Chapter Eighteen

In the moment that the winds stopped and the earth ceased shaking, Methos skidded to a halt, jerking around to stare back through the fractured city towards the temple.

"What?" Minyah gasped. "What is it?"

"I don't know," Methos replied shortly. "Maybe they've stopped -- "

"Stopped?" Minyah demanded breathlessly. "Then Ghean - - "

"Maybe," Methos said again. Stop, he prayed, to gods he didn't believe in. Don't let them do this. Stop while we're all still alive.

The wind screamed anew, and Methos swore, yanking Minyah back around. "Dead," he grated, and began to run again. The earth's shaking redoubled, stones crashing in pieces into fractures that appeared around the runners.

"Methos!" Ragar's bellow came from above, as he waved wildly. "This way!" He turned and continued up the hill. Methos glanced around in search of a better path before giving chase, hauling Minyah with him. The road Ragar'd chosen was the one leading out of the city, to the harbor. As good a choice as any.

Ragar, panting, stopped to wait for the duo below him. "There are boats," he puffed. "If we can get to them we should be safer -- "

Beneath his feet, the earth split open. Ragar fell, silent with surprise, flinging a hand up in a cry for help at the last moment. Methos sprang forward, reaching for Ragar's hand, only narrowly snatching his hand back in time as the earth slammed shut again, centimeters from his fingers.

"Damn!" For a few futile seconds, the Immortal beat his hand against the stone. "Damn!" This time, it was Minyah who grabbed Methos by the arm, pulling him to his feet.

"Run," she whispered in near exhaustion. "We have to run."

Methos nodded silently. They darted forward again. Screams punctuated the sounds of grinding rock as others tried to survive the maze of randomly opening stone. The road to the harbor was frighteningly empty, given the numbers of people in Atlantis. Methos cast one last rapid look over his shoulder at the black sky swallowing the city whole, wondering how many had already died in the streets.

He tripped, crashing onto his face as he looked back towards the road, pulling Minyah on top of him. A boulder broke off from the cliff wall above them, falling with deadly speed. Methos flinched, and the stone ended its fall with a soft bump, bouncing off Minyah's cloak, rolling to settle a few feet away, harmlessly. Methos lifted his head to stare at it in combined shock and relief, and blurted, "Thanks for wearing that today."

Minyah's laugh was high-pitched with hysteria. She clambered to her feet without answering, once more tugging Methos up as well. They ran, intent on avoiding the opening fissures, jumping madly over those that appeared.

The ground fell away as they leapt. Minyah screamed, watching the black stone of the mountain road drop fifteen feet as she plummeted towards it. She expelled a hard gasp of air as she landed, unharmed, and began running again, pulling Methos along with her.

Again and again the land fell away, until an abrupt drop plunged them into the salt water of the bay instead of onto stone. "Keep the cloak!" Methos yelled frantically. Minyah clutched one hand to the throat of it, the other still clinging tightly to Methos' hand. "Boat," he whispered, panicked. "There must be boats."

"Forget the boats!" Minyah screamed. "Swim!" She released his hand and struck out through the grey waves, intent on putting as much distance between herself and Atlantis as possible. Methos stared after her for a split second, then set out swimming himself, less agile but equally enthusiastic.

The scream of stone minutes later made them both turn, against their will, to look at the drowning island. Stone continued to shatter as Atlantis dropped in surges, yards at a time, easily visible. Fire flung up from the sea, and steam billowed in huge clouds, streaking the boiling black sky with grey.

"Swim!" Methos shouted again. "The undertow!"

Minyah blanched, setting off again with a stronger, steadier stroke. The waters around them roiled, each new breaking wave bringing with it the bodies of drowned Atlanteans. Minyah came up short, cutting off a choked scream. Methos turned to see what caused the scream, and for a moment ceased swimming, closing his eyes with dismay.

Ertros floated in the water beside Minyah, the boy's expression peculiarly content in the chaos. In the black sky's strange light, he might have been sleeping, living color no less washed from his skin than it was from Methos' or Minyah's. A wave lifted the child's body up, rolling it over, and Methos looked away. "We can't help him. Come on." It hurt to speak, his throat rough from screaming. He began swimming again, putting the image of the dead boy out of his mind.

"Methos." The weak cry came many minutes later. Methos turned in the water just in time to see Minyah disappear under a wave. Cursing, he dove, searching murky water for her, fighting against the pull of the waters back towards the sinking island. An impossible amount of time seemed to pass as he snatched at bodies, drawing them close to study their faces in the greyness. A frighteningly strong current drew him back the way he'd come, and he swore again, kicking towards the surface. Breaking through, he cast about in a frenzy, shouting Minyah's name as the water towed him back towards Atlantis.

"Damn," he whispered once more, and put his energy into escaping the determined pull of the drowning civilization.

Hours later, the sky began to clear. Methos rolled over in the water to search the slowly calming water for the remains of Atlantis. As far as he could see, there was only unbroken water, no land masses to meet the eye. The wind carried the scent of blood to him, as sharks found the meal left for them by the drownings. He drifted a while, weary, then began to swim again.

Days later, the sea washed him ashore. Trembling with exhaustion, he lay in the sand, staring at the flawless sky.

Methuselah's grandson was right, he realized fuzzily. The world ended. I wonder if he and his boat got away. The thought was sickly amusing. Methos laughed a little, then turned over to vomit seawater. The motion knocked his hair over his shoulder, and the tie Minyah had given him slipped free, falling to the sand. He folded it into his palm, shaking with the effort, and knocked his elbow against the sword's hilt.

Legacies of Atlantis. He curled onto his side, shuddering and waiting for his body to regain some strength.

Long before strength returned, the painful throb of another Immortal's approach slammed through him. What a stupid way to die, he thought faintly, and closed his eyes, gathering the will to stand. He struggled to his feet, barely able to keep his balance, and waited to see if he would have to fight.

The other Immortal stopped several feet away from Methos, an unpleasant smile creeping across his face. Not quite as tall as Methos, he was broader, and the right side of his face was badly scarred, the injury running over his eye. He regarded Methos for long moments before speaking. "Hello, brother."

Methos rocked back in the sand, staring at the stranger. "Am I your brother?" he asked with light-headed curiousity.

The other man folded his arms across his chest, jerking his head out at the water. "Ships say a whole island sand out there. Did you have anything to do with that?"

Methos, slowly, said, "In a manner of speaking."

"And you're half dead now." The unpleasant smile fixed itself firmly on the scarred man's face. "I think you have two choices, brother."

Methos lowered his head, staring through falling hair at the man. "Do I?"

"You could be my brother, or you could be dead." The scarred man let the words hang a moment, and added, "I could use a man who can sink an island."

Methos turned his head slower to look out over the water, where Atlantis had been. If, he thought. If I'd killed Aroz in the first place. If they'd listened, hadn't fought on holy ground. If I had told Ghean what she was.

I can't remember who taught them to me, anyway.

He turned his regard back to the scarred man. "I've never had a brother."

The smile turned to a grin, no more pleasant as it split the scarred man's face. "You do now," he said. "I'm Kronos, and we are going to rule the world, brother."