The Alabaster Throne (The Fall of Atlantis Book 1) Read online

  The Alabaster Throne

  By Wilson Harp

  Cover art by Daniela Owergoor

  Copyright © 2016 by Wilson Harp

  All Rights Reserved

  For my Denisa

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 1

  Tal kept his lips sealed tight as he watched his brother adjust the breastplate. He sat with his arms wrapped around his knees in the folds of the curtain which flapped in the soft breeze. The blue linen decorated with silver thread would blow in front of him, but he still watched in rapt attention to the servants who worked without words to prepare their lord for his day of glory. Tal had been told to keep his breathing quiet as the fitting took place, and had kept his mouth closed so not to be sent away. He felt the excitement and thrill he was sure gripped his older brother.

  Galius admired himself in the polished oval of copper one of the slaves held before him. The silver leopard head snarled in sharp relief against the finely crafted polished bronze breastplate which gave the young man a look of power and regality beyond his years.

  To be chosen as commander was a great honor, and that Galius was only fifteen years old spoke of the trust their father, King Fa’amuil, held in his second son.

  “My Lord.”

  General Praset came into the room. His four guardsmen stopped just outside the room to assure no one would approach the powerful officer without his knowledge. Tal had heard the General laugh at warnings of assassinations, but he acted as though he believed each moment he was under threat. His security was as formidable as the High King’s.

  Galius peered at himself in the polished copper for a few seconds more before he dismissed his servants with a wave of his hand. Tal readied himself to be sent away, too, but his silence had rewarded him. Galius had forgotten his little brother watched from the dark corner of the room.

  “General, I trust the field is prepared as I have ordered.”

  “The troops will be in position, my lord. I will ride directly behind you.”

  “And who will be facing us tomorrow?”

  “General Noma has sent a commander from Avatui. I know little about him.”

  “No matter. You have trained me well, and I have a keen mind. The battle will go as we have planned and I will return with a victory to present to my father.”

  “His majesty will be pleased by your success today, my Lord.”

  “As he should be. I will earn him great honor and my victory will announce to the people that Mestor has a new commander who’s to be feared.”

  The slightest twitch at the corner of Praset’s mouth indicated his approval. “So it shall, my Lord. Your chariot will be welcomed into the gates with the highest honor. I’m sure his majesty will step down from his throne and place the crown on your head himself.”

  “The first of many crowns,” Galius said. He strapped the silver traced bronze helmet onto his head and walked out of the room with a haughty smile. The general peered after him and pursed his lips as if in thought.

  Tal considered his situation. He was afraid if he were caught hiding in the corner, he would be punished. But he didn’t think the general knew of his presence, so he stayed still and waited for a moment when he could slip out unobserved.

  General Praset looked to the door and bowed deeply.

  “Your majesty,” he said.

  Tal felt shock his father might catch him and shrank back behind the curtain. He almost sighed out loud when his mother entered the room a second later, but was able to control his breathing.

  The queen stepped inside and looked around. Her eyes seemed to take in every object in the room, but she never looked in the dark corner where Tal had hidden himself. She extended her hand to the general and he took it and kissed it. Then he kissed up her arm and took her in a lover’s embrace and kissed her on the lips.

  “Careful General,” Queen Jala said as she pulled herself from his embrace. “I don’t wish the servants to speak of us meeting in my own son’s chambers.”

  “Of course, my Queen. Galius has gone to the stables. He is fully suited for battle and his chariot will soon take him to the field of Comril.”

  “Then you must go soon and calm him before his day.”

  “Did you wish to see him?”

  “No. I said my farewells this morning when I had breakfast with him. I waited until he left before I came to you.”

  “It will go as you have instructed,” Praset said.

  “Did you speak any falsehood to him?” Queen Jala asked. She stepped over to the window just feet from Tal.

  “No, your majesty. I would never offend the gods by being false to royalty. I told him his chariot would enter the city in glory and he would be honored by his father placing a silver coronet on his head.”

  “And then he will be lowered into the water,” the queen muttered as she turned to look out of the one window where she could see the ocean. She smiled as she took in the view.

  The general stepped behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. “Your plan is in place. Everything is arranged.”

  “When I sit on the Sapphire Throne, you will be my personal guardsman. I will keep you with me for your loyalty.”

  Praset kissed her neck. “Among other things.”

  She laughed and turned to him. “Yes, among other things.” She kissed him on the lips and then slipped from his grasp again. “Go now and mount your chariot. Give my son a great entrance onto the field of battle. This moment will be his pinnacle; he needs to ascend great heights in front of his men. Let their hearts soar as their new commander arrives in the highest honors.”

  “Banners and pennants will wave from every spear. It will be a glorious entrance.”

  “Tomorrow evening I will mourn for him in true grief, but for now I must be the proud mother and prepare with the other women. We must finish the hero’s welcome which all expect.”

  She lifted her hand to Praset who kissed it in farewell. He walked out of the room and Tal heard the footsteps of his guardsmen follow him down the main stairs from the apartment.

  Queen Jala turned back to the window and sighed. She uttered a short prayer to Rosta, goddess of storms, and looked around the room.

  “You had an arrogant way, my Galius. I could have used that if you weren’t so stubborn.”

  Tal watched as his mother left the room and turned toward the main stairs. He picked a blue striped tile and had decided to wait until the shadow from the door reached it before he left the room in order not to be seen. He thought about what he had seen and heard as he watched the shadow on the floor. That his mother had taken General Praset as a lover was no surprise. His father had many women in his service and his mother had taken many men to her bed as well.

  What confused Tal was the talk of Galius being killed. His mother mentioned mourning and Galius being lowered into the water. But how could that be? Praset was a great general and Noma was a doddering fool who had to gum his food and women? That was what King Fa'amuil had said just the night before when he gave Galius comman
d of the army.

  The shadow reached the tile and Tal crept from behind the curtain. He spared a moment to look around and make sure there was nobody who lingered outside of his brother’s apartments before he walked out the door into the bright noon sun.

  He darted from the doorway to a large terrace of flowers and looked around. No one seemed to notice. He turned to descend the stairs which climbed down the wall side of the royal apartments.

  “Tal,” Meleus said as he rounded the corner. “I’m glad I found you. Come on, let’s go. Tumat is waiting.”

  “Why are you in such a hurry?” Tal asked. “He’s just a dried up plum. He talks to me like a servant.”

  “He lets me listen and I can watch you practice. I think it’s interesting. I like him.”

  Tal snorted. “You would. But you won’t be holding a spear in battle, leading the army to victory.”

  “Maybe not, but I do want to learn about the untamed lands and the men and beasts which live there. I won’t lead men into battle on the isles, but maybe I’ll go to Sais one day.”

  A trumpet sounded from the front gate and the boys turned to look.

  “Come on,” said Tal. “Let’s climb the wall. We should be able to see from there.”

  The boys ran down the stairs of the apartments and along a small garden path until they reached one of the many stairs which led to the top of the city wall. The wall on this side of the city fell away to the rocky shores a hundred feet below, so there were few guardsmen to move around. The horns blared again and the boys looked over to the gate.

  “See!” Tal said. “It’s Galius’s chariot. The procession is leaving now!”

  The two boys watched enthralled by the sight of the soldiers marching out. Galius, Praset, and other officers went first in their chariots. The large warhorses were held to a slow cantor to allow the parade to be seen by as many people as possible. The trumpeters came next in their red tunics, the brass instruments blown when signaled by their leader. The ranks of spearmen which followed were in proper formation. Every spear head shined and gleamed with golden light, its bronze tip sharpened to needlepoint.

  “One day you will ride out like that,” Meleus said.

  Tal nodded as he watched. He saw Galius wave to the crowds which lined the road out of the city and to the crowds which filled the tops of the walls near the gate. He wanted to cheer for his brother, but he knew he would never be heard. And he felt strangely sad, like he would never see Galius again.

  “What’s wrong?” Meleus asked.

  “I… I don’t know.”

  “Your father said this would be a great victory for him. Tomorrow night he will return ahead of the army and there will be a great feast.”

  “There will be,” said Tal. But he couldn’t shake the image of Galius being lowered into the water with a silver circlet on his head.

  “Come, let’s go and find Tumat,” Meleus said. He pulled on Tal’s tunic as he tried to get the young royal’s attention.

  “I hoped that old toad would have been caught up in the excitement and not come to look for me today. He should take the day to rest his bones, as he complains they always ache.”

  “He won’t lecture if you’re not there, and I love to hear the stories.”

  Tal turned for his friend’s sake and walked toward the garden where he knew Tumat waited.

  “Soon I will get to go to the yard and work with the spear,” the young prince said. “And before long, I will get to go see a real battle.”

  “I suppose I will have to learn about the horses and chariots if I’m to drive for you,” said Meleus.

  “What else?”

  “I don’t know. I’d like to see the ships and travel.”

  “To the savage lands?”

  “Sure. There’s adventure and excitement over there. Wild beasts roam about and crazed barbarians with strange customs.”

  “Atlantis is exciting enough for me,” said Tal. “Is that why you like the lectures so much? Because he drones on about the lands he has traveled?”

  “It’s an exciting life. I wish I could be a scholar and travel. But I wouldn’t know where to start.”

  Tal laughed. “When I have my own Palace, I can send you on trade missions. I’ll get Father, or Olatic if he has taken the throne by then, to send you on the long voyages which will let you see the four corners of the world.”

  “Would you really, Taldirun?”

  “I would indeed.”

  The young men broke into a run as they left the royal apartments and headed toward the garden. As they approached, they saw Queen Jala and several other women speaking with Tumat.

  Tal slowed to a walk as he approached his mother and tutor.

  “There’s my son,” she said. “Tumat tells me you are just on time.”

  “Yes, mother. A little late, to be truthful. I went to see Galius ride out.”

  Jala looked in the direction of the main gate. It was not the direction Tal had come from. “Did you need to get something from the palace?” she asked.

  “No. I watched the procession from the top of the sea-side wall. It was a good view and I didn’t have to work through the crowds.”

  “Oh?”

  “It was Meleus’ idea,” Tal said. Meleus shrank back from the mention of his name. His eyes never left the ground as he stood before the regal queen, but he was aware of her volatile temper.

  “That was a clever idea. It’s good to have servants who show intelligence. He serves you well.”

  Jala motioned to the other women. “Come, we have the preparations to finish and then I wish to dine with Bator’cam tonight.”

  “Goodbye, Mother,” Tal said as the women moved to follow the queen. She never turned back to acknowledge his words, but he was sure she had heard him.

  One of the women spoke to a little girl as they left. It was Analise, the wife of General Praset, and she was bent over the strangest girl Tal had ever seen. The girl’s hair looked like it was the color of a raven’s feathers; black as the deepest night, but in some way it glimmered in the sun. Analise kissed the girl’s forehead and fell in with the other women. All of the women in service to the queen were pristine examples of beauty with golden hair which flowed down to their waists in sheets and piercing blue eyes that reflected the blessings of the gods.

  But the little girl who had been left with Tumat had mysterious dark hair which curled and twisted around her face. Tal found it hard to believe she was Atlantean at all. He had never seen hair so dark, and yet she didn’t look like one of the savages from the far lands.

  Tumat smiled and bowed at all of the women until they were beyond his sight. He turned to Tal and motioned him into the garden.

  “You should be glad you arrived when you did, Taldirun. Your mother was asking where you were and I am finding it hard to make excuses for why you are late or altogether absent from my lessons.”

  “If I’m absent, then you can rest,” Tal said.

  “Yes, yes, rest. But your father would hear of me taking his silver and not teaching his son. And where would that place me? If lucky, on a ship back to Sais where I can teach some other ungrateful boy.”

  The old man turned back to the entrance of the garden and gestured at the little girl. “Come on, it’s this way. We’ll sit by the pool in the shade as I teach.”

  The young girl followed them at a distance.

  “Who is she?” Tal asked.

  “General Praset has convinced the King to allow his daughter some education. Apparently his wife’s mother was a Savarati woman and in their lands, both men and women were taught by tutors.”

  “Have you ever taught a girl before?”

  “No, and I wouldn’t now except your father wants her taught. I see no use in it, she doesn’t need to know more than enough numbers to be of aid to her husband if she marries a merchant. And if she marries anyone but a merchant, my knowledge will be of no use to her whatsoever.”

  They reached the central fountain and Meleus c
limbed up to sit on the edge of the water. He always sat on his perch and watched as Tumat taught Tal all the knowledge the old man thought his young charge could handle in a single session. Often Tumat presented drawings, or samples, of animals and plants either from Atlantis or from one of the far-off lands. Meleus never interfered or made a sound during the lessons, he just remained attentive to Tal and soaked in the knowledge the tutor revealed.

  Tumat pulled himself up the first block of stone which made up the base of the fountain and sat with a grunt on the second step. Tal was about to join him, when he heard a whimper behind him. The little girl struggled to pull herself up on the structure, and Tal reached down to offer his sleeve for her to grab onto. She grabbed his hand instead and then went wide eyed as she realized she had touched a prince. Tal’s eyes went wide as well. No one but his family was to touch him unless he gave permission. That was a dictate from the gods. The royal family was divine, and to presume to make yourself equal to them by physical contact was an affront to the sea.

  The girl tried to let go, but Tal held on. He later convinced himself she would have fallen and might have become hurt if he had let her go, but the truth was he was frozen in place. Her eyes were dark, like the deepest shadow of the deepest night. He had never seen eyes like hers before. His eyes were blue, like all of his family and almost all Atlanteans. A few had eyes which were green, like the sea when it was angry. That was a sign they were to serve as priests in the temples of Hondre, or as serenes in the temple of Rosta.

  But dark eyes. Eyes which locked onto his with a mix of fear and wonder. He couldn’t have imagined anything like that. He pulled her rest of the way onto the stone and helped her steady herself.

  “Thank you,” she said. She looked down as he released her hand and hurried to sit below the legs of Tumat.

  “What is your name?” Tal asked.

  The girl buried her head under her arms and turned toward the stone. She wept and her body shook. Tal knew she must think herself in great trouble.

  “Her name is Siande,” Tumat said. “And as long as she cries quietly, she won’t disturb our lesson.”