The Heart of War (59 page)
Authors: Lisa Beth Darling
“No,” Onya said seriously. “I don’t like them; they’re not good for much more than popping popcorn.”
“Oh, popcorn,” Alena sighed. How many years had it been since she had sat down with a tub of buttery popcorn? And a movie?
“What’s…popcorn?”
The two women exchanged a bewildered glance and then look at Ares.
“What’s popcorn?”
they asked in unison.
Alena put the bit of croissant in her hand on her plate and leaned over the table to take Ares’ hand. “How can you know what the White Man’s Overbite is, but not know popcorn?”
Ares sat back in his seat, folded his brawny arms over his brawny chest and grimaced. “If you’re going to pick on me…”
Alena and Onya laughed at his sulking. “Don’t worry, my Love, we’ll drag you into the twenty-first century yet.”
“How does it do that?” Onya was fascinated by the floating map. “What is it?”
Ares looked up at the map floating in the air and the new red squiggly lines upon it. “Draw an ‘x’ on it.”
“What? Where?”
“Anywhere. Just pick up the pencil and make an ‘x’, I want to see something.”
Onya did as he asked; she drew a small ‘x’ on the parchment. It showed up there but not on the scale model at eye-level. “Is that ok?”
“Perfect,” Ares said thoughtfully. “You can go, take the day off. Get some sun or something.”
Shrugging her shoulders Onya walked off happy.
“What was that about?” Alena asked as she took in the last bite of the croissant.
“You drew these?” Ares pointed to the red lines. “How? You saw Onya just now.”
“I did what she did, I drew on the map but it showed up on the diagram there.”
Ares sat back in his chair and thought for a few moments. “What are these lines?”
“Tunnels,” Alena answered quickly and then explained about the triple walls of the inner keep. She told him of her daring escape and he listened intently. At the end of her tale, Alena sat back and thought for a moment about the bottles, all of those little pretty bottles, in Cernunnos’ armoire. “Oh my Gods, they’re souls, aren’t they?”
The part about the bottles didn’t escape Ares’ attention. “Did you ever see any of us, any Gods, come to Cernunnos’ Fortress?”
“Oh, well, not really, no.”
“Not really?”
“Once it was whispered that Ra had come to visit but I did not meet him.”
Ares had other questions he needed answers to before he asked her to go down to the lower level and attempt to use the Staff again.
3
Watching through his crystal ball, seated in his Great Hall, Cernunnos was unhappy. Something changed in Ares’ cave and he feared that Maggie found the power within herself and had broken the curse. Yesterday morning, he’d been treated to the exhilarating sight of deep bruises on her naked skin when Ares snatched the towel from her. Last night Ares stormed through his throne room, past the medallion and Cernunnos had been sure he was going to kill Maggie right then and there. Then there had been a bright flash of light; whatever that had been, it resulted in Ares rearranging plants this morning and smiling. Yesterday Ares was tortured and tormented but today he was a man riding high on love. Maggie, her bruises fading, was smiling, laughing, and holding his hand.
Sitting alone in his Great Hall staring into the crystal ball, watching and listening to the rather friendly banter going on, he was seething. Now Ares was asking her about her lineage and it seemed little Maggie didn’t understand his questions. She told him about her mother and her father and then her father’s parents and their parents. Maggie told Ares about her mother’s mother and then her line.
“Your grandfather? On your mother’s side, who was he?”
Cernunnos leaned a little closer to the ball, not wanting to miss the answer.
“Your grandfather? On your mother’s side, who was he?”
“I don’t know. My mother never spoke of her father and I never met him. Why all the questions?”
The smile faded from his lips and the laughter from his voice. Ares stared at Maggie and finally ventured his thought. “Do you think it’s possible your grandfather was a God?”
Maggie seemed to consider this for a moment but then she replied in the negative. “No, I think he was just a horrible person that my mother wanted to forget.” To her that explained why her mother slept with so many men, she was always trying to gain the favor and attention that her father never showed her.
Cernunnos laughed at that. Yes, Maven would love to forget him but he would never let her, just as he would never let her free. Maggie had no idea that she possessed God’s Blood in her veins, but Ares was catching on quickly.
Perhaps he laughed a bit too hard. In the ball he saw Ares’ head snap around toward his mantle as though the God of War had heard him.
4
Alena sat there watching Ares’ ears prick up and his head tilt to the side. “What is it?” she whispered.
He had heard laughter, sinister laughter, he was sure of it. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight and prickle with electricity. Ares got up from the table to pace around the room. It was only here that he felt eyes upon him and now it was stronger than before, clearer. His eyes fell on the mantle over the hearth and drew him to it. Knives, skins, assorted small artillery. “What’s this?” A small medallion in the shape of a Celtic Power Knot. “Is this yours?” Ares turned to Alena and held out his hand, feeling as though if he just looked deeply enough into the silver he would see someone staring back at him.
“No,” Alena said, looking at it. She reached out to touch it but at the last second drew her hand away as though it were hot.
Holding the medallion in the palm of his hand and gazing down at it, Ares remembered where he had seen it. “The Druid.” He closed his fist around it. “He left this here. Damn it!” Ares roared. Not only did Cernunnos know the plans he’d been making but he’d watched them make love. Ares didn’t mind that so much, in fact he hoped the old bastard enjoyed the show. Hoped Cernunnos sat there seething with uncontrollable envy as he watched Alena dance for him. No, what really pissed off Ares was that Cernunnos had been able to watch him fall apart and tear Alena down. While Cernunnos wasn’t privy to what happened in Ares’ bedroom a few nights ago, Cernunnos probably saw the bruises Ares left on her when Ares snatched the towel away from her body right here in this very room. That must have made the old bastard smile with delight. Ares imagined Cernunnos got an overwhelming amount of satisfaction and entertainment over the last four days.
Ares wasn’t anyone’s puppet. Or anyone’s entertainment.
Ares chucked the medallion into the fire. The fire roared in return, as if it were screaming out its indignance, spewing out great flames into the throne room that bolted past Ares to stretch out toward Alena. Ares jumped in front of the flame, held out his hand and pushed the fire back into the hearth. “Your woman is my woman. Your end is near,” Ares raged to the fire and the flames quickly retreated back into the hearth as the medallion began to melt.
Alena looked up at him with wide eyes. “Wh-what was that?”
Ares was seething. “Cernunnos has been watching us, probably listening as well.” The old bastard was cunning; if Ares hadn’t been under the influence of the curse he would have sensed the surveillance device sooner. Now there was much work to do and loss to make up. “Come down to the lower level with me now, bring your Staff, we’re going to have a little practice session.”
“Practice what? I don’t think I can do it again. I’m lucky I did it last night.”
“I believe you are Gifted. You possess a Power Cernunnos needs. So come with me and try.”
“I’d do anything for you, but what could I have that he would want? What could I do for him that he can’t do for himself?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
5
In his throne room, Cernunnos was beside himself. This was all very bad news indeed. Ares was onto the truth and he was not going to let it go until he uncovered it along with the Power Maggie possessed. Ares was a formidable foe and if he were successful in uncapping Maggie’s abilities and then teaching her to use them, Cernunnos’ ultimate plan for world domination would go up in smoke. That would not do. He had to get Maggie back here and away from Ares no matter the cost. To that end, Cernunnos had no choice but to risk calling upon his spy, his little saboteur within the Olympian camp.
The Olympians were still engaged in their search for any Gods that may still reside on this planet and coming up empty. It was difficult to find his spy at first but Cernunnos managed it and they were not happy to be called upon.
A face began to appear in the crystal ball before him. It did not belong to a happy owner. “I’m busy! What do you want?”
“Bring that little bitch to me before the sun goes down or our deal is off.”
“Not possible. They’re on to you,” the spy warned. “They know what you’ve done and they’re coming for you.”
“Ares is coming for me, the rest of your Family is nothing but a bunch of cowards willing to let their most detested member do all of their dirty work for them.” Cernunnos was quite confident that the only Olympian who would show up on his doorstep was Ares. “I don’t give a damn what you have to do, she’s here in my Hall by sunset or I’ll destroy all of you.” Cernunnos cut off the transmission and looked down at the gold chastity belt in his hand. Once Maggie arrived, Cernunnos had a good mind to slap the belt back on her—after he’d had a little fun with her, of course—and to make her wear it while her belly tried to expand against it. It would be a slow and painful end to the life of Ares’ bastard growing inside her.
6
Alena went down the lower level with Ares and they stood in the huge room with the spa where Ares lined up several clay pots for her to aim at. She tried for over a half an hour to make the Staff work and finally became so frustrated that she chucked it to the ground.
“Pick it up,” Ares demanded.
“You pick it up!” Alena huffed and kicked dirt upon it like an angry baseball player arguing with an unruly umpire. “The damn thing doesn’t work!”
“I don’t require the Staff. Now pick it up.”
“And Zeus does?” Alena returned snottily.
Ares rolled his dark eyes. “No, my Father just thinks it makes him look cool. Now…pick…it…up.”
“It’s hopeless! Useless! What’s the damn point?”
Ares didn’t answer her; instead he kicked out with his heavily booted foot and kicked the Staff high up in the air toward her. He was most dismayed when he watched her bat it away instead of catching it. “Stop behaving like a spoiled brat and pick up the damn Staff!”
Swiping the sweat off her brow and the hair away from her eyes Alena bent over and picked up the Staff. “One more time but that’s it. Sooner or later you’ll just have to learn how to admit defeat.”
“No one defeats me. No one.” Ares walked around the room to stand behind Alena. “It’s a tool, remember? Stop trying to find the magick in the wood, it is not there. What were you doing just before I burst into your room last night?”
“Trying to make the fucking thing work!”
“What have I told you about that word?” Ares asked with stone seriousness. “Don’t say it again. Now, how were you trying to make it work? What exactly were you doing?”
Alena took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I was thinking about you, how much I love you, and how much I wanted you back. The real you. The thing just started to hum and then you broke down the door, you charged at me, and…well…you know the rest as well as I do.”
“All right, think the same things, but think towards those pots. Try again.”
Pointing the tip of the Staff toward the line of pots she started to huff. “This is ridiculous,” Alena complained, trying to think of how much she loved the man with her and never wanted to be parted from him. The Staff began to hum, very low, very quiet; Alena did not notice it, but Ares heard it. “Those pots haven’t done anything to me; they’d look a lot better filled with flowers than smashed to bits.”
A beam of pink light shot out from the crystal at the top of the Staff, it struck the pot on the far right, but instead of exploding it, suddenly the pot was full of flowers.
“Ooo,” Alena gasped. “Did I do that?”
“You did,” Ares agreed, clearly impressed by the result even though it was not what he had been hoping for. “Flowers are nice, beautiful in fact, but useless in battle so…try again.”
“It’s hard to think of the pots as enemies.”
“I see. Let’s try this.”
The pots on the far wall began to grow and change shape until Alena was certain there were four Cernunnos’ standing there.
“He’s going to take you from me,” Ares taunted as the floating apparitions began to approach. “He’s going to
take
you, Alena, he will. He is going to rape you. He’s going to make you do unspeakable things for him.” Still with his hand on her shoulder, he felt Alena begin to tremble and that low hum grew louder. Looking over her shoulder Ares saw her gray eyes fixed upon the apparitions coming toward her, each with a different menacing grin. With his mind, he made them outstretch their arms to show each held a different weapon: one a sword, another a bow, another a wooden staff, and the last a gun. “Then he’s going to rip our child from your womb while he makes me watch.”