Chapter 8
Prolonging the Foretold
Remus ran to his friends. He could not bear to lose his wife and his best friends in the same day. He would raid Hades to save them if he had to. “I swear upon the gods, o’Conaills. If you leave me in this mess I will hunt you in the Afterlife...whichever hell you fall into!”
“No need to make idle threats, Remus,” Brian groaned as he sat up. He nudged Cailean with his foot and scoffed lightly at his brother laying in the fetal position. “Oi, Cail, wake up. No time to rest.”
Remus helped the brothers to their feet. “Why did you call out my daughter’s name? Is she in danger?”
Brian and Cailean examined Remus carefully to find the right words until they realized he was not looking at them, but instead around the room.
Remus expected to see a young warrior whose skills surpassed any Etrusci or Gàidheal soldier, a man who rarely left the ó Conaills’ side. Eoghan MacBeatha was one of the most loyal men Remus had ever met. He was shocked Eoghan was not there when they needed him the most.
“Ah,” Brian said after he realized the target of Remus’ search. “If Eoghan is not standing at my side, where is he usually?”
Remus’ tension eased slightly when it dawned on him to whom Eoghan was attending. It was as if Eoghan read the king’s mind to protect Breanna before he even thought it.
Brian said calming, “I gave Eoghan strict instructions to protect her, not that I needed to. Breanna is safe as long as she is with him.”
Once Remus was confident Eoghan would protect Bre he asked, “What was that awful bang and blue light you two conjured?”
“Protection spell,” Cailean answered.
“A very old and very strong protection spell,” Brian added. “We need it since the MacCathail clan broke through the charms around the palace. The room is safe as long as the spell doesn’t fail.”
Brian walked over to the throne room door. He placed his hand on the large wooden door, closed his eyes, and said, “They have traveled through the courtyard and are searching for an entrance into the throne room.”
While Brian channeled the events outside the throne room, Cailean and another Gàidheal searched inside and barricaded secret passages like the one Lysandros took with Alina. Cailean knew the passages could cause a two front battle, if discovered. While scurrying to set up barricades, Cailean ordered his clansmen into two divisions: first were the Gàidheal archers, who would take the right flank closest to the outer wall and doorway; second were the broadswords, who would stand in the center of the room and form a tight half circle.
The Gaels removed their hoods and pushed back the dark silver and black cloaks over their shoulders to reveal green tunics with gold leaves embroidered along the sleeves. They wore grey leather pants with various sizes of bronze blades attached, fastened by gold hilts.
The archers held Oak bows that flawlessly wove out from the handle and concluded in spirals. Horsehair formed a strong flexible bowstring, and gold vines wrapped around the curvaceous handle to complete the bows beauty. Remus’ archers mirrored Cailean’s in their formation and his Etrusci soldiers formed the Phalanx position. Their long silver shields bearing Remus’ sigil of a wolf overlapped each other and formed an impenetrable wall. Bronze spears and swords glistened in the flickering light of the torches.
Each Etrusci soldier wore black leather boots with bronze coverings from their ankles to their knees. Their breastplates, constructed of layered sheets of bronze covered by black leather, extended from their chests to their backs, curving around their ribs just above their hips. Strips of black leather decorated with small, silver wolves hung down from the breastplate and protected their thighs. As they moved, emerald green capes flowed down from their shoulders to the back of their knees. They were warriors fit to the likeness of Ares.
The Gaels and Etrusci took their places side by side in the throne room. The throne room, once worthy of the gods, was now an opulent void filled with deafening silence. Despite the impending battle, the windows cast a rainbow of rich colors that danced on the marble floor and snow colored tapestries. It was hypnotic against the stormy nerves of the men.
“o’Conaill!” Remus’ bellowed, his voice echoing through the silence. “Where are they now?”
Brian still held his hand against the door and gravely looked at Remus over his shoulder. “We have minutes until they break our barricades.”
Remus, shocked at the news, asked, “How could they break through so easily? The only way they could do that is with a ram. I constructed my palace so it would be impossible to carry one.”
A familiar voice rang out from behind the door, “Remus! My dear brother, let me in. Let us talk this through as proper kings.”
Remus’ breath caught in his chest as pure shock made him stammer for words. Brian cleared his throat, reminding Remus to breathe. His breathing returned, shallow from disbelief at who stood behind the door. He gently rubbed his chest with the heel of his palm, feeling his heart shatter into thousands of pieces.
Remus tried to regain control over his demeanor. He took a deep breath, calmed his erratic breathing, and wiped the look of betrayal from his face.
“How big a fool do you take me for, Romulus?” Remus’ voice was stern, refusing to give Romulus satisfaction in hearing his pain.
“Do you truly want me to answer that, Remmy?” Romulus chuckled.
“You have attacked my house and family. You do not expect me to open the door so we can talk, do you?”
“Remus, I am giving you the courtesy of discussion because you are my twin. We loved each other once,” Romulus said nostalgically.
“You loved me once upon a time, but my love for you is still here. Do not belittle my intelligence or my memory of you. Do not forsake our brotherhood because we’ve been separated for two hundred years. It was your choice not to make things right between us. Romulus, I plead with you to forget the hostility of our past so we do not vainly destroy a peaceful era.”
Remus placed his hand on the cool wood that separated him from his twin. Unbeknownst to Remus, Romulus made the same gesture. The wood between their hands began to heat-up and an orange-red light spread through the door.
“Romulus, don’t you see? The gods have not given up on us. We still have the divine connection bestowed at our birth. I feel your pain as you feel mine. We are forever connected.” Remus’ voice cracked.
“Do not mistake vengeance for pain, Remus,” responded Romulus callously.
“You cannot hide what is in your heart, Brother, just as I cannot hide from you. If you follow through with your plans the only emotions you will feel are devastation and loss.” Remus sorrowfully bowed his head.
Romulus shifted uncomfortably. He hated that Remus knew him so well. They had been talking less than a minute and Remus already pierced through his anger. He remained defiantly silent. If they kept talking like this, Remus would talk him down from his attack.
Remus sighed at his brother’s silence and removed his hand. The orange light faded from the door. His palm instantly felt cold from the loss of his brother’s connection. “Your choices are destroying the world’s finest fellowship.”
Romulus removed his own hand from the door. He felt his detestation from the last two hundred years start to fade. Even after all the anger he held on to, he always missed his brother: the soul mate that left him behind.
Romulus spoke as sad memories flooded his mind, “You are the one who destroyed us, Remmy. The moment you decided to leave our home at Palatine Hill. You broke us. It was too easy for you to leave me.”
“Nothing was easy about leaving you.” A lump formed in the back of Remus’ throat, causing him to stutter. “I-I love you, Romulus. I am truly sorry for what happened. There has not been a day where I did not think of you and our glorious past. I regret how I left you, but I do not regret the life I have here.”
“Do not speak of regret!” Romulus’ anger surged to full stren
gth. “Regret brings you back to your beginning. If you regretted leaving then you would have found your way back to me. You did not return to our home, but made your own with a woman who was not of our society. Not only did you forsake us, you abandoned the old ways.”
“I have always kept the traditions of our culture, but merely adapted to changes of the world. Change is good, Romulus. We need to change with the world or we will get lost in it. Have you learned nothing in our nine-hundred years? You have lost your way, Romulus. Let me bring you back…bring you back to me.” Remus’ heart raced. He could sense his brother’s anger lessen as he spoke.
Remus was eager to see his beloved brother again. His heart pounded in his ears at the thought of it. Without hesitation, Remus grabbed the door handle, his muscles tensing ready to swing the door open. Knots formed in his stomach from his excitement.
Wham!
The sound of a hard object colliding with the door startled Remus, stopping him from embracing his brother. The vibration from the impact stung his hand as he clung to the door handle. The pain in his hand mimicked that in his heart.
“Break it down!” Romulus ordered a battering ram to break down the throne room doors.
Remus took strained steps away from the door, biting his lip to hold back tears. Every ram of the door felt like a blow to his heart. He loathed that ram. It destroyed the reunion with his brother.
It took all of Remus’ strength not to fall to his knees from heartache. Filled with grief, Remus’ spoke to Romulus in a cracked, choked–up voice, “I see you have made your choice. Regardless of how it pains me, I respect it. Never forget the bond we shared.”
Silence fell among the warriors after Remus’ heartbreaking remark. Even Romulus’ soldiers were speechless and stared at their king, awaiting a reaction.
The silence broke with Romulus’ hushed words of contempt, “You are only prolonging the inevitable, Remus.”
Romulus’ voice filled the silent throne room as he ordered his troops to ram the door again. Another crash, followed by moans of pain from the men, echoed through the halls.
“Again!” shouted Romulus. Another crash and more moans. “Again!”
These steps repeated for what seemed like an eternity to Remus. With each ramming of the door, Remus and Brian’s soldiers stood silently, waiting for the doors to give way. However, the sounds of wood splintering and charging battle cries never came. The ramming became less forceful as Romulus’ soldiers weakened.
Romulus halted his attack on the doors. “I know who lies behind these doors, and I too brought a charmed tribe. The only question is who is stronger?”
Remus sighed at his statement. “If you know who is with me, why make a fool of yourself ramming against the shield of Gàidheals?”
“I can hold out as long as it takes to bring down your barriers, but how long can you last without food and water?” Romulus retorted smugly.
Remus looked around at his men knowing they could not out-last Romulus’ without supplies. He wheeled around to Brian, but Brian shook his head. “We are not on the ground. In order to conjure food and water, we must be near the earth. Our powers connect with nature. We do not have the ability to conjure anything we please whenever we please.”
Remus’ stomach sank. “Then we are doomed. We cannot fight for days without food and water.”
“We don’t have to outlast them, we just have to outsmart them. We may not be able to conjure food but we can still cast spells. If we can create a spell that will slow down time then days will pass out there without deteriorating our thirst and hunger,” said Cailean with a menacing look.
Brian slapped Cailean on the back so hard he stumbled forward. “Well, little brother, when did you become so clever?”
An elated Remus pulled the still shocked Cailean into a bear hug and said, “You conniving little fox! I wouldn’t want to be your enemy.”
Cailean steadied himself from their rough approvals and began scribing the spell he would need. “Give me five minutes to work out the wording.”
“Ha-ha! Take ten, Cail! If you do this right we have all the time in the world,” Remus laughed.
Cailean did not look up from writing his spell as he addressed his brother and Remus, “Ok, I am going to try and set the spell so that for every half hour that passes in here, a whole day will pass out there. That is the slowest we can go without completely disturbing nature and removing us from our plane of existence.”
“I see it’s safe to use,” Remus said with a smirk.
Cailean smiled back. “What’s the matter, Remus? Don’t trust me?”
“Don’t get smug, Cail. The deed is not done,” Brian said as he left the group to look out the window.
“Just you watch me, ol’ wise one,” Cailean answered his brother teasingly. “The student will now become the teacher.”
The Phoinix: Age of Demigods Page 19
