Atlantis: Bermuda Triangle

Chapter 26

Eleven men were gone. Some of the warriors whom Ragnarok had known since they were boys playing at war with wooden swords. He felt Hrolf’s eyes upon him as he made his mental roll call. The old warrior was slumped against the tiller, as Askell the Healer sowed up a jagged cut on the side of his face where one of the tentacle mouths had slashed home. Ragnarok coiled the rope that had connected to the ship and put it back in place at the base of the mast.

Tam Nok was in the bow, mesmerized by the temple that dominated the view in that direction. Ragnarok found the temple impressive but not enough to distract him from the state of his crew and ship. Half the remaining men were wounded, and Ragnarok could sense the shock brought on by the dual assault from the Valkyries and kraken, followed by transit through the black circle to their present strange location.

“The sun is wrong,” Bjarni had his hands on the tiller even though they weren’t moving. He had not moved through it all, standing fast at his duty place.

Ragnarok squinted at the sky. He realized what the helmsman meant- the sun was higher in the sky than he had ever seen, even at the summer solstice.

“We are far south,” Bjarni said. “I have never been this far south.”

“Where are we?” Ragnarok asked Tam Nok.

The Khmer priestess was startled, broken out of her semi-trance. “This is- this is here. The place we have been searching for.”

“Where is the weapon?” Ragnarok demanded.

Tam Nok nodded toward shore. “We must land.”

“The weapon,” Ragnarok repeated.

Tam Nok held up the staff with one hand, the amulet around her neck with the other. “These- and the map- they are the pieces of the weapon.” She pointed with the staff toward the top of the pyramid. “They go there.” The staff moved, pointing now to the north. “See? The Shadow comes closer.”

Ragnarok looked in the direction she pointed. A black smudge was on the horizon. He was certain it had not been there before.

“Rowers! To the shore!”