Warriors of Poseidon 03 - Atlantis Unleashed

 
    Atlantis Unleashed
    Alyssa Day
     
    Dear Readers,
     
    Welcome back to the world of the Warriors of Poseidon! Thank you for your patience while I worked on this book—Justice is a complex man, which made for a complicated book! Thanks also for continuing to read my books and for writing to let me know how much you‟re enjoying these stories of the Atlantean warriors and the women who‟ve touched their hearts.
    Although the important archaeological find of the Mayan mural at San Bartolo is real and was discovered by Dr. William Saturno as I described, I have taken liberties with the location of nearby villages (and, as far as I know, no rogue vampires have taken over the site in real life).
    You can see amazing streaming video of the Mayan mural at
    www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3401/03.html, unde r the Nova ScienceNOW section, if you‟re a history and archaeology junkie like I am. Scientists speculate that the Mayan civilization in that area at one point exceeded the population of modern-day New York City.
    But then, over a few short decades, almost everyone simply vanished—and nobody knows exactly why. One theory is that they overbuilt their natural resources. (I‟m pretty sure I‟m the first to think that vampires had anything to do with it, but then again, I write fiction, so I can imagine anything I want.)
    Creation myths, art, and ancient legends from vastly disparate cultures all around the world have so many unex plainable commonalities that it is plain to me that one over-arching, advanced civilization, such as that of Atlantis, could have played a part in these astonishing similarities. They say truth is stranger than fiction, but for me, truth infuses fiction and makes the world of Atlantis so exciting. Thanks for coming along for the ride!
    Please be sure to look for Alexios‟s story, Atlantis Unmasked , and Brennan‟s story, Atlantis Redeemed , in book-stores soon and visit me a t www.alyssaday.com for excerpts, bonus short stories, and downloadable screensavers for members only, or friend me at www.myspace.com/authoralyssaday!
     
    Hugs,
    Alyssa
     
    The Warrior‟s Creed
    We will wait. And watch. And protect.
    And serve as first warning on the eve of humanity‟s destruction.
    Then, and only then, Atlantis will rise.
    For we are the Warriors of Poseidon, and the mark of the Trident we bear serves as witness to our sacred duty to safeguard mankind.

Chapter 1
    Four months ago,
    a cave deep underneath Mt. Rainier,
    Cascade Range, Washington, United States
    Justice took inventory of his condition, his weapons, and his chances, as he‟d done so many times before in his centuries as a warrior, and came up with: 1. bad
    2. worse
    3. odds-on favorite to be a dead man in the next five minutes Condition, physical: Currently lying flat on his belly on the cold, damp dirt of the cavern floor. Face smashed down on the side of a wet and soon-to-be seriously enraged tiger.
    Peacock-egg-sized lump on the back of his head from rough handling by the vamp and the wolf shifters who‟d carried him down the long dank tunnel from the surface. Possible cracked rib or two. The ketamine they‟d darted him with was mostly worn off, due to the nature of his Atlantean immune system, but he wouldn‟t bet any gemstones on his ability to transform into mist.
    Condition, mental: Fury bordering on homicidal rage. In other words, standard operating procedure. Ha . SOP. Poseidon picked his warriors carefully, or so he‟d always heard.
    The sea god must have been multitasking the day he‟d decided to add Justice‟s name to the list.
    Weapons: None. The sword he‟d worn for hundreds of years—indeed, since the king of Atlantis had given it to him with not a single word of explanation but only a look steeped in contempt—gone. One of the two shape-shifters standing guard over Justice and his furry tiger friend Jack stood off toward the mouth of the cave, fondling Justice‟s sword like he couldn‟t believe his luck. A faint glow from the cavern beyond silhouetted the guards‟ shapes against the utter dark of the small cave in which they‟d dumped Justice, and he watched in impotent fury as the shifter raised his sword in the air as if admiring his new toy.
    Sure, it was all fun and games until an Atlantean warrior sliced your guts out.
    Justice would have smiled if he wouldn‟t have ended up with a mouthful of wet tiger fur.
    They‟d taken his daggers, too.
    The better to kill them with.
    He tried to reach