Chapter One: Trespassing

The creature had evaded them for several days now. How a single Chimera could be so fast, Thalia did not know. But she had been tasked by Artemis to take four others and hunt down this creature, while the rest combed for anything else that might be lurking about.

And so group had been trekking through these woods for about three days, wondering if they would ever come across the foul thing. They had seen the traces of it everywhere. Tracks, trails in the woods made by a passing monsters, and of course, the remains of it's human prey. Thalia had a strong stomach, but some of the remains were truly sickening, especially when it was of an innocent child.

Phoebe was ahead of them, looking at the ground, scanning for any sign of the beast. She was the hunters best tracker, and she could find a squirrel in a forest thicker than the Amazon. Right now she was stopped and crouched over something in the dirt. Thalia walked over and looked over her shoulder.

"Find anything?" she asked. Phoebe nodded.

"It came through here all right. These tracks may not be deep, but their fresh. It apparently went toward the south. I think it might be aware that we're after it."

South...if it kept going further and further south then they would not be able to follow it any further...not that they couldn't physically do so, but if they didn't want any trouble, they would not follow it any further in that direction. They were already dangerously close to the border. The rest of the hunters arrived behind them, and one of the asked what they should do.

"Let's keep following it. With any luck at all, we can get it before it crosses the line."

"Alright..."

The sprinted after Phoebe, who continued to lead the way, following the trail that only she could really see. The night was dark and cold, but they felt nothing of it. Their coats kept them quite safe from the winter bite. Their bows were in their hands, and they prepared themselves to draw arrows at a moment's notice.

They were running for gods knew how long, their breathe never drawing short through their whole endeavor. The woods were flowing like magic by them as they ran, and no mortal could ever hope to keep up with them. In fact, there were very few things that could keep up with Huntresses, let alone beat them in a test of speed. But she preferred not to think of them at the moment.

The trail led them further and further south. Thalia felt her worries increase with every step that she and her sisters now took. They were dangerously close to the line, and Thalia was even starting to wonder if they had already gone past it. But she could not focus on that now, for a roar echoed in the distance.

"Was that it?" she asked Phoebe.

"Yes, that would be our quarry."

"Alright then..."

The group slowed to a jog, in order to to move more stealthily when in the monsters vicinity. But Thalia was not thinking about sneaking up on the monsters. She felt something was off about there they were, something that would eventually lead to a lot of trouble, for the hunt and Artemis.

"Girls, stop for a sec," she called.

The group obeyed. Phoebe looked back at her in annoyance.

"We're right on top of it! If we stop now, then it'll get away!"

"I know that, but do you not realize something? We've been going south this whole time. You know what controls the southern states?"

The hunters all looked at her for a moment, before growling in anger. They had tracked this thing for days, and now it had most likely slipped into the others territory. The hunters could not believe that they had actually lost it.

"Let's go back. Artemis will understand."

"But lieutenant!" Phoebe shouted after her. Thalia turned to regard her.

"Phoebe, you did very good tracking, but you know we can't stay here. I think they might somehow know we're here. We need to get back now while there is still time."

"But Thalia, we've tracked this thing all over for days! It's our prey, not theirs!"

"I'm sorry girls, but we can't risk it. If they catch us on their land again, then there is going to be trouble. Artemis has worked so hard for peace between us. Can you justify risking that? With a simple border violation?"

Phoebe bit her lip and though for a moment.

"No...but the creature is very close. Surely we can take it down and then be off before they find out we were here."

She did have a point. Thalia could not argue with the fact that this group had exerted itself greatly to get this monster. And now that it had crossed over a line in the sand just to escape them was heartrending. Thalia weighed the pros and cons for a moment.

If they kept going on and hunted the beast down, there was a risk that their trespassing would be discovered. But they had pursued this creature too far to be forced back now, Phoebe was right about that. But if they went back, then there would be no chance of them being discovered.

What was life without some risks though? Thalia grinned as her decision was made.

"Alright, we'll go get it. But we need to make this quick though."

The sisters whooped and ran forward, Thalia trailing behind them, allowing the all to follow Phoebe as she blazed the trail. Despite the thrill that comes with breaking the rules, Thalia could not shake off the feeling that she might have made the wrong call by doing this. But she couldn't deny her sister the joy of the hunt, and of the kill.

They moved closer and closer to the roaring in the distance. They came across more tracks and what seemed like blood. Thalia did not know what could have attacked it, but she knew that if the Chimera was wounded, then it would be easier to take down. Why she did not think about what else around here could harm a chimera was beyond her.

The sounds were louder and louder, and Thalia signaled for them to spread out, and assume a kind of semi-circular formation. They did so and each of them drew and arrow, readying it upon their bow to fire at a moment's notice. The sounds came closer and closer, until they found the beast.

It was wounded, that was certain. There were gashes cut into it's hide, and they were leaking monster blood. Thalia swore she saw an arrow in it's hide. The huntresses crouched down, and observed the beast. The chimera was a nasty piece of mythological work. One would think that it was something a demented child would have drawn from a nightmare, except it looked worse than any nightmare.

It was a large creature, with the body of a powerful and large lion. It's head was that of a lion, snarling and gnashing it's teeth, as if anticipating the meat of it's next victim. Drool oozed out of it's foul mouth, and it looked as though it had recently enjoyed a meal, as it's teeth were streaked with blood.

Two wings sprouted from it's back, and between them was the head of a donkey, or a disgusting parody of which, and as the lion snarled and roared, the donkey head was was making it's donkey-like calls, almost in sync with the roaring of the lion head. And to complete such a creature of nightmares, it's tail was a snake, which hissed and flicked it's tongue out. It looked vicious, and Thalia had not doubt that ti would deliver a venomous bite if necessary.

But there was something strange about it, and Thalia took a moment to see what was bothering the creature so much, as it apparently did not care about it's appearance. It was scratching at parts of it's body, almost as if it had an itch here and there. But when she saw the arrow stuck in it just a little ways behind the donkey head, and several gashes in it's hide that it was poking at, Thalia knew that something was up. And she immediately realized what was up a second later.

"Phoebe," she whispered loudly. Phoebe walked over to Thalia in a crouch, keeping hidden in the brush.

"You see what's bothering that thing?"

"Yeah. It ran into them."

"Which means that they're close. We need to make this quick. When I give the word, everybody fire at once, alright?" Phoebe nodded and moved back to her firing position.

The best way to do this would be to take the creature by surprise, putting five arrows into it at once. If that was not enough to take it down, then it would be shocked enough for Thalia or one of the others to drive a blade through it's Lion head, which would most likely be the end of it. They would have to be careful with it's tail though. That thing looked deadly.

Thalia slowly maneuvered herself into a prime firing position, and readied her bow. Around her, the others did the same. Thalia waited until the creature went to lick at one of it's gashed before giving the word.

"Now!"

Instantly five arrows shot through the air. The chimera reacted to the sound of her voice but it could do nothing to stop the arrows. They all pierced int it, and the creature let out a fresh roar of pain. It arched it's back and bucked for a moment, as the pain seemed to be causing it to spasm. It threw it's head back and howled it's pain out to the heavens. It did not die from the initial arrows, though now was the golden chance.

"Cover me!" Thalia screamed as she threw down her bow and charged, her sword already in her hand. She would make a move to slash off the head of the lion head, and that would undoubtedly bring down the foul thing. Her sister ran behind her, their own swords drawn, and prepared to help if the creature managed to recover. Which was exactly what it did.

Thalia had almost raised her blade for the fatal strike when it suddenly stopped it's pain induced spasms and lunged forward, knocking her flat on her back, with the creature hovering over her. Thalia gagged at the breathe of the thing, and her sisters cried out in shock. Thalia held her sword in a diagonal way across her face, trying to ward off the bite of the lion head.

Phoebe had ended up behind the creature when it lunged froward, and then jumped to her lieutenants aid. She ran at the creatures backside and drove her blade into it. This forced the creature to arch back and roar, and Thalia took the time that that gave her to jam her blade into it's throat. The creature let out a gurgling cry, and began to shake in it's death throes. But Phoebe's success was short lived, as the snake head lashed out at her and sank it's teeth into her shoulder. She cried out as she fell onto her own back. The creature rolled off of Thalia and twitched several time, before slowly turning to gold dust. Thalia and the rest were not concerned with the success, as they all ran immediately to Phoebe's side. Thalia knelt down to her.

"Do we have any ambrosia or nectar!" she asked.

One of the hunters knelt down and placed a canteen of nectar to Phoebe's mouth, spilling quite bit, as she was starting to slightly convulse.

"Drink Phoebe, drink!" Thalia commanded.

And in that moment, an arrow shot through the air toward them, and hit the ground just inches from Phoebe's head. The hunters who were standing whirled around, their bows having summoned back to their hands, and pointed their weapons at the area from where the shot had come from. And a voice called out to them, a male voice.

"And just what the hell do you girls think your doing?"

All around them, they emerged from the surrounding darkness. Thalia was amazed that they had been able to sneak up on them so efficiently. They were completely surrounded, from six sides. Six of them against five of the hunters. Thalia knew that those odds were not good at al for them, especially since three of them were on the ground, with Phoebe completely out of action.

"I will ask this again, huntress. Why have you crossed the border?"

A seventh figure emerged, and Thalia recognized Darren, one of the brotherhood's sub-lieutenants. He was like the rest, clad in the armor of a black-reddish mix. Thalia knew that that armor was just like the huntresses, and was contradictory to their silvery armor and clothes. But beyond that, it allowed them perfect camouflage in the darkness of the night. But her eyes were not on his armor, they were on his own gray eyes as he coldly regarded them. His blond hair and and eyes gave him the arau of a cold man, especially with that armor.

Thalia looked at Phoebe, who seemed to have marginally recovered from the bite, but they would still need to get her to a healer pretty soon. She got to her feet and knew that she better start talking soon, or she and her hunters would be going nowhere but six feet under.

"We had been tracking this monster for several days. We didn't know we went far into your turf. please, we didn't intend any harm."

"So you had been tracking the chimera for several days now? What a coincidence! We've been doing that exact same thing! The only difference here is that we didn't violate any borders while doing so."

Thalia swallowed.

"We just came across for the monster. We aren't here for a fight."

"Clever girl, which might be an oxymoron."

One of the hunters growled and raised her bow higher, only to get at least three aimed at her. And the brothers were just as accurate as them. If one of the huntresses lost it and fired, then they would all be dead. And they would have just reignited the whole war all over again. Tensions between the two groups had eased somewhat after the huntresses act of kindness, when the brothers were shattered by their stand to defend some refugees a year prior. After the border had been set along the central US, designating hunting grounds for each group, then hostilities had been very low. But the groups had a natural hatred of each other, and so the slightest violation could very well result in a disaster. Which was exactly what was about to happen if Thalia did not talk their way out of this really fast.

"We only came here for the monster, Darren. We'll leave your land right now, I swear it.

There was a feeble cry of pain, and Phoebe began to moan and shake in pain. The nectar had done some good, but now the venom seemed to have picked up steam. Darren saw this and snorted.

"Got herself bit by that chimera's tail, huh?"

Thalia nodded. There was a dead silence for a moment. Darren seemed lost in though, and Phoebe gave a weak cry of pain. Darren sighed and then turned to one of his brothers.

"Morgan..."

The brother turned to look at him, and Darren gestured with his head toward the fallen huntress. The boy growled but lowered his weapon, and began to walk toward the wounded huntress. One of the hunters swerved their bow to aim at him, but Thalia was quick to understand the move.

"Wait! She needs a healer, and we can't afford to start anything right now. Lower your weapons!" she commanded.

Th huntress looked at her like she was insane, but they slowly lowered their bows. Morgan knelt next to the crying huntress and drew out a flask. He slowly poured some over the bite mark of Phoebe, and Phoebe buckled under the liquid, letting out a full-borne scream. Morgan sang a short hymn, most likely to his father Apollo, and the wound slowly began to mend itself. Phoebe's eyes opened slowly, and she looked up to see Morgan above her. She hissed and used her arms to crawl away.

"Well, really grateful you are." Morgan said in disgust. Thalia walked over and knelt next to Phoebe, who was glaring at Morgan.

"You feel better?" she asked.

Phoebe nodded. Thalia helped her get to her feet, Phoebe still a little shaky.

"What did he do to me?" she asked.

"He may have just saved your life Phoebe. You might want to act just a little bit grateful, if only to help get out of this with less bloodshed.

Phoebe looked around and seemed honestly shocked to see them outnumbered five to seven. Then she turned to Morgan, who was standing nearby, his bow the only one at his side.

"Thanks..." she grumbled.

"No problem..." Morgan grumbled back.

Darren walked over toward Thalia, and kept his pace slow and deliberate, so as not to threaten the huntresses. He stopped until he was less than a foot from Thalia, and leaned down to look her eye to eye, inches from her face.

"You can rest assured that Lord Orion will be informed of this. And I don't think he will be as merciful as us. We are going to let you all walk away for now. But if we ever, and I do mean, ever see you on our land again, then our first shot will not be a warning shot. You have already had your warning. Do I make myself clear, little huntress?"

Thalia did not like being talked down to. It was something that she was not used to. But for the sake of their survival, she was forced to swallow her pride for just this moment.

"You've got it, boy."

"Get the hell out of our sight..."

The huntresses slowly walked away, their eyes still on the brothers, and Phoebe walking now, with a hunter nearby for support. Thalia breathed a low sigh as the brothers disappeared from view into the darkness behind them. They walked for over and hour with their nerves on edge, until they finally found familiar landmarks that indicated they were on their own ground.

"Well, we sure avoided a bullet there," she said, trying to lighten the mood. There was no laughter though, the huntresses so exhausted from their ordeal. The only thing on their collective minds was getting back to lady Artemis with the news that the chimera was killed. She was not sure if she should reveal the fact that she had crossed over the agreed upon border line to get it. How could the brothers, in the whole possible land that they could be, were right there to catch them?

-0-

The figure moved through the woods, completely unknown to the huntresses she stalked. She was hidden by her camouflaged armor and her face had been painted as well, so paranoid she had been about remaining unseen. Her sword was strapped to her hip very snugly, and her bow was was in her hand, ready to deliver death if necessary. But she would have been suicidal to attack the huntresses.

What she was really interested in was the boys. They seemed in a way to be the male equivalent to the huntresses, as she had observed their confronting of the huntresses. Apparently there had been some agreement on the hunting borders of each group, and the huntresses had violated that birder. She had though that the boys would have killed them, but she was shocked when they were allowed to go with a simple warning, and even had one of their wounded treated by one of them.

She knew that months prior, these boys would have killed them on sight. Could they had gotten soft? Had they been ordered by their lord to behave differently toward the huntresses? Questions shot through her mind and left in the space of seconds. She did not dwell on them, for she had to report what she saw to her master, and to let him decide if these groups would be a threat to their plan...