The Phoinix: Age of Demigods (27 page)

Brian ran to help his brother, but
before he got there, a giant fireball erupted out of Eversor’s back
and the o’Conaills watched as the clone burned and then burst into
black smoke. Cailean had a cut down his left cheek from Eversor’s
blade.

Brian grabbed his
brother’s wrist and yanked him to his feet
.
“Nice fireball, Cail.”

Cailean shrugged as if it
were nothing and gave a cocky of “
of
course it was” grin.

Brian held a hand up and healed the
gash on Cailean’s cheek.

The o’Conaill brothers
looked around to see who needed their help. They found Alina with a
glowing green whip extended from one hand and her sword in the
other. After the whip
cracked
a part of Eversor’s body, she would jab or slash
with her sword. Blow after blow rained down on Eversor.

“I’d say Alina doesn’t
need our help
,” Cailean said,
impressed.

A few yards away, Whisper, Clover,
Aurora, and Leora took turns jumping and biting chunks out of their
clone. Eversor shot off arrows, but they were aimless. Every time
he went to shoot one, Leora toyed with his emotions, making his
arms weak and his legs tired, rendering them useless.

Suddenly, Aurora attacked with a sound
wave, piercing his eardrums. It was accompanied a bone-chilling
growl that erupted from her mouth. He dropped his bow and covered
his ears as they bled. In his weakened state, Clover and Leora
pounced on him. Leora lunged for the abdomen and Clover for the
head. Brian and Cailean turned away once they heard the crunching
of bones as the animals killed their prey.

Lysandros still sparred
with his Eversor. He rolled and dodged as Eversor lunged for his
legs, abdomen, and head. Eversor caught Lysandros by the throat on
one of his tumbles. The clone gripped Lysandros’ sword
arm
,
and with a
flick of
his
wrist
and
a
loud
snap
.
Pain
surged down
Lysandros’
arm, forcing him to release his sword.

Eversor raised Lysandros
above his head and tightened the grip around his throat. Green
smoke streamed from his hand. Lysandros gritted his teeth, refusing
to scream as he reached into his belt for his
dagger
,
but found
it missing. The panic in his eyes revealed his knowledge that
Eversor would burn him alive if he did not get away
soon.

Brian drew his own dagger
and threw it to Lysandros. Lysandros caught the blade and thrust
downward into Eversor’s neck. He sliced through the
Carotid Artery and
blood
spurted
onto the grass. The glowing orange hand
dimmed
,
and
finally the Eversor clone turned to black smoke.

Lysandros gingerly dabbed at his neck
as he walked over to Brian, who healed his burns and fractured
wrist. “Thanks, Bri. Where is Breanna?”

The three men located
Breanna easily, but before they
could
assess
her fight
,
a giant cloud of black smoke
rolled into their vision
:
remnants of Leo’s clone. They tried to fan it out
of their eyes but choked on its dense consistency.

“Hang on guys, we’re
coming!” a gust of wind blew the remnants of their eyes. When it
cleared
,
Brian,
Cailean, and Lysandros saw Cole with his arms extended and wind
coming out
of
his
palms.

“There’s nothing like the fresh smell
of a centuries old ass-man trying to destroy our sister and the
world!” Leo joked.

“Thanks, Cole,” Cailean said and shook
his hand.

“
There are other battles
going on, so why are we standing here exchanging pleasantries?” Leo
said
,
watching
the fight between Alina and Eversor, wincing every time her whip
cracked him and split his skin bloody.

Cole inhaled sharply and
rubbed the side of his arm as he watched Breanna and Eoghan fight.
“That is going to hurt tomorrow
,” he said
as
Eversor pushed Eoghan aside, causing
Eoghan to ram the side of a boulder with his sword
arm
, knocking
his
sword out of reach.

Breanna dove in front of
Eoghan as Eversor tried to throw a ball of pink light at him. She
swung her sword and batted it back in his face. Boils spread over
Eversor’s body, from
his
head to his feet, making it excruciatingly
painful to move. Breanna kicked Eversor backwards to the ground and
grabbed Eoghan’s sword. She jumped on top of the clone and thrust
her own sword into his heart and Eoghan’s sword into his
belly.

Before Eversor turned to
smoke, he tried to speak
,
but his tongue was covered in popping boils that
prevented him from making
any
noise besides the soft pop of bursting skin.
Breanna snapped her fingers and a small tornado appeared that
sucked up the black smoke.

Breanna whipped around to
reach Eoghan
,
but
a boot slammed the side of her face and
she crashed
to
the ground, smashing
her head
against a rock. Standing over her was her Eversor clone with a
crooked smile.

Eoghan tackled him to the
ground, throwing punch after punch. He beat Eversor into a bloody
mess. The clone’s face swelled
to
twice its size
.
Bruised and bloody
,
he was unrecognizable. When Eoghan
stopped pounding on Eversor’s face, he created a ball of fire and
pushed it into the clone’s chest.

Eoghan launched himself
off the clone
and
onto Breanna to cover her from the flames.

From under Eoghan’s arm,
Breanna watched as Eversor convulsed
and
then burst into flames from the
inside out. She smiled as the flames flickered in his open mouth,
silencing his screams. Finally, the clone turned to black
smoke.

The three brothers, Cailean, and
Lysandros, stood together watching Eoghan and Bre with open mouths,
astonished at their expert fighting.

Brian turned towards
Alina
.
“Well
,
I
guess that means the true Eversor is with Alina.”

Breanna bled from where
her head hit the rock and from her lip
where
Eversor kicked her face. She
sheathed her sword and ran past the group of men watching
Alina.

“Why aren’t you helping
her
?”
Bre yelled
as she sprinted towards her mother.

Nikolaos caught her around the waist
to stop her.

Eoghan sent a fireball at
Nikolaos’ back
,
causing him to release Breanna in order to put out the
flames. Bre dashed towards Alina, who was still using the whip on
the real Eversor. Nikolaos clenched his shaking hands to control
his anger
and
not
beat Eoghan senseless.

“What has come over you?” Nikolaos
growled through gritted teeth.

Eoghan clenched his own fists,
matching Nikolaos’ anger. “Don’t ever touch her like that
again!”

Nik punched Eoghan so hard
in the jaw that Eoghan spun slightly and then fell to his knees. He
then grabbed Eoghan by the collar, forcing his dazed victim to look
him in the eyes as he said, “I was trying to spare her the guilt of
our mother’s death
.”

Chapter 22

Her Father’s
Daughter

B
reanna
was an excellent
fighter
,
and if
you did not know her father, then you would have easily thought she
got her fighting skills from Alina. The two women moved in unison
around their enemy, stalking their prey and biding their time
before striking.

Eversor’s orange hand sent
off different spells at the women. Their smooth moves
counteracted
Eversor’s
perfectly. If an orchestra
were
set up around the battle,
it
would have
seemed
like they were
dancing.

At one
point
, it appeared that
Eversor got the upper hand
on the women. Eoghan tried to rush to Bre’s assistance, but
Cole cast a sleeping spell over him to prevent him from
interfering.

The o’Conaill brothers
stayed out of Bre’s and Alina’s way
,
but noticed a member of their
group was missing. They heard a dog whimpering in the background
and realized Lupa had not been in any of the fights, which is
unlike the daughter of Mars.

She moaned
and
writhed painfully in
the high grass, scratching at the dirt as if begging for help.
Brian and Cailean ran to her after ordering Nikolaos and his
brothers to keep an eye on Eversor. Cailean reached her first. He
knelt down and placed a hand over her abdomen. Lupa winced as he
lightly stroked her fur.

“What’s happening?” Cailean’s voice
shook as he asked Brian, who knelt on Lupa’s other side.

Brian shook his head, unable to
provide an explanation.

Lupa coughed and a golden
feather ejected from her mouth. She tensed up and then fell limp.
Brian and Cailean tried to heal her
,
but her
breathing
stopped completely.
Cailean and Brian held their own breaths in anticipation for her
chest to rise. They narrowed their eyes to see through the
dim
morning light
for the slightest rise of breath.

Suddenly, a rumble echoed
through Lupa’s chest. She let out a low growl
,
warning the
brothers
of her aggression. Every
muscle tensed as she stood up
baring
her teeth. Her eyes no longer
a bright blue now
were
a liquid gold. Brian and Cailean quickly backed away from
her.

“Lupa, it’s
us
.
What’s
wrong?” Brian
fearfully
asked
.

Lupa dug her claws into
the dirt then bounded over Brian’s head
,
sprinting towards Alina and
Breanna.

Lysandros, Cole, Leo and
Nikolaos thought nothing of Lupa’s actions. They assumed she had
her own clone to contend with and
was
now
going
to help the girls. They
quickly lost that assumption when Lupa tackled Alina and ripped the
whip out of her hand. She then lunged at Bre, but Clover slammed
into
her
mid-air,
knocking her to the ground. The two dogs continued to wrestle and
snap at each other in a blur of white and grey fur.

An evil smile appeared on
Eversor’s face and he let out a screeching whistle. Lupa halted
her
attack
and
trotted over to Eversor. Her fur
was
ruffled with patches of blood
around her neck. Clover, not taking her eyes off Lupa, slowly
limped next to Breanna.

Eversor patted Lupa’s head as he
chuckled, “Good girl. Sit. Stay.”

“
What have you done to
her?” Nikolaos shouted. His mouth hung open as he stared in horror
at Lupa.

“I haven’t done a thing.
It was her own action
of
killing the eagle,” he said, brandishing his
wicked grin. “She is my servant now. Ha-ha! I have to say, I never
thought I would have a daughter of Mars as a servant! This is a
victory
, despite
not killing any of you. With her at my
side
,
the chances
of you dying have greatly increased, Princess,” Eversor
said
to Breanna but
stared at Alina. "The next time we meet, many will die and one will
be reborn."

Aurora hissed and readied herself to
pounce, but when she lunged at Eversor, he and Lupa
vanished.

Everyone looked to Brian for
answers.

“
Well?” Leo asked
impatiently.

“Well what? We just lost a
powerful ally and Eversor gained a powerful weapon,” Brian
snapped
,
losing
his temper.

“Yes, but how?” Nik paced in front of
the group, trying to wrap his head around the situation. “And what
did he mean by one will be reborn?”

Cole woke Eoghan up from the sleeping
spell. Cailean had to hold him back from attacking the
brothers.

“The blood of the Birds of
Elpis is tainted with whatever power remains from Elpis’ spirit. I
remember a rumor that if the blood enters your body you could
become touched in the mind, clearly a possession and not a mental
affliction. I see
it
is one of the more accurate rumors,” Brian rubbed his temples
trying to remember more
.
“As for who will be reborn, I am afraid to
speculate before we have more facts, although I greatly fear the
answer.”