Usual disclaimers apply.

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Chapter 53

"At Amphipolis in this fateful hour,

"I place all Heaven with its power,
"And the sun with its brightness,
"And the snow with its whiteness,
"And the fire with all the strength it hath,
"And the lightning with its rapid wrath,
"And the wind with its swiftness along its path,
"And the sea with its deepness,
"And the rocks with their steepness,
"And the Earth with its starkness
"All these I place
"By God's almighty help and grace

"Between myself and the powers of darkness".

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"So, you really know the gods?" Arion asked me quietly.

"I do," sighing deeply I once more asked Auntie for a favor and was once again rewarded with a warm locket. "And my goddess mother sent these for you." Opening my locket, I removed a pair of warm socks and moccasins as well as loose fitting and soft tunic pants with a long-sleeved shirt to complete the outfit. She'd also supplied undergarments for him and I quietly placed those in between the shirt and pants.

"I need you to get cleaned up," I held up my hands. "I'm just going to check you over for obvious injuries and take care of them. You can get yourself dressed.

Finally nodding, Arion allowed me to help him remove his shirt. Whistling at the bruises I shook my head. "Rory," I began.

"Yeah, I'm on it." She replied already handing me the wet rag and towels. Finally, clean, Arion allowed me to examine him and I quickly used a pressure point to his surprise. "I've used a pressure point to help you not hurt so much." I explained. "I can't keep it on forever, but long enough to wrap your ribs in cloth to help keep them steady. I think a couple of them are cracked."

"Okay," the boy looked at me and nodded. "I guess I'm ready."

Ruffling his sandy blonde hair, Rory looked at him intently. "Don't worry, Sam knows what she's doing and you'll have a cool story to tell all the girls."

Noticing Arion blush, I shoved Rory and pointed to his sister. "Be useful and check on Melodia. She should be waking up soon and I don't want her to move too much."

"Sure, Sam."

Turning back to the task at hand I took the bandages Rory had given me and began to slowly wrap Arion's ribs the way Mom and Mama had taught me. I knew the skill would come in handy someday, I just never envisioned the day being one where I was wrapping the ribs of a twelve-year-old.

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I was awakened by the sound of light whimpers. Pulling myself towards the noise I gently put my hand on Melodia's arm. "Hey, it's okay." I said quietly. "You're safe here. Arion made sure that you are safe."

The light from the campfire threw just enough light that I saw when the girl opened her eyes. "Is Arion okay?" She asked groggily.

Giving her a sip of water I helped her sit up slightly propped on all the pillows Auntie had provided. "He is. I gave him some medicine to help with the pain and a side effect is that he will sleep very deeply tonight."

"Thank you for helping us."

"No thanks are needed. I'm Sam, by the way, and that's my cousin, Rory. We're on our way to Amphipolis to see our uncle and some friends. You can come with us and hopefully your parents will find you there."

"Okay," a loud rumbling coming from her stomach made me chuckle and I quickly moved to the fire. Pulling a bowl from the stack I put some still warm stew in it and sat back next to Melodia. "Let me help," I instructed. "You were hurt pretty badly and I'd like you to save your strength."

Taking a bite of stew, she nodded. "This is so good." Melodia gave a small smile before looking worried again. "What happens if the soldiers find us again?"

"Then Rory and I will protect you."

"How?"

"We're Amazons," I said quietly. "And I don't like what they did to you and your brother. Trust me, if we find any soldiers, they will pay."

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"There it is," I pointed in the distance as a bridge came into view. "We cross the bridge and we'll be in Amphipolis proper."

"I'm glad." Arion smiled looking from his spot on the driver's seat of the small wagon to the back of it where his sister was lying down. "You okay, Melodia?"

"Yeah," Melodia's tired voice answered. "I'm still sore, but not as much as I was before. I'm just glad we were able to find this pony and cart. Five days on the back of Sam's horse would have been a little too much for me."

Circling back, I stopped Jedi at the wagon and smiled down at the girl. "Don't I know it. Besides, this pony and cart were begging to come with us after we made friends."

"That's for sure," Rory agreed. "Poor pony has a much better life now. Though it was funny how his previous owner suddenly decided to sell him for a fair price after Sam was alone with him for under ten candle marks."

"He just needed the right persuasion," I winked at Melodia and took point again as Rory fell to the rear. "Come on, gang, let's get to the inn and see if Taurus can feed us. I'm starving."

"Just like Gabrielle," Rory teased as I pretended to ignore the comment while we headed to the bride. Stopping shortly, I motioned for everyone else to stop as well.

"Sam?" Melodia's voice was soft but scared.

"It's too quiet," I muttered. "Rory, what do you see?"

Looking into the distance Rory finally looked back at me, "Bloody hell, Sam. Just once can't it be easy? I don't see anything and for this time of day the boats should be in the harbor and there should be people by the bridge. We should hear things as well with the way the wind is blowing."

"Exactly. Give me a couple of minutes." Giving Jedi a kick towards the bridge I stopped once more and looked at the ground. Muttering and swearing under my breath I headed back to where I'd started.

"Well?" Rory asked.

Switching to English I finally spoke, "There are no tracks. None. Somebody wiped them clean but then forgot to leave a few to make it look as if people had been coming and going all day."

"Romans?"

"Who else is that stupid?" I asked. "I know they've spotted us and probably can't figure out why we're stopped. We're going to head towards the inn like nothing is wrong. My guess is that's where the Roman in command is anyway."

"Think Taurus allowed him in?"

"I don't think he gave Taurus much choice," I grinned at Rory. "Then again, I imagine he's been giving them Joxer's gravy."

Starting to laugh Rory took her position next to the wagon while I took point. "We ready?" she asked.

"Yeah," turning to Melodia and Arion I quickly explained what we thought was happening. "If I'm right, I don't want them to know that you've had a run in with Romans already. Let me talk and just pretend to be our cousins. Okay?"

Getting twin nods, Rory and I slowly started the group walking again this time completing our journey over the bridge.

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Another short update from me. I hope you are enjoying. I am working on Glee for those of you who follow that story as well.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading,

Kik