The Heart of War

by Lisa Beth Darling

  “NO!” Cernunnos thundered as he watched the souls fly away. “Artemis!” Then something else caught his eye; the wide cold grin on Alena’s face. It was easy to see her wicked deed pleased her and the fact that she had done what Ares’ wanted pleased her even more. In great anger, he thrust his arm out in front of his body and tossed of bolt of energy that hit Alena square in the abdomen. It knocked her off her feet before taking her for a whirlwind ride through the air. “You bitch! You’re more trouble than you’re worth!”

  At the sound of the breaking glass and the commotion, the guards let their attentions drop from Mae and she charged at her Father’s back. “Stop it, Father! Leave my daughter alone!” The old Fey pounced upon Cernunnos’ back and began punching him.

  The Great Horned God let out a roar as he shook Mae off his back and she fell to the floor. His face, gnarled with anger, turned to Alena who was on the floor trying to recover from the blow. He raised his hoof and brought it down hard upon Mae’s head without breaking his stare. Mae’s head split open like a ripe melon, her brains and blood spilled out onto the floor as her body twitched for but a single moment and then she lay still evermore. “Whore.”

  “MAMA!” Alena screamed and stretched her arm out in the direction of her already dead mother. Gray eyes welling with tears and stomach turning so hard, she was certain she would throw up, suddenly her swollen face and aching jaw were in a vice grip as Cernunnos turned her to look at him with no space between them.

  “Whore’s daughter,” he hissed. “You’re not good enough to bear my seed.” The Great Horned God cocked back his fist to strike her.

  4

  Ares materialized several hundred yards away from Cernunnos’ fortress high upon a hilltop looking down only to see it protected by the force field in the shape of dome much like the one Adrian used to shield himself with during the battle on the beach. He could not teleport through the walls and since Cernunnos was aware that Ares knew of the tunnels, Ares thought they were guarded Druids.

  Alena was in there…somewhere. Even from this distance, Ares could feel her and what he felt was not good. He couldn’t hear her thoughts or connect with her mind but he felt her presence; the impression he received was one of exhaustion, still defiant, but near defeat. “Don’t give up, Alena,” Ares whispered to the sky. “I’m here. I’m coming.”

  Beneath the dome, inside the walls of the fortress several torches burned to light up the courtyard and expose anyone wandering about. Ares heard the barking of dogs that sounded hungry and ready to tear flesh from bone the first chance they received at a meal. He looked to the small buildings Alena told him of earlier and they were dark. No lights. No torches. That did not mean Druids did not lurk inside them ready to pounce in ambush.

  The tower, the inner fortress lit up both from without and within. Two huge rows of torches burned around the perimeter turning the night to near day for three hundred yards around it. Windows in the building were few and were just as Alena had drawn them for him. The circular tower had four floors, each with four windows one to each of the four directions. Other than that, it was solid stone. Cernunnos’ bedroom was at the top but his Great Hall was on the main floor. The window there burned brightly with light, brighter than the others around it.

  In the light of the full moon, Ares turned his gaze to those torches burning around the base of the tower and the smoke rising from them. He followed the stream upward to the top of the dome where it did not stop but rather wafted through. Air and smoke could come and go as they pleased so as not to taint the environment the dome was to protect.

  It had been a very long time since Ares conjured up a firestorm. As he stood on the hilltop, his dark eyes rolled back in his head so that only the whites were visible, the sky began to darken and the wind to howl. All around him deer, bear, rabbit, squirrel, wolf, side-by-side predator-to-prey, began slinking away from the Danger Zone.

  The moonlit sky suddenly flared like a blazing sunset as fire rained down from it and as it sprang up from the bowels of the Earth itself in massive eruptions that rocked the ground until flames engulfed the entire circumference of the Fortress. The wind blew at gale force from all sides, feeding the flames until they converged in a whirlwind. The fire leapt higher and the smoke began to billow in the direction of the dome as it was sucked to the center by the centrifugal force of the charging winds.

  Opening his eyes to take in the scene as he felt the raging flood of the battle rip through him, Ares looked down at the scene. As the smoke flooded in, the Druids scrambled to the walls to defend the Fortress from the invader. It was a foolish mistake, one easily made by those trained in magick but not in combat.

  The smoke wrapped around the guards on the walls even as they fled their posts in search of clean air below. The guards began to scream when the smoke followed them with a mind of its own. It chased them off their walls and into the courtyard, descending down to the ground rather than wafting up to the top of the dome. Ares watched with a cold smile as the guards hurried to hurl magick spells at the smoke, probably hoping to disperse it, but all of their energy bolts simply went right through the attacking smoke. The closer to the dome they were when their staffs discharged the more damage they did to it from the inside until it began to crack like glass. The staffs continued their wild discharges even as the smoke enveloped the men, bringing them down to the ground, their hands around their own throats as they gasped for air and found nothing but thick black smoke to fill their lungs.

  “Some days, it’s really good to be me,” Ares remarked just as he was about to teleport to the battle, then he saw four small balls of light zipping around in the dome. With the smoke so thick and deep he couldn’t be sure of where they had come from but he watched them burst through the barrier flying high up into the sky to escape the flames. Three of them kept on flying, up, up, up and away. One hovered in the air, it stopped and seemed to consider something, and then it turned in his direction and came toward him. Ares raised his sword with one hand and conjured a fireball in the other. Yet, the little ball of light stopped about five yards from him and simply hovered there. “Come on if you’re coming!” Ares dared, not knowing what kind of magick he was facing.

  “Ares?”

  The voice was faint, soft, and familiar. “Artemis?” Before his wondering eyes, the little ball of light turned into the ghostly shape of his long lost sister. “Oh, my Sister.” He did not know what was going on down there but somehow Alena managed to free Artemis from her captivity in a colorful little crystal bottle.

  Frightened but happy to be free, Artemis looked back toward the fortress. “He has my friend, Maggie. Please free her, my Brother. Do not kill her, she’s nothing to do with this.”

  “I know,” Ares returned, still dumbfounded by the vision. “I will rescue her, I love her.”

  “Love?” The Goddess of the Hunt wanted to join in the fight and help Ares but she could do nothing. Artemis was only a soul; as such, she had no power left here on this Earth. She was very happy to know that her brooding brutish brother had fallen in love with little Maggie. To her the match seemed perfect. “I miss you.” She floated a little closer to Ares, wishing she could touch him one last time.

  “And I you. So much.” Ares, even though he knew it was impossible, couldn’t help but reach out for her hand. It passed right through her. “Go, Artemis, go to your Reward. Hades will care for you now. When you get there tell him Cernunnos is not far behind.”

  “Good-bye, Ares.” The apparition of his once lively sister turned back into a little ball of light and shot into the air, leaving Ares behind.

  Feeling heartened by the sight of his Sister, Ares charged on. Nearly certain the tunnels would now be empty as the guards would come running to aid in the fight taking place on the walls and in the courtyard, Ares was torn between sneaking in and continuing his full-frontal assault of the fortress. A full-on charge would be quickest and he liked the sight of those cracks in the dome. Remembering what Alena told hi
m on the beach regarding a similar dome that had encased Adrian, he teleported to the very top of the dome and looked down. It was difficult to see through the smoke, but if there was anyone moving around down there they were only writhing and gasping for breath. Most of the energy bolts of the staffs landed on the upper portions of the dome and he quickly found a huge spider-web crack. Drawing the sword, Ares began to pound upon it with the blade. Sweat flew from his brow as sparks flew from the metal as it struck the magickal dome over and over. With each mighty strike, the dome shook and the crack widened just a bit further. Putting his back into his work even though his brawny arms were starting to ache, Ares continued to hammer; as he did he added in the stomp of his heavy boot between hits to further aid his effort.

  All the while, the blazing forest fire crept closer to the fortress.

  5

  Before Cernunnos’ hand could strike Maggie, a great explosion rocked the fortress. Debris fell from the ceiling as the Great Hall shook and rumbled like thunder.

  Instinctively Alena put her arms over her head and curled up in a ball even though Cernunnos still had her jaw in his hand.

  The guards scrambled for cover and even the Great Horned God cowered.

  Seconds later there was another explosion and then another and another.

  Wishing Ares had made his entrance only seconds sooner, she found the strength to peek up at Cernunnos, who was staring around the room in disbelief as the windows blew out even behind the protection of the dome. The night sky lit up as red and hot as the Ninth Circle of Hell. “You’re in trouble now, mister,” she whispered. “Ares is here. You’re dead.”

  Moments later several Druids rushed through the door shouting for their Lord. “Where is he attacking from?” Cernunnos snarled.

  “Everywhere, my Lord,” one of the Druids responded. “He’s set the entire forest ablaze and we are in the center of the inferno.”

  With Cernunnos distracted by his guard, Alena scrambled to her feet and ran to the window.

  “Stop her!” Cernunnos shouted.

  The guards were too late to stop the elation rising within her or the lump in her throat as Alena stared at the black night suddenly turned red. “Dead,” she hissed in victory as the guard’s hands fell upon her.

  “Watch it, Maggie, or you’ll lead the way to Hell for me,” Cernunnos warned, upset and dismayed that his plan would have to wait. “Get her out of here; take her back to her cell.” The Great Horned God stood there and watched while the Druids dragged her out of the room. “Don’t take your eyes off of her!” he roared as he went to the window for his first look and did not feel the elation that Alena had felt as he stared at the fiery night.

  6

  Hurrying down the staircase to the Dungeon with guards on either side of her, Alena skittered past the Goddess of Love still in her chains. The cell door slammed behind her but she was already on the smelly straw-filled cot, curled up in her finer robes and crying. “Mama, mama. I’m so sorry, mama. Oh god! Mama.”

  Aphrodite had been subjected to the groping of the guards but not a full-on assault as, in the end, each of them had been too chickenshit to violate the Goddess of Love. They pawed at her, kissed her, ran their hands over her and through her hair. One of them was even bold enough to run his hand between her legs as she tried to fight them off. Moments before the place began to rock on its foundation—which happened to be where she was—they seemed to decide not to go through with it. Then the explosions hit and after they finished ducking for cover, they sprinted up the stairs and out of sight.

  With her arms still chained behind her head, Aphrodite looked over at Alena weeping in the cell. Just before she opened her mouth to taunt the little Fey and return the favor, Alena curled up in a tight little ball and starting crying for her mother like a little girl. Aphrodite looked toward the stairs but neither heard nor saw anyone. The old woman, the one Cernunnos called Mae, was not returning. Mae had been with him a long time though up until this moment Aphrodite did not know she was Alena’s mother. Perhaps she should have in that Mae and Alena looked very much alike with their gray/silver hair and their gray eyes. Cernunnos kept that poor woman prisoner here more than two centuries, his own Daughter if she heard their earlier conversation correctly. Over the years, Aphrodite had come to feel for Mae and even like her. She was always very kind whenever Aphrodite came around although there was always so much sadness in her eyes. Feeling a bit of heaviness settle on her heart, Aphrodite realized she would miss the woman.

  The gut-wrenching sounds of sorrow and the wailing of the woman in the cell could not help but touch the heart of the Goddess of Love even further. He must have slain Mae right before Alena’s eyes. That was a terrible thing for anyone to endure. Although she still held a deep hatred for Alena, one that would end only when one of them did the same, she too was a Mother and a Daughter. Aphrodite, despite her treachery, did understand Family and all that it entailed.

  He was a monster beyond compare and she was heartily sorry she’d ever become involved with Cernunnos.

  7

  “My Lord! My Lord!” one of the Druids cried as he rushed around the corner and into Cernunnos’ throne room. “He’s killed them! He hasn’t even broken through the shield yet and he’s killed almost all of them!”

  Cernunnos did not need the report; he could see the carnage from his window. His Druid guards lay dead in heaps on the ground, suffocated. Although he could not see Ares through the smoke, the ringing sound of his blade striking against the top of the dome was almost enough to drive him insane. It echoed like a massive church bell and he was in the center of it. Without hesitation he turned on his hooves and threw a streak of lightning at the man who’d come to inform him, dropped him dead where he stood. “Idiot,” Cernunnos snarled and turned back to the window, thankful it was made of good old-fashioned glass, so far the smoke had yet to invade the tower of his fortress. The sight of Mae’s corpse on the floor caught his attention. Soon Ares would break through the dome and begin slaughtering everything in his way as he hunted for Maggie. “You want her, Ares? Come and get her.”

  8

  Atop the dome Ares continued his relentless assault, hammering away upon the magickal force field with his mighty sword and his mighty foot. Suddenly, as the heel of his biker boot struck down, everything around him seemed to go absolutely silent for one very long second. Then the spider-web at his feet began to tendril outward from its center, making the tiniest little cracking sound as it zipped through the dome.

  It did not just give way. It shattered like fine crystal. The entire top splintered and then began to fall.

  Ares fell with it, from the top of the dome to the ground, a distance of some fifty feet. Sword held high in the air over his head, Ares landed like a wolf, on both feet but hunched down on his haunches to make the smallest possible target for anyone willing to strike at him through the black smoke. It stung his eyes, made them tear and his vision blur as it assaulted his nose and his lungs. Olympians were very fond of air but could go an extended period without breathing; now the God of War held his breath, massive lungs full of clean air. He waved his sword in the air and the smoke around him began to disperse upward through the faulty dome. Still low to the ground, as the smoke cleared he held his sword close looking around with wild eyes for any signs of an attack. All he saw were the bodies coming into his view. Dead and dying men everywhere, twenty or thirty of them, Ares figured. Cernunnos must have sent all of his remaining men to guard the fortress when the attack began. “Sorry boys,” he muttered, looking at the corpses strewn about, some in small heaps and others alone having fallen on their way to the safety of the tower. “Maybe in the next life you’ll choose your sides wiser.” He swiped a hand across his face glistening with sweat as he let the heat surrounding him soak into his brawny frame. Beyond the twenty-foot high stone walls the fire raged closer and closer. Time was growing shorter; soon the greedy flames would be upon them, consuming whatever they could. Spurred by the blowi
ng winds, the wall would not stop them; they would jump over the top of it to ignite anything in their way, including the wood gutters, shutters, doors, windowpanes, and roof of the tower.

  Alena was in the tower before him, Ares was sure of it. Whether she was being held prisoner at the top in Cernunnos’ bedroom—disgusting pig that he was—or at the bottom in the dungeon, Ares didn’t know. Since the basement was apt to be closer than the top, he thought he would start there when he made his entrance. With no one left to challenge him or stand in his way here in the courtyard, Ares sprinted over to the door of the tower and kicked in the ten-foot high door made of rowan and hanging on cast iron hinges, with a strong thrust of his leg.

  The entryway was empty. No sign of anyone at all, not even the lingering scent of a Celt recently having been here. However Cernunnos got in and out of this place, it wasn’t through the front door. The long corridor decorated with heavy tapestries, suits of armor, antlers, and the like, stretched out before him. Ares kept his sword at the ready as he went forward cautiously; his body held to the side so that anyone attacking from the front met with his formidable armor, and glancing behind him every few steps. His heart began to race as he went deeper into the fortress and began to catch the faintest whiffs of Alena rising on the air, telling him that she was close. At the end of the hall there was a small greeting room, which was empty, and a doorway, which would lead him out into the main area of the first floor of Cernunnos’ tower. Standing on the side of the doorjamb, Ares poked his head through, glanced left, then right, before emerging into the barren room and beholding an awful sight.