Earth's Grand Healer

A note from the author:

I'm posting an additional part of my Earth's Grand Healer story as a Christmas Surprise. More good stories are in the way. Don't forget to re-read your favorites. I'll be taking a break during the holidays and I'll be posting more after the New Year.

A Bat Christmas Carol: If you love the original from Dickens, you'll love this take on it.

Christmas Wishes: If you love KF:TLC, you will find these heartwarming stories where a familiar character plays Santa Claus.

First Christmas Perspectives: Another KF:TLC. I won't give you the premise, you just have to read them for yourself.

Merry Christmas Every One and a Happy New Year

Part 9: Samantha's Ancestry

It wouldn't happen for another month. The voice had died down in Samantha's head and she had other things to concentrate on, like her own ancestry she had been learning more about. Her Atlantean heritage and the fact that she was from a line that dated far back before Atlantis had sunk beneath the sea. She was part of a rare line of men and women who were called Poseidon's children who were part sea god and human. Those who were born with this trait could walk the land as well as dwell within the sea. Eventually the people of Atlantis were forced to adapt, live in the sea, or return to the surface and never return.

"That was thousands of years ago. Most Atlanteans adapted to living and dying in the deep underwater city, expanding, and creating other cities and outposts as time progressed. Even so, the people still considered themselves Atlantean making the name a designation of race to distinguish themselves from those who lived on the land. Then there came among them the sea witches, enemies of Poseidon's children."

"I do not understand, Samantha stated.

"I'm getting into that part," the librarian stated. "You see the sea witches were jealous. They believed they ruled the seas and vast oceans, despite Poseidon being the god of the sea. So, to set out to prove this, they created their own kingdoms and set their own upon those thrones. They set out to find those who were less satisfied with their situation those among the Gentry and within the slave population. Since by then there could be no slave or master if Atlantis were to survive."

"Slavery had been abolished?" Samantha asked.

"Oh yes, that was only within the first 500 years of Atlantis' existence beneath the waves. Atlantis would no longer exist if they hadn't. Among the slaves a young woman devised a way for the people to survive but that is a story for another time."

"I'm sorry. Go on with your narrative.

"As I was saying the sea witches looked for those who were disgruntled, those who lost their titles and even their lands since the sinking."

"I see."

"Ah young lady you do not," the Librarian stated. "There is more to the story. I do not know if I should be telling you this."

"Please go on, I have to know," Samantha pleaded.

"You have told no one else?" the librarian asked.

"Only you." Samantha answered. "I haven't even told my father or my husband."

"Well, yes, of course," the librarian hemmed and hawed. "You need to be careful. I understand though all of Atlantis was there for your suitor's defeat at the hands of a surface dweller, there are those who believe he is still not worthy."

"As a Princess of Atlantis, I don't care what others believe," Samantha barked, her teeth showing changes that alarmed the librarian.

"Please, my lady," the librarian pleaded. "I am only relating what others have said."

"I . . . I'm sorry." Samantha quickly composed herself. "I . . . I don't know what came over me."

'I believe I do,' the librarian thought to himself. He cleared his throat anyway and resumed his narrative. "The sea witches were the cause of much contention and the first king of the Atlantis had banished the sea witches from the city, but that did not stop them. Like I said those among the Gentry who were not satisfied sought out the sea witches found a way to lure them into their circle and promised the Gentry power. The Gentry then demanded that they be given kingdoms of their own uniquely different from the Atlantean Kingdom. They did not want to be associated with Atlantis. Whole families that included their servants were changed."

"What do you mean changed?"

"They were changed and changed until they bred true."

"What families? How were they changed?" Samantha asked.

The librarian was reluctant to tell, but he continued his narrative. "Some retained their human form others were changed to resemble the sea creatures they wished to emulate, and others still were a blending of the two."

"They resembled sea creatures?"

"Overtime a few looked Atlantean but retained the behavior of the sea creature they had been enchanted with. Others reverted, shamed that they had been deceived. They retreated into the deepest darkest depths becoming the creatures of the trench as we know them."

"So, you're saying that there are other kingdoms being run by other Atlanteans who chose to abandon Atlantis and become their own rulers of other kingdoms like the people of the Trench?"

"Yes," answered the librarian.

"I'm still not certain how I fit into all of this."

"You know of your father's first wife," the librarian stated.

"Yes," Samantha added. "She ran away and abandoned me as a baby. She was also accused of murder."

"She was also from a neighboring Kingdom one that borders Atlantis and cannot be accessed except through a tunnel."

"I know about the kingdom," Samantha said. "I'm told that the king's personal guard comes from that Kingdom, that he was also abandoned. The people don't care for him very much but he's a good man."

"Are you aware he is more than just a guard?"

"No," Samantha replied.

"Well my dear," the librarian paused. "Your mother and the guard did come from that kingdom. In fact, your mother was the sister of the ruler of that kingdom, and the guard is her son, your cousin. They are sharks."

Samantha's eyes went wide.

Continues with part 10