The Amber Blade

~1~

It was only the third day of the war against the bloody Romans, and I had only just gotten back from the mortal's war, I hadn't even changed, but things went wrong right from the start.

I sprinted through the forest into a clearing, they were everywhere. The cohort quickly broke through 9's defensive traps and our own line. Derek and a few others from 9 fled from the roman cohort.

"Ethan!" Corey was running up the hill to where I was standing. His armor was dented and some parts of his blonde hair were missing or burning, but that was fairly normal, considering the events of today.

"Get these plans to Joey; he's at the nearest bunker. It is extremely important!"

"It's what I do." I said as I took the parchment. We both stood there a moment while the cohort marched through the clearing. "I hope Mary's all right." I sighed.

"She's probably in better shape than your cabin is." He gave me a weak smile and jogged back down the hill, rallying his cabin.

I stuffed the parchment into my message bag and ran into the woods, dodging another volley of arrows from the cohort. The forest was oddly quiet for what was going on inside of it; I could actually hear the sounds of the forest; birds, squirrels, and other assorted rodents and mammals. A horn sounded in the distance, the Legion had destroyed another bunker, probably 2. I ran through the stream that cut the forest in two, the cold water encouraged me to keep moving. The air then charged of ozone.

An explosion launched my into a tree at least 100 yards from the river, ripping my armor to shreds. I lifted myself using the tree as a brace, looking around the small clearing; I then drew my sword, Sfentami, a gift from Maple and stood ready to do battle with what was probably that daughter of Jupiter!

"It's not my place to show mercy, but there does not need to be bloodshed for me to get the plans for your newest weapon." A stern voice said. "Give them to me and I will leave you be." She stepped out of the trees and into the small clearing around the stream. She wore gold armor and her exposed forearm showed the legion tattoos. She had been fighting 7 years; I stood little to no chance. Still I stood and raised my sword.

"I'll fight you to the death if it must be that way." She raised his pilum and advanced faster than I had anticipated, she must have been using the wind. Sfentami's amber/celestial bronze blade clashed with the roman's golden pilum. She backed away stabbing with the pilum while I tried to advance on her.

She smiled, "You're very simple Greek; this is easier than breathing." I stepped into her path and stabbed at her torso. My stab did nothing to her but put a nice sized gash in her armor. She floated away as if in water. "The wind protects me, Greek. You'll never defeat me; you know that I'm right! Just hand over your plans!" She shouted and flew at me, arm outstretched, pilum crackling with lightning.

"Let's ground you then." For a moment time seemed to pause as I called on the dryads, hiding in their trees. Please, lend me your trees! I need to make her land! I felt the dryads respond, giving me control. I felt my legs tingle and time seemed to speed back up.

"Heeeya!" The roman sped above the forest floor. My whole body tensed and I raised my blade, calling on the trees. Not even 10 feet away the Roman was pulled to the ground, losing her grip on the pilum. She swore and drew a gladius, slashing the hard bark of the roots. "Now you need the nymphs to help you? Weak I call you, weak!" I approached her and called on the roots to pull her into the ground.

"You will die, son of Ceres!"

"Probably, but not by your hands."

She flailed around as the roots pulled him down; she let out one final cry of revenge, and then disappeared into the ground. "Good riddance." I began to turn around when I was tackled from behind.

"You beat a roman in a one on one fight to the death! And you're alive!"

I smiled, "What, did you think I was going to lie down and die for her?"

"Of course not! Well, she was a daughter of Zeus. Jupiter! I meant Jupiter!"

I turned around and held Maple's hands, her amber colored eyes looking at me for wounds, which were none by the way. "I hope Sfentami was helpful, it took a long time for that Hephaestus kid to make it." She squeezed my hand, "Do you want to use my tree to get to bunker 9?"

"I actually need to get to 6; the Demeter bunker is better hidden so they should be fine."

"Well ok, but you'll have to walk a bit from the closest Maple."

I leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Thanks for the concern."

She smiled, "I could never let you die on me."

I stepped toward her tree when a fireball hit the stream, sending steam into the air. "Maple!"

"Over here!" I ran her and found myself at the base of her tree. "Ready?"

"Yes, of course!" The clearing exploded as another fireball hit near the tree.

"Hurry!"

I took two steps back and another explosion rocked the world, sending me flying into the tree. I was sure both my legs were gone. I heard Maple scream in my mind as I flew into her tree, falling-out into a large oak.

It was dark.

I rolled onto my back gasping for air. I summed up all the pain in my body, zeroing it down to my lungs, which were oddly oxygen deprived, but after what I had just gone through, I was all right, except for the fact that I still had my legs, which was nice, but disturbing. I added that to my list of things to figure out.

I sat up summing up my surroundings. I have run through every square inch of this forest, including The Ant Hill, and I didn't recognize where I was. There was a large oak in front of me what disturbed me even more was the fact that there were no sounds of battle or even a skirmish. There always was, especially with the Romans.

I stood up and listened to the forest. It was oddly quiet but I felt an odd happiness from the trees around me. I hadn't a clue as to why, but I was too busy to find out why. I jogged through the forest until I came to the stream. It was much deeper here, but I was thirsty. I knelt down to drink when I was tackled from behind.

Me and whoever it was rolled along the sand near the water. The face was covered in a Greek helmet but considering that the warrior had tackled me, I was ready to assume that he was a roman.

I and the young Roman tumbled in the sand for another 30 seconds before we separated and rolled to our feet. The young man drew a short sword and picked up his shield from the ground. I drew Sfentami and stood in my runner's style.

"What's with your stance? Don't know how to hold a sword?" He mocked me and raised his shield. "Well, let me show you!" He advanced toward me with a grin under his helmet. A rather cocky set of statements, if I do say so myself.

"It's your head, flee and you can keep it." His eyes lit up in shock at my comment. "My head! Why would you kill me?" I stepped forward and he stepped back. "Ok you win, take me back to your base and let me wait there." He dropped both his sword and his shield and put his hands up in defeat.

I stood there, my brain practically melting into manure. "A Roman surrendering? You must be quite a new Roman or something."

He looked up at me, "Roman? What are you talking about? The only Roman here is Jason and, well, he opted out of capture the flag to be the referee. And, so you know, he would never back from a fight."

My brain then turned into manure. One Roman? How on earth? Referee? Capture the flag? Jason?

I fell to my knees. The boy ran over to me, taking off his helmet. "Whoa man, you all right?" he ran over to me and put a hand on my shoulder, "Do you want to just come with me to team red?" he grinned, "We have cookies, oh and I'm Leo. A son of Hephaestus!"

I managed to get up and sheath my blade. He did the same and helped me walk into the woods. And about a hundred feet away there was a small clearing with some chairs and a large red flag. 3 other kids, around 12 or 15, were walking around the perimeter.

One of the kids noticed us and, with a grin, walked over. "Who do we have here?" He noticed that I was being helped by Leo. "Leo, what happened? Do we need to get him to Chiron?"

Chiron's name sent a shock down my spine; he would know what the hell was happening. "Please do." He looked at Leo. "Yeah, he needs the help Harvey." He got over to a small conch shell and played two sharp quick notes before a long third one; the medic's call.

Leo helped me sit down in a chair. "By the way I never did catch your name, here's some nectar." He handed me a flask and I took a swig, not a large one though, too much would have killed me. "Ethan." I said. He looked at my eyes for what I think was for concussion or something. "Your new here, aren't you? I've been here for a couple months and I have never seen you before now. I mean I'm not the most observant guy and all, but considering our little predicament." he continued on like this for several minutes, while his friend came over to check me for more wounds.

Looking at Leo I could tell one thing. He was absent minded and could not sit still. These were traits that could coexist well in a battle. Why is he defending? I tucked the thought into an envelope and stashed it in my mind, promising myself to think this over after this whole thing ended.

I heard commotion in the woods behind me but could not bring myself to look at it, too much effort for one who had so little. I could hear the beats of hooves on the ground.

"So that's how I would up in this whole predicament here at camp," Leo looked behind me. "Chiron!" I could practically hear the old horseman smile in spite of my lack of seeing him. "I came as soon as I could; the Ares cabin is once again, biting off more than they can chew. And then some. So what happened here?"

Chiron walked into my view, his face looking into his medical pouch. Leo stood up. "Well, sir, I found Ethan down near the stream we faced off and he collapsed. I think he's new because he doesn't have any armor. I'm not very good at determining this kind of stuff." Chiron smiled, face still down, apparently he found what he was looking for. "Well let's take a look." He had looked up for a moment blinked and wore a mask that said it all. He was straining to hide his confusion.

"How in Zeus's name could you be here?" He dropped the vial he was holding into his medical pouch and trotted up to me. "What is the last thing you remember?" But it wasn't a question. Leo looked as confused as Chiron. "What do you mean? He's on the other team but the-"Chiron cut him off. "Leo I'm going to have to ask you to leave me with Ethan for a few moments." Leo put his helmet on and walked into the woods, oddly silent.

"Ethan, how in Zeus's name are you still alive?" I looked into his eyes, they were very concerned. I replied, "Chiron, where are the Romans, who is Jason, why are they playing a game?" He leaned down. "Listen Ethan we need to talk somewhere more private. Climb onto my back, we are heading to the Big house."

We rode through the woods in silence; riding past other half-bloods playing capture the flag. When we broke through the tree line I was hit with the familiar feeling of camp but… it was different. The cabins were still there, the rock wall was still terrifying, and the forge was there as well. But there was a large blue house near the entry hill and a smaller grey-brick building near the cabins. Things had changed, and I was beginning to see in what direction they had changed. Forward.

We rode up to the large blue house and, after I dismounted, Chiron walked inside the front door, I followed. The interior was decorated in vines and grapes. There was a lion's head on the wall. A large box with multiple, unnatural colors decorating it. There was a picture of sorts inside and it made odd beeping noises. He "sat" into a wheelchair in the corner of the room and motioned for me to sit as well. I sat on a large, comfortable couch.

Chiron started. "Ethan, what are you thinking right now, based on what you see here? I can truly only imagine." I glanced around the room. "I think that I've been gone a while. Chiron, what happened?" He shifted in the chair, his face strained to hold something. "Ethan, you have been gone for quite some time now, we had presumed you dead but with the constant battles, we had no time to search for you," He sighed. "What was the last thing you remember before," he motions around. "This?"

"I had just fought with a daughter of Jupiter," Chiron winced. "I was able to defeat her. With the help of the dryads, I pulled her into the ground. Maple came up behind me and we talked before she offered to transport me to the Hephaestus bunker, but before I could, 3 explosions rocked the small clearing I was in, that Roman must have been a distraction! Anyway, the explosion knocked me into Maple's tree and, I'm not sure but I think I had lost my legs. I fell out of another maple and I felt fine, except for a loss of breath." He leaned back and laced his fingers. I continued. "I walked around till I found the stream."

He leaned forward and took a breath. "Do you have any idea of what happened between the time you were thrown into Maple and when you fell out of another tree?" I took a shaky breath. "I've been stuck in that tree for a long time, haven't I?" He nodded. "I am truly sorry there is no way to say this simply, or softly, but you were sleeping for one hundred and sixty seven years." He gave me a sad look that was completely sympathetic.

I thought. "Did we win? Was it ended through peace? The mortal's war?"

He looked off into the distance, into the dark night just outside the windows. "It was ended when the gods split us, the Greeks, and the Romans apart, forced everyone to forget the war and those who died in it. Only the nymphs, I, the gods themselves and the other immortal entities remembered."

"What happened to Maple?"

He sighed and I could see him rewinding to the old memory, although he did so with less haste than I would have. "I remember she came into my war tent the night you disappeared and told me what had happened. To tell the truth, you were one of hundreds that day. That was close to the end of it, most fell in the bunkers. Only one we know of survived. The rest unreachable." He motioned out to the woods. "Bunker nine. We recently discovered it, well Leo did. Inside we discovered plans for a flying warship, never finished. We have started construction, but have been having… difficulties."

I leaned forward. "The Argo II?" He looked at me. "I did not know they named it that. Either way we have named it that as well."

"What sort of difficulties?"

"The plans were incomplete."

We both turned to the entryway where a girl with blonde hair stood. Her grey eyes told me that she was a daughter of Athena or she had glass eyes, probably the first. "When we started construction we realized that the ship needed a specific algorithmic-magic engine type to fly it, or else it would fall apart. The plans for the engine were lost during the war, which I presume, you were in." she watched me intently, as if daring me to lie to her. "I am from the war, but I am no son of Athena or Hephaestus, I won't be able to fix it for you, I'll make it worse if anything."

She sighed and sat down in one of the chairs near Chiron. "Then what good are you? Unless you know who the engine maker," She reached into a bag and pulled out a silver rectangle with a delta on it, she opened it and a soft light bathed her face. She stared intently at the inside of the box before looking up, "The engine designer, Corey Viness, gave the designs to, then," she paused looking at me before continuing. "Engaged the Romans, gaining us a victory in the process. He survived the whole war until he took an arrow in his head. His record is in Daedalus' computer; apparently he had a copy, but only a hard copy which was destroyed when he died." She looked between me and Chiron, looking for a reaction from both of us; apparently Chiron had more secrets during peace than war.

"I did know Corey, he was a close friend of mine, but I don't remember anything from the day I got stuck in Maple's tree, except for those few minutes of engagement with the son of Jupiter." I looked over to her. "I do hope I can be o some help for getting the Romans."

She looked at Chiron. "Does he know we are going for peace? Not war?"

Chiron sighed. "If you just found out you have missed one hundred and forty four years, you would hope to learn things slowly, wouldn't you?" He shook his head. "Let's walk him into this slowly, without your laptop of any mention of Romans or ANYTHING else." He gave her a look that said that this was the smarter move between the alternative.

He looked back at me. "Well, though we are going for peaceful a purpose, that is not entirely correct, I will fill you in over the course of tomorrow. Until then you will be staying in the big house, it would be for the best." I stared at him. "Peace! Chiron! They don't know the meaning of the word! However you get that thing to fly, they will get you in the back!" I pleaded.

Chiron sighed, obviously miffed at Annabeth for popping my bubble. But I was miffed, and I knew that peace would never work. He looked to Annabeth. "Annabeth, tomorrow will you slowly bring Ethan up to speed on the state of affairs during the time he was gone?" She nodded and walked out of the room, she was annoyed as well, and that was easy to tell.

Chiron turned to me. "I will be leading the campfire tonight, if you would like to." I cut him off. "Chiron, we were at war with the Romans long enough to equal the amount of deaths in the mortal's war! And you want peace! A lot must have changed from the time that I got stuck and now. And no, I need time to think this over, so where am I staying." He rubbed his forehead. "Upstairs, second door on the right. Please try to get some sleep. I or Annabeth will try to help you make sense of it tomorrow." I went upstairs and, exhausted, fell on the extremely soft bed. I fell asleep before my head touched the pillow.