Percy

"Percy, on your left!" Nico shouted, right before slicing the head off of one of the two dozen dracaena that had attacked us.

I pivoted, holding my sword out. I heard a satisfying crunch as Riptide made contact with one of the dracaena. Her eyes slid up into her head, and her limbs started to shake. I pulled Riptide out, and pushed her to the ground, then thrusted my sword into her stomach. After she disintegrated, I turned back to the rest of the fight.

It wasn't that hard of a fight for my questers. We had about fifteen demigods fighting, so that meant we each got about one and a half opponents.

We had been traveling for two days now, and this was the first real attack. The other two had consisted of three Earthborn giants, which got easily taken care of by Hazel, who could kind of control dirt, and the other was just one Laistrygonian giant. Leo turned him into a charred monster pillar.

A five day journey was left until we got to Aegium. That is, if we don't have any major delays.

I saw one dracaena try and stab the back of Frank while he was fighting another monster in human form.

"Frank!" Even as I yelled his name in warning, my sword arm went back, then I whipped Riptide forward. It sailed, hilt over blade, in the air. It's landing spot was where I wanted it, the back of the dracaena. Let her get a taste of what she was about to do.

Frank turned as I said his name, and in the span of two seconds, he saw what just happened, turned into a lion, and swiped at the dracaena before him, finishing it. He bounded off to help his girlfriend, Hazel. Yeah, they're a couple, if you didn't know.

I didn't have Riptide, but it would come back soon. Sure enough, after I had dodged a few thrusts and slashes directed towards me, I felt my sword return to my pocket. I flipped it open, and killed the dracaena in front of me.

I was sure we were almost done, but we still had two dozen dracaena left. I just killed three for sure, I know, and Frank did too... they can't regenerate that fast can they?

I killed one more, then sat back and did a quick head count. Still two dozen. Wait, there's two more than two dozen. What?

Then I saw one come out of the forest to our left. Then another. Two more joined the first.

How many were there in the forest? I jumped down and went to work, clearing a pathway to where I saw the dracaena emerging. I turned five she-dragons to monster dust patties, but more kept coming. Finally, I made it to the spot, and peered in.

My heart sank. There were several dracaena in a clearing just beyond the first bend of trees. I counted as many as I could before I got attacked by two. I had only counted a quarter of them, and it had been at least twenty.

I demolished the two dracaena fighting me, then ran back to my group.

"More in the trees! Tons of 'em!" I warned them all. Jason looked at me, finished his opponent, then came to stand by me, panting.

"How many?" He asked.

"There's at least sixty of them back there. I have no idea how they've been traveling in a pack like that without anybody seeing them, but I don't know if we can take them."

"Sixty? Oh gods. I'm just gonna go wet my pants now." Nico, who had come up just in time to hear the amount, was now shaking his head.

"I call that tree to do my business, Nico." Leo stated, walking over to a tree.

I rolled my eyes. "Leo, get back here." Leo swung in his path and walked back to me, grinning like a madman.

"Come on, cap'n! We can take those suckers!" The fire user had now set one hand ablaze and was juggling a few fireballs in one palm.

"I don't know, Leo. That's a lot, and many of us are drained already what with the attack last night and how we didn't haven't gotten much sleep lately." I was thinking hard. I needed a plan. For the millionth time that week I wished that Annabeth was by my side. "What should we do?"

"Well, you're the captain. The decision is yours." Nico said, fending off another dracaena that had decided to charge the small group of demigods.

I chewed my bottom lip. We might be able to take them all, but it would be a risk. I didn't want any of my men or Hazel to get hurt. I didn't know if we could outrun them though, for this forest was pretty dense and thick, and horses wouldn't be very fast in it.

I was about to answer when something sliced into my left arm. A ragged gasp was torn from me as I staggered at the sudden and piercing pain racing up my arm.

"Percy!" Jason shouted frantically. I grasped the last strand of my strength strength and swung my sword, pivoting in a circle. My sword made contact with a dracaena that had come up behind me. It's sword wasn't red with my blood though, so that blade hadn't wounded me. What had? Wet blood was running down my arm, making a puddle on the ground. Nico, Leo, and Jason all took up a protective stance around me, stopping anything from coming closer. I had sunk to my knees, and was breathing deeply.

"Percy, you alright, man? Percy answer me!" Nico commanded.

"I- I'm fine." I coughed, then looked at my arm. My head spun as I saw the dark arrow stuck in my arm. I could see the glinting celestial bronze tip protruding from the opposite side of my arm. The puncture from the tip was oozing dark blood. I was losing blood quickly. It wasn't fatal, but it soon would be if all my blood started gushing out and didn't get stopped. "How did it get me without any of us seeing it?"

Leo answered me grimly. "I saw a bow in her hands. They have archers."

Oh no. We barely would've been able to take on dracaena with swords, but now they have archers? They could sit back and pick us off, one by one. We needed to fall back and attempt to escape, it was our only chance of survival.

Gritting my teeth, I broke off the long end of the arrow. Fortunately no barbs were on the arrow, but that still didn't make it any less painful when I dragged the arrow out of my limb. Jabs of shocking pain wove up my arm, serpentining throughout my whole body. I ripped off some fabric from my tunic, wrapping my arm as best as I could. It almost instantly leaked through the bandage, but it would have to do for now. Searing pain shot up my arm, but I ignored it as best as I could. I had to wait until after this fight was finished, then I could get some ambrosia.

"We need to get out of here. Jason, call the command." I got up, leaning on a tree for support as I felt a wave of pain overrun my body, making me dizzy. Shaking my head, I tried to clear my clouded mind.

I heard Jason telling everyone to retreat. Nico and Leo were fighting off more monsters, but right now, thankfully, no more archers were in sight. I saw another dracaena about thirty feet from Jason, and decided to take it. My left arm was out of use, so I could only wield my sword singlehandedly. I sidled up to it, and was twenty feet away when I saw a bow in the beast's hands. The dracaena drew back it's bowstring, an arrow fitted to it, and aimed. But it wasn't aiming at me. It's tip was going straight to Jason.

My eyes widened in alarm. I wasn't going to make it in time. I considered throwing my sword, or yelling at Jason to move, but I doubt either of us would act quick enough. In horror, I watched as the dracaena's fingers slipped off the string, releasing it. The bow bucked, and sent the arrow flying.

It whistled through the air, straight towards my second in command.

Ten feet away from Jason, it's flight was interrupted. A silver arrow came from the forest, penetrating the shaft of the dracaena's arrow and sticking it to a tree. My jaw dropped. That was an impossible shot.

Another one came not a second later, and then another. One embedded itself in the left eye of the dracaena, and the other in the right, turning the monster to dust.

I whirled around, searching for the archer. The only person that I've seen come close to that aim is Thalia, when she got me by the cuff of my sleeve. I had a pretty good idea who taught her, and I'm pretty sure that person was here.

Sure enough, Lady Artemis came out of the woods, firing two arrows faster than I could blink.

A huge sigh of relief was emitted from me, knowing that we had a way better chance of beating the monsters now. I realized that we probably should help Artemis, cause all of my questers were frozen, staring at the impressive goddess. We needed to regroup, and charge as a full body of warriors.

"Everybody, to me!" I ordered, jerking myself out of my stupor. Jason tugged himself out of his frozen state and started rallying people too. By the time we had gotten everybody together at the edge of the trees, Artemis had gotten rid of at least a third of the monsters. I was astounded at the amount of kills she had done, but even more so that she helped us. Usually gods didn't interfere on demigod quests.

With Artemis's help, we killed the last of the dracaena. My sword ripped through the last monster, and I turned to look at everybody. A sharp jab of pain reminded me of my earlier injury. I bit down my whimper, cradling my arm. Jason yelled for someone to get ambrosia.

A few seconds later, footsteps pounded over to me, and Hazel knelt down. She handed me a block of ambrosia. I grabbed it and stuffed it in my mouth, anxious to get rid of the pain. It tasted like my mom's desserts that she would make. As much as I liked the taste, it made me incredibly homesick, and I was glad when the taste faded away. I looked up at my group, smiling slightly. They were all clustered around me.

"I'm fine, guys," I said, reassuring them.

Artemis had been studying the carnage on the ground, but she soon walked over to me.

"Captain." She said with a slight nod. Normally she wouldn't greet a man like that, if she even greeted him. But she and I have learned to respect one another. I admired her fierceness and skills, and respected her like I respected men. It seemed fair. As you may know, I hate it when girls get disrespected because they are females. It just so cruel and biased. Likewise, she respected the me because I esteemed the female race.

"Lady Artemis. May I ask what brings you here?" I said. I looked around, and Artemis was the only new person here. None of her hunters were present.

"I was on a mission to find a group of monsters that had been crossing Greece. This was the group. However, it seems as though my job is only half done, for another group is crossing into the southwestern part of Greece." Her silky voice sounded like it came from the young teenager form she was in, but it was deceiving. Artemis was really old, but being a god she can change her form. Her auburn hair flowed around into a braid, weaving over her light grey tunic. Her bow was nowhere to be seen right now, but I had no doubt that she could whip it out in less than half a second.

"Well, thank you for helping. We weren't going to do so well."

Nico snorted. "That's for sure."

Artemis turned her piercing gaze on him. "Ah, yes. The son of Hades."

Nico dipped his head, but Artemis did not return the gesture. She turned back to me.

"Have you seen any sign of more monsters?"

I shook my head. "Not that I know of. We're just on our way to Aegium. Oh, that reminds me. Jason can you go get Nakamura, then we can head out again," Jason nodded and went off. We had tied Ethan Nakamura's horse to a tree when the fight started to get him out of the way. My voice was now directed towards Artemis, "My thanks to you again, Lady Artemis. We'll leave you to your tracking now."

Artemis seemed to think about something, then shrugged and reluctantly said, "Well, the monster pack that I am tracking is in the southwestern parts of Greece, and if I'm not mistaken, Aegium lies there. I might as well accompany your group. As much as I dislike that it is mostly males, I should not leave you when there is a large troop of monsters on the loose."

I slowly bobbed my head, "We will be glad to have you as company."

Jason arrived with Nakamura, and we all mounted. I wasn't exactly dreading the trip with Artemis, but it wouldn't be the best. We have a hard enough time avoiding monsters that follow our demigod scent, but having a god with us? That would magnify our scent tenfold. Well, I guess Artemis can kill the monsters that follow her.

"Let's move out. I hope to reach the next town by sundown." I said, then turned Blackjack away. I kicked my heels slightly into his sides, and he spread his long black wings. After a mighty leap, we were in the sky. We circled around my group a little, waiting for them to start riding.

I'm usually up in the air with Blackjack, scouting things ahead, and looking for clear paths. Jason is my substitute for a commander on the ground until I get back down.

Shifting my gaze to the south, I stared down our path that we were headed down at the moment. It was clear for now, but monsters could pop out at any times, and hellhounds could shadow travel at any moment, so we had to always be alert.

My bandage wasn't needed any more, so I tore it off and put it in my pack. The puncture wound had been mostly healed, all that was left was a slight scar that faded away as I watched. Blackjack glided low over the trees, permitting a view that showed what was ahead of us, but I could also keep an eye on my group.

After about an hour of traveling I spotted a pond up ahead. We needed more water, so this would be a good time to get it for the rest of the journey.

"Blackjack, let's get down, I need to tell the group to go to that pond."

Alright, boss.

I held onto Blackjack's mane as he went into a steep dive, whipping through opening in trees. The group was right ahead, and Blackjack put out his wings, buffeting the air as he slowed down. His hooves touched the ground, and he cantered over to the pack of demigods and the goddess, who was running alongside. She apparently can do that for a long time, and has great endurance, for she has been running this whole time and keeping up.

"There's a pond up ahead, we should refill our waters," I said. Jason nodded, and we started over in the direction of the pond. Upon reaching there, we all stopped and took out our water flasks. We gave the horses a drink, and I told the line of people waiting to fill their bottles.

The water was dirty, but it didn't matter to us, cause I could filter it with my demigod powers. I just took the fresh water out, and left the dirt on the ground.

I filled flask by flask, and finally we were all done. My strength had ebbed a tiny bit from filling so many flasks, but after I had a drink of water, strength and energy coursed through me, reviving my senses that had dulled from fatigue.

I assumed we had about two more hours until we reached the point where we would stop for the night. We don't sleep in the towns, for we didn't want to attract too much attention, and no need in letting our enemy know we are traveling towards Aegium if they really are there. If we needed food, two or three people went into the town to get it, but not all of us.

Mounting, I decided to walk alongside my group on the ground instead of flying. Blackjack's massive ebony wings were folded along his sides as we cantered along, Artemis easily keeping up, swiftly running next to us.

Dusk was approaching, and soon I went back into the air to see how close we were to the town we were planning to stay next to.

Veroia was a decent sized town, and in the last light of day I could just make out tiny ant-like dots moving along the busy streets, which were mortals getting back to home before night. Random puffs of smoke rose up from the village from small fires.

I kept my gaze searching until I found a relatively small clearing- but big enough to fit my group- in the forest about a half of a mile to our left. I signaled Jason, who was waiting for me to tell him the direction. Jason raised his hand in acknowledgment, then urged the questers forward. They followed Blackjack and I, who kept redoubling back to make sure the group hadn't become lost.

I landed Blackjack on the side of the clearing, then told him, "You can go now. Actually, can you see if there is water nearby so we don't have to go into Veroia? And I think we are going to get going early tomorrow, due to the small delay today."

Gotcha boss. Hey, can I falsely say that there is no water so you can go into town and get me some sugar cubes?

I rolled my eyes. "No, Blackjack. Now shoo." I sarcastically pushed his head, smiling at him.

My pegasus tossed his head in disappointment, then cantered away, spreading his wings and taking off. No sooner had he disappeared from my sight when the group of questers traipsed into the clearing in a thick line. They all dismounted, tying their horses to trees. Ethan Nakamura was taken down off his horse, led to a tree by Jason and tied with a thick celestial bronze chain that we used to keep Nakamura from escaping. His cuffed hands were attached to the chain, which was secured tightly around the broad tree. Once Jason was sure it could not be undone, he walked over to a spot in the clearing and started to pitch his tent. I walked around, directing the camp layout. After I instructed Leo to make a fire in the middle of the clearing, I told Frank and Hazel to take a walk around the circumference of the glade to make sure we weren't going to be attacked anytime soon.

"Sure, Percy. We'll be right back." Hazel said, taking the hand of Frank.

But Frank hesitated, and turned back to me, "Um, Perce? Can't Hazel stay here? What if we actually run into some monsters and it's just us? What if Hazel gets hurt? Can't she stay and help Leo make the fire or something?"

Hazel rolled her golden eyes, smiling slightly at her boyfriend, "Oh Frank, we'll be fine. I won't get hurt, and we are more than capable of taking down a few monsters. Besides, I don't feel very safe when you aren't there to be my cute protective boyfriend." Hazel poked Frank's side. She said this half-jokingly, but she meant it.

Frank looked a little better after what Hazel said, and reluctantly agreed on having Hazel come.

As I watched them walk away, hand in hand, I felt a wrenching pain in my gut, sadness overtaking my body as I thought of Annabeth. Her smile. Her grey eyes. Her laugh. Her sarcastic joking manner. The way one touch from her could send lighting bolts shoot through my body.

The sorrow was always present in me, always threatening to make me go insane. But I forced it away, knowing that I shouldn't let it overtake me. I shoved it back down now, gritting my teeth. I stowed the memory of her beautiful face in the cupboard of precious things in my brain, shutting away the image for a while until I decided to open it and have a glance again.

Pivoting, I trudged over to where Jason was setting up his tent, and started to unpack my things between his and Nico's spots.

About a half of an hour later, Frank and Hazel were back, reporting no signs of disturbance around us. The fire was set up, and Leo was looking through our rations of food for dinner. We couldn't cook anything, cause the fire was already enough of a risk. The cooking meat would send up additional fumes, attracting more things that may be unwelcome.