The Phoinix: Age of Demigods (13 page)

“
We could wait him out.
After all, I did pass that spell, or did you forget already?”
Cailean chimed in with his dry humor.

Whack!

Cailean’s head jerked forward. He
looked up to see his brother with his hand still in the air from
smacking him.

“What was that for?” Cailean said,
rubbing the back of his head.

“Have you forgotten that while we may
be immortal, these soldiers are not? And to let you know you’re
being a prat…again.”

“You don’t have to say it so
painfully, though,” Cailean added as he rubbed his head.

Brian turned back to Remus, “You need
to understand that what you two felt earlier through the door will
be magnified tenfold.”

“What other options do we have,
Brian?” Remus was resolute.

“
Alright, you win,”
surrendered Brian. He looked around the room at the many weapons
and trinkets Remus kept available. “You don’t happen to have
something personal that belonged to Romulus, do you?”

"Objects and memories of my brother I
keep close," Remus replied while removing a necklace from under his
tunic. "Before I met you at the wall at Palatine Hill, I went to
the Twin Thrones to reexamine the life I was leaving. When I got to
the thrones I noticed Romulus’ half of the necklace we’ve had since
birth."

Remus held onto the gold wolf pendant
with a dull edge, once jagged like the teeth of the beast it
represented. “The pendent was originally two wolves. It was broken
to symbolize our eternal connection. We each wear half. Before I
left with you that night,” Remus smiled at the memory, “I took his
half and left mine where he carelessly laid his in a drunken
stupor. I needed something to be connected to him."

Remus’ grip tightened around the wolf
and he pulled it close to his chest. Brian held out his hand with a
stern look, "I promise no harm will come to this
treasure."

Remus nodded, "I know. The only
problem is that this is the last time I will be able to hold it.
The two of you must promise to get the necklace to Breanna. It
belongs in my bloodline. Whether Romulus wants to admit it or not,
she is his successor as well."

"You're talking as if we have already
lost the battle, Remus. You have never given up hope before,” Brian
tried to comfort the woeful king.

"Do not placate me, my friend. I have
known my fate all along. The actions I took today were not to save
my life but to save the rest of you. A dying wolf knows when it is
his time to pass. Unlike other animals, the pack surrounds its
fading member to say goodbye." Remus gripped the wolf pendent
tighter.

Remus traced the lines of the wolf
with his thumb before handing it to Brian. "Romulus may not realize
it, but that is why he is here. For a long time two alphas from one
pack have lived in our world. That is a treasure that can never
exist again."

Remus threw his arms around both
Cailean and Brian and walked them towards the interior wall where
Romulus and his men rested on the other side. Remus jostled the
brothers as he spoke, "But the only thing a dying man has is hope,
right? So what do you say? Put away those melancholy faces and
bring on the false hope."

When they reached the wall, Remus let
go of his friends and closed his eyes to feel around the wall for
his brother. "Here, Romulus is here."

Remus’ hand dropped from the smooth
surface and turned to face Brian and Cailean. He stepped backwards
with his palms facing the wall, anxious for its cool touch. The
moment his hands reached the wall, a shiver crawled up his back. He
inhaled and exhaled slowly as his stomach churned, imagining the
horrid stress and pain he and Romulus were about to endure. Remus
did his best to steel his nerves by clenching his fists and closing
his eyes, “I’m ready."

Brian placed his hand on Remus'
forehead and closed his own eyes. "Remus, these will not all be
conscious memories. Some of the most important ones we must use
will be memories that both your minds hid away. You will not only
feel your own emotions but your brothers’ as well."

Remus nodded, "No matter
what you see and what I say, don't hold back and
don’t
let me go. He will
take advantage of that. You remember who our father is?"

Brian and Cailean nodded and glanced
nervously at each other.

After taking a large breath to calm
his own nerves, Brian began mumbling, his voice nothing more than a
sweet whisper in Remus’ ear. A warm comforting sensation washed
over Remus’ body. His mind became consumed with joyful memories of
his past. He saw friends he had long forgotten and their
mischievous deeds of flooding the stables of the aristocracy,
stealing bags of grain and scattering them across the road for the
birds to pick at, and pranks of leading wild animals into various
houses of the rich. He laughed as he remembered the immature
trouble of his childhood: unexpected trouble from a small village
in the kingdom of Alba Longa where the king mistreated his
subjects.

"He is succumbing, Brian. He will not
destroy me without destroying part of himself," said Remus,
determined to make his brother feel something other than
anger.

In order for this plan to
work, Brian had to be aggressive and dig deep. Despite his focus on
the incantation, he sent a psychic message to Cailean,
Cailean, you need a better grip on Remus. He will
try to escape from the mental hold I have on him, but for the sake
of his sanity you cannot let him break the connection.

Cailean acknowledged with a nod. He
grabbed Remus around the neck and laid one arm across his chest.
Suddenly, the wall moved and created stone cuffs around Remus'
ankles and a stone strap around his waist.

The only way they could
break out of this hold is if they tap into the divine strength of
their father, Mars,
Cailean said
psychically to Brian.

Do not underestimate the
bloodline of Mars. And do not forget, Romulus has a temper far
worse than Remus
, Brian
responded.

Romulus struggled against Cailean’s
strength and the pressure of the wall holding him. Physically there
was nothing holding him, yet he was immobilized by Cailean’s
binding spell.

Remus fought back against Cailean’s
grip as Brian dug deeper into his mind.

The twins’ breathing became labored
and they whimpered as Brian dug deeper, flipping through their
collective memories.

It was their first memory, barely a
few hours old. They saw Rhea Silvia, their mother, with their
uncle, King Amulius of Alba Longa, on the riverbank. The memory
took place just as they were nestled into a basket. Amulius stood
off to the side, dressed in the royal colors of purple and blue,
overseeing the death of his great-nephews unmoved and unashamed. He
ordered the guards to restrain Rhea and force her to watch the
death of her children.

Rhea's hands were tied behind her back
and her mouth was gagged to muffle her sobs. Her long brown hair
clung to her damp cheeks next to her bright golden-brown eyes,
bloodshot from crying. It took two guards to restrain her from
running to her children. Rhea collapsed as the guard pushed the
basket into the raging rapids of the Tiber, staring as her innocent
babies drifted to their death. One guard came over to hold Rhea,
not to restrain her but to console. The last image the babies saw
before being swept away by the rapids was their mother’s sorrowful
face.

The image faded into another memory
hours after they were placed in the river. The twins by some
miracle survived the violent twists and turns of the Tiber. They
were floating gently down the calm section of the river. A large
grey and white she-wolf named Lupa heard their cries and trotted to
the waterside. The moment Lupa peered into the basket the twins
stopped crying. She carried them into her den where she freed them
from their blankets. She curled herself around them to keep them
warm as they nursed from her.

Lupa provided protection from the
harsh wilderness. She was the alpha female in the pack, and the
pack guarded the children as if they were their own cubs. Lupa
nursed the babies until they were too old for milk. The pack tried
to help by sharing their food with the twins. However, raw meat was
not suitable for human babies.

Lupa called upon the woodpecker to
bring fruit to her adopted cubs. Each day, twice a day, the
woodpecker brought bundles of berries and the deer brought branches
with apples and pears. Soon enough, the babies could walk and it
was difficult for Lupa to keep track of the curious children. She
knew it was time for them to leave the pack.

While out hunting, Lupa discovered a
farm of a childless shepherd and his wife. Lupa waited for a warm
sunny day when she knew the shepherd would be out with his flock.
The twins jumped all over Lupa as she led them through an
unfamiliar field, filled with sheep. She let out a howl that
curdled the blood of the sheep, causing a wooly stampede. The giant
wolf stood guard over the babies, protecting them from
harm.

Once the sheep fled, Lupa nuzzled the
babies to say goodbye and bounded away with tears in her eyes. The
babies once again felt the loss of a mother. It took every ounce of
Lupa’s willpower not to carry twins back to her den. However, she
knew she could no longer raise human children.

Under Brian’s spell, Remus and Romulus
felt Lupa’s pain as she struggled with leaving the babies. They
remembered the shepherd discovering them in the grass as they
crawled over his heard dog who sniffed them out after hearing them
cry. Stunned at two random children, the shepherd picked up the
toddlers and carried them back home, where he and his wife would
raise them as their own.

A few days after the shepherd
discovered the twins, a traveling man requesting food and water
stopped at the house. He was dressed in a red cloak and wore a
bronze ring with a wolf etched into it. They accommodated his needs
and let him rest at their table with water and a plate of fruit.
The stranger cocked his head at the babies resting in the crib the
shepherd made. The stranger smiled proudly and went over to get a
better look at them.

“
Strong boys you have
here. They will grow up to be strong men,” the stranger said to his
hosts as he allowed the babies to each grip one of his
fingers.

“Thank you” replied the shepherd,
keeping a watchful eye on his children.

The stranger turned to the shepherd
without glancing at the babies as they cried when he took his
fingers back. He lifted a necklace out from under his robe. It was
a pair of gold wolves standing side by side. With ease, he snapped
the wolves in half and handed them to the shepherd’s
wife.

“Wolves are a sign of power and
courage. They should wear these charms with pride. It will give
them power from within,” the man said as he walked toward the door.
He swung the door open then paused for a moment with the handle in
his grip. Without turning around he said, “You should name them
Remus and Romulus. Those are strong names for strong
men.”

“How did you know we haven’t named
them yet?” the wife asked frightened and moved closer to her
husband who reached for his staff.

The man chuckled but said nothing as
he closed the door behind him.

The shepherd and his wife never saw
the stranger again. However, they named the children Remus and
Romulus and got chains for the wolf charms. The twins wore the
necklaces every day since they received them.

Chapter 11

The Dangers of
Family

W
hile reliving their memories, Remus and Romulus experienced a
feeling of loss ten times greater than they ever felt. The
combination of Remus’ and his brother’s grief was so intense that
neither struggled against Cailean’s grip. Their bodies could no
longer handle the pain and shut down, causing them to collapse
against their restraints.

The twins’ heart rates increased to a
dangerous level from the emotional overload. It was difficult for
them to catch their breath. Unexpectedly, Remus pelted out a
distressing scream causing everyone in the room to cringe. The
scream seemed louder than it should have until Cailean realized
that Romulus had let out the same scream.

Brian desperately searched for a
memory to calm them. Finally, he found a memory that would ease
their suffering.

The boys were seven and playing with
their adoptive mother, Acca Larentia. She had just made the boys’
favorite pastry, wild berry baklava. While the pastry cooled in the
window, the twins wrestled on the floor until Acca Larentia kneeled
next to them and tickled them.

They heard a loud screech outside and
turned just in time to see a hawk swoop down to steal the pastry
off the dish. They ran to the window to watch as the bird flew away
effortlessly in the sky, carrying their dessert into the woods.
Acca Larentia and the twins were too stunned to be angry and
laughed hysterically until their stomachs cramped.

* * *

A calming feeling washed over Remus
and Romulus who moments ago were on the verge of heart failure.
Romulus was becoming semi-aware of the spell. He could not
understand why he was replaying memories he desperately pushed
aside years ago.