Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson. All my fanfic writings are non-profit. 'Tis all for fun.
Piece of Darkness II - Gambit
Chapter Four
"Why are you in charge anyway? What do you know about organising something like this?" [Fletcher said]
"I have faith," Tanith said.
"As do I," Ghastly said.
Valkyrie smiled at them gratefully. "So you think the plan will work?"
"God, no," said Ghastly.
"Sorry, Val," said Tanith.
–Derek Landy, 'Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days'
I was pretty busy the next day with preparing and training for capture-the-flag, so I didn't get another chance to think about what Kevin had said to me. I did, however, get a moment in between classes to tell him about Chiron's secretive behaviour, which I'd forgotten about amidst the worry of coming up with a strategy.
"That is weird," Kevin said meditatively. "He's up to something that he knows you wouldn't like."
"What makes you say that?" I said, surprised.
"You're not really the type to spread gossip, so obviously he's not just hiding it from camp," Kevin pointed out. "So either he's been forbidden to tell you about it - which is a possibility, but I feel like it's not true - or he knows you'd try to stop him."
"As if I could stop him," I muttered.
"No," he conceded. "But you'd certainly try."
Our break-time ended then, and we parted ways, me to have an archery class, Kevin to have a spear-throwing session.
Archery was probably the only combat skill which I was taking to without endless amounts of embarrassment. I wasn't nearly as good a shot as someone from the Apollo cabin, but I could at least hit the target with consistency - though I'd hit only one bull's eye, and that had been down to a lucky wind and a timely sneeze.
Will Solace was still the archery instructor. I didn't really talk to him outside of class - he didn't actually spend a lot of time at camp, often only coming to give a class before leaving again - but he seemed like a nice guy. Like most children of Apollo, he had quite an easy-going temperament, so I was rather surprised when he took me aside at the end of the class and told me emphatically to beat those "goddamn moon lunatics".
"I'll try," I assured him, slightly unnerved by his outburst of emotion.
"You'd better," he growled. "Those stuck-up, overbearing, cocky…"
It was only afterwards that I remembered something Nico had mentioned about Apollo and Artemis having an antagonistic relationship. It figured that that would extend to their demigodly children/followers.
I received more encouragements from different trainers throughout the day - Percy wanted me to win so that Thalia would "stop gloating like a bad villain", and Annabeth (who had that day returned to the insane task of trying to teach me Ancient Greek) muttered something about the honour and pride of camp.
Just before dinner, Jane quite literally jumped out of a shadow at me, declaring her wish to be the one to seize the Hunters' flag.
"Well," I said slowly, playing for time as I thought of a way to ensure she didn't become a liability to our plan. "I was wishing Nico was here, because his thing of hiding in the shadows could come in very handy, but you seem to have come on a lot…"
I paused, as Jane stared at me eagerly. Percy, Clarisse and a daughter of Apollo named Alice Evans were the main strike team (normally people as old as Percy couldn't take part in capture-the-flag, but when you're playing an elite force like the Hunters, exceptions have to be made), but Jane could be a useful backup.
"Alright," I said finally. "But you have to listen to instructions, okay?"
Unsurprisingly, Jane paid no attention to my caveat as she punched the air and gave me a hug.
"I'll make sure we win, I promise!" she declared, before speeding off in the direction of the cabins, presumably to prepare her gear for the match.
I can't say I really enjoyed dinner. All I could think of was how Kevin and I would be hated by everyone if we lost. We'd prepared the dummy flag with great secrecy, making sure that not a hint of its existence leaked out to the Hunters, but what if something had got through? What if the trick didn't work? The Hecate guy I'd spoken to was pretty grouchy about having to use up his invisibility stone. What if there was a mutiny? If the Hunters got even a whiff of the ruse, the plan would be ruined, and Kevin and I would be reviled by most of camp.
My only consolation was that we could always find a way to blame it all on Zack.
Anna, as ever, tried to give me some words of advice.
"Remember that camp has never beaten the Hunters before," she said, looking at me owlishly over her glass. "If you lose, it's not going to be a great surprise."
"I'm not sure how that's supposed to make me feel better…" I muttered.
"Look at it this way," the daughter of Hermes replied, "if people are down on you for losing, ask them if they could have done any better."
That, I reflected, was a fair point.
As dinnertime drew to a close, and I tried miserably to eat a few more bites of food, I wondered why Chiron had even given us the job of strategising. Did he actually want the Hunters to win? Or did he really have that much faith in us?
One thing was for sure - it must truly take the patience of a eons-old being to maintain faith in me.
Finally, after what seemed like an eon of agonising thoughts, the centaur rose to his feet.
"The match will begin in just under half an hour," he declared. "I would advise you all to finish preparations and to be at the arena in time to join your team."
Those who were members of the team quickly finished up and left. Not wanting to get into conversation with them just yet, I waited till they had all streamed away before following. The Hermes kids wished me luck, and Anna rose to follow me, as she was part of the defense squad.
"So what do you think of the plan?" I asked her nervously, as we headed for the arena.
Her brown, elfin eyes narrowed for a moment in thought, before she replied, "I'm not a great strategist, but I think it will work. If we make sure that secrecy is maintained, it could work… I don't really know, though. I have a good feeling about it, if that helps…."
I nodded noncommittally. Good feelings were nice and all, but they didn't make a whit of difference once we were out in the forest facing the merciless Hunters.
When we reached the arena, Kevin was inspecting the strike squad. Though he was a highly pacifistic son of Ares, he still had a very thorough knowledge of military mechanics and equipment - if anything, he knew more than any other Ares camper, as he spend a lot more time studying such details. His inspection was, as a result, entirely comprehensive, picking up on small aspects of the half-bloods' gear that seemed irrelevant, but which could play a big role in combat.
We weren't just playing one trick on the Hunters - we had two. Defence of the flag was less of an issue because of the decoy, meaning that we had more troops to utilize in different areas. So, we actually had two attack squads, but one of these was disguised as a standard border patrol, so as to (hopefully) catch the Hunters unawares. For some reason, Kevin had insisted that I be part of this team. God knew it wasn't because of my battle skills, so I could only assume that it was down to my problem-solving abilities.
I strapped on the lightest armour I could find (even frequent training had not made me able to run whilst wearing large, heavy plates of bronze), took a dagger, bow and arrow, and joined the ranks of the "secondary defense squad".
Annabeth and Percy, both decked out in full regalia, sidled over to me as I watched the Hunters, who were ranged on the opposite side of the arena, complete their own arrangements with clinical, intimidating efficiency.
"Best of luck, Seer!" Percy said happily.
("Seer" was Percy's idea of a clever nickname. This came, after all, from the man who occasionally called his daughter-of-Athena girlfriend Wise Girl.)
"Thanks, Percy," I nodded slowly. I was trying not to move too quickly because I was starting to feel vaguely nauseous.
"It feels good to be out fighting again!" the son of Poseidon declared enthusiastically. I glanced at Annabeth, who was wearing a faintly bemused expression.
"What do you think of the plan?" I asked her, feeling both afraid of what she'd say and anxious to know what she thought.
"I think it's good," she said, much to my relief. "The key will be to safely secure the flag before the Hunters catch on to the trick."
"Well, that's the job for you guys," I said.
Just then, Chiron galloped into the arena. He surveyed us for a moment, his doubtful expression demonstrating his distinct lack of faith in our abilities, before lifting a large conch shell to his lips and blowing upon it.
"Heroes!" the centaur cried out. "In a moment, you shall enter the forest and begin the game. Remember, there is to be no maiming or deliberate injuring, and fair play must be observed at all times."
He paused. The arena was almost completely silent now, as all of our team had finished preparing and were now separated into the three main squads. Likewise, on the other side of the arena, the Hunters were grouped together in tight rows, though they looked a lot more militaristic than our ragtag group. When I looked at our assortment, which included overly-aggressive children of Ares, scientifically-armoured children of Athena, cosmetically-fascinated children of Aphrodite, cumbersome children of Hephaestus and hopelessly uninterested children of Hermes, I felt like I was at some kind of unprofessional comic book convention.
"Now, let the game begin!"
The Hunters took off marching right away, while our team was a little slower. In a moment, though, we were all hurrying towards the forest.
I glanced around me. Percy and Annabeth had fallen in with the rest of the main strike team, and I was marching amongst the "border patrol". I barely knew any of them, and I really wasn't in the mood for conversation, so I kept my head down.
Now that we were moving, my nausea had begun to fade, but I still felt deeply uneasy. I started to wonder if it was just because of the game, or if it was something else - a sense that something bad was coming.
Then again, our plan collapsing would be pretty bad.
We entered the forest a couple of minutes after the Hunters, heading for the large clump of rocks and trees that was supposed to look like the fist of a god, but which actually just looked like a large clump of rocks and trees.
It was on the far side of the forest, and as we made our way to it, we passed a number of important tactical points. Various parts of the team split off at these places, taking up their assigned positions. We were nearly at the stream when the main strike team slipped away - there was no point in them coming all the way to base. When we reached the river, a number of demigods stopped and took up defensive positions - they were the first (and, technically, last) line of protection from the onslaught of moon-coated fury.
Halfway towards Zeus' Large Clump of Rocks And Trees, our secondary defense team halted at a dense thicket, with a few of the more zealous half-bloods actually climbing up into the trees. Finally, by the time we reached base, we were down to me, Kevin, a daughter of Ares, two Demeter kids and a daughter of Hecate.
I paused, standing to one side with Olivia, the daughter of Hecate, as Kevin directed the others to their positions and instructed them on how to manage any incoming raiders.
Olivia Hartnell was sixteen, two years older than me. Apparently she was the most skilled magician of her cabin, though she didn't look especially imposing. Her build was slight, her face unremarkable but somehow engaging, her dark hair light and thin, giving her a slightly ethereal appearance - but her sharp green eyes and intense emerald aura made her stand out.
"Have you ever fought the Hunters before?" I asked her, as I watched Kevin hand out orders.
"Just once," she said, gazing penetratingly at the trees that rimmed our clearing. "In my first year at camp. All I remember is getting tripped over by a Hunter when I tried to defend the flag."
Kevin finished, and waved at us to follow him. We began climbing up Zeus' Large Clump of Rocks and Trees, heading for the top.
"Did you know," Olivia said, as we struggled along, "that an entrance to Daedalus' Labyrinth used to be right here?"
"Really?" I said, looking at her in alarm. "What happened to it?"
"When Nico di Angelo set Daedalus' spirit free, the Labyrinth completely collapsed."
I frowned. Now there was a story I'd never heard from Nico.
Suddenly, as we reached the top, I remembered Jane.
"Where on earth is Jane?" I said abruptly.
"Huh?" Kevin said blankly, glancing over his shoulder at me as he reached under his breastplate to take out our fake flag.
"I told her earlier she could help, but I haven't seen her," I explained, fiddling with my dagger's handle. "She must be around…"
"Oh," he shrugged. He unfurled the flag - which looked just like the real one - and tied it to the pole that was embedded in the centre of the highest rock in the clump.
"Do you have to do anything else with it?" he asked Olivia.
"Just one thing," she murmured. She stepped past him, grasping a handful of the flag. A ripple of energy flowed through her aura, and a wave of green rippled down her arm and into the flag, which stiffened slightly. I frowned - for some reason, something about what she was doing looked oddly familiar.
"That's it," Olivia said, dropping her arm to her side. "That will help to shield the enchantments on the flag."
"Remind me again why we had to enchant this flag?" I asked, as I turned to go down the other side of Zeus' Clump.
"The real flag is always charmed," Olivia said, her voice quiet but clear. "The Hunters might sense something is wrong if they only find a normal, charmless flag."
"Great," Kevin said, glancing down at our defenders. "Let's go put up the real flag!"
We edged down the rocks until we reached a nice, out-of-the-way alcove which could be easily spotted, but only if you were approaching Zeus' Clump from the north - and the Hunters would be coming from the south.
From my quiver of arrows, I produced a length of wood about the size of a curtain pole. I bent down, feeling with one hand for a small gap in the rock. When I found one, I slotted the pole into it. Kevin dug out the real flag and tied it on.
"Okay," Kevin said, standing back - not that he could stand back very far on our small ledge of rough rock. "Go ahead, sorceress."
Olivia laughed a little as she withdrew a grey stone from her pocket. Invisibility stones were, apparently, hard to come by, which was why the Hecate counsellor had been so reluctant to surrender his. We'd gotten our hands on it only by using a potent mixture of blackmail and chore reassignment. Olivia rested it in her palm, drawing in a deep breath before activating it with a whispered word of power. She placed it at the foot of the pole, which promptly became almost invisible - if you really focussed, you could just about make it out, but otherwise it was utterly imperceptible.
"Excellent!" Kevin said enthusiastically, clapping his hands together. "I really can't see this going wrong."
I winced.
We made our way back down to ground level, and found Jane pacing around frantically at the base of Zeus' Clump.
"There you are!" she cried, on seeing me. "I was starting to think you'd been put on border patrol!"
Olivia took her place with the other guards, who were already starting to look bored, while Kevin and I walked with Jane to the edge of the clearing.
"We're going to try to get the flag," I told her, as Kevin meticulously checked his gear for the millionth time. "The flag doesn't need as much protection now, so we're going to take a stab at theirs."
"Hopefully we'll take the Hunters by surprise," the son of Ares added, unsheathing his sword to inspect it.
"Sure!" Jane said, her eyes bright with enthusiasm. "But… we're not the main people getting the flag, right?"
"No," I said quickly.
"No," Kevin said slowly, meeting her eyes and grinning. "But that doesn't mean we have to let them get the glory!"
After surveying the defenses one more time, the three of us set off into the woods, with Kevin leading the way.
"How do we know where the Hunters have the flag?" I said, as quietly as possible, in case one of our opponents was lurking nearby.
"We can't know exactly where," Kevin admitted, talking a little louder. "But there's a clearing over the other side of the river. Some of the older campers told me that the Hunters usually set up there."
We tried to make our way along as quietly as possible, though that wasn't wholly successful. Kevin was reasonably good at moving silently, and Jane, who was walking behind him, was as stealthy as a cat. I, however, taking up the rear of our little procession, seemed to be stepping on every dead, brittle, snappable branch in the forest.
Every couple of minutes, Kevin made us stop as he listened out for passing Hunters. It occurred to me on one of these occasions, as we crouched in the undergrowth like alarmed rabbits, that the name "Hunter" was very appropriate - I really felt like I was being hunted by those maidens of Artemis.
"What happens if they find us?" I asked nervously, after another false alarm.
"Oh, they'll disarm us, tie us up maybe, probably knock us out too," Kevin said, his tone sarcastically cheerful.
"Sounds fun," Jane muttered, as she hopped over a fallen tree bough, which I promptly stumbled over.
Finally, we reached the stream that divided the forest into two halves of a chessboard. Kevin bade us be still with a gesture just as we came to the edge of our half of the forest. The two of us halted in the shelter of the tree line while he edged out into the open.
"What's he doing?" Jane whispered, glancing over her shoulder at me.
"Probably checking for Hunters," I replied. "Hopefully there aren't any near…"
Luckily for us, this area was clear. Kevin waved at us to follow as he waded through the stream.
My nerves grew a good deal tighter as we slipped into the other side of the forest. Here, it seemed far more likely that we'd bump into a Hunter. I whispered this to Kevin, who shook his head.
"The Hunters are far more offensively orientated than that," he said. "Most of them will have gone over to get the flag. The rest will be near the base camp."
A rustle in a nearby tree almost made me jump up a tree, but it was only a bird.
"And how will we get past the defenders?" Jane asked, as we crept along.
"We don't get past them," Kevin said grimly, tightening his grip on his sword, which he had unsheathed as he'd crossed the stream. "We get through them."
We'd been working our methodical way through the Hunters' area of forest for about five minutes when we heard an a sharp shriek of anger ring out across the woods.
"What the hell was that?" Jane whisper-shouted, stopping and turning to look back towards the stream.
I met Kevin's eyes, and saw from his dark expression that we were both thinking the same thing: the Hunters, far quicker than us, had already made it to Zeus' Clump of Trees, and they'd just reached the stream on their way back.
That shriek was the sound of someone discovering our ruse.
"We need to move," Kevin said urgently. He took off running, no longer trying to be stealthy, and Jane and I followed, trying not to trip over. Making noise was now irrelevant - we had to get the flag before the Hunters had time to find ours.
We bounded through the woods, pausing only to unsnag our clothes from awkwardly-positioned trees. Finally, up ahead, it began to grow lighter as we approached a clearing.
Suddenly, about ten metres from the edge of that clearing, Kevin stopped.
"What now?" Jane hissed as she stumbled to a halt next to him.
He raised a finger to his lips, and pointed with his other hand at the Hunter standing only five metres away from us.
She had her back turned, and was standing completely still, but it was surely any second before she heard us. Though she was short in stature, her aura was blinding, like those of all the other Hunters, and her bearing expressed great confidence.
The really big katana in her left hand didn't exactly help, either.
The Hunter started to turn. In a flash, Jane grabbed my hand and Kevin's shoulder. A ripple of energy pulsed out from her aura as the Hunter peered towards us. I held my breath, waiting for discovery, but the silver-clad girl only shrugged before turning and walking away.
"Phew," Jane murmured, once the Hunter had vanished into the clearing. "Good thing I practiced shadow-concealment, no?"
Kevin and I fervently nodded our agreement. With relief buoying us up, we crept on.
We reached the edge of the clearing without further incident, and managed to catch a glimpse of what lay beyond the tree line. The flag was placed at the centre of an area of open ground and five Hunters, including the one who'd nearly discovered us, stood in a wide circle around it. There was less than twenty feet between us and them, and there was not a single rock or tree to hide behind.
I turned to Kevin. "What do we do?" I asked, appealing to his strategic nature.
(I could have thought of a solution - but only given twenty minutes, a sketchbook, two Sharpies and a glass of sparkling water. Quick-thinking military man, I was not.)
His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the situation. I shifted from foot to foot, trying to quell my nerves, and Jane chewed her nails worriedly,
"Can you shadow-travel over to the flag?" Kevin asked Jane, after a long pause.
"I think so," she said, eyeing it. "It's in shadow from the taller trees, so yeah, I can. But how will I get back out with it?"
"Let Cyrus and me worry about that," he replied confidently. "You get in and get out with the flag. Don't get caught up in the fight, got it?"
"Got it," Jane nodded.
"Cyrus," the son of Ares said to me, "you and I are going to engage the enemy."
I blanched.
"Don't worry," he laughed, patting me on the shoulder. "We won't have to hang around for long."
Kevin paused just long enough to take breath, then said to both of us, "Ready? Go."
Kevin and I took off, tensing for combat as we ran towards the Hunters, who immediately reacted and came surging towards us. In my periphery vision, I saw Jane vanishing and reappearing next to the flag. Next second, I was ducking as a dark-haired Hunter tried to bludgeon me unconscious with her sword. I parried her attack and swung wildly with my knife to drive her back a step. Beside me, Kevin was dealing with three Hunters at once. I ducked another attack, and caught a glimpse of Jane dodging the fifth guard. The daughter of Nyx had the flag in her hands, but couldn't shake the Hunter, who had grabbed her arm and wasn't letting go.
The Hunter attacking me nearly disarmed me, and I staggered back. As she came lunging in, I heard a battle cry from behind us. Suddenly, Percy was there, knocking Hunters to the ground left and right. Alice Evans came in from an angle and took down the Hunter facing me with a fast, accurate blow of her sword. Annabeth sped past, heading for the fifth guard. In a second, Jane was free, and she shadow-travelled out of the melee, back within the tree line.
"Let's go!" she yelled. Our team beat a hasty retreat, escaping before the Hunters could regain their senses. We ran into the forest, stealthiness completely thrown to the winds. Jane was in the lead, clutching the flag tightly as we hurtled through the trees. A mere moment passed before we heard the sounds of pursuit, but we had a wide start on them. As we neared the stream, I heard shouts from the other side, and a chill went through me - what if the Hunters had already made it to our flag?
We sped up, breaking out into the open. Sure enough, a team of Hunters were bounding through our forest, being chased desperately by our defenders - the enemy had the flag.
"Come on!" I cried out, waving my dagger madly. "We can do this!"
The Hunters were fast - really fast - but they were much further away from the stream. The Hunters behind us were gaining too, but we'd gotten too big of a start on them. Jane made it into the stream just as Thalia Grace, the Hunter with our flag, emerged from the tree line.
Then, it happened.
The shadows around the edges of the trees stirred, and a dull wind rustled the branches, shaking leaves from the boughs. The air grew colder, and suddenly the shadows were dragged together, all moving across the clearing to converge in the stream right in front of Jane, who was only a few steps from our side of the forest - a few steps from victory.
In the blink of an eye, the darkness coalesced into a shape, a shape which promptly resolved itself into a living person.
"I have an urgent message for Chiron from Lord Hades," Nico di Angelo shouted, just before he collapsed, face-first, into the rushing stream water.