Divine Deception

Kiah

Corinth Gulf - 2985 BCE

Opening my eyes to the glare of a scorching sun I blink rapidly. My tongue is thick in my mouth from lack of water and my skin is on fire. A man with stunning moss green eyes is standing over me with a mask of indifference on his face. There is almost satisfaction behind his eyes and a slight smirk to his lips.

"This is what your family should have done to you as an infant you disgusting abomination!" Drops of saliva spray in my face as he spits the words out.

"You love me Niki, why are you doing this?" I cry out as I try once again to pull on the ropes tying me down to the wooden board. My limbs don't have much strength left. I've lost a lot of blood. I can feel it trickling along my body slower than before. No matter how hard I pull, they won't give way.

"I loved the girl I thought you were. Not this demon sent from the Gods to end us all!" His eyes are hard as he looks over my broken body.

Turning my head away from his shouting, I feel moisture track on my cheek. My face is still wet with the endless tears I've shed and my throat feels torn up from screaming. I've been beaten and cut all over my body. Bruises from rocks are smattered all over me. The villagers picked up anything they could find as a weapon.

My wrists are bloody and raw from my struggle. All this and the thing that hurts most is my heart. Just last night Niki and I pledged ourselves to each other then spent all night making love under the stars in our secret place. I turned eighteen today and we were going to tell my parents we wanted to get married. The happiness I felt just hours ago feels like decades away.

"How can you do this to me, to my parents? I've known you since we were children. You've always been the love of my life." A broken sob escapes me as another tear slips from the corner of my eye. I didn't know I had any left.

"By taking care of you now I can keep the village safe. I'll be a hero who dispatched the demon. They'll sing songs about me." There is a crazed look in his eyes I've never seen.

"Then just end it already. You've already killed my family. What's one more body on your soul?" I say dispassionately. I want the pain to end. I can't bare it.

"I have other plans for you. You have been lying to everyone your whole life. Your parents must have known and still did nothing. As old as they were, they'd never hold up to what I have planned for you. It was mercy to kill them quickly." He reaches to my bindings to ensure I haven't loosened them.

"I'm going to leave you here in the Corinth summer sun." Niki's voice is smooth and sultry, like his tone with me last night when I laid in his arms.

"You'll die and rot here. The animals will pick your flesh until you're unrecognizable. This will be a fitting warning to others who may choose to harbor a creature such as you. You'll be an example Kiah." He runs his knuckles over my cheek.

Jerking my face away from his touch he chuckles and turns to walk away. A few feet down the beach he stops and gives me one last look over his shoulder. There is no remorse in his gaze. Nothing that might give me hope he'll realize what he's done and help me after all. He continues along his path and climbs back up the rocky shore side towards the village. Any lingering belief I had in his goodness washes away like he ocean waves along this beach.

My eyes close and my breathing shallows after he's left. Maybe I can find peace in my last moments. When my eyes open again, darkness has fallen already. The shattered pieces of my heart have left me numb. The stars are starting to come out as I stare unseeing above me. I wonder why my body hasn't failed me yet. What is taking so long? The incessant rising and falling of my chest is a nuisance I long to be rid of.

A rustling in the beach grass to my left does little to rouse me from the pit of sorrow my mind has plunged into. Managing to turn my throbbing head, I see a wisp of white fur streak by my sacrificial table. Finally. The animals have smelled their next meal and thankfully a wolf has found me first. The Gods must pity me and I am desperate for the animal to go for my throat first and finished the job. Taking a long, slow blink I open my eyes again to see two iridescent eyes in the moonlight staring down a narrow muzzle at me.

"Lykos, stop, you're scaring her," a deep voice says in the shadows, "You have better manners than that!"

The wolf called Lykos moves forward. I can see the fur is an unblemished, pure white and he is very large compared to its usual sized brethren. One ice blue eye and one honey brown eye stare at me. He sits on its haunches and holds the position like a statue.

The outline of a warrior is slowly illuminated from the shadows as he walks cautiously to me. A typical greek soldier, he wears a bronzed armored breast plate with leather accents. Beneath his long chiton tunic are bronzed greaves on his shins that end just above the sandals on his feet. He carries no spear or shield but a sword hangs off his belt. Maybe Niki told him I was here.

My eyes go wide with fear. This stranger could make my last moments on earth even more hellish than Nikoli ever did. He must be able to tell where my thoughts have gone because he puts one hand in front of him in a gentle gesture.