OF WAR Anthology Novels 1-3

by Lisa Beth Darling

  Straining to hear the slightest noise while he strange eyes darted about the room he decided to stay a moment longer and sat down on the plush mattress next to where she slept. Raven picked up her limp icy hand and licked his lips. “This is stupid,” he mumbled to no one, “this isn’t some goddamn fairy tale.”

  That wasn’t particularly true, most of his life was a fucking fairy tale. So otherworldly and far removed from the Mortals in their masses. Sitting there he let out a long mournful sigh, nearly everything he was afraid of happening was already over and done. Ares knew what happened the night she fell down the stairs so Raven had nothing to fear in waking her. Holding her hand, looking down at her aging peaceful face, he did want her to wake up. He wanted to see her eyes open, see her smile at him, and hear her say his name again.

  What he didn’t want was for her to wake up and spoil his plans for the Mortal World. When Ares found out he’d be upset but as soon as the battle-lust grabbed hold of him, he’d be in his glory. Zeus would be ticked but if he hadn’t ignored the Mortal World for so long Raven knew he’d never have gotten this far. Apollo, of course, was on board with it all and he knew all of Raven’s plans. Seemed the Golden God was looking forward to the approaching Armageddon. As for the rest of them, insofar as Raven could see, they didn’t give a damn about the billions of tiny lives below them. Well, maybe not all of them, Hades knew what was going on, that was very clear. Whether the God of Death had been trying to warn Raven to stop what he was doing while there still might be time or if Hades was just letting Raven know that he was aware, it was impossible to tell. Hades was wild card in the situation, maybe a fly in the ointment, and that would be bad.

  One thing was for sure, when she woke, Alena would care and Alena would raise Holy Hell over it. If she ever caught whiff of Raven’s part in it all, she wouldn’t hesitate to accuse him or to challenge him.

  The Fey in him wanted her to do just that. Wanted to hear her tell him how he’d fucked up and the devastation would be more than he’d imagined. Without thought, Raven found him whispering to her, “Who’s Shar Draíocht? Who was she, Mom?” It seemed to him that he knew or he should know but the pieces he was given were too badly fragmented to make out enough of the full picture. “What are we, Rosie and me? What are you?” There had to be some reason that Ares God of War, of all the beings on Earth, fell so hard for her. This fragile little willow sleeping in his bed. “I wish you could tell me. You tried, didn’t you?” Surely she did, she tried and tried and he never listened because he was so intent on claiming his Olympian Heritage and being one of them.

  With the overwhelming sensation that Time was running out, slipping away like sand in an hourglass, and that the life of Shar Draíocht’s great-granddaughter wasn’t the only thing hanging in the balance, Raven stood up and shook his head slowly. “You rest, Mom, I’ll be back after Poseidon’s Trial. Maybe.”

  III

  Feeling conflicted and trying to keep his focus on the Trial ahead instead of his Mother, Raven made his way down the marble staircase to the throne-room-turned-parlor. “Do I get to eat first?”

  “Indeed you do,” Ares intoned and then called out for the women to bring the food they spent the morning preparing. With a mass of silver trays laden with his favorite foods, the women came into the room to lay a banquet on the table for Raven. Before he came downstairs, Rose, soaking wet, made her way down to the parlor. She toddled over to her Father with a devilish grin as Ares watched her drip water onto the floor. Then she pointed at him and said, “You, pah-ooo-nee,” then her finger dropped to point between her Father’s legs. “Rah-i-de pah-ooo-nee.” Ares was displeased at the sound of the sexual phrase coming out of his sweet innocent Daughter’s mouth but kept his cool telling her there was no pony between his legs for her to ride. She seemed disappointed. Now, as she sat on his lap she started giggling, her drooped chubby cheeks reddened as she put her hands over her mouth. “Walked in on you in the shower, did she?”

  Raven grinned and then laughed as he filled his plate. “Good girl, Rosie.”

  “Yeah,” she echoed from Ares’ lap raising her little arms over her head in victory.

  “If your Mother doesn’t wake up soon,” Ares crooned with a smile, “you two are going to be the death of me.”

  Throwing a huge porterhouse steak onto his plate, Raven snorted trying to hold back the laugh, “Bet you never thought that would happen.”

  “Not in a million years,” Ares kept smiling at Rose who was now looking at the food on the table. “I am quite miffed that you would teach her such a phrase; ride the pony. Why did you do that?”

  Just as he began digging in, Raven dropped the fork. “Me? I didn’t, you really think I’d do that? That’s gross. Rose said Jilios told her.”

  Ares looked down at his little Daughter on his knee. “Did she say that to you?” Rose nodded absently but she was too busy taking in the banquet on the table to pay attention. “Hungry?” She rubbed her belly and he rose from the Throne of Bones to carry her over to the table where he seated her on the bench. “You don’t mind sharing, do you?”

  “Man, I’m starvin’,” Raven complained as he looked up at his Father who looked back with disapproval until the young man gave another smile,” but even I can’t eat all of this, go on Rosie, whatever you want,” Raven’s hand clutching a golden fork full of rare steak waved over the bounty before them, “I see cake.”

  “Yum,” she clapped as her eyes lit up and she reached across the table for the chocolate cake with its fluffy white icing sitting in the center of all the luscious food.

  “Is that why Jilios is gone? Did Rose catch the two of you?”

  “In that little Nymph’s dreams!” Ares laughed. “I suspect our little Rose caught your whore riding your pony while you were sleeping. I got rid of her because she tried to come on to me.”

  The idea that Jilios fucked him while he was dead to the world, that she just had her way with him, stuck in his craw. He wasn’t anyone’s bitch to be used, abused, and put away dirty. Yet, it did explain why his cock was crusty when he climbed into the shower. Being the sexy little whore she was, Raven didn’t doubt Jilios tried to bed his Father while Raven slept. There were plenty of women out there, she was sweet, but he wouldn’t miss her. Gathering a bit of nerve and hoping to sound casual Raven asked, “How’s my Mother?”

  “Still sleeping, why?”

  Raven confessed he stopped in to see her for a moment. “She looked…better, something happen while I was out of it?”

  “Nothing out of the ordinary,” Ares mused offhandedly with a sly smile. Strictly speaking, the fire that sprang up in his bedroom every night and whipped up into a blazing tornado wasn’t out of the ordinary for Olympus. Ares spent 72 hours at her side, leaving the bed only to pee, having meals delivered to the bedroom, and holding her as close as he could without cutting off her circulation. She didn’t wake. She didn’t speak a single word. Her eyes didn’t open. He fell into the most horrible nightmares when he tried to sleep. He woke from them bathed in a cold sweat with his heart racing and his cock hard as diamonds with the thoughts of holding down Alena and doing the vilest things to her. They were more horrifying than the nightmares that originally cast him out of the bedroom. In them, Ares did things he’d kill any man for attempting. On the third night, after he kicked out Jilios, Ares sat up in the bed with his eyes wide open the rest of the night. He didn’t know what was wrong or how to fix it and it frustrated him but he was still certain that Alena was trying to find her way home. He had to find a way to help her. Raven didn’t have that way and knowing how the boy felt about his Mother, Ares felt it best to play things close to the vest for the time being. “You better eat up, get your strength back, Poseidon’s Trial is apt to be physically challenging.”

  Raven’s eyes grew wide as he pointed to his bare stomach and the new scars upon it. “And Hades’ wasn’t?”

  Ares purse his full lips, “It was but, ah, it wasn’t exactly what any of us expe
cted.” He leaned forward, “I couldn’t hear anything but…well, how is your Sister? Were you surprised to see her? I know I was.” Ares wasn’t the only one at the poker table holding his cards low and close. Using Trinity like that, Ares knew Hades was up to something and Raven didn’t seem to feel like sharing. “Aphrodite was livid, she threw a hissy fit threatening to kill Hades, as though anyone could ever kill him but I’m sure we’d all get a good laugh while she tried.”

  “Trinity’s fine now.”

  “What did she have to say?”

  Raven looked down at his fork laden with lamb smothered in mint jelly. “I don’t remember,” he muttered then shoved the fork into his mouth to keep it busy.

  “Oh, I see, and what about the Furies? I suppose you don’t remember what they had to say either?”

  “Nah, it’s all just a blur,” Raven replied without meeting his Father’s gaze. “Like a bad dream. A really bad dream.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Rock You Like a Hurricane

  I

  A few hours later, armed with a plethora of small to medium sized blades, well rested and with a full stomach Raven stood in the Council Chamber listening to Poseidon lay out the Trial for him.

  “Kill the Ketos,” Poseidon exclaimed, “simple as that, find the monster, kill it, bring me its head, and you will have passed my Trial. Do you accept?”

  Raven hesitated to before saying yes to the question as the Ketos was a massive sea monster living and lurking in the deepest darkest depths of Poseidon’s oceans. “I thought they were already dead.”

  “The original two were slain by Hercules and Perseus, that’s true, but not before they bred. The thing is wreaking havoc and I want it destroyed.”

  How much worse could it be than the Leviathans living in the River Styx? “I accept, I will kill the monster causing you problems, Uncle, and bring you its head.”

  “Good,” Poseidon chimed with a smile beneath his long white beard. “I have a boat waiting for you on Ares’ island.” He waved his hand in the air and the image of a small boat with a single red and white sail appeared. With its long delicately scrolling ends, and finely carved tributes to Poseidon along the waterline, the Homeric ship looked as though the last time it sailed Odysseus was at the helm. “You will sail it past Cerci’s island out to the open water where, if you’re lucky, you will find the Ketos slumbering in a deep trench.”

  As with the last time and the times to come, the Olympians placed their bets as Raven appeared on the shore next to the vessel.

  II

  Standing with his bare toes buried in the warm white sand, Raven stared at the boat wondering if it was even seaworthy or if it would make it past the breakwater before sinking. “Whatever,” he mumbled. Pushing the small boat off the safety of the shore, Raven jumped in and grabbed a hold of the oars, planning to row out past the breakwater and then let go the sail to catch whatever wind was coming his way. The ancient builders of this boat intended it for a crew of ten, which made rowing it out the five hundred yards past where the water rushed to shore and out to the calm open sea a laborious task. With the incoming tide working again him, great salty waves of cold seawater crashed over the sides of the boat, soaking Raven to the bone as they threatened to capsize him. Shaking off the wet and cold, Raven gritted his teeth and put his back into his work as he fought against the tide. By the time he crested the last of the large waves his shoulders ached in their sockets and the strong muscles in his upper back felt like limp spaghetti.

  Letting the small red and white sail billow upon the old mast, Raven settled back to the boat for a drink of fresh water from his canteen while he considered his situation. Although he’d never been there, he knew Cerci’s island was somewhere around seventy miles due south of Ares’ island, which was rapidly disappearing behind him. Raven adjusted the boat’s course to put the mid-morning sun on his left. With all of the strength and determination suited to a young strapping Olympian, Raven rowed in an unbroken rhythm as the wind spurred the little boat onward over the serene water. Here and there Raven stopped rowing for a moment to scoop a handful of cold seawater in his palms and splash it on his sweaty face to raise and refresh him while being careful not to swallow it.

  Passing silently by island after tiny island, he sailed for hours, completely alone on the sea with only the birds crying above and fishing jumping below for company. Raven didn’t see a single ship, even when he came within sight of one of Greece’s 1400 islands he didn’t see anyone on their shores. It was almost as though he had the whole world to himself and he found it lonely.

  During the hottest part of the day, in order to save his strength, Raven did his best to take shelter from the unforgiving sun by sitting in the small patch of shade offered by the billowing sail. When the blazing sun was well into its downward arc, he started rowing again. Day turned to twilight as the sky turned from its familiar deep blue to brilliant shades of red, orange, and purple. The stars in the heavens began putting on their nightly show.

  It was so goddamn quiet Raven heard the ichor rushing through his veins to the beat of his heart. The never-ending nor changing horizon bobbing up and down before the bow of the boat nearly hypnotized Raven as he stared at it. His eyes widely gazing into the Big Blue Nothing, letting the thoughts in his head wander around free. Things from the bizarre; Hummmm…if I had x-ray vision and saw through everything, would I be seeing anything at all? And, If a turtle loses its shell is it homeless or naked? And, Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three rights make a left.

  To the more dangerous but still amusing, If I shoot a mime, do I need a silencer?

  It didn’t take long before Raven understood that out here alone on the open see a man could go utterly insane in a matter of days if he had nothing but his own thoughts to keep him entertained. So, he tapped his feet, he hummed, and finally sang to himself attempting to drive away the inane but amusing thoughts scampering through his brain.

  Rowing with aching muscles and growing tired, an icy shiver running down his spine suddenly brought him out of the monotonous daze into which he was falling. He felt eyes upon him. Raven looked up thinking he felt his crazy Family watching him but the sky showed no sign. Slowly he looked back over his shoulder to see another island rising on the horizon. There was a woman standing on the shore.

  Cerci, she stood there silently, patiently, waiting for him and watching him approach. Her long gray hair caught in the sea wind, flying out behind her, as she held her old arms across her body to keep whatever warmth she could.

  Raven felt both elated and a little uneasy as the boat cut through the water bringing him closer to the old Sea Witch and her abode. He made no move to put into her shore, instead he just kept rowing toward the coming night with his eyes locked to hers as she grew closer and closer. He steeled himself for whatever she had in mind for him. As he neared and passed within fifty yards of her shore, when he no longer had to look over his shoulder to keep an eye on her, but instead they were even with each other, Cerci tossed her old hands up in the air. Raven’s gaze followed.

  Overhead the twilight turned to full night.

  A great shadow passed under the light of the moon. Someone screamed. The scream grew louder, closer, because the screamer was falling from the sky. Silver-gray hair flew out from the billowing folds a wrap of purple cloth, a blanket perhaps. Then the screamer, in their bundle of purple, hit the water with such force Raven was sure they’d broken their back, their neck, and died. The splash from the impact leapt up more than a hundred feet. The stillness of the night amplified the watery thud sound that sent shock ripples rushing to all surrounding shores.

  The shadow too large to belong to a bird and too small to belong any aircraft moved across the moon again, it flew back and forth over the water as though looking for its lost cargo. It had no luck and soon flew off. Just as it gave up and took off the way it may have come an image appeared on the face of the moon as big and bright as the orb itself.

  Althoug
h Raven never met her, his genetic memory told him the ethereal woman staring down was Artemis, Sister to Ares and Apollo. She had long flaming red hair, eyes greener than the most sparkling emeralds, a simple gold band around her head told of her station. She looked to the flailing person in the water and then to Cerci standing on her shore just her face faded replaced by that of Ares’ and then his island. Artemis returned, she smiled, she nodded and then she was gone.

  There was nothing but the night and the drowning woman.

  A great wind suddenly kicked up blowing in the wrong direction; it pushed Raven’s boat back the way he came. Back toward the island so very far behind him. The flailing woman went with it, the tide carried her away, her head bobbing up and down as she choked and gasped for air. Digging into the water with his oars trying to keep it on course, Raven watched her go until he couldn’t see her anymore.

  The strong wind died down, the dark turned to purple twilight again, and Cerci still stood there staring at him. Even though his heart pumped cold ichor through his veins, Raven managed to make his voice weighty. “You got something to say to me, Old Witch?” It seemed that just about everyone had something to say about his Mother lately. Raven was familiar with the tale of how Magdalena MacLeod washed up on the secluded shores of Ares’ island. He knew Eros dropped her from the sky; she hadn’t been able to hide that fact from him as he grew inside her. Even if she had been able to, it wouldn’t have stopped Apollo from bragging all these years about how he had her before Ares. She was meant to be his bitch and Ares had no right to interfere. Apollo never made any bones about the fact that he intended to rectify that one day and have her under his roof, at his side, and in his bed where she was supposed to be all along.

  What Raven hadn’t known until now was that Cerci or Artemis had anything to do with Alena’s journey from nearly open sea to the relative safety of the island so far away. He doubted any of the rest of them knew it either.