Chapter 36
The Meeting of Two Halves
Elpis’ eyes flickered to the right where Eoghan stood, unafraid and purposely staring her in the eyes to start a fight. Her arrogant smirk turned bright and humorous. “Hello, Father.”
A fire raged in Bre’s chest. It took all of her self-control not to lunge at Elpis. How dare you address Eoghan that way? Bre screamed in her head. Bre tried to read Elpis’ mind to see what exactly she was planning to do with group, but all was silent, forebodingly silent. How? she asked herself, How can anyone hide their mind from me?
“Mmmm,” Elpis closed her eyes and blissfully smiled as if remembering something sweet. “You may have my empathic powers, Breanna, but I can see your anger. It radiates off you in waves of pink passion. Oh, how I have longed for that fervor.”
“You are nothing but a hungry warlord,” growled Lysandros.
Lysandros tugged on his sword but it stuck in its holder. Eversor stood behind Elpis with two fingers pointed towards him.
Elpis’ eyes blazed with fury at Lysandros’ comment, her eyes wild with anger, but she spoke eerily slow, “Do you want to see what I am hungry for, dear Guardian?” Her tone was clear and poisonous.
Elpis’ eyes flashed green and Lysandros folded over, violently coughing. Warm, crimson blood spewed onto the grass.
Elpis cackled at the sight of him, “Your stomach is disintegrating, Guardian!” She turned to Bre as she wiped tears of laughter out from under her lashes. “Now, Bre. Oh, my apologies!” Elpis feigned social indignity and portrayed sarcastic manners, “May I call you Bre? Lovely! Now Bre, What are you going to do about this?”
Romulus’ soldiers fled after Elpis attacked Lysandros with only her eyes. They headed towards the pass, seeking the protection of their archers. Breanna instinctively surrounded the remaining group in a shield charm. The purple light stopped Lysandros’ bloody vomit; however, Breanna took on his symptoms. Her stomach contracted and burned as if being boiled inside her body. She clutched her stomach as blood ejected from her mouth, leaving a horrid metallic taste that intensified her gag reflex.
It was in this moment she needed Eoghan the most. She reached out a hand as she normally would when things went wrong. This time, Eoghan was not there to take her hand and soothe her ailments. This time he would not hold her and make her pain disappear. Eoghan remained expressionless next to Brian, not even looking at Bre. Instead, he stared pensively at Elpis and Eversor. He bore no sign of concern for his childhood friend.
“You fool! Ha-ha!” Elpis exclaimed.
“Your clan was charged with educating and training the young princess, to groom her if you will. The most fundamental detail you could have armed her with was that Elpis’ power is Breanna’s power, yet you neglected it. Your intelligence fails you with age, Brian,” Eversor said with distain as he shook his head in disappointment.
Blood continued to eject from Bre’s mouth. Her protection charm fell, as she could no longer concentrate on maintaining it.
Elpis walked over to Bre and stroked her hair. Her touch was soft, almost comforting as Bre hunched over, lurching from the bloody vomit. “You cannot defend against yourself, dear child. Ha-ha. Look at you, Princess. You have half of the world’s greatest power in you and you are dying from it. That is indeed humorous. You cannot protect them from me without harming yourself. Oooo, this is going to be fun,” Elpis excitedly clapped her hands together. “When will self-preservation take precedence over the lives of your friends, Breanna?”
Elpis grabbed the back of Bre’s head and shoved her to the ground. At Elpis’ touch, the violent stomach contractions stopped. Once Bre stopped vomiting, she cast the shield charm around everyone again. Elpis smirked and shook her head at Bre’s futile attempt of heroism.
Elpis eyed Eoghan and withdrew the dagger she used to stab Anath. She ran the blade over the chests of the men she passed to get to Eoghan. When the edge of the dagger touched the purple barrier, pink sparks flew into the air.
Brian gasped and a horrible knot formed in his stomach when the blade ran over his chest. “Where did you get that?” Brian shouted, outraged and sick at the sight of the enchanted dagger.
“Oh this old trinket? It has been in the family for years,” Elpis replied with her sweet yet wicked smile. “You should have known better than to hide it from me. Oh, Breanna! Look at him! That is pure fear in his eyes.” Elpis shivered with raw happiness. “Mmm, can’t you taste it? The sweet, yet sour taste that drips down your throat? I have missed the taste of fear during my slumber.”
Bre knew the taste Elpis described. She had tasted it since Elpis started torturing Lysandros.
Elpis stopped in front of Eoghan. Bre’s terror eased slightly with the shield charm still active around Eoghan.
Bre, stop her. That blade is enchanted by the gods and will kill Eoghan. Between her power and the power the blade is infused with, it will easily break the shield charm, Brian yelled psychically.
Bre held her breath in horror as Elpis walked behind Eoghan and held the blade above his chest. She ran her free hand down Eoghan’s arm and then caressed the side of his face. Her fingers bent the shield charm but did not penetrate the light to reach Eoghan’s skin.
“I can see what the ladies see in you. You have a sense of rugged handsomeness,” Elpis whispered in Eoghan’s ear.
Bre sensed no fear coming from Eoghan. Her empath power raw from every emotion she could name, she was thankful for Eoghan’s numbness.
“This won’t hurt you one bit. Especially since that selfish girl made you sacrifice your emotions to Andraste. This is nothing compared to that torture,” said Elpis, making sure she locked eyes with Bre, pleased when Bre winced at the word torture. Elpis raised the blade higher, ready to plunge it deep into Eoghan’s chest.
The Power overtook Bre’s body without being summoned. She was selfish, and her soul refused to lose anyone else in her life. Bre’s self-preservation came out in a way neither Bre nor Elpis expected. A yellow light rapidly expelled from her chest and before Bre or anyone else in her group knew it, they stood in the middle of the pass with the rest of Romulus’ army.
Bre collapsed, and the purple light around the group vanished. Lysandros rushed to her side and carried her into one of the hidden caves in the cliff wall.
“I should have known,” Brian cursed himself.
“Yes, you should have known. You were charged with this responsibility and you have done nothing but fail in every way. We chose you for this task because of your history with Eversor and you let us down…again!” Anath snapped at Brian. “You even failed in the simple task of keeping that dagger from Elpis. That demon spawn stabbed me with it!”
“That demon spawn is your granddaughter and your mistake. How was I supposed to know she would desecrate Remus’ grave to get it?” Brian snapped back.
“It wasn’t her that broke into Remus’ grave. It was Eversor. That is the dagger he had at the nemeton when Elpis was reborn,” Eoghan said impassively.
It was disturbing for the group to see him so uncaring.
“Ok, once we get out of this mess, we’re going to straighten your arse out,” Cailean pointed at Eoghan and bumped into his shoulder, making Eoghan stumble sideways.
Eagles screeched from above, and several archers in the caves warned Romulus of the impending aerial attack. Annoyed, Romulus shook his head and barked out orders to his men. One man stood out to Brian and Cailean.
“Brathadair,” the o’Conaill brothers said in unison.
Brian’s hand shook in anger, ready to start a fight.
“Not the time, Brian,” Romulus warned. “Brath, you need to get up there and enchant the arrows to kill those flying rodents. Go.”
Brathadair flashed Brian a victorious smile. He spun up through the air using the wind to carry him to the highest cave, where he could inflict the most damage.
“I’m going to help the archers and ready the ground troops if they are
needed. Brian, can you and Cail serve up some shield charms?” Romulus looked radiant, elated to be mixed up in the thick of a battle.
“Yes, but there is no telling how long the charms will last against Eversor and Elpis,” Brian said, worried as he judged how well they could defend their corner of the valley.
“They will hold as long as I allow them to,” Breanna said with conviction and pushed her shoulders back.
“Whatever you three decide, hurry up and hide me. We must begin the unbinding spell,” Anath sat down and folded her arms impatiently.
Electricity flowed through Breanna’s body. Her fingers tingled as waves of power pumped through her veins. For the first time in her life, Bre did not need help, but they instead needed her. She used that gratifying thought to send a strong gust of wind that forced the bedrock to form a wall across the entrance of the pass. Bre then cast several shield charms that would stop the incoming birds but allow the arrows to pass through.
Brian and Cailean watched their grown-up princess cast challenging charms and bend the elements to do her bidding. A rush of pride tugged at the corners of their mouths, but the dangerous reality of their situation quickly washed the sentiment from their faces. They were trapped behind a wall of rocks and spells, waiting for their safeguards to fail.
As soon as Bre cast the last of her spells, yells from the caves overlooking the skyline signaled the arrival of Elpis’ eagles. The birds descended onto the pass, and the thuds of bows releasing arrows filled the air. Hundreds of arrows passed through the shields and lodged themselves into the hearts of large gold eagles.
The archers had impeccable aim, no doubt from Brathadair’s enchantments. The dead birds made a soft thumping noise when they landed on Bre’s charms. As the birds slid down the shield, streaks of gold blood tinted the view of the blue sky, making it look green.
"Well done, Breanna," Brian nodded, but in a distant tone. He turned his attention to Anath. "Now what did Elpis do? I need exact details."
As Anath recounted the events in the cave, Brian shook his head and Cailean stared in shock. Eoghan ignored the story, grabbed a bow, and took off to help the archers. Bre watched as he fearlessly scaled the wall.
“We need the dagger to break the bond, and I am not sure how much power we will need to unbind the entire Phoenician pantheon.” Brian took his normal concentrating stance with his thumb and pointer finger pinching the bridge of his nose.
Bre stood and wiped dirt off her pants. “The only person who has that amount of power is me and my animals.”
Bre smiled at her four animals relaxing in the darkness of cave. Aurora licked her chops, staring up at the dead birds.
“No. The last thing we need is another of our allies to be infected with Elpis blood again. You keep your hunger in check, kitty,” Cailean said sternly and pointed a finger at Aurora.
Aurora licked her chops again, this time staring at Cailean. Cailean inched behind a smirking Lysandros, hoping he would serve as protection.
“So glad you are having a good time with this. Can we get back to the problem at hand, which happens to be me?” Anath grabbed Cailean’s chin, forcing him to look at her.
A jet of white light sent Anath crashing into the cave wall. Bre stepped in between Cailean and Anath, Her eyes blazing with anger. “Don’t ever touch him or any one of these men like that again, do you understand me?” she said through gritted teeth.
Anath shrugged the warning off and fixed her dress without a response.
Romulus jumped down from the closest cave with Lupa at his side. Lupa’s growl echoed through the pass. “Couldn’t help overhearing, but Bre, you saw what spell Elpis performed, correct? Then the only way to reverse a complicated spell like that is to…”
“Recite the spell backwards. I know. The spell is simple enough, but we still need the dagger,” Brian cut Romulus off.
“A spell so easily cast is easily broken,” Lysandros said solemnly with his head bowed. “Alina once said that.”
Romulus ignored Lysandros’ comment and continued his train of thought. “That shouldn’t be too hard. Elpis has it and Elpis is looking for us. All we need to do is get it out of her hands.” Romulus acted as if the plan was easily executed.
“Oh, that shouldn’t be too hard. Except for the fact that none of us can match her strength, and the only person who might be able to cannot defend against Elpis without getting hurt herself!” Lysandros took an aggressive step toward Romulus, putting himself in between Bre and her uncle.
Bre placed a hand on Lysandros’ arm and he hesitantly sidestepped to allow Bre beside him.
“But in return, she cannot defend against my attack.” Bre smiled at the thought.
“Your mother used to get that look,” Lysandros said, shaking his head with a ‘here we go’ expression.
“And none of us liked it because it usually came with a crazy idea,” admitted Brian.
“A crazy idea that usually worked,” added Cailean.
Their conversation was interrupted by a scream and the sound of something being electrocuted, accompanied by a blurry, flickering image of Elpis in the middle of the pass. The image disappeared seconds later.
“What in the heavens was that?” Lysandros said as the rest of the group stared, speechless and in shock.
Breanna chuckled. “She tried to materialize in the valley and found the trap I left for her and Eversor.”
“Ha! You cast a lightning curse. Well done!” Cailean clapped loudly as he laughed.
“Nicely done, Breanna, but if we want that dagger, that trap needs to come down,” Brian instructed, pleased with her spell work.
“Aww, can’t we leave it up for a little in case she tries again? You have to admit it was entertaining.” Cailean laughed.
Lysandros chuckled, “You are beginning to sound like Leo and Cole.”
Cailean grinned at Bre and shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing wrong with a little humor.”
Bre snapped her fingers in the direction of the pass “There. It is done; no more trap.”
“Ok. Now that the evil monster from Tartarus can appear behind our shields, what is the plan to get the dagger? And how are we going to fight her?” Lysandros asked impatiently. “Oh! And let’s not forget the last time we fought Eversor, he multiplied himself!”
“Then we fight each Eversor the best we can. We defeated his clones once before, we can do it again,” Brian answered resolutely. “Bre, you are the only one who stands any chance against Elpis. She will first come for Anath. Stay with her until Elpis shows and we will distract Eversor.”
Bre nodded at Brian, concealing her terror as her stomach knotted behind a mask of conviction.
“She loves Eversor, right? Maybe if I cast spells on him she will try to deflect them, causing her harm,” Bre suggested.
“Good idea, but Eversor has his own magic, remember? He can deflect spells all on his own; he doesn’t need Elpis,” Brian pointed out, smashing any hope she had at returning the physical and emotional pain Elpis had caused her.
Lightning crashed behind the group and Eversor and Elpis appeared, Elpis slightly charred because of Bre’s trap.
Bre couldn’t help but smile at the disheveled woman. Elpis was furious, mainly because she fell for Bre’s trap. If looks could kill, every one of them would have dropped dead on the spot.
Elpis pointed a finger at Bre and calmly warned her, “Bring me Anath and I will let your friends live.”