Ominous Odyssey (Overworld Chronicles Book 13) (29 page)

As we drew closer, Adam pointed to a series of stairs and bridges built into the side of the cliffs that went all the way down to a small harbor. "I'd guess they have to take the long way down."

Shelton grimaced. "Holy pant-crapping cliffs! Ain't no way in hell I'd walk that route."

The buildings in Heval looked markedly different from those in Atlantis. Built mostly of polished black rock and gray granite, they were tall and square, without much of the architectural flair of Atlantis. A few buildings near the city center bore the spires of Atlantis, leading me to believe the Sirens might have constructed some of the buildings, but not the rest.

Since there was no space to land the ship, the
Falcheen
sidled up to the cliff where a round courtyard offered space for the gangway. Three large statues of winged Seraphim stood in the center, their stone gazes fixed upon the sea. A man with a rough brush perched on the shoulder of one the statues, busily scrubbing bird poop from its shoulders.

"Let me guess," Shelton said. "Those are the Fallen."

Adam gave him a thumbs-up. "Gold star for you."

Domiciles crowded the edges of the courtyard, their windows looking straight down at the thousand-foot drop.

"Talk about the Cliffs of Insanity," Elyssa murmured. "I hope they don't get earthquakes here."

Before the gangway had reached the shore, dozens of people spilled into the courtyard, mouths agape and eyes wide at the sight of the flying vessel.

Illaena stepped to my side. "I do not like the idea of you seeking out the Fallen. I will take the ship out to an aether eddy where we will wait." She tapped the communication gem on her collar. "You know how to reach me when you're ready."

I'd kind of hoped her crew might come with us just in case we needed an assist, but the look in her eyes told me that wasn't going to happen.
She's scared.
I couldn't blame her. The idea of ancient Seraphim who'd ruled like gods in a lost land for thousands of years was enough to make anyone a little hesitant of dropping in and visiting.

I just hoped the gods of Mount Olympus didn't kill us on sight.

Chapter 25

By now, the crowds were all the way up to the cliff where a stone railing prevented them from slipping over the ledge to their doom. Like the Atlanteans, the Hevaleans wore tunics and togas though, with the chillier weather at this altitude, these people covered their shoulders and heads with robes.

A young man with a gold wreath on his head stepped forward. "I am Archon Hippias," he said in the same heavily accented Cyrinthian spoken by the humans in Atlantis. "Did the gods gift our brethren with a flying ship?" Hippias sounded a bit miffed that we'd get a fancy gift before them.

"We are not from Atlantis," I said, and was not disappointed when my declaration brought forth a chorus of confused sounds. When the noise died down, I continued. "We spent the night as guests of Atlantis and have come to visit your city."

Hippias looked comically confused. "If you are not from Atlantis, then where could you possibly have come from?"

"Oh, brother." Shelton groaned. "Here we go again."

I smiled reassuringly. "If we could have private audience, Archon Hippias, I will explain everything."

"Very well." Hippias waved his arms. "Make room for our guests!"

The crowd parted right down the center. I tried not to look down as I crossed the narrow gap between the ship and the cliff, and stepped into the courtyard. Elyssa and the others soon joined me. Illaena wasted no time and the
Falcheen
swooped out over the ocean.

Hippias led us down narrow streets of smooth polished basalt and the other citizens followed at a respectful distance, expressions wary of the new strangers. Where Atlantis was shining and beautiful, the buildings here were square and dark, casting a pall over the city. It wasn't until we reached the central section that we entered a neighborhood of white marble mansions on wide plots of grassy land dotted with trees and gardens. Unsurprisingly, Hippias led us into the largest, a great domed house that looked like it could have been a church. The inside was finished in marble with gold-trimmed tiles and murals in the floors and walls. Ornate statues of the Fallen greeted us in the main foyer, and past them was a hall filled with busts of people bearing imperious expressions.

"This is the hall of Archons," Hippias explained. "My forefathers."

"Being archon is a birthright?" Elyssa asked.

He nodded. "I am of the royal bloodline bequeathed by the gods."

"Ain't no better way to get it," Shelton said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

Hippias entered a round room with a polished stone table in the center. Columns reached up to the domed ceiling, and behind them were shadowy alcoves with more statues. He rang a bell and a man with the universal bearing of a butler stepped inside.

"Refreshments for our guests," Hippias told the man. He motioned us into the heavy wooden chairs around the table and then took a seat for himself. "Before we commence, might I ask your names?"

I took the lead. "I'm Justin." My finger pointed out the others in turn. "Elyssa, Adam, Shelton."

Shelton tipped his hat, but didn't remove it, and I noticed he had his compressed staff at the ready in one hand. Shelton, as a general rule, didn't trust anyone he didn't know, so for him it was normal behavior. Elyssa's eyes wandered warily around the room, and I could tell she was evaluating escape routes and battle plans.

Adam was taking selfies with his phone.

"Interesting names," Hippias said. "I would ask where you are from, but I suspect that information is forthcoming."

"My story will probably upset some of your long-held truths about Atlantis and Heval," I said, "but I must assure you it's all the truth."

He nodded. "I have an open mind."

I sure hope so.

The butler returned with wine, cheese and bread. Shelton looked at it suspiciously and scanned it with a program on his phone before taking a bite. The rest of us poured ourselves glasses of white wine that tasted surprisingly sweet.

I launched into the story about the Sundering, the Desecration, and our theory of how this realm fragment came to be. Hippias remained calm and sipped on his wine until I'd finished explaining how we'd come from Seraphina and into his neck of the woods.

Hippias took a long gulp of wine after I'd finished. Despite his outward calm, he was obviously a bit shaken by the revelations. He poured himself another goblet and spoke. "You have undertaken a journey worthy of Odysseus himself to reach this place, but there is something that puzzles me."

"What's that?" I asked.

His question was simple. "Why did you come
here
?"

Elyssa's eyes met mine. She nodded. Adam nodded, and Shelton shrugged. It seemed that it was time to divulge our suspicions.

"What do you know of the gods who live on Olympus?" I asked.

"I have personally spoken to them," he said. "As Archon it is my duty to inform them from time to time of the state of our city."

I wasn't really sure how to phrase the next question. "Um, are they nice people?"

"They are gods, not people," he said sternly. "They have always treated me with respect."

"Any evil vibes?" Shelton asked.

Hippias almost spilled his wine. "What sort of question is that? Why do you ask such things about the gods?"

"We think they might be in danger," I said.

Hippias narrowed his eyes. "Though they warned me and every Archon before to be vigilant of danger, I doubt any could harm the gods."

I heard the sound of air through a hollow tube. Shelton was two steps ahead of me, probably forewarned by the change of tone in Hippias's voice. His staff snapped out and he shouted a word. Elyssa flipped over the table and knocked Adam over backwards. I channeled a shield just an instant before several darts bounced off of it.

Hippias scrambled backwards, but Elyssa had him in a chokehold before he could move another inch. Armed men burst from the alcoves, swords in hands, and tried to attack us. Thanks to my shield and Shelton's, they ran headfirst into the invisible barriers and bounced off like kids slamming into freshly cleaned sliding glass doors.

"Sound the alarm!" Hippias cried. "The god killers are here!"

"Son of a—" Shelton flicked away his shield and aimed his staff. A bolt of blue energy slammed one soldier in the chest, knocking him across the room. Shelton whirled his staff and spun, his leather duster flying out like a cape, and blasted another attacker in the face.

Adam took out his wand and picked off two more soldiers with precisely aimed spheres of energy that coalesced around the attackers' heads and knocked them out like gas bombs. Elyssa fought three soldiers, her body and fists a blur. Unable to even draw a sword or fend her off with fists, the men grunted, doubled over, and fell into a heap.

Elyssa stood over them and smoothed out a lock of mussed hair—the only indication she'd just taken out three armed men.

The scene resembled the day after a raucous fraternity party—a bunch of dudes in togas unconscious on the floor in puddles of their own piss and vomit. Only Hippias remained awake, and he looked absolutely terrified.

"I knew this day might come," he said hoarsely. "You will be the end of us all."

"How did you know?" I picked him up off the floor and planted his ass back in the chair. "Tell me!"

He looked up at me with tortured eyes. "The gods told us if anyone ever came from the outside, they were here to kill them."

I blew out a long sigh. "Well, today is your luck day, Hippias. We're not here to kill anyone."

Hippias looked at the men on the floor. "But your powers—who else could you be but the evil gods from beyond?"

"I hate to break it to you, buddy," Shelton said with a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, "but your gods ain't gods at all. They're just a bunch of posers."

"When was the last time you spoke to them?" I asked.

Hippias swallowed hard. "I should not say."

I squeezed his shoulder a little too tight for his comfort. "You should definitely say."

He winced. "Never," he said quickly. "I have never directly spoken with the gods."

I let him go. "But you said—"

"I have to keep up appearances," Hippias said. "How could I let the people know that the gods have not spoken to an archon for two centuries?"

I exchanged concerned looks with the others. "Where do the gods live?"

"At the top of Olympus." He rubbed his shoulder. "There is only one way up, but it does not work unless the gods will it so."

Elyssa adopted a gentler tone and offered him a smile. "Where is it?"

"How do I know you are not the evil ones from beyond?" he asked plaintively.

"Did we kill your men?" I asked. "Have we threatened to torture you for information?"

Hippias looked uncertainly around at us. "No, but I have heard the evil ones are cunning."

"We have a flying ship that could take us to the top," Shelton said impatiently. "One way or the other, we're gonna visit your gods."

The archon squeezed shut his eyes. "I am the youngest archon to ever serve. I do not wish to be known as the one who betrayed our gods."

Elyssa crouched in front of him. "The evil your gods spoke of is trying to penetrate the wall separating this place from beyond. We're here to warn them."

"Scout's honor." I held up my fingers in what I vaguely remembered being the proper sign.

"Holding your fingers like that isn't scout's honor," Adam said. "That's live long and prosper."

Shelton leaned closer to Hippias. "Like I said, you can take us, or we'll get our ship to take us. We only swung by here first so someone could introduce us properly."

Hippias took a moment to consider the offer and finally nodded. "Please follow me." He led us down a hall and to a smaller statue of the Fallen at the end. He pressed the right butt cheek of one of the statues and something clicked. The wall grated outward, revealing a hidden passage.

"Typical," Shelton muttered. "Next thing you know, we'll find the original Declaration of Independence down here."

Adam snorted. "I give them points for putting the hidden pressure point on the butt."

Hippias gave them an uncertain look before grabbing a rod with a glowing sphere on the end and leading us into a rocky tunnel that snaked back and forth for quite a distance. A dark alcove loomed at the end of the tunnel, but the glowing globe revealed what it actually was.

"That's a levitator shaft like what they use on Seraphina," Shelton said.

I charged the blue gem on the wall and was rewarded with a glowing white light from within the shaft.

Hippias gasped and would have tripped over his own feet, but Elyssa caught him.

"Only the gods should be able to do that," he said.

"Your gods are Seraphim just like me," I told him. "They have powers, but that doesn't make them gods."

"Here's hoping they don't blast us the second they see us," Shelton said.

"I say we let Hippias go first." Adam motioned the nervous archon into the shaft. "I doubt they'll blast him."

"But I have not been summoned," Hippias said. "They might strike me down on sight!"

"Nobody's going first," I said, and herded everyone into the shaft.
Take us to the top
, I commanded the levitator. It responded just like the ones in Tarissa, and an invisible platform beneath our feet shot upward at incredible velocity.

Smoothly bored rock blurred past in the glowing light of the shaft. Hippias looked up and screamed, throwing up his arms as we approached the roof with enough velocity to smash us flat as pancakes. The levitator slowed and stopped at an opening in the rock.

I stepped out into a freezing cold room. A fireplace black with ash and soot gaped emptily across the room. Three thrones of pure gold were covered in snow and dust. Golden sconces lined the walls, and what had once been magnificent tapestries hung from the ceiling, their threads rotting and colors dulled.