Dreams

Chapter 7



My ribs have finally healed up, and I am going to see if Artemis will let me go down to my old village. The only thing is, I am having a bit of a problem finding her. I make my way around Olympus, which is set up like a very rich city. There are no merchants or salesman, but the houses are built beautifully. I decide to try Athena’s home. It can’t hurt. I know if she’s not there that Athena could at least give me an idea to where she is at.

I go to knock on Athena’s door when, suddenly, it bursts open and knocks me to the ground. So much for formalities… I reach up to make sure my nose is still intact and not bleeding. A brunette girl with green eyes looks down at me. She looks a lot like Athena, but she is not Athena. I give the girl a strange look as she reaches down and helps me up. “Sorry about slamming the door into your face. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine I think. Everything seems to still be in working order.”

“I was just coming to find you. Athena and Artemis sent for you. You made my job a whole lot easier.” She said with a smile on her face. “Oh, I’m being rude. My name is Raine. I’m Thena’s daughter.” That definitely caused me to give her a really weird look. The virgin goddess who hates guys has a daughter. Ok… “I’m kind of adopted. It’s a long story. Come on in.”

“Alright.” I say as I step over the threshold and make my way through a corridor into a bedroom. I see Artemis and Athena sitting on Athena’s bed chatting. Her bed has light blue, silken sheets and a dark blue comforter. Artemis looks up at me, smiles, and waves me over. I also notice that Athena waves Raine over as well.

“Well, that was fast. I’m assuming you didn’t have to much trouble finding Faith.” Athena said to Raine.

“No, I kind of hit her with the door on the way out.” Artemis and Athena both look over at me at this statement.

“You’re not hurt are you? Do I need to check anything?” Artemis says trying to look over me and find any sign that I am not at full health.

“No, No, there’s no need. I’m fine.” I reply as I wave my hands back and forth in a fending off motion.

“If you’re sure… Anyways, down to why we needed you both here for this. Faith is wanting to go down to see her parents in the village she’s from, and Athena and I both have a few errands that need to be ran. So, we figure if we send you both down to Earth it will go a lot smoother. Athena has a few peace talks she needs settled, and I need a certain creature caught and brought to me alive. Athena and I will take care of everything you need… The money, transportation, and supplies. Everything sound good?” Raine and I both nod our heads in the affirmative to what Artemis said.

“Artemis and I will give you plenty of gold. We will drop you off a few miles from Faith’s village with your horses. After you finish there, we need you to head toward Sparta and settle a dispute. Then on your way back, we need you to pick up a silver fox that has been seen wandering through the woods outside the forests of Sparta. Your packs are in the corner of the room over there.” Raine and I go to pick up the bags and place them over our shoulders.

“Oh Faith, since the large sword of yours is hard to carry around. I had Hephaestus make you two smaller ones that are built more for speed than power.” Artemis hands me the two highly crafted blades in their sheaths, which hang across my back. I take them out of their sheaths, and both are about a meter in length with a blue glow. I remove the pack and set the sheaths on my back so each sword is accessible by reaching over my shoulder and unsheathing it. I place the swords back into their sheaths and swing the pack back over one of my shoulders.

“Thank you, Artemis. They are very beautiful.” She comes over to me and hugs me.

“You are very welcome.” I kiss her, and then we all head down to the stables to retrieve our horses. As soon as we arrive I walk up to Kira and pet him. I turn and watch Raine walk up to a solid white horse that I had never noticed stabled here before. We both lead our respective horses out of their stalls over to where the two goddesses wait for us. Athena goes up to Raine and whispers something into her ear as she hugs the girl close to her. Artemis comes up to me to say her goodbyes. She takes me in her arms and holds me close.

“I’m never going to be very good at being okay with you going down there. There are just to many ways you can get hurt. Promise me you’ll be careful and not get yourself into to much trouble.” She pulls back enough to look into my eyes as she says this last part.

“I promise Arty.” She kisses me on the lips as soon as she hears those words escape my lips. The kiss continues until she reluctantly pulls away. Athena gives Artemis a small smile at her display of affection. Artemis blushes at Athena’s look. Artemis never was one to show much affection for anyone except her animals and creatures of the forest. The goddesses transport us to a trail in the woods.

“If you two continue to the north, you should come upon Faith’s village after a few miles.” Athena informs us.

“Oh, Faith. When you start on your way to Sparta, stop by the Amazon tribe near your village and visit. You’ll be having lots of dealings with them in the future, so it’s better to make friends now.” The two goddesses smile as they vanish back to one of their homes on Olympus.

“Guess it’s just you and me now.” I say to Raine as we both climb atop our horses.

“Yeah, it looks that way.” She replies back giving me a smile.

“So, just to pass the time. How does the whole you being Athena’s daughter work?”

She glances over at me. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you. Well, I was dropped off and left at an altar in one of Athena’s temples when I was just a baby. When she found me, she got the urge to see how it would be to raise a child. She raised me and taught me a lot, and she’s still teaching me a lot. I run errands and help settle disputes for her.”

“Guess you had a very interesting childhood growing up with a goddess.” I give her a smile as I say this.

“Yeah, it was. I see Artemis took to marking you in a big way. I don’t see how anyone could not know you belong to her.”

I glance at my shoulder where the tattoo starts and continues down my back. Thinking back to how I was given the tattoo still makes me wince. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Did Athena mark you too?”

“Yeah, but it’s a small tattoo on the back of my shoulder. Nowhere near as large as what Artemis decided to do to you.” We both laugh at the statement. We continue the rest of the ride in a comfortable silence.

When we were almost upon the village, my nerves started getting the best of me. I came here to do what I need to do. I want to try and make up to my parents what I took away from them. They missed out on a big dowry when I just disappeared. I have a feeling that they aren’t going to be to happy seeing me again. I get myself collected and look up and the wooden gates that we are approaching.

The gate guards come out pointing there spears at me. “What do you want here Amazon?”

I give them a strange look. Guess they don’t recognize me. I guess I’ve changed a lot since that day Artemis took me from here. I’m more built and I have a huge tattoo. The white gold Powerbands gleam from their perch on my arm. I give the guards a smile. Heh. It’s a good thing the fangs I developed aren’t more noticeable. The guards would probably have a heart attack. “I’m here to speak to my parents. I can’t believe you two don’t recognize me. Jacob and Achneas, it’s me, Faith.” They both take a long hard look at me.

“Faith, it really is you. We thought you were dead or kidnapped. We went out to look for you and found no traces. It’s good to see you alive and well.” Achneas said with a smile. “Go right on in.” Raine and I stepped off our steeds and led them through the gates.

Raine looks over at me, “Are you sure you’re ready to face your family?”

I let out a small sigh before I answer, “Yeah… I’ll do it alone. Could you watch Kira for me?” She nods as I make my way through the small village towards my old home. Word has apparently spread through the village of my arrival. My parents are waiting outside of the house watching my approach. I walk up until I am standing a few feet in front of my parents. I see my brother, who is eight years younger than me, standing near the entrance of the house. He smiles at me, and I give him a reassuring smile back. “Hey Mom. Dad.” I look up into my parents eyes. My mother approaches me and slaps my face. I turn my head back to look at them. The slap didn’t hurt physically, it hurt me deeper down. “It’s good to see you guys too.” I could feel half of the villagers eyes on the scene that was playing out in front of them.

“You left and now you decide to come back. Looking like an Amazon no less. You disgust me.” My father almost spit these words out at me.

“I’m sorry. I brought some gold to help you out. It should last you quite awhile.” I start to reach for two of the four packs of gold hanging at my side.

“We don’t need your filthy money. You probably stole it from someone.” My father said as my mother just stared at me.

“It’s not filthy money. I’m under the goddess Artemis’ protection and rule. I run errands for her. I look like an Amazon because I was taught how to fight by them. Can you not see the tattoos on my back? Do you think I’m lying to you?” I look back and forth between both of them.

“We want nothing to do with you. You mean nothing to us anymore. You are no longer a welcome part of this family.” As that is said, both my mother and father turn and walk away from me. I start to turn and walk away feeling the stares of the villagers on me.

As I begin to leave, I feel someone run up behind me and grab hold of my sides. I turn to see my brother hugging me.

“Hey bro, how have you been?”

He looks up at me, “I missed you sis. Mom and Dad have been pretty harsh since you left.”

“I’m sorry you had to deal with that. Let me do something for you.” I squat down so that I am eye level with him. “I’ll give you some gold and you can do what you want with it. Just try and use it wisely. You can get out of this small village if you’re smart.” I hand two of the bags of gold over to him.

He looks back at me wide eyed. “Thanks.” Then our parents finally notice that he is missing and yell for him to get away from me.

“Don’t let Mom and Dad know that you have them. I’ll come back and visit you. Bye bro.” He puts the bags of gold under his shirt and tucks it in and waves goodbye as he runs back towards our parents home.

I turn and walk away. I approach Raine and know that she can tell that things did not go very well. She hands me Kira’s reigns and lets me think in silence, which I greatly appreciate. “Let’s get out of here. We can stay with the Amazons for the night.” We climb atop our horses and leave the village. None of the villagers say anything after witnessing the exchange. I knew my parents weren’t going to be happy with me, but I never expected this reaction. They basically disowned me. At least they hadn’t managed to turn my brother against me. It seems that most of the villagers were on my parents side. That’s what happens when your family tends to be one of the higher ups. After a half an hour of silence Raine finally asked if there was anything I wanted to talk about. I told her what had transpired because she had stayed far enough away that she could not hear what was being said. We reached the Amazon camp right as night was falling. They welcomed us with open arms and set us up in one of the guest huts. Raine and I both laid down. I waited until I heard her even breaths before I snuck quietly out of the hut. I went and walked through the woods. That is when I finally let all the emotions I had been feeling earlier escape. I sat down and cried when I felt someone’s arms wrap around me. I turned to see Artemis holding me.

“Shh… Everything will be alright.” I turned in her arms and finished crying on her shoulder. She kissed the top of my head and let me get out everything I needed to. I ended up crying myself to sleep on her.



Artemis’ view



I sat there in the woods holding Faith against me. I just wanted to be there to comfort her through her tears. Her parents had hurt her, and I was going to do everything I could for her. The forest creatures had told me what was going on, which is the reason why I appeared down here. Her sobs and tears finally started to stop and I felt her breathing even out. I was going to take her back to the hut, but I had a feeling that she would want me to be there for her in the morning. I stayed there in the woods holding her all night. Even though she had not been gone that long, I already missed her. I loved holding the girl in my arms. She felt so right there.





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Hey, I'm having a bit of fun with this story. I'm still working it out in my head. Sorry for the errors, my editing partner happens to be 6 hours away and working 40 hour weeks.

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volitair- thanks, sorry about the clothes thing. it's hard for me to find the right words to describe them. i'm glad you're liking the story so far.



Exile- yeah, i always wondered why no one ever thought to do that either. hehe. glad your still loving it.