Six
The carriage pulled to a stop outside the Gates of Pearu. Stepping out, I stared at the group of creatures that were working to repair the black dented gate. However, at our arrival they turned around, faces worry that whoever was stepping out of the carriage would be the King. At the sight of me, they calmed but yet were still alert.
“Gracious, she really did do some damage on it, didn’t she?” Dyos said stepping out of the carriage behind me. He wore the clothes of the kingdom, his black hair braided into two long plats. “I would love to know how she got one over on the Gods.”
“If I were you, I would not wonder about such things so loudly.”
I stepped over to the two demons that had accompanied us this morning. Due to request, Broxton had been removed from the list probably sparking more contempt he had for me.
“You may head back to the palace. We will take it from here.”
“But your highness, the King said to wait for you at the Gates.”
“I have no idea the time we shall return.” I said. “I do not want to waste your time when you can be performing other duties. Do not worry, if we need transportation, I will call for you.”
The demon appeared a bit skeptical but finally nodded his head in agreement. He climbed into the carriage closing the door as it started and headed down the road back towards the countryside of the palace. Turning around, I faced Dyos. “Let’s go.”
“Aristaeus, you know that I am willing to follow you everywhere. But are you sure that it is okay for us to be on the outside of these Gates?”
“Yes, my father has spoken with Zeus. He told him that we are investigating how the Gates were broken?”
“Ha! And Zeus believed him.” Dyos laughed.
“Well we are investigating.”
“You’re investigating. The King does not care. I know that he has other plans. My father has been hush hush these days but I know when something is up. Let’s just be careful, okay.”
“Agreed.”
The workers stepped out of the way as we approached the fence. There was a new secretary of the courts at the fence today since the old one had been killed during yesterday’s escape. We went through the usual forms of verifying ourselves and a new scanner that took our blood. Once everything was approved, the doors to Belham slid open and we entered through.
The first thing I noticed when we stepped into the barn of Belham was the tables were still overturned. There was dried blood from the battle between the creatures of our world. The only clue that the Gods had been here was that of their symbol burned into the walls.
“Remind me not to get banned from Pearu.” Dyos said staring around. “I do not know how it is that you survived in such filth for so long.”
I ignored him as I removed my demos. If Lilith or anyone else from The Rogue was here, I didn’t want to be caught off guard. Dyos followed my suit as he removed his sword, his attention no more of laughter.
“Stay down here, I’m going to check upstairs were the rooms are. If anybody comes, restrain them without killing them. But if it comes to your or them, do not hesitate to kill them.”
“Understood.”
I left Dyos downstairs as I headed up the steps to the second floor. The floor boards that had once been sturdy were now wobbly from the battle of yesterday. As I passed the rooms, I opened the door of each one. All of them seemed to be vacant, nothing but the resident’s belongings being left behind. I finally arrived at the room I’d been staying in and slowly pushed the door opened. Unlike the others, my room was not how I left it. I didn’t have much to begin with here in Belham, but the little bit I did have was thrown around the room.
The covers from my bed were ripped to shreds, the mattress and pillows as well. The drawers to the wooden desk in my room were busted, the stacks of paper now drenched in black ink as it lay scattered on the floor. Someone had been looking for something, and I’m sure that someone was Lilith. But what was it? What did she think that I had?
I picked up my belongings filtering through to see if anything was left as a clue, but there was nothing. I exited my room and continued to search the second floor coming up on a lost. By the time that I came downstairs, Dyos had moved from his spot by the door of Pearu and was staring at the symbol the Gods had left behind.
“What do you think it means/” he asked without turning around.
“I think it’s a warning to Eris. Maybe to let her know that they are involved in it now.”
“But shouldn’t she already know that. They see everything, from the mortal world to ours. Which is why I don’t understand why they have yet to do something about her?”
“Their concerns are of the mortals, not of the Damned.” I said rounding the bar. “I am going down to Os’ mar’s office. Are you coming?”
“Yeah. I’m right behind you”
I headed into the door behind the bar Dyos following close behind me. The office like my room was disarray. I now started to piece together the clues. Lilith was after something in Os’ mar’s office. A flash of her standing in front of me holding Os’ mar’s keys came to mind. It was obvious that she thought that whatever she needed from Os’ mar that I would have. It wasn’t a secret how close Os’ mar and I was around here. However, we were not that close for Os’ mar to give me his secrets.
“Do you think Eris did this?”
“More like her lackey.” I picked up the overturn desk and threw it to the side. The hole in the floor was sealed so it seemed the room below had gone untouched. I grabbed the phone that lay on the floor and pressed the numbers I had memorized Os’ mar doing yesterday. It’s not like I knew something of this nature would happen, it was always just a precaution. I memorized everything around me.
Once all the numbers were pressed in, the floor began to move opening as I placed the phone back on its hook.
“How did you know that was there?” Dyos said peering down into the hole.
“Os’ mar showed me once. Let’s go.”
We headed down the spiral stairs as the ceiling closed back up above us. I was glad for that. I didn’t want anyone that could be watching to sneak down here on us. We came to a stop at the doors that I visited yesterday.
“It has a scanner.” Dyos said. “How are we supposed to get past that? Shall I call for the King to get Os’ mars information?”
“There will be no need for that.”
With one clean slash I removed the scanner from the door. The skeleton that was attached to the scanner lay twitching on the ground. Reaching in, I grabbed the loose wires in the wall and twisted to my liking until the doors snapped open.
“Whoa! Where did you learn that? I don’t care you’ve got to teach me. I have a couple places that I need to get into.”
“No Dyos, you will not use these skills for whatever illegal activities that you have planned.”
“So says the Prince breaking into someone else’s property.”
“I’m investigating.”
Dyos scoffed as I stepped through the doors. This room was untouched. No one had been down here. But even as I thought that, I could not stop the feeling that was creeping up on me. I walked over to the vault on the wall and opened it the same way I did the scanner outside the room. The door swung open as the smell of dragon scales hit my nose. Dragon scale coins lay piled up in rows to the ceiling, and in between them was a broken jar of scattered moonstones. Since I had no idea exactly what moonstones were in the jar, I couldn’t find out if any were taken.
“The vault seems safe.” Dyos said peering over my shoulder. “The money is still there. It’s a waste really.”
“It will have to remain until someone from the court comes. This is Os’ mar’s money. Once we discover his whereabouts, he may come back and claim it.” I closed the door to the vault. “Seal it back.”
Dyos stepped up and placed his hand against the lining of the door. He called forth fire to seal the
door. While he was taking care of that, I walked over to the locked boxes. Calling forth my own fire, I burned the edges of the door until I could pry it open. Inside were the boxes that I had brought Os’ mar over the years. As I stared into the locked box, I took in the black box that was unlatched, its top pointing to the ceiling of the lock box. The contents in the box were missing.
I pushed away from the lock box and turned to Dyos. “Dyos! Check those lock boxes on those sides to see if they are opened and missing their contents.”
Dyos heard the urgency in my voice and ran to the other side of the room. One by one, we removed the doors to the lock boxes only to find opened black boxes, their contents gone. By the time we finished it was clear, that everything within these boxes were missing.
Dyos walked over to me. His eyes were held with concern as he stared into my face. “I don’t understand Aristaeus. What is missing? What was in these boxes?”
Slowly, I turned to Dyos as the words I didn’t want to say came tumbling out. “Souls. Mortal souls.”
Dyos and I headed back to Pearu since there was nothing else to find in Belham. I split ways with him once we were within in the gate, claiming that there was someone I needed to see. He didn’t believe me, but understood that I needed some time to myself. Without me saying anything, he told me that he would keep the King occupied until I returned. Once he left, I headed in the opposite direction towards the ocean.
I knew the possibility of the entranceway still remaining in Nicolle was a long shot so I didn’t head there. I also knew that my father had reacted just like I’d predicted and sent his army to search all lands of the sirens until he found the portal. He was wasting power when he should have had those guards defending the palace.
Carriages and carts rode by filled with food from the souks as the drivers turned their heads watching me as I made my way through the countryside. I had to hurry because word would soon get back to my father that I was venturing towards the ocean. My father would immediately have me brought back and questioned. In due time, I would tell him what I know. For right now, it was better that he didn’t trust me.
I came to the outskirts of the ocean and stared at the large mountain rocks that housed different creatures. My boots splashed through the water as it soaked my pants. I needed to get to the middle of the ocean. If I got to the middle of the ocean, hopefully I would find the entrance way that would take me out of Pearu. The closer I got to the middle of the ocean, the higher the water grew. It wasn’t before long that it was up to my chin and I was floating by. Dipping forward, I dropped my head underwater and swam until I reached the middle.
Coming upon the middle of the ocean, I waved my hands around trying to feel the hum that would announce the portal. My hands grasped around at the water as fishes darted back and forth around me. It wasn’t anywhere around the surface, so maybe it was down towards the bottom. I tipped forward heading towards the bottom of the ocean but again there was nothing.
Wading in the water, I tried to think of where the portal could be. I was pretty sure that it opened up somewhere in the water. Kicking off the floor of the ocean, I swam upwards until I broke the surface. Water filled my eyes, as wet strands of my hair clung to my face.
“There he is!”
I turned around in the water at the voice to see my father’s men up on the hill bank. My father stepped out of the carriage and stared down at me. The sight of him being here to soon worried me. Maybe he knew I would come looking for the portal. It seems as Dyos didn’t sway his attention away from me. There was even possibility that my father hadn’t been at the palace when Dyos returned. He probably had been waiting on me since I left.
Raising a hand, my father pointed towards me. “Bring him to me, even if you have to harm him.”
The guards tore down the hill with battle screams. Broxton was among them as he ran in front of the crowd. On his belt, I could see a small dagger. As my eyes connected with his, it spoke volumes. He would try to kill me today. He would probably mark it off as an accident or self-defense, but either way in his mind today I would be out of the picture.
I swam further out of their reach before dipping back down in the water. I knew there was nowhere really for me to run out here. I would be dragged back by my father’s guards and let Broxton tell it, I will be floating dead in this water.
At that thought, another sudden thought came to me. Closing my eyes, I wished to be outside the world of Pearu. I wished to be in the world of mortals. I wished to be back in the oasis of Tunisia. I held my eyes tight as I wished for this.
I counted to ten before opening them and finding myself still in within the body of water. I pushed back up to the surface expecting to see the guards, but instead I saw trees, grass, and the night sky of the mortal world. On the banks of the lake was Astraea perched on a rock. I quickly swam towards her, pulling myself out of the water one I reached the bank.
Water ran off of me as I stumbled towards her. Astraea stared at me her eyes blinking from white to gold. Her lips parted into a smile as she spoke the words that it seemed I had been waiting to hear.
“Hello Aristaeus.”