Ares brought the hammer down hard on the red-hot steel. The ping rang against the stone walls, echoing loudly. Of late, the god found that smithing was the only thing that calmed him. And nothing brought him joy. Not even war. She took happiness with her when she'd left the world. The thought of Xena brought his pounding to a stop. Frustrated, Ares cast his hammer aside and tossed the sword he'd been working into the furnace. Fifteen years, fifteen long, empty years. Ares wiped the sweat off of his brow and pushed back the black curls that had matted against his forehead.
He knew he needed to move past it. But for the life of him, he didn't know how. The gods had accused him of shirking his duties, and truth be told, he had. The world of men no longer held any appeal to him. Mortals only reminded him of the one he couldn't have. And the politics of the gods bored him to tears. Ares had sat idly by while his fellow gods had decided to forsake their Greek names and adopt Roman ones. And why shouldn't they? The Romans were ascendant. Apollo pretty much ran things on the Mountain, so Ares kept his distance. The Halls of War became his refuge from them all, immortal and mortal alike. His Roman temples overflowed with riches and finery, none of which could give him the only thing he desired.
When Gabrielle had first delivered the news of Xena's demise. Ares wavered between anger and sadness. She'd sacrificed herself in search of redemption. In Jappa! It might as well have been across the western sea for all the good it did him. The eastern gods were notorious for not allowing interference in their realms. Ares had tried to broker an agreement with them regarding Xena's soul but none of their gods had been willing to even grant him an audience. It made his blood boil. Maybe in the time before the Twilight, the Greeks could have mounted an offensive against the Jappa gods, but not now. Their numbers had dwindled and their power weakened. And besides, there weren't many among them who would have waged a campaign for the sake of Xena's soul. So, his hands were tied.
His only hope lay in finding the damned scroll that she'd signed granting him access to her soul after her mortal life ended. The document would force the gods of Jappa to listen to him. He'd scoured all of her old haunts looking for it. He'd talked to every rare scroll dealer from Alexandria to Londontown. Not even a whisper to its whereabouts made its way back to him. So he was alone. Alone in his misery.
The old trifles that he used to turn to to pass the time, didn't even bring him the mildest pleasure anymore. He'd sworn off women. And wine had lost its sweetness. He broke his fast with ambrosia and took his afternoon nectar but those were necessary to his survival and he never drank or ate more than was needed for sustenance
Armies rose and fell, He paid no mind. Temples, altars, and shrines were erected to his new name, Mars. He took no pride in their grandeur. The Romans paid him homage, traced their very founding to him. It was the greatest city on the face of the Earth and yet, it only reminded him of Xena's hatred of it. He steered clear of the seven hills.
Sometimes, he wondered at what happened to Eve. The last he'd heard, she was preaching the gospel of Eli in the East to any who would listen to her drivel. Gabrielle had died shortly after Xena. In the land of the Pharaohs. Aphrodite had relayed the news to him. She'd gone up against a crazed sorcerer and lost. Ares held his sister while the goddess had shed tears for a woman he'd never loved but had learned to like.
Aphrodite. Thinking of his sister brought a faint smile to Ares' face. He hadn't seen her in years. After he pulled away from the world of the gods and took up permanent residence at the Halls of War, she came to visit a few times but then her visits became fewer and fewer until eventually she quit coming at all. Ares hoped she'd found love again after losing Hephaestus. She deserved happiness.
Ares sighed. The forge was not going to bring an end to his melancholy today. He needed to kill something. He grabbed his maple-wood bow from its stand and slung his quiver of arrows over his shoulder. He'd taken up archery to pass time. It didn't exactly make him happy but it was one of the few activities that got him out of the castle. Still, even when hunting he never left the grounds of his vast estate. There was plenty of game for the taking, especially near the riverlands. When Ares made a kill, he gave it to the mortal servants that kept the Halls of War and environs running. They were few in number. He kept a personal steward, a stable hand, and a maid. A woodsman lived with his family on the estate in a small house, and he provided the main house with wood for the fires and kept Ares flush in arrows.
The autumn breeze felt like a winter wind when Ares stepped out of the forge into the yard. Millie, the plump woman who kept the Halls of War shining, was tossing a bucket of slop into the hogpen. She saw his bow and smiled at the god. "Good day it is for a hunt, Master."
"Hm," Ares grunted and walked past her and into the forest.
Ares headed east toward a creek that fed from the main river. As he neared the water, the packed dirt floor gave way to a moss covered rich loam. Colorful leaves blanketed the moss creating a vibrant collage of oranges, yellows, and reds. Ares walked softly to minimize the crunching of the fallen leaves. One foot in front of the other. That's how he'd kept going in those early days after she died. One foot in front of the other. Some days, still, that was all that kept him moving.
Movement to the right caught his attention. He brought the bow up but the creature had run behind a tree. Ares cocked his head but couldn't sight the animal. He crept in the direction it had gone. He'd caught sight of a swath of black hair. Boar most likely. Ares cornered around the stand of trees where he thought the animal had fled but as he turned, movement came from his left. This time he got a better view. It wasn't an animal at all. It was a young boy. Likely a poacher.
"Stand up. Show yourself," Ares ordered.
The brush where the boy was hiding rustled but he refused to stand.
"I said show yourself or I will shoot." Ares didn't want to shoot the kid, but the kid didn't need to know that.
Slender hands raised out of the bushes. Then a head full of tangled black hair popped out followed by the skinniest kid Ares had ever seen. All knees and elbows. The whelp looked like he hadn't eaten in days. No, not he. When she stood fully, it was clear from the slight swell of her chest that she was a girl of about fourteen. "Don't shoot," she called. "I'm not armed."
"Now, come out of there. Slowly." Ares called.
The girl brushed leaves off the front of her leather breeches and moved toward him.
Fooled by her youthful innocence, Ares tucked his arrow back into his quiver and lowered his bow. It was then that she struck. She reached swiftly behind her back and before he had time to react, twin daggers hurled through the air and struck hard against his chest before they thudded on the ground below.
The fact that her daggers had bounced off him told her all she needed to know. "You're him aren't you?"
Great, Ares thought, another local yokel that wanted to prove themselves to the God of War. "Kid run along before I cut your heart out with these" Ares used his powers to summon the daggers off the ground, He turned his fingers inward and the daggers changed angle and pointed straight at the child.
"You trying to scare me?"
Ares let the daggers go. They soared through the air, making a whistling noise as they cut the wind. He brought them to a dead stop mere centimeters from her face. She'd never flinched. Never even batted a dark lash over those blue eyes. Ares lost control of the blades, they fell back to the earth but he felt like they'd sunk into his chest. He'd seen those eyes he'd hoped to never see them again. "Who are you?" He dared ask.
"I'm your daughter."
"Is this a trick?" It didn't make sense. Xena was dead. Maybe the child was older than he'd guessed. But he couldn't remember them having sex except for that one night. And that was only a few months before she got herself killed. She wouldn't have had time to carry a child to term.
The girl watched all the questions and their accompanying emotions flitting across Ares' face as he tried to sort through the mystery in front of him. "It was a trick," she answered. "A terrible trick on you and me."
"What are you talking about?"
"My mother. My mother and Gabrielle. And Aphrodite, They conspired to fake my mother and Gabrielle's deaths. To keep me hidden from the other gods. Because of what happened with-"
"Eve," Ares whispered.
"Yes," the girl replied.
"Are you saying that Xena is alive? That you are? That you are my. . . our daughter?"
"I am." The girl took a tentative step in his direction.
Ares held up a hand to stop her. "Wait. Why are you here? Has something happened? Is Xena okay?"
"You're still in love with her?"
"I . . . uh. . . I'm. . ."
"You are! Even after she kept us apart? Don't be a pathetic sap, Ares. She doesn't love you. Only Gabrielle. Believe me, I hear all the time how I'm too much like you, and how it's gonna get me killed."
The shock was beginning to wear off for Ares and it was quickly being replaced by anger. The child had a point. Why had Xena entrusted Aphrodite to protect the secret of their child and not him? Was it so she could run off with Gabrielle? To raise the child without him? Did she really loathe him so much? And to think, he'd spent the last fifteen years of his life moping around over her. His dark eyes flashed to his daughter. "What's your name? You know mine."
"Eirini," she answered.
"Peace," Ares whispered the meaning. Rage tore through him. "That is something that Xena will never have again."
His daughter smiled a cold smile. "Good. I'm glad we are in agreement. Now, she will be hot on my heels so we need to make a plan."
"Let her come. It's been a long time since she has felt my wrath." Fire burned in Ares' soul and for the first time in fifteen years he felt alive! Gloriously alive.