Celtic Rose (43 page)

Chapter 23

Kallisto ran as fast as she could, hoping to find Gabriel before Kalan found her again. Pain rippled from the wound on her side, but she couldn’t stop. She needed to find help. She ran past a few more trees and skidded to a stop, screaming as someone stepped out from behind one of them. He came into the light quickly and she realized it was William. When he saw the blood on her he ran to her, concerned. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy, like he had been crying. That’s all it took for Kallisto to realize that Ephiny must’ve been dead too.

“Kalan’s on a rampage! He’s lost it or something,” Kallisto glanced behind her, checking for any sign of her now deranged brother. “We need to find Gabriel.”

William shook his head sadly. “I found him and Keira too. They’re all dead.”

“Talus, too,” Kallisto said, choking on the words. She still couldn’t believe it–she’d watched him die, right in her arms. “We’re the only ones left, then?”

William nodded slowly. Kallisto grabbed William and pulled him into her arms. The river started to flow and Kallisto felt the wound in her side close and heal over. They pulled back then, smiling at each other.

“Thanks, Will!” Kalan popped up behind William and brought the sword across his throat. William’s eyes went wide and he gurgled as he crumpled to the ground, his blood splattering all over Kallisto’s face and chest. She stared at it in horror and then fell back, shrieking. Kalan ran toward her with concern on his face. “Shh. It’s okay, Sis. Everything’s going to be just fine. You’ll see.” He started to reach down to her and she slapped his hand away, jumping up quickly.

“Kalan, how can you say everything’s going to be fine? They’re all dead! You committed one of the most evil of sins! Nothing is going to be fine!” Kallisto screamed. He stood there, unconcerned, and then looked to his side.

“I thought you said they’d understand?” Kalan said sadly. Ramina’s ghostly figure appeared beside him. She spoke to him, but Kallisto couldn’t hear what she said. She was smiling and Kalan grinned at her, looking crazy. They both turned and looked at Kallisto in unison. Kallisto looked at Kalan and then back at Ramina, whose eyes were glowing green.

“That’s not Ramina!” Kallisto yelled.

Kalan laughed. “I know; the eyes threw me off too, but it’s her. I think we all have glowing eyes when we die. You didn’t think it was only you, did you?” Kalan asked sarcastically.

“That’s Serena, Kalan! That’s not Ramina. Serena is using you to do her work.” She tried to convince Kalan, but he got angry.

“
Liar
! You just can’t stand the fact that she came back to me and Talus hasn’t shown his ghostly face.” Kalan started for her again, sword held high. Ramina was laughing silently behind him. He ran for Kallisto but Kallisto ran, not wanting to fight her brother. Kalan used his power to control her and yelled, “Kallisto, stop!” She froze at his words. “Now turn and fight me.” Kalan ordered. Kallisto did as she was told; she had no choice. The clanging of the swords resumed.

Kallisto wasn’t sure how long the fight went on, but both of them were damaged and bloody. Every strike Kallisto got on him came back on her and vice versa. They were on their knees in front of each other, bleeding profusely and breathing harshly. Ramina stood close by, watching as they stayed where they were, catching their breath. She kept talking to Kalan, egging him on. Kallisto was getting tired of it; she pulled up all the strength she had in her and stood back up. She held the sword toward Kalan, but he stayed where he was, watching her; he made no move for the sword. A look into his mind showed Kallisto that he wanted her to finish it.

He knew she’d die if she killed him and that the curse would end for that life and start the next. He looked lovingly to the ghostly Ramina and a rush of anger flooded Kallisto’s body. She spun the sword around in her hand and plunged it into the ghostly apparition, surprised that it connected. The supposed Ramina screamed and blood poured out of the wound. Kalan jumped up, screaming, and came at Kallisto. She pulled the sword from the fake Ramina and lunged toward Kalan. He ran right into it with a look of shock on his face, which turned into a look of sheer terror as the veil of Ramina fell away and Serena took its place. The wound opened in Kallisto’s stomach at that moment and both Kalan and Kallisto dropped to their knees facing each other. A single tear trailed down Kalan’s cheek.

“I’m so sorry, Kallisto. I should’ve known,” Kalan said, pausing to cough up blood.

They reached for each other and held on, clinging tightly to their last breath, to spend just one more moment together. They heard a loud screech in the sky and watched as Lady fell from the sky. There was a yowl from the woods and Six Toes fumbled into the clearing before falling. Serena started laughing, and when Kallisto looked back at Kalan, she saw her reflection in Kalan’s eyes. Her eyes were glowing green and there was a ghostly outline of Serena in front of her face. Now she knew why her eyes turned green before she died. It was Serena.

And that was Kallisto’s last thought before everything went dark.

A New Beginning

Shappa Reya

She ran through the forest as fast as her feet would carry her. Serena and Merrick’s men were hot on her trail. She had excellent fighting skills and could probably take them down, but she had a child in her arms and if anything happened to him, the cost would be great. If she didn’t get the child to the monk’s before they attacked her, then it’d be over before it could even begin. She could see lights from the monastery through the trees. Hope welled inside her, but she could also hear the yelling of the men behind her. They were getting very close. She called the snakes to her. She wasn’t sure it would work since she was in a foreign land, but it seemed to be working just fine since the men behind her started screaming.

She reached the steps of the monastery and ran up them quickly, hitting the door with her fist as soon as it was within reach. It opened immediately and an old monk stood in the doorway, looking at her expectantly.

“I bring the cursed one–please let me in,” she pleaded quickly. The monk moved aside in a hurry and she bolted through the door. It closed behind her and she heard a large plank being dropped in place to secure the door. Two other monks came to meet her; one was old, but the other was young, no older than fifteen like she was. The two monks stopped as they looked at her with looks of sheer shock on their faces. She might be fifteen years old, but she had the muscles of a twenty year old. Her hair was the color of blood and yet her skin was pale white like porcelain. She was an Amazon, born and raised in the Amazon jungle with her tribe. They were a wild breed and they looked it, so she was used to getting those looks from strangers. The older monk finally came to himself and cleared his throat to speak.

“I apologize, my child. We rarely have the chance to meet Amazon’s. We weren’t expecting the child to come to us through another child,” the monk said civilly, but he still managed to be rude.

“I’m sorry to have inconvenienced you with my presence, sir, but the others in my village have been badly wounded and our numbers have been decimated by Serena and Merrick’s army. As soon as the word spread that a cursed one had been born they attacked relentlessly. I barely escaped with the child’s life, much less my own. I’m surprised they haven’t attacked this place yet,” she spouted, looking around. The monk smiled.

“Fear not, dear one. They cannot see this place; it’s magically cloaked to anyone wishing harm.” He walked toward her.

“Call me ‘dear one’ again and you’ll see just how dear I can be,” she said with a grin full of malice. The monk stopped.

“Yes, well...I’ll take the child to his quarters to be tended, and you’re free to eat and rest until you’re ready to go home,” the monk said nicely. She handed him the child, but followed along behind him. They placed a silver necklace around the child’s neck.

“Why are you putting that on him? He’s just a baby; won’t he get choked?” she asked, mildly concerned about her charge. The monk laughed.

“Follow me, child, and you’ll see just how much of a child he is.” The monk was still laughing but as he looked at her face he stopped and his face sobered.

“My name is Shappa, Shappa Reya, and I’d appreciate it if you would call me that. I may look like a child to you, but I’m a warrior. Warriors are not children,” she said calmly, although her face was full of anger. The monk nodded once and turned forward again. Shappa followed him down several corridors. He stopped at a door with silver bars on the window. Shappa stopped and stared as the monk walked to it. She thought they were crazy, and that she’d go crazy too if she had to stay locked up in that place all the time. The monk started to open the door and stopped as he saw her standing there.

“Come Shappa, you’ll see the necessity for all of this once you step inside.” The monk opened the door and walked in with the child. Shappa didn’t want to go in, but curiosity took the place of any reason she had. As she walked through the door she stopped in her tracks. The walls had claw marks, the bed was shredded and looked chewed in places, and as she turned and looked at the door, she noticed that the outer wood had been torn apart to reveal a silver door beneath. She stared around wide-eyed at all the damage. At that moment a one-armed man came into the room. Shappa felt like she was going to faint, which was something a warrior never did in her mind, so she took a deep breath and steadied herself.

“This is why we have a silver necklace, and silver bars on the windows,” the monk said as he handed the child over to the one-armed man. He smiled at the child and started talking baby talk to him. Shappa looked at the other windows and realized that they were covered in silver bars as well.

“He did all of this?” she asked in shock. The monk nodded and then his brow furrowed.

“He’s a werewolf, from the day he’s born. Did no one tell you this?” he asked, confused and looking a little concerned. She shook her head and sat down on the floor. She thought passing out didn’t seem like such a bad idea, but she kept a hold of the urge.

“The old monk that knew all of this died before he could tell us in the little one’s last life. I came in to feed the little tike and...well, as you can see,” the one-armed man said, showing his missing arm. The older monk glared at him.

“Eventually, we found the writings of our old friend. We knew about the necklace keeping him from changing form, but we weren’t told about the damage he could do on the full moon even with the necklace. You’re lucky you came to us when you did Shappa; the full moon comes tomorrow night.” The monk stood and helped Shappa to her feet. As they walked out of the room, Shappa looked back at the child.

The one-armed monk had placed him on the bed. The child turned his head, looking at her. She smiled at the baby, then about passed out in the doorway, because the child smiled back, the most malicious grin she’d ever seen, with his canines distended.

“Yep, there’s our little Gabriel,” the one-armed man said as the door closed.

About the Author, Jill Campbell

I live in a small town in North-Central Oklahoma. I started writing when I was seventeen years old. I dreamed the story and then embellished that dream into a manuscript. I had over half of each book in my trilogy written when they were destroyed. I was devastated and quite writing for a very long time. I started writing again a few years ago when my cousin had me tell the stories to friends of ours and they inspired me to start writing again. They all loved my stories and supported me as I wrote. My Muse came along and helped me to develop the stories to have more comic relief. Most of the dark humor in the book comes from conversations with him.