Warriors of Poseidon 01 - Atlantis Rising

theory with her sometime. Sometime when a dozen dead men weren't lying at his feet.
     
    Atlantis Rising – Warriors of Poseidon 01
    Page 174 of 351
    Almost involuntarily, his mind reached out to hers, but she'd slammed those damned shields of hers down so tightly he wouldn't know she was there if he hadn't just left her.
    It was better that way, though. There was only so much that she could be expected to endure.
     
    Justice and Bastien were roaming through the woods on either side of them, searching for any sign of Reisen and his remaining warriors, while Christophe and the others stood guard.
     
    Emotionless Brennan stood with Riley and her sister.
     
    Riley had told him they were wasting their time. "They're gone. Or they've magically learned how to mask their emotions in the past half an hour. Because I can't feel a thing."
     
    Conlan was unsure of how far he could rely on her ability to sense the Mycenaean warriors, given the extent of the terror she'd just experienced. But her senses, however compromised, were all he had.
     
    Alaric was gone.
     
    "We've got to get rid of the bodies. We can't leave this mess for the human authorities,"
    Ven growled, wiping sweat off his forehead with his arm. "It's a nightmare."
     
    Conlan nodded. They'd tallied seven dead shapeshifters and five Atlanteans. The evidence of the battle needed to be destroyed. "We're not exactly going to dig a big hole," he replied. "There is one way, but it will take both of us to do it to so many."
     
    Ven shot a look at him. "You're not thinking—"
     
    "What else could I be thinking? We must employ the final solution."
    Atlantis Rising – Warriors of Poseidon 01
    Page 175 of 351
    Ven whistled. "Mortus desicana. I didn't even know you knew how to channel that kind of power. Have you ever—"
     
    Conlan cut him off. "No. Not that I wouldn't have tried it on Anubisa, if I'd had a fraction of a chance. But this is different. These men are already dead. The penance would not be tasked against us."
     
    "Are you sure about that? What does the temple rat say?"
     
    Conlan hesitated, unsure of how much to divulge. Alaric would hate to be exposed in any weakness.
     
    In any event, there was no time. "He's gone. The healing—he returned to the safe house."
     
    "What? He went all girly after healing a simple bullet wound? I'm going to give him so much grief—"
     
    Conlan heard rustling in the trees approximately fifty yards away and concentrated. It was Justice. But the sound underscored their need for haste. "Ven. Focus. Will you help me channel the mortus desicana to destroy these bodies, or do I do it myself?"
     
    . "I'll help you. Poseidon help us both if you're wrong about the penance. Twelve bodies… we might not survive it."
     
    Looking around quickly to make sure that Brennan still kept Riley away from the bloody pile of the slain, Conlan took a deep breath and held his hands up, sending his call into the wind.
     
    If she saw this, she'd think he was the same kind of monster who'd created this bloody nightmare.
    Atlantis Rising – Warriors of Poseidon 01
    Page 176 of 351
    Beside him, Ven did the same, and they both began to chant.
     
    "Poseidon, Father of Water,
     
    "Lord of elements, avatar of justice for all Atlanteans,
     
    "Hear our plea, feel our need,
     
    "Lend us your power for the mortus desicana,
     
    "Hear our plea, feel our need."
     
    For a moment, nothing. Despair surged through Conlan. Had Poseidon truly abandoned him as unworthy after what Anubisa had done to him?
     
    Damaged goods. Damaged goods. Damaged—
     
    Then a surge of electric power stormed into his body. From the air, from the water in the ground, from the wind itself. Up through his feet, through his skin, down into his skull from the cloudless sky. The power of the elements ripped through his flesh, screamed through nerve endings, tore at his control.
     
    He fought with it, contained it, channelled it. Not even realizing he was doing it, he roared out his dominance over the power. "I am Conlan of Atlantis, and I command you to the mortus desicana!"
     
    With that, he flung the power out of his body through his hands at the pile of bodies and watched, gloated, gloried in the power. The roaring rush of the elements covered and surrounded the bodies of the dead, rushing into every pore in their skin, into every orifice, and did their terrifying work.
     
    Atlantis Rising – Warriors of Poseidon 01
    Page 177 of 351
    Sucking, draining every