Chapter 21
Face to Face
The sky lit up a dull pink just above the horizon. Eversor stood in front of the light, arms folded across his chest, hiding his face in shadows against the rising run. Behind the comfort of the shadows, his eyes wandered over Breanna. “So you are the future Queen, huh? Well I have to say, I expected better.”
Alina stepped forward, putting herself in front of Bre. “I know you. You are the guard I fought at the palace.”
Eversor gracefully bowed to Alina. “And you are that queen I thought I killed. What a shame. That would have been a good death for you. Now that I know who you really are, I am afraid that you will suffer more than you ever thought possible.”
Observing his surroundings, Eversor closed his eyes and deeply inhaled the rich scent of wheat. "I know this place. Elpis was always here because of warring tribes."
He bent down to grab a handful of dirt and rubbed it nostalgically between his fingers. "Ah, yes, La Tene. That was a good war. Your father received many good soldiers in this war, Alina."
Alina shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Arawn. She was now on Celtic territory, but did not feel the strength of her father's presence yet.
"Welcome to the lands of your dear mother, Princess Breanna," Eversor addressed Breanna with open arms and a smile.
Before Eversor made another remark, a dagger shot at his chest. He caught it with unnatural speed and twirled it through his long fingers. “Nice aim. If I were seconds slower I’d be dead.”
“What a shame,” Leo called out from the back of the group.
Leo’s tone made it obvious that the dagger was his. He seemed angry and disappointed that his plan did not work.
Eversor chuckled, “It’s Leonidas, if I remember correctly. Now Leo…may I call you Leo?” Eversor did not pause for an answer. “You know I am immortal, so why would your pathetic excuse of a mind think an ordinary dagger would kill me?”
Before anyone could stop him, Eversor hurled the dagger back at Leo’s chest. Nikolaos, quicker than the blade, caught it by the handle at the last second. There was a tiny hole in Leo’s shirt where the tip of the dagger pierced, scratching his chest.
Eversor laughed at Leo’s startled expression. “I was only returning what is rightfully yours.”
Nikolaos grabbed Leo’s wrist and smacked the handle of the dagger into his hand. “Do not make a foolhardy move like that again.”
Leo nodded, frightened, and returned the dagger to its holder in his belt. Leo had seen Nikolaos tense before, but never this tense. After he returned the dagger, sheer panic lingered in Nik’s eyes as they met Leo’s.
The three brothers were unaccustomed to mortal danger. Rarely having to fight against someone stronger and more skilled than them, they had forgotten demigods are only immortal so long as they are not mortally wounded. A dagger through the heart may prove too much for their immortal souls.
Everyone watched as Nikolaos moved to the head of the group and stood protectively in front of Breanna. His movements were slow and smooth, emanating strength. A slight, pulsating tension in his arms revealed his uneasiness, betraying his fearless façade. The closer he moved to Eversor, the faster his heart raced, and the more visible the artery pounding in his neck became.
Eversor yawned and surveyed the area. He caught glimpse of a large rock off to the side and smirked mischievously. He formed fists and placed one in front of the other. He then heaved his arms backwards as if pulling an invisible rope. The boulder slid towards him, rattling the earth with each tow. When it was close enough, Eversor vanished and reappeared on top of the boulder, popping grapes into his mouth. He looked as if he were about to watch a show. “Ahh, the eldest son has come to sacrifice for the family. How noble.”
Nikolaos stood silently guarding the group. More so, guarding Breanna.
Bre was unsure of who Nikolaos was, but she relaxed with him there. The same sensation of safety she shared with her animals.
Despite her unusual feelings towards him, Nikolaos’ silence irritated her.
“Who is this man?” Bre whispered to Eoghan, nodding towards Nikolaos. Eoghan remained silent, further annoying Bre. “Ugh! Useless,” she grumbled.
Breanna walked in front of Nikolaos and gave him a “watch this” smirk.
Eoghan clenched a fist, shaking his head as Breanna moved away from his protective presence. “Damn it, woman,” he grunted through clenched teeth. He knew Breanna’s defiant mind all too well.
Eversor’s smile disappeared, turning into smug curiosity mixed with alert apprehension as Breanna approached the rock. He put the grapes down and watched her carefully, paying specific attention to her hands.
“Eversor, correct?” Breanna called out, placing one hand on her hip. “I have heard a few stories about you. you know, the ones where you kill your wife and all,” Breanna smirked as Eversor’s smug face contorted in rage. Breanna continued to taunt Eversor, “No one has come to sacrifice anything, Sir. We shall be leaving now. I have to wash the taste of dead eagle out of my wolf’s mouth. She gets awfully cranky when she’s not clean.” A low growl rolled out from behind Cailean where Lupa stood, digging her claws into the ground ready to pounce.
“Silence, mutt. I am more powerful than a daughter of Mars,” snapped Eversor.
Lupa snarled at Eversor’s insult.
Eversor jumped down from the boulder and landed in front of Breanna. The morning was silent: even the birds seemed too scared to chirp in Eversor’s presence. The dim, dawn light reflected off his silky dark hair, but cast his face in shadows.
Eversor, still watching Breanna’s hands, placed his own in his pockets and casually sauntered to Bre. “You are a conundrum, my dear Breanna. You are too young to be so brave, yet not old enough to be scared. This must be an awkward age for you.” Eversor squinted and stared harder into her eyes, and then smiled. “You don’t know who you are.” His eyes then rolled over the three brothers and he cackled, astonished at his findings. “And neither do they! I am impressed with your ability for secrecy, Brian!”
“I am fully aware of who I am, as are they. I am the daughter of King Remus, future queen of Etruria. However, I must say, I am impressed that at your age you can jump down from such a height without breaking a hip. The Morrigan has kept you well,” Bre quickly retorted.
Eversor closed the distance between him and Breanna with one-step. “No one keeps me, child!” he screamed, an inch from her face.
Eversor dropped back a few paces, slung back his arm, and shot a lightning bolt at Breanna. Nikolaos moved quicker than humanly possible and pushed her out of the way. He caught the bolt with one hand and twisted it around, hurling it back at Eversor in one fluid motion. Eversor barely deflected the bolt with his sword and sent it crashing into the stone behind him.
Breanna looked up at Nikolaos in amazement.
“Who are you? Are you a god? That was amazing!” Breanna exclaimed.
Leo and Cole rushed to their brother’s side with their swords drawn, each with a menacing grin. Clover bound in front of Breanna to shield her from the oncoming battle, while Eoghan grabbed Bre.
Breanna felt stronger than she had ever felt in her life, but Eoghan was still stronger and pushed her back a couple of feet behind the group.
“Eoghan, I advise that you let go of me,” Breanna warned in the calmest tone she could muster. Her arms shook in her struggle against releasing her rage.
Eoghan chuckled at her warning, “Or you’ll do what?”
Despite his laugh, which usually made her smile and erased the stresses of her day, it annoyed Bre that he so casually made her seem weaker than him. Bre tried to grip his arm to sling him over her shoulder. However, Eoghan had his leg behind hers and pushed her down. Bre fell backwards, shocked at his actions.
Eoghan stood over her smiling, “You always fall for that.”
“Yes, but you have never used your magic against me before,” Breanna said, slightly annoyed at bei
ng overcome.
“You never had powers that would require me to use magic, Your Majesty,” Eoghan said as he bowed sarcastically. “Now will you sit down and behave while we handle this mess?”
A flash of red light filled the dawn sky and the wolf pendent around Bre’s neck vibrated against her chest. The vibration sent a wave of panic through Bre’s chest, as if to warn her. Suddenly, Bre looked behind Eoghan and saw Eversor flying towards her, His arms outstretched as if attempting to strangle someone. Bre stood up with such speed she was a blur to Eoghan.
In Bre’s hand, her father’s sword appeared. The sword had amazing power that coursed through her arm up to her head, clarifying her thoughts and sharpening her senses.
Swinging the double-edged blade through the air, Bre slashed through Eversor’s chest. Spinning around, Bre slashed once more to produce another wound in his back. Eversor stumbled backwards, shocked by Bre’s speed and his burning wounds.
Rustling grass and distant screams caused Breanna to peer over her shoulder. The three brothers sprinted towards Bre and Eoghan with swords drawn. It was then she noticed the o’Conaill brothers, her mother, and Lysandros unconscious on the ground. Clover and Aurora stalked Eversor while Leora stood by Bre, growling. Someone chuckled beside her, a laugh Bre knew well. The small pang of fear that knotted in her stomach disappeared with Eoghan’s reassuring laughter.
“Did you honestly think I was going to let you have all the fun?” Eoghan said, swinging his sword in circles around his arm.
Bre noticed something was different about it. It was the same sword she had seen him use a million times, only this time it glowed green with a silver word written down the middle of the blade, Dilse, meaning Loyal in Gaelic. She then realized her own sword glowing red with black writing in the middle, Στρατηγική, meaning Strategy in Greek.
A flash of yellow light around Eversor’s hands distracted Bre from examining her sword further. Eversor conjured a large, double-headed axe. He lunged at Breanna, but she caught the handle of the axe with the edge of her sword and pushed him backwards, while Eoghan hacked at his legs.
Eversor was quick, and countered their every move with extreme speed and accuracy. Besides the o’Conaills, Bre and Eoghan had never encountered such an accomplished foe.
The three brothers finally caught up with them and joined the fight. However, Eversor had a surprise counter for their presence. He slammed the axe into the ground and caused a shock wave that knocked them all to the ground. When they stood up, they came face to face with ten Eversor clones, each clone armed for a specific opponent.
The first two clones attacked Bre and Eoghan. Each had two swords to deflect and slash at Bre and Eoghan. The next three clones had a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other to face the three brothers.
The next four sped off to fight Alina, Cailean, Brian, and Lysandros, who were now back on their feet. These four were armed with a sword in their right hands, but their left hands glowed orange, shooting balls of light at their enemies. The last of the clones stood in the middle of a circle formed by Bre’s animals. This clone was armed only with a bow. Every time he drew his arm back, an arrow would appear nocked in the string.
“What in the gods’ names is happening, o’Conaill?” Lysandros shouted as he avoided a gash from Eversor’s sword.
“I thought it would be obvious by now,” Cailean said through gritted teeth, pushing back his Eversor.
Brian shot a blue disk from his palm into the stomach of his Eversor, causing him to stumble backwards, and sent another disk at his hand, forcing him to release his sword. Brian jumped on Eversor, knelt on his arms, and shouted, “Try to find the real Eversor. Kill the source, kill the clones.”
In unison, all ten clones echoed, “You have to find me first.”
Still kneeling on Eversor’s clone, Brian cut off his orange hand then thrust his blade into Eversor’s heart. When Eversor’s heart stopped pumping, his body turned to black smoke and was absorbed into the ground.
One Eversor clone pinned Cailean on the ground. His sword hovered above Cailean’s left eye, slightly shaking as Cailean wrestled with Eversor, gripping his wrist to roll Eversor off him.
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.”