The Phoinix: Age of Demigods
Page 23
* * *
Before Remus and Romulus were restrained against the wall, Remus made a decision that would seal the outcome of the battle:
“Before we begin, Remus, are you sure you want to go through with this? It may backfire on all of us," Brian looked at Remus with pity.
“We could wait him out. After all, I did pass that spell, or did you forget already?” Cailean chimed in with his dry humor.
Whack!
Cailean’s head jerked forward. He looked up to see his brother with his hand still in the air from smacking him.
“What was that for?” Cailean said, rubbing the back of his head.
“Have you forgotten that while we may be immortal, these soldiers are not? And to let you know you’re being a prat…again.”
“You don’t have to say it so painfully, though,” Cailean added as he rubbed his head.
Brian turned back to Remus, “You need to understand that what you two felt earlier through the door will be magnified tenfold.”
“What other options do we have, Brian?” Remus was resolute.
“Alright, you win,” surrendered Brian. He looked around the room at the many weapons and trinkets Remus kept available. “You don’t happen to have something personal that belonged to Romulus, do you?”
"Objects and memories of my brother I keep close," Remus replied while removing a necklace from under his tunic. "Before I met you at the wall at Palatine Hill, I went to the Twin Thrones to reexamine the life I was leaving. When I got to the thrones I noticed Romulus’ half of the necklace we’ve had since birth."
Remus held onto the gold wolf pendant with a dull edge, once jagged like the teeth of the beast it represented. “The pendent was originally two wolves. It was broken to symbolize our eternal connection. We each wear half. Before I left with you that night,” Remus smiled at the memory, “I took his half and left mine where he carelessly laid his in a drunken stupor. I needed something to be connected to him."
Remus’ grip tightened around the wolf and he pulled it close to his chest. Brian held out his hand with a stern look, "I promise no harm will come to this treasure."
Remus nodded, "I know. The only problem is that this is the last time I will be able to hold it. The two of you must promise to get the necklace to Breanna. It belongs in my bloodline. Whether Romulus wants to admit it or not, she is his successor as well."
"You're talking as if we have already lost the battle, Remus. You have never given up hope before,” Brian tried to comfort the woeful king.
"Do not placate me, my friend. I have known my fate all along. The actions I took today were not to save my life but to save the rest of you. A dying wolf knows when it is his time to pass. Unlike other animals, the pack surrounds its fading member to say goodbye." Remus gripped the wolf pendent tighter.
Remus traced the lines of the wolf with his thumb before handing it to Brian. "Romulus may not realize it, but that is why he is here. For a long time two alphas from one pack have lived in our world. That is a treasure that can never exist again."
Remus threw his arms around both Cailean and Brian and walked them towards the interior wall where Romulus and his men rested on the other side. Remus jostled the brothers as he spoke, "But the only thing a dying man has is hope, right? So what do you say? Put away those melancholy faces and bring on the false hope."
When they reached the wall, Remus let go of his friends and closed his eyes to feel around the wall for his brother. "Here, Romulus is here."
Remus’ hand dropped from the smooth surface and turned to face Brian and Cailean. He stepped backwards with his palms facing the wall, anxious for its cool touch. The moment his hands reached the wall, a shiver crawled up his back. He inhaled and exhaled slowly as his stomach churned, imagining the horrid stress and pain he and Romulus were about to endure. Remus did his best to steel his nerves by clenching his fists and closing his eyes, “I’m ready."
Brian placed his hand on Remus' forehead and closed his own eyes. "Remus, these will not all be conscious memories. Some of the most important ones we must use will be memories that both your minds hid away. You will not only feel your own emotions but your brothers’ as well."
Remus nodded, "No matter what you see and what I say, don't hold back and don’t let me go. He will take advantage of that. You remember who our father is?"
Brian and Cailean nodded and glanced nervously at each other.
After taking a large breath to calm his own nerves, Brian began mumbling, his voice nothing more than a sweet whisper in Remus’ ear. A warm comforting sensation washed over Remus’ body. His mind became consumed with joyful memories of his past. He saw friends he had long forgotten and their mischievous deeds of flooding the stables of the aristocracy, stealing bags of grain and scattering them across the road for the birds to pick at, and pranks of leading wild animals into various houses of the rich. He laughed as he remembered the immature trouble of his childhood: unexpected trouble from a small village in the kingdom of Alba Longa where the king mistreated his subjects.
"He is succumbing, Brian. He will not destroy me without destroying part of himself," said Remus, determined to make his brother feel something other than anger.
In order for this plan to work, Brian had to be aggressive and dig deep. Despite his focus on the incantation, he sent a psychic message to Cailean, Cailean, you need a better grip on Remus. He will try to escape from the mental hold I have on him, but for the sake of his sanity you cannot let him break the connection.
Cailean acknowledged with a nod. He grabbed Remus around the neck and laid one arm across his chest. Suddenly, the wall moved and created stone cuffs around Remus' ankles and a stone strap around his waist.
The only way they could break out of this hold is if they tap into the divine strength of their father, Mars, Cailean said psychically to Brian.
Do not underestimate the bloodline of Mars. And do not forget, Romulus has a temper far worse than Remus, Brian responded.
Romulus struggled against Cailean’s strength and the pressure of the wall holding him. Physically there was nothing holding him, yet he was immobilized by Cailean’s binding spell.
Remus fought back against Cailean’s grip as Brian dug deeper into his mind.
The twins’ breathing became labored and they whimpered as Brian dug deeper, flipping through their collective memories.
It was their first memory, barely a few hours old. They saw Rhea Silvia, their mother, with their uncle, King Amulius of Alba Longa, on the riverbank. The memory took place just as they were nestled into a basket. Amulius stood off to the side, dressed in the royal colors of purple and blue, overseeing the death of his great-nephews unmoved and unashamed. He ordered the guards to restrain Rhea and force her to watch the death of her children.
Rhea's hands were tied behind her back and her mouth was gagged to muffle her sobs. Her long brown hair clung to her damp cheeks next to her bright golden-brown eyes, bloodshot from crying. It took two guards to restrain her from running to her children. Rhea collapsed as the guard pushed the basket into the raging rapids of the Tiber, staring as her innocent babies drifted to their death. One guard came over to hold Rhea, not to restrain her but to console. The last image the babies saw before being swept away by the rapids was their mother’s sorrowful face.
The image faded into another memory hours after they were placed in the river. The twins by some miracle survived the violent twists and turns of the Tiber. They were floating gently down the calm section of the river. A large grey and white she-wolf named Lupa heard their cries and trotted to the waterside. The moment Lupa peered into the basket the twins stopped crying. She carried them into her den where she freed them from their blankets. She curled herself around them to keep them warm as they nursed from her.
Lupa provided protection from the harsh wilderness. She was the alpha female in the pack, and the pack guarded the children as if they were their own cubs. Lupa nursed the babies un
til they were too old for milk. The pack tried to help by sharing their food with the twins. However, raw meat was not suitable for human babies.
Lupa called upon the woodpecker to bring fruit to her adopted cubs. Each day, twice a day, the woodpecker brought bundles of berries and the deer brought branches with apples and pears. Soon enough, the babies could walk and it was difficult for Lupa to keep track of the curious children. She knew it was time for them to leave the pack.
While out hunting, Lupa discovered a farm of a childless shepherd and his wife. Lupa waited for a warm sunny day when she knew the shepherd would be out with his flock. The twins jumped all over Lupa as she led them through an unfamiliar field, filled with sheep. She let out a howl that curdled the blood of the sheep, causing a wooly stampede. The giant wolf stood guard over the babies, protecting them from harm.
Once the sheep fled, Lupa nuzzled the babies to say goodbye and bounded away with tears in her eyes. The babies once again felt the loss of a mother. It took every ounce of Lupa’s willpower not to carry twins back to her den. However, she knew she could no longer raise human children.
Under Brian’s spell, Remus and Romulus felt Lupa’s pain as she struggled with leaving the babies. They remembered the shepherd discovering them in the grass as they crawled over his heard dog who sniffed them out after hearing them cry. Stunned at two random children, the shepherd picked up the toddlers and carried them back home, where he and his wife would raise them as their own.
A few days after the shepherd discovered the twins, a traveling man requesting food and water stopped at the house. He was dressed in a red cloak and wore a bronze ring with a wolf etched into it. They accommodated his needs and let him rest at their table with water and a plate of fruit. The stranger cocked his head at the babies resting in the crib the shepherd made. The stranger smiled proudly and went over to get a better look at them.
“Strong boys you have here. They will grow up to be strong men,” the stranger said to his hosts as he allowed the babies to each grip one of his fingers.
“Thank you” replied the shepherd, keeping a watchful eye on his children.
The stranger turned to the shepherd without glancing at the babies as they cried when he took his fingers back. He lifted a necklace out from under his robe. It was a pair of gold wolves standing side by side. With ease, he snapped the wolves in half and handed them to the shepherd’s wife.
“Wolves are a sign of power and courage. They should wear these charms with pride. It will give them power from within,” the man said as he walked toward the door. He swung the door open then paused for a moment with the handle in his grip. Without turning around he said, “You should name them Remus and Romulus. Those are strong names for strong men.”
“How did you know we haven’t named them yet?” the wife asked frightened and moved closer to her husband who reached for his staff.
The man chuckled but said nothing as he closed the door behind him.
The shepherd and his wife never saw the stranger again. However, they named the children Remus and Romulus and got chains for the wolf charms. The twins wore the necklaces every day since they received them.