wrong.
“Atlantis was an island that sunk. The entire island sits upon the bottom,” Lyris explained, and Willow saw instantly what bothered her.
Lyris was correct. The outer walls were built only three feet from the island’s edge, which ended in sheer cliffs. Of course, they weren’t uniformly straight down but dipped in and out like cliffs.
Willow estimated that the cliffs must fall a good four hundred feet down to the seabed.
“How on earth did it sink?” Willow wondered.
“A meteor hit the Pacific, causing a massive tsunami. One which has never been seen since as it covered most land areas in the initial wave. When it drained back, the inland seas were created. But Atlantis was drowned and dragged down. They were an advanced people and had long ago developed the ability to swim beneath the waves. At first, they resembled humans, but evolution soon gave them gills.
“When the meteor hit, the Atlanteans raised a shield to protect the island. But it wasn’t enough to stop them from sinking. Some of their kind fled, but others stayed, determined to save their homes. Those who fled left reminders of their magnificent land. Still, humanity soon forgot their origins, and they became myth and legend.”
“Myth and legend? The pyramids and other historical sites?” Willow gasped as she listened to Lyris.
“Yes. But those who remained in Atlantis knew they were safe. They’d long ago created an unlimited power source. Over time, evolution hit them again. They grew fins and then skins that allowed them to exist down here. Like many creatures here, the Atlanteans are unique, but their arrogance grows stronger daily. Mainly thanks to Siera’s ego and delusional thinking, they forget they only reside here with the King’s permission. He can send them back to the surface just as easily as clicking his fingers,” Lyris replied.
“He has that power?” Willow demanded.
“Poseidon is a God, is he not?” Lyris asked.
“I have no idea.” Willow chuckled. “He’s not mine.”
Lyris looked scandalised for a few seconds before letting out an amused snort. “I can only imagine how Poseidon takes that attitude.”
Willow smiled, but Atlantis caught her attention. All around, it glowed with a bioluminescence light. Whites, blues, oranges, purples, every colour seemed represented by the graceful city appearing before her eyes.
Tall, delicate towers reached upwards with a grace and elegance rarely seen on land. A palace stood at the centre of Atlantis on a hill.
Willow now understood the legend about the three circling walls of Atlantis. With an enormous arch entrance, the first set of walls stood on the cliff’s edge.
Through the arch were docks for ships or transports. Beyond them was a higher land level with the second walls, just as tall as the first. They protected the houses and shops inside them. The third set shielded the palace itself.
Each wall had a single entrance, making them easily defensible due to their height. Willow noticed a portcullis on the first wall and assumed the other two had the same, allowing them to secure the entrances.
Her eyes wandered to regulated roads which ran circularly around the island, with a direct road leading from the four points of the compass straight up the middle of them. The pathways led to the highest street before the palace, which was the shopping hub. Below were houses and then the docks.
It was a simplistic and yet highly functional design.
Willow’s eyes noted that the roads had been large enough to drag horses and carts up and down them.
The houses were beautiful, made of coral or sea stone and glass. Everything glowed with the bioluminescence, which lit the entire area for miles.
Willow was surprised at how graceful and stunning Atlantis was. She could spot marble statues and parks with beautifully laid gardens which grew flowers.
Her fingers itched to explore because nobody from the land would ever have seen underwater flowers flourishing like this.
Everywhere Willow gazed, there was something amazing and beautiful to be seen, apart from the rather tacky statues of a woman standing in front of the entrance in the first wall. Everyone who entered the city would see her.
Her visage was pretty, but the statue looked out of place and a balm to someone’s ego. On both statues, she wore a crown, and Willow assumed this was The Atlantis.
Her face held an arrogance that surpassed anything Willow had ever seen. She balanced scales in one hand, and a sword in the other. Long robes fell to a beautifully curved fin blazed with bright green enamels.
The second statue stared outward at the ocean, holding a book and quill. The other hand grasped a sceptre featuring a radiant pearl. Clearly, one statue was meant to represent justice and the other knowledge and royalty.
“Tell me that is not what I think,” Poseidon growled out as he glowered at the statue’s tails.
Lyris made a pained sound, and Willow felt it shoot through her.
“Those are scales from my people,” Lyris confirmed with an agonised cry.
“Siera, Queen of Atlantis, you have committed treason against the people of the Seas and Oceans. Your city is to surrender to me, and you’ll appear before me within the next hour to the charge of treason. Failure to appear will be seen not only as a declaration of treachery but as one of war. I summon thee to answer for crimes of enslavement, as the King of the Seas and Oceans,” Poseidon called.
Willow marvelled at how his voice carried across the water without him raising it. The ripples of water spread his word wide as they continued to swim closer. When close to the walls, Poseidon held up his hand, and everyone stopped.
“We’ll wait here. The army will attack first; those on the walls will stay. They are not allowed to leave them no matter what. Siera will send her personal guards, which I’ll neutralise, and then we will invade the city,” Poseidon said.
“Just like that?” Willow asked. She’d left Chatter now and was seated cross-legged above Segory’s eyes.
“Yes. Atlantis holds no defences against me that I cannot overwhelm. And should Siera prove difficult… well, she shall regret it. Her best option is to surrender, set the Sea Dragons free, and take her punishment,” Poseidon said.
“But you think she will fight,” Willow guessed.
“Yeah.”
“And the idiot there?” Willow asked.
“He’s about to be the first casualty,” Poseidon replied, sending the merman spinning through the water. He stopped halfway between the walls and them and was lit in a glow.
Willow noted how he couldn’t struggle and was still gagged and pursed her lips. It was Poseidon’s way of telling Atlantis he meant business and would take their city apart should he need to. She knew she should be worried but ultimately felt safe, and she didn’t want to miss this.
The fact Atlantis actually existed stunned her. She’d not believed in the fabled city, and Lyris confirming the tale that Plato had spoken was amazing. And now, seeing the city intact and beautifully crafted was a gift she had never expected.
If the archaeologists could see this, they’d wet their pants in excitement. This was an adventurer’s dream made reality.
“Am I the first human to see Atlantis?” Willow murmured.
“Since it sank in 13,500 BC? Yes,” Lyris replied as Poseidon conjured a throne out of water and sat in it.
Willow raised her eyes at his arrogance but also understood his action.
He was the King of the Seas and Oceans. He ruled here, not Siera. Poseidon was saying that he was here as judge, jury, and possibly executioner.
Willow admired his calmness and poise as he watched for retaliation from Atlantis.
“Do they have weapons here?” she asked Lyris, suddenly concerned about her court.
“Yes, dangerous ones.”
“We need to protect my court,” she murmured.
“No need,” Poseidon said from his seat. “Nothing shall harm my mate or her court. Attention, the army marches.”
Willow lifted her head and stared at the gates, where a horrified gasp left her lips. Oh no!