3.64 A Worthy King

Ku took a deep breath as he gazed out across the smog from the plateau of Kergal, pondering this new world, it was a miracle they survived at all. Freedom smelled good, the poisonous fumes were the scent of victory, as if secretly clutching a winning lottery ticket, he smiled, knowing, there was no way Atlan survived. And here he was, leader of the Nefilim, poised to become the wealthiest tribe in Lemuria, soon everyone would know it was the Nefilim who were destined to take the reins of Lemuria in the new Empire because this all was rightfully theirs.

         He pondered the price they had paid, aside from such valuable infrastructure, they had sacrificed good souls. It was unfortunate Vikkar had to go, but his time had come. The ancient Solarian sword belonged to his family, it was only a matter of time before it would be in his hands, where it belonged.

         Tables were about to turn and Torus would soon depend on them for the success of his new colony. King Ku was about to command the laws of the land, like Sapparu he would be a good king, a king for the people. Each tribe would be free to live peacefully under his rule, there would be no more Moha Lab, no more Nefilim slaves or Breeding programs, no more Anunaki Firmary in charge of their lives. Lemuria was poised to become the heaven on earth it once was. A Solarian civilization. A Golden Civilization! Born from the ashes of destruction the Phoenix will rise... The ancient prophecy had simply been misconstrued. Filled with gratitude he yearned to celebrate and disclose the truth to his men, but it wasn't time to do that yet. His moves were only safe so long as the truth was kept secret. Until the gold was actually in his hands, secrecy was the only insurance against dishonest players.

         His gaze drifted down towards the harbor, barely in sight behind billowing smoke and pollution in the air when a sinking feeling struck. Had the ship indeed sunk?

         "Do you think the ships survived?" Torus joined him on the plateau, he too was wondering about the condition of his fleet, but unlike Ku, Torus was praying for their survival. He glanced down the cliff towards the harbor, it didn't look good. He started for the trail, beaconing. "Come, lets go down and assess the damage."

         But Ku didn't like that idea at all. What if the ship hadn't sunk? What if the gold had been exposed in the storm? He hurried on after him. "Why don't you relax, I can take a quick run down there and check it out for you?"

         "We can both go" Torus was already on his way. "I'd like to see the damage for myself!"

         The suspense was unbearable, Ku debated murder all the way down the road to the harbor but he was unarmed, Torus was a wild card and the trek down the mountainside was heavy going. Burned tree debris scattered across the path obstructing their way made navigation a full preoccupation, portions of the trail had completely been washed away. One thing that Ku had going for him was that Torus depended on him. Torus depended on him for the same reason Atalon depended on Vikkar. Possible scenarios raced through his mind as they trudged down the trail to the harbor, the thought of losing the gold to Torus was most unbearable. What would he say if the gold had been exposed during the storm? How would he explain it? How would he kill Torus if he had to? Perhaps it would have been safer to disclose the truth to his men after all?

         Eventually the sound of crashing waves were close as they neared the harbor, only the charred tips of the pylons remained, poking out of the waves marking where the dock once was. The harbor had been obliterated, planks scattered along the shore like matchsticks, there were no ships to return to, the storm had completely destroyed the entire coastline.

         Torus and Ku took a moment to stare out to nothing, disappointed. It wasn’t all bad.

         "Atlan’s completely gone…" Torus could feel genuine hope for the future now. Beneath the thick layer of cloudy smoke they could see far enough into nothingness to confirm there really wasn't anything there. "We didn't anticipate this much damage" he admitted, scanning the coastline of debris for signs of salvageable remains.

         Ku walked over to the rocky ledge where the old docks once jutted out, trying his best to appear casual as he searched the depths for the wreck. Even in the darkness he could make out the tell-tale bow of Vikkar's ship, sunk deep beneath the angry waves. A glint of something shiny caught his eye, was it spilled gold? He tried not to react and moved around, but inside his pulse was pounding hard. He dared not look closer lest Torus spot him spot the gold, it was obvious, out of place on a gravel ship and quite visible from where he stood, to anyone looking for it.

         Torus was still looking out toward the nothingness, he wasn't looking for the sunken ships or the missing gold.

         "Looks like we'll have to start building from scratch. Look! We have some pylons already installed!"

         "There's no point in rebuilding here" Ku replied. "There’s no more gold on this side of Lemuria." He headed for the trail, hoping Torus would follow. "It's all been extracted. The only lucrative mines are up north, some of those are still loaded with gold deposits, I think we should just build somewhere new, somewhere that doesn’t have this huge hike to climb."

         With many of the supplies lost or damaged in the flood, it wasn't long before the survivors in Anur were running out of food. However, all was not lost in the old farming town, the refugees from Atlan soon learned that food grew in the soil, that more often than they had realized, they had been eating roots of plants. Outside in the dark and windy wasteland, buried in the frozen earth was a wealth of hidden morsels, even after the harvest there were still pockets of nugget potatoes, beets, carrots and onions to be discovered, produce that had been missed or left to replenish the crop for another year.

         "Look!" Zara uncovered a nest of potatoes, like discovering lost gold each one was a treasure.

         "Potatoes aren't the only things we can find buried in the ground around here" Nahash smiled as if he had a secret stash of something good somewhere. He reached for her hand. "Come, bring your spade!"

         Intrigued, Zara followed Nahash down the dusky trail towards one of the scorched vineyards. Behind the wall stood a row of charred dowels, evenly placed, poking out of the ground, marking the spot. Carefully he began to shovel the dirt aside when the spade hit something hard, it almost made a musical sound.

         "Aha!" He dropped to his knees and began pulling the soil away with his hands, revealing a large round stoneware vat. "Look!" He heaved hard and with a wiggle or two, pulled it out, the big round container rolled across the ground towards her. "We've got Moonwine!"

         Seton had known all along he couldn't trust his siblings, the fact that he had taken precautions against such a theft did little to prevent his rage.

         "IS THIS TRUE?" He hovered the scroll in front of the shipping attendant's face, hand shaking with rage. "HOW MANY ARIBU DOES IT TAKE TO INSPECT A CARGO SHIP? HOW DOES AN EMPTY CARGO SHIP CLEAR CUSTOMS WITH AN INVENTORY LIST THIS BIG? WHY WAS THIS AUTOGRAPHED?"

         The shipping attendant was lost for an explanation. "Your Honor, it says on the documentation that it was inspected…" He showed Seton the tablet, complete with Nolan's signature. "It was marked ‘CLASSIFIED CARGO’… Maybe that's why no one looked?"

         Seton felt the sweat breaking out of his pores. "Thank you. Carry on." He snatched the tablet and left the airport, his suspicions confirmed; Gens were an unsalvageable race. The Vimanas ought to never have left the airport without the gold, Nolan had to be the traitor. He was beginning to join the dots. Nolan and all his business with Vikkar... The Lunies and their kidnapping gag... Halki's last minute trip to Kergal... These things weren't simply random events, now he was wondering about the extents of the deception. Did Torus organize the job? Were Torus and Malodon working together? Did Malodon know about the gold? Had Torus secretly played them both? What about Halios? Did he know about the gold heist or was he fooled too? Was he even still alive?

         Seton could only hope and pray that the Lemurian Solution would take care of them all before the gold went too far. Someone lied, someone had to die, he needed some advice.

         Dion's New Salon was an exotic version of the old establishment in Atlan. The architecture had an eastern flavor, the mood was extremely seductive, it didn't take long for Seton to relax.

         "You can't kill Nolan, he needs to go and get the gold!" Dion always had the right answers, he wasn't too concerned about the gold. "The cargo shipment was Nolan's responsibility. He may have been had, too. He needs to prove himself a Worthy King by fulfilling his orders or die trying. Think about the entertainment value in the story if we embellish it a little, what a wonderful way to bond the slaves with their new king! They all care about their gold. He's so handsome they'll adore him, he was designed for this kind of role."

         "You think this entire gold gag was engineered for a tabloid story?"

         "I don't know. Perhaps…"

         "By who?" The doctor wasn't feeling so positive about it now, did Dion know stuff he didn't know?

         "I don’t know" Dion assured. "All I can say is, we best be making a trip as soon as the dust settles."

"I want it all back, every last single wretched bloody nugget! THEN I want his head!"

         "Taking his life gives him an ounce of honor that he doesn't deserve." Dion reminded, disapproving of such compassion. "If he’s guilty, which I believe he is, then he needs to live a life so wretched he takes it all by himself!"

         "So… We make him a king?"

         Dion smiled at him in the mirror. "In order to reach such depths, one needs to plummet from a fair height."