10 The Fight For The Princess

The king of Sparta had made a foolish decision. Defied the messengers of the gods was enough to made Sparta cursed. What's more, that god was Ares. A vicious war god.

In many mythologies it was said that Ares—who was a god—often could not stopped himself from involved directly in the war between humans. He also threw his spear and swung his sword. He was so enjoyed took the soul of humans. He was reluctant to use his divine powers and chose to fought with human weapons forged by blacksmiths.

Sometimes he was said defeated by humans and humiliated. But there was a strong suspicion that the shameful stories about him were wrote by poets who hated Ares. Those who despised Ares in their poetry were worshipers of Athena—the eternal rival of the god of war.

The current king of Sparta, was a worshiper of Deimos—one of the sons of the Ares. He was the god of fear who was believed to gave strength and bravery to soldiers. But his high respect for the god of war and his children could not reduced his intention to kept Portia in his palace.

The king of spata refused to believe. It didn't matter how convinced the messenger was. He didn't want to gave up his daughter without a fight.

There were only five of them, yet each of them could fight more than ten people. There was more than two dozen Spartan fighters who defeated. Most of them looked daunted by the sight of the weapons they were using. None of the weapons scratched their skin but the warriors still fell and were thrown away.

It was clearly a god's weapon. The Greeks did not know such weapons.

But the spartan warriors was not afraid of death. For them, to died in the battlefield was an honor. They only hoped that Hades would not drag their souls into tartarus for defied the gods.

"O Lord Ares! Have mercy on us!" The Spartan queen—that Jill thought was too dramatic and exaggerated—was in fact the only sane human in the palace. She knelt down tried to made her eyes met one of the messengers. She hoped that the envoys would felt her sincerity and refrained from reported Sparta to Ares. If the king was a little wise, he should have chosen to surrender. No matter how much he loved portia—still nothing compared to the curse from Olympus.

Jill felt her hand hurt a little. The female envoy dressed as an Amazonian knight apologized to her several times. Jill was slightly amazed at how calmly she faced the dozens of male soldiers while still protected the princess.

But apparently she was not perfect. A spear tip hit her shoulder because she was off guard. Like the zombies that just smelled fresh blood—the soldiers immediately focused on attacked her. Logic forced her to let Jill go. She didn't want the princess to be the victim.

Her legs were a little weak when she was about to run. After all, Portia was a princess who had never exercised strenuously. Sparta may be a country of formidable warriors, but the role of women was emphasized from the start. They do not fight and do not hold weapons.

Jill was reluctant to return to the Portia's family. But she also hesitated to follow the messengers. From the start, she had decided to accept whatever her destiny was. But what if this moment becomes her path to determine her own destiny? Maybe she can escaped. He had a horse not far from there. Jill tried to ride it several times over the past two days. She was able to ride it without fell.

"Portia!"

Her plan failed, she hadn't even able to walk more than six meters. Alexei caught her hand and pulled her away.

"I will secure her!" The general said to the surrounding warriors.

Jill was a little pale at this point. How can they trust the man? Alexei is obsessed with Princess Portia. He should be the last person that allowed to get close with Portia.

The princess realized that Alexei had taken her to a quiet place away from the sight of the people who were busy securing themselves or ganging up on the messengers. Everyone who passed them ignored him. They thought it was an attempt to secure their princess.

But Jill soon found out. As soon as she saw a chariot without a window in front of her—it clearly didn't belong to the king of Sparta. Alexei planned this.

"Come in! You'll be safe here!" He said a little pushy.

"Do you think I'm crazy to go in there?" Jill swatted away Alexei's hand.

But Jill saw a glint of anger mixed with obsession in the general's eyes. He was determined even though it betrayed all his title and honor as a Spartan general.

Alexei grabbed the princess' slender waist and forcibly carried her.

"Put me down! You crazy man!"

Jill shouted loudly. Trying to grab the attention of anyone who might be around her. Jill saw several maids witnessed the kidnapping but was reluctant to act. However Alexei is one of the top generals. Moreover, rumors that the princess had turned insane since she recovered were still circulating in the palace environment.

The carriage door closed, and Jill heard the sound of the wheels turning along with the grunts and hooves of its towing horses.

Jill banged on the door hoping anyone would hear.

This is a primitive era, where women often have the misfortune to become mere objects. Jill didn't want to experienced it. This was worse than being the wife of the god of war.

Before Jill gave up and cried—something was heard climbing into her carriage.

"Princess of Sparta?" someone said.

"Yes! I'm here! Get me out of here!"

Then the carriage stopped. Jill hit the wall because the carriage was a little unstable. She complained while rubbed her forehead. The carriage door opened and he saw Alexei.

He immediately grabbed Jill and made her run. it didn't matter even though she was wearing a dress and footwear that made all her movements slower and more graceful.

The man who was on the carriage, seemed to have fallen down because Alexei forced to stop his horse. He was one of Ares' emissaries.

"Walk faster, Portia!" Alexei ruled.

"No Alexei! No!"

"Didn't I say that I would help you escape?" Alexei forced to carried Jill again. They fled into the trees. A few twigs had scratched her beautiful skin but Alexei didn't care. No matter how much Jill pleaded and cursed at him, he didn't stop.

Then Alastair with his sword leapt before them. He looked at Alexei coldly and slashed his arm without any warning.

Fresh blood flowed profusely. Alexei lost his left arm. He is screamed. jill could only fell to the ground and moved her legs to back away as far as possible. The hem of her dress was splattered with fresh blood and it all looked like a horror movie to her. But this is all real. Her breath was racing as Alexei tried to press his wound with a cloth.

"You tried to touch Ares's bride. I won't kill you because I want you to suffer," Alastair said coldly.

He held out his hand to the frightened Jill.

"He—he's going to die," Jill felt sorry for Alexei. His life is a waste.

"He'll live," Alastair said once they had walked further.

"How is that possible? The blood—a lot of—ugh—" Jill felt sick. It was really traumatic for her.

"This sword of mine is a gift from Ares which when slashed will burn the flesh at the same time. very painful but the bleeding won't last long," Alastair explained.

"Have you found the Princess of Sparta?" The female soldier and three of her comrades approached.

"We're going straight away, but there's a change of plans. We'll continue our journey by horse. let's leave this ungrateful human kingdom right now." One of them spoke.

"We've made a clear message. Even their strongest warrior can't beat the five messengers of Ares."

"Should we report it to Ares?"

"No need, it's not important to him. Our job is to bring the Princess of Sparta back to Olympus," Alastair responded.

Jill looked at their faces one by one, and guessed. They were all physically very human. But there was something different about them. although they were all tough, there were wise eyes full of knowledge from them. Unlike Jill's previous image, Ares's messengers actually were not barbaric and quite polite.

"Are you ready princess?" Said the female soldier?

"What's your name?" Jill asked,

"I'm Attica, an Amazonian knight,"

"What? Amazons?"

"Looks like you have a lot of questions. But don't worry we have a long time to answer them because Olympus is still far from here." Alastair responded with a cheerful smile. Jill smiled back awkwardly. he just cut off someone's arm but right now he was acting casual as if he was just slashed a tree branch.