Kyros' Secret (Greek Myth Series Book 1) (3 page)

Three

Thera sat down by the fire and waited alongside Ganymede for Loxias and Akil to come back with meat for a meal. They’d left only minutes ago, but Thera knew they’d be back soon. They were too lazy to hunt in the dark, not to mention they went the wrong way.

“The boys will be back with dinner soon,” reassured Ganymede.

“No they won’t.”

“You doubt my word?” Ganymede took a slug from the jug of ale and spit into the fire. The flame flared up a bit then receded.

“You’re forgetting about my power of the senses. There are no animals where they went, but I did hear some movement near that clump of trees just beyond our camp.”

“Well, go hunt then. I’m hungry.”

“You’re forgetting you’re supposed to protect me.”

“And you’re forgetting you’re not a goddess anymore, sweetie, so go do it yourself.” He took another long draw from the bottle and lay back in the dirt putting his arm over his face and started to snore.

Thera felt the hunger aching in her belly and a wave of nausea overcome her. She wasn’t sure if it was a human feeling or a pregnant feeling. Either way, her body was hungry and she found herself craving meat for the first time in her life. She had never eaten meat before, as the sensation of dead animals had been more then she could handle. She could always feel the animals’ fear even after they were dead. But now she was different. She craved meat and nothing else would do to fulfill her powerful hunger.

She got to her feet and wandered over to her horse. She strapped a quiver of arrows to her back and grabbed her bow. The horse whinnied and Thera realized some animal lurked nearby. She should have taken the time to smell the air but her hunger got the best of her. She headed over to the clump of brush where she’d heard an animal just a short time ago.

Thera blocked the thought from her mind that centaurs may be stirring about. Her hunger won over her fear and she found herself wanting to hunt for the first time in her life. Her father’s raven was the only animal she’d ever killed, and even the thought of eating it at the moment was appealing.

Such a hunger she had never known. An aching to fill her belly with rich, succulent meat that would satisfy the emptiness within.

She heard a small rustle in the bushes and picked up the scent of deer nearby. Her ears pinpointed the exact area and the loud thumping of the poor creature’s heart. It was a strong, heavy heartbeat - stronger than the average deer. She closed her eyes to the blackness of the forest and felt the comfort of the new darkness that surrounded her now. It had always calmed her in the past to reach inside and still her thoughts. Now it only made things worse. She could hear the heartbeat of the animal coming closer. It seemed to grow in size with each breath she took.

She didn’t feel the poor thing’s fear, only its curiosity as the twigs snapped beneath its hooves and it entered the danger zone, unsuspecting it would soon be dead. Thera pitied the dumb creature. A pity so strong she knew it was of her father’s doing - a feeling within her that he’d predicted. She kept her eyes closed and raised the bow toward the sound, her stomach winning over her emotions. She cocked the arrow and pulled back the string.

It was then she knew she’d made a mistake. She smelled the faint scent of centaur and her eyes shot open. Standing right before her in the dark was a huge centaur. His body towered before her and she wondered how she could be so out of touch with her sensations that she had thought he was a helpless deer.

Her heart thudded and for the first time she felt the taste of fear - her own fear - on her tongue. Her arm weakened on the bowstring and her grip slackened some. He was staring at her through a royal purple mask that covered his eyes. His long oaken hair fell wild past his shoulders, which brought her attention to his bare chest. Strong, sturdy, muscles and sinew cording his chest and thick arms. A sight that left her in awe. He had a large sword strapped across his chest instead of the usual centaur weapon of bow and arrow, but it was dark and she couldn’t see it well.

She almost got caught up in the moment until her eyes settled on his lower half. Huge brown legs - four of them - took a step closer and she found herself backing away.

“Don’t be frightened. I’m not going to hurt you.” The centaur’s voice was a low, husky whisper. The tone shot a warning through her body that this creature may want more than her life since her father had thought to introduce breeding with a goddess into their clan.

“Get away. Get away before I shoot you.” She lifted her bow and prepared her arrow once again.

“I don’t think you really want to do that.” He grabbed the tip of her arrow and she felt her arm relax as he lowered her bow.

“What do you want from me?” she asked in a shaky voice.

“Only to look at you. Nothing more.”

He reached out his hand and ran a finger across her cheek. She felt a shiver run down her spine and then the spark of the touch. It was warm and caring - an attribute she never thought a centaur would carry. After all, centaurs were wicked, evil warriors that often ended up on Ares’ doorstep and willed their souls to him just to have a place in his army. Centaurs were deceitful, not to be trusted in the least. Still, she felt herself wanting to surrender to him, pitying him for the poor creature he was. With her eyes closed it was easy to forget the gentle caress was from a wretched beast and not from the hand of a lover.

Lover. Just the thought excited her, yet at the same time disgusted her to be thinking it about a centaur. She jumped back and raised her bow again. What was the matter with her? After all, a centaur had been the one who was responsible for her condition. Along with her father, of course. She couldn’t trust this beast standing before her any more than she could throw him. She needed to get away - far away before something dreadful happened to her.

Disgust filled her senses and turned her stomach. Disgust like she’d never felt before. Just like what Ares had told her would happen just from the fact she’d killed. It was his prediction in motion and she could do nothing to control it.

“Get away from me or I’ll kill you.”

The centaur’s brow raised and for a fraction of a second she thought he was going to grab his sword and challenge her. She watched his hand quiver, but he didn’t move.

“I said to leave me alone you filthy beast. Your kind disgusts me.”

She couldn’t believe she was feeling this way, but the words came and she didn’t regret a one. She had always been leery of centaurs, but now the seed was planted deep within her. Not only the seed of a centaur but the seed of hate. Her pity had buried it. Her disgust had watered it. And the anger she now felt toward her father, all centaurs, and especially herself, would be the heat that swelled the seed and brought to fruition the ugly head of hate.

The Centaur turned quickly and galloped off into the darkness, disappearing from her sight.

“Thera! Thera, where are you?” It was Ganymede, followed by the other two guards.

Thera dropped her bow and fell to her knees. A wave of relief washed over her that her human guards were coming to protect her. Never before had she needed protection, but then, never had she been human either. She felt a knot in her stomach and then movement from inside her womb. The baby inside her stirred already. A god’s doing that the child of war be born as early as possible. A hunger consumed her like never before, wrenching through her insides, twisting her empty stomach round and round. Her mind spun.

“I found her!” Ganymede ran to Thera’s side, and Loxias and Akil ran up behind him. Thera lifted her head from her hands and flinched at the sight of their bows in hand, but not even a single dead hare.

“I’m hungry.” It came out more like an order than a comment. “I need food. Now.”

“We’ve got food, Goddess,” said Akil. “Back at the camp we’ve got bread and fruit.”

“Damn you, fools! I’m not a goddess anymore. But if I were I’d strike you down dead for being so incompetent.” Thera ignored Akil’s outstretched arm and grabbed her weapon and got to her feet. “I want meat. Something that’ll fulfill my needs.”

“We’ve no meat, Goddess.” Akil caught her nasty stare at his use of that word again.

“Then I’ll hunt for myself.” She took a step into the forest and her knees wobbled. Her head spun and once again she fell to the ground. Unable to speak, she didn’t argue when Ganymede hoisted her up and helped her back to camp.

“You need rest more than you do food, Thera.” Ganymede helped her lie down by the fire. “Now go to sleep and we’ll hunt again in the daylight.”

Thera’s body gave her no choice other than to obey. She closed her eyes and drifted off to a place somewhere between Tartarus and Olympus. A place where restless souls invaded a dreamer’s visions. A place where she was being watched by the centaur in the purple mask.

Four

The warm sun hit Thera’s eyelids, forcing her to sit upright and momentarily forget where she was. For a moment she was back on the outskirts of Mount Olympus, traveling through the forest where every tree and rock were a part of her soul. As a child, she’d been raised by her aunt Persephone, the only one on Mount Olympus who’d taken pity on her after she’d been virtually abandoned by her own parents.

Persephone had a heart of gold and was to Thera her only family. She’d taught Thera the beauty of nature and helped her to love the fertility of the earth. Thera missed her deeply since Hades had claimed her for his wife and taken her as queen of the underworld years ago. Since then, Thera had lived in the forests of Mount Olympus as a child of nature. One with the earth, but still alone.

“Hungry, Goddess?” 

Thera’s eyes flew open to see Akil popping a grape into his mouth. He held up a chubby hand, dangling grapes in front of her nose as she lay on the cold ground.

“Give me those, you fool!” She shoved the grapes into her mouth as fast as she could and then tore a loaf of bread from his hand. The grapes exploded with essence within her mouth, only causing her taste buds to water and her belly to crave more of the food that did nothing to satisfy her extreme hunger.

Loxias shuffled up with a jug of spirits in his hand and stared at her stomach. “Eating for two? Or is it three?”

She looked down to her stomach and was surprised to see how it had grown just overnight. When a goddess gave birth, it was almost instantaneous to the act of making love. A goddess never went through the trauma a pregnant human did. Humans took forever to carry and birth a baby. She’d seen pregnant humans from time to time when she ventured from the mountain. And Persephone had even taken her once to the bedside of a human giving birth - just for the experience.

Well, she knew it was nothing she’d ever want to experience and now pitied herself for being in such a position.

“Don’t talk to me that way.”

Thera got to her feet and went to her horse to dig through the saddlebags, hoping to find something that would satisfy her. She noticed Ganymede’s horse was gone as well as his bow and arrows. He’d be out hunting for food. Either that or scoping the land for centaurs.

Akil came up behind her and patted her rounding stomach. “Eating like a horse. Wouldn’t you say, Loxias?” He walked back to the fire, laughing, popping grapes into his mouth. Loxias belched loudly and laughed along with him.

A feeling of disgust settled over Thera. Two men who were supposed to guard and respect her were toying with her, and she didn’t like it. She could feel Ares’ war-like blood in her veins. This time, she dealt with anger.

She tried hard to fight it, but found herself weak. She really tried to ignore the men’s jests, but every one of their comments brought to life the formerly dormant warrior instincts within her that had been awakened when she killed her father’s raven.

“Got any good
tails
to tell this morning?” Akil jested to Loxias.

“
Neigh,
” answered Loxias with a catch in his voice trying to sound like a horse.

Thera took a breath and released it. Angry, vengeful emotions were taking over and she was helpless to stop it. She cursed Ares silently for ever taunting her to kill and stir these feelings in the first place. She never should have done it. But since she had, Ares had a hold on her she couldn’t break loose. His own anger grew within her and she didn’t know how to stop it.

“Thera,” called Akil. “
Trot
on over here and let us see your belly again.”

“Yeah,” added Loxias. “We want to see the baby kick. All four hooves, that is.”

Anger boiled in Thera’s veins and she grabbed her bow and an arrow from the saddle bags. The horses pulled at their reins sensing trouble. She felt like a prisoner to herself, watching her body’s actions. She cocked the arrow in her bow and turned abruptly.

Horrified, she watched her fingers let loose with the bowstring. The arrow whizzed through the air and lodged itself into Loxias’ chest. Akil jumped to his feet and stared at her with wide eyes, obviously not believing what she’d done. She couldn’t believe it herself.

“You killed him!” Akil reached for his sword but Thera was already reloaded.

“No,” she cried more to herself than to Akil. “No!” But her body didn’t obey her mind’s command. The arrow left her bow, and Akil fell dead on the ground next to Loxias.

Reality hit Thera like a boulder in the head. Her bow slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground. She fell to her knees in shock at the feelings that had overcome her. Feelings of hate and anger. Feelings she’d never had before and of which she didn’t know how to control.

She’d killed. And not just a simple raven this time. She’d killed a man for the first time in her life. Not one man, but two. Her body trembled as she hid her face in her hands. A heat filled her pores that was hotter than the fires of Tartarus.

Now she knew hate. She knew what anger brought upon a person and she hated herself for doing what she did. She wept uncontrollably into her hands, wishing she were dead herself for killing the men who were sent to guard her.

“Not bad, Thera. I knew you could do it.”

She heard Ares’ voice and the slow clapping of his hands. She raised her face to see him leaning against a laurel tree.

“This is your fault!” Her voice came out stronger than she’d expected. “You did this to them, not me.”

“Not so.” Ares walked over to the dead men and pulled a grape out of Akil’s hand. Popping it into his mouth, he continued. “It was of your own accord these men are dead, Thera.” He looked back at the men and nodded. “That should get Hades off my back for a while.”

Thera pushed herself from the ground, and on wobbly legs made her way towards Ares.

“You’re disgusting. You have no sympathy for even the dead.”

Ares licked the grape juices from his fingers.

“There you go with pity and disgust again,” he laughed. “You’ve already felt the anger and now you’ll get the taste of hate. You’ll learn to like it. Give it time.”

“I have no taste for hate. And I have no desire to kill. It was by your doing that I killed them. I tried to stop the feelings but you held my control. Let me loose from your spell and leave me be.”

Ares chuckled. “You should have learned to control these feelings like your sister and this wouldn’t have happened. You’ve always been weak, Thera. Don’t let anyone control you. It’s a lesson you need to learn. Actually, I have you to thank for getting rid of these two fools. I would have done it myself earlier but I wanted to give you the pleasure.”

Thera swallowed deeply and blinked once. She’d almost fallen for Ares’ tactics again. He was goading her. He wanted her to anger and she wouldn’t give him the chance. She still had her power of sensations and she’d use it to her advantage. She’d hide somewhere in the forest away from anyone she could possibly harm until after the baby was born. Maybe then she’d break free from Ares’ little spell.

She left her weapon and mounted herself upon a horse. She’d get far away from Ares and his devious plot. She’d show him his games would no longer work on her.

“You can’t hide from me, Thera.”

“Maybe not. But I can stop myself from doing any more harm to innocent people.” She took off into the woods without looking back.

Ares crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “It’s not that easy,” he mumbled as he watched her go. He glanced toward the dead men and they dissipated into thin air with a shake of his finger. They’d never been real men, only something he’d conjured up, but Thera didn’t need to know that. They’d done what he hoped they would - brought her to the brink of hatred. Enough to actually kill. He was pleased with the way she was progressing. A little nudge from him was all she needed to come around to his way of thinking.

Since she thought she’d killed for real, her mind would be muddled and it’d be easier for her to make the real mistake. He’d push her as far as he could and eventually she’d be the warrior he wanted her to be. She had the war-like blood in her veins and he was only helping her get in touch with her real self. She ought to be thankful he cared enough to try to help her get in touch with her true nature.

Rodas stepped out from behind a tree along with several other centaurs, having waited until Thera was out of sight.

“Is it time yet?” he asked Ares.

Ares answered without looking at him. “Give her until tomorrow. By then Kyros will have taken her under his wing and it’ll save you the trouble of looking for him. Then you can bring them both to Pittheus and explain to the king that his beastly brother has stolen his bride.”

“It was supposed to be my child, Ares. I want the baby who brings war and death upon the Trozens to be my son, as was promised.”

Ares turned quickly and grabbed the centaur around the neck. His fingers sank deeply into his flesh and he felt pleasure at seeing the creature squirm beneath his grip.

“Are you saying I’m not fair?”

“N...no.” Rodas choked out the word. “Not at all, Ares.”

“Good.” He released his neck slowly. “Because I’d hate to think I’d have to kill you for simply annoying me. This little mishap could very well work to our advantage.”

“But why can’t you just undo the damage and we can start over?”

“It’s not that easy, you fool.” He looked in the direction Thera went, then pulled Rodas to the side so the rest of the centaurs wouldn’t hear their conversation.

“But you’re a god! Surely you can undo your own curse,” insisted the centaur.

“If she were but a human … it would be simple. But I can’t interfere again.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’ll kill you if you tell her or anyone else what I’m about to say. Thera believes Zeus took back his gifts, but Zeus really knows nothing of my little lie. You see, Thera is so very naive. She believes my little story of her powers being stripped when, in fact, the girl is still a goddess.”