The Phoinix: Age of Demigods (15 page)

Lupa snapped at Mars hand as he
scratched behind her ears.

Mars looked from Remus and Romulus
then back to Lupa, “Why so worried? I will do no harm
here.”

Lupa stepped to the side of the twins
but stood close enough so she could jump to their defense. She kept
a watchful eye on her father.

“Sit,” Mars commanded, and immediately
the boys had no choice but to sit where they were
standing.

Mars leaned over on one knee and
smiled. “Now, when we first met I had stated you were not yet
ready, but …”

Romulus interrupted Mars, “But you
think we are ready now? You come here and interrupt our
din…”

Mars waved his hand at Romulus and his
voice disappeared. “I respect your fiery spirit, Romulus, but do
not interrupt me again. Am I understood?” Mars moved his pointed
finger up and down and Romulus’ head nodded like a marionette.
“Good, I’m glad you understand. Remus, do you
understand?”

Remus stared at his brother with his
mouth open in amazement.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes,”
Mars chuckled. “Now let’s begin with your story.”

Mars began their tale, “I know you do
not remember the day you were born, but it was the day you were
meant to die. I never wanted those memories to resurface, but you
need to understand how you were formed.”

Mars paused for a second and the twins
noticed a moment a weakness…a moment of grief in their father’s red
eyes.

“Your grandfather, King Numitor of
Alba Longa, was a great and just king. His brother Amulius was
jealous of his power. He slowly gained control over the treasury of
the kingdom. He then used the kingdom’s money to buy a new army
that would rise-up against Numitor.”

Mars picked up a long stick and stoked
the fire with it. The fire grew into a wall of flames and images
appeared, “This is a window into your past. Absorb everything you
see, Boys. This will be the turning point in your war.”

The twins gazed into the flames and
were entranced by what they saw. The images picked up where Mars
left off in the story…

Chapter 12

The Border

A
fter a two-hour ride, Alina and Lysandros finally slowed to a
normal trot. They emerged out of the woods onto a rocky beach and
rode up to the edge of the wavy water. The tide was high, splashing
against rocks along the beach, and frigid wind made them pull their
cloaks tight to their bodies. Pinks and purples glistened off the
water in the evening sun. They barely saw the outline of land
through the thick fog in the distance.

“
The Baltic Sea?”
Lysandros asked, confused why Alina wanted to come to the home of
the Danes. “Wait, I know this place,” he said, anger brewing in his
stomach. “The locals call it Lietuva. It normally would have taken
us weeks to get here. We could not have been riding more than two
hours! Why are we here, Alina?”

“You know exactly why we are here,”
Alina spoke coarsely without looking at Lysandros.

“
Whoa, we are not going to
get the Lost Brothers,” Lysandros threw his hands up in anger then
pointed threateningly at her.

“That is
exactly
what we are
going to do and you are
going
to apologize for them getting
lost
to begin with!” Alina’s tone
grew furious.

“They will kill me the first chance
they get! Especially since they’ve been living with the Danes for
the last twenty years,” Lysandros said waving his hands around
exasperatingly.

“
First of all, you are
part of the reason they have been living with the Danes. Secondly,
no they will not because Breanna still needs you. The only thing we
need to do is to convince them to help us,” Alina said, jumping
down from Lightning and looking around the shore.

Lysandros dismounted and walked over
to Alina. “Why wouldn’t they? They are her…”

“Because you and my husband left them
here and forbade them from returning to Etruria!” Alina cut him off
before he could finish his thought. “So not only do they not know
their sister, but they may not even want to help her!”

“Why do you insist on defending them?”
Lysandros shouted, throwing his hands in the air and almost
smacking Magic, who huffed at the gesture, in the face.

Alina walked dangerously slow towards
Lysandros pointing her index finger as she berated him. “Because
you and Remus pushed them to their limits. You two fundamentally
forced them to take their actions. You and my husband share the
brothers’ blame.”

“Alina,” Lysandros said in shock,
“they stormed the gates of Umbria and nearly overthrew the king.
They almost caused a war between three kingdoms, even after we told
them to leave the Umbrians alone!” Lysandros defended his and
Remus’ decision.

“You gave King Hugar and his brother,
Ieogo, back the land my boys took, which stopped them from
retaliating. However, you seem to be forgetting that you were
plotting to invade them anyway! You and Remus were merely sore
because they did it first and with only three men. I, on the other
hand, was incredibly proud of them.” Alina folded her arms and held
her head high, beaming with pride.

“Of course you would be. That is the
Celtic side of you. You are Alina, the Celtic Warrior Princess,
patron of rogue soldiers,” Lysandros said, still emphatically
waving his hands.

“Watch your tone, Lysandros, or you
will see my Celtic side,” Alina spoke low in her Gaelic accent,
rolling her Rs in a way that only happened when she was mad. Her
eyes narrowed menacingly and the ground shook as she threatened
him.

“Don’t threaten me, Alina. I am still
a favorite of Mars and for good reason,” warned Lysandros taking a
step closer to the furious queen.

“Ha, Mars! He too is partly to blame
for this whole mess!” Alina scoffed at Lysandros’ warning. “I do
not fear the God of War. I married his beloved son.”

“Do not speak of the God of War in
that way. You will get us killed!” Lysandros yelled, scanning the
perimeter expecting Mars to show up and smite them both.

“We are in Norse territory now. He
holds no authority here,” Alina said and rolled her
eyes.

“Yes, Norse territory. Home of more
war gods than any other pantheon!” Lysandros yelled.

Alina made it perfectly clear
Lysandros did not need to remind her by waving her hand
dismissively.

Before Lysandros could retort, thunder
rang through the skies and lightning crashed to the ground. Alina
and Lysandros held tightly to the silver reins as the horses reared
in protest. A large man stood on the charred ground where the
thunderbolt collided with the beach. He was almost seven feet tall
with red hair that flowed from under a fur rimmed Viking helmet.
His clothes were made of white leather and iron armor. His arm
muscles bulged as he held up a giant double-sided
hammer.

“Loki! Show yourself!” the
man bellowed, slightly hunched over looking at his surroundings.
“
Jævel
!” the god
cried out. He spun around and slammed his hammer down in the air.
From the blow of the hammer, a scrawny man appeared and dropped to
the ground.

“How dare you play with these humans?
They are protected by our laws and not of our land. You have no
authority over them!” The god picked Loki up by the collar and
shook him in the air as he spoke.

“Dearest Thor, please forgive me. I
did not know who they were,” Loki looked over at Alina and
Lysandros. “Do forgive me, Your Majesties. I was unaware of your
importance.”

“
You knew exactly who they
are and you proceeded with your antics,” Thor responded.

“I say not, Nephew. They are on the
land we protect. I thought they were invaders, coming to harm our
innocent and vulnerable subjects,” Loki pleaded with his
captor.

“Save your excuses, Loki. You are
forbidden to cause any more quarrels and use your magic to harm
these two or anyone associate with them. Am I understood?” Thor
continued to shake Loki as if trying to engrain the unspoken threat
on his life.

“Of… course, miiiighty Th..Th..Thor.
You arrrre al..wayyys cor..rect.” Loki’s response was staggered by
the violent shaking.

“Enough of your sniveling you sly,
bottom feeder,” Thor threw him to the ground and Loki sunk into the
sand.

Thor rubbed his hands together as if
to get rid of dirt, “Now as for you two, I apologize for Loki’s
behavior. Odin will deal with him for his crime against your
emotions. You are here to collect three of our warriors, are you
not?”

Alina stepped forward and
looked Thor square in the eyes as she corrected the thunder god.
“With all due respect, Thor, they are
our
warriors and
my
sons.”

Thor threw his head back and let out a
thunderous laugh. “She has a backbone the size of Asgard.
Ha-Ha!”

Alina cleared her throat and poised
herself. “The three brothers must promptly return. I need them to
help my daughter.”

“I should say so. There are a few of
us who would see The Power inside her destroyed, which in turn will
mean her death. However, your clan exiled them here twenty years
ago. What makes you think they will go with you now?” asked
Thor.

“Because they are her brothers,” Alina
answered flatly.

“That may be so, but they were
abandoned by their father and this one standing before me.” Thor
pointed to Lysandros without looking in his direction.

Lysandros threw his arms in the air
once more. “They wer..”

Snap!

Thor snapped his fingers and
Lysandros’ voice disappeared before he could repeat what the boys
had done. “Yes, yes. I am well aware of what they have
done.”

Thor waved his hand towards the water
and a giant rainbow bridge shimmered into existence, “The Bifrost
will connect you to the shores of the Danes. There is a small
village a few miles away where you will find the Lost
Brothers.”

Thor walked over to Loki
and picked him up from the back of the collar. “I’ve granted you
safe passage across our land. No Dane shall harm nor try to stop
you. Keep in mind that the men you seek are not Danes.” Thor looked
at Loki with an exhausted look and sighed, “Odin’s palace for you,
Loki…
Again
.”

Another thunderbolt crashed to the
ground and the two gods vanished. Lysandros coughed and made random
noises to check that Thor had not damaged to his throat. Meanwhile,
Alina examined the bridge Thor constructed. The rainbow colors
glistened over the ice-cold waters of the Baltic Sea.

The bridge stood fifty feet above the
water and twenty feet wide, big enough for two horses to get
across. Alina pressed one finger into the violet stripe. The
gelatinous strip bent around her fingertip. Despite her pressure,
she could not pierce through the sheer material. It was soft enough
to mold but strong enough not to break.

Lysandros seized Alina’s arm when she
tried to mount Lightning, “Where are you going? There is no way
this bridge can hold us. Don’t be foolish, Alina.”

Alina was still feeling the discord
effects of Loki’s presence and ripped her arm out of his hand. “If
you don’t wish to follow, then stay here and wait in the cold. Or
better yet, make yourself useful and find a way to my
daughter.”

Alina quickly mounted Lightning then
jerked the reins so Lightning lurched to the right. Lysandros
stumbled backwards as Lightning bolted across the
Bifrost.

“
Damn it, Woman,”
Lysandros grunted as he mounted Magic.

Halfway across, Lightning froze as her
hooves sank into the multicolored bridge. The jittery horse and her
shaking legs wobbled the bridge high above the freezing water. No
matter how hard Alina kicked, Lightning refused to
budge.

As Lightning stood in one spot, her
legs sank further into the bridge, up to her knees. Lightning
whinnied in fear. Her legs protruded from under the structure
wrapped in the colorful sheer material.

Back on shore, Magic
reared in angst.
Hold tight,
Light!

Before Lysandros could stop him, Magic
sprinted up the bridge with Lysandros in tow. His hooves did not
make a ripple against the bridge’s jelly-like texture. When within
a few feet of Lightning, he leapt into the air then slammed down on
the bridge’s surface. Lightning catapulted out of the bridge. While
in the air, Alina kicked her horse so hard Lightning took off
running when her hooves reached the surface.

When Magic slammed himself down,
Lysandros and Magic submerged enough so that the yellow strip came
up to Lysandros’ thighs. The bridge’s texture was like quicksand.
The more they struggled to get out the more they sank.

“Hold on, let me get my sword. I’ll
cut our way out.” Lysandros unsheathed his sword and hacked away at
the substance, but every cut he made instantly sealed
itself.

Well, that is a pleasant
discovery,
Magic sneered while lifting his
legs.