Decisions of the Heart Read online

  I felt a current of desire push out of my body like a wave. I cried out from the feeling it caused me. Every part of me was so alive just the wind brushing against me made the ache worse. I needed to get out of here. Moving away from the hut I slowly, and painfully, walked to where I needed to go. I lifted my head and focused on the path ahead of me. A feeling of unease crept over my skin, I realized the laughter and sounds of the village had become quiet. Sneaking a look around I noticed every single male eye was on me. Not very good at all. The women were looking at the men, then me, and back to the men, trying to figure out what was happening around them. Another wave crashed over me. I watched as the men’s eyes glazed over. Really not good at all. I watched as one man took a step towards me. I hurried my walk. I needed to leave now. The more I walked the more the ache would be. I needed release, but there would be no way I would want to find it with any of these men. I heard grunts behind me as a group of men started to close in on me. With my hand on my pelvis, I walked as fast as I could. The pain was becoming almost unbearable. I heard some of the men speak in their language. I didn’t understand them, and I did not want to.

  My body fell to the ground as the wave of desire washed over me, and apparently the men behind me. I heard them groan in ecstasy. Daring a peek back at them was a big mistake. One of them launched at me. He grabbed my wrists, trying to pin me down, and fit between my legs. I screamed and kicked trying to get him off of me. I knew being still for a moment would cost me some, but I knew I would gain more than I lost. I stilled my mind and body pushing back the pain to find myself, the warrior.

  The man’s hand was feeling my breast harshly then making its way down to my sex. My eyes opened and the warrior took over before he reached my heat. I slammed my head into his; he fell to the side and I stood up quickly. More men pounced. I dropped low and swept my foot out in a half circle swoop, taking out the legs of the men closest. But they didn’t stay down long. One man crawled on the ground, trying to grab my by the leg and pull me to him. Rearing back my other leg I kicked him. I didn’t want to kill these men, but I needed to be able to get away. The warrior was only keeping the ache at bay for a short time. Already I was starting to feel the pain coming back. I pushed back the closest man and took off in a run towards Apollion. I thanked all of the Gods that he was still there waiting for me just grazing on random grass patches. Falling to my knees in the sand I dug out my kopis and armor.

  One of the faster man had caught up to me before I could put on my armor. He flipped me over onto my stomach, pushing my face into the dirt making me taste blood from the contact. I pulled the same moves on him I had with the other man Nindigoa. He went to the ground just as easily. I grabbed my kopis and climbed onto Apollion. Leaving my armor in the dirt. Hands of the men were grabbing at me as I tried to get my horse free from their grips. Apollion pushed through and I pushed him into a full gallop. The pain came back at me in full force. I gripped onto the saddle and reins with everything I had. Every last bit of my strength went to getting as far away from men as possible. I noticed my body changed back to my normal self before I cried out from the pain. I needed Anubis.

  Night had fallen over us, and I knew Apollion needed a break. I had pushed him really hard to get away from that village. I felt close to losing consciousness. The waves or desire and pain had yet to ease. I prayed that whatever was happening to me would not last too much longer. I settled us under the cover of a small set of trees. I fed and gave water to my noble steed, before he lay down and I lay back against him. My stomach felt like it would revolt any food I ate, so I chose to save my food for tomorrow. My insides clenched hard and I felt the need for release so strongly I was overtaken by my exhaustion.

  “Thalia, please love open your eyes.” Anubis’s voice was soft but was hoarse. My eyes flew open to see him. He looked tired and run down. His hair was a mess, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He looked ill.

  “What ails you?” I was full of concern for him. I tried to sit up, but his arms were suddenly around me, crushing me to his body.

  “I felt your pain love, and I couldn’t save you,” he whispered into me. His words finally it me with their meaning.

  “Anubis you cannot blame yourself. I’m ok. Please love, look at me.” I pulled back and looked him in the eye. His were slightly bloodshot. He was suffering.

  “I’m a warrior love. I can handle a little pain.” I gave him a half smile. He tried to return the smile but failed. I leaned in and kisses him. In this dream there was no cut on my lip from being smashed into the ground. And I knew this was a dream because Anubis was with me.

  We took our time, tasting, and feeling each other’s mouths. Not leading to anything. Just relishing each other’s presence. Anubis was the first to slow our kiss and finally pull back.

  “What happened? One minute you were happy, then the next, pain, then desire, and pain. I was going mad from the thought of what could be going on.” I felt his helplessness in his voice. Sometimes I wished he could not feel my soul.

  “Something is happening to me.” I blushed thinking about how I was going to explain the next part. He just looked at me curiously. I took a breath and continued on.

  “My insides ached right here.” I pointed to my womb.

  “I felt the need for release, like when you’re inside me. It was such a strong feeling. I needed it so badly. I would feel intense desire hit me like a tidal wave. And apparently that wave extended beyond my own body. Every male in the village was affected. They stared at me, and I knew I had to leave quickly. I did try, but the more I got hit with those waves the more pain I was in. They surrounded me, but I fought back. I made it to my horse and we rode away. It was like the wave was a siren’s call to them. They were trying to answer my need for release.” I wish I had known why I had gotten that feeling in the first place. It was something I had never experienced before.

  “May I?” He asked as he held a hand to my stomach. I nodded, not knowing what he was going to do, but I trusted him. Gently he placed his hand over my womb. His eyes were staring at me with the utmost concentration.

  “You’re fertile my love. I can only assume with being a daughter of the Goddess of love and sex that something calls out from inside you for assistance in your time of need. You were a siren’s call to them, such as your mother is to many.” Fertile? That was not something I had even thought of. Children. Once I met Anubis I hadn’t even considered the chance of ever having them, and now every time I would be fertile I would be a bright star for all males to impregnate me. I knew Aphrodite was sex and everything that went along with it, but this had seemed a little strange. Did she have these feelings to?

  “What are your thoughts love?” He kept his hand on me but was no longer looking so sad.

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” I confessed. I didn’t know what else to say to him. I was feeling slightly embarrassed that the whole reason I had trouble at the village was because I was a cat in their time of heat.

  “Please do not feel slight. Tell me,” he asked nicely.

  “I hadn’t thought about children. I hadn’t thought about any of this. What will my life be like when every month I go into this strange cycle of desire and pain?” My mind was starting to hurt from thinking about it.

  “You’ll have me love. I will ease your ache, filling you so you will not think of anything other than the feeling I create for you.” That slow ache started to spread of my body. Not the painful one, but one that made me suddenly realize my hand was rubbing circles on his strong shoulders. I didn’t want to talk any longer. I wanted to take what he had offered. I wanted him now.

  “I want that,” I told him brazenly. He was taken back by my comment, but quickly pressed me back into the grass. I took a short minute to realize we were in my homeland in the dream. It was like our special place in the fields under the stars. His hand slid up my thigh to my bare hip. A growl escaped him as he gripped my backside and pressed himself into my flesh. His clothes disappeared i
n between blinks. I reached up and untied the knots that held my coverings. Displaying my naked form for his perusal.

  “Oh, Thalia, you are so beautiful.” He leaned down and covered my nipple with his mouth. Desire coursed through me as I arched into him. His tongue swirled around my harden peaks. My breaths were coming out in short pants. His hard sex pressed against mine causing little shivers to dance through my veins. My hips started to move against him, spreading my wetness for him. A cry came from my lips as he nipped my nipple and moved to the other giving it the same attention.

  “Please, Anubis,” I pleaded. I need him to fill me and ease my pain.

  His lips left my breast and crushed my lips as he entered me in one fine thrust. My nails dug into his shoulders from the feeling of being full of him. His kiss was hard but filled with passion. I needed him to not be sweet with me. I needed to feel alive. A cry of pleasure came out with a gasp for air. He knew what I needed. He always knew what I craved from him. His hips pulled back before he slammed them back into me over and over. It was exactly what I needed. With every thrust into me I screamed from the pleasure. He pulled his lips away from mine and stared into my hooded eyes. We stayed captivated in each other’s gaze until the pleasure was too much. My body leaped head first into my release. My insides clenched, and convulsed with the intensity of pleasure. I heard his loud growl of his release as I started to come down from my own.

  “Mine” He whispered into me. Rolling my head to the side I gave his arm a kiss.

  “Yours forever, love.” I smiled brightly at him.

  “Yes Thalia. Forever. Don’t forget that,” he urged me. He did not need to worry. I would never forget that he and I were meant for forever. I felt my body being tugged back to reality.

  “I’ll see you soon,” I promised him as he understood and leaned down to give me one last kiss. I didn’t get to see his face after our kiss.

  I woke up feeling exhausted still. My body hurt all over, but more of a soreness than the pain from the day before. As far as I could feel that pain was over, but I felt that pain in my heart for Anubis. I needed to get to that cave and destroy that blade. I was only a day away from my destination. I knew it deep inside me that I was very close. After getting myself and my steed ready for the journey we set off for the final battle.

  There it was. The waterfall. I looked over the river’s edge to see a long drop. A huff of my horse behind me spoke volumes. He wanted to go with me.

  “You can’t Apollion. I need you to stay here for me. But…” I walked to him and put my forehead against his.

  “If I do not return, you must leave and live a fulfilled life.” I know it sounded amusing me telling a horse to live a good life, but Apollion was always different. Loyal to me almost to a fault. He would wait around her for me until I came back to him. I needed him to know that if I didn’t make it back, he had to move on. We had a strong bond.

  “Go find a mare and make pretty Apollion foals,” I chuckled to myself. He huffed at me again.

  Pulling back I took one last look at him, he had been there with me through this journey. I would have never made it here without him. I stepped back and grabbed my Kopis from the saddle. I brought a small holster and tied it to my back. Climbing down the side of a waterfall would be hard enough let alone with a sword in your hand.

  I took a deep breath and started my first step of my decent.

  Chapter 9

  To say it was hard was an understatement. Every ledge was slippery from the falls. I did not rush my movement, and the ground was closer, but not enough that a jump would not end in injury. My eyes found a ledge that was close to the falls. It seemed the next place to go. My hands gripped the rock, but my feet slipped and I lost my grip on the ledge.

  I held my breath and prayed that the water below me was deep.

  The force of hitting the water stole my breath and brought tears to my eyes on impact. My arms stretched as I swam towards the surface. My lungs filled with air as soon as I broke free from the water. Briefly I saw a glimpse of the cave behind the waterfall. I pushed myself with all of my strength to swim to the cave.

  Finally my hand gripped the ground of the cave’s entrance. Grunts came from me as I used my arm strength to hoist myself up and onto the surface. Rolling over onto my back, I just lay there to catch my breath. While staring at the rock ceiling of the entrance it truly dawned on me.

  I finally made it. Orion would most likely be in there, and hopefully he wouldn’t have the blade.

  My breaths started to even and finally I sat up and stared at the entrance. It was dark, and it made me feel nervous about what was in there. I took a deep breath and stood up, drawing my sword from my back. With slow steps I entered the cave. There were lit torches once the light from the opening was gone. My hands tightened their grip on the hilt of the sword, ready for anything.

  The air was damp and stale. Droplets of water were cascading down the rock wall. I was starting to wonder if there were another cave behind a water fall somewhere. As soon as I finished that thought the small hallway opened up into a room of sorts. My feet came to a stop while I took in the space. It was completely open with a medium sized rock placed right in the middle of it. The whole room wasn’t too large, maybe only thirty feet long by twenty feet wide, until the tunnel continued on the other side. Something about the room made me feel uneasy. It wouldn’t be as simple that I could just walk through. This room was put here for a reason. A test. My eyes flew to the ground and saw old skeletons scattered about the room. I took a deep breath, trying not to let that sight disturb me. I couldn’t think like that.

  Bending down, I grabbed a small rock and tossed it into the room. Immediately arrows shot through the wall closest to me. It stunned me how quickly they fired and then disappeared into the slits in the wall. Time was against me; I needed to go through this room now.

  With calculated steps I dropped to the ground in a roll as the arrows shot above my head. I jumped up and continued on, watching for anything that might come for me. Even though I was light on my feet I stepped on a stepping stone and fell as it wobbled. Rocks of all sizes started falling from the ceiling. I scrambled to the right towards the wall to avoid them. Raising myself to my feet, I took off in a series of flips and landed on the rock in the middle. The ground in front of me started to sink into a deep trench. This cave was magical. No man could make a cave do this, it was trying to stop me. Taking in a deep breath, I prepared myself to make the jump over the trench until the unthinkable happened. My hands gripped my sword tighter as I stared in shock as the skeletons that had been littering the ground began to rise with their weapons to guard the exit. Each skeleton was different. Their weapons were varied and some still had armor, some I recognized and some I hadn’t. These were fallen soldiers who had tried and failed to pass this trial.

  There were five of them standing there waiting for me, a defense strategy. I was thankful I had trained for battle my whole life. I knew I could handle these foes. Digging the ball of my foot into the rock I launched myself off in a flip, landing just before them and swiping my sword as I rolled up to stand. My sword hit one skeleton cutting him at the knees. He went down and crumbled. Four more to go.

  I dodged and fought until I was winded. But I was smiling. I lived for fighting like this. Fighting four targets at one time was exhilarating. They all fell quite quickly. My breaths were frantic but I was more than ready to take on the next trial. Stepping over the pile of bones and armor, I walked through the tunnel towards whatever was ahead.

  I didn’t have to walk as far as the first tunnel. I hadn’t even caught my breath before I was standing in another empty room. I looked around for the same slits in the walls for arrows, or any other traps. After grabbing another rock and throwing in only for nothing to happen, I realized this room was different. Cautiously I started to walk towards the door way on the other side of the large circular room.

  “Thalia, my beautiful daughter,” someone said on a whisper. I looked
around but didn’t see anyone. I continued walking.

  “My beautiful daughter.” My body tensed. The whisper sounded like the man who raised me. I needed to get to the next tunnel immediately. I took another step and white whisps floated from the ground. They almost looked like clouds, until they started to take the shape of people. I was surrounded. I stared at them, trying to figure out why these ghost like people were here. Then it happened.

  Emotions flooded my mind. I felt every single one of their deaths, their pain. My legs gave out and I crashed to the ground. They were moving around me in a circle. My eyes could barely stay open from the pain. I was losing control, I felt my mind start to slip into a spiral of pain. I knew I had to stop it, if only I had more time to practice my powers, and get them under control.

  “Thalia, hear me. Choose my voice.” It was my father’s voice again. Gritting my teeth I tried to isolate his voice in the masses.

  “You are the master of your mind; fight it my warrior.” He was telling me how to beat it. But what he was asking was no easy feat. The first trial was that of physical strength, this trial was that of the mind.

  I tried to keep focusing on him, but the other ghost’s emotions were winning again. Tears leaked from my eyes as they continued to surge my mind.

  “Thalia!” That was Anubis’s voice. My eyes snapped open and the other voices had quieted down. I looked around and the ghosts were staring at me. They were still trying to beat me with their pain. I tried to find Anubis but he wasn’t there. Whether or not I truly heard him, it helped me focus. I was no longer feeling everyone’s pain. I envisioned my mind to be like a beautiful jewelry box. I took all of the emotions around me and placed them inside the box and closed it. I knew it had worked because the ghosts had vanished. Relief surged through me as I got up and ran out of that room. My mind had been worked over, but I had to finish this.