I felt a tiny pulsing light inside me. I put my hand over my womb, convinced that I was only imagining it.
But no, it was there. Was that from last night? Had we ...
“I think the goddess gave me something very special,” I said to him in awe.
“That was me, wife.”
I laughed at his grumpy tone. “Not that. I just ...”
It was too soon. I knew that. And perhaps I was only being silly. Or wishful.
If it was real, when I was certain, I would tell him.
Right now I needed to sleep.
“Geese!” I yelled, jumping out of the bed.
Xander was immediately awake. “What?”
“Geese are honking. Something is wrong. You need to call the alarm.”
“Are you certain?”
Was I certain? “Do you think there’s any possibility that I would ever mistake that sound?” The noise was faint but seemed so clear to me.
He ran over to the balcony doors and threw them open. He yelled out, “Alarm!”
The sound of the geese got stronger. They were agitated about something. I hurriedly got dressed, as did he, and I heard the word “alarm” being passed among various guards until horns started sounding.
We grabbed our weapons, ran down to the stables, and got on our horses.
“It sounds like it’s at the northern gate,” Xander said. We rode hard and got there as quickly as we could.
The geese were attacking intruders. Some of the Carians had managed to sneak over the wall. There were dozens of them. Maybe even a hundred. Where were the Ilionian guards?
The guard dogs?
It seemed we had caught the Carians before they started to spread their dirt.
“To me, to me!” Xander called out, and soldiers came rushing from every direction.
Horns continued to sound in alarm and I jumped into the fray to help.
“Dea Nikos!” My sword lit up, making it much easier to see.
These men were here to kill us. To take everything from us. To harm innocent people.
I wouldn’t let them.
Yelling, I swung my sword and stabbed in the gut a man who was trying to kick a goose.
I hacked and slashed and hit and parried. I kept an eye on my husband, although I didn’t need to. He sliced through the intruders like they were made of papyrus, and they fell quickly to the earth. I didn’t even call up my fury aspect. I didn’t need it.
Within a few minutes it was all over. Every single Carian lay dead. The geese honked their victory cheers.
Xander came over to inspect me, to make sure that I was all right. “I only have a couple of cuts. I’m fine.”
He kissed me and then said, “They were trying to open the gate.”
