Atlas Cloud And The Amulet of Thieves (18 page)

There was a mirror in the middle of the room; it placed there boldly, out of touch with the rest of the decor of the room. It was dusty and its metal border riddled with rust. It looked similar to the one I travelled through to get to this world but it wasn’t the same. It was an ordinary mirror, normal and boring. There were hundreds of paintings that littered the floor and walls of the hut, all of the princess. They were masterpieces and they were perfect. Where would she keep the Amulet? It must be here somewhere. But there were no drawers or cupboards or chests or locked boxes, nothing. Just the paintings and the mirror. It was an abandoned museum, a practical joke. I was led here by the book she wrote and the legend she became.

“Why bring me here?! What was the point?!” I shouted at the faces of the princess’, their eyes staring at me. The infection reached my heart, my body failed and my spirit was giving up. “Where is it?! It must be here, somebody help me.” I cried out in vain, not expecting a reply or retort, expecting my cries to go unheard as I wither away in the darkness, the beautiful portraits watching me as I crumble to my knees, weeping.

My skin was cold, and my heart beat was slow. My eyes became heavy, wanting to sleep and dream of a better place. There was one portrait on the wall that was different than the rest. It was in the centre of all the others as if they were gathering around it, but it wasn’t that. Something about it. I hobbled closer to it using the last of my energy to glance at the painting. It was bordered with a gold trim and dust dare not gloss over it. She sat there, on a throne. The most beautiful women who ever lived. Her dress exquisite, her hair long and golden, perching on the goddesses shoulders. And there it was. She was wearing the Amulet. It was exactly the same as the drawing in the book. She was mocking me.

“Why are you taunting me?” I said bowing my head in shame. I glanced over at one of the other paintings and she was there like in all the others. Like death watching over his next victim. But she wasn’t wearing the Amulet; she wasn’t wearing it in any of the other paintings. That’s what was different! I grabbed the wall, pulling myself up so that I could look properly at the portrait. My body willed me to stop and keel over, there was nothing pumping around my body but the black sludge. I was bleeding uncontrollably from the wound, but I needed to see something before I fall. “Help me.” The words barely leaving my throat as I touch the painting. A bright white light burst into view. This was it, this was my end? I am being taken away from the mortal world, my spirit ascending.

It burnt my eyes as I looked at it. And then it was gone, in a flash. I rubbed my eyes, trying to wipe away the coloured spots plaguing my sight. I was in a different room, somewhere with colour and vibrancy, the warm reds and oranges glowing off the walls, the colours floating in the air. They were everywhere, a ballet of crimson on the white background.

“Is this heaven?” I said

“No.” A voice said from the distance. A figure walked from the distance, I couldn’t make out who it was. The black silhouette coming into focus as it walked out of the white abyss. It was her, the woman in the painting, the princess. She was as beautiful as the portraits and walked lightly as if she was floating. “Why are you here?” She said breaking my concentration.

“I am looking for the Amulet.”

“There is nothing for you here, leave this place. Leave me in peace.” She said, shooting me down, rejecting me at the final hurdle.

“Look I have come a long way to find it, tell me where it is?” I growled frustrated. She looked at me as if I was a lowly thief, stealing from her, taking what little possessions she had.

“I can’t let you have it; you will use it for evil.” She said. I was on my knees holding my chest, in agony as the colours whirled around me, making me dizzy. I didn’t want to give her the impression I was trying to steal it, as she had all the power. One wrong word and she would leave me here to die, alone.

“I read your journal.” I said her attention focused on me. “You loved him didn’t you? The painter, what happened to him? How did you get in here?” I said. The colours that swirled around the room stopped. They expanded and reordered, creating walls and floors. It felt as if I was in the manor again, except for it was new and bright. The light was warm and devoid of the harsh moonlight seeping through the cracks on the bordered up windows. There was deep sorrow lurking in her eyes, she has been here for two hundred years alone. “There were pages ripped from your journal. If you’re not going to give me the Amulet at least tell me what happened.” I said. She came closer to me.

“I am able to look across mirrors and gaze into the other world without ever being able to cross. I watched him day after day, painting in his workshop, he was enchanting. Then one day he spoke to me, looking through at me. He also had this power. At first he thought he was going mad but I explained it to him.” She said she smiled as she reminisced about the past. She glowed with joy thinking about him, I felt the pain ease as she spoke. The music of her voice keeping me alive long enough to hear her tale. “I couldn’t take just talking to him; I needed to meet him in the flesh. So I made the Amulet, it was my mother’s originally; I cherished it and loved it every single day, the memory of her staying strong within me. I poured my love and devotion into it. It could take me across to anywhere I wanted, and I wanted to be with him.” She said. Anywhere you wanted. The thought of home teased my mind. Half of me wanting to take it and use it rather than destroy it. But the fantasy soon ended, I must destroy it.

“So then what happened? How did you get imprisoned here?” I said. She took a deep breath and her eyes watered over. She only wanted to remember the good parts of the story.

“My husband found out.” Her face covered with anger at the mention of him. “He caught us together, one evening in the boat house. I took him across to my world this time. He was painting me, when my husband burst through the door.” She tried hard to stop her lip quivering, biting down on her bottom lip. “My husband was quick to anger and killed…him, right in front of me.” She turned away from me, hiding the tears welling up in her eyes. “He turned his sword on me; I held the Amulet tight and screamed as my heart broke. As he struck me my soul entwined with the Amulet, becoming part of it, our essence escaped to the nearest object which was this painting he done of me.” She said. I had nothing to say back to her. Reading her journal I wanted it to end differently even though I knew it would end in tragedy.

“Aaaahhhhh!” I yelled out in pain. The hunters blood was slowed down only momentarily by the magic surrounding the room. It was catching up. I lay back shaking uncontrollably, blood making its way up my throat, choking me from the inside. The princess crouched beside me; I stared into her icy blue eyes.

“What are you going to do with the Amulet?” She said. My mind was having trouble concentrating, everything becoming blurry. ‘Breathe Atlas, breathe’ the voice said ‘tell her why you are here’ it said. I didn’t want to trust it, I didn’t want to tell her that I was here to destroy it; she would leave me here to die.

Her eyes still fixed on mine; they were glazed over with a thin layer of water creating the image of endless seas in her eyes.

“I am here to destroy it.” I gurgled reluctantly revealing my agenda. Blackness had won the evil taking over, not changing me, I was fighting too hard for it to change me into one of those beasts, and like a child’s tantrum it gave up and stopped my heart. If it couldn’t win then no one was.

She took my hand without another word, and closed her eyes. The walls and floors surged into life, crafting a whirlpool of light and colour. It spun around us at break neck speeds. The princess glowed, a yellow aura emitted from her, it felt relieving, the pain in my heart drifting away, the darkness being revealed and enlightened by her. I could feel her soul inside me, fixing me, driving the evil away, bringing me back from the brink. The colour in my skin came back to normal; I could feel my legs and arms again. She leant over me and kissed me on the forehead, all the golden magic conducting through me and back into her, taking the blackness away from me. I took a deep breath, sucking in as much oxygen as possible, my lungs filling to the brim. It felt as if it was my first ever breath for a long while. She stepped back away from me, showing a small smile on her face. “What did you do?” I said

“I healed you.”

“But why, I am here to destroy your amulet.” I said confused by her reasoning.

“That’s why. I am here imprisoned by it. It is part of me, if it is still here than I am still here.” She said.

“But if I destroy it won’t you die as well?” I said standing to my feet. I opened my shirt to find no dark veins bulging, just the normal pink skin of a teenager. The wound in my chest was healed, except it left a scar engraved into the skin, the evil not wanting me to forget it was ever there. She didn’t reply to my question, but unclasped a necklace from behind her head, the Amulet coming into view as it appeared from her top. She handed it to me. I hesitated. It was right in front of me, in arms reach and I couldn’t believe it. Part of me didn’t want to take it, that part of me knowing that if I destroyed it I would be destroying her. But she was clear of what she wanted. Her face showed no age, still as fair as when she died. But her eyes, they were old. They were the window into her soul, and her soul wanted to be free. I took it from her, holding it tight, never loosening my grip on it.

“I want to be with him.” She said. She didn’t explain what she meant but I knew.

“The princess and the painter.” I whispered. She smiled and walked off into the whiteness. Her outline fading, all the colours disappearing, it felt as if I was being sucked down a tunnel. The Amulet in my hand, I had all the time in the world now. I win.

22 –FINDERS KEEPERS-

I materialised out of the painting, Amulet in hand. The white flash, still imprinted on my retina, I couldn’t see a thing. The necklace was less regal than I expected, it had a simple design. But the Amulet was her mothers and that’s what gives it its value. She loved her mother, so she loved the necklace.

“Well done Atlas.” A voice said, it sounded gritty and soulless. I rubbed my eyes trying to get a better look at the shadow in front of me. “I couldn’t have done it without you.” It said. The blindness wore off and I was confronted by him. Cain stood in front of me, his eyes fixed on the Amulet. Roko and Eli were beside him, on their knees, their hands bound. Gillian stood behind them, he was smiling at me. But it wasn’t a friendly smile; he was taunting me, showing me that they had won and that he was right all along. “Now give it to me and they won’t be harmed.” Cain said. I held the Amulet tight in my hand and I looked across the faces of Roko and Eli. They were scared and they had every right to be.

“Don’t give it to him Atlas!” Roko shouted out. Her insolence was met with punishment. Gillian walked round in front of her and blasted her with lightning. The sparks crackling off her skin, her screams echoing through the boathouse. Gillian had an open mouth his teeth showing. He was enjoying every last moment of it.

“Stop it!” I cried out, the words taking force. Gillian’s arms recoiled, stopping the storm of pain that was inflicting Roko. She stayed on her knees not wanting to show how much it hurt her. “If I give it to you, will you let them go?” I said. He licked his lips before he spoke, like a snake watching over its prey.

“Of course I will. Once you hand over the Amulet I will let them free.” He said. I didn’t believe him, but I couldn’t take them both on, they were too strong even though I was well again. I couldn’t let him kill them. I had no choice.

“Ok.” I said. Cain’s face lit up, he had beaten me and he loved it. Roko’s face scrunched up, she knew what peril would befall all the known worlds if it got into his hands. I looked deep into her eyes, trying to talk to her, let her know what must be done. She stopped struggling and concentrated on Gillian. “Untie them first.” I said holding my ground.

“Do you think I am stupid? You will give me the Amulet or I will take it from you.” He said the words chilling me to the bone. I put the Amulet round my neck, Cain’s face shrivelled in anger. He didn’t like being ignored. I held my breath, puffing my cheeks out, Eli and Roko taking the hint.

“If you want it come and get it.” I said. I held out my hand, blasting the floor around Roko, the wooden floor panels, splitting in two, causing all three of them to fall into the water below. They held their breath as they plummeted to the ocean floor. I set my eyes on the man with red eyes but he wasn’t there. His shadowed self, bolting forwards taking me off my feet. His face and body reappearing, one of his hands had a tight grip on my throat, pinning me up against the harsh wood wall, the paintings falling off, breaking away. My feet were off the ground, I was hanging there, staring into his eyes. They were so red, his iris bright yellow. They had seen a lot of pain through his actions. He was damaged.

“I am part of you, Atlas, my blood flows through you.” He said.

“No I am free, I am clean of you.” I said.

“No Atlas, you may not turn, but I am still apart of you, your essence, your very being is controlled by me.” I ignored his words, he was trying to make me angry, fall into his trap. Become one of his kind. “You can’t beat me Atlas.” He said

“No harm in trying though ay?” I said, squeezing the words out of my throat. He scowled and with his other hand blasted me through the wall, the energy hitting me in the chest, his hand not even touching me. I crashed through the boathouse, still in mid-air, not landing for twenty metres. The ground was hard to fall on. I rolled backwards trying to negate some of the force but it didn’t work. I was winded, the air in my lungs being pushed out all at once. I coughed and wretched as the sand on the floor kicked up in my face.