The Heart of War

by Lisa Beth Darling

  “Are you done yet?”

  “What?” Maggie turned around shaken out of her daze and dreams of long rolling green hills.

  “You’ve been down here two hours,” Ares said. “I came to make sure you hadn’t drowned.” He held out a large towel to her. “Come, it’s late, I’ve a room for you.” She grimaced. “Not that one.” Ares shook his head as her face brightened again and she took the towel from his hand. He noticed that she was very careful to avoid looking at the weights in the corner. “Do you have something against body building?”

  “Not particularly. Where are my clothes?” Maggie asked, wrapping the towel around her body as she emerged from the hot spring.

  “I burned them,” Ares admitted. “They were rags,” he said quickly, “the ocean turned them to tatters. I will give you new clothing.”

  “I see what the normal dress code is around here.” She rolled her gray eyes. “I’m not sure I’d look good in a bikini made of animal skins.”

  “I bet you look just fine in it,” Ares complimented as the image skipped through his head. He led her out of the spa and through the cave to a room on the second level near the steps to his bedroom. “You will stay here,” Ares said as he opened the door. Maggie stepped inside to see a rather a cozy room. It had a fireplace, a dresser, an armoire, a small table, a chair, books, and a bed that was not made of stone. It had an honest to God mattress with real blankets and pillows. She looked up at him with questioning eyes.

  “Not everything in my home is hard and cold,” Ares intoned as he held out a brass key. “For the door.”

  “You have problems getting through locked doors?”

  Ares snorted and then chuckled. “Doors are not a problem for me but you’ll feel safer this way.” He closed her hand around the key. “There are others here besides me. You will find suitable clothing in the armoire. You will also find bandages and salves in the vanity over there. I would offer to help you but I do not think you would accept my assistance in this rather delicate matter.”

  “You would be correct.”

  Ares sighed. “You know, I don’t believe anyone has more experience tending wounds than I do. I could be of help to you.”

  Maggie nodded her head and her gray eyes misted over even as she tried to stop the tears welling in her eyes. “You already have.” Without thinking about it and before she knew what she was doing, Alena rose up on her tiptoes and placed her hand on his shoulder. Ares thought she wanted to tell him something quietly and he bent his head to listen.

  She kissed his bearded cheek and then nuzzled her own against it. “Thank you.”

  The gesture was simple, innocent, and heartfelt. It made the God of War swallow hard as he was once again stunned into silence. The best he could managed was, “Good night, Alena.”

  Chapter Six

  A Hunting We Will Go

  1

  Alena spent five days wandering around Ares’ island and his home with no direction or purpose. She tried to give Kat as wide a berth as possible. Every time they crossed paths the woman stared daggers at her and Alena would quickly lower her head and scurry on her way. She had no wish to upset the Lady of the Cave and understood that her presence was more than just an annoyance. As Alena was a guest, Kat could not order her around and Ares was visibly displeased if she tried.

  Ares tried to make Kat treat Alena as she would any other guest but the problem was Ares hadn’t had a guest on his island in centuries. All of the women here catered to her and that was the way Kat liked it. When Ares insisted she serve Alena or wait upon her, Kat balked. Alena, not wanting to cause any friction, always took the peaceful way out of any situation saying she could do something on her own and didn’t require any assistance. She meant it to defuse the situations, but in the end it only made Ares smolder as his orders were not being followed.

  Although why Kat, so beautiful and strong, should feel threatened by her Alena did not know. Surely Kat knew that Ares was not fond of taking virgins and that he did have plenty of women to keep him warm and satisfied. Kat put up with them although it was clear she was the boss and was very accustomed and comfortable telling the other women what to do and when to do it.

  Alena thought it best to avoid both Kat and Ares as much as possible and for as long as possible. She tried to make friends with some of the other women; Onya was particularly nice to her. Onya was the cook, and while on her walks Alena would pick fresh herbs, fruits, vegetables and other wildly growing things for the meals Onya prepared. The young woman seemed to like that very much and on each night had invited her to stay in the kitchen and help as she cooked dinner. Onya wasn’t looking for the assistance, but the company, and the two of them made small talk as they made the evening meal for all who lived on the island. She was a sweet young woman and Alena quickly took to her.

  While Ares’ other women spoke to her without a nasty undertone, she did not think she would find any warmth and sisterhood among them as they were not very friendly with each other. It seemed Ares was in high demand among his women and he was rather choosy. Those he tended to neglect were particularly grumpy and more apt to jump when Kat told them to, hoping she’d put in a good word for them or something.

  Ares treated them more like possessions than people. At any given moment she could walk around a corner and be face to face with him putting that staff of his to one or two or three of them. Night after night she heard the sounds coming from Ares’ bedroom above her. Sometimes they made her stuff her head deeply under the pillows and blankets, holding her hands to her ears while she hummed a tune or tried to think of something—anything—other than what might be going on above her. Other nights they were intriguing and she would listen, letting her mind run away with her as it conjured up scenarios to match the sounds.

  The few males on the island who served as Ares’ guards were well tended to, well housed, well clothed, well fed, and from what she’d seen last night they were well fucked when Ares allowed it. Ares and his guards sat around the huge rough table in his throne room, drinking, smoking cigars and playing poker. They laughed, drank and played until the wee hours of the morning while Ares’ women—those who appeared to Alena to be the least favored of them—waited upon the men, bringing whatever they wanted and giving them whatever Ares told them to. He seemed fond of betting their favors along with coins of gold, even fonder of watching them pay his debt. The women didn’t seem to mind; they especially appeared to enjoy their encounters with the twins Daniel and David. They were identical in every way from the sandy hair atop their handsome heads to their piercing blue eyes and sly shy smiles. However Nicco, the Captain of the Guard, and his closest companion Scopas did not seem to be so welcomed by the women. They paid off Ares’ debts to those men but they did not coo and they did not smile.

  She was tired, so tired. She hadn’t slept well since her first night and she could hardly remember that. Night after night when Morpheus came, it brought the strangest dreams that she was falling. Falling. Falling down and down from a very great height, the wind swept past her, making her cold and just before she could hit the bottom—or in this case what looked like water—she woke up stifling a scream. On at least one occasion, she would have sworn there was someone in the room, hidden in the dark corner, when she woke.

  Feeling unwanted and wishing she were alone, every day she made her way down to the shore where she had begun her new life on this island and looked out over the sea. So far Ares had been right, no matter when she came here or for how long she stared not a single ship met her eye. There was nothing but ocean, sky and a few small islands beyond the menacing reefs. The longer she stayed here the more likely Cernunnos was to find her. When that happened, Ares God of War had better strut his stuff or everyone here would soon be residing in the Underworld. If she could just get off the island then at least the others would not be in danger.

  On her trips to the beach she scoured it far, wide and deep, looking for any sign of a boat, a dock, a mooring. There was nothin
g. Not even a scrap of the ship that wrecked and left her here. The best she would be able to do would be to swim to the nearest island. Most days it didn’t look so very far away. Staring at the distant shore, she wondered how long it would take her to swim there and what she would find on the other side.

  Yesterday as she had stood on the shore daydreaming about her escape, Ares appeared at her side. She had not been alone with him or made any move to be and she was startled to see him there. “You’re looking very well, Alena,” he complimented. He’d been right, a few days of rest and good food had done wonders for her. Now the sun kissed her pale cheeks, the warm color chased away the haggardness. The lines left by struggle and toil were gone, leaving her face smooth and youthful. Her shoulder-length silver hair was no longer caked with salt and sand. It shone brilliantly around her face, helping to light up those extraordinary gray eyes. Just as he thought on the night she arrived, the little Fey was beautiful. Quite stunning. “I see my island agrees with you.”

  “Thank you,” Alena mumbled and went back to gazing across the water to the nearest island.

  Ares looked off in the direction so intensely holding her attention. “Three days.”

  “What?”

  “That’s how long it will take you to swim there. That is what you’re thinking of, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t think it would take so long.”

  “Trust me, woman, that island is a lot further than it appears. Three full days of non-stop swimming. Think you’re up for it?” Ares mused. “Do you know what you would find over there?” He waited while she turned her eyes away from the deep blue sea and up to him. “Nothing. Not a soul, no animal life either. So tell me, woman, what would you do on an island such as that? How would you survive? On walnuts and grapes that are quickly dying for the season?” He chuckled.

  Her hopes of escape to the nearest island dashed, she whispered to him. “Let me go.”

  “No,” was all he said in return then he disappeared from her sight, leaving her alone on the beach.

  2

  What Alena was unaware of was the fact that Nicco shadowed her every step at Kat’s insistence. Never was she alone; he was always less than ten yards away and she was always in his line of sight. Every night Nicco reported to Kat on what Alena did that day and whether or not the Fey had been with Ares.

  Every day Alena picked an endless supply of herbs and flowers that she put into a wicker basket to bring back to the cave. Alena filled her room, and to Ares’ dismay, several other rooms in the cave with them. She often tucked them into her silver-gray hair before skipping and flitting along, barefoot, to wherever she was going. Near the end of her daily journeys, she took a dip in the pool with its rushing waterfall.

  Nicco had no idea why Alena seemed to prefer the cold waterfall to the hot spring in the cave, he was only glad that she did as he’d become very fond of this. The Fey would strip off all of her clothing, wade into the water, swim out to the far end, and then stand below the waterfall in the warm afternoon sun. She was a very pleasing sight indeed, especially now that her wounds healed so nicely and her skin was unmarred. The most pleasing sights came when she finished bathing. Alena would lay herself out on the warm rocks, letting the sun beat down upon her naked body, her hands scampering across her breasts before they wandered between her legs. Unfortunately, he’d yet to witness her actually inserting her fingers into that unused hole but she rubbed that little clit like there was no tomorrow. Coos and hot rushes of air escaping her lips as those slender hips rocked up and down.

  In his place in the bushes, Nicco would strip down his slacks, take his pulsing member in his hand and beat off furiously. Imagining what it would be like to break through that virgin territory. Feel her hot blood easing his passage deeper and deeper into her.

  As she lay there in the sun yesterday exploring her own body, something startled her. She sat up and grabbed for her gown as she looked around. Nicco had been in mid-stroke and just inches away from his climax when he became certain that she’d seen or heard him. She wasn’t looking in his direction, her eyes fixed opposite him and he thought her about to speak, but then she turned slowly toward him as though she were watching someone walk away from her. The next thing Nicco knew, an unseen force lifted him off the ground by his throat and propelled him backward through the forest. The trip was short and abrupt; when they were away from the Fey’s earshot and line of sight, Ares made himself visible.

  “Touch her and die, Nicco.”

  “Of course, my Lord. I would never do such a thing.”

  “Don’t even think about it. I’ll cut off your dick and feed it to Cerberus,” Ares warned and then disappeared from Nicco’s sight, but whether the God of War still stood there or if he went off to another part of the island, Nicco couldn’t say.

  One custom that was almost never broken in Ares’ home was that all who lived on the island sat down for their evening meal together. That night Ares insisted Alena sit at his left at the table while they dined, displacing Nicco, and seating her directly across from Kat. Earlier in the day Alena brought back a very large bouquet of Dragon Arum and placed it in the center of the table in Ares’ throne room. When Ares asked why they were on his table and beginning to pop up in other areas of his home, Alena told him the place needed a woman’s touch. Daniel tried to hold back the chuckle but it was difficult once he took in the exasperated expression on Ares’ face; he had ended up excusing himself from the room and going outside with David close behind. Kat, however, did not seem to find Alena’s comment amusing. She leered openly at the woman for the remainder of the meal, refusing to eat it, saying it was nothing more than pig slop. Happy in putting a damper on the otherwise lighthearted mood of the evening, Kat sat there drinking wine with her arms crossed until the meal was over and plotting ways to get rid of the newcomer.

  Later in the night, Ares gave Kat to the twins, Daniel and David Jackson. This was her punishment for having had the audacity to be so crass at his table and Ares’ suspicion that Kat had been so devious as to set Nicco about Alena behind Ares’ back.

  3

  There was more than flora here, there was fauna as well, and last night as Alena and Onya made a rather tasty rabbit stew, Alena noticed the meat stores were getting low. There was a smokehouse on the island, but there wasn’t much in it and refrigeration did not exist here. When she awoke early this morning, she thought she might make herself useful and go hunting. Ares had a plethora of weapons to choose from, everything from modern day heavy artillery to ancient bows and arrows. Here she stood in the throne room making her choice.

  She wanted one of the bows but they were all so big. The swords were no good and she wasn’t very adept at throwing daggers or other sharp objects. Back at the camp they hunted with handgun when possible, but the handguns here were unloaded and she could not find the ammunition. The men at the camp had also hunted with spears and she had as well but, like the swords and bows, the spears here were meant for someone much larger than she was.

  Alena stood there with her finger to her lip carefully considering her options with her foot tapping absently on the dirt floor. In the corner, next to a tartan that did not belong on a Greek Island, stood a massive sword that she instantly recognized as being a Claymore. By nature, they were huge swords with a double edge running all the way down the blade to a heavy, usually wooden, hilt. However, she had never seen one that big! Her eyes darting around the room again to be sure she was alone, she just had to satisfy her curiosity and pick it up. Alena had to wrap both of her hands around the hilt just to move it from its place.

  Raising it up off the floor, she held it out in front of her. “By the Gods!” she exclaimed while imagining the fear and terror it must have struck in its victims.

  “Put that down.”

  “What?” Startled, Alena turned around to see Ares standing there but she turned too quickly. The blade gained momentum as it wobbled in her already tenuous grasp. Ares jumped backward as the blade came a
round toward him. Unable to keep the heavy blade upright as it took her for a spin, Alena’s body pitched forward. The blade hit the dirt at her feet, stopped abruptly and the hilt jammed into her stomach. She let out a little gasp of pain.

  “You’re lucky it wasn’t your foot,” Ares sneered and grabbed the sword out of her hand. “What are you doing with this?” Ares held the sword next to her, the tip on the dirt, holding it straight up. “It is bigger than you,” he pronounced, looking at the top of her head and the top of the hilt, which was clearly a good three inches above her.

  “I’m sorry,” Alena mumbled. “I meant no harm, Lord Ares.”

  “Difficult to do harm with something you can hardly lift,” he scoffed and put the sword back in its place and then sat on his throne waiting for her to answer his question.

  Alena had hoped to grab a suitable weapon and go about her business, but now she had to ask his permission. Quietly she told him that she had noticed the meat stores were low. “I thought I might hunt something for you,” she ventured timidly.

  His full lips pursed as his brow furrowed and he leaned forward to look at her closer. “You? Hunt? For me?” Ares waved one of his large hands in the air in a dismissive motion. “What Fey hunts? I thought you ate the twigs and berries of the forest. Grazers.”