A Small Spark

Amaris

Amaris sat in the treehouse on tree 4642 staring at the computers and cameras around her. She watched the country as it slowly drifted off to sleep. She did not do the same. Damon once told her that the reason she watched the country was to forget or distract herself from something. He said it was easier to look at life through the lens of someone else. She just shrugged off the comment and walked away.

In the time since Ahab had come to power, the entire country had fallen into destruction. Many villages were corrupted with disease and poverty. There was very little that could be done to the contrary. Ahab was evil, but he was also smart. He was calculated. He knew that he could bend anyone to his will if they were dependent on him for food and medicine to heal themselves. He ruled the people with fear, especially after the public executions for minimal crimes.

A few years ago, when I had just begun to live in the forest, a revolution was started by a man named Conrad Sithious. Sithious was an i***t in Amaris’s opinion. He spread word of his uprising among the people, forcing a quick solution to Atlantis’ problems. Word inevitably reached Ahab and the king instantly squashed the rebellion. Instead of making Sithious into a martyr, he forced everyone to watch as Prince Alstor tortured Sithious with a leather-made whip. The screams emitted from that man still plagued my nightmares.

All of those involved in the uprising were imprisoned in Flykai and were still there.

It was around this time that another movement began: The Rising. In stark contrast, the leader did not advertise his rebellion. He made it so that if anyone was looking for the rebellion, they could find it, but it was never openly stated. King Ahab still had no idea it existed. Its leader, Matthias Xerxes, was a hero in discrepancy.

As old friends, he had often invited Amaris to join his little rebellion. She thought the whole thing was a great way to die painfully, but in the last three years, they had accomplished quite a bit. Particularly, the reduction of poverty in Jasper City. Matthias was smart about the way he went about his movement. She never joined, though. She knew if she did, it would be the end for her. She would be forced back into the society of Atlantis and she would be proclaimed alive. It was much easier to be dead.

As she was contemplating these things, she noticed that Damon had yet to turn off his lights in his treehouse. She frowned, knowing it was late and how much Damon loved his sleep. Something was wrong. She crept quietly out of her treehouse and onto the branch that connected their treehouses. Hearing murmurs, she crouched down under the window and listened to the voices inside.

“She is not going to go for it, you know that,” she heard Damon say.

“She’ll come ‘round,” replied a huskier voice, a voice she had heard before. In her shock, her breath caught in her throat. Why was Damon talking to him? “Are you in or not?”

“And I’m telling you, I have to talk to Amaris. She’ll kill me if I go behind her back again. There’s probably nothing in the world she hates more than you. She wouldn’t be happy if I just joined without talking about it to her.”

“When is Amaris ever happy?” There was a smile in Dimitri’s voice that made Amaris despise him. She heard the familiar sound of a knife lodging itself into wood. Was he practicing his knife throws right now? She thought about standing up and announcing her presence, but thought better of it. The last thing she wanted was to speak with Dimitri. Damon sighed loudly. “You have a week to talk to her about it, but Damon, this is about you. Not her. Be a man.” Amaris rolled her eyes at that.

“Dimitri, I will talk to her. But whatever happens, I’ll side with Amaris. You have to know that. Besides, we just got hired by the Rising.” Dimitri’s intrigue was palpable.

“When did this take place?” he asked.

“Earlier this evening.” Amaris wondered what Dimitri would be thinking about this. She knew he was angry as the lodges in the wood from this practice increased. He was deluding himself if he ever thought they would ally themselves with him. He muttered something about Matthias being ignorant and unable to do what needs to be done. Amaris scoffed quietly. If anyone was ignorant, it was Dimitri.

She continued sitting there until Dimitri and Damon left. Once they were gone, she crept back into her treehouse and continued with the surveillance tapes. She was only working for about ten minutes before she heard a voice say from behind her, “I knew you were there.” She sighed and turned to meet Damon’s green eyes. His emotions were hidden from her and she could not depict his thoughts.

“Damon, you know what the Lykoi did. How could you trust him to come here? How did he even get into the forest?”

“Don’t worry, I blindfolded him both here and back. He doesn’t know about the entrance.”

“Are you thinking seriously about his offer?” she asked him, already knowing the answer. Damon wouldn’t betray her. They were too good of friends for that.

“They get things done, Mare. They get results.”

“They destroy. You know that.” She took a deep breath. “I’m not going to tell you what to do, you and I both know you are capable of making these decision for yourself.”

He shook his head in exasperation and frustration. Amaris told him to get some sleep, it had been a long day. “You can’t stay out of this war, Amaris,” he murmured before leaving the treehouse.

She thought about going to bed herself after he left, but she knew that she would not be able to sleep. Instead, she stayed awake, watching the surveillance videos.

Specifically, she pulled up the live surveillance in the castle. It took only a few minutes to find Ahab in his office, pouring over papers. She sat cross legged on the couch, watching him. At times like these, she wondered if he knew he was being watched.

Of all the people in Atlantis, only Amaris and the king were awake at this time of night. King Ahab wrote away at something before him. She suddenly wondered why he did not write on the iport; it would have made writing easier for him, more organized. It was then that she realized the king did not type whatever information he was comprising because he did not want anyone hacking into his accounts and finding it. She lusted over what he was writing. She had to know what evil plan he was devising. She knew that if he was too afraid to trust his own iport; those papers were suddenly invaluable, and she had to have them.

Amaris dozed off somewhere after this revelation. When she awoke, the king was gone and she was still sitting on the couch with her legs crossed under her. Wonderful, she thought with sarcasm. She uncrossed them carefully, her muscles groaning in protest. Slowly, she walked over to her kitchen. Damon was already there, sipping some of her water. She glared at him and grabbed an apple from a branch outside of her window. She bit down on the apple, hearing that lovely crunching sound. Damon asked her what they were going to do next, but she did not have an answer for him.

As the surreal sun began to rise, Damon commented that Matthias would be venturing into the forest to talk with them. Amaris was annoyed but nodded in reply. He was her employer now, whether she liked that or not.

Matthias was the epitome of Atlantis. No one loved this place more than her, nor could anyone for that matter. He wore a simple white shirt with practical blue pants. His face was always flashing with mischief. He had an elaborate plan hidden in the catacombs of his eyes. He smiled when he saw her, but she did not return the gesture.

He had little trouble finding the treehouse and climbing up the ladder. When he entered the room, he held out his hand to us. Damon took it immediately, but Amaris watched him carefully.

His familiar brown eyes met mine. His eyes were a shad lighter than his natural brown hair and skin. He had a giddy smile on his face. When he smiled, as Amaris knew, his face scrunched together and his entire face took on the look of a different person. One of light, not of darkness. “Amaris,” he greeted. She continued to stare at him, emotionless. “It’s been took long since we worked together.” Amaris did not reply. Damon, annoyed with her indifference, replied for her.

She supposed she should have been impressed with Damon’s politeness, knowing the history between Matthias and Damon. It was a long time ago, but even still Damon exhibited incredible forgiveness and kindness. She, however, could not do the same. While she had forgiven Matthias, she did not want to be anywhere in the vicinity of him. Matthias’s smile wavered.

He sat down on the couch like he owned the place. He had once. He began to explain the layout of Kirio. He brought with him a complete diagram of the facility for their benefit. Amaris began to pour of the plans and determine a route in her mind for them.

A few minutes later, Adam entered the treehouse as well. Amaris wondered for a moment if Ahab had been noticing his favorite son was vanishing from the castle. Of course, that led her to question why the prince was still living in the castle. It was clear he had not told the king about his plant to marry a servant girl instead of the noblewoman that Ahab had most assuredly picked for him. This was his main reason for joining the Rising. He could never be with Audrey if his father was in power. Really, it was just a matter of time before Ahab learned the truth and Adam would be exile. Audrey was be executed. Adam smiled a little at us as he leaned against the table to support himself. The bags under his eyes had not vanished.

Adam had more information on Kirio than Matthias did, as Adam had to serve there when he went through Stratos training. Adam was the younger prince. It was not his duty to be king, but to become the head of the Stratos and follow his brother’s every word.

Throughout the meeting, Amaris decided to herself that Matthias was a coward. He should have been the one to retrieve his fiancé and his fiancé’s brother from the scientist’s lab. “Getting in there,” Matthias told us, “isn’t going to be easy. But if anyone can do it, Amaris, it’s you.” She did not respond, she was not sure how to, honestly. “I need you to get them out safely and quickly.”

She never cared much for Lyla Stravos. Matthias should have been able to save his own fiancé. He was being unfair to Damon, but she kept silent. They were getting paid quite a bit for this. When Matthias left, she told Damon he did not have to help her on this mission. It wasn’t fair to him after everything that had happened. He refused. “You might have better luck telling a fish to breathe on land,” Adam commented.

Amaris said to him, “Do Lyla and John know that we’re alive?” Adam shook his head. Amaris rubbed her head in tired annoyance. She would have preferred for at least John to know. Lyla was calmer, more controlled in a crisis, she would not raise an eyebrow if she saw them. John was unexpected.

After Adam left, Damon glanced over her. “You realize what a job like this will mean for us, right?”

She nodded, knowing everything was about to change.