The Phoinix: Age of Demigods

by S. L. Mancuso

Chapter 20

  The Awakening

  When Breanna woke up, she lay in a tent on a makeshift bed of cloaks and animals. Leora purred loudly, nuzzling against Bre’s head. Aurora sat next to her, guarding the entrance.

  Bre smiled gratefully; a sense of peace overwhelmed her. Inside the tent, she was safe and warm with two of her four new animal companions. Outside the tent, men screamed and objects crashed together. Leora growled in disapproval as Bre stood up to peek outside. It was dark, but through the dim firelight, tall cliffs loomed in the background with high wheat grass spread across the terrain. The sweet scent of fruit from a nearby pear tree made Bre hungry.

  Bam!

  The crash startled Breanna, distracting her from the view. To the side, Eoghan sat around the fire irately confronting three soldiers. Breanna recognized the wolf sigil in the center breastplate and the faded colors of their tunics as Etrusci uniforms.

  “She needs to be protected, or can you not see her unconscious state? She’s been like this for a week now!” Eoghan yelled as he furiously motioned to her tent.

  “Her state doesn’t mean anything. Yes, she needs to be protected, but is that not what you and your clan is charged with? Not the first time your lot failed, is it?” the annoyed soldier in the middle retorted.

  “I got her out of the palace. What have you done for her, Cole?” Eoghan pointed his finger at the tall man standing in the middle of the three soldiers.

  Cole tightened his grip on the hilt of his belted dagger and glared at Eoghan.

  “Easy, Cole. what fun would this fight be? It’ll be over too quickly for our tastes,” said one of the other men, placing an arm around Cole’s shoulders and jostling him loose.

  “Enough, you two,” said the third man, tall and scruffy by the fire. Bre sensed he was the leader of the three. “Eoghan, I understand you are frustrated, but how do you think we feel in all of this? We constantly watch from a distance, have to bide our time, have to stand by and let history take its course without us. Twenty years have passed since we have been a family. We want to help, but it is not our battle.”

  “Are you kidding, Nikolaos? When have any of you sat back and let ‘history take its course’ without you?’ You are the eldest, you need to help her,” Eoghan implored.

  Nikolaos sighed, “We need to leave, Eoghan. We cannot be involved in this, regardless of what Alina says.”

  Nikolaos and his brothers stood to pick up their camp when Nikolaos spotted an eagle flying in from the horizon. Its feathers glowed gold in contrast to the silver moonlight. A shiver ran down his spine, and goose bumps caused his hair to stand on end. He had heard rumors of golden eagles and their taste for demigod blood.

  The eagle instantly entranced Breanna. Even though it was still a large distance away, she could see every detail as if it hovered in front of her face. The eagle’s wings glided through the silver night sky, the stars glistening off its silk wings. Its eyes were storm cloud grey, contrasted by its jade beak.

  Breanna slunk out of her tent towards the magnificent bird. She ignored the muffled arguments from the men in the background. Nothing could distract her from this gorgeous creation.

  She snuck past the men and into the high grass, where the dew washed against her skin and the sweet smell of honey wheat filled her nose. As she and the bird drew closer, Breanna could almost feel the silky texture of its feathers rubbing against her fingers. She closed her eyes as the bird slipped into a nosedive, then...

  Whap!

  “Are you touched in the head, woman?” Eoghan incredulously shouted at a dazed Breanna.

  Eoghan’s body pressed Breanna into the ground. The only part of his body not touching Breanna was his head, and that was inches from her face yelling at her. Eoghan cushioned her head against his forearm when he knocked her to the ground.

  “What are you doing?” she exclaimed, heart pounding in her chest. She pushed against his body but Eoghan was all muscle and was not moving.

  Breanna tried to kick him off her but Eoghan dug his hips harder into hers, preventing her from swinging her legs up and pushing him off.

  “You almost got your head taken off!” Eoghan continued to shout.

  Breanna saw a flash of gold in the sky and watched as the bird flew away from her. She stretched one longing arm towards the bird and let out an agonizing scream. "Nooooo!"

  Bre tried to scramble to her feet, but Eoghan grabbed her arms and held them down in the dew-covered wheatgrass. She winced as he squeezed harder, wrapping his fingers around her wrists.

  Shaking with fury and desperation, Bre watched the bird perch on a nearby cliff. Her anger pulsated through her veins and her eyes welled with tears. Before she or Eoghan knew it, Eoghan flung off her in a burst of unnatural strength and she was on her feet, sprinting after the bird.

  Four men cut her off with their swords drawn. With one swipe of her hand, the men were tossed sideways, clearing her path to the eagle.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw four large animals keeping pace with her. She knew them well. They were her family and were consumed by the same longing she felt. Their yearning for the bird turned to anxiety, quickening their pulse and blood flow to the muscles.

  “I need you,” Bre growled through staggered breaths. Being away from the bird was physically unbearable.

  Bre reached the bottom of the cliff the eagle waited on, and the giant bird gazed down at her with an enticing, hitherward look. Just as Bre started to climb the cliff wall, a violet light engulfed her body, gently restraining her movement. The warm and comforting light eased her anxiety, and her thoughts became clear. She thought of her mother, Eoghan, and the three men around the fire.

  Suddenly, a piercing screech from above signaled a war cry as the bird dove behind Breanna. A black cloud trailed the eagle as it twisted the violet light away from Bre. All thoughts of her mother and Eoghan vanished, replaced only by her longing to touch the eagle.

  Breanna spun around to see where her precious eagle had gone and found it hovering above a woman in a silver tunic. The woman jabbed at the bird with her sword. The four men Bre effortlessly tossed aside joined the attack against the eagle. Breanna’s rage was too intense for her to contain.

  Macabre growls emanated around her while hooves and claws dug into the dirt. “You can have the men, but the woman is mine,” Breanna said to her animals.

  The four animals sped off towards the fight, each heading to one of the men. Breanna snapped her fingers, sending a sharp crack echoing through the night. Her clothes changed to a black sleeveless dress with a tightly wrapped white rope showing off her curves. Her hair turned blacker than the night, and the iris of her eyes turned snow white. Bre stared at the woman attacking her eagle, and an evil smirk rolled across her face.

  Lightning struck consecutively as thunder boomed through the skies. The first lightning strike cindered the ground where Breanna previously stood, and the second struck in front of the mysterious woman where Bre reappeared.

  Without giving her time to defend herself, Bre slammed her fist into the woman’s jaw, knocking her unconscious. Bre picked her limp body up by the collar and threw her a few hundred yards away. A puff of brown dust was the only sign of where the body landed.

  Bre climbed a nearby rock and sat cross-legged as she watched her animals fight. The eagle perched itself on her lap and dug its talons into her leg. Bre stroked the silky feathers; it was every bit of bliss she imagined. Power emanated from the eagle into Breanna through the talons in her leg. Breanna’s power heightened her senses; she could feel the moonlight cooling her skin, relieving the heat of her powers that burned her from the inside out. She could hear the pounding heart of a mouse scurrying from the battle, smell the metallic scent of blood from the woman she tossed across the field. She could see ripples of the wind rolling across the high grass, dancing under the stars.

  The eagle tightened its grip on her leg as a soothing female voice whispered in Breanna’s mind, Do
you feel the energy of war, Your Majesty? Embrace the passion. Let it fill your heart.

  Bre closed her eyes as she listened to the voice. She could feel her animals wage war against the four men. She envisioned the men and could feel their pounding hearts in her chest. Her legs tensed as if she were running then bracing herself against a tiger attack. Her arms were tight as if swinging a sword, and she knew the defensive strategy in their minds as if it were her own.

  Bre was drawn to a man using two swords to fend off her wolf and decided to influence his battle strategy. She pictured the battle two steps ahead of time, like a chess game. she imagined the wolf lunging for his throat and the man dodging the attack by somersaulting under the wolf. A moment later, it happened in the fight. Her smile was cruel as she played with each man and animal, controlling moves through her imagination.

  While Bre exercised her newly acquired powers of manipulation, the night sky turned an ominous mixture of black and emerald green. The eagle screeched in protest and dug its claws deeper into Bre’s leg. Bre winced and drew her mind away from the battle as her blood trickled down onto the rock, burning holes where the blood splattered.

  “Let go of my daughter!” a jet of white light streaked through the air and struck the eagle, but the bird refused to let go of Breanna.

  Use your power. Feel it bundle from the depth of your soul and charge up towards your fingers, the voice whispered again.

  Without hesitating, Bre urged her power to the center of her chest and kept it bundled as it accumulated pressure, until finally it surged out from her palm. She sent a stream of red light to her immediate right.

  Whomever Bre shot her power at deflected the light and sent it hurdling off into the distance, casting a crimson glow against the emerald sky. Bre was outraged that her power was easily deflected. As she stood up, the eagle let go of her leg and resettled itself on her shoulder, once again digging its talons into her muscle.

  How dare she challenge such a powerful queen as you? Lay her bones into the depths of the earth. Show the world no power is a match for ours! the voice urged Breanna.

  Breanna called all her power to her chest. Her heart pounded in her ears as power rushed together. However, this time she could not control the pressure. She wanted to stop, to let go of the power, but she did not know how.

  In the distance, her animals whimpered in pain and limped away from the men. Breanna screamed as her ribcage expanded from the growing bundle of power. She heard a crack and doubled over, falling onto the rock. Blood spilt from her mouth and burned a smooth path through the rock’s surface, smoldering the high grass below. The eagle took flight, hovering above Bre’s head.

  The high grass rustled and a man rushed forward with his sword.

  There was no way she could defend herself against her enemies now. She tried to lift her arm to shoot another red stream of light. She rolled over, arching her back in pain. Breanna clutched her chest as her body cracked in several places from the growing bundle of power. Her screams were muffled by the blood streaming from her mouth.

  Release your power. Take your vengeance on these weak humans. Punish them! the voice screamed in Bre’s mind.

  Breanna tried to control her power with what was left of her fleeting strength. She needed to release her wrath on her foes, but she was too broken. She felt her body rise from the rock and hover over the ground.

  Her clothes, hair, and eyes returned to normal and she looked down at who she thought were her enemies, only to find those she dearly loved. Her mother, Eoghan and Lysandros, accompanied by the three men she saw arguing with Eoghan earlier. They froze in panic, staring up at Bre forebodingly hovering above the ground. Bre weakly smiled but more blood streamed from her mouth, singeing the ground below her.

  Finally, Bre’s strength failed her and power erupted from her chest in an explosion of red light. It coursed out with such velocity that every bone in her ribcage broke and her spine snapped in multiple places. The burst of power sent the eagle crashing to the ground, where it lay limp against a rock.

  Bre crumbled to the ground like a ragdoll. She could barely move her head as she tried to look for her animals. She heard a huff to her left and saw them all lying down, unable to move.

  Alina and Eoghan reached Bre first and each grasped a hand. “Eoghan, do you know how to heal yet?”

  Before he could respond, two other men ran up from behind Alina.

  “No, but they do,” Eoghan said, motioning towards two men racing towards them.

  “Brian! Cailean! Where did you? How? Never mind, help me save her. She doesn’t have her healing powers yet. Oi! You three! I did not bring you here to stand around. Get over here,” Alina commanded.

  Nik, Cole, and Leo did as they were told. Cole and Nik settled themselves on Bre’s left side, while Leo picked Eoghan up by the back of the collar and said, “Out of the way, kid. Let the grown-ups handle this one.”

  Brian sat at Bre’s head while Cailean took his place next to Alina. Eoghan struggled to free himself from Leo’s grip, but it was no good. Leo walked him over to Lysandros and said, “I hear you’re quite the swordsman. You can stand guard with me and Lysandros in case another eagle shows up.”

  Breanna coughed and lifted her hand as best as she could towards her animals. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed to them. She pulled at the grass trying to inch closer but whimpered from the pain.

  Brian detangled her fingers from the grass. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “I need them,” she said in a hushed, painful voice as if her throat burned to talk.

  Brian looked over to the animals and saw Clover, Leora, Aurora and Whisper each trying to move closer to Bre.

  Alina shook Brian’s arm and pleaded, “We don’t have time. She is fading. We need to heal her now.”

  Alina placed both of Bre’s hands across her chest, and then held her hands over Bre’s as a blue light glowed out from her palm. The rest of the men then placed their hands over Bre and the same blue light emerged.

  A warming sensation soothed Breanna, and she closed her eyes. Her favorite lullaby her mother used to sing hummed in her ears. Then, coldness took over her body and a gush of warm liquid pulsed from her mouth. She retched at the metallic taste of her own, pushing more blood up from her abdomen.

  “This isn’t working,” said Brian, his voice and hands shaking.

  Bre felt the warm glow disappear from her head as Brian stopped his healing spell.

  “It has to. She can’t die. She’s not meant to die,” whimpered Alina.

  Nik eyed his mother, troubled by her choice of words. He caught Cole’s attention with a nod of his head and mouthed the words, “meant to die?”

  Cole shrugged and laid a comforting hand on his distraught mother.

  Bre felt sprinkles of water on her hand. She forced her tired eyes open to witness her mother crying. She reached up to touch Alina’s face, but before she could reach it, her hand dropped to the ground and her breathing stopped.

  Alina cradled Breanna’s head against her chest and sobbed into her daughter’s hair, “Not my baby. Not this way.”

  The group whipped around at the terrifying sound of a wolf baying. When Brian turned around, he was face to face with a giant grey and white she-wolf.

  “Lupa?” Brian asked, startled by her presence.

  “Give me the princess,” she growled.

  Lupa nudged Brian out of her way without waiting for a reply and walked to Alina, still cradling her limp and broken daughter.

  Alina stared the wolf in the eyes, “Can you save her?”

  “No,” Lupa said bluntly, looking over to the motionless animals in the grass, “But I know who can.”

  Alina held out her arms and placed Bre over Lupa’s back. Lupa bounded over to the four animals that painfully crawled together in a circle. She shook Bre off her back in the middle of the circle then quickly returned to Alina’s side.

  The animals were weak, but they sat up,
each of their chests glowing in a soft yellow hue that expanded outward, encircling the five of them. No one could watch as the intensity of the light grew.

  The night fell silent. There was no wind, no crickets, and no sound of animals rustling through the grass. Nature seemed to wait in anticipation.

  "How did you find us?" Eoghan whispered to the o’Conaill brothers.

  “Cast a tracking spell on The Power. All we had to do was follow the trail, which got strong once we entered Gaul," Cailean explained.

  “Yea. She got powerful quickly when The Power hit her," Eoghan said as he tried to peek at Bre and the animals. His eyes burned, forcing him to turn away from the blinding light.

  "Remus is dead. It was his half of The Power you saw. We were the ones who sent it," Brian added.

  Eoghan’s mouth dropped, surprised. “Did you know he had it?”

  “I suspected but I didn’t know until I glimpsed Remus’ memories,” Brian said, running a hand through his hair. He turned to look at Alina but shinning feathers of the eagle caught his attention. He nervously started to pace, whispering to himself in Gaelic.

  Cailean watched his brother suspiciously. “What are you thinking, Bri?”

  “The Birds of Elpis,” Brian whispered to Cailean and Eoghan.

  Cailean’s heart fluttered at the name. “Are you kidding? The Birds of Elpis?” he accidently shouted.

  Cailean’s exclamation caught everyone’s attention. They looked between Cailean and Brian expecting one of them to explain their meaning.

  Brian looked puzzled searching for the right words. “The Birds of Elpis are a long story.”

  “Well give us the short version, o’Conaill,” Leo said impatiently, holding up a hand to shield his eyes.

  Brian squinted to see what was happening behind the light but had to look away. “You have all heard stories of Elpis, the first Queen. Elpis is no bedtime story…she is a fact. She would use gold eagles for an aerial view of battles. she could see through their eyes. They were sacred animals under her reign. It was crime punishable by death to kill one, even by accident. When Eversor murdered Elpis, a rumor surfaced that the gold eagles absorbed her spirit. Even to this day, people in her old kingdom believe she exists in these birds.”

  “Are you telling me a dead goddess lived in this hunk of fowl?” Lysandros asked, disgusted as he poked the bird with a stick.

  “Well, an eagle normally keeps attacking people who are waving swords at it, and they often land on eighteen year-old girls just to get petted, don’t they?” Leo’s sarcastic tone surprised no one, but Cole looked impressed with his quick reaction time.

  “She is not just an eighteen year old girl,” Alina said, running her hand through her hair, tears welling in her eyes.

  “What are you saying?” Nik asked, eyeing his mother suspiciously.

  “I was afraid this might happen,” Alina stood to continue the conversation.

  “Your majesty?” Cailean asked confused.

  “When Remus’ Power transferred to Breanna, I believe Elpis’ spirit awoke in the eagles. Eversor is not our only concern anymore.” Alina shivered with fear.

  “What power?” Nik asked aggressively. Alina ignored him.

  “Does Eversor know about Elpis’ spirit?” Lysandros asked.

  “I’m not even sure what we know about Elpis’ spirit. I was not around her during her reign. I only know what Eversor shared with me. Nevertheless, if he does not know about it, it will not be long until he does. With those two reunited, it won’t just be Breanna’s new powers they’ll want,” Brian worried.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Brian saw his sack sway back and forth. Suddenly, something shot out of its side and jetted to the center of the light that surrounded Breanna and her animals.

  “The pendant!” Cailean shouted.

  The light faded, revealing Breanna and the animals back to full health. She wore a silver dress, pinned together by two crimson wolves at the straps of her shoulders. Remus’ gold wolf pendant hung around her neck. Three thinly woven silver vines rested on top her head with small rubies embedded in every other leaf. It formed a crown, held in place by two strips of hair braided around the base. Her eyes were bright silver with flecks of green.

  Everyone knew it was Breanna, yet somehow not quite her. They instinctively bowed as peasants standing before a queen.

  Breanna gestured that Eoghan rise from the ground. She greeted him with an affectionate smile and flung her arms around his neck. He grasped her waist and held her as close as their bodies would allow.

  In his arms, Breanna’s appearance returned to the outfit she wore when Eoghan rescued her from the palace. Her dark brown hair tied into a ponytail and her eyes returned to Eoghan's favorite color of hazel with flecks of gold, as if nothing had ever happened.

  A nerve-rattling screech echoed through the night, startling the group. The eagle came back to life and dove at Eoghan.

  Lupa hurdled over Eoghan’s head and caught the eagle in her mouth before it could sink its talons into him. There was no fight; the wolf was too big and too quick for the eagle. One jerk of Lupa’s head and the eagle fell limp in the wolf’s muzzle.

  Lupa tossed the dead bird aside and spit silk feathers out of her mouth. She lay down, licking her chops and the fur on her legs in an attempt to remove the foul taste of eagle blood.

  Lupa coughed and another gold feather floated out of her mouth. “Ugh, I hate bird, let alone The Birds of Elpis. Incredibly bitter.”

  A puff of black smoke appeared and a man bent down to examine the dead eagle. Cailean and Brian instinctively jumped in front of everyone. The man folded the wings over the bird’s chest and snapped his fingers. Flames rapidly spread across the eagle’s body. The scene had the feeling of an ancient burial rite.

  He turned to Lupa and said, “You killed my wife, mutt…”