Page 19

19

CRUEL, CRUEL FATE

JARED

T he battle was won.

But I knew the war was far from over. As we may have been victorious this time, but I still hadn’t been able to crush their leader between my jaws like I had intended to. That was because the coward had kept himself back, leading his armies from afar, and not as a true leader would at the head of the fight. But that was because he knew he couldn’t beat me.

The fucking coward!

The battle hadn’t been without its losses, as Koro’s army had suffered. But no more so than Garmr’s side, as once more it seemed as if the fighting had only just got underway before he was ordering his HellHounds to retreat. Something we didn’t allow for long, as we chased them further away from the town, keeping the people at the camp safe.

The ones closest to us had tried to run but were easily killed, despite us having no choice but to let the ones furthest out of reach go. My beast and I were eager to get back to Ella.

Koro had spoken of a cave in the mountains he was taking her to, and not for the first time in my life, I wished for wings.

“Well hopefully that fuck will think twice about challenging us in battle,” Orth said, after shaking himself free of his beast. Mine, I had managed to take control of, now there was no threat to Ella.

“Yes, but did you notice how Garmr ordered the retreat a little too soon?” Marcus said, for once not being vocally cocky about the victory, which instantly put me on edge.

“He’s a coward, that’s what they do,” Orth replied with a shrug as we made our way back to the camp, Tyr and Orson both doing the same.

“He could see he was going to lose and wanted to cut his losses,” I agreed, but Marcus shook his head.

“But so soon?”

“What you getting at, Marc?” I asked with a frown, giving him a sideways glance.

“How did they even know we were here? How did they get here so quickly?” Marcus replied as obviously, this was playing on his mind now the threat was over… for now.

“You think it was planned in advance?” my brother asked, as he too was allowing doubt to worm its way in.

“Well for that, they would have had to have known we were here as soon as we arrived, or…” Marcus stopped his flow of words, as something must have come to him and from the looks of things, nothing good.

“Or what?” I pushed, wishing the cagey bugger would come out with it already.

“They had managed to track us somehow,” Marcus replied, making me snap,

“And you’re telling me this now?!”

“Hey, I only just thought about it, but now after the way they retreated so soon, it was almost like… fuck.”

“What… what, Marcus?!” I snapped, stopping to grab hold of him, as his eyes were wide with panic. Not ever a good fucking sign from the smug bastard.

“What if it was only ever meant to be a distraction?”

At this my eyes widened, and one name slipped from my lips.

“Ella!”

Immediately, we all took off running the second I said her name, even Tyr and Orson, who, it fucking pained me to say, had both been instrumental in winning the battle. Telling me the God had literally been born to fight and Orson’s demonic bear had enjoyed the freedom of his rampage.

What I didn’t expect to see was the sight of Asher, Lerna, Koro, and Sorina making their way back to us. My eyes quickly searched for Ella and I found myself fucking roaring when I didn’t see her! In fact, the only reason I didn’t burst into my HellBeast that very second was because of my need to know what had happened. To know if she had been hurt or if my biggest fears had come true…

She had been taken.

“WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE!?” I roared when they were close enough. The sight of Lerna crying was my first indication that something had gone wrong and whatever it was, it was bad.

“Her blood… her blood…” Lerna sobbed, making me grit my teeth so hard I thought they would shatter. This making me unable to lash out verbally.

“She cut her hand, her blood fell to the floor…” Koro told us, now holding Lerna to his chest, consoling her.

“The spell, it led them straight to her,” Sorina said.

At this my world started to unravel.

“But I thought it was only in the mortal realm that shit worked,” Orth asked, and my growing rage still wouldn’t let me speak.

“As we all did,” Asher said, his tone as somber as the rest as he continued to say, “A portal opened up behind her, she pushed her sister out of the way before she was grabbed from behind, we couldn’t stop it.”

The realization hitting me in the fucking chest like a God’s fist, making me suddenly erupt.

“FUCK!” I roared, dropping to my knees and pounding the ground with my fists until they were bloody.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I repeated over and over before the curse became my girl’s name.

“Ella… Ella… Ella baby.”

My head hung as this agony wanted to tear me apart. Because I had failed. I had failed to keep her safe, regardless of the decision I made.

I had failed us both.

“Brother, come on, not all hope is lost,” Orth said, now kneeling down next to me, no doubt prompting the others to give us a moment alone.

“Every fucking time, Orth, every fucking time, she gets taken from me or something happens to split us up!” I yelled bitterly.

“Yeah, and lucky for us, we know how to stop it.”

I looked up, not giving a shit about the tears he could see clinging to my eyes.

“But how?” My voice was strained, a hopeless shell of what it was moments ago.

“We do what we do best, brother… now let’s go kill that fucker and get your girl back!” he said, standing and offering me his hand. One I slapped my own into to let him pull me up. Because he was right, wallowing in my own self-pity wasn’t going to get her back.

But killing that fucker would!

“So, what’s the plan, boss?” Marcus said once he saw me back on my feet.

“First we need to find out where he took her,” I forced myself to say, despite clenching my jaw.

“Well at least we have two things in our favor, as one, she no longer has her powers so he can’t control her and two, she is bound to this realm, so there are only a few places the fucker could be hiding her,” Marcus stated.

“Any ideas?” I asked, making him suddenly grin before telling me,

“No, but like last time, I know who would.”

I looked to Koro, who was still consoling Lerna.

“Not him,” Marcus added, making me frown in question.

“Then who?”

He winked and without answering, he walked over to Koro and asked,

“How far is it to the outskirts of Tartarus?”

Koro frowned before answering.

“It is a week at least on foot, but there is a portal about a day’s ride away… why?” Koro asked, frowning, no doubt wondering what in Hell would take us there. I looked to Marcus, now knowing where his head was at and answered menacingly.

“We have an old friend we need to talk to.”

“Then you will need the Horses of Ares,” Orson said, and I narrowed my gaze at this.

“But how? Only a God can summon them.”

Suddenly we all looked around to the only God we had in present company.

“But he is of Norse lineage,” Lerna said.

“It is of little matter, for if they are of a God’s making, then the call of a God can summon them, I merely need to speak their names,” Tyr said confidently.

“Aethon, Phlogios, Konabos, and Phobos,” Koro told him, making him nod.

Tyr unsheathed his hammer and placed it on the ground, kneeling in front of it. Then as he started to utter the words in ancient Greek, his axe started to glow. The runes and symbols all glowed brighter as he used his power to summon them, calling each by name. And as if an electrical charge had fired, blue sparks flew from his weapon and snaked across the ground.

“Look! Over there!” Lerna shouted, pointing a finger to where the battle had not long taken place. A bright glow appeared in the distance before four horses started to emerge through the fallen cloud of light. Their speed was incredible, making my brother grumble next to me,

“Fuck, but something tells me I am not going to like this.”

“No, but they will most likely like it even less with your fat ass,” Marcus replied.

“Funny fucker,” Orthrus muttered under his breath.

And speaking of fast, incredibly, they had crossed the vast space in minutes, speeding through the debris of dead bodies that were being collected up ready to burn and honor the dead of the fallen of Koro’s army.

As for the four horses, they were astonishing beasts. But then, they were immortal horses of the Gods, so it wasn’t surprising. Each were distinct by their color. The first was white as the freshly fallen snow, a complete contrast to the one beside it, which was black as night. The third was a deep red chestnut, and the last a bluesish grey. Their manes flowed like spun silk, with their matching tails reaching only an inch off the floor. The muscles on their powerful bodies rippled with their movements, the hair on their bodies glistening with a reflective sheen that made them look unearthly. They were also an incredible size and had we been mortal men, we would have all struggled to mount them, let alone ride them.

I took the black one, reflecting my dark mood. He seemed to be the most unruly of the four, which suited me just fine. I was just thanking the Gods for the saddles that came with them, as each one matched the color of its graceful owner.

My own, a high black glossy leather, with its reins seemingly woven from gold thread, the horn on the front of the saddles represented each horse with its name. Mine being called, Aethon.

Tyr was the next to mount, and he took the white one. As for Marcus, he mounted the red chestnut and was far more graceful doing so than my brother, who was left with the blue-grey.

“Fuck, but I knew it was too good to be true the day the car was invented and we hadn’t needed to use these anymore,” he grumbled, as he had always hated riding. Which was why I told him,

“Think of it as a bike.”

He scoffed before I steered my stead over to Koro.

“Where is the portal?”

“There is a mountain pass to take, before you reach the forest, follow the sound of running water and it will lead you to it. The portal is at the base of the mountain road. You will hear its call.”

“Yeah, just follow the sounds of wailing tortured souls,” Marcus commented dryly.

“I will remain here and try and get word to the others of our plan,” Koro told me, prompting me to ask,

“The others?”

“Those of the Bloodstone Covenant will need time to cross the borders into this realm. As well as my master’s army… I believe you made a deal with him,” he stated, making me grit my teeth, because yeah, I had.

The deal to find his mortal Chosen One and deliver her to what she would no doubt class as a nightmare. A large chunk of my soul knew I had the life of a girl on my head, for the use of his armies to win this fucking war and prevent the end of the world. Which was why I nodded, telling him that I understood.

“Then I hope you are successful but if not, then I will cast my net further and send more spies to see what they may find,” Koro replied, making me nod in respect, before doing something I never thought I would ever do…

“Thank you,” I said, and he looked taken aback for a second before bowing respectfully.

After that, we took off in the direction Koro had given us. Of course, when the horses started to gallop, we were all left holding on for dear life, making my brother bellow in fright. And despite how funny it was, I still couldn’t find it in me to laugh. For there would be no more smiles.

Not until I got my girl back.

Thanks to our new transport, we reached the portal to Tartarus in no time at all. We didn’t have to question the portal being the right one, as like Marcus had said, the moans of pain and agony called out from within it.

I remembered Ella’s face when telling her of it, purposely leaving out the most frightening parts. And how as the Underworld’s most powerful guardian, I would only end up drawing from its power. This thanks to it not only being the birthplace of the realm, but more specifically…

The place Cerberus was born.