Son of Artemis
Chapter 1:
A wail. The cry of a baby echoed in the moonless, starlight night cutting the silence like a knife. Pine trees towered over the lightly wooded landscape, casting inky black shadows in their wake. Soft green grass carpeted the ground, rendering all but the loudest footsteps silent, the nature of the place untainted by development. Again the baby cried—no longer in a piercingly loud tone—as it lay on a grey rock, helpless and swaddled tight in grey cloth. Its eyes a bright green with flecks of gold open and close. A slender girl, no older than twenty, stares at it, desperate, locks of black hair over her face. She wears a light, black chiton, leather Greco-Roman sandals, a quiver of arrows over her back, and three bracelets on each arm. She clutches a longbow in her left hand. Shaking, she lifts her bow and notches an arrow to its string. Tears clouded her eyes as she lines up the arrow with the baby, each drop sliding down her cheeks. The baby boy looks at her curious, smiling up at his mother. Part of her wants to kill the baby she was never meant to have, but the innocence of the child and that it's her son made her waver. Sucking in a breath, trying to calm down, she pulled back the bowstring about to let the arrow fly. Looking away from her baby son, she calms down and readied herself.
"Lower your bow, my lady. Stop it!" shouts a girl, rushing into the clearing.
"Zoe," the woman said, stifling a sob, "I don't have any other choice. I have to kill him." She lowered the bow and turned to face Zoe, her lieutenant, pleading with her eyes to help her.
"No, Artemis," Zoe says tentative, "You don't need to kill your son and you know that."
"You don't understand, Zoe. He is not supposed to exist," the goddess mutters, shaking her head sadly. She broke her vow of remaining a virgin forever, only to fall for a young man the grandson of two demigods, one of Apollo and the other from Athena. Now, not only did she break her vow, but she also had a child, as if more punishment were necessary. If Zeus or any other god, except maybe Athena and Apollo, discovered her secret, well the results would be far from pleasant.
"Look, milady, your child has done nothing to harm you. Granted, it is a boy, so he won't be able to join in our ranks but at least give him a chance," Zoe pleaded, hands clasped together, hope in her eyes. "Besides, you haven't sworn on a binding oath. You may break it as you choose."
"I know, I just don't know what to do." The goddess of the moon and hunting fell on her knees and breaks down, sobbing in her hands. Her resolve melted, giving way to a strange feeling of attachment to the child. An overwhelming sense of guilt and sadness washed over at every thought of harming her child.
"Artemis, everything is alright," Zoe comforts, whispering gently. She cradles the tender newborn demigod in her arms and kneels next to Artemis, nervous and tentative. Sow had never had to comfort her goddess and leader before. The baby laughs a little, tickled by a strand of Zoe's hair. "Artemis, look at him. Hold the child."
The goddess, curious, wipes away her tears, and for the first time since she gave birth to the baby, looks in his eyes. His eyes and body mirror her own, but his blonde hair remind of the man she had loved. Already the newborn had a full head of hair. She takes him from Zoe's out stretched arm and cradles the babe close to her chest. His eyes begin to close, tired, and he gives a faint yawn that makes her smile. She kisses the her son's forehead and hums a lullaby that her mother had once sung to her. The soft green grass, the child's rhythmic breathing, and fresh, crisp air soothed Artemis' nerves.
-an hour later—
"Take the boy, Zoe," the goddess says, sadness tinging her voice. A mother never wants to leave her child. "Take him somewhere safe and make sure he doesn't know who his mother is. Keep it a secret." A sob wells up as she hands her the son, her first child to her lieutenant.
"I will, milady. Should I go to Chiron?" The goddess nods, eyes wet. "Don't cry. You will be able to see him again, have no fear in that." With that, Zoe took off into the night toward Camp Half-Blood and away from the forest. Happiness flows through her veins for Artemis not killing the child, but rather nurturing it for a week, more than she could say for any of the other gods. Yet she could not escape the dread of what might befall her goddess if the others ever found out.
