Chapter 28
Rebirth of the Queen
“Hurry, Bre. Get us free,” Eoghan demanded.
“I don’t know how!” Bre said frantically.
Tap into The Power you experienced with the Birds of Elpis. Feel your power’s energy course outward from your heart. Let its warmth fill you. Then say the first thing that comes to your mind, Cole’s voice came to her rescue.
Apparently, our psychic connection can travel far distances, Bre said, shocked by Cole’s sudden advice.
Bre followed Cole’s instructions. Her power spread from her chest to her limbs, then to her head. It was peaceful, unlike before with the intense pressure that broke her body. It felt perfect: perfectly hers. Unexpectedly, she snapped her fingers and shouted, “Saoirse.”
Free from their magical binds, Eoghan and Caedmon sprinted into the woods.
As Bre was about to follow, a nasty snarl caused her to jump and whip around.
“Lupa!” shouted Bre, surprised by the she-wolf. She ran towards her and without thinking twice, withdrew her dagger and cut away the vines.
Once freed, Lupa lunged at Bre, pinning her to the ground. With Lupa’s Teeth inches from Bre’s face, Clover slammed into her, knocking her off Bre. Whisper reared and tried to knock Lupa out with his hoof before she could get up.
Instead, Bre called them off with a whistle and faced Lupa as she snarled. Bre walked towards the wolf with her hands out until finally close enough to touch her. Lupa cornered herself in between two trees while trying to escape Bre.
Every time Bre moved to touch her, Lupa snapped at her hands. “Easy. I’m here to help you. I know how to help now,” Bre said in a soothing voice.
Bre stepped closer and Lupa lunged again, but Bre froze the wolf midair. She immediately pet the top of her head soothingly. Bre pet the large wolf and mumbled “síochána” under her breath. The wolf’s eyes rolled into the back of her head and she started convulsing.
“It’s alright, Lupa. I’m here. You’ll be ok now,” Bre continued to sooth her.
After a few more minutes, Lupa’s eyes returned to a bright blue instead of liquid gold.
“Please let me down,” requested Lupa.
Bre unfroze Lupa. Once on the ground, Lupa showed her affection and appreciation by licking Bre’s face and rubbing against her hands.
In all of her excitement to save Lupa, the return of the screams went unnoticed, until the pain in her stomach reappeared and forced her attention back to the woods. Bre sprinted towards the dense woods but slid to a stop when two bodies flew out from the trees. Eoghan and Caedmon slammed face first into the ground.
“Eoghan!” Bre ran and helped Eoghan to his feet. Her hand tightly lingered on his until he squeezed back, signaling he was all right.
“It’s Haley, he’s torturing Haley in there. We can’t get close enough to stop him,” Eoghan explained, slipping his hand away from Bre’s comforting grasp.
“He has a shield charm around a cave where he’s holding my sister,” Caedmon added.
“You keep mentioning this girl. Who is she?” Bre asked, more concerned than jealous now.
“It will be easier to show you. Do you remember what Brian did? How he shared his memories with you?” Eoghan asked frantically.
“Yes, but I’m not sure how to do it,” Bre felt awful that she might let Eoghan down.
“You don’t have to. I can,” Eoghan said, placing his hand on either side of her head and closing his eyes.
Bre closed her eyes as electricity shot through her body at Eoghan’s touch. All of Eoghan’s memories from the past few hours flooded into her mind: Eversor’s cabin in the woods where he hid Haley, the fight in the nemeton, and how Haley single handedly trapped Eversor and Lupa using her powers. That was all she needed to know, but Eoghan could not stop. He struggled against the pull of his powers that surged into Bre’s mind, trying to withdraw his fingers; but they refused to release. The memories continued onto Eoghan’s arrival to the nemeton and unfortunately, onto the intimate night he shared with Haley.
Bre exhaled a jagged breath of disbelief and pain at the image of Eoghan with another woman.
Her powers raced to her head, pushing Eoghan’s hands away and snapping her out of his memories. When they opened their eyes, they realized they had been lip-locked the entire time. She immediately retreated and prayed her tears went unnoticed. Eoghan stared in shock and guilt.
“Bre, I’m so sorry. I never meant for you to find out like that.” Eoghan extended a hand to soothe her but Bre flinched, recoiling from his touch. Clover growled behind Bre. Eoghan immediately retracted. “Bre…” he said her name breathlessly.
“No worries,” Bre faked a smile. “It’s your life. Besides, Druantia was here, a fertility goddess. The whole camp succumbs to her powers, right?” Bre tried to convince herself that it was nothing but Druantia’s spell over the nemeton. She then remembered what his first concern was when she found him…Haley.
Caedmon cleared his throat. “You can make up your mind whether you want my sister or this Etrusci brat after we save Haley from certain death.”
“Death? I was not going to kill this precious flower,” Eversor said, dragging Haley by the arm next to him. She struggled to keep pace with him, stumbling over her feet as she cradled her enormously pregnant stomach with her free hand.
Speechless, Caedmon and Eoghan watched Eversor force Haley to sit the ground.
“What have you done to my sister?” Caedmon shouted. He lunged at Eversor with his sword.
“No!” Haley, Eoghan, and Bre shouted in unison, but nothing could deter Caedmon from attacking.
Eversor laughed at his feeble assault and snapped his fingers. The snap was loud in the clearing, but it was not the snap of Eversor’s fingers that rang out. Caedmon’s head jerked to the side, his neck sickeningly misshapen. His limp body landed inches from Haley’s feet.
Bre covered her mouth to muffle her scream. Eoghan fought his rage to prevent himself from attacking. The need to protect Bre and Haley held him back. If he died, they were vulnerable.
Haley shrieked and sobbed. All she wanted to do was crawl to her brother, but Eversor stood in front of her, barring her from reaching him. All she could do was hold her extremely large belly as she cried.
Eversor looked pleased, even amused, as he said, “Anybody else wish to try?”
Lupa growled as she stood next to Bre and snarled, “You will pay for everything you did on these sacred lands.”
“Hey! Look who woke up!” Eversor seemed excited to see Lupa out of her possession. “I love when I have an audience.” He menacingly grinned at Haley.
“Why did you leave the safety of your protection spell?” Bre asked, attempting to distract Eversor from doing any more harm to Haley. She hoped it was not Eversor’s baby.
“Because, my sweet Breanna, I felt your beautiful essence and I just missed you so much,” Eversor said as he placed a hand over his heart and faked a look of admiration. His expression then turned contemplative. “Although, we are missing somebody. Ah! I know!”
Eversor snapped his fingers and a puff of green smoke appeared next to Breanna. Standing, waving away the smoke was Alina.
“Mother?” Breanna said stunned. She jumped in front of Alina to shield her from Eversor. “No, you can’t have her!”
“Oh, darling, I can have anything I please.” Eversor flashed a wicked smile. “Like, for instance, I want you all to bow.” Eversor held two fingers in the air then pointed downward. Everyone, including the animals, fell against their will and bowed to Eversor.
“See how easy that is for me?” Eversor laughed.
Eversor bent down and dragged Haley in front of the bowing group as if presenting her on a platter. She tried to shield her stomach, but he waved his finger in a ‘tisk-tisk’ motion. He then held two fingers in the air and separated them quickly. Haley’s arms fell to her sides and felt as if they were glued to the ground.
&nb
sp; Eversor hovered his hands over Haley’s stomach and mumbled under his breath. Haley belted out the same nauseating scream heard from the woods.
Once again, Bre’s stomach felt as if it were being ripped apart.
As Eversor continued to mumble, Haley’s stomach grew bigger and bigger. With each scream, tear, and plea from Haley, Eversor smiled excitedly.
“Stop hurting her, she is a High Priestess. You are being sacrilegious to your own religion,” Alina pleaded.
Eversor removed his hands from over Haley’s belly. Her stomach grew to twice the size it was when they emerged from the woods. Instead of looking eight months pregnant, she looked as if she were sixteen.
“Why are you growing a child, Eversor? What could you possibly get from a baby?” Alina asked, trying to distract him.
“Not what, Your Majesty. Who…” Eversor answered, staring at Alina with a ravenous look on his face.
Eversor moved so quickly that neither Alina nor Eoghan could see him, but Bre saw him perfectly clear. He stood up and raced towards Alina, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her to Haley.
When he returned to normal speed, he had a firm grip on Alina’s arm and a dagger in his hand. He slit her palm open and rubbed the open cut over Haley’s stomach, smearing Alina’s blood. When he was done, he tossed Alina aside like a ragdoll. She fell back on the grass next Eoghan, who was still kneeling and unable to move.
“Thank you kindly,” Eversor said sadistically.
The blood smeared on Haley’s stomach absorbed into her belly, and her screams filled the nemeton again. Whatever Eversor incubated through Haley was about to emerge.
In his delight at watching Haley, Eversor forgot about the spell holding everyone to the ground. They stood up, recognizing their chance to escape.
“Go,” Alina, whispered to Eoghan and Bre.
They sprinted towards the entrance of the nemeton until something yanked Alina backwards.
“You are mine, Your Majesty,” Eversor’s eyes widened with frenzy as he grabbed Alina by her hair. He conjured chains around her wrists and flung her next to Haley, who now had an infant sized head pushing through the skin of her stomach.
Alina gasped. She touched the bulge in Haley’s stomach and whispered to herself, “The prophecy. ‘Many will die and one will be reborn. The Queen will rise again and half will be stolen.’” Alina turned to Bre, who was being restrained by Eoghan. “I am so sorry, Breanna.”
A loud crack broke Alina’s apologetic gaze. Haley’s stomach, too heavy for her body, slumped to the left side towards Alina. The top of her stomach almost touched the forest floor, while her upper body remained straight and unmoved. The twisted position of her body made it obvious her spine had broken under the weight of her pregnancy. Her legs went limp as she grabbed Alina’s hand, screaming from the burning pressure inside her belly. Water gushed from between her legs and a golden light erupted from her stomach.
The group heard gurgling and another loud crack as the light streamed out from Haley’s abdomen. Screams of a baby replaced her agonizing screeches. Eversor reached into the light and emerged with a newborn girl. He gaped at the child with such love and devotion, sickeningly gazing at the child as if she were a lover.
“Hello, Darling,” Eversor said, swaddling the baby in his black cloak and rocking it in his arms.
Eoghan loosened his grip around Bre in shock of the baby and Breanna dashed to Alina.
Eversor did not want to physically hurt Bre; he still had plans for her. Instead, he chose to hurt her emotionally. He sent an energy ball large enough to electrocute her animals and Eoghan while she rushed to her mother’s side.
However, Breanna’s powers instinctively took over and she shouted, “Integere." A purple light shielded the animals and Eoghan from Eversor’s attack.
Bre unsheathed her sword and slashed through the chains around Alina. Breanna knew that she needed help and without thinking, her power pulsated from her chest. Shortly after, swarms of birds dove down at Eversor. The trees once again came alive and swung their limbs at the baby.
Bre and Alina tried to pick Haley up while nature distracted Eversor with its attack, but her arms were slack and her skin cold. Bre slowly turned to Eoghan to find him staring at Haley lying dead at their feet. Blood trickled down from Haley’s eyes and mouth. The gurgling noise had been her choking on her own blood.
“Eoghan, I’m so sorry, but we have to go.” Breanna grabbed his hand and dashed towards the exit, dragging him behind her.
Breanna whistled and Whisper raced to her side. Before they climbed on his back, Breanna looked over her shoulder to check for her mother and froze. Alina stood still a few feet away from Bre with her back slightly arched, a small puddle of red liquid forming on her chest.
“I told you, you would suffer more than you ever thought possible. You should have died in the palace before I realized who you were,” Eversor whispered into Alina’s ear as he held the enchanted dagger in her back.
Eversor had managed to destroy the birds and the trees attacking him. Smoldering trees and dead birds littered the field behind him. With a baby in one hand and the dagger in the other, he twisted the blade deeper into Alina’s back. Once satisfied with the wound, he kicked Alina in the middle of her back to slide the dagger out. The dagger emerged with a small red ribbon wrapped around the bloody blade.
Alina fell forward, helpless after her attack. Eoghan caught the injured queen and dragged her over to Clover, who stood over the queen protectively. Eoghan turned to snap Bre back to her senses, shaking her, but shock froze her body. All Bre could manage to do was watch Eversor dangle the dagger with the ribbon over the baby. To Bre’s horror, Eversor plunged the dagger into the baby’s chest.
“Bre!” Alina shouted and held out a hand to summon Bre to her side.
Bre tore her eyes away from Eversor and ran to her mother and Clover. She whistled once more for the rest of her animals, including Lupa. Alina slammed her fist into the ground and the earth split in two.
“Follow me,” Alina whispered, hyperventilating as she rolled into the pit. All the animals followed.
“Where in Tartarus does that lead?” Breanna asked in alarm.
“That is exactly where it leads.” Eoghan grabbed Breanna’s hand and jumped after Alina.
Breanna strained her neck upward to make sure Eversor did not follow. She witnessed Eversor’s baby glowing red as the mouth of the pit closed above them, cloaking them in silent darkness. A cool wind carrying the scent of moldy earth and fresh fruit filled their noses.
A booming laugh and a coarse voice broke the silence in the pit. “Welcome to Annwyn.”
The Phoinix: Age of Demigods Page 57