Panter's Pride:
Hunted
by T. S. Hubbard
Disclaimer It's still mine. Note: Panter's Pride must be read first, as this is book 2.
Thanks to Thorie for volunteering to proofread yet another story.
Email address: thubbar2@insight.rr.com.- comments welcome.
Chapter 18
"Just what do you mean by it's partially your fault?" Panter couldn't believe that she was actually talking to a Goddess like this. Or even that the Goddess in question didn't look like she was going to take her to task for doing so. She wasn't sure if that made her more worried about what she was talking about or not.
No one dared to make a sound of any kind while they waited for Potnia Theron's reaction to the belligerent tone Panter had taken with her. A quiet sigh of relief filled the room when the Goddess replied without any sign of offense.
"It's something that I take no pride in. At the time, I blindly trusted that the feelings of my chosen were enough to judge her mate as being worthy of the gifts I bestowed on him. Regretfully, my choice not to look into his heart for his true intentions has caused untold suffering and death. If I had, I would have seen then the evil that had taken root there. Because of my carelessness, that malevolence has grown and at this moment is the sole reason for the war you are now fighting. Your cousin knows this as well."
"Wait." Tera shook her head in bewilderment. "Doran is greedy, narrow-minded and down right stupid but he's a weak hearted fool. He's certainly the type to take advantage of a situation but he'd never have the gall to fight us face to face like he has without some type of support."
"He does have backing." Thira's jaw clenched as she drew in a ragged breath. "Remember the letter Alesia gave you?"
Tera's eyes widened as she recalled the fight that had broken out in the aftermath of its discovery. "The one about."
Thira cut her off. "Yes, the one from my father saying he had sent his own offspring to take care of the problem." She laughed mockingly. "The same one who rather than killing her target was asked to join them instead." Thira glared at the Goddess that stood quietly in front them. "That's who your talking about isn't it?" She shouted. "My father is the one who truly wants this war to happen, right. He's the Demi God that merc was talking about?"
Everyone flinched as Thira yelled at the Goddess. They half expected her to retaliate in some way and they weren't disappointed. She seemed to grow in stature as she stared down the raging woman in front of her.
"You will hold your tongue!!" The command echoed throughout the tent. Fury had turned the normally kind azure eyes to hard crystals of ice.
They sat astonished that a simple sentence would have such a profound effect as Thira's mouth snapped shut in mid rant and she slowly retreated to her seat. She stared at the floor and didn't acknowledge anyone in the room; even Alesia's comforting touch on her back was shrugged off.
Thira's mind was awash in confusion. Deep inside another type of war was raging. The awareness that the Goddess was speaking only the truth vied with the horror that she now knew for sure that the mission she'd been sent on was one she wasn't expected to come back home from. Her father had fully expected her to die in the attempt. She remembered the scene at her departure, she'd been so angry and eager to go after her target she hadn't noticed at the time his lack of emotion as she left. Nothing had been said to each other when the ship had set sail and they had parted company for what might have been the last time without a word. "But why would he send me to my death like that?"
Potnia Theron easily heard the muttered question. "Your father is far more interested in gaining power then in the lives of his children."
Thira hesitated before looking up at the Goddess. She relaxed somewhat when a tender gaze met hers. Tears stung her eyes as she glanced away, the realization that she'd been forgiven for her attack on the very one that had created her lineage was almost more then she could handle. Thira jerked her head back as what had been said finally registered. "What children. I'm the only one there is."
"You're the child from the second bonding, there was one other before he joined with your mother." The Goddess watched the puzzled expressions that crossed her chosen's faces. She was aware that what she said next would shake the very foundations that they had relied upon for so long.
Everyone's eyes widened with surprise. The watching military leaders wisely kept their mouths shut at the unexpected revelation. They understood what went on here in their presence was not to be spread about to anyone outside without explicit permission from the ones involved.
"How many more are there?" Thira wasn't sure if she was more upset at the news or pissed about it. She tried to ignore the small part of herself that was actually getting excited about hearing she had a sibling somewhere.
"To my actual knowledge only one, a sister a few years older then you."
Thira met the stunned gazes of her partner and the Regents. "An elder sister?" It took a minute for that to sink in before she spoke again. "Where can I find her?"
The Goddess broke out into a dazzling smile. "She's much closer then you would suspect." She met Thira's puzzled look then meaningfully glanced over toward where Panter was sitting.
Thira frowned at the odd gesture before a look of utter incredulity appeared on her face, as she finally figured it out. Her voice climbed to a shout as she sprang back to her feet. "Panter's my sister?"
Panter rose to her feet. She stared at the Goddess in disbelief before moving her gaze to Thira. There had to be some mistake. The only things that linked them were the similarity in height and the fact that they were both Clan, nothing else was even remotely the same. "How can that even be possible, I'm so dark and anyone can clearly see she isn't."
"When daughters are born they take the animal form of their mother. This is always directly passed down and never changes. You're a Black Panther just as your mother was and Thira takes after her own mother."
"Who's a Cheetah like me," Thira took a step closer to Panter. "So even if our father is the same it wouldn't matter since we only take after our mothers."
Panter could see the faint hope that shimmered deep in Thira's eyes. She had to admit if anyone was to be a sibling of hers, it seemed right that it be Thira. In the time they'd lived together she'd found that as upset as she sometimes got at Thira's actions, at their core it was simply fear that caused most of them. Thira did have honor, Panter recalled the way she'd willingly taken the deaths of the guilty upon herself instead of allowing her to, and the way that Thira had protected them without their knowledge despite the fact that she and Alesia had just bitterly fought. Panter broke out of her thoughts to see that hope abruptly flicker out in Thira's eyes before she turned back to her seat. She'd been so deep in thought that Thira had taken her lack of reaction as a rejection of her. Panter moved to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. She could feel the muscles beneath it flex in surprise. "So you're my little sister."
"Yeah, I guess I am." Thira wasn't sure what Panter was up to but a small glimmer of hope rose inside her again. She'd thought for sure that Panter wasn't going to accept it when she had turned away. Thira wasn't prepared for the sudden tug on her shoulder that caused her to spin around. A startled growl faded when she was pulled against her sister's chest as strong arms encircled her in a warm hug. Thira cautiously wrapped her arms around her sister's waist and smiled slightly when her touch wasn't rejected. She saw Tera smiling at them before she closed her eyes while she soaked in the warmth of the hug. Before they'd gotten together, Alesia had attempted to explain to her about the sense of caring that you could feel while in Panter's arms. But as she'd never had any basis to compare that to Thira hadn't been able to understand it at the time. Now she understood what Alesia meant. She reluctantly allowed Panter to end the embrace as she moved back. Warm hands rested on her shoulders while she watched her new sister study her intently.
"Amazing, I would never have suspected it." Panter broke into a grin as she felt the tension beneath her hands finally relax. She slipped an arm around Thira's shoulders as they turned to face Potnia Theron. Her smile broadened when she felt an arm slip around her waist. "So tell me, why does our father think he's a Demi God?"
"As much as this pleases me perhaps you should both sit, this may take a bit of time to explain."
A quick shuffling of chairs and they seated themselves. Panter and Thira sat together with their mates on either side. They were reluctant to abandon each other after just learning about their true relationship.
Thira looked over when Alesia's hand slipped onto her knee. She leaned over and kissed her. Her eyes closed and a soft purr of happiness escaped when she eagerly responded. "I'm sorry I pushed you away." Her eyes flickered back open as a hand cupped the side of her face.
"It's alright, I understand why you did it." Alesia brushed her thumb over Thira's lower lip. She fought back the sudden surge of lust that hit her when Thira drew it into her mouth while her tongue caressed it. She cleared her throat while gently pulling back her hand; she caught the wicked glint in Thira's eyes before she could hide it. "You little minx, you'll pay for that."
A smirk twisted Thira's lips as she restrained a laugh at her mate's expense. "Gladly." She slipped her hand over Alesia's and lightly squeezed it while they turn their attention back to the Goddess.
"Your father has taken the fact that the gifts he was blessed with when he joined with your mother was a divine sign that he was to be more then his chosen's mate. I believe when he found out he was stronger than a ordinary man it only reinforced that same idea."
"But don't all the partners of clan get gifted?" Tera started to see where this was headed.
"To some degree, yes they do. All get an increase of strength but there are times when it is more then that." Potnia Theron had hoped at one time that this story wouldn't need to be told.
"For instance?" Panter asked.
"Both of you and your partner's, are clan but only a very few get picked by me as my Chosen, hence the name. You are selected above all others and as such are an extension of my power. The gifts your mate's receive are greater than what is normally received. The strength that they now have will nearly rival your own, they are also far more agile then they once were which will aid them in their fighting. I'm sure you've already noticed such a difference?"
Alesia and Tera both nodded in agreement. They had seen a significant change in the quality of their skills. As their confidence had grown so too did their proficiency. That left their partner's free to aid everyone else instead of continually watching their backs in a fight.
"He did realize that all the other's had the same gifts didn't he?" Thira was getting a bad feeling about where this conversation was heading. She shifted in her seat as the sense of dread grew. She glanced over as a hand rested on her shoulder and clasped it soothingly. Thira met Panter's gaze and relaxed at the look of encouragement that she read in them.
"Yes, but you must understand that the gifts only increase what you already have. He was stronger then most already so he was only more so after the bonding. He took that as a fact of his divine right."
"All right, so why did my mother leave with me and not remain with him?" Panter was still missing a few pieces to this unusual puzzle her life had become.
"You must understand I was unaware of it at the time this was all happing, it was much later that I became cognizant of what happened. I found out then that she'd slowly grown aware of his obsession for power. He had began to rage about how it was unfair that the women were the only ones that were blessed by me. He truly believed he should have received it also. When she became pregnant with you, he announced that if she had anything but a son he would slay it and simply try again. At the time, she didn't take what he had said seriously thinking he would learn to accept it as something that couldn't be changed. When she gave birth to you he'd attempted to carry out his oath and kill you. Weak though she was your mother easily overpowered him and left with you. You were only a few hours old when you both departed the village for the last time." The Goddess disliked telling her chosen the truth of her birth but knew the story had to be told. It was the moment that had forced her start to pay closer attention to the people she was responsible for instead of neglecting them as she'd had in the past. Before she could attempt to correct her error, the damage had been done and she could only watch the results. She'd had tried to help in small ways when she was able to. The only good thing that had come out of all that had been her taking the opportunity to gently guide them both here to ultimately meet their unique partners.
"Then she met the man who became my human father." Panter removed her hand from Thira's shoulder and clasped them together in her lap. "Who, when he found out what we were hiding from him, killed her and attempted to kill me."
"Yes." Sorrow filled eyes watched as Tera tried to comfort her partner.
"But my mother was still with him when I left. How did she not see that he was possessed with such a lust for power?" Thira rubbed her forehead; the frustration she was beginning to feel was slowly turning into a massive headache. "Although truth be told, I was more concerned with gaining his approval at the time and didn't realize it until now. If I look back the signs were surely there, I just either didn't see them or ignored them all together." Her hand clenched into a fist. "I could have prevented this all if I'd only seen what was right in front of me." She silently berated herself for not paying attention to everything that had been around her even if it included her blood relation.
The Goddess shook her head. "I suspect that by that time with his original gifts he'd gotten very good at concealing it. When Panter's mother left him, he simply moved to another village and tried again. That's when he met your mother Thira." She met their stares of disbelief with a sense of poignant self-irony. "I tend not to interfere in a bonding unless it affects one of my chosen. As your mother wasn't one of them, it wasn't imperative that I actually be present to bless the bonding. I didn't see any aura of evil in him so I didn't object to it and with the bonding automatically comes a certain amount of gifting."
Thira's mouth tightened as her brows furrowed. "Wait a minute, are you telling me he's been gifted twice?"
"Regrettably yes, if I had realized that he'd already been gifted he wouldn't have received another. That's why I'm so careful now, I don't want something like that happening again."
"You couldn't have just fixed it?"
Potnia Theron was already shaking her head before the question was finished. "No, a gifting cannot be removed once it has taken place. It's more to prevent other deity's from interfering with it than for me, but it holds the same purpose regardless of who gave it to you in the first place."
"So he became even more powerful. I take it that just reinforced his delusion?" Panter asked. The picture was getting clearer with every word the Goddess spoke.
"Just after Thira's departure he announced his status as a Demi God and started to gather his own worshipers among the humans. He knew that the clans would be a threat to his power so he began to systematically turn the human against them more and more. It started with just a word here and there but has steadily gotten worse. I've been protecting them as much as I can until now and will continue to do so, but the head needs to be removed from this viper that has struck at the very heart of the people that I cherish the most. In the quest for even more power he has followed Thira here confident that by now she's hunted down the one other person that could have stopped him from gaining influence over these people and that his daughter would have died in the fight, effectively taking care of the only other one that was a possible threat to him." The Goddess frowned. "It was dire enough that numerous clans have already been scattered from the utter intolerance that has started to spread in that region."
"But how did he even know to send Thira here in the first place?" That was something Tera had never understood, out of all the places Panter could have fled to how did he happen to guess the right one to send Thira to.
"Pure rumor." Thira answered. "We just followed the tale of a dark colored changeling that had escaped capture. Add that to a tall dark woman who had recently set sail to this land and it was easy to deduce that it was more then likely that they were both one and the same. So, I simply followed her here to end up in Hawk's Peak. You know the story from there."
"So it was like I drew you a map that led straight to me. That must have been helpful." Panter replied irony heavy in her voice.
Thira smirked. "Pretty much."
The laughter that broke out helped to relax the tension that had steadily built up during the serious discussion.
"So essentially, your telling us that you can't stop what he's doing because you would be interfering in some way?" Tera's query immediately caused the laughter to die out.
The merriness in the Goddess expression disappeared. "Yes, my hands in this instance are tied. There is very little I myself can do to prevent what is occurring from happening."
Thira's eyes narrowed as she figured it out at last. "But as your chosen we can. We'll just have to prevent our own father from fulfilling his plans of conquering this land."
Potnia Theron's nod of agreement caused an immediate uproar as everyone tried to speak over each other. Once again, Thira and Panter clapped their hands over their ears to muffle the rising clamor. They exchanged a disbelieving glance with each other. This stuff just had to stop happening.
*****
Tera leaned back against the pillows with a small sigh of relief. With the emotional turmoil they'd gone through today she felt like she'd fought a war all by herself. She pulled the covers up to her waist and watched Panter stow her weapons and undress for bed. "I still can't believe that Thira's really your sister."
Panter paused then continued to remove the last of her clothes. "I know it's a little weird to think of her like that." Padding around the room, she extinguished the last of the lights before making her way back to the bed and climbing in beside Tera. "The way everything's come together as it has is a little disconcerting when you think about it."
"True, but even if it is, you've at least gained a sister out of it. Anyway you think about it, that has to be a plus." Tera smiled. She liked Thira's sass and the way she seemed so sure of herself, well with anything that had to do with fighting. Personal relationships, she needed a bit of practice with.
Panter pulled Tera into her arms and nuzzled her hair. The sweet smell helped to relax the coil of worry that had balled up in the pit of her stomach. "Hmm, I suppose your right."
Silence drifted over the room for a time before Tera broke it. "Are you worried about having to fight your father?" She waited quietly when she didn't receive an immediate answer. The surface she rested on rose as her partner breathed in deeply and then slowly released it.
"Worried, no not for me at any rate. Thira is the one that grew up with him, she's the one that it's going to bother." Panter tightened her arms around Tera. The man I knew as my father tried to kill me and did kill my mother. This other one that I've been told is my real father is simply a stranger that needs to be stopped."
"I'm concerned with how it's going to effect Thira." Tera closed her eyes and pressed closer to Panter's warmth.
"All we can do is watch out for her and do what needs to be done." Panter kissed the top of Tera's head. "Go to sleep tomorrow we need to arrange for the remaining prisoners to be taken back to Hawk's Peak."
"At least its only about a hundred or so instead of almost a thousand." Tera mumbled sleepily. She yawned tiredly as her body finally relaxed into sleep.
"True." A purr gradually rose in Panter's chest as the warmth of their embrace chased her into her dreams. The only sound that broke the stillness inside the tent was the muffled pace of the sentries on duty.
Continued...