Hiya guys! Welcome back, and I hope you enjoy the latest instalment of the four princes!
I don't own Percy Jackson... But if I did, I would live underwater. #justsayin
Frank wasn't happy. It had taken him almost an hour to climb onto Arion, and it wasn't that he was blaming it on the horse or anything, but if Arion had been a little more cooperative, they would have been trotting away in no time. It almost seemed like Frank had managed to save the grumpiest horse in Olympus! However, Frank was an optimist, so he focused on the fact that it didn't take two hours.
They were now steadily making their way up the steep hill that lead to Athena's lands, which was in between ares' land and hades' land (othewise known as the underworld). It was a hot day, and even though it was mid afternoon, Frank was sweating profusely. He took a swig from his water holder, and poured some water into his hand, which he put in front of Arion's face for him to lick from. Arion just neighed, as if he was saying "seriously?" and refused the water with a grunt. Frank just sighed and wiped the water on his forehead. Not only was this horse grumpy, but he was fussy too.
The hill suddenly got a lot steeper, so Frank got off the horse and walked along side him whilst checking the map. It seemed like the Athenian capitol was surrounded by a forest, which looked thick enough to ward off intruders, but thin enough to let in merchants without them getting lost. It was the perfect strategic point to place a city. Frank almost rolled his eyes -Go figure- when his head banged into a sign post indicating they were crossing the border into Athenian territory. He rubbed his head and looked around, whilst Arion horse-snickered at him. They had reached the top of the hill, and Frank was happy to see a doughnut shaped cluster of trees surrounding a town and a castle In the valley below. Many roads ran from the edge of the woods to the centre of the city in an organised logical pattern. From where Frank was standing, the city looked a lot like a wheel. He decided to take the forest route round the outside because although it would take longer, he reckoned the trees would provide shelter from the sweltering heat, and he could camp out for the night without trouble. Nodding to himself, he managed to climb back on to Arion, and urged the horse to gallop down the hill towards the trees.
Frank was right: underneath the canopy of the trees, he was a lot cooler. Arion seemed to like it as well, and was trotting at a faster pace than before. Above him, he could hear the many birds tweeting, and imagined what it would be like at night, when all the owls came out and started hooting. Part of him thought about how unbearable the noise would be, and how he would get to sleep, whilst the other part reasoned that it would be calming, and that if the Athenians could bear it, he could too. Either way, he would have to wait until the night to find out.
Soon it was the evening, and Frank quickly found a small clearing, where there was still some canopy but not much undergrowth. He made a small camp and collected some firewood from the ground as un-saddled Arion watched, tied to a post. After making a bed of leaves underneath a makeshift shelter of branches and moss, Frank made a cosy fire, and, feeling content, wrapped himself in the blanket he had brought in his satchel. Maybe questing wasn't too bad after all, he thought, as he drifted off to sleep.
Frank woke with a start. It was the dead of the night. The moonlight shone through the canopy, casting ghostly white leopard spots over Frank's camp and Arion. Everything was silent, except the occasional rustle of the leaves in the trees. It felt sort of strange, but Frank shrugged it off and was about to go back to sleep again when he realised why he felt strange. There was no hooting! Seeing as this was the Athenian lands there was bound to be some kind of owl hooting, however late at night, but for some reason this section of the forest was completely empty of birds. Suddenly, Frank heard a twig snap to his left, and his head whipped round to face the sound.
"Hello?"
Slowly, he reached for his bow and slung his quiver over his back as he waited for a reply.
"Hello?"
He asked again, this time a little louder. Slowly, he got up and buckled on his sword sheath/belt as he creeped towards the edge of the clearing. He picked up the ares helmet from the ground and put it on. It seemed like there was a person out there. Giving up on communication, Frank ventured into the woods, wondering if this person had something to do with the missing owls.
After following the trail for ten minutes, Frank knew that the person was either incredebly clumsy, drunk or was dragging something very heavy. There was a clear trail of broken twigs and stepped on moss on the ground, a multitude of feathers (which proved Frank's theory on the owls) and scraps of leather- maybe coming from super worn out sandals. Frank was glad he had bought new ones, as his feet were crying in agony from just the thought of these demon sandals. Frank smirked at the silly thought of a pair of red sandals with horns and a pointy tail. However, just as he was going to go off on a daydream involving tap dancing devil sandals, he caught a glimpse of a small, softly cursing thing dragging a lumpy bag. The lumps looked very suspisiously owl shaped, so Frank decided to risk it, and shouted,
"Stop there!"
in what he hoped was his best hero voice. The goblin like creature jumped, and slowly turned to look at Frank. For just a moment, Frank saw its wrinkled face, greenish skin, dark black hair, brown eyes, and sharp small fangs jutting up from the lower lip. But one glance at Frank and the green beast took off running, with renewed energy. Frank saw it take a sharp right ahead of him, and figured that he (or was it a she? ) was on a road to the city. Frank sprinted harder, and turned right whilst pulling out his bow. The moonlight was now brighter, as they were out of the forest, and Frank could see the goblin clearly hobbling in front of him, dragging the bag furiously towards the looming city. He quickly notched a special arrow, aimed, and hoped to the gods that the arrow wouldn't hit the bag of owls. He let the arrow fly, and slowed down to a jog.
If he had chosen the correct arrow, the goblin would have been knocked unconscious. Instead, Frank had accidently shot a net arrow, which sprouted a weak string net at the tip upon contact. The net was normally used to capture small animals like mice or bunnies. This goblin was definitely not a cute little bunny. As expected, the net hit the goblin, momentarily entrapping him, but quickly broke, and after a bit of entanglement, the goblin was off again. Frank cursed his clumsiness and was about to start sprinting after him again when he realised the goblin had forgotten the bag of owls in the net. Success! Well, sort off. He was sure the Athenians could handle the small green menace by themselves.
Then Frank grabbed the squirming bag of owls and walked back to his base camp, where Arion, who had just woken up, eyed him suspiciously. Frank felt a little bit more like a hero as he emptied the bag of (very, very confused) owls, and he watched them fly back into the tree tops with pride. He also noticed that all his heroic attempts had something to do with animals, but he looked past it, hoping that the power Aphrodite was talking about didn't have anything to do with the matter and was something cool, like X-ray vision.
After eating a healthy breakfast of bread and cheese (his grandma would be proud!), Frank packed up his camp and saddled Arion once more, all the while telling the horse about his misadventures in the night.
So how about that guys? Like it? Don't like it? Review your opinion and tell me everything! See you after two days, Shizzster out!
