House of Eclipses by Casey L. Bond

28

Lumos did not slowly drift into the sky as usual. He dragged himself from the sea and cast himself high into the dark, powerfully planting himself among the ancestors. Caelum rose from his knees, drenched but ready. His crown faded slowly away.

Beron shifted again, becoming Wolven. The waves swallowed Caelum’s tunic, tumbling it into deeper water. “You’ll roast in Helios in that form,” I told him, scratching behind his ear. He leaned into me.

“He’s more powerful this way,” Caelum told me.

I glanced over his shoulder at Kiran. He gave a nod.

It was time.

I waved my hand in front of me the way Mother had and the air shifted and rippled. Heat poured from the sand and stone streets. We were going to waltz down the main road, pass the House of the Sun, then climb the steps of Sol’s temple where they would all be waiting.

Citali appeared behind us, tearing through the sand like a storm. “Wait!”

Beron growled in her direction, snapping his teeth as his hackles rose.

“Noor?” she said, slowing her steps. She looked from me to Helios painted in heat before us. “You’ve become Aten?”

I lifted my chin proudly.

Her chest heaved.

“Thank Sol. Please, take me to Helios with you. I want to go home.” There was defeat in her tone. Desperation. “I promise I won’t try anything again. I just… I need to go home before it’s too late.”

“Before what is too late, Citali?” I asked.

She shook her head, spent.

“How did you escape your bindings?” Caelum asked. “Beron wants to know.”

Citali observed that the two could communicate when Beron was in Wolven form. Her eyes flicked from them to me. Please, she mouthed. I’m sorry.

Sorry? Citali knew the word?

“Citali,” Caelum repeated in a sterner tone. “How did you break free?”

“There’s nothing that can bind my will, mutt,” she snarled, taking careful steps toward us. “I just want to go home, sister, please.”

Sister? I quirked a brow at the word.

“Please. I am begging you, Noor.”

“And what will you do there? Join Father’s fight against us?”

She shook her head as her eyes raced over me. “If he fights this battle against you, Father will lose. He’ll finally lose, Noor.” Her shoulders sagged, defeated. “He… In addition to finding the crown, I was supposed to find a way to kill you, Noor. Now I know why, I guess, although he would never say. He didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth.”

I swallowed thickly.

“I just wanted it to be over. The demands. The consequences. The constant threats.” She looked broken and overwhelmed. “And I can’t tell you everything yet. Not until I’m sure all is well. All is safe. There’s still time for him to…” She choked on the words. “Bind my hands. My feet. Anything. Just take me with you.” She held out her wrists. “Please.”

Caelum removed his belt and deftly bound her, handing the excess leather to Kiran.

I clasped his hand and he curled his fingers into Beron’s fur. Kiran’s hand fell on my shoulder and Citali jogged to keep up as we walked into Helios, into the desert, the dunes rippling over the land.

The moment we stepped through the portal from Lumina to Helios, Caelum gasped, the heat overwhelming him. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he lifted one sweltering boot, then the other. Beron alternated lifting his paws uncomfortably. We had to get out of the sand. We weren’t far from Sol’s temple.

“It’s not far, but we should hurry. Your boots and feet will scorch,” I warned.

My golden dress rapped like a pennant in the heated wind, announcing our arrival. As we approached her temple, Sol brightened overhead.

Just then, Beron barked toward the southern sky. I turned my head and was overjoyed when I saw Lumos. He came!

The crown of moonlight appeared on Caelum’s brow as he guided Lumos toward us, toward Sol burning directly overhead. She burned hotter and more ferociously as he approached. I could almost feel her ache to reach him, but knew she would stand with me first.

We crested a dune and the temple came into view below us. I heard Father’s voice echoing from atop the temple, the steady cadence of the priests’ song, the uncomfortable shuffle of a thousand feet, and the rushing breaths of every Helioan gathered at the temple’s base.

Kiran began to sing a mournful melody to Sol – for Saric. He honored his friend and brother as we made our way out of the sand to the base of the temple’s steps. The crowd cheered on the other side of the temple in response to something Father said.

Beron leaped several steps at a time as we strode up, up, up the goddess’s stone hewn mountain. Overhead, a large shadow passed over us. Caelum paused to shield his eyes and look.

“The Sphinx guards us,” I told him.

A look passed between us. One filled with mettle and faith and fervor. Strength.

“You have no need for an aureole now,” he said, climbing farther. “Sol’s light is pouring from your skin.”

Kiran nodded to affirm his words. “There is no denying who you are, Noor. The people will see you and know.”

I hoped that was true and that Father’s poisonous words hadn’t blinded them to the truth. When I stopped and glanced at our small party, everyone else paused, too. Caelum was drenched in sweat.

“At the top, Father is presenting Zarina as the new Aten.” I glanced at the brothers. “Your mother and Lumos’s priests are surrounded. They’ll be standing to our left.”

“Are there steps on every side of the temple to the top?”

“Yes.”

Caelum looked at Beron. “Circle around and come at them from behind.”

Beron growled and loped back down the staircase, taking off around the temple to do as his Lumin commanded. To protect his Mother and Lumos’s priests.

Citali tugged on the belt and almost made Kiran fall. “What’s your problem?” I asked, pushing toward her.

“Leave me here!” she frantically begged, trying to break loose of her bindings. “Please. I swear I’ll go straight to the House. I’ll gather my things and will never bother you again.”

I narrowed my eyes, suspicious of her motives. “Why are you so eager to leave?”

She put her hands out protectively. “I don’t want to be caught in the middle of your fight with Father.”

I took the belt from Kiran and loosened the strap. The leather had left red indentations in her skin but hadn’t broken it. “You put yourself in the middle of our fight when you agreed to kill me for him.”

She stepped down one step, her eyes tracking my movements to see what I would do. Her chest heaved. “Please, Noor.” She dropped to her knees. “Don’t make me go up there. I don’t think I can face him.”

I grabbed her wrist and pulled her up off the stone. “Believe me when I tell you that he will not hurt you. I won’t allow it.”

She sobbed, her face contorting in anguish, terrified and torn. For the first time, I realized Citali and I weren’t as different as I’d thought.

I knelt in front of her. Gently cupped her elbows. “You have to decide who you trust, sister. Me or Father. I know he’s been stronger than us for as long as we can remember, but he’s not now. Whatever hatred and differences lay between us… they are his doing. We can put an end to this animosity here and now. Together, we can take the next step and face him. And you can believe me when I tell you that I will protect and keep you safe. Just as I will protect whatever it is you’re trying your damnedest to shield from him.”

Citali glanced upward at the next stone step. Her dark eyes, still brimming with tears, cut to me.

“Set right your wrongs, Citali.”

Sniffling, she he nodded once. “Together,” she rasped. She took a moment to compose herself and nodded when she was ready. “I trust you, Noor,” she finally said. I stood and held out a hand, pulling her up when she allowed it.

Walking side by side, we led the others up the staircase.

When we reached the stone top, it was just as Sol had shown me. To our left, Vada and her priests were surrounded by guards. Father and Zarina startled as Citali and I crested the temple’s top. He took in Caelum and Kiran flanking me. He still didn’t know about Beron…

Above us, Sol’s great statue loomed. Her arms stretched toward the sky where she watched and waited.

“What is the meaning of this?” Father demanded imperiously.

The priests silenced their song and sat back on their haunches. Kiran gestured to the southern sky where Lumos dragged himself through the heat toward us.

The priests of the god of night bowed, ignoring the protests of those guarding them. They were overjoyed to be in the presence of their god.

Sol’s priests were taken aback. One went as far as to stand and point in awe. The crowd at the temple’s base turned to see Lumos and gasps rang out, tears falling in fear and jubilation. People weren’t sure what his presence meant, whether it was a threat or blessing.

Zarina’s face was stony and cold as she carefully inched behind Father. “Guard your Aten!” he shouted.

I laughed at his command, walking around Citali, who’d ground to a stop, still careful to keep her distance. I held out my arms and turned in a circle so they could all see Sol’s light pouring from my skin. Even her brightness couldn’t dull what lay in my heart and beneath my skin. “By all means, guard me,” I taunted to the men and women of the Helioan guard. “I am your new Aten. Aren’t I, Father?”

Zuul, father’s personal guard stepped toward him. “If you choose to stand with him, Zuul, when he burns, so will you.”

Father raised a hand, stopping Zuul’s approach.

Caelum stood beside me, his crown of moonlight shining a vivid, cool, white-blue despite the sunlight. He raised his hands and asked Lumos to come closer.

I could feel Sol’s joy. She was as incandescent as her light, yet what poured from her was so much more than joy, so much deeper than I could feel or describe. She hadn’t seen Lumos in millennia, but her heart had never forgotten him. She burned white-hot, eager to see him. The tendrils of her fire flared toward him as if her fiery arms spread for him. He rushed to her.

As he reached her, shadow spread like a blanket over the land of the sun as the two eclipsed. Another moment, and the kingdom was bathed in an eerie, ruddy darkness.

Father seized the opportunity to try and ruin me. “See? She brought Lumos here to kill our goddess!”

The light within me flared and poured brighter and hotter over my skin. I strode purposefully toward my father. When I reached him, he tried to use Zarina as a shield, roughly tugging her in front of him. She struggled against his strength and her shrieks echoed over the land. The people watched, aghast.

“Father, no!” she cried, struggling.

He shoved her toward me and tried to run like the coward he was. He only made it two steps before grinding to a halt and backing up onto the platform again. A familiar growl, a snarling nose, and bared, sharp teeth stalked up the steps toward him.

Beron.

I gave him an approving nod, reveling in Father’s discomfort. He knew he’d lost before trying to flee, but realized he couldn’t run from his destiny, or from me, anymore.

Father looked to Caelum, whose crown shone so brightly it bit at the eye. “She only wants your crown and kingdom,” he sneered. “She seeks to ruin you, not I.”

To my surprise, Caelum laughed. “So she’s said.”

Father gestured to Vada. “My guards will kill your mother if I am harmed,” he threatened Caelum.

But he found that the guards surrounding her had relaxed their stances. They held their spears toward him now.

His mouth gaped. “You disloyal—”

“The guard is loyal, Father. They serve the Aten. They serve me.”

Father’s eyes searched the murky darkness for a way out. I opened the air between us and stepped through the divide of time and distance to position myself right in front of him. I clamped onto his throat and lifted, Sol’s fury strengthening my arm. Fury and indignation trembled his upper lip. His hands clamped onto my wrist, squeezing tightly, but I would not buckle or break.

I remembered every time he’d struck me. A blood vessel burst in his left eye. Then two in the right.

I remembered every cruel word.

More vessels burst.

Every time he told me I would die by his hand. When he said I’d never see my mother’s bones again. When I carried wife after wife into the scorching dunes for him.

Red overtook the white.

Anger and fear and so much hatred surged through me with Sol’s fire. I let out a scream that scattered every dove in the city, their wings flapping so loudly, I could hear the wind rake against their feathers.

Father slumped, his final breath escaping in a heavy sigh.

I opened my eyes and realized he was gone. His eyelids sank, covering the vivid explosions that marked his last moments.

Twin tears fell from my eyes, carving cool paths over my cheeks. Steam wafted from my face. They splashed onto the stone with two distinct plinking noises. I looked down to see two tear-shaped sun diamonds settled near my feet.

A warmth spread across my forehead and Caelum inhaled sharply, then brazenly smiled. I reached up to feel flame dancing over my skin, burning but not harming me in the least. I realized I now wore a crown of fire on my brow, announcing to everyone who I truly was.

Heir of Sol. Heir of the sun.

The nearest priest raised his head, focused on the two yellow rocks. His eyes rose to me in wonder. “Sol?” he whispered.

“I am not Sol,” I told him – raising my voice to tell them all. “I am her daughter, her heir, and your new Aten. And I will right what my father ruined.”

I threw Father’s body away from me. Sol’s fire had burned through me and found every part of him unacceptable. A ponderous weight was lifted from my chest.

Citali came to stand with me. A strange turn of the tides had developed between us, but one that gave me hope.

I found Zarina glancing across the rest of those gathered, bewildered.

“If you hold any allegiance to him, I warn you to leave Helios now. If you make any attempts to harm me or anyone I love, I’ll drag you into the sand and you will never escape it,” I warned.

No one moved or even flinched… except for the goddess. A sliver of Sol appeared, peeking bright around Lumos. She shone upon her temple, upon her people, and upon me – her daughter.

A roar came from the people gathered at the temple’s base. They rejoiced in seeing her light return. Celebrated her freedom.

The priests of both gods began to sing again, and the assembled guards bowed low. I swiveled to Caelum and held out a hand. He slipped his cooling palm into mine and I was awash in calmness, his peaceful touch tempering my molten fire.

Citali stared at Father’s limp form blankly. She shed no tears for him. I wasn’t sure if she was relieved or completely numb. Sometimes in the middle of trauma, it felt like the difficulties weren’t truly happening. That the truth couldn’t possibly be real.

Zarina shot me a frigid look, quietly gathered her skirts, turned, and walked away, trailing down the steps of the temple. Always the first to leave. Always regal. Always cold.

The gathered crowd waited for her to reach them, then parted, unsure what to do next.

Caelum was there at my side. He wrapped an arm around my back, sliding his hand to my hip and pulling me to his side. “She could freeze Lumos himself.”

I tried to smile and so did he, but the pressure of what came next settled over us. I realized that being Aten and accepting the crown of flame was a heavier burden to bear than the aureole of the Atena. My people – starved, abused, and hurt – depended on me now. I had to heal the wounds Father left on them and our land.

We’d barely begun, and I had no idea what to do once we left the temple platform.

Beron trotted to his mother, who thanked him and hugged his neck. He nuzzled her and nudged Lumos’s priests as Lumos peeled away from Sol once more. I could feel both her joy and sorrow at letting him go. She didn’t know how long it would be before she could see him again.

Sol’s heart ached as she slowly tore away from Lumos.

I knew the feeling. I wasn’t sure what would happen with Caelum now. The weight of his cuff drew down my pocket.

When the eclipse ended, the priests finally stood and watched the remarkable sky. The eldest of Sol’s priests, now that Saric had departed, was a kind man named Dex, known for his gentleness. He strode toward us, humbly bowing as he approached. “My Aten,” he said, pressing his hands together and bowing again. “Lumin.” He dipped toward Caelum. “Please instruct us according to the will of the gods.”

Kiran joined his brothers’ song, the lovely lilt climbing into the heavens like building thunderhead.

I lifted my chin. “Beginning now, I need the priests of Sol to serve her people in ways they haven’t been able to until now. Can you let them know it is safe and all is well, then ensure that the people have enough food to eat tonight?”

“Yes, Aten. I’ll see that they are calmed, comforted, and fed.”

“Open the food stores. No more hoarding what’s desperately needed.”

He nodded and promised to do so.

“I could use a few moments of privacy within the temple,” I told him. “And someone to carry my father’s body into the sand.” I refused to perform the task. He didn’t deserve another moment of my time or thought.

The priest inclined his head. “I’ll see that you have quiet and that he is taken him away. Those of us who aren’t needed for the task will await you here, Aten.”

I thanked him.

Vada rushed to us, flinging an arm around Caelum’s neck and mine. “I’m so proud of you both!” she said, kissing his cheek, then mine.

Beron refused to shift back until we were sure there would be no resistance from anyone who might remain loyal to my father’s treacherous whims. Zuul lingered, and he was certainly one of the ones I didn’t trust. Beron could sense my unease

Caelum ticked his chin toward his Wolven brother. “He’ll stay here with our mother and the priests to keep watch over them.”

I petted his head. “Thank you, Beron.”

He nuzzled my hand to show me he understood. He was with us.

Sol’s temple was empty. Caelum’s and my footsteps echoed through the cavernous space. Great, carved-stone pillars of varying heights held the walls and roof overhead. Painted carvings commissioned by the prior Atens, especially of the first who loved Sol with her entire heart, decorated the walls.

There were likenesses of the goddess everywhere, her gilded face high above the desert sands watching over Helios. People had been carved bowing to her and offering their most precious belongings.

The scent of precious incense slid over my skin and embedded into my hair.

It felt like we were walking into Sol’s heart.

She was here. I could feel her all around us.

A great, golden mirror took up much of the wall in the very back of the temple room. Caelum and I paused in front of it, watching how the distortions in the gold also distorted our reflections. Until suddenly, a gust of heat filled the space and the gold mirror sharpened our image, replacing it with hers…

Sol.

Mother.

“You are free,” I told her. “But I still need your help. Yours and Lumos’s.”

Caelum took hold of my hand. Sol regarded our clasped palms.

“We have heard from the Sculptor,” she said, sounding far away. “He will set us on a new path where we will do what is best for the earth and all the flesh-clad spirits who walk the sands beneath us.”

“Will you never see Lumos again?” I asked. My heart ached for her. She’d spent a few blessed moments with him. How long would it be until they brushed so close they could touch?

She smiled. “At times, he will allow us a glimpse of one another in passing. But the most sacred of days – like today – will be days of eclipses.”

“I hope for your sake and Lumos’s that there is a torrent of sacred days in the years to come,” I offered.

She smiled. “I hope so, too. I am proud of you, Noor.”

She began to fade, the mirror dulling again.

“Mother, one more moment, please?”

I turned to Caelum. “Would you wait just outside for me? I need to ask her a question privately.”

He inclined his head. “Of course.”

As he strode away, I watched, knowing Mother watched, too. When he was gone, I turned to her. “I love him.”

The goddess of fire nodded. “I know your heart.”

“I want him in my life.”

She nodded. “Then do as he suggested and forge a new path.”

“You accept him, then?”

“I more than approve, daughter. He burns for you.” She placed a hand over her heart, patting the spot. I knew what she meant because my heart burned for Caelum, too.

She lifted her hand and breathed into her palm. It stretched, golden, from the mirror. On her gilded skin lay a golden cuff shaped like licking flames, large enough to span his bicep. It was still warm from her fire and her blessing.

“Thank you.”

“I wish the two of you a lifetime of eclipses, Noor. A lifetime of happiness and smiles, and more children than you can keep track of. Your unified kingdom will thrive. Your reign as Aten began today. People everywhere will know your name and your power. I will shine a light on Lumina for the first time in many, many years, and I will shine in your honor, Noor,” she promised before her image blurred and my distorted one was all I could see in the golden mirror.

A great gust of warm wind tore the flames in the oil trenches sideways. It urged me out of the temple. It urged me to him. I tucked the golden cuff into my pocket with the silver one he’d given me to wear if, and when, I chose.

Caelum was waiting outside, as he promised. His eyes tracked Sol as she moved slowly south. We climbed the temple steps together and watched the path she carved across the sky. With her priests’ voices blending into a sweet melody, Sol glided toward Lumina, while Lumos hovered over Helios, finally visible to the people who’d heard about his beautiful face but had never seen it.

“My people will be startled,” he said.

“You’ll need to go to them.” I took his hand in mine.

He swallowed thickly, his thumb brushing the back of my hand. “I don’t want to be parted from you.”

I didn’t want that, either. “Then we work toward building the path that leads between your kingdom and mine.”

He nodded resolutely. “Yes, we will.”