Hi guys, Right, I am not abandoning Valdr Shur'Tugal, but apparently I'm not allowed to use the Inheritance Cycle as part of my school work so I had a word with my teacher and he gave me a list of books, and series I wasn't allowed to use. So that is why I decided to start this new Fic. Hop you all enjoy.
Constructive criticism is welcomed, as are suggestions.
-Thatguy1781
70 Years since the end of the giant war.
65 Years since Percy Jackson completed all of the tasks that Athena set for him to prove his love to Annabeth; and returned to find her dead.
64 Years since Percy left camp and deciding to travel and train alone.
3 Years since young demigods started to appear just outside of Camp Half-blood, with no memories of the time between them being at home, and being at the camp.
A prophecy was issued three days prior to the events in this chapter.
Lost Hero travelled from land to land,
Wisdom's child is saved by his hand,
A grudge to bear to the end of his days,
Or a new emotion will change her ways,
The moon shines on the path ahead,
But the choice shall be from the top of his head.
A new life he leads,
Old friends he needs,
To succeed, a new road must be found
But if it is or not, nothing is bound.
In the darkness of the night a dark hooded figure stood, almost invisible in the shadows of the many trees along the edge of the road, watching an individual house. 215 East Loma Alta Drive, Altadena. His next target.
"JANE!" A male voice shouted from the house in the outskirts of Los Angeles, "Where the fuck is you, you little bitch? You's meant to wash all of my clothes today, and I just found some pants that are covered in crap! You're gonna have to step your game up if you want to get any tea." There was a slight hesitation and then a squeal followed by the sound of a slap and an exclamation of triumph, "found you, ya little shit. Best get over to the washer if you know what's good for you!"
That was the last straw for the hooded stranger; he had listened to the entire exchange, planning how he should handle this one. Lady Hestia had given him this task, the usually calm and peaceful Olympian had been furious, the amount of power she was giving off would have made most minor gods and goddesses pass out. She has told the man to take his time with the man but to make sure that the child was safe first. He strode up to the door and knocked three heavy, loud knocks.
"Piss off I'm busy," came the reply from inside.
"Busy with what? Beating that little kid from one side of your house to the other?" The stranger spoke back in a dangerously calm voice. He was angry, but didn't want to scare the poor child, on the other side, to death. "If you don't open this door I will break it down and beat the 15 shades of shit out of you." His voice changed to one filled with venom and hate.
"Who the fuck do you think you are coming here and telling me what to do, threatening me?" The man on the other side stomped towards the door, the figure heard the sound of a knife being picked up and he sighed, if the girl sees me beat him it's going to take even longer to get her to trust me. A plan was already forming in his mind as the door began to open, revealing a man that could only be described as vile; even without having heard the previous statements anyone could tell this man was evil. He was built like a bull, and had a basketball vest on that was probably 2 sizes too big. He would probably have looked quite nice had it not been for the sneer that looked to permanently fixed into his mouth.
"You're not the child's birth father are you?" The hooded man asked, almost sighing as he said it. 'If he is I guess Aphrodite, if not erm, maybe Ares'. Aphrodite would find this man attractive because of his body; Ares would like the look of the family because it looked like there was a large amount of military history in it.
"Why would I tell you? You're just some piece of street shit." He then looked the stranger up and down, the knife in his hand, and his hand hanging limply by his side. After frowning for a second, a glint showed in his eye, he had obviously come up with a plan of his own. "How about I sell her to you? Cash in the hand no questions asked."
The hooded figure allowed his lips to curl upwards, and held his hand as if to greet the man and agree on the deal.
His face showed shock at the gesture "What, really? Don't you want to see her first, or maybe try her out?" He finished the last statement with a wink. That finished it.
"You would sell your own daughter? And suggest this type of thing?" 'Definitely Aphrodite' Rage was beginning to show itself in the man's body language. Red fires began to glow and spark, where the hooded man's eyes should have been. The other man jerked back shocked and then swung the hand with his knife but it was too slow. A fist flashed, made contact with the other man's face and sent him sprawling back into his house and out cold on the floor. The anger immediately drained from the hooded figures body when he saw the child, cowering at the back of the room he had just entered. She had chains attaching her wrists together, this only 12 inches of room for them to move. Her face, arms and legs were covered in bruises, with a newly forming one on her left cheek. "Your names Jane, right?" The hooded man spoke softly as he stepped into the house and closed the door behind him. A whimper was all he got in reply, "Look, child, I'm not here to hurt you, I was sent here by your Mom to save you from this." He gestured around the room and at the chains on her arms
She stared at him in disbelief, "No, my mom died in a car crash when I was little."
"That's not true, your Mom is truly alive and well, she just isn't allowed to see you," He replied gently sitting himself down on one of the chair furthest away from the girl so that she could decide when to come near him, so as not to force the subject.
"What do you mean? Why?" She asked, her curiosity fighting with her fear and disbelief.
"You may not believe me straight away but I will say right now, that I promise I am not going to hurt you in any way, and that everything I am about to tell you is true, as far as my knowledge extends. You may want to sit down. Bearing in mind who I think your mother is I have a feeling there will be a lot of questions." He told her gently gesturing nonchalantly at the chair in front of him, trying to convince her he was not a threat without seeming threatening, which was hard when he was a tall hooded stranger that had just walked into her house and knocked her father unconscious.
"Um, okay, but please can you do something about my Uncle first? He will be angry when he wakes up, he always is." She asked timidly, slowly making her way to the chair opposite the hooded man. "Also what is your name?"
"You can call me Wolf, and as for your Uncle, if I send him somewhere whilst we talk then I can bring him back if you want," He told her gently.
"Can you just send him away? I don't like him, he hits me." She asked seemingly getting more confident with her new found ally.
"Of course I can, but only if you are sure you don't ever want to see him again." He told her. Jane nodded, so he continued, "this is going to look quite scary, but I'm going make his body disappear." He clicked his fingers and Jane flinched as the body disappeared in a flash of flames. "Ok he's gone."
Wolf then spent the next few hours telling Jane about the Greek god's and answering any questions she had. When he decided she was relaxed and trusted him enough, he decided to help her out a bit more, "I'm going to do something now to help your bruises, if that's alright" Jane hesitated, looking at him with a worried expression, "don't worry, it won't hurt, but might feel a little weird; a bit like an itch that scratches itself. OK?"
"Ok." Jane replies and then braces her arms on the arm-rests. Wolf then leant forwards, and placed his hand on her cheek. Wolf's hand slowly begins to glow and the bruises on Jane's face begin to lessen and fade whilst the cuts close and seal. After about 30 seconds, he removes his hand and looks down at her, "Does that feel good?" He asks and is answered with a very happy smile.
"Thank you! How did you do that?" Jane asks and tries to hug him but the chains stop her arms from opening properly and pain jolts through her body as the cuffs dig into her wrists.
"Oh, I forgot about those, let's get them of shall we?" He reaches down and takes hold of one of Jane's wrists, Wolf wraps both hands around the cuff and his hands begin to glow again. The metal starts to soften and he breaks it open and bends the cuff open so that Jane can remove her hand from it. Wolf gasps at the sight of the skin under the cuff, "Gods, when were these cuffs put on?" It was red, sore and very dry with cracks forming in it as her wrist flexed.
"I'm not sure; I've had some on since I can remember." She says with a sob.
"Hold on, I'll heal this and then remove the other one and do the same there as well, ok?" Wolf reaches into his pack and draws out a water bottle, removes the top and pours some water into his hand. He closed his eyes for a moment in concentration; the water thickened and began to glow. Rubbing his hand on Jane's wrist, the angry red skin began to fade and the crispy white skin softened and reattached to her wrist. When he removed his hand from her arm the skin was back to its normal state, pale and whole, Wolf repeated this on the other arm and then sat back down again after taking a drink from his bottle, "There you go; does that feel better?" He asked smiling at her.
"Yes, thank you, much better, but how did you do it?" she replied smiling back, her eyes acquiring a new gleam.
"The healing is an ability given to me by my mother, and the thing with the water, that's just a thing I learnt," he told her, half lying about the water wanting to keep his abilities hidden. He had used his powers to turn it into a soft paste instead of a liquid and used that to heal her wrists instead of the other ability, "Ok, I'm going to give you a choice as to how we continue," she nodded, "I can either take you to a place called 'Camp Half-Blood', where you will be safe, cared for and trained to fight. You will live with other kids, aging from about 7 to 18. You would get to live in a cabin, along with other people who have the same godly parent as you, they will help you out and teach you about any powers you might have," he hesitated slightly and she took this as a chance to ask a question.
"Who is my mom, you talk as though you know who she is?" she stared at his shadowed face.
"I have a few ideas but you will have to wait until she claims you, that is one of the rules my... Erm, 'Boss' would probably be the best word for her, told me, I'm not allowed to tell the kids I pick up who their godly parent is, they have to be claimed, but I can tell you this... She has, and always will, love you very much no matter what you choose right now, Ok?"
Jane nodded and then asked, "What is the second option you talked about?"
Wolf let a long breath out, it was halfway between a sigh and a normal breath, "the second option, is to become a 'Hunter' then you will be under the guidance and protection of Lady Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, forests, hills and the Moon. Be aware that if you join the hunt, you will have to swear off male company for the rest of the time you are with them. They will train you in combat and archery, stealth and tracking, along with other general things, like different languages and finer points of reading and writing. You be given the chance to become immortal when you are old enough, and Artemis deems you mature." He studied her reaction to this new option, trying to gauge her decision and see what she would choose.
"What about you? Would we ever meet again if I joined the hunt? You are the first person to be nice to me and not hit me for asking questions." She asked cautiously.
"I'm afraid that no matter what option you chose we probably won't meet again, I'm male so not really welcome in the Hunt, and I don't want to go back to the camp, I spent enough time there already, which reminds me, we need to get moving. You can think about your decision as we go, but we do need to leave, do you have anything you want to take with you?"
She shuddered involuntarily, "No, I just want to get away from this life as quickly as possible." She stood and began to make her way towards the door. The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, and she then realized that they had spent the entire night talking, and that she was actually quite tired.
"Hold on," Wolf said with a chuckle, "I can see that you are eager and I know why, but do you have any other clothes you could wear? It's quite a cold evening."
Jane looked up at him and shook her head, "No, these are all the clothes I have, if I need to wash then I have to stand without any on whilst they dry."
"Ok, wait here for a sec, how old are you?"
"Um, 7, why?" She asked, curious as to why he wanted to know.
"So I can get the size about right." He took his bag back off his back, and reached into it, pulling out a handful of clothes that looked brand new, "here you go. Go and get changed, I'll wait here for you, any clothes you don't need or want just bring them back."
Jane just stood there looked at him suspiciously, "Why do you have children's clothes in your backpack?"
Wolf laughed, "I don't but this bag is enchanted to let me get almost anything out of it to do with family life, like clothes, food and drink. Go and get yourself cleaned up, have a proper wash and then get dressed, bring your old clothes out here and I'll get rid of them. Take as long as you like washing, I'll wait for as long as you take."
"Ok," she replied hesitantly reaching out and taking the clothes and started to walk the stairs. About fifteen minutes later she returned fully dressed in new clothes, some black tracksuit bottoms, and a red hoody, "Whilst I was changing I was thinking about all this and I realised all this time and I have just started to trust you, but I don't know what you look like, I haven't seen your face."
Turned to look at her, and froze. Now that Jane had showered and cleaned herself up her hair, where it had been a dirty brown colour, was now a golden blonde. Her eyes were now shining and he suddenly noticed what colour they were, a cool, calculating grey. Then memories resurfaced that he hadn't felt for many years. One name reappeared in his mind, "Annabeth" he murmured it was as close to inaudible as a sound could get, but she still heard it.
"What?" She asked, "Who is Annabeth? Is she your friend? Does she look like me?" Then Jane noticed the tears dripping from Wolf's chin, "Sorry." She murmured and shied away as if expecting to get hit.
"No I'm sorry, Annabeth is someone I knew, yes, she was a good friend of mine, and yes, you look exactly like her."
Her eyes sparked just as Annabeth's used to when she noticed something, "Why are you talking about her in the past do you fall out with her?"
Wolf winced but then steeled himself, "No, she died. A long time ago; seeing you just brought back some rather painful memories."
"Oh, sorry" She realised that this topic was painful for her saviour and decided it was probably best not to ask any more questions on this topic, no matter how many more questions she might have about it.
Wolf shook himself and turned to walk out of the house and then stopped again. "No. I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be helping you but I'm getting all emotional, and to answer your earlier question, I'm sorry again but that's something I can't show you." He turned his head to look straight at her but the shadow across his face stayed exactly where it was, only showing his mouth and the very bottom of his nose. He then held out his hand to her, it was holding a small bronze knife in a sheath, with the hilt facing her.
"Oh, ok, why, and what's that for?" She asked taking the knife and just standing there.
"The knife is so you can protect yourself, strap it onto your body using the belt, I hope you don't have to use it but it's better to be safe than sorry, and I can't let you see my face because it's kind of a secret. Only my adopted mother and 'boss' along with about 3 others know who I am."
"Why do you keep saying 'boss' in a funny way?" She asked as she strapped the knife to her waist.
"Come, I will tell you as we walk." With that they both made their way out of the house, and began walking away from the city. "I say 'boss' like that because she isn't reallymy 'boss' as such, more of a friend that I help out by rescuing Demi-Gods and sometimes even gods. I do it of my own free will but I could just leave and do something myself with my life."
"Oh, ok. Who is she?" She asked him inquisitively.
"Sorry, that's another thing I can't tell you. I can't actually tell you much about myself, but I can answer almost any questions you have about The Gods, The Hunters, or Camp Half-Blood. Oh, also I need your answer about where you want to go but the end of today, because then I will have to change direction."
Another 2 hours were then spent, Wolf answering Jane's questions, after which Jane began to complain about being tired, so Wolf picked her up and put her on his back and the bag on his front. Jane was surprised that he was still able to walk normally with her weight on his back but in fact, Wolf began to walk quicker now that he wasn't having to slow down to keep pace with her. Almost instantly, her arms and legs relaxed and her head sank into his neck. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that she was fast asleep. Wolf smiled and began to move faster, but keeping his body moving smoothly so as not to wake her.
As the sun reached its peak, Wolf woke her up with a gentle nudge. She woke, and flinched back suddenly, not remembering where she was, and overbalanced Wolf. They fell in a heap on the floor.
"Hhhhh," She gasped as she realised what had happened, "Wolf, I'm so, so, so sorry! Please don't hit me." She rolled to the side of the path they were on and curled into a ball, covering her face and head with her hands and arms, waiting for the pain she was so sure was coming her way. After 30 seconds it hadn't happened so, Jane, confused and slowly uncurled from the ball glancing round, looking for Wolf, wondering why he hadn't hit her. She noticed him just sitting about half a metre from her with his legs crossed and hands resting on his thighs, "Ok, we need to get some ground rules sorted." she flinched as she heard his voice, then began to look even more confused at his tone, it was soft and kind. No-one had spoken to her like that before, "Firstly, I will never hit you, beat you, or even hurt you if I can help it. The only way that I will ever even partially hurt you is if I need to get you out of the way of something like an arrow, or a car, or anything that I can save you from. Secondly, if you ever feel hurt, or just need someone to talk to you, burn something, anything that has a scent, and just think about one word 'Origin' I will speak to you, or contact you in some way, as soon as I can. Give you hope, reassurance or safety if you are in danger, but remember, if you are around a big group of people, like 'The Hunt' or a camp, I won't be able to come. I am just staying in the shadows. Protecting the people I care about, or people who can't protect themselves, to the best of my abilities from monsters and each other. Ok?"
Jane took a while taking in all that he had said, "Ok, thank you. Um..." She hesitated looking a bit embarrassed.
"What is it? Remember, you can ask me anything, I might not be able to answer some things but I will try." Wolf told her with a smile, his lips being the only part of his face she could see, but it was still warm and reassuring.
"Umm, can I, umm, can I have a hug, please?" She looked down and blushed, her face burning. Wolf stood up and closed the distance between them in one step, holding his hand down to her to help her up. As soon as she was standing, she was engulfed in a warm embrace. It was strange, Jane immediately forgot all of her troubles, and smiled. Something she hadn't done for a very long time. It was a heartfelt smile, one full of emotion. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.
"No problem," Wolf replied, "have you decided where you want to go?"
"Yes," Jane told him backing out of the hug gently, "I would like to join The Hunt please."
"Ok, let's go then, I'll get us close to their camp but then you will have to go in on your own," Wolf told her enthusiastically taking hold of her hand.
"Why?" She asked him, looking up with a sad, almost worried expression, "Why can you not take me into the camp?"
"Well..." Wolf hesitated, trying to work out the best way to say it, "the hunters aren't, um how to say it, they aren't necessarily friendly towards males, and they have been trying to track me down for about 2 and half years now, without success, so they are a little bit frustrated with me."
"Huh?" Jane looked up again wondering, "Why are they trying to track you down?"
"They want to know who I am. The Gods want to know who it is that keeps turning up in the nick of time and saving someone or a group, but I don't want anyone to get close to me," he sighed and then spoke under his breath, "My friends tend to die when they are near me."
Luckily Jane didn't hear that and continued onto yet another question, "How are we going to find them?"
"Oh, I have my sources," Wolf replied with a wry smile, "Here, hold onto my arm tightly, and keep your eyes closed until I tell you, you can open them."
She clamped her eyes shut, as tight as possible, and braced herself against his arm. Wolf gave a small chuckle, and then clicked his fingers, erupting into a pillar of flames. When the flames cleared, they were standing on a cliff, 4 miles west of the hunter's camp, "Ok, you can open your eyes now."
Jane slowly opened her eyes and gasped, "Wha... H... How did you do that?"
"Another power," he smiled, "now you need to walk in that direction, until you see a camp of silvery grey tents. I promise I will keep an eye on you at least until you settle in, Ok?"
"Fine," She sniffed, "Can I have another hug please?"
"Of course."
"Thank you, for everything!" Tears were starting to form in the corners of her eyes, "I'll see you another time then." And with that she pulled out of the hug and walked away in the direction that Wolf had pointed in. If she had turned to look back she would have seen Wolf smiling sadly at her as, yet another of his escapees was brought to a happy place to make new friends, and in this case a new family.
'Gah' He sighed mentally, 'I need to stop getting so attached to these kids!'
'That you do my son, but you do need to follow up on your promise and watch over her 'till she settles in' A gentle voice spoke into his mind.
'Yes, thank you, Mom!' He replied 'I know what to do; I have been doing this for almost 3 years now!'
'Even so, she is almost out of sight, how can you possibly be keeping an eye on her?'
'Ahh, balls. Well, got to run' with that he closed his eyes and morphed into a wolf, setting off at a lope, to catch up with Jane. As he neared her, Wolf slowed down until he was moving at a slow walk, just out of her line of sight.
Jane reached a clearing and saw a group of about 15 girls sitting around a table talking and eating, with another girl, who had long auburn hair hanging just past her shoulders and looked about 12 years old. She nervously walked towards them, and got within about 20 metres of them before a dark haired girl saw her and pointed towards her. They all looked around and then stood up and began to form a line with the small auburn haired girl standing a step in front, and waited until Jane was about 2 metres from them before talking "Can we help you?"
"Um... Are you, erm, the Hunters of Artemis?" She stumbled on her words for a few seconds whilst asking the question.
"Maybe, why?" The auburn haired girl replied studying Jane's face as if for any signs of a trap or deception.
"I would like to join you please." She spoke mustering all the confidence she could.
"Come, let us sit around the fire campfire and you can tell us your story and then we will see about you joining us," The girl smiled and the other girls parted and began to make their way towards the fire,
"Where is Artemis? I was told to talk to her about my life first." Jane asked timidly,
"She's right here," the 12 year old said, pointing at herself, and continuing to walk towards the fire. Suddenly she froze and turned slowly "Hang on," She hesitated and studied Jane's face closer, "I recognise your accent, are you from... California?"
"Um... Yes, I used to live on the edge of Los Angeles, Why?" Jane asked looking confused.
"Well how did you get here? We are in a national park not too far from Chicago."
"What?" Jane gasped; Wolf didn't tell her they had travelled that far. "I don't really know how I got here, sorry; can I sit down and tell you from the start please? I don't really know how to explain."
"Of course, girls we might be a while here, if you want to sleep you can but make sure you clean up dinner first."
There was a chorus of Yes Milady's and all but 4 of the girls sat around the edge of the fire, the others making their way to the table to finish their meal and then clean up.
Jane had just finished describing her uncle and her life before she arrived. The moment Jane mentioned the chains and beatings Artemis' eyes lit with anger, but she had held in her rage at the atrocities that vile man had committed. "Where is this man now? I do believe I wish to see him and maybe introduce my knives to certain parts of his body!"
"Um, I... I don't really know." Jane stuttered, starting to get a bit scared of the fires burning in Artemis' eyes, "can I tell you the next part please, that kind of explains where he is?"
"Of course, I'm truly sorry for what has happened to you." Artemis told her sympathetically, sitting back down and taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
"The other night, my uncle told me to wash all his clothes since the washing machine had broken, I did it all as best as I could, but I knew I would miss something, and I did. My dad screamed my name, and I knew instantly I was going to get a beating, and that he was very drunk, so I hid under the kitchen table and hoped he would pass out before he found me. Unfortunately he did, and dragged me out from under the table, he..." she stuttered as she sobbed, "he was about to hit me when someone knocked on the door, and shouted that he wanted to talk to my uncle. My uncle told him to go away but he didn't. The man outside threatened to break down the door and then beat my uncle up if he didn't open the door. So he put me down and told me to keep quiet. He walked towards the door and picked up a knife. When he opened the door, there was a man there wearing a hood so all I could see was his mouth. He asked my uncle if I was his daughter, a...a...and, my uncle tried to sell me to him. I got really scared because I thought he was going to do it but the man got really angry and started to yell at my uncle about bad parenting stuff. He stepped into the doorway, and my uncle tried to stab him. I'm not sure what happened next, it was kind of a blur, but my uncle ended up on the floor, his face was all bloody and broken. The man closed the front door and I got really scared again, I didn't want to think about what he was going to do so I hid again under the table. He just pulled a chair out and sat down. He told me to sit down so he could talk to me, he promised he wouldn't hit me or anything so I sat down, and asked him if he could take my uncle away, so he clicked his fingers and my uncle disappeared. He explained to me about the Greek gods and all that stuff, he answered all the questions I had. He removed the chains from my arms and healed them along with my face and the rest of my body. Then he gave me two options, to go to Camp Half-blood, or to join the hunt, I asked for some time to think about it, so he said I could think whilst we walked. He gave me some new clothes from his magical backpack and told me to go and wash and get dressed. So I did." Jane decided to leave out the part about Annabeth as she felt that would be rude to go spreading what he had told her, "After a while I got really tired so he picked me up and put me on his back, I fell asleep and dreamt I was running through the forest with a group of girls, when I woke up, I panicked because I forgot where I was, I thrashed around a bit and we both fell over. I was still scared, because when I accidentally tripped my uncle over one time, he knocked me out. The man just walked over to me and sat down and told me he would never hurt me unless it was to save me from some other bigger pain. He was really nice. Then we walked for a bit again, until he told me he needed my decision, so I told him, I wanted to join the Hunt, so he teleported up both to the cliff over there, and told me to walk this way, and that he would watch over me 'till I settled in."
"Wait, so he's still here somewhere?" Artemis asked, "What is his name?"
"I don't know where he is, I haven't seen him since the cliff, and he said his name is Wolf." Jane replied, looking round the edge of the campsite, to see if she could see Wolf anywhere. Artemis suddenly spun around drawing her bow and fixing an arrow to the string, aiming into the woods. "Fighting, that direction, about one mile, Hunters get ready and move out. Jane stay with me, ok?"
"Yes Lady Artemis." Jane replied also standing up and stepping closer to her.
The hunters began to run through the woods, some in the trees, and some on the ground. As they neared the action, they could see a dark figure in the middle of a camp, surrounded by monsters. "Take up defensive positions everyone, we will watch for a moment." The hunters all snickered, and began to climb into trees to get into positions to allow for easy shooting when the orders came from their mistress.
"Um. My lady?" Jane asked with a worried voice.
"Yes little one?"
"That's him. That's the man that saved me. Wolf" She replied pointing at the man in the middle of the monsters. "Please help him!"
"I will help if it is necessary; I want to find out if he is any good." As Artemis said this, Wolf darted forwards drawing two swords and swinging them away from each other in two deadly arcs. 6 monsters fell in this first attack, and Wolf just continued forwards. Artemis was shocked by the skill he had with a blade, his moves were flowing from one to another, with no hesitation, and he became a whirlwind of sharp blades and golden dust. In barely any time, almost all of the monsters were gone, suddenly an arrow, shot by a dracaena archer, hit his shoulder and got stuck; just below the shoulder blade. Wolf didn't react other than to let out a long low growl, and to point his sword in the direction the arrow had come from, he shot a beam of fire from the end of the sword that pierced the dracaena, which exploded into dust, and then disappeared. Wolf then let go of both of his swords, and they just disappeared. He drew his bow; he shot streams of arrows with accuracy and speed that rivalled Artemis' own. Within seconds the monsters were gone and Wolf looked around. He put his bow in its holder on his back and then started to stumble away from the Hunters. Just as he reached the edge of the clearing he collapsed, and lay still.
"Hhhhh," Jane gasped, "Lady Artemis, please go help him!"
Artemis nodded and ran forwards, but before she reached the fallen man, there was a flash of light and an 8 year old girl, in a long fiery red gown, appeared and crouched over him placing a hand on the back of his head. "You stupid, stupid boy," She muttered.
Artemis gasped when she realised who the girl was, "Hestia? W...w...what are you doing?"
"And now the questions begin." Hestia muttered under her breath before raising her voice slightly. "I am healing my champion." She spoke loud enough for only Artemis to hear.
"What, you've known this Wolf person the whole time?" Artemis asked with a hint of disbelief in her voice.
"Actually I've known him since before he started to go by Wolf, but yes." Hestia replied still looking at Wolf with her hand on his shoulder concentrating on healing him.
"Umm, My lady?" Jane spoke in a quiet voice from behind both of the goddesses, "Is he going to be alright?"
"Yes, young one, he will be fine," Hestia spoke softly as she straightened up, "He just needs rest at the moment, the arrow that hit him was poisoned, most of it was already neutralized inside his body but there was still some left. I have removed it and closed most of his wounds."
"I never knew you had powerful healing powers." Artemis looked shocked at her words.
"The hearth has the power to both heal and harm child," Hestia smiled, "Now I need to return Wolf here to his camp." She turned and reached down to grab Wolf to teleport away,
"Wait, what was he doing here? He sent Jane to us but why was he here fighting these monsters?" Artemis asked, not with a curious face.
"He takes his promises very seriously." Hestia chuckled, and then as Artemis' began to look even more confused. "He promised your new hunter there, that he would keep watch over her and protect her from harm, at least until she had settled in."
Artemis' eyes widened, this male had put himself in this situation for a promise he made to a girl that he had only just met, "Who is he?"
"He is Wolf," Hestia replied with a grin, and then disappeared in a flash of fire before Artemis could ask any questions.
"Damn it!" Artemis cursed, "He was right there, and now he's gone, I want to know who he is."
"Err, My Lady, we should return to camp, it's getting late." came the voice of Phoebe, her lieutenant.
"You're right Phoebe and then tomorrow I need to go to Olympus to inform them of these developments." Artemis replied with a sigh. "You girls go on ahead; I need some time to think. Phoebe, get Jane settled into your tent please, we will sort her out with her own tomorrow."
With that all of the Hunters began to make their way back towards their camp. 'Who is he?' Artemis thought, 'I need to talk to him, I need to find out why he is doing this for all these children.' She turned and began walking back towards the camp, when she reached it the wolves were patrolling the camp and the hunters were in their tents getting ready for bed. Artemis ran to the edge of the camp and jumped into a tree. She settled into the crook of a branch and leaned back resting her head on the main trunk. 'I'm not going to be able to sleep anyway, might as well keep watch.' Artemis thought to herself and settled down for the night, thinking about what she should say at the council meeting tomorrow 'How can I say that I met him without revealing Aunt Hestia, I don't want to get her into trouble but Apollo will be able to tell if I am lying about anything. I'll just have to hope that he keeps quiet if I do have to lie.' After about 3 hours of just sitting there thinking, she began to get the feeling that there was something watching her. Artemis looked around and saw a pair of shining black eyes staring back at her from the undergrowth. She jumped down from the branch and drew one of her hunting knives, when she got closer to the bushes, the eyes disappeared and there was a flash of movement heading away from the camp. Artemis took off after it drawing her other knife, and attempting to catch up with whatever it was that had been staring at her. She reached a clearing after about a minute of running and saw a pitch black wolf standing in the middle of it. It was staring straight back at her. She was shocked by the strength and power of the gaze that the wolf held, 'Come brother wolf, you should join The Hunt you would be a powerful addition and be welcomed.' Artemis spoke into its mind as she had done with all the other wolves that were now part of her hunt.
'I'm afraid, my lady, that although I would love to join the hunt I already have a position, which is actually why I am here.' The wolf replied, shocking Artemis that he could talk and with how powerful the voice was.
'How can you talk?' Artemis gasped, as the wolf made its way towards her.
'I have spent a long time with my master, and he taught me to speak in my mind.'
'Who is your master? I don't know of anyone who can speak to wolves.'
'You met my master earlier, although he was unconscious at the time. My orders are to protect you and the hunters until he is well enough to move around again.' The wolf replied.
'What do you mean, protect me and the hunters until he can move around again?' Artemis questioned.
'Over the past few weeks we, my master and I, have been watching over the hunt, he had the feeling that it was going to be attacked at some point, and he was right, the army of monsters that he defeated would have overwhelmed you and the hunters.' she replied matter-of-factly.
'Who is he that he can defeat a band of monsters that would overwhelm us?' Artemis asked, normally she would have argued about someone putting her and the hunters down, but wolves never lied. It was the truth, and the scary truth at that.
'He will reveal himself when he is ready, but we would both appreciate it if you were to not tell the Olympian council about this, it would cause more questions than it answered.' The wolf replied again and began to make its way to the edge of the clearing.
'Wait!' Artemis spoke, 'you are no ordinary wolf, how can you talk that well? Most wolves can only communicate in emotions and small, simple words, but you are more literate than some humans. How?'
The wolf gave her a wide grin, that only a wolf could, 'I am not just a wolf.' she replied cryptically, and then disappeared into the undergrowth. Artemis stretched out her senses to see where it was going but it had, quite literally, disappeared. She shook her head confused by the recent happenings; the conversation with the wolf only, served to make her more annoyed and frustrated decided to call an Olympian meeting straight away. Artemis then flashed to Olympus to call the council meeting to discuss the details of the day, 'no wolf, normal or not, tells me when to withhold information' she thought to herself with a smirk, 'who did that wolf think she was, telling a goddess what to do?''
Once all of the Olympians had gathered in the throne room, Zeus looked across to Artemis and asked, "Well then, daughter. What did you want us to gather for?"
Artemis noticed Hestia staring at her, her eyes burning. Artemis suddenly felt uncomfortable with what she was about to do. Hestia's eyes were boring into her soul, making her shuffle in the seat. "I, urm, I…" she stuttered, still feeling very unsure of what she was doing.
"Artemis, get on with girl!" Zeus half-yelled
Artemis took a deep breath and composed herself, "Another girl turned up at my camp today, she was brought to a clearing near to my camp by 'Wolf'. Her name is Jane, and as far as I can tell, she is a daughter of Athena. We sat around the fire and she told us all her story. Through this story I have found that Wolf, has some sort of healing ability, and he also has the ability to use some form of teleportation." Artemis paused and looked around the room everyone was staring at her expectantly.
"I want to see this girl, bring her here. We shall examine her memories." Zeus ordered; his tone was clear that there was no room for argument in this matter. Artemis paled and glanced over at Hestia who had her eyes closed and was muttering under her breath. I sharpened my hearing and directed my senses in her direction, "...ready to come if I tell you to, if she becomes distressed you must come and stop them... I know, I don't want her to go though it either, but Zeus is adamant that is must be done...Just tell him everything since we started; try to keep your identity hidden though... If it gets to that stage I will get Nyx to come and explain... Yes I am quite sure, she has quite the soft spot for you, you know.... I will speak with you soon." Hestia smiled and opened her eyes and then glared at Artemis whose mouth had dropped open at the mention of Nyx, 'is it really that easy for Hestia to contact a primordial god?' She looked around and noticed the other gods were looking at her expectantly, so she flashed back to her camp. When she got there she jumped back in shock, the wolf from earlier was sitting in the middle of the camp staring straight at her, 'You are a fool' was all she said and then stalked out of the camp. Artemis just stood there in shock, watching the wolf walk away from her. She shook herself and made her way to the silver tent at the edge of the camp that housed Phoebe, her lieutenant and Jane. When she opened the tent door and her heart softened, Jane was curled up next to Phoebe, it looked as though Jane had been crying and Phoebe had cuddled up with her to provide her some comfort. Artemis started to feel really bad about what she was going to have to do. She snuck over to the girl and shook her shoulder gently. Jane's eyes shot open, panic filling them, and her mouth opened to scream. Artemis reacted instantly and grabbed the girl and flashed them both to a Cliffside about 2 miles west of the camp. "I'm sorry Jane, I didn't mean to startle you, but I also didn't want you to wake the rest of the hunters." Jane started to calm down again and her pulse returned to normal, "Urm, what did you want?" She asked and then remembered she was speaking to a goddess, "Lady Artemis."
Artemis sighed, "The council has requested your presence, and they want to look through your memories of Wolf, to see what you saw."
"Will it hurt?" Jane asked starting to worry again.
"No," Artemis shook her head, but left out the part about her having to relive the parts that they looked through.
"Ok then, as long as you're there." Jane picked herself up but the worry was still prominent in her eyes.
"Of course I will be there." Artemis put a hand on her shoulder and then flashed them both back to Olympus.
Wolf's Camp (Starting 4 Hours before the meeting and catching back up with the timeline)
"Umm, My lady?" Jane spoke in a quiet voice from behind both of the goddesses, "Is he going to be alright?"
"Yes, young one, he will be fine," Hestia spoke softly as she straightened up, "He just needs rest at the moment, the arrow that hit him was poisoned, most of it was already neutralized inside his body but there was still some left. I have removed it and closed most of his wounds."
"I never knew you had powerful healing powers." Artemis looked shocked at her words.
"The hearth has the power to both heal and harm child," Hestia smiled, "Now I need to return Wolf here to his camp." She turned and reached down to grab Wolf to teleport away,
"Wait, what was he doing here? He sent Jane to us but why was he here fighting these monsters?" Artemis asked, not with a curious face.
"He takes his promises very seriously." Hestia chuckled, and then as Artemis' began to look even more confused. "He promised your new hunter there, that he would keep watch over her and protect her from harm, at least until she had settled in."
Artemis' eyes widened, this male had put himself in this situation for a promise he made to a girl that he had only just met, "Who is he?"
"He is Wolf," Hestia replied with a grin, and then disappeared in a flash of fire before Artemis could ask any questions.
Hestia flashed both herself and Wolf to his camp and placed him just outside the lone tent in the clearing. She looked over his body worriedly before crouching down and placing a hand on his forehead. Closing her eyes in concentration, Hestia began to force energy into Wolf's body trying to wake him. A low, pained groan told her it had worked and she removed her hand from his forehead. Wolf tried to sit up but Hestia pushed him back down to the floor. Wolf seemed to realise something wasn't right and his eyes shot open wide and he reached up to find that his hood was gone and he started to panic.
"Don't worry my son, you are back at your camp and the hunters are back at theirs. I must say, they were very impressed with what you did." Hestia told him whilst clicking her fingers and making a large piece of ambrosia appear in her hand and giving it to him.
"Thank you," He replied gratefully, "But what do you mean they were impressed?"
"I told them what you were doing there." Hestia replied calmly as she conjured up a large fire, making logs appear as well as lighting them.
"What! What were you thinking? Now they will think I am a stalker and it will make it much harder to keep an eye on them if they are looking for me!" He yelled at her.
"No, no, no, I told them you were keeping your promise to look after Jane until she settled in." Hestia explained.
"Oh," He hesitated, "I know I was poisoned, but why did you come and heal me, I was already recovering on my own?"
"Artemis was about to reach you and see who you were, I figured you wanted to keep hidden for a bit longer, so I turned up and confused her a bit so that she would have to answer herself some questions and keep her busy for a bit." She stopped speaking and looked up to the sky as if someone was calling, "Oh Styx, someone has called a meeting, I'll be back later." stood up to leave but then turned and said, "I almost forgot, I sent Sýssa to look over the camp and ask Artemis not to say anything to the council. I get the feeling that this meeting will be about you, I will call you if it is needed."
"Ok, but I will only come if someone would get harmed otherwise," Wolf replied, "Physically or emotionally."
"Of course," and then she disappeared from the camp in a flash of flames.
Wolf just sat there, thinking about how his life had changed over the last 10 years. 'So, I'm partially immortal, my mom died and I have been adopted by the best goddess out there, I have met Nyx and gained her approval and help. And I finally have a purpose I feel comfortable doing.' He was brought out of his thoughts after a few minutes when he felt Hestia's mind push against his, and her voice rang in his ears.
'Wolf, Zeus has ordered Artemis to bring Jane to the council so that they can examine her memories. Be ready to come if I tell you to, if she becomes distressed you must come and stop them'
'And Artemis is letting him?' Wolf replied incredulously, 'She has had a terrible past, if they go through the memories it may bring back some bad experiences!'
'I know, I don't want her to go though it either, but Zeus is adamant that is must be done'
'Fine, if it comes down to it I will come and take her away, I did promise that I would look after her until she settles in with the hunters, but seeing as this is my fault I think I need to explain some things to the council. I don't want her to be there though.' Wolf said the last part venomously, 'How much should I tell them?'
'Just tell him everything since we started, try to keep your identity hidden though'
'What should I do if they don't accept it?' He asked, 'Should I tell them the complete truth and reveal myself?'
'If it gets to that stage I will get Nyx to come and explain'
'Are you sure she will answer?'
'Yes I am quite sure, she has quite the soft spot for you, you know.'
'Fine, you know where I am for if I am not needed. See you later Mom'
'I will speak with you soon.' Hestia cut the connection with the mental equivalent of a hug.
Wolf quickly relayed all of the information of what was happening to Sýssa, who was still looking over and protecting the hunters' camp. Wolf began to think about what he should tell them, after about 5 minutes of thinking, Wolf decided to he would reveal himself as a demi-god who decided to help out others on quests, and save them from danger. 'I think I will make sure that she isn't there, I still don't know if I can control myself if she is.' He was once again brought out of his thoughts by Hestia's voice in his head. 'Wolf, quick she is having a breakdown, and Zeus is refusing to let her go, Artemis is getting close to tears and the girl may get permanent brain damage if you don't stop them soon!'
'Styx! Why didn't you tell me sooner?' Wolf yelled in his mind, 'I'll be there in a second' and with that he jumped to his feet and pulled his hoodie over his head, before clicking his fingers and flashing to Olympus.
*****On Olympus*****
Hestia was glaring at Zeus, Zeus was focusing intently on Jane, Jane was curled in the foetal position crying and clutching her head. Artemis had her head back, leaning against the backrest of her throne, with tears in her eyes as she saw the pain her newest huntress, "Father, please stop. Can't you see it is painful for her?" Artemis shouted, she was about to leap out of her throne when fire erupted into life in front of the little Demigod it was so hot that even the gods had to shield themselves from the heat. When the heat died down, Jane was gone and in its place was a note, on a slightly scorched piece of paper. Artemis gasped and sprinted to the place where her huntress had just been and snatched up the paper, she read it and then looked towards Hestia, who was still glaring at Zeus, but as soon as she felt the look from Artemis she turned and glared at her instead.
"Read it out Artemis." Zeus demanded from his throne.
Artemis stopped staring at Hestia and looked back at the paper again:
"So this is how the Olympians treat children now is it?
I thought you were better than this.
I will return and give you some answers.
But only if all three of these conditions are met,
1: The council must swear on the Styx to never use a child's mind to get information about me.
2: You will all give your apologies to Jane for forcing her to relive some of the most traumatic experiences in her life.
3: Athena must not be in the room. (I don't know if I will be able to restrain myself from killing her if she is there.)
Hestia knows how to contact me when and if you are ready.
-Wolf"
"What!" Zeus screamed in clear outrage, "How dare he make demands of the Olympian council, and sister, how dare you keep your knowledge of this man a secret!?"
"I dare because he is no threat to Olympus as he is loyal to me and has spent the last decade almost, training and helping me with mortal family matters," Hestia replied calmly as she continued to sit at on a seat by the hearth tending the flames. "And he dares because he concerned about safety. Both his own and others."
"Well why does he need me to leave, what does he have against me and why would he try to kill me?" Athena wondered out loud.
"No, Athena. Not try to kill you. He would kill you. I know how hard it had been for him, over the past few years, when I have directed him towards your demigods, for him to not just leave them to the fate they would have faced. He put his hate for you to the side so that he could save demigods from fates worse than death."
"But what has he got against me?" Athena asked again.
"That is his tale to tell, I will not divulge information he has given me without his permission." Hestia informed her, "He has earned that from me over the past years we have known each other."
"Who is he?" Artemis spoke for the first time since reading the note out loud.
"Once again, that is his information to reveal if necessary, but I warn you about one thing," Hestia said with a small smile, "If he does not wish to share something, do not try and force him. Do not anger him, and do not attempt to make him do something," her smile grew, as did the look of outrage on Zeus' face, "If you do, he will either leave and you won't see him again, or he will attack you." By this point the king of the gods looked ready to blow up and was about to speak but Hestia cut him off, "I'm not saying he would win, but any Olympian in a fight with him would have a hard time."
Zeus sighed, "Fine, I swear on the Styx that the Olympian council will not use any child to gain information about the man who calls himself Wolf, as long as his answers are deemed satisfactory by the council." Most of the gods looked at their king in shock as they were not expecting him to go with the demands. "Athena, leave."
"But father I-" Athena began to answer back but was cut off as Zeus raised his hand and stared straight at her as they had a telepathic conversation. "Fine." With that she stood from her throne and walked towards the doors of the throne room. All eyes were on her as she made her way out opening the doors and then disappearing around the corner.
"Sister," Zeus began as he turned back towards the hearth, "Please inform this man that his demands have been met and he is to return here."
"No." came the blunt reply from Hestia with a wry smile, she then interrupted Zeus as he was about to shout, "I shall ask him to return, as I am not arrogant enough to think that I can order him to do anything. I have a few suggestions for all of you who are here, do not order him to answer questions, do not threaten him and seriously, do anything you can to not annoy him. He has done more for you than any other mortal or immortal you have ever known, and he's kept most of it a secret, even from me."