The Phoinix: Age of Demigods (17 page)

Alina ran to Nikolaos and threw her
arms around his neck. Nikolaos, still in shock, gently closed his
arms around her delicate frame. “Mother?”

The two other men were already on
their feet staring at Alina. “Mother!” They ran to her and she
hugged each of them as they picked her up into a bear hug and spun
her around.

Nikolaos focused his attention on
Lysandros and motioned with his head to the side door where he and
his brothers arrived. Outside the door, there was an endless beach
of white sand and a cool blue ocean with chunks of ice.

Lysandros nodded, acknowledging
Nikolaos’ escape plan.

Alina caught a glimpse of Nikolaos’
motion and gasped when she looked out the door. “Remus?” Alina,
caught off guard by her husband’s sudden appearance, lost her
footing. She stumbled into her two younger sons who caught her with
ease.

Remus extended his hand, motioning for
her to join him. The youngest of her sons stepped in front of
her.

“Leonidas, out of my way. Your father
is here,” Alina said as she tried to move around her son, but he
slid back in front of her.

“It is not real. He would never come
here for us. This land can play tricks on your mind. We know better
than most,” answered Leonidas, glaring at Lysandros.

“It is not us he is here for, Leo. Get
out of the way,” ordered Nikolaos.

Alina ran outside and disappeared from
sight.

Nikolaos spoke to the
third brother staring out after Alina and grabbed his attention by
snapping his fingers in his face. “Cole, find horses. I would
prefer to get back to the cabin
tonight
,” Nikolaos said, a forceful
warning as he glanced at Lysandros with distaste.

In the background, Freyja laughed and
said, “Ooo, this is going to be a good fight!”

Nikolaos ignored the comment and
confronted Lysandros, “You don’t belong here, traitor.”

“Traitor? I am not the one that almost
caused a war. You three are the traitors to Etruria.” Lysandros
jabbed a finger into Nikolaos’ chest.

When Lysandros poked Nikolaos, Leo
moved closer to his brother, ready to throw a punch. Nikolaos put a
hand on his chest to stop him. Leo took a few steps back but did
not take his eyes off Lysandros.

“You were the one who drafted a plan
to storm the gates of Umbria and my father is the one who wanted
the lands in the first place. You were upset that we were able to
do it without an army. Instead of punishing us you should have been
proud we saved countless Etrusci lives.” Nikolaos looked around the
room uneasily at the Viking soldiers glaring at them. “I believe it
is time for us to leave. We have outstayed our welcome.”

Lysandros followed Nikolaos’ cautious
gaze and understood. These were the Soldiers of the Fallen. They
are heroes chosen by the Valkyries to live in Valhalla with Odin.
Many of these soldiers died in the battles fighting Nikolaos and
his two brothers over the last twenty years. Now, because Alina
tried to protect her sons from Týr, a divine hero to these men,
Lysandros and Alina became their targets of revenge.

“Do you always have to involve
yourself in wars?” Lysandros asked, annoyed. He and Nikolaos
suspiciously surveyed the crowd.

“You discarded us here, remember?”
Nikolaos gripped his sword and slowly backed away to the
door.

“Because you involve yourselves in
war! Alina, it’s time to go,” Lysandros shouted.

“She’s gone, Lys,” Cole popped his
head in the doorway. “Come on, Nik, I got the horses. Yours and
mom’s too, Lys.”

“Fair well my friends!” Odin called
out from his throne, waving childishly.

“Lysandros! Dear guardian, Regina is
half-complete. You must hurry westward, past Gaul and into Alina’s
borders. It is there you will find who you need,” warned
Freyja.

Nikolaos stared at Lysandros,
dumbfounded at the word “guardian”.

“
What do you mean? Who are
we looking for?” Lysandros asked, but Freyja smiled politely and
waved goodbye.

Oi, let’s go, Petulant
Man, before you become a Viking meal!
Magic yelled psychically.

“We have to work on your manors,
Mule,” Lysandros retorted. He rushed through the doorway and found
Magic next to Lightning with three other grey and black speckled
horses.

Cole was already saddled and hanging
on the reins of the other two steeds. Lysandros mounted Magic and
expected to see Alina but she was gone. There were no footprints in
the sand for them to track.

“Let’s go! What in Tartarus are you
two doing?” Cole yelled to his brothers.

Leo and Nikolaos sprinted through the
door and jumped on their horses. Leo laughed as he held a turkey
leg in his hand and wore a two-horned Viking helmet rimmed with fur
on his head. Nikolaos cursed at Leo. Behind them, Freyja and Odin
hysterically laughed as men shouted and wooden benches crashed to
the ground.

Cole turned to Leo, “What in Hades are
you eating? And where did you get that awful hat?”

“Erky eg!” Leo muttered through a
mouthful of meat. Cole hoped he meant turkey leg. Leo swallowed the
giant piece he had bitten off. “And I got the hat from the same guy
who gave me his turkey leg!”

Leo smiled at Cole and whipped his
horse with the reins. Cole rolled his eyes and followed, speeding
down the beach.

Magic was about to pursue the other
two men but Nikolaos moved his horse in front of him. “Why did Thor
defend us? We are no friends of the heroes of Valhalla. Bargains
with the gods never end well for men.”

“Thor swore we were protected on his
land and Odin assured us as well. Apparently, you have impressed
the thunder god. We made no bargains or promises,” Lysandros
reassured Nikolaos then added, “not that it would be any concern of
yours what Queen Alina does.”

Magic reared and sped off down the
beach with Lightning keeping pace.

Nikolaos sighed, annoyed with
Lysandros, then grunted to himself, “Where is my
mother?”

Chapter 14

End of a Sword

R
emus and Romulus were still in Brian’s memory spell watching
themselves, hypnotized by the images in Mars’s fire. The images in
the flames revealed Amulius, the king’s brother, leading his army
of mercenaries into the palace courtyard. Amulius’ campaign
destroyed half of King Numitor’s army. It took a mere half hour for
Amulius to reach the throne room. He busted into the room where his
brother waited patiently with his sword drawn. Amulius walked in as
his mercenaries circled the king, blocking any form of
escape.

“How kind of you to greet me,
Numitor,” Amulius said smugly.

“Well, Little Brother, I have always
been the more hospitable of the two of us.”

His temper raging, Amulius drew his
dagger from his belt and launched it at his brother. However,
Numitor was fast and rolled out of the blade’s trajectory. The
dagger lodged into the throne where Numitor’s head had been. The
dagger’s hilt met the wood of the chair with the blade fully
exposed on the opposite side.

“Do not speak to me as a child,
Numitor!” Amulius screamed with his fists clenched as his face
turned red.

“Then do not act as one. You march
upon my palace as a child throws a tantrum,” Numitor responded with
an unshaken parental tone.

“Succession at the point of a sword is
a natural order. I will not be a weak king as you were. It sickens
me to watch you rejoice with our subjects like a commoner. You are
a disgrace to royalty.”

Numitor sadly shook his head and ran a
hand through his sandy brown hair. “Only you, Amulius, would
consider humility and kindness a flaw.”

Numitor looked past his brother at two
soldiers who wore different colors than Amulius’ mercenaries. One
man, dressed in red and black armor, had a red wolf on its
breastplate. Next to him, the other soldier dressed all in black
with a gold three-headed dog on his chest plate.

Although Numitor had never seen these
soldiers before, he knew who they were and why they came. The God
of War and the God of the Underworld arrived to witness his death.
He acknowledged their purpose and sheathed his sword. Amulius,
unaware of his divine audience, took Numitor’s action as a sign of
personal victory.

Numitor fell to his knees and looked
up at his brother, “I forgive you, Amulius. Even if you feel
nothing for me, I still have a brother’s love for you.”

Conflicted, Amulius raised his sword.
One side of him wanted the throne, while a small part wanted to
spare his brother. Amulius loved his brother, but loved power
more.

Numitor bowed his head. “I am an old
man now, Amulius. I will not fight your conquest. Not at the risk
of harming others.”

Amulius closed his teary eyes. He
refused to look into his brother’s eyes as he ran his sword through
him. With a thrust of his sword, Numitor’s body crumbled, soaking
the floor with blood. Amulius fell to his knees next to Numitor,
his brother’s blood warm on his legs. Suddenly, a slight touch on
his hand startled him. Numitor, barely alive, smiled up at
him.

Tears streamed down his face as
Amulius wept over his brother’s body, “I’m so sorry it had to be
this way, but I had to.”

Numitor removed a ring from his right
hand and pressed it into Amulius’ palm. “Do not forget where you
come from, Little Brother. I know your heart. Don’t let your mind
corrupt it.”

Numitor smiled as he looked behind his
brother. His daughter, Rhea Silvia, stormed through the door
pushing her way through the mercenaries. She tried to run to her
dying father but the soldier in black and red grabbed her from
behind and restrained her against his body. She hunched over in his
arms as she struggled to escape.

“Amulius, my daughter is innocent.
Spare her life,” Numitor begged his brother.

Numitor admired his daughter one last
time. He knew Mars would protect Rhea from Amulius by the way he
looked at her. With a soft touch on his shoulder, Numitor stood up.
When he saw the man who had patted his shoulder, he stared into the
face of Death, the god Pluto. He was standing over his own lifeless
body with his brother holding his cold hand.

Pluto placed a hand on Numitor’s back
and gestured to Rhea. “Do not mourn for their loss, King of Alba
Longa. Your bloodline is sacred. History has been and will continue
to be written in your blood,” Pluto said blandly.

He walked towards the back wall and
stopped, patiently waiting for Numitor to join him. Without turning
around, Pluto raised his hand to beckon the dead king to his side.
Numitor walked backwards towards the god, he wanted to take one
last look at his family. When Numitor reached Pluto’s side, the god
placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “The Elysian Fields for
you, Your Majesty.”

Numitor and Pluto disappeared in a
puff of silver smoke.

Amulius, not moving from his brother’s
body, ordered two of his guards to seize Rhea. Mars shifted so his
body served as protective wall in front of Rhea. He grabbed the
handle of the dagger in his belt and called out to Amulius, “I will
take her to her room. No one will touch her.”

Still kneeling in his brother’s cooled
blood, Amulius waved his hand in agreement. Mars picked Rhea up
into his arms and headed towards the door.

Before Mars and Rhea exited, Amulius
stood up and spoke with kingly authority, “Listen to me, Rhea is
now and will remain a Vestal Virgin. Anyone who touches her will
not be shown the merciful death I have shown my
brother.”

Mars’ blood boiled beneath
his skin, heat surging from his body into Rhea’s. He took a deep,
calming breath to stop himself from shredding Amulius apart with
his bare hands. He bent down to whisper in Rhea’s ear. “You
will
have children,” he
said, as if commanding her to do so.

Once safely in her chambers, Mars laid
her on the bed. Rhea, with red eyes and wet cheeks, asked his name.
He answered her question truthfully. Mars explained he was there to
ensure her lineage continued.

Rhea sobbed again. As abrasive and
cruel as Mars is, he felt sorry for her. He awkwardly sat next to
her, unsure of how to console the crying human. He patted her back,
but was unaware of his own strength against her fragile frame. He
patted her so hard she slid to the other side of the bed, almost
falling off.

Slightly embarrassed, he pulled her
back to his side. He gently stroked her long dark brown hair to
calm her. He told her he had to leave for tonight but would return
for her. He then asked her to meet him in the woods the following
night at midnight. Rhea nodded in agreement.

The next night, Rhea did as Mars
requested. She wrapped her arms around her waist as butterflies
zoomed in her stomach. Torn between grief for her father and
excitement of the unknown, she met Mars by the outer line of the
forest where he took her hand and led her deep into the forest.
They walked in-between the trees, listening to the night owls and
enjoying each other’s company.