The Phoinix: Age of Demigods (4 page)

As the red rushed to her cheeks,
Eoghan chuckled and put her down.

“You are always there to save me,”
acknowledged Bre, hiding her eyes from him, behind a curtain of her
hair.

“Save you? I am the one that needs
savin’. You are always attacking, kicking, punching, tackling, and
stabbing me. Do I need to continue?” Eoghan jested.

“No need at all, Sir,”
Breanna said and playfully pushed
him
.

Eoghan’s face turned
serious
.
He
pushed Bre’s brown hair behind her ears
,
revealing her hazel eyes flecked
with gold. “Who were you this time?” he asked softly, allowing his
fingertips to linger against her
jaw
line
.

“I don’t want to talk to
about it.” Bre turned away
;
her thick hair
fell
back into her face. The
dreams
of war and her
own skin shimmering in gold startled her.

“Oh! I nearly forgot!” Eoghan
exclaimed cheerfully as he searched the ground. “In your daring
jump for a hug, I dropped your birthday present. Ah, here we
go.”

Eoghan handed her a green
rag, which she quickly unwrapped
to
reveal
a gold Celtic knot belt buckle. Bre
ran her fingers over the cool metal and burst out laughing. She
reluctantly gazed into his blue eyes and saw the same lines of
laughter fill his face.

“I was hoping that would make you
laugh,” Eoghan chuckled. They leaned into each other, and Bre
relaxed as his gruff laughter vibrated against her arm. “Anyway,
happy sixteenth birthday. It’s for the one I broke while you forced
me to play ‘dress-up’ on our fourteenth birthdays.”

“You tore my favorite riding dress,”
Breanna said, wiping tears of laughter from her cheek.

They continued to joke
about the
sweet memory
until the clouds cleared and the light of the Blood-Moon
beamed down once again
, hitting her like a
starlit ray of sorrow and tears.
Instantly, Breanna collapsed into Eoghan’s
arms
.
Her mind
swept away into another time…

* * *

Apollo drove off once Elpis was on the
ground, leaving her with nothing but a gold bow and a quiver of
gold arrows. Hearing the screams and cheers of men off to the side,
Elpis walked toward a circle of soldiers and easily pushed them out
of her way. The soldiers stared at her in amazement, speechless as
she walked by.

When she came to the center of the
circle, she stopped abruptly. Dead in the dirt below her was the
hero with the purple cape and white horse embroidery.

“Hector,” she whispered as tears
swelled in her eyes.

Her heart skipped a beat as she stared
at the dead prince, unable save him. She half expected her powers
to react; however, nothing guided her.

Achilles rode up on his horse with a
rope and tethered Hector’s feet to his saddle. Before Elpis could
stop him, he took off towards his tent dragging Hector’s body
behind him. Upon hearing a woman’s screams in the distance, Elpis
discovered she had empathic powers that allowed her to feel the
grief of Hector’s weeping widow as if it were her own.

Elpis was furious with Achilles, but
heard Mot’s voice in her head explaining that anger would only
bring more death. She turned away from the battle and headed
towards Achilles’ hut. Greek soldiers followed her in silence. She
exhibited a natural but undeniable presence of
leadership.

As Elpis reached Achilles’ hut, the
widow’s grief continued to build in her chest. She felt grief not
only for Hector, but also at the thought of losing Achilles as
Anath predicted. It was too late to protect Hector, but she refused
to lose Achilles.

This war must
end
, she thought to herself as she entered
the hut.

“Who are you?” Achilles demanded
pointing a sword at Elpis’ throat.

Unafraid of Achilles, Elpis swatted
the sword from her face.

“It does not matter who I am, but what
I can do for you,” replied Elpis. “I have a plan to win the war for
the Greeks. All you have to do is release Hector’s body to his
father, King Priam. I will fetch for him now.”

Elpis turned to leave without waiting
for his answer, and Achilles grabbed her arm.

“You will do no such thing,” grunted
Achilles as he squeezed her arm tighter.

Electricity shot through Elpis’ body
into Achilles the moment he touched her. The shock stole the air
from his lungs and he crashed to his knees.

“Who are you?” Achilles asked
breathlessly.

“I am everything you are
not. I suggest you do as I say and prepare Hector’s body for
proper
transport,” Elpis
advised him, remembering how disgusted she had been watching
Achilles drag Hector’s body.

The Greeks allowed Priam to hold a
twelve-day burial ceremony for Hector. During those twelve days,
Elpis divulged her plan to Achilles and another Greek general,
Odysseus. They began executing the devious plot to defeat
Troy.

The Greeks steadily worked on building
a wooden horse large enough for several soldiers to hide. Once
completed, they left the wooden structure on the beach for the
Trojans to find. Elpis then instructed them to move their ships
down to a bend protected by cliffs, out of view of Trojan
scouts.

After the burial ceremony, Elpis
traveled to the Trojan palace to notify Priam’s advisor of the
Greek’s present to the gods. She advised him to honor the gods by
bringing the wooden monument into the city and throw a feast for
their triumph over the Greeks. As payment, Priam offered a bedroom
for Elpis to stay and celebrate their victory.

Elpis and Odysseus planned their
attack down to the second. She needed to meet the Greeks in the
courtyard to help Odysseus and Achilles take the city. She knew
that with her powers she could lessen the Trojan lives wasted at
the end of Greek swords. She could also protect Achilles until she
could get him out safely.

Elpis had mere minutes before she
needed to be in the courtyard when she saw Hector’s wife,
Andromache, across the room of the feast. She decided to pay her
respects for the fallen Trojan hero.

“Your Highness,” Elpis bowed as she
addressed Andromache, “Hector was a great man. He deserved to
outlive this war.”

“My Husband was a general. If it was
not this war it would have been another that took him from my
arms,” Andromache replied plainly. Tears filled her eyes, betraying
her remorse-free tone.

Andromache held on to her infant son,
no older than four. He looked exactly like his father
Hector.

Anger snapped in Elpis. She was
furious with Achilles for taking Hector from this world. It was
Andromache’s anger, but it overwhelmed Elpis’ empathic powers. She
would not allow the Trojan civilization or bloodline to die simply
because it was a means to an end of the war. She had to get
Hector’s family out of the city.

“Quick, for the love of your son, come
with me.” Elpis grabbed Andromache’s hand and rushed to the
exit.

Elpis ordered a young soldier named
Aeneas to take Andromache and her son along with as many other
Trojans he could handle to a Trojan fishing boat. He was to sail
for the lands past the Greek Isles, safe from Grecian
attack.

“The gods will grant you safe passage
under penalty of my wrath,” Elpis told Aeneas. Lightning flashed in
her eyes as she spoke to the sky.

Aeneas, a demigod, recognized divine
power when he saw it. However, he had never seen such power in any
being before. He did as Elpis ordered without argument.

After helping Hector’s family escape,
Elpis rushed to the terrace overlooking the courtyard, arriving in
time to see Achilles shot with an arrow through his heel. The arrow
pierced the one spot on Achilles not protected, the spot where his
mother held him as she dipped him in the River Styx. The silver
shimmer of the protection spell shattered from the blow.

Elpis searched for the shooter of the
arrow and found Hector’s brother, Paris, across the courtyard. He
pulled his bow back three more times rapidly shooting arrows into
Achilles’ chest, piercing his armor and heart.

Anath’s cruel words rang
out in Elpis’ memory.
If Hades wants a
life, that life will be taken
. Elpis
gasped at the realization of her actions. Hector’s bloodline was
meant to die here. Saving their lives sealed Achilles’
death.

Elpis quickly snapped her fingers and
Paris vanished from the courtyard. He appeared on the boat next to
Hector’s wife before the world lost another hero.

A lump formed in her throat. Elpis
hyperventilated and pulled at the high neckline of her dress. “I
need to get out of here. No more,” Elpis vowed. “No more war. It
ends with me.” She closed her eyes and let her powers steal her
away from the battle’s carnage.

* * *

Elpis traveled the world ending war
after war always remembering the travesty that was Troy. She never
forgot how she was the force behind Achilles’ death.

During Elpis’ quest for peace, she
occasionally came into conflict with gods who favored wars and
heroes, influencing battles as they saw fit. She learned how to
cease their tyranny and discovered her accumulative powers
surpassed those wielded by the gods.

In the year 1173 B.C., eleven years
since Elpis was born, the epic wars that threatened to destroy
humanity ended. Having nothing to contend with but small skirmishes
between kingdoms, Elpis consumed herself with finding her parents.
Whenever she thought she had a lead, the person mysteriously
vanished.

After a year of unusual
disappearances, she grew angry and traveled to Mount Olympus. Elpis
called the War Council together to confront all six
pantheons.

Most gods on the council kept silent
as Elpis questioned them. Having seen Elpis use her powers in
battle, they were too afraid to confess they stole her from her
parents. However, the Lords of the Underworld were the only gods
not afraid of her power. Elpis could not win against them…or so
they thought.

Chapter 4

The Queen’s
Prophecy

A
lina sat on the bed next to Bre. “Rest for now, Sweetheart.
Tomorrow you will wake and we can begin your eighteenth birthday
celebration.”

Tears soaked into her pillow as
Breanna’s whole body shook. “I don’t want to fall asleep. I am
scared, Mother. Where are Brian and Eoghan? They promised a new
spell this time,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

“I know, sweetheart,” Alina said as
she choked back tears. “I don’t know why they’ve been delayed, but
you will be ok. You have gone through this without the spells
before and you will make it through this time as well.”

Alina kissed her daughter’s head then
tore herself from the bed. She walked as if every step she took
from her crying child shot pain through her body.

Breanna curled into a ball, still
shaking from fear of what would happen under the
Blood-Moon.

Alina pulled a key from her pocket. A
handmaiden gently withdrew the key from Alina’s trembling hand then
guided the Queen out of the bedroom.

Bre’s stomach sank with
the sharp click of the lock. Moments later, the clouds parted in
the night sky and filled Breanna’s bedroom with an orangish-red
light. With a sudden gasp,
the
orangish-red light carried
Breanna’s mind
away into another memory…

* * *

Elpis sat at the head of the marble
table on Mount Olympus, her face red from yelling. “How dare you
hide the truth from me? I demand to know everything you know about
my parents!”

Osiris, Egyptian god of the Dead,
stood up.

Elpis silently stared daggers at him.
He gulped nervously. A satisfying signal to Elpis that he feared
her. The idea that she might be able to defeat the almighty Lords
of the Underworld crept into her mind.

Osiris walked over to the sacred well
and gathered water to spill onto the table. He placed a finger in
the water, revealing a blurry image of a couple working in their
garden.

“These are your parents,” Osiris said,
daring to lock eyes with Elpis.

“Osiris!” shouted Zeus from the other
end of the table as lightning flickered between his fingertips.
“How dare you reveal this information?”

“After all that I have
done for you and all you have done
to
me, you
still
wish to hide my parents,
Zeus?
”
Elpis
screamed as she pointed a finger at the king of the Greek
pantheon.

Hades stood to confront Zeus, his
younger brother. Before Hades spoke, a cloud of white smoke poured
out of Elpis’ finger and wrapped around Zeus’ throat. Ares roared
in laughter. Hera jumped up to defend her husband and threw a ball
of green light at Elpis.