Shadows on the Aegean (71 page)

The aftershocks sent her sliding down several times, but she didn’t think, didn’t reason, just kept heading up. About halfway,
from what she could tell, she found a landing. The earthquake had stopped and she marked her spot, then crawled down the passageway.
Left turns repeated, she was in a Greek key. The passageways were getting shorter and shorter! She should be at the center
any mi—

The shaft swallowed her astonished cry, and the words beat around her as she fell through the air. “Oh shit,” Chloe said before
the breath was knocked out of her.

Landing was painful, bruising all her cuts and cutting all her bruises. I should get hazard pay for this, she thought, forcing
herself up on badly rubbed hands and knees. Two things were instantly noticeable.

One, fresh, albeit stinky, air.

Two, the sound of waves.

Dizzy with adrenaline, Chloe ran toward the sound of the water, the passageway twisting and turning, not like a maze, but
like a mountain pass. As she rounded a corner, air blew at her, blinding her with her hair and freezing the cold sweat on
her body. The brightness made her recoil, even though it was only half-light. Chloe swallowed a sob when she realized she
was free of the Labyrinth.

She was in a dark cave, the ceiling obscured by shadow, the sound of water splashing over wood more exquisite than any symphony.
Live water! Wood! Probably boats! And there, in the distance, was a sliver of sky. When her eyes adjusted to the faint light
she saw the boats were nearly submerged. There were no ships, just small rowboats. Chloe realized she was beneath Aztlan island.

She stepped to the least damaged of the vessels and searched for a bottle, giggling with relief when she found a jug of wine.
She smashed the top off, took a swig, dumped it, and began to bail.

C
HEFTU RUBBED HIS EYES
and surveyed his makeshift hospital. Bodies, some dead, some wounded, lay with not a hand span between them, throughout the
feasting hall. These had escaped to Aztlan at very great cost. The land bridge was gone, the corpses washed away by the water,
the cracks on both islands widening with every decan.

In another room lay those who were dying and dead from the plague. The same illness that had taken decades to manifest itself
was now killing people in a matter of days.

Time was running out, yet Cheftu needed to help these people and
mon Dieu
, find Chloe! He heard someone enter the room and turned, squinting through the darkness. They were using only torches, for
oil lamps were too dangerous during an earthquake due to fire.

“The Council is calling a meeting, Cheftu,” Dion said.

“I have not the time, Dion.”

“Phoebus is still missing, as is Niko. Ileana has called the meeting.”

Cheftu looked up from sponging a fever victim’s forehead. “She is not on the Council, how can she do this?”

Dion sighed. “Since Phoebus is missing, she is acting in his stead. Nestor needs to be sworn in as Rising Golden.”

Cheftu stood up. “When will you realize there is no need for another Rising Golden? The only thing rising is the water level!
This is a ruined land, Dion. The Council needs to help the others flee! Ritual will not save us now!”

“It is all we can offer. The pyramid is sealed, messages to Minos return unanswered.’

“We have no access to food?”

“Some, not much. The stores in the palace will last a while.”

Cheftu sighed, moving to the next patient, a man with a broken arm and foot. The little boy he’d found on the bridge had finally
stopped singing, and Cheftu touched them both. No fever, thank God. “Do I dare, ask how long ‘a while’ is?”

Dion brushed against his back. “You do not, my master. Tell me, how can I help?”

Grateful beyond words, Cheftu set the dark chieftain to work and walked back into the room with the dead and the dying.

T
HIS IS WHAT THEY MEAN BY LEARNING PATIENCE
, Chloe thought. It had taken a thousand years of bailing, then digging around for a plank, a board, something to use as an
oar, then plopping herself into the driver’s seat and rowing for the mouth of the cave. Then she realized she was on the wrong
side of the island and had rowed back into the cave, hoping to find another way out. Finally, she was approaching the steps
to Aztlan.

Or was she?

New earth was brightly colored against the older, and Chloe felt her heart pounding in her throat. The earthquakes, oh my
God. She rounded the bend and saw the destruction of the land bridge, now just two nubs jutting out from opposite sides. Tears
streamed down her face unnoticed. She saw that the zigzag pathway was also gone. How would she climb back up?

Her hands were bleeding with blisters on top of cuts, and she fought not to barf as the water bobbed her around. She turned
back to the cave. Only by chance did she see the small cut in the rock and steer toward it.

Miraculously, she found a small landing with stairs leading up. She had no idea where they led, but she would be closer to
the palace, and that was where she needed to be.
Cheftu, we gotta get out of this place. We tried to help, we tried to warn, now we just need to lead the way out of here
.

“Y
OU ARE EXHAUSTED
,” D
ION SAID
. They’d been working side by side for decans, and Cheftu knew he was swaying on his feet. “My apartments are just a hallway
away. You can get some rest. Then and only then will you be able to help these people, Cheftu.” Dion’s arm was guiding, and
Cheftu stumbled. The heavens knew he was tired, worried, and his mind felt hazy. Just a little sleep, a little food; that
was what he needed. Dion had been telling him this for decans, and as a physician he knew it was true. He would be of more
use when he was refreshed.

Leaving Atenis in charge, he followed Dion into the dark hallway, down it, and into the chieftain’s spacious apartments. Like
a child, he ate and drank, following Dion’s bidding. The chieftain talked constantly, his words lost to Cheftu. His voice
sounded as if it came from a great distance.

Cheftu lay back on the couch. It was labor to lift his aching leg. His eyes were closing, even as he hovered around sleep.

“You do not know for how long I have wanted you here.”

Some part of Cheftu’s mind registered that Dion was next to him. Cheftu wanted to move away, but it was such an effort.

“A man of intelligence, of wit and style.
Eee
, Cheftu, let us away from this island. We can start anew! Come with me!”

“No … boats.”

“The air sail, Cheftu. We can get to Prostatevo, then take one of the ships from the new harbor there.” He touched the streaks
of gray at Cheftu’s temples. “We can leave this land. We can be together. I see how you avoid women; we are made for each
other! We can take the elixir and remain eternally young. Eternally healthy.” Cheftu was motionless, feeling Dion’s fingers
touch the lines beside his eyes and the brackets carved around his mouth. His touch was intimate.

Dion’s voice grew more intense. “Imagine never aging, Cheftu. Imagine a dozen—nay, a thousand lifetimes to learn and study,
to explore, to know!” Cheftu opened his eyes. Dion lay beside him, his face close, his dark eyes wide. The emotion in them
was eerily familiar. “Imagine a thousand lifetimes to love.”

He covered Cheftu’s mouth with his own.

C
HLOE OPENED THE DOOR
and stepped into the huge apartment. Apparently she had discovered someone’s secret passageway. Her eyes adjusted slowly.
As though it were a stage, a covered couch was centered in the room, lit by torches so that the two figures on it were clear.

Two heads of dark, flowing hair.

Two bodies, plastered together. A hand hung off the bed, the ring on it twinkling like a laughing demon’s eye. Thoth, god
of healing. The fingers wearing it were long, strong, and sensual, two scarred forever.

The bottom fell out of Chloe’s world.

My heart aches for that which it cannot have and loves what it cannot love
. Cheftu’s words echoed in her brain, and Chloe crumbled against the wall, her hand over her mouth.

Cheftu and Dion?

Cheftu was gay?

Chloe couldn’t look away. She saw the shadow of the cleft of Dion’s buttocks and wondered if Cheftu were also naked. Dion’s
hair shielded her view of Cheftu’s face, and she was unspeakably glad. To see passion in his golden eyes for someone else—for
a man!—was not something she could endure.

Stumbling backward, she ran to the spiral of the staircase. This explained why he hadn’t been searching for her. Chloe fled
down the steps, her hand over her mouth, seeking a way out, darkness—solitude. She fell to her knees, sobbing, blindly groping
the wall.

Cheftu was gay? Think about it, she chided herself, striving for calm. It wasn’t possible. She’d been around gay men most
of her career. Surely she would have known, have recognized?
But you saw that kiss with your own eyes; they were in bed together. It’s not like Cheftu was tied down and being forced
.

She curled into a ball, the vision of two beautiful men embracing inscribed on her brain. Down was becoming up, black turning
to white. It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t!

Had Cheftu grown bored with her? Why didn’t he say he was confused? Chloe thought. Why didn’t he tell me what he felt? Had
the opportunity to try something different, possibly more erotic, been undeniable?

He had been angry with her, he’d been unmoved by her, unwilling to touch her, he’d been silent, withdrawn. Oh God!

A dizziness enveloped her, the minimalist chords of a forgotten violin concerto filled her ears. She saw her life with Cheftu.
Slowly she rethought every word, every gesture.
He’d never truly wanted her
. He had hated her in the beginning. He thought initially in Egypt that she was a whore, and when she had been with him, she’d
acted like one on several occasions. Teasing him.

The violins rose.

He’d felt responsibility for her because she’d also been a time traveler. They had a great deal in common; neither of them
actually belonged in ancient Egypt.