The Phoinix: Age of Demigods (12 page)

The females wore white strapless
dresses that fell just shy of their knees. White wings adorned with
red flecks that sparkled like rubies in the sunlight fluttered
behind them. They had crimson skin darkened by pale white hair of
different lengths. The males dressed in red and had dark red wings.
Their jet-black hair contrasted their light silver skin. Both sexes
had charcoal grey irises that stood out against the whites of their
eyes.

“I merely slowed down time so you are
able to see the fairies that live in the Alders. They are the
guardians of this forest…” Alina explained. “Do you see those
golden apples? They are the apples from your Greek myths, the
golden apples of the gods. They can grant…”

“Immortality or heal any ailment.
Which means you can completely recover from your wound,” Lysandros
finished her sentence, excited about the prospect.

Alina smiled at the
interruption. “Yes,
one
of the apples can save me, but...”

“I’ll go pick one!”

Before Alina could finish her story,
Lysandros ran to pick the fruit.

A loud whap, followed by a crunching
noise, resulted from Lysandros’ brave attempt. He had run into a
shield charm that protected the tree. The shield bent inward at
Lysandros’ momentum, then tossed him back halfway across the
clearing into a pile of dead leaves.

Alina tried hard not to laugh, but
when Lysandros emerged from the pile with his hair and clothes
covered in dead foliage, she couldn’t help herself. She clutched at
her wound to control her laughter.

“Sometimes I wonder if you are a wise
adult or a reckless child,” Alina shook her head at Lysandros’
appearance. “If you had let me finish, you would have understood.
Since the labor of Herakles, Demeter placed a barrier around the
tree so that no man can enter to pick its fruit.”

“Hold on. Demeter is a Greek goddess
and the fairies are Celtic. You are telling me the religions of the
world overlap?”

Alina paused briefly to gather her
thoughts. She wanted to phrase her explanation so Lysandros could
easily understand the religious connections.

Realizing it would be a long and
complicated explanation, Lysandros shook his head and pursed his
lips together. “Never mind. How do you propose we get the fruit?”
Lysandros asked impatiently.

“The Fairies of the Alder of
course.”

“Ah, yes. Of course.” Lysandros said
sarcastically as he brushed off the foliage that clung to his
clothes. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Ha-ha, no need for sarcasm. The
fairies are the reason behind the forest’s name. Slàinte translates
from my language to mean health; it is the Forest of Health. The
fairies are the only ones who can penetrate the barrier and
retrieve the apples. However, they must deem you worthy of their
help. They will not heal the ordinary.” Alina looked worried as she
watched the fairies flying through the Alder canopies.

“Oh, lovely. I have heard stories of
Celtic fairies. They are no friends of humans.”

“Yes, that is partly true, but as I
have told you before, don’t believe everything you hear. I am a
member of an ancient bloodline, that makes me different from
others. Not to mention that we are not exactly human, are we? They
will take my bloodline into consideration as they judge me,” said
Alina.

As if on cue, a crimson female and a
silver male flew down to greet them.

The female spoke authoritatively
first, “Queen of Half and Guardian of The Power, why have you
entered our domain?”

“Guardian of the wha...” Lysandros
started but Alina shushed him.

“Ah, the old one does not know his
true destiny,” the male fairy flew closer to Lysandros to examine
him while speaking to the female. “We are at the beginning,
sister.”

“Well then, we shall not waste any
more time,” the female responded, then flew off to the Apple tree.
She penetrated the barrier, which sent a ripple through the
invisible shield as she entered with ease.

The male hovered over Alina and came
to rest on her stomach. He lifted the makeshift bandage wrapped
around her waist and called out to his sister. “Boadicea, grab more
than our usual portion, there is poison in her wound.” He turned
back to Alina and introduced himself, “Hello, Queen Alina. My name
is Coyle, King of the Fairies in the Forest of Slàinte. That is my
stubborn sister, Boadicea, Queen of the Fairies.”

Boadicea returned with a pouch of
several slices of apple. “Watch who you call stubborn, Coyle.” She
gave her brother a dirty look as she emptied the pouch on Alina’s
stomach.

Alina was eternally grateful and bowed
her head. “I am in your debt.”

Coyle walked up the Queen’s chest and
fed her the apple slices. “Not at all, Queen Alina, you are the
Queen of Half. My people have sworn to protect The Power at any
cost. Then there is also your lineage, of course.”

Boadicea cut away the bandage and
scraped out Alina’s herbal paste. Alina winced as the fairy’s knife
dug into her wound. Lysandros grabbed Alina’s hand to comfort
her.

Boadicea bit her lip sympathetically
as she worked. “I am sorry for your discomfort, Your Majesty. I am
going as quickly as I can. Your remedy worked to stave off the
poison, but it did not cure it. You arrived just in time before the
Visa took hold of you.”

“The what?” Lysandros
asked.

Boadicea stared up at
Lysandros in disapproval of his ignorance, then turned her
attention back to Alina. “The Visa,” she said, squeezing the apple
slice so its juice flowed into Alina’s wound. “The gods of the East
have named this type of poison Visa. It is written in scripture as
this…” She then flew down to the ground where she took her dagger
and drew a picture. The picture was Sanskrit,
विष
.

Alina chuckled at Lysandros’ befuddled
look. “Here, allow me.”

Still smiling, she drew out how it
should be pronounced. “W-i-su…pronounce the ‘I’ as you would in
‘bit’ and then pronounce the ‘U’ as you would in ‘but’.”

While Alina explained the poison to
Lysandros, Coyle walked down to Alina’s wound and rubbed the final
apple slice around the edges of her shirt. Boadicea flew around
Lysandros’ body, pouring whatever was left of the apple into his
cuts despite his protests to give all the juice to
Alina.

When the fairy siblings were done,
Alina and Lysandros were healed and their shirts mended.

Boadicea flew close to
Lysandros’ face and put her dagger away. “Listen to me now,
Guardian
,” she used air
quotes when saying his title, “the only reason we have helped you
today is because of Alina’s bloodline and because you are needed
for The Queen. We pledge ourselves to you as long as you hold your
title and do not betray your birthright.”

Coyle hovered next to his
sister. “By law, young one, we should not have healed you at all.
You disrespected the laws of the forest when attempting to gain the
fruit of the gods.” Coyle smirked and buzzed around his sister in a
playful motion. “It is lucky for you, Guardian, that
we
make the laws
here.”

Boadicea grabbed the back of Coyle’s
collar, yanking him back beside her. He folded in half by her
sudden grasp. She laughed quietly to herself as Coyle regained his
composure. She smoothed her face once he rose to hover next her
again.

“
Enough, Brother. You are
a king, not a commoner.”

“Never forget, we fairies are a
vengeful race, Boadicea.”

“Anyways, you must be leaving. The
deed is done and the forest can do no more,” ordered
Boadicea.

Boadicea and Coyle waved their arms
towards the far end of the forest. The trees separated revealing an
exit.

Coyle bowed to Alina and said, “We
must part now, but be so kind to remove the spell upon our
people.”

Alina smiled gratefully at her
mythical healers. “I fear we will never meet again. However, my
blood will live on. Be kind to keep a weathered eye on its future.”
Alina raised her hand and the spell was broken with a snap of her
fingers. The fairies returned to a blur of white and red
lights.

Lysandros cleared his throat and
crossed his arms over his chest. “What did they mean by The Queen?
Was Brian right all those years ago? And what is this Guardian
business?”

“There will be plenty of time for
answers, but now there is no time for questions. We must leave,”
Alina said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Lysandros sighed then rubbed his hands
together anxiously. “Well, Alina, where are we going and how are we
getting there?”

Alina twined her arm through
Lysandros’ as they headed through the exit. “You leave that to
me.”

Lysandros sighed and shook his head.
“You’re smirking again. Traveling with you is going to be an
adventure, isn’t it?”

“Oh you have no idea, my friend,”
Alina laughed heartily, her curly strawberry-blonde hair bouncing
off her shoulders.

Once through the forest’s exit, the
trees closed behind them. Alina bent down, grabbed a handful of
dirt, and blew it into the air. Once the wind took the dirt, she
called out, “Dubh Draíochta! Tintreach Bán!” Two giant horses
cantered out from where the dirt spun in the wind. One of them was
midnight black and the other pure white; neither had a single flaw
on their body.

Alina gently patted Lysandros’ back
while pointing at the two horses. “Take your pick, Lys.”

The black horse trotted up to
Lysandros and nibbled at his collar. “I think he chose for me.
Black Magic and White Lightning, correct?”

“You remember Gaelic,” Alina beamed at
Lysandros.

Lysandros raised an eyebrow in an ‘of
course I do’ manner.

“Alright, we have the transportation.
Now we need a destination,” Lysandros said while climbing on Black
Magic’s back.

Alina climbed up on her horse, White
Lightning, with another mischievous smile. “The horses know where
to go.”

After they were mounted, long silver
reins appeared in their hands, cool and smooth to the touch. The
reins coiled around their wrists to keep them steady. Alina winked
at Lysandros, kicked the side of White Lightning, and took off
towards the horizon. Lysandros could not believe how fast they sped
off, faster than any other horse, except Whisper.

He bent down to Black Magic’s ear and
asked, “Can you keep up, boy?” With no signal, Black Magic took
off. In less than a minute, they caught up with Alina.

Lysandros thought to
himself,
Black Magic is such a long name
for a horse. Maybe I’ll shorten it to just Magic.

Yep, sounds great!
a male voice spoke in elation.

Much
simpler
, Lysandros thought in reply to the
voice. “Wait, who said that?”

Lysandros looked around him in alarm,
but there was no one around except Alina, and it was surely a male
voice.

“Alina are you putting voices in my
head?”

“No, silly. The horse is,” said Alina
gesturing to Magic.

“What?” Lysandros gave Alina an ‘I
can’t believe you just said that’ expression.

It’s me, Magic! You know,
the black thing you are riding. Hold on, Lightning and I are
racing. Don’t fall off now, you’ll make me lose!

“What in Tartarus have I gotten myself
intoooo…?” The last word trailed off into the distance as the
horses bounded effortlessly through open terrain.

Chapter 10

Memories of Old

E
very hour for three days, Romulus’s second in command,
Aeneos, ordered his soldiers to ram against the throne room door.
The soldiers grew tired and weak from the constant
battering.

Romulus was quiet and patient. He
could feel his brother’s presence opposite of him in the throne
room. They had once been best friends, twins in every sense of the
word. This anger and war between the brothers would have been
incomprehensible when they were younger. They were inseparable, yet
for the past two centuries, they had been just
that…separated.

Romulus leaned against the wall,
suddenly filled with longing and despair. His stomach churned,
about to be sick with an awful choking sensation in his throat. He
tried to move away from his troops before tears formed, but froze.
It felt as though someone tied him around his ankles, waist, arms,
and throat. He was bound by weakness.

On the exact opposite side of the
wall, the o’Conaills pinned Remus to the wall. Remus was
experienced the same sensations as Romulus. Brian had one hand on
Remus’ forehead and one against the wall next to Remus’
ear.

* * *

Before Remus and Romulus were
restrained against the wall, Remus made a decision that would seal
the outcome of the battle:

“
Before we begin, Remus,
are you sure you want to go through with this? It may backfire on
all of us," Brian looked at Remus with pity.