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THE NIGHT PASSED WITH a distressing quickness. It felt as though she’d gotten about two hours of sleep before sunlight woke her again. The blackness of the night had come and gone with a finger snap. So swiftly, it had dissolved abruptly into the full light of day.
From the looks of things, Henley and Edison weren’t doing any better. They shuffled into the common room bleary-eyed and muttering obscenities at the morning.
Stefanos approached on soundless wings, the bloody gash on his head had been wrapped in an eye patch.
Following the Sky King, a flock of small sparrows toted woven baskets of seeds and grains in their beaks. The wisp of wall opened with the slight motion of the Sky King’s wingtip and Parker and Belliza floated into the Sky Box along with the sparrows. Parker and Henley sniffed the baskets suspiciously and turned their heads. Edison grabbed a handful of seeds and tossed them into his mouth. Parker was starving, though not enough to be tempted to experiment with the rations.
“I’m not hungry,” she said mostly to herself. Henley added, “Me neither.” Edison didn’t stand on ceremony and dug his hand into the basket, throwing a few more big handfuls into his mouth.
“You will be. On Spyridon, I can assure you, Parker and Henley, it will take more than a hearty meal to keep you strong,” the Sky King said without breaking his stare.
She waited for Stefanos to speak again. Her thoughts drew her home to her father’s teasing. Whenever she stopped talking, her father would make her feel better by saying, “When I negotiate, I learned ‘he who speaks first loses’. Are you playing that game with me?”
Parker didn’t plan to lose.
He touched the tip of his wing to the soft feathers of his white beard. “We are still sorting out what happened last night. I have organized my leaders and regional troops to search the Citadel for any evidence.”
“You told us our arrival would be celebrated,” Henley said. “Seems to me the event felt more like the celebration of our death.”
The sparrows, startled by her tone, dropped their baskets and fled the room.
“I understand your thinking, Henley. But what happened was not our doing. But we will find out and we will have answers. We were as blindsided as you.” He put on a thinking face and drew closer to them. “I do owe you an explanation. So please listen. We have spoken much about Spyridon and the Upperworld. But we have not spoken of the Underworld and life below the Spyridon Sea.”
Parker opened her mouth to ask a question. Stefanos circled his wings and motioned for her to be still. He continued, “The world above the Spyridon Sea is ours. All below the sea belongs to the Underworld. We have maintained a separate, and sometimes, uneasy peace with the Underworld. The boundaries between our worlds have not been crossed. We live without the benefit of the Underworld resources. And they live without the benefit of our resources.
“More than twenty years have passed since we have battled. We waged war on the Underworld then. And we won. This assault does not make sense to any of us. The current leadership of the Underworld, Empress Diadora and her brother, Commanding General Pantione, want to maintain their own status quo. They are not interested in us, our problems, or in collaborating with us in any way. They live their lives below the sea. We live ours above the sea. We just want to survive and live out our days peacefully.” He sighed and with sadness said, “Now, we will be forced to find out if the Underworld plotted the attack. I pray this did not come from them.
“A few months before your arrival, we noticed toxicity in our waters. At first, we thought it natural causes, brought about by the environmental damage. But after testing, we found traces of poison. We are gaining clarity every day and learned we are suffering at the hands of evil. A very clever, very careful evil. One we cannot pinpoint. That is why we called for you. We are grateful you three have chosen to help us. We believe you have the knowledge we lack to fix our problems.”
Parker brimmed with questions and interrupted him. “You can bring us to your planet from the other side of the universe. Why can’t you bring the resources you need from Earth? You are capable of moving anything. Why not bring from other planets the things your people need to survive.”
“Spyridon is our home. Our culture dictates our planet must sustain us. In our distant past, we were frivolous, and we took all we could. We took until the near destruction of everything and everyone on our planet. It is a mistake we will not repeat. We will live here and thrive on our planet’s own resources. And you three will help us.
“We go to my Roost now and you will meet my closest advisors. You are part of our inner circle. It is the only way you can help us. You must know everything.”
They rose into the air and floated behind him. They wove through the wispy walls of the Citadel until they stopped in midair before a smaller glass room which also rose high above the clouds.
“Welcome to my Roost. We can see all of the Upperworld from here,” Stefanos said. “My Tribunal meets here. I find the weight of our decisions often lingers. Perhaps you feel the Spirits’ presence in this room?”
Stefanos nudged them toward a peculiar-looking, elderly hawkish bird Parker hadn’t noticed when she first flew into the Roost. The hawk had positioned himself within the shadows of a swirl of smoggy mist that swept the corners of the small room. Parker gathered the Sky King’s Roost was a sort of turret—a place to keep an eye on his kingdom.
“Come away from the mist, Great Vibius. I’d prefer you greet our guests appropriately. Makes me think you don’t want us to find you?”
“You joke with me, Ruling Great One. Your eyesight is far better than any of ours—wearing an eye patch or not,” he laughed. “I don’t mean to joke with you, Sky King. Do you feel alright? How did you get hit by the cross-fire?”
Stefanos chuckled and said, “It takes more than a ball of fire to stop me.” He threw his wings around the old hawk. “Yes, my eyes will always find you, Great Vibius. I do joke—but perhaps our guests here will get the wrong impression. We don’t want to startle them.” He used his wing to move the old hawk closer to the earthlings and continued, “Great Vibius, you have not had the pleasure of meeting our earthlings. This is Parker Kittredge, Henley Wang, and Edison Baker.”
Parker repeated the old hawk’s name to herself, hoping to remember. Her memory often lapsed when it came to names, especially these odd names that seemed centuries old and belonged to these bizarre creatures.
“Meet my cousin, Great Vibius. My close advisor and a member of my Tribunal. And most importantly, my dear friend. Come give them an appropriate welcome, Vibius! They won’t bite,” he teased. “Unless, you do first!”
Stepping out of the cloud of fog, the elderly hawk appeared a little younger than Stefanos. Fewer craggy crevices. He, too, had to be quite old though and she wondered why he was uncomfortable greeting them. Because they were earthlings? His over-sized head sported a ragged crest pointed like a black flame on top.
Stefanos stroked his white beard. “Show our guests here you are happy to meet them. The concern you wear has nothing to do with them.” He tipped his beak as if to consider probing further, but he restrained himself. “You know I play with you, Great Vibius. Don’t you? A little levity can’t hurt us.”
“I do not see the humor today Sky King,” Vibius said. “At first, I was curious, as were all our Great Ones, about the display of lights and fireworks last evening. But now, with the knowledge of the attack and the loss of so many lives…” His voice hesitated. “Well, laughter does not seem appropriate.” He turned toward the earthlings, then back to Stefanos. “May I speak candidly in front of our visitors?”
“Of course,” Stefanos said. “Or, they would not be here.”
“We haven’t had any pushback from the Underworld in near twenty years. If this is a real threat of war, as it appears, there is no humor.”
Stefanos turned his gaze to observe the canyons of blue sky veiled in clouds and mist spreading before them in endless succession. He rubbed the medallion around his neck. Parker recalled the bronze piece from the first time they met. An eagle wearing an ornament had seemed odd. Now as he touched it, the piece appeared perfectly fitting suspended from his collar of feathers, above his heart.
Stefanos leaned in, bringing them close together. “We have no reason to claim the assault came from the Underworld. No proof points to them.” He paused before serving up his last word, “Yet.”
“Maybe they have just had enough, Great Sky King. Maybe they knew our humans were introduced last night and they chose our celebration to make their point.”
“And what point would that be?”
“They will not stand by any longer and let us keep the world above the sea to ourselves. Someone or something is out to destroy us. Masses of our people died during last night’s attack. Out of nowhere! No warning! And this assault—it comes right after we discovered our waters have been poisoned. Our people are sick and dying from the tainted waters across our regions. This is no coincidence. We cannot live without clean water. If it is not the Underworld, who could it be? And if it is them—we cannot be their prey.”
“Of course, I agree. But we will not make a unilateral decision until we have all the facts. We will find the culprits, and we will act when we are prepared. I will not pass judgment until then,” Stefanos said.
Parker’s body vibrated an electric buzzing sound and Stefanos appeared distracted. At first, thinking the buzz came from Belliza, Parker stole a quick look—but the hummingbird hadn’t moved or spoken. The distracting noise continued until Stefanos said, “I just received a communication from Cole. He is on his way from the Underworld. I am anxious to learn what he has to say.”
Parker squinted her eyes, perplexed a Great One could be a member of his Tribunal and belong to the Underworld.
“I understand your confusion, Parker. Cole is an Upperworlder. A limited few of us can live in both worlds. Those with royal blood and oddly enough, those of you from Earth, until the age of twenty-one. The environments in which we live on Spyridon have dictated the path of our separate and distinct form of evolution. Cole is a bit of an anomaly. In fact, you will see Cole is far more human in his appearance than the rest of us. He came to us from Earth as a mere child.” Stefanos eyes twinkled.
Stefanos angled his neck toward the direction of the opening to the Roost. The room brightened and Stefanos opened his wings to embrace the attractive young man who entered. Parker thought he appeared mostly human—but his skin had a light feathering which gave the appearance of fine blonde hair.
Shorter than Stefanos or Vibius, Cole must have been nearly a full head taller than she, close to seven feet, and about her age, too. Brilliant, piercing blue eyes flashed under a head of thick blonde hair. His wings neatly tucked into a lean muscular fame. He could have passed for an earthling with the exception of those wings. He wore a black and golden feathered vest and Parker wondered if the vest served as a symbol he belonged to the Upperworld.
“Did you receive my transmission, Great Sky King?” Cole asked, “You didn’t acknowledge it.” He stopped. “I am sure Diadora and Pantione did not plan this assault.”
Stefanos relaxed his wingspan and embraced Cole. “Ah, I am glad you are here. I trust your journey from the Underworld went smoothly.” His wing remained on Cole’s shoulder. “We are all aware this has been a difficult night. I’ve called a meeting with the Great Ones. There must be no dissent among us. We need a unified front on our next steps.”
Parker admired Stefanos’ respectful manner. He spoke to Cole and Vibius as equals. Even though he was the Ruling Great One, Parker sensed his leadership yielded to collaboration. Her father had said there is only one way to get things done: work as a team, regardless of how diverse or subordinate the teammates are.
“Are you certain those slippery fish are blameless?” Vibius asked.
“They are the only enemy known to us,” Stefanos agreed.
“It is not my intention,” Cole said, “to argue with you, Great Sky King. But I am in the Underworld every day. Their concern is with their own survival and strengthening their world, not endangering ours. That’s how it has been since first I took up my post. They do not seek to harm us. These environmental issues are not the result of orders coming from the Underworld leaders. Planning a strike, tainting our waters—none of it is possible! If they were involved with the poisonings, they would be condemning themselves to a war—a war they are far from certain of winning.”
Vibius strode forward. “Great Cole, you have infiltrated their world. You have provided invaluable information we would not have otherwise. You are as close to the royal family of the Underworld as is physically possible. But we must ask, just in case, is it conceivable they have tricked us? Is it possible they have discovered your allegiance to the Sky King and have played us all?”
A fresh pang of danger flared in Parker’s chest. Cole—a double agent. Given his role soaking up intelligence from this Underworld and their people, and then, disseminating false information to them, his life must have been a constant walk along the edge of a knife.
Stefanos raised the medallion to his heart and softly but firmly said, “I will ensure the boundaries between the Upperworld and the Underworld are separate and not to be navigated. We will continue life as we know it and there will be peace. That must never change. But, as the protectors of the Upperworld, we must maintain our rule of Spyridon and all access to our planet and points beyond. We will step up our guard of all portals and protect our passages.
The more they spoke, the more worried Parker became about the future. Stefanos had told them there had been humans here before and they returned to Earth, and no one knew they were missing. But if Cole came as a young child, and remained, was it simply he chose not to return at all?
What if, like Cole, she grew wings and could never return to her old life?
“Great Cole, poll your comrades below the sea and listen carefully to each of them for what you can uncover. Anything untoward or even unsaid. Anything that doesn’t ring true about last night. I want a thorough investigation. Our funerals will take place tomorrow in The Woods by the South Gate. The families of our lost leaders deserve answers. And they shall have them. Be present, be involved, and for the sake of all of us, act normally around Pantione and Diadora.”
The golden young man took his leave and hadn’t even acknowledged her presence. She blushed, wondering why she had hoped he would give her a quick look.
“Parker, you have observed my vision can penetrate great distances—rock, or wood, or metal.” Stefanos said. “But there is only one place where my eyes are blocked—the Underworld of Spyridon. Not even one inch below the water. I worry about what I can’t see. And that is where Cole comes in. He is my eyes —below the sea.”