Twelve: Battle For Atlantis
Chapter Two
Take a Breath
The moment Ren swooped into the docking bay Etta knew this next few minutes after they landed were not going to be particularly pleasant. This was due to Etta’s father waiting for her on the ground, a rare sight indeed, and a very unwelcome one from Etta’s point of view.
Unable to put off their landing as the shuttle already had Etta did not dissuade Ren from landing on the cool metal floor. He slumped onto the floor, seeming tired from flying in the harsh winds still raging above them. Sighing, Etta braced herself for a lecture and slid off Ren’s back; removing her coat as she did. The temperature in the city was much higher than that of the surface temperature, this was mainly due to the structure of the planet itself. Freezing on the surface and always windy to boot, but the deeper down you went the hotter the planet became. The city of Sapphira, where Etta lived, was the capital of what would one day be known to the dwellers of Gaia as Neptune. Etta’s people simply called it Oceanus, or home.
Etta had barely walked five paces toward the shuttle before her father descended upon her, he grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the crowd of people that had surrounded the shuttle.
“If you ever pull a stunt like that again, young lady, I will have you confined to your chambers,” he said evenly. He was obviously angry that she had gone out without his approval, Etta also knew that he probably hadn’t stopped to find out why she had taken her crew out into the blizzard. She sighed again, preparing for the likely argument.
“Look, Emrys did another summoning today and for once it actually worked,” her father opened his mouth to argue with her, but she silenced him with a hand, “please let me finish before you chew me out, you’re the one who insisted I become a warrior and lead a team so I did,” her father’s mouth snapped shut. His body was ridged from anger, but he remained silent so she could continue. “Thank you. As I was saying, Emrys succeeded at the summoning, but unfortunately it wasn’t a complete success as the individual he brought forth did not appear in his lab. He told me it was likely that the person was probably top side, in a blizzard,” Etta stressed the word blizzard to get her point across. Her father was frowning at her still, though he seemed to grasp why she hadn’t had time to clear her outing with him. It didn’t mean she was off the hook yet of course.
“Be that as it may, you agreed to speak to me before running off on a mission,” he insisted. Etta put her hands on her hips, even her seemingly endless patience had its limits when certain topics came up. This was one of them. “You are the Princess of Oceanus, and you are expected to act as such,” he began. Etta knew a long speech was imminent, as did her invisible companion due to her comment;
“He always plays this card when he doesn’t like something you’ve done, but still wants you to be the warrior he needs…pathetic,” Etta didn’t respond. To do so would only make her father aware that the other woman had said something against him after all.
“Father, Majesty, you want me to be a Princess and then tell me I should be more warrior like so I can protect everyone,” Etta’s voice became very hard at this point. She hated this argument, they’d had it countless times and it always ended the same way. Them not talking for extended periods of time and using her older brother as a go between.
“Well, yes,” the King began. Etta didn’t give him time to properly respond, she didn’t have the patience for a repeated discussion on the subject.
“At this point, father, you will have to choose, do you want a warrior to fight in this stupid war or do you want a Princess to smile and look pretty for propriety? Because I’m done being pulled back and forth. Pick one and stick with it, until then I’ll be doing what you told me to do, which is my job,” Etta started to back away at this point. Bowing as she walked away, “I have a very frosty young man over there who is going to need healing, and that is something I can help with hopefully,” with those final words Etta turned on her heel and walked away from her father. She didn’t look back, though if she had she may have noticed a single tear roll down the ageing King’s cheek.
“Pisces protect my little girl, for I can no longer,” he murmured sadly to his only daughters retreating back. Unable to find the right words to bring her back, the King silently left the docking back. Only stopping once to request being kept up to date on the young man’s progress.
~ ~ ~
Etta strode over to the shuttle after sending Ren back to his stable-cum-cave; they were only just carrying the half frozen young man out now. It seemed they’d taken some time to make sure he was stable before moving him again. Warming him up too quickly could be just as deadly as leaving him in the cold as he was already in shock. Thaddeus noticed her waiting nearby and raised his hand to her, motioning to come with them as he, Braig and a few of the medical staff at the military base they were currently located in hurried the patient away on a floating stretcher. Etta nodded and made her way through the crowd to join them as they headed for the sick bay for some emergency treatment before transporting the poor lad to the healing temple.
“How is your healing talent these days?” asked Thaddeus. He glanced at her as he continued to check his small hand-held device that kept an eye on the patient’s vitals. Etta winced, since the High Priestess of the Temple of Pisces had revealed her as an incarnation of the ancient goddess she had been bombarded with all forms of training. Healing being one of the main subjects she’d been working in. Needless to say, she hadn’t been taking to it as well as the Priestesses had hoped she would.
“Could be better, I’m competent though,” she replied slowly. She could hear the unseen woman snicker at her and Etta pursed her lips. Thaddeus nodded to her response but didn’t look at her, it seemed their patient wasn’t doing so well from the frown on the doctors face.
“Lord Emrys, thank you for coming,” Thaddeus said to the magician. He was clearly relieved that a healer of such strength was present. Etta too, was relieved to see her friend there to help, though it was curious as to why he thought he should help. Then again, Emrys did usually know more than he let on.
“My pleasure, this one is strong, but the situation is precarious and things can go either way here so I thought I should attend this particular moment,” Emrys told them shrugging. He appeared quite calm despite his words, throwing Etta off a little with the explanation. The magician had basically told them the young man could very well die on them and this made Etta’s already frayed confidence in her healing abilities slide downhill fast.
It was only when she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder that Etta realised Emrys was standing next to her. “You’ll be fine,” he told her quietly. Looking at him Etta tried for the umpteenth time to figure out what he was thinking, unfortunately he was as indiscernible as always.
“If you think so,” she muttered back. A few words from Emrys weren’t suddenly going to make it alright, no matter what anyone thought. It was at this thought that she caught some of the healing staff glancing at her and Emrys, inwardly sighing Etta gently shrugged off his hand and moved away slightly. It seemed the rumours had even reached here.
“Then tell them,” said her unseen companion bluntly. “Don’t say it wouldn’t work, when you haven’t even tried, either missy,” she was told forcefully. Etta had to smile at this, silently thanking the Universe for her friend. She had a way of putting things that just made sense, even if she was as blunt and subtle as a very large mallet. “Now,” the woman barked at her, “stop moping and get to it, looks like their ready to begin,” Etta’s self doubt returned as she saw the other healers get into position and motion for her to join them. “Stop it, you’re strong, you know you are, just have a little faith for once, would you!” Etta took a breath and joined the others around the patient.
“Thanks Lightning,” she murmured quietly. Then all thought stopped as Etta began to heal the young man before her along with the rest of the healers.
“Any time,” replied a very satisfied Lightning.
~ ~ ~
The emergency healing session had been going on for around fifteen minutes and Etta was having trouble concentrating. While this wasn’t an unusual occurrence, it made things very difficult to keep up with everyone else. It just didn’t feel right, healing in the conventional manner never felt right, to be more precise. Due to her lack of focus Etta’s eyes began to unconsciously study the young man lying before her.
He was large of frame, to be sure, but he was not a warrior. Anyone could see that just by looking at him, he wasn’t toned at all. His skin was red raw as well, though Etta wasn’t sure if it was snow burn, his natural skin tone or something else entirely. His hair was a tawny brown colour and quite messy at the moment.
Suddenly Etta felt something pull at her, something akin to a pulse of energy shot from him to her, clouding her vision.
Before she realised it Etta was seeing flashes of the young man’s life before her eyes; his family, homeland, friends, his life. It was as if he were sharing himself with her and yet there was a sense of discontent and confusion emanating from his end. Whatever was happening he wasn’t fully aware of it, though he did seem to sense her presence somewhat.
“Hello?” she called though the connection. More confusion bombarded her, it seemed he had in fact heard her, but was unsure where or who she was. “It’s alright, I’m a friend, we found you in the blizzard and are doing our best to heal your body now,” she explained to him calmly. He still seemed confused, but a sense of relief also accompanied it.
“Who are you?” a male voice asked. He sounded uncertain and wary, she didn’t blame him.
“I’m Etta, and you?” she kept her mind voice steady. Hoping to make him calmer and less wary.
“Bran, my name is Bran,” he told her slowly. More images flashed in her mind, a desert landscape that reminded her much of Gaia’s sister planet Ginasu. She saw a wall of red and yellow sand rolling toward her and realised these were likely his most recent memories. “There was a sand storm, but it turned into snow…” he told her. Etta inwardly sighed in regret, knowing it was partially her fault for rushing Emrys’ work on the summoning.
“Yes,” she said quietly. Unsure of what to say at this point.
“How did I get into the snow?” he asked her.
“I’m sorry, you weren’t supposed to land on the surface, you were supposed to appear inside…it’s partially my fault…” it was all she could tell him. He didn’t reply, seeming to feel her regret and guilt the way she felt his confusion and wariness.
“Where am I?” he finally asked. His uncertainty mounted with this question, Etta sent back as much warmth and calmness as she could muster.
“The other blue planet in this solar system, but more will be explained once you are recovered. Just know that you are in a place of peace and no-one here means you any harm, you have my word,” she told him carefully. He seemed placated at this response, though mild curiosity wafted from him.
“Why can’t I see you?” he suddenly asked. Etta smiled at the question, he obviously wasn’t aware of the psychic link he’d unconsciously created between them.
“Probably because you aren’t actually conscious right now, your body almost completely shut down from the shock of such extreme weather changes. I was very worried we were going to lose you, it seems your mind hasn’t been effected by it though, so that is quite promising,” her amusement showed in her mind voice. It seemed he was also amused though relief was present as well.
“I feel like I’m in a scifi movie or something,” he told her. Etta became confused at the reference as it wasn’t something she wasn’t familiar with. Instead she began to pull away from his consciousness, knowing he needed to rest.
“I should let you rest, I’ll come and see you when you wake,” she told him.
“Right, I look forward to it, Etta,” he responded.
Etta smiled as she pulled away from the connection, upon opening her eyes she found no-one had noticed the silent exchange between herself and the unconscious young man they were treating.
Etta found herself unable to continue with the healing session, it just felt weird now and the conventional healing processes felt wrong to her as always. She backed away from the Bran’s prone body, Emrys quickly took her place and began healing him. He glanced back at her and gave Etta an encouraging smile before turning back to the young man before him.
Etta watched quietly as the healing session came to a close and the healers made their final checks of the patients vitals. Emrys sauntered over to her, hands clasped behind his back as he considered her.
“What happened?” he asked. Etta gave him a side long glance as he leaned against the wall next to her.
“It never feels right,” she told him as she shrugged her shoulders. It was all she could say, but Emrys nodded in understanding all the same.
“Never mind, you’ll figure it out in your own time,” he told her. He glanced at her again, a knowing smile playing on his lips. “You should know, you saved his life back there,” he told her outright. Etta raised an eyebrow in question, doubting the statement highly. Emrys’ smile turned into a grin, “by conversing with him in that fashion you helped him pull away from a possible coma and saved his life,” he shrugged now. It seemed from Emrys’ point of view this was an obvious thing.
“If you think so,” she told him in a non-committal tone. Emrys didn’t answer her, instead he patted her on the shoulder and then moved back to the other healers to check on the outcome of the session.
~ ~ ~
Debriefing was boring. It always was, but today it seemed to be worse than ever. As she, Braig, Thaddeus, who had appeared not long after Etta, he had been seeing Bran off at the teleports; as well as Cody, their pilot. There were usually more members to their squad, but today’s mission hadn’t required the others.
Etta rolled her eyes as the man in charge of their debriefing had them go over what had happened on the mission and what had caused Etta to run the mission in the first place. She knew he was doing his job, but he was being a bit too particular and it was making Etta more than a little concerned about his insistence to know everything they knew about the new arrival, not that the others knew much to begin with.
“Lady Etta, I must ask again, how did you know anyone was out there?” Etta looked at the man again. He was standing with both hands on the edge of the table as he looked down his nose at her. As bored as she was, Etta couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable about the way he was handling this debriefing. He was being a little too pushy and he obviously hadn’t believed her earlier explanations. Sighing Etta responded once again;
“As I said, I was visiting with Lord Emrys and he told me he’d had a premonition that someone was wandering around up top. After which I left his lab and requested a life signs scan of the planet. I then had my team mobilised in case Lord Emrys was correct. He was, we left to find the young man,” she explained patiently. The man’s thick moustache twitched at her words. Etta couldn’t explain why she hadn’t told him the truth to begin with, her instincts told her not to, as did her small amount of precognition ability.
“I see, and there is nothing special about this boy that you know of?” Etta frowned at the question. It was posed to all three of them, but she could tell he wanted an answer from her in particular. She shook her head, as did Braig and Thaddeus a they truly didn’t know anything about Bran.
“Sorry I’m late everyone, just been making sure our dear Mr Tau was settled into the Healing Temple,” he told them. He winked at Etta as he sat down on the chair opposite her. She raised an eyebrow at his words, it seemed she wasn’t the only one who knew Bran’s name after all.
“Mr Tau?” the military man asked. He seemed confused, it wasn’t surprising really, but it was the hint of panic in his tone that set off alarm bells in Etta’s mind.
“Yes, Mr Bran Tau of Tasmania, Australia, Gaia, 21st century to be exact,” Emrys said as he drummed his fingers on the table as though he were bored. Etta’s eyes were on the man who had been questioning them for the last hour. He seemed to have paled at the magicians words.
“Impossible,” the man uttered. Sweat was starting to bead on his forehead, and he stepped away from the table muttering to himself.
“Only for her,” Emrys responded lightly. The man’s head snapped back to Emrys, eyes wide and suddenly filled with something Etta couldn’t recognise.
“You will not speak ill of the Lady,” he spat. The man slammed his hands back on the table and glared openly at Emrys and then Etta as well. “Unaware children with no power do not frighten Her,” he said directly to Etta. She felt herself squirm in her seat, Lightning tensed behind her, ready to strike if need be. The other woman had been silent since Etta had left the healing room, she said nothing now too, but Etta could feel her in her own mind. She was wound up tight like a coil ready to spring.
“I see, so you don’t deny you are a Follower of the Serpent?” Emrys asked the man casually. His demeanour hadn’t changed since entering the room, but there was a dangerous air about the magician now.
“I do not,” replied the military man. He pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a tattoo of a poison green snake wrapped around his forearm. The head of the snake rested on his wrist, it’s tongue out and forking to become a perfect circle on the back of his hand.
“Good, right then, you can tell that woman this; I will find them, I will train them and she will fall,” Emrys stood as he spoke. His voice was shaking from pent up rage and Etta found herself staring at him. She had never seem Emrys angry before, and she had known him since she was a very small little girl.
“Then you have already lost, wizard,” these words were filled with venom. Etta turned to see a triumphant look on the man’s face before he began to convulse suddenly and collapsed to the floor. Thaddeus quickly went to rush to the man’s side, but Emrys stopped him.
“He’s already dead Thaddeus, besides he was only a walking doll,” the magician told him. Thaddeus’ eyebrows disappeared into his hair from surprise at this information. Etta too found it surprising, she now knew why she hadn’t wanted to tell the man the truth.
“You knew what he was from the start, didn’t you?” Braig said accusingly. Emrys shrugged as he walked over to the ‘walking doll’ to study the damage done.
“Yes, I knew, but so did Lady Etta on some level, which is why she wouldn’t tell him who young Bran is,” Emrys said over his shoulder. Braig looked at Etta in surprise an she nodded to affirm Emrys’ statement.
“Bloody hell,” Braig muttered under his breath. Etta knew how he felt, it was suddenly hitting all of them that the city was not as secure as they’d assumed if an agent for the Serpent had been able to infiltrate them and conduct a debriefing.
“Why did you tell him?” Etta finally asked the question that had been bugging her from the start. Emrys grinned at her as he stood and wiped a small chip on his trousers to clean it up a bit.
“Wanted to know what that woman was up to of course,” he told her very matter of factly. Etta grinned back, suddenly understanding what Emrys had just done.
“Information trade, huh?” she asked. He waved the chip at her and headed for the door.
“Hopefully more for us than for her,” he called over his shoulder as he disappeared out into th corridor. Etta would have followed him, but she knew he would be gone by the time she followed him out the door.
“Well that was the most eventful debriefing we’ve ever had, ay boss?” Braig nudged her. Etta grimaced at him, though she did agree with him, she also knew they would now have to have yet another debriefing, this one covering what had just happened as well.
“The next one won’t be,” she told him as she sat back down to wait for another officer to appear to debrief them for real.
“Take a breath or five, you’ll be fine,” Lightning told her. The other woman seemed relieved she hadn’t been needed, Etta knew she didn’t like having her charge put in danger.
So Etta did as she was told and took a breath.
