The Phoinix: Age of Demigods (41 page)

Bre laughed and
agreed
,
then took
a bite out of her apple.
They
headed over to watch Brian and Eoghan, leaving
the three
brothers and
Lysandros at the fire. The four men sat and ate their
breakfasts in silence
,
until Leo choked on a rabbit bone. Nikolaos slapped his back
as Cole laughed hysterically. Lysandros barely acknowledged Leo’s
distress and continued playing with his breakfast.

Lysandros huffed and
tossed his plate aside, food
barely
touched. “What do you think about what Alina told
us last night?” Lysandros asked the brothers.

“I guess it means Bre has
some important issues to deal with,” Leo said
, his voice
scratchy
from
choking.

“It means
we all
have important
issues to deal with. You heard mother, we can’t leave her or we all
fail,” Cole added.

“We’ll deal with whatever comes our
way. Let’s just figure out the next step first,” Nikolaos
replied.

“I say we find the monsters that
killed Alina,” Lysandros said, glaring at the flames.

“That sounds like a great plan, Lys!
That is exactly what we should do. Let us lead Breanna to the
people who want to kill her so they can take her powers. Which will
then make them the most powerful beings in the world! What a
mastermind we have here, gentlemen. Why don’t you leave
strategizing to the blood of War,” Leo answered with his usual
sarcasm.

Don’t speak to him like
that
,
Leo
, Bre
telepathically scolded her
brother.

“Get out of my head woman!” Leo
shouted down the hill at Bre.

Bre materialized right
next to Leo
,
making him jump and spill his food
.
“Good Zeus! Where did you come
from?”

“Ah, she discovered she can
materialize. Nice power, isn’t it? We haven’t had to use ours in a
while,” Cole smiled proudly at Bre.

“I think we should all
brush up on the powers we haven’t used in a while,” Brian called
out as
he
,
Cailean, and Eoghan walked up the hill.

Brian and Eoghan were
sweaty and out of breath. Brian’s hair stood on
end
as he approached the group,
causing Cole and Leo to spit their food out from laughing.
Cailean
had
shocked Brian while he sparred with Eoghan.

“I agree with Lysandros,”
Bre added, tearing her eyes away from Eoghan
,
who smirked because
he caught
Bre
admiring
his sweaty,
muscular
physique
as he reached for a canteen of water. She cleared her throat
and turned back to her brothers. “I can take them.”

“What is it that you agree with?”
Brian asked cautiously after a few large gulps of water.

“They want to hunt down Eversor and
Elpis in revenge,” Nik answered.

“Easy
,
Herakles
.
It will take all of our efforts to
defeat Eversor and his evil bride,” Cole said
,
rubbing his hand on top of Bre’s
head
to mess
up
her hair.

“What do we do until then?” Eoghan
asked as he washed up with a wet rag.

“We
practice
,
until
we have a clue where to go or what to do. We can set up protective
charms that will hide us from Eversor and Elpis, who are
undoubtedly searching for us. We need to learn to fight as a group.
We each have excellent fighting skills in single-hand
combat
,
but you
heard Alina
:
we
need to stay together.” Brian explained his plans for practicing
and set up a schedule of when
they
would
work with magic and when they would
practice sword fighting.

“I am wondering if the gods will help
us or stand idly by as we fight their battles,” Lysandros added
bitterly.

Brian placed a hand on
Lysandros’ shoulder to comfort his friend and whispered something
in his ear. When Brian finished, Lysandros stood up and walked down
the hill, out of sight. Cailean and Brian then took Bre to show her
how to set up protective charms. They
cast
protection spells in the North,
South, East, and West corners of the camp.

“These charms should
shield us for a week or two,” Brian
said,
pleased with Bre’s use of
magic.

After securing the safety
of the camp, the group began their practicing. Eoghan fought with
Bre and her animals. When Eoghan rolled right, Aurora rolled with
him while Clover jumped over him to protect his left. Leora stood
in the background controlling Eoghan’s emotions,
clearing
his head of
thoughts that did not pertain to the fight. Lupa instructed the
animals how to better control their movements
,
and where they should make their
stand against Elpis.

It took all of Lysandros’
self-control
,
and
some convincing
from Brian
,
to stop himself from chasing down Elpis and
Eversor. He forced his mind to remember
Alina’s warning
that Bre’s
protection must be above all else.

He could protect her body,
but her mind was at the will of the gods
.

Chapter 31

A Divine Warning

F
ive days later, the groups’ practicing was intense and
flawless. They fought as if they could read each other’s minds.
Bre,
conveniently
, actually could and used that to her advantage. Her psychic
abilities grew stronger; she could now communicate psychically with
every member of the group
,
instead of just her brothers.

Even still, the four
siblings could not turn off the psychic connection and continued
to
unwillingly
share their most intimate thoughts. Leo constantly complained
about Bre’s thoughts, while Cole yelled at Leo for planning his
pranks.

That
night, Bre had another one of her nightmares without the
presence of the Blood-Moon. Usually
,
her nightmares comprised of Elpis’
life story
,
but
this time it was different
:
a life much darker than Elpis’.

“Run Your Highness.
Run!
” were the only
words the young princess heard over the clashing screams of iron.
The panicked princess desperately searched for her knights, her
most precious followers. They were her friends, her brethren, and
her soul mates of the past, present, and future.

The slashing of her own
sword rang in her ears.
She could see
nothing but the
warriors
that charged
her
, who sought
fame by killing the greatest warrior known in their
time.

With
every second that passed
and
every warrior she killed, anger swelled from her
desperate situation. The separation from her knights distracted her
from escaping the battle. She sent out telepathic pleas for her
knights to answer, but the only reply she suffered was the
deafening sound of silence.

As her anger grew, power
surged through her veins
.
She knew what was about to happen but did not
care. All that mattered was the preservation of her kingdom. She
threw down the sword and spread her arms wide. She would finally
unleash the wrath of her power.

The princess’ enemies
halted their charge out of fear and amazement as white light
emanated from the princess. Finally, this was the moment of
impact
:
the
moment where she
must bury her stoic
morals and
protect everyone close to
her.

A single tear ran down her
cheek as she closed her silver eyes and slowly raised her arms
towards the heavens. Thunder rang from above and
lightning
crashed to the
ground, shaking the earth beneath the battle.

Bre cried in her sleep as
the woman glowed brighter, blinding her enemies. The woman’s eyes
shot wide
open
;
what were once a beautiful
silver
were now
black
as night
. A deep voice
resonated from her, “
Integere
.”

In the background, purple
lights sporadically lit up throughout the battle. Finally, a
shockwave
of energy
surged outward from the woman
and
spread
across the battlefield,
disintegrating everything in its wake.

The white light faded from
the woman as she lowered herself back to the ground. She hunched
over to catch her breath. When she stood, the
ground
,
where
moments ago
soldiers
fought
to their deaths
, was
scorched
. The only things left standing
were large masses of purple lights. Each light contained a person
or an animal saved from the shock wave’s destruction. The woman
waved her hand and the
lights
disappeared.

“Your Majesty!” a man ran
over to her
.
“Are
you hurt?”

“I’m alright,
Gawain
.”
she
hugged the man and looked at the rest of them
.
“Are you all alright?”

They all replied
“
yes
”
in one manor or another, despite
several serious injuries. The woman chuckled and held up her hands.
A soft blue light
radiated
from her palms
,
healing
their wounds. They appeared as if
they had never seen battle.

Two giant cats and a wolf
trotted over to
the woman
and knocked
her
to the ground, licking her face and purring in
her ears. The woman laughed as she tried to push them off. A horse
whinnied in the background
,
and she stood up defensively to see who rode
towards them.

“Bre!” a man shouted as he jumped from
his horse and ran towards her.

The woman sprinted towards the man and
threw her arms around his neck, crying as her fingers ran through
his soot-coated hair. “I was worried. I couldn’t sense you. I
didn’t know if my spell protected you or not. Eoghan, I was so
scared.” She grabbed the back of his head and embraced him with a
kiss.

A jolt of red light broke
their intimate
moment
and sent the couple and the rest of the men crumbling to the
ground. Standing above the princess was her mortal
enemy
,
with a
golden eagle soaring above their heads. A woman stood tall in full
Gaelic battle gear
,
carrying a bright red sword pointed at Eoghan. She raised her
sword high above her head and thrust the blade down.

“Noooooo!
” the princess screamed as
a jet of gold light coursed out of her hand.

* * *

“
Get away from her!
Breanna, wake up!” Breanna heard Nikolaos screaming.

Breanna opened her eyes to
find a woman in a brown and grey dress standing over her.
Bre
lay
on the
ground outside, instead of in her tent where she originally fell
asleep. It was still dark out
,
and the cool air brought goose bumps to Bre’s
skin. Their only source of light was the fire Cailean stoked before
going to bed.

“What do you want,
Andraste?” Brian asked the woman as he scurried in front of Bre.
Lupa stood next to him
,
baring her teeth with a low growl.

Nikolaos, Cole, and Leo had their
swords pointed at the woman. Lysandros grabbed Bre and pushed her
behind him. Eoghan ran to Bre and cupped the side of her face, “Are
you ok?” Bre felt shear panic coming from him, as if her heart were
about to give out.

Bre nervously moved
out
of
Eoghan’s
worried embrace and faced Andraste.

“I do not need to justify my business
with you,” Andraste calmly dismissed Brian.

“No, but apparently
I
am your
business
,
and
you
will
justify
it to me.” Bre moved out from behind Lysandros and confronted the
goddess.
She
lightly touched Nikolaos’ arm. “Put your weapons
down
.
If she
wanted to hurt me
,
she would have done so while I slept.”