The Phoinix: Age of Demigods (48 page)

Romulus’ soldiers fled after Elpis
attacked Lysandros with only her eyes. They headed towards the
pass, seeking the protection of their archers. Breanna
instinctively surrounded the remaining group in a shield charm. The
purple light stopped Lysandros’ bloody vomit; however, Breanna took
on his symptoms. Her stomach contracted and burned as if being
boiled inside her body. She clutched her stomach as blood ejected
from her mouth, leaving a horrid metallic taste that intensified
her gag reflex.

It was in this moment she
needed Eoghan the most. She reached out a hand as she normally
would when things went wrong. This time, Eoghan was not there to
take her hand and soothe her ailments. This time he would not hold
her and make her pain disappear. Eoghan remained expressionless
next to Brian, not even looking at Bre
.
Instead, he stared
pensively at Elpis and
Eversor. He bore no sign of concern for his childhood
friend.

“You fool! Ha-ha!” Elpis
exclaimed.

“
Your clan was charged
with educating and training the young princess, to groom her if you
will. The most fundamental detail you could have armed her with was
that Elpis’ power
is
Breanna’s power, yet you neglected it. Your intelligence
fails you with age, Brian,” Eversor said with distain as he shook
his head in disappointment.

Blood continued to eject from Bre’s
mouth. Her protection charm fell, as she could no longer
concentrate on maintaining it.

Elpis walked over to Bre
and stroked her hair. Her touch was soft, almost comforting as Bre
hunched over, lurching from the bloody vomit. “You cannot defend
against yourself, dear child. Ha-ha
.
Look at you, Princess. You have
half of the world’s greatest power in you and you are dying from
it. That is indeed humorous. You cannot protect them from me
without harming yourself. Oooo, this is going to be fun,” Elpis
excitedly clapped her hands together. “When will self-preservation
take precedence over the lives of your friends,
Breanna?”

Elpis grabbed the back of Bre’s head
and shoved her to the ground. At Elpis’ touch, the violent stomach
contractions stopped. Once Bre stopped vomiting, she cast the
shield charm around everyone again. Elpis smirked and shook her
head at Bre’s futile attempt of heroism.

Elpis eyed Eoghan and withdrew the
dagger she used to stab Anath. She ran the blade over the chests of
the men she passed to get to Eoghan. When the edge of the dagger
touched the purple barrier, pink sparks flew into the
air.

Brian gasped
and
a horrible
knot
formed
in
his stomach when the blade ran over his chest. “Where did you get
that?” Brian shouted, outraged and sick at the sight of the
enchanted dagger.

“Oh this old trinket? It
has been in the family for years,” Elpis replied with her sweet yet
wicked smile. “You should have known better than to hide it from
me. Oh, Breanna! Look at him! That is pure fear in his eyes.” Elpis
shivered with raw happiness. “Mmm, can’t you taste it? The
sweet,
yet
sour
taste that drips down your throat? I have missed the taste of fear
during my slumber.”

Bre knew the taste Elpis
described. She had
tasted
it since Elpis started torturing
Lysandros.

Elpis stopped in front of Eoghan.
Bre’s terror eased slightly with the shield charm still active
around Eoghan.

Bre, stop her. That blade
is enchanted by the gods and will kill Eoghan. Between her power
and the power the blade is infused with, it will easily break the
shield charm,
Brian yelled
psychically.

Bre held her breath in
horror as Elpis walked behind Eoghan and held the blade above his
chest.
She
ran
her free hand down Eoghan’s arm and then caressed the side of his
face. Her fingers bent the shield charm but did not penetrate the
light to reach Eoghan’s skin.

“I can see what the ladies see in you.
You have a sense of rugged handsomeness,” Elpis whispered in
Eoghan’s ear.

Bre sensed no fear coming
from Eoghan. Her empath power raw from every emotion she could
name
, she
was
thankful for Eoghan’s numbness.

“This won’t hurt you one
bit. Especially since that selfish girl made you sacrifice your
emotions to Andraste. This is nothing compared to that torture,”
said Elpis, making sure she
locked
eyes
with Bre, pleased when Bre winced at
the word torture. Elpis raised the blade higher, ready to plunge it
deep into Eoghan’s chest.

The Power overtook Bre’s
body without being summoned. She was selfish
,
and her soul refused to lose
anyone else in her life. Bre’s self-preservation came out in a way
neither Bre nor Elpis expected. A yellow light rapidly expelled
from her chest and before Bre or anyone else in her group knew it,
they stood in the middle of the pass with the rest of Romulus’
army.

Bre
collapsed
,
and
the purple light around the group vanished. Lysandros rushed to her
side and carried her into one of the hidden caves in the cliff
wall.

“I should have known,” Brian cursed
himself.

“Yes, you should have known. You were
charged with this responsibility and you have done nothing but fail
in every way. We chose you for this task because of your history
with Eversor and you let us down…again!” Anath snapped at Brian.
“You even failed in the simple task of keeping that dagger from
Elpis. That demon spawn stabbed me with it!”

“That demon spawn
is
your
granddaughter and
your
mistake. How was I supposed to know she
would
desecrate
Remus’ grave to get it?” Brian snapped back.

“It wasn’t her that broke
into Remus’ grave
.
It was Eversor. That is the dagger he had at the nemeton when
Elpis was reborn,” Eoghan said impassively.

It was disturbing for the group to see
him so uncaring.

“Ok, once we get out of this mess,
we’re going to straighten your arse out,” Cailean pointed at Eoghan
and bumped into his shoulder, making Eoghan stumble
sideways.

Eagles screeched from
above
,
and
several archers in the caves warned Romulus of the impending aerial
attack. Annoyed, Romulus shook his head and barked out orders to
his men. One man stood out to Brian and Cailean.

“Brathadair,” the o’Conaill brothers
said in unison.

Brian’s hand shook in anger, ready to
start a fight.

“Not the time, Brian,” Romulus warned.
“Brath, you need to get up there and enchant the arrows to kill
those flying rodents. Go.”

Brathadair flashed Brian a
victorious smile. He spun up through the air using the wind to
carry him to the highest cave
,
where he could inflict the most
damage.

“I’m going to help the archers and
ready the ground troops if they are needed. Brian, can you and Cail
serve up some shield charms?” Romulus looked radiant, elated to be
mixed up in the thick of a battle.

“Yes, but there is no
telling how long the charms will last against Eversor and Elpis,”
Brian said
,
worried as he judged how well they could defend their corner
of the valley.

“They will hold as long as I allow
them to,” Breanna said with conviction and pushed her shoulders
back.

“Whatever you three decide, hurry up
and hide me. We must begin the unbinding spell,” Anath sat down and
folded her arms impatiently.

Electricity flowed through
Breanna’s body. Her fingers tingled as waves of power pumped
through her veins. For the first time in her life, Bre did not need
help, but they instead needed her. She used that gratifying thought
to send a strong gust of wind that forced the bedrock to form a
wall across the entrance of the pass. Bre then
cast
several shield charms that
would stop the incoming birds but allow the arrows to pass
through.

Brian and Cailean watched
their grown-up princess cast challenging charms and bend the
elements to do her bidding. A rush of pride tugged at the corners
of their mouths
,
but the dangerous reality of their situation
quickly
washed the
sentiment from their faces. They were trapped behind a wall of
rocks and spells, waiting
for
their safeguards
to
fail.

As soon as Bre
cast
the last of her
spells, yells from the caves overlooking the skyline signaled the
arrival of Elpis’ eagles. The birds descended onto the
pass
,
and the
thuds of bows releasing arrows filled the air. Hundreds of arrows
passed through the shields and lodged themselves into the hearts of
large gold eagles.

The archers had impeccable
aim, no doubt from Brathadair’s enchantments. The dead birds made a
soft thumping noise when they landed on Bre’s charms. As the birds
slid down the shield, streaks of gold blood tinted the view of the
blue sky
,
making
it look green.

"Well done, Breanna,"
Brian nodded
,
but
in a distant tone. He turned his attention
to
Anath
.
"Now what did Elpis do? I need
exact details."

As Anath recounted the events in the
cave, Brian shook his head and Cailean stared in shock. Eoghan
ignored the story, grabbed a bow, and took off to help the archers.
Bre watched as he fearlessly scaled the wall.

“We need the dagger to
break the bond
,
and I am not sure how much power we will need to unbind the
entire Phoenician pantheon.” Brian took his normal concentrating
stance with his thumb and pointer finger pinching the bridge of his
nose.

Bre stood and wiped dirt off her
pants. “The only person who has that amount of power is me and my
animals.”

Bre smiled at her four animals
relaxing in the darkness of cave. Aurora licked her chops, staring
up at the dead birds.

“No
.
The last thing we need is another
of our allies to be infected with Elpis blood again. You keep your
hunger in check, kitty,” Cailean said sternly and pointed a finger
at Aurora.

Aurora licked her chops again, this
time staring at Cailean. Cailean inched behind a smirking
Lysandros, hoping he would serve as protection.

“So glad you are having a
good time with this. Can we get back to the problem at
hand
,
which
happens to be me
?”
Anath grabbed Cailean’s chin
,
forcing him to look at her.

A jet of white light sent
Anath crashing into the cave wall. Bre stepped in between Cailean
and Anath
,
Her
eyes blazing with anger. “Don’t ever touch him or
any one
of these men
like that again, do you understand me?” she said through gritted
teeth.

Anath shrugged the warning
off and fixed her dress
without a
response.

Romulus jumped down from the closest
cave with Lupa at his side. Lupa’s growl echoed through the pass.
“Couldn’t help overhearing, but Bre, you saw what spell Elpis
performed, correct? Then the only way to reverse a complicated
spell like that is to…”

“Recite the spell
backwards
.
I
know
.
The spell
is simple enough, but we still need the dagger,” Brian cut Romulus
off.

“A spell so easily cast is
easily broken,” Lysandros said solemnly with his head
bowed
.
“Alina
once said that.”

Romulus ignored Lysandros’ comment and
continued his train of thought. “That shouldn’t be too hard. Elpis
has it and Elpis is looking for us. All we need to do is get it out
of her hands.” Romulus acted as if the plan was easily
executed.

“Oh
,
that shouldn’t be too hard. Except
for the fact that none of us can match her
strength
,
and the
only person who might be able to cannot defend against Elpis
without getting hurt herself!” Lysandros took an aggressive step
toward Romulus, putting himself in between Bre and her
uncle.

Bre placed a hand on
Lysandros’ arm
and he
hesitantly sidestepped to allow Bre beside him.

“But in return, she cannot defend
against my attack.” Bre smiled at the thought.

“Your mother
used
to get that look,”
Lysandros said, shaking his head with a ‘here we go’
expression.

“And none of us liked it because it
usually came with a crazy idea,” admitted Brian.