The Phoinix: Age of Demigods (28 page)

“So when Lupa killed the
bird, she ingested the bird’s blood,” said
Lysandros
.
“Isn’t
that ideal? We handed him a beastly demigod capable of tearing
apart an army. On top of that, we have to worry about what is being
reborn. Where are we supposed to find those answers?”

“We’ll worry about this
later
.
Is
everyone alright?” Cole looked around, particularly at
Breanna.

Clover lay on the ground with her head
on Bre’s lap as Bre nervously stroked her back.

Cole and
Nik
moved to help her,
but Eoghan held out a hand to stop them and walked over to Breanna.
Brian knew Eoghan could handle the situation and turned to
continue
the
conversation.

“
Heal her. Please, please
heal her,” Breanna begged with tears welling in her eyes. Her
hands
,
covered in
Clover’s blood
, had
patches of grey fur stuck to them.

Eoghan knelt in front of Bre and
swiped her hair from in front of her eyes. “You can heal her, Bre.
Remember what I said back in The Forest of Tásúil. You are all
connected. If you are healthy then she will be healthy. You need to
learn to share your powers.”

Bre closed her eyes
for a moment
but
impatiently opened them. Tears
streamed
down her
face
.
“It’s not
working, Eoghan! Fix her!”

The pain in her daughter’s voice
pulled at Alina’s heart. She left her discussion with Brian to join
Eoghan and Bre. She sat next to Clover and held her hands over
Clover’s body. Within seconds, the patches of fur grew back and the
gashes in her neck and legs healed.

The wolf rolled over to
look at Alina. Breanna could feel the wolf’s gratitude swelling in
her
own
chest.
Clover licked Alina’s face and the queen laughed from her unusual
thank you. Breanna flung her arms around Clover's neck, knocking
them both over.

Brian caught Alina’s eye and motioned
for her to rejoin them.

BY the time Alina returned, Cole
furiously waved his arms around as he spoke. “There is no way in
Tartarus you are making us go there now! That is where Eversor will
expect us to go. You are out of your mind, o’Conaill.”

“Not to mention there are too many
enemies there, besides Eversor, for us to live through. There has
to be another way,” Nikolaos looked to Alina for
reassurance.

“You have Gaelic blood in
you
;
our people
will protect us. I told you all earlier, we have to go to Cymru.
This meeting with Eversor changes nothing,” Alina tried to comfort
her sons. “Cole and Leo, go ready the horses. Brian and Cailean,
gather as much food and water as you can. Nik and Lysandros, you
both need to smother the grudge between you. There is no room for
contempt on this quest. Now bundle as much kindling as the horses
will carry. From here on out, boys, the weather will be cold and
harsh.”

Each of Alina’s designated
pairs set out on their duties. Lysandros and Nikolaos were
reluctant, but neither said a word when Alina raised an eyebrow at
their protesting expressions. Breanna’s cheerful laughter caught
her attention
.
She smiled contently, watching Breanna frolic with her
animals.

Eoghan walked up to Alina.
She threw her arms around him and
began to
sob.
Eoghan stood rigidly still, stunned
at the queen’s emotional breakdown. All he could do was awkwardly
pat her back and hope he had done nothing to invoke the sudden
behavior.

“Thank you,” Alina cried
into Eoghan’s shoulder
.
“You saved my sweet Propheteia. Thank you, Eoghan
MacBeatha.”

Alina released Eoghan and left to sit
down with Breanna. She playfully fell into her daughter, knocking
Breanna and Leora over.

Still taken aback by
Alina’s reaction,
Eoghan smiled at
the sweet sound of Bre’s
laughter
.
He
stood quietly in the background, arms folded behind his back and
chest slightly puffed as he stood guard over Alina and Breanna
relaxing. The tension in his shoulders eased as he watched the two
behave as if nothing had changed in
the
past two weeks.

Brian and Cailean were the first to
return with sacks of berries, seeds, and water. Cailean lightly
bumped Eoghan’s shoulder, snapping him out of his guard-like
stance. “Well done. You saved The Queen. Two out of the three
royals is not bad for the situation we face,” Cailean
sighed.

Eoghan stared at Breanna and shook his
head. His brows furrowed as if in pain. “She will be devastated.
She was so close to her father.”

Brian nodded and gripped Eoghan’s
shoulder comfortingly. "She has her father's powers now. She needs
to train and you need to be the one to train her."

Eoghan tried to protest but Brian cut
him off, "Your destinies are intertwined. By helping Bre with her
powers, you are training yourself as well. You could learn a few
things from the granddaughter of Mars. You two need to survive
together. The Druids can only give either of you so much
protection."

“Bre’s skills today may
prove to be more useful than Druid protection
,” Cailean added.
They were far
beyond what we have taught her in lessons. She is truly her
father’s daughter. Speaking of which, how did she get Remus’
sword?”

“
She is the rightful
Queen, protector of the world and the bloodline of War himself. The
sword can only be wielded by the royal lineage of Mars. She
summoned it in her time of need. She may not be aware that she
summoned it, but her powers called out for the aid of
War
,
and War
answered,” Brian
responded
.

The three brothers, along
with Lysandros
,
rejoined the group. Leo loosened the reins to let the horses
graze. “I’m going to ask this one last time
:
are you sure we need to go to
Cymru?” Leo asked, annoyed.

“The Celts are a war
ridden culture. There are many rogue tribes with no alliances. They
don’t care who they fight as long as they get the loot after the
battle. They are a savage people,” Cole addressed the group,
folding his arms stubbornly across his chest with his
affronting
remarks.

Cailean, who stood next to
Cole, quickly withdrew his dagger from
his
belt and lightly pressed it to
Cole’s throat. “We go back a long time, friend, but do not forget
these are my people you call savage.”

“As well as mine,” Alina
said
, rejoining the group
after overhearing the conversation. “There has
been enough argument on the matter. I will not listen to
anymore.
You will obey
my wishes. We leave now,” Alina said with undeniable
authority.

Cole rolled his eyes and
sighed
,
irritated, but remained silent. The rest of the group nodded
at her decree.
They each saddled their
horses
;
Eoghan
and Breanna rode together on Whisper.

The group set off towards
the Gaulish coastline, dreading contact with any rogue Celtic
tribes on their journey. Little did they know the Celts were the
least of their worries
…

Chapter 23

A Family’s
Connection

T
wo days of riding with minimal rest and they were still a
week away from the Gaulish coastline
,
where they would set sail to
Cymru.

Breanna trained with at least two
members of their group whenever they stopped to rest. Cailean
worked on her sword fighting, Alina and Brian worked with her to
control her magic, and Eoghan worked with her on flawlessly
fighting in pairs.

The strong bond between
Bre and
Eoghan amplified their skills. In
addition, with her new powers, Bre sensed and influenced his
movement.

Bre
also
convinced Nikolaos to teach her
a few tricks of his own
,
magic that he developed over the
years.

Leo and Cole laid their riding
blankets on the grass while the horses grazed and watched Nikolaos
and Breanna practice with lightning bolts on a tree. At first,
Nikolaos conjured the bolts for Bre, but she quickly learned to
summon and mold the electricity herself.

“I still don’t understand
why we are traveling with them. We leave the comforts of the Danes
to come here and fight a war for a girl none of us know,” Leo said
as he picked
a blade
of grass
, holding
it between the heels of his palms to make it
whistle.

“Comforts? We lived in a
makeshift house, barely big enough for the three of
us
,
and it was
freezing. Not to mention
the
hundreds of enemies we had hunting us. Are those
the comforts you are referring to?” Cole was astonished at Leo’s
loose definition of comfort.

Leo finally made an ear-piercing
whistle that caused Cole to wince and press a hand to his ear. Cole
punched Leo’s arm and snatched the grass from his hands.

Rubbing his
arm
and pouting, Leo
responded, “It’s more than we have now
,
stuck
in a tent using
sweaty
,
smelly
horse blankets to cover up. At least back with the Danes the gods
favored us. Here
,
we rely on Mother for protection from the Celtic pantheon
when we ourselves are Etruscan. Come on, Cole
.
If I say
it’s
risky and foolish, what in
Tartarus is running through your overly logical mind?”

The sound of wood
splintering and the cheers of an eighteen-year-old girl startled
the men
, who
anxiously turned to their brother and Bre. Cole’s racing
heart calmed when he saw Bre, safe, throw her arms around Nikolaos’
neck in excitement. Leo and Cole laughed when Nikolaos turned to
them, shocked at Bre’s celebratory embrace as she hung from his
neck with one of his arms wrapped around her waist.

“What’s running through my head is
that our father is dead, our mother is condemned to death, and that
my little sister will be alone when the battle is over. We were
exiled from our former life, little brother. This is our chance to
rejoin our family. To get back what we lost,” said Cole.

“You mean ripped from us,” Leo
corrected, raising an eyebrow at Cole.

Heartbroken and
overwhelmed with a brief moment of
solemnity
, Cole watched Bre
blissfully prance around, excited about her new powers, unaware of
their hidden burden. The same protective
spirit
he held for his brothers now
included Breanna. He needed to shield her from as much tragedy as
he could.

“So long as I am near her,
Leo, she will be safe. She
will
live,” Cole said
,
not taking his eyes off Breanna.

Leo shook his head in
frustration
.
“We
are all going to a miserable, fiery death.”

Cole lightly shoved his
brother on his side and smiled
.
“It is cold and rainy in Cymru. We’ll die a
miserable,
cold
death.”

“I still don’t like the
outcome,” Leo
said and
shoved his brother back.

Cole chuckled, “Unless the
fact that you look like
you’re
twenty when you’re really forty-two somehow
passed you by unnoticed, maybe I should remind you that we are
immortal.”

“Yes, but for how long!” Leo threw his
hands in the air.

Cole placed his forehead into his palm
and shook his head. “You make my head hurt.”

Suddenly, Breanna let out
a squeal of panic that
caught
everyone’s attention. Nikolaos had moved on from
creating lightning bolts to grabbing them midair.

Nikolaos tossed Bre a
bolt
,
hoping she
would catch it before it hit her.
As
it
drew
close
, she panicked and tried to roll out
of the way. The lightning bolt was faster than
she was
and slammed into her
shoulder, leaving a nasty burn mark.

Eoghan
quickly
stood to dash to Bre, but
Brian grabbed his arm and yanked him back down. Alina and Lysandros
did not move from
preparing
dinner.

Lysandros clenched his
fists
with bated breath
, worried as he watched Nikolaos and Bre.