Chapter 30
Preparations
The group found themselves back in their world, standing in the middle of a green field with woods on one side and a deep valley pass on the other. Ahead of them, a wild boar roasting over a fire welcomed them to a cozy, protected area for camp. Tents were already set up around the fire with bedding neatly made. Their horses were tied to a tree with a trough of oat and grass to eat. Lupa, Clover, Leora, and Aurora immediately devoured a pile of dead rabbits left off to the side.
“Where are we?” Cole asked, surveying the area.
“Cymru,” Brian sighed nostalgically. He smiled as he headed to the fire. “It’s nice to be home.”
“Ooo, boar!” Leo gleefully yelled and ran over to rip off a piece of meat.
Cole started to make a comment to Leo, but before he could a cloud of red smoke swirled around the group. They gagged and coughed on the thick smoke, trying to wave it away, until it dissipated like a morning fog. A piece of pork fell from Leo’s mouth as he stood staring at his brothers in shock.
“Everyone alright?” Lysandros called out, examining his body and still coughing from the dense smoke.
“Holy Tartarus, we’ve aged!” Cailean yelled out as he scanned the group.
The men had long hair with unkempt beards, as if they had lived in the wilderness for years.
“Alina did say that would happen,” Brian added while checking himself, making sure nothing changed too much.
“Anyone feel different?” Cole asked.
“Umm, well…yes,” Eoghan replied, awkwardly presenting himself to the group.
His pants rose a few inches above his ankles and his belt seemed to have shrunk around his waist. His normal scruff had turned into a full beard like the rest of the men. His blue tunic ripped from his large, bulging chest muscles. He stood three inches taller than before and his hair fell six inches longer.
“I’m a little different as well,” Breanna added.
Bre’s pants were slightly shorter than before but nowhere near as bad as Eoghan’s. She now filled out her shirt, making it apparent that her bust-line grew. Everyone averted their eyes as she tried to loosen her tunic to make it less obvious. Her hair was longer and her lips fuller. She transformed from a pretty teenager to a beautiful woman armed with killer curves and luscious looks.
“No, no, this won’t do,” Bre said shaking her head at her disheveled and out grown clothing.
Bre snapped her fingers and her clothes changed into a more form-fitting outfit that covered, yet emphasized her features. She was dressed in a green tunic with a black leather girdle around her ribs. Black leather pants hugged her long, slender legs, complete with grey, knee-high riding boots. Her sword hung on her left hip and was sheathed in a silver scabbard, decorated with diamonds and sapphires, and her wavy brown hair was half pinned back with a silver Celtic knot clip.
Eoghan stood behind her, studying every inch of her body until Lysandros cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow accusingly. Eoghan blushed and moved next to Bre so he was not caught staring again.
Breanna laughed at Eoghan’s awkward appearance then snapped her fingers again, changing his clothing as well. His normal scruff replaced his beard. She also trimmed his hair to the length she preferred; short, but long enough to run her fingers through it. He wore a royal blue with brown leather pants and dark brown boots. His sword was sheathed in gold with sapphires.
“Well, aren’t I fancy?” Eoghan chuckled as he scrutinized his new look.
“Delightfully fancy,” Leo jested in a feminine voice then turned around to devour more pork.
Bre pointed her finger at Leo and shot a bolt of silver light at him, zapping him on the hip.
Leo jumped and shouted, “Ow!” He rubbed his side in pain. “That’s just not nice! Now that you guys are all pretty, can we eat now? I’m starving.”
Everyone chuckled and headed to the fire: everyone except Lysandros. He headed to a tent to lie down, noticeably upset about Alina and Remus. Bre felt his sorrow and it broke her heart that she could not ease his pain; he had to grieve on his own terms.
Breanna’s grief was manageable and she knew she had Leora to thank for that. However, losing both her parents in the same month made her nauseous and her breathing shallow. She forced her mind away from the topic to function for the group.
Brian slung an arm around Bre as if he read her mind. “And how are you doing?”
“I’m alright. It helps knowing she and father are together and safe in Annwyn. Besides, with her power I can summon her whenever I want, right?” Bre forced a smile.
“You need to be careful with that power. You remember how hard it was to pull Alina back from that trance when fighting Blythe?” Brian rhetorically asked with a raised eyebrow.
I won’t ever need a reminder of that, Breanna said in her mind, talking to herself.
Clearly you do, Cole said, watching her from the fire where he sharpened a dagger to shave his face.
Mother rarely used that power for a reason, Bre. She could not control it, Nik added, already with a bowl of water and a half-shaven face.
I am not Mother, Bre glared at them and then playfully stuck her tongue out.
“So Bri, how old do you think we are?” Breanna asked, changing the subject before her brothers could retort.
Brian’s forehead wrinkled and eyes narrowed contemplatively. “Let me see.”
Brian placed two fingers on the sides of Bre’s and Eoghan’s temples and closed his eyes, “You are both twenty-one. You’ve aged three years. Congratulations, you can officially start your own tribe, Eoghan.” Bre and Eoghan shook their heads while Brian laughed at his own joke. “Let’s go eat. Tomorrow we will figure out our next step. Tonight, we dine for the dead.”
Cole waved for Bre to join them. She sat in between Cole and Nikolaos around the fire. She picked meat off Cole’s plate as the brothers’ laughed, recounting funny stories about their parents. Cailean stoked the fire, making the flames change colors with his powers. Before he realized, he accidently made the fire grow too big and purple sparks flew in his face, causing everyone to erupt with well-deserved and well needed laughter.
Eoghan stood off the side, watching the gathering until Brian joined him, silently standing next to him and sharing his plate full of pork.
“Come on, out with it. I know you want to say something,” Eoghan said after a few moments of silence.
Brian smirked and slung an arm around Eoghan’s shoulders. “You know me too well, young one. I want you to know that Elpis is not your daughter. You may have helped in conceiving her mortal body but she is born of pure magic from Alina’s blood. I know it is hard to understand. Even I don’t fully understand it, but do not for one second think she is your daughter. She will try to use that emotion against you and Bre. A rift between the two of you is not something we can afford.”
“Trust me, the day I feel anything but pure hatred for that…thing, is the day I fall on my own sword,” Eoghan said, disgusted at the thought of having any warm feelings towards Elpis.
“Good, glad to hear that,” Brian said and patted Eoghan on the back. “Now, what is going on between you and the future Queen?”
Brian half choked on a piece of pork and half laughed at the shocked expression on Eoghan’s face.
“Nothing. She is The Queen. It is my duty to protect her and that is all,” Eoghan said firmly. Brian smirked at the slight, almost unnoticeable waiver in Eoghan’s voice that usually appeared when he lied.
“Mm hmm,” Brian smiled, raising his eyebrow and staring at Eoghan, waiting for the verbal vomit that generally followed one of his lies.
Eoghan shifted uncomfortably and rolled his eyes. “Ugh! Fine. I don’t know what is happening with her, or me, or us, if there even is an us. But the fact of the situation remains that we can never be together. I could never be a king and she could never be ordinary. So tell me, where does that leave us? Her
my master and me her soldier?”
Eoghan’s eyes pleaded for Brian to tell him he was wrong: that a relationship was possible somehow. Brian simply shrugged and headed back to the group. Halfway there, he looked over his shoulder and with a mouth full of pork said, “Everyone has a master. At least she is a pretty one.”
Eoghan rolled his eyes and glared at Brian, who continued to chuckle as he sat next to Cailean. Eoghan sat across from Bre, purposely using the flames as divider. He gazed at Bre through the sparks, caught off guard by how beautiful she became with their instant aging. The flames lit up her face, and the gold flecks in her hazel eyes sparkled in the firelight. She smiled back at him and coyly hid her face.
Eoghan slowly exhaled as he forced his eyes away from hers and studied his boots. “There was no way I am going to survive this fight,” he whispered to himself.
The Phoinix: Age of Demigods Page 59
