CHAPTER SIX

MENDRA AWOKE TO THE SOUND of splintering wood. Her body jerked up in the bed before her brain comprehended what was going on.

“Stay here!” Lysander ordered her, throwing on a pair of pants and racing out of the room holding his bow, already with an arrow knocked.

“What are you doing here?” Lysander demanded downstairs in an angry voice.

“We came for the horn,” Daewon told him.

“This time, we’ll get it,” Quinn growled.

Mendra dressed quickly and tiptoed out of the room, so she could see what was going on through the railing. Quinn and Daewon stood in the entryway, both glowing with power. It radiated off of them in waves and she was immensely glad that she was upstairs and not close to them. It was almost suffocating from this distance.

“If you don’t get off of my property right now, I’ll kill you both,” Lysander threatened them.

Quinn raised his hands, fire covering them, but Lysander released the arrow. It slammed into Quinn’s shoulder, knocking him backwards and making him drop to one knee.

One arrow caused that much damage? Were they poisoned?

“Last warning,” Lysander snarled.

“You’re pretty wound up today,” Daewon noted. “Could it be because you found your mate?” His eyes shifted up, right to her hiding spot.

She froze, hoping he was just looking upstairs and hadn’t actually seen her. Her body started to float and she knew she was wrong. No matter how hard she struggled, he levitated her body and brought her down towards them.

Lysander bellowed at Daewon and shot three arrows faster than she blinked. The power released her and both she and Daewon fell to the hard tile floor. Quinn struggled up into a standing position and lashed out at Lysander. He dodged the attack, light on his feet, and smacked Quinn in the face with his bow, using it like a bat. Quinn grunted in pain and tried to grab the bow, but Lysander leapt back, moving closer to Mendra.

“Leave!” he ordered them.

“Give us, the horn,” Quinn said out of breath.

“I’ll kill you. I don’t want to, but I will kill you,” Lysander informed them.

“She is your mate, isn’t she?” Daewon asked from the floor where he lay panting.

“Yes.”

“Such a shame,” Daewon said with a smug smile and snapped his fingers.

Pain erupted inside of Mendra, making her scream in pain and drop to her knees. Everything hurt and burned at the same time. How was he doing this?

“Mendra!” Lysander yelled, reaching out for her.

Quinn slammed into Lysander, knocking him away from her and into the wall behind them. Lysander gasped and she prayed that the cracking sound was the wall and not Lysander’s body.

She could hear them fighting, but she was in too much pain to do anything.

Quinn dropped Lysander’s body next to her, his breathing shallow and his eyes half-closed.

“Where’s the horn?” Daewon asked as Quinn helped him stand up.

“Release the spell from her and I will tell you,” Lysander begged, reaching a hand out towards her.

He looked near death and yet his goal was to help her.

“Please, if there are any Gods or Goddesses out there, help him. Please don’t let him die!” Mendra prayed.

The pain stopped and she fell to the ground next to Lysander, their eyes meeting as they lay, defeated and broken, on the ground.

“I’m sorry, love. I couldn’t protect you after all,” he whispered.

“The horn!” Daewon demanded.

“The safe behind the picnic painting,” he told them, his breathing becoming shallower with every breath.

“Don’t leave me,” she ordered him. “You can’t leave me.” Her voice was raspy from screaming for so long.

“Fear not, child,” a melodic voice whispered in her ear. “I’ll not let your mate die so soon.”

“Who are you?” she asked.

“What?” Daewon asked.

“Not you!” she snapped at him.

His eyes widened in shock at her tone.

“A Goddess who very much wants to meet you in person on the other side of the rift. To do that, I need you to win and Lysander to be alive! Rise up, young warrior. Rise up and defeat your enemies.”

“They’re strong,” she whispered back.

“As are you, child.”

Energy surged through her and she was able to stand. She took Lysander’s bow and knocked an arrow, aiming it at Quinn who stared at her with a smirk.

“Drop the horn,” she ordered them.

He raised his fingers to snap them and no doubt bring on the pain she had experienced before. She drew the arrow and released it, almost cheering when it slammed into his shoulder. She quickly aimed another and released it, it sailed true, right into Quinn’s leg. She released another and another and another, only stopping when she was out of arrows.

Her opponents lay on the ground, face down, and unmoving. She didn’t like killing, but she did not want her mate to die. She did not want to die herself. She snatched the horn from them and then rushed to Lysander.

“Lysander!” she yelled and placed her hands on his face. “Please don’t die. I need you.”

“You don’t need me,” he rasped. “You just defeated them alone.”

“No, I need you. I don’t have a herd. I don’t have anyone. Without you, I’ll just be a shell again. I’ll be a walking body with nothing in my core. You made me feel again. You make me feel whole, complete, for the first time ever. I can’t lose you.”

“I told you I would not let him die,” the Goddess said a bit angrily as a golden aura shimmered before Lysander.

“Athena!” Lysander gasped.

“Hush. Your mate is very close to losing it. You must be quiet and let me heal you and then you two must make your preparations to come here.”

“What do you want with us?” Mendra asked skeptically.

“I want all of our people back on the correct side of the rift,” she explained. “This world does not deserve our magic or help. You will feel whole once you return. You will see. Once you are back, things will be prosperous and joy will fill the lands.”

“You make it sound like a prophecy,” Mendra muttered.

Athena laughed and shook her head. “No, not a prophecy.”

Her glow spread to Lysander and then he stood, whole and unscathed.

“Lysander!” Mendra yelled and threw herself into his arms.

“Thank you, Athena,” she whispered as he held her tightly. “Thank you.”

Athena disappeared, leaving the two of them alone.

“Are you hurt?” Lysander asked her while running his hands along her arms.

She buried her face in his neck and inhaled his scent. “I’m perfect.”

“Yes, you are,” he whispered and kissed the top of her head. “I’ve never seen a woman who was so skilled with a bow and arrow.”

She laughed and pushed him back. “Says the man who shot three arrows faster than I could blink!”

They looked over at the two bodies and their expressions sobered.

“I have someone who will clean this up. Why don’t we wait outside?”

That sounded like an amazing idea to Mendra. She leaned into him as they walked outside and into fresh air. This wasn’t the first time she had killed someone. It probably wouldn’t be the last either. It should have bothered her, but killing in self-defense was not something she was ashamed of.

“Are you alright?” he asked her, a worried frown on his face.

“Yes.”

“Do you want to talk about what happened?”

“I’ve killed before,” she admitted to him. “This isn’t the first time.”

“What happened?” he asked.

“A man saw me shift. He followed me and set a trap for me. I was out in the fields, helping the herds find better places to graze. I stepped into the trap, a bear trap, that he had laid out for me. Any of the horses could have stepped there. Any of the little fillies or colts. That trap would have broken their leg and they would have had to be put down. I was so consumed with rage when he came after me, that I didn’t even think about it. I kicked him right in his forehead and cracked his skull like an egg.”

“What happened to your leg?” Lysander asked, glancing down at her legs with a frown.

“I called the cops for help. I told them my dog had run away out there and I was trying to find him when I stepped in the trap. When they found the man, they saw the imprint of my hoof and assumed one of the real horses had done it, since they didn’t know I was a shifter. They pried open the trap and took me to a hospital. My leg was shattered and had I been human, I would not have walked again on it. But, thanks to my magical genetics, some time spent in a cast let it heal completely.”

“A bear trap,” Lysander snarled.

“Who was your first kill?” she asked him, wanting to find out more about this man that she would spend the rest of her life with.

“I was eight and had gone off on my own to find adventure. There was a quarry about two days’ journey from the herd. There were legends about the quarry, stories of great monsters and the heroes who defeated them. I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to have legends spread about me. The only thing I found that day was a Cyclops looking for a meal. Centaurs make great meals for Cyclops. I almost died, but I killed him. Instead of feeling proud though, I felt ashamed and sad. My parents found me in the quarry the next day and took me to a healer. I never went back to that quarry after that and never spoke about it to anyone.”

She reached over and gripped his hand. He squeezed hers in return and they waited in silence for the cleaning crew.

The crew ended up being four men in black suits with big trash bags and lots of cleaning solution. They cleaned the entryway up and hauled the bodies away in less than an hour. Lysander led Mendra back inside and to the kitchen where he started making food.

“What’s it like there?” Mendra asked softly while he took ingredients out of the fridge.

“Beautiful. Clean. Everything that a dream world should be when it is untouched by humanity.”

“There aren’t humans there?” she asked in shock.

He chuckled. “That’s not what I meant. I meant the humans from here. The industrialism that corrupted this realm has thankfully not spread to Olympus. They keep everything fresh and clean there. Trees and grass are the only things you’ll see. Well, oceans, mountains and those as well, but you get what I mean.”

“You said there was indoor plumbing,” she reminded him.

“There are houses and small cities. There are also temples where people can worship the gods.”

“So, there isn’t just grass and trees.”

He sighed. “I’m not explaining this well. Let’s say we are out for a gallop, alright? As we gallop, ninety percent of what you see is going to be landscape. You might see a house or two and might even happen upon a city, but instead of seeing buildings everywhere, you see vegetation instead. Do you understand what I’m trying to say? It’s really something that you’ll have to see to understand and to appreciate.”

“I get it now,” she said.

What would it be like to see trees and grass instead of pavement and buildings? It would be amazing. That was for sure.

“What are the Pegasi like?” she asked, curious what her people were like across the rift.

“They’re a very compassionate herd, like I said before. They try to help whoever they can and go out of their way to show kindness to strangers. I stumbled into one of their camps before and they immediately invited me for dinner and drinks. They spend most of their time in their Pegasus form, but at night, most shift into their human forms to drink and party. They like playing games and having fun, but aren’t like the pixies who play games to cause trouble.”

“Are there many of them?”

“I’m not sure. There are a few herds that I’ve seen, which consisted of ten to twenty members. I have no idea how many of those herds there are though.”

She supposed that somethings she would just have to wait until she was there to learn.