The Heart of War (8 page)

SWOOOSH

The sound was closer and something made the bushes beyond her rustle.

Maggie turned around and saw a creature that made her jaw drop. The first thing she noticed was that it was gold—bright shining gold! The second thing she noticed was that it was a woman with a deer’s body and she had a bow and arrow. “Stop!” Maggie shouted but she was too late, the creature let fly with her bow and a golden arrow came whizzing straight at her. Maggie dropped to the ground and then swiftly scrambled to her feet. She took off running when she saw the creature meant to let an arrow go. This one missed her by the smallest of margins as it whizzed through the sleeve of the nightgown at the shoulder, nicking the flesh below as it went. Maggie tried to run faster. “Stop! I mean you no harm!” she shouted as arrows flew past her, and she heard the sound of hooves beating against the ground not far behind. Another golden arrow let fly; this one landed on the hem of the flowing nightgown, momentarily pinning her in place before she could pull free. “I’m not good eating!” she called out as she looked for cover and her bare feet pounded across the thick padded forest floor. Looking behind, she could not see the creature. Up ahead seemed to be underbrush thick enough to hide her, and Maggie dashed for it. With the her hands pressed to the sides of her head, she lay down in the dirt beneath the fern leaves and belladonna as the hoof beats became louder. Holding her breath, she watched the creature run past.

Okay, that was more her idea of a dangerous animal. If she was not mistaken, it was the Golden Hind. It belonged to Ares just as the Ram with the Golden Fleece had. Maggie had loved Greek Mythology when she was a young girl, so very many years ago. She had been schooled in all forms of Myth & Legend but she loved none more than the Greeks. The Golden Hind was the caretaker of Ares’ forests. She was the guardian of all of the creatures who resided here.

“Ok, give the tall guy back at the cave a point,” she muttered as her heartbeat began to slow with the passing of the danger. With the sun swiftly reaching the horizon, she scrambled out of her hiding place and made her way along at a faster pace, keeping a good eye and ear out for the Hind to return. Thirsty and getting hungry again from her long journey, Maggie was happy when she stumbled upon more wild grapes and grabbed a bunch of them. Stuffing them into her mouth, she chomped down, anticipating the sweet juicy taste but instead she received a puff of dust and the bitterness of a thousand lemons. “Puphlt!” Maggie spit it out and dropped what had looked like grapes to the ground. “Ick.” She made a sour face and scraped her tongue along her teeth trying to get rid of the nasty taste in her mouth.

Growing tired and cold now that the sun was rapidly descending, she wrapped her arms around her body to keep her warmth as she passed by a large gathering of rocks and the mouth of a cave. It was not
his
cave, she was not back there yet, but not knowing how far it was she thought that perhaps she might use this cave to rest in for the night. She could gather up some dry wood, find some dry grass or a birds’ nest, and use it to start a fire. Then again, the land before the mouth of the cave looked well trod, as if something already lived in there. Standing where she was, she craned her neck to see if she could get a look inside but saw only darkness. If she was going to make camp for the night, she had to do it soon.

A few steps closer to the mouth of the cave and she thought she heard a strange sound.

Snoring?

“Bears don’t snore…I don’t think,” she muttered. “Do they? No, they don’t.” Believing it best not to disturb the occupant, who or whatever it might be, she went to turn around and stumbled over a nearby rock, banging her shin against it and letting out an involuntary cry of pain. The snoring stopped and became a snort and then a sniff. “Oh crap!” If that Hind thing came dashing out of there with her arrows flying she was dead for sure. At this range, how could the thing possibly miss her?

It was not the Hind.

In the mouth of the cave suddenly appeared a set of red eyes. Then another. Then another. Inside the cave, the thing growled low and deep. It sounded very big and very hungry as it let out a roar so loud and fierce her bladder let go. The wind from its lungs carrying the wretched stench of its breath washed over her, causing her stomach to heave. From the mouth of the cave leapt a creature so ferocious the sight of it froze her in place as she stared at it with gaping gray eyes. One might say it looked like a Rottweiler but, oh, about ten or fifteen times the size, and it had three heads, each one snapping, drooling and yowling as it stood at the entrance of its den, scratching the dirt with a thickly clawed paw.

“Cerberus,” Maggie whispered just before she broke out in a full out sprint.

Behind her she heard it take off after her. Maggie was thankful that, while it had three heads, it only had four legs; she was unthankful for the fact that the damned thing snorted fire. Behind her the sunset lit up the sky in shades of red and orange as puffs of flames shot out of all three of its noses. Small fires spring up behind her as the forest began to burn. As she ran in terror for her very life, Maggie heard a strange sound…one she did not recognize at first.

“Ares!” It screamed. “Ares!”

Then she realized it was her own voice bellowing for the aid of the overly arrogant man in his cave.

Running as fast as her legs would carry her, Maggie shrieked, “By the Gods!
Ares!
Help me!”

4

Ares had Onya on her knees before him. She was bathed with sweat and moaning with delight as he thrust his swollen cock in and out of her tight little pussy. One of his big hands was planted on her voluptuous hips while the other worked Kat’s wet inviting hole, when his ears suddenly pricked up at the sound of his name. The urgency in it made him stop in mid-thrust and listen harder. He heard it again; the woman, Alena, she was screaming for him. When she cried out a third time, he pulled out of both women and jumped off his throne.

Onya let out a little groan of disappointment at having her climax so rudely yanked away from her.

“Ares, where are you going?” Kat asked quickly as she watched his naked heated body suddenly cover itself with his favorite thick leather armor. “What is it?” Although she was upset at his sudden departure, quietly she hoped the woman had fallen off a cliff or been eaten by one of the wolves on the island. He did not answer her, instead he stood there for a moment, very still with his head tilted upward as though he were listening to someone and perhaps even talking to them in his mind. Then he just disappeared from view, leaving the two women behind to finish each other off.

“Oh Gods! Get away from me!” Alena cried as she ran blindly through the woods, her legs tiring and the horrid belt between her legs biting into her skin so deeply she felt blood running down her inner thighs.

Ares knew what was going on before he left the cave. He heard Alena screaming in terror as she ran. He felt Cerberus close behind her and, with his mind, told the beast to slow down and that she was not Cerberus’ dinner. Deep in the woods, a few hundred yards away from her Ares materialized and sent another message to the beast;
Herd her this way
. Soon he clearly heard her heavy breathing just ahead of him, in the near dark. He let her run straight at him as he stood blocking her path. Alena was looking back over her shoulder as much as she was looking in front of her, each time the hound snorted and blew a flame from his flaring nostrils she jumped and let out a little cry that almost made Ares laugh. As she rounded the bend in front of him and emerged from the side of a heavy oak tree just a yard or so in front of him, Ares lit up a large fireball in the palm of his hand. It illuminated his face.

“OH Gods!” Maggie skittered and fell to the ground before she could stop herself. Looking up and recognizing the face, she called up to him. “It’s coming! It’s coming! Do something!”

The trees rustled and the ground shook as the hound ran at them, snarling and snapping all three of its jaws. Ares just stood there calmly looking down at her. “I thought I told you to stay away from this part of the island.”

“Kill it!” Maggie shrieked. “If you’re really Ares…KILL IT!”

“Why?” He looked up at the charging beast and it stopped in front of him as he held up the hand glowing with fire that did not burn him. “It’s not nice to scare our guest, Cerberus,” Ares chided and then held out the hand not glowing with fire. On the ground, Alena let out a gasp when he reached out and began to pet the beast. “I
am
Ares,” he said without looking down at her, “this is Cerberus, he’s my dog.”

“DOG? That’s not a DOG! It’s a MONSTER!”

Ares only chuckled.

Lying there on the ground in the fading light she was stunned at the sight of the large man nearly cooing with the hideous beast. “Why isn’t it in Hell where it’s supposed to be?”

Now Ares let out a snort and cast his eyes downward at her. “It’s not Hell, it’s the Underworld, and Hades rules there. Your myths tell how I lent Cerberus to him to guard the Gates, but they don’t tell that I took him back when Hades mistreated him.” Ares’ lower jaw jutted out as he looked back to the beast. “He’s a good dog. Yes, good dog.” He petted the beast under all three chins before holding out his large hand where suddenly a dead sheep appeared and Ares was holding its lifeless body by one leg. “Here you go. Good boy.” He chucked the dead animal upward. Maggie watched in horror as Cerberus caught it in one of his mouths, chomped down hard, shattering the bones within, spraying out little streams of blood before the beast took off the way it had come with its prize. “So now you believe me? You believe this no dream and you are not dead nor are you insane?” Ares sauntered over to her and held the fireball out to her so that he could see her better. He took in the rips in the nightgown and reached out to put his fingers through the hole at the shoulder. “I see you met the Hind as well. Truly Alena, you are lucky to be alive; she so rarely misses whatever she aims at.”

“My name is Maggie!”

“Not anymore,” Ares countered. “Are you ready to come back now, or shall I leave you out here to the other beasts of prey for the night?” His eyes gazed off down the thickly wooded path. “It’s a long way back to the cave; you’ll never make it before full dark.” Turning back to her, Ares held out his hand to help her to her feet and was pleasantly surprised when she took it. “I see you found the olives and the grapes,” he intoned, looking at the stains on her bodice. Below that he took in the sight of fresh blood and knew the gold between her legs sliced through her thighs as she ran.

Maggie looked down. “Sorry, I ruined your gown.”

“It’s my shirt,” Ares corrected. “I would think it the least of your problems.” His hand still glowing with burning fire, Ares began to lead the way back to the cave as darkness fell upon the island. She walked slowly and almost painfully next to him, trying to hold back little grunts and groans as they went. “Are you ready to tell me who you are and where you came from now?”

“I told you, my name is Maggie. Magdalena MacLeod to be exact,” she said, trying not to sound rude or upset. “I was in Africa….”

“And your ship wrecked but there’s no wreck, I know.”

“Oh, and the boat, I don’t know the name because I couldn’t read it, it was in a language I don’t understand. French or Italian maybe,” Maggie offered. “I’m not lying to you. I was on a boat, it exploded.”

Ares would come back to this subject but he had another one in mind. “That band of gold? Who put that on you? Who are you awaiting, Alena? Just how long have you been waiting?”

“A long time,” she confessed in a whisper. “If you are who you say you are, then you know who put this on me and why you must let me go.”

Ares stopped walking and looked down at her. “No one who comes to this island leaves. I cannot risk you telling people that I am here.”

“Who would believe me?!” she cried and held her hands out to her sides as she shrugged her slender shoulders. “Anyone I told would think I was crazy. “

“You would never tell Cernunnos where I am?” Ares challenged. “Surely he would believe you. How is the old bastard, anyway?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Maggie said through gritted teeth. “He will find me here because you are like him. All of you…you… whatever you are….you all keep track of each other….”

“Whatever I am? I am an Olympian. He is a Celt and you, my dear Alena, I believe you are Fey.” Slowly he reached out and picked up a long tress of gray hair as he stared into those stormy eyes. “Am I wrong?” She looked away from him, first to the side and then down at the ground. “Promised to Cernunnos.”

“Please just take me off of this island,” Maggie begged. “He’ll find me here. When he does, you will be in the middle of it, you, and all of your people here. Just take me anywhere I can get on a plane or a train or a boat and…”

“Disappear,” Ares finished for her. “That’s why you were in Africa, at a refugee camp; you were hiding from him there. How long have you been running from him? Why? If this is your fate, why deny it?”

“Because I don’t want it!” Maggie cried in a shrill voice. “This is my life, my fate is my own.”

“Is it? Hmm,” Ares mused and began walking once more; he reached down and looped her hand through his arm. “I wouldn’t want you wandering off in the dark and getting lost. Should Cernunnos come here looking for you, I will see what I can do for you. I protect all who live on my island. It appears that would now include you.”

“What can you do?” Maggie said in an almost a mocking tone. “What are you going to do, Ares? What choice will you have but to give me over to him before he lays waste to this island and your people? I have run a long time and he has chased me. If he ever finds me, Zeus himself won’t be able to stand in the way.”

Ares pursed his full lips and drew in a deep breath through his nostrils, letting it out as he proclaimed, “A challenge, I like it. I haven’t had one of those in a while, not one worth anything anyway.” However, Ares was more concerned with his own kin and what the Olympians would do when they discovered she was here than he was with Cernunnos. Alena was right about one thing, those of his kind did tend to keep a silent eye on each other, and it would not take Zeus or Hera long to find out that Alena was here. They would be very interested in the Fey; they might even demand he turn her over to them. This information Ares decided to keep to himself for the time being.