Held in Captivity
*Third Person Point of View*
Percy's hair stood on end. He was supposed to fight that beast? Without a sword? Without armour? Without anything but he wit and his ever-changing luck? That didn't sit well with him.
He swallowed, trying to force the bad taste down past the large lump in his throat. He knew that his hands were shaking - trembling actually - but as hard as he tried, he couldn't stop them from doing so.
Kóliro snarled. He looked ready to spill blood. His claws scraped desperately at the soil, hackles raised and teeth glaring between his black lips. With each exhalation, his breath hovered in the air before dissipating, snot flying from his nose and into the dirt.
Percy stepped back. His knees felt like Jell-O. His arms hung uselessly at his sides.
The crowd was chanting, the roar growing louder and louder. "Kóliro! Kóliro! Kóliro!"
Every once in a while, a stay voice shouted, "Rip 'im to shreds!" and Percy knew that they weren't talking to him.
Just then, when he thought it couldn't get any worse, his opponent stepped forwards. He was getting tired of waiting, it seemed. A snarl resonated from deep in his throat, clawing out past his overlapping teeth. Thunderous vibrations rippled through Percy's entire body as Kóliro walked closer, each step sending him into the air.
"Okay… It'll be okay. Just a fight, right? All Ihave to do is win and I'll be home free…" he muttered to himself, his voice breathy and high-pitched. In his fright it had jumped several octaves, reaching a sound that Percy didn't even know he could make.
Suddenly, he was shoved from behind. Cold metal was pressed into his hand. "Here," the gruff voice of his jailer said, "So it's fair."
Percy looked down at his hand. He'd been given a sword. A small sword - a harpe, maybe. It didn't look like it could cut very deep into the giant beast's flesh, but hopefully, he'd be able to stick it somewhere painful.
"Thanks," he told the cyclops. It came out scratchy, for his throat was still dry, but it was just loud enough for the jailer to hear. Percy heard only a grunt in return.
"Let's get this over with," Percy said to himself after wetting his lips. He began to advance towards the creature. His pace soon turned to a light jog, his feet sending dirt up into the air with each step.
Everything seemed to slow down as he approached the halfway point of the arena. The cheers died down in his ears. The dust particles seemed to move in slow motion. As he stared up at the gaping maw of his opponent, he could hear each breath shooting out through the beast's nose, deep and slow.
This is exactly where his body acted on its on, dipping into Percy's reservoir of moves and acting accordingly. He leapt, dodging the beast's monstrous claws. The long black talons cut cleanly through the air next to his face. He could hear the whoosh of air in his ears.
"That was a close one," he whispered. His voice was breathy already from the fight.
Just then, an idea formed in the forefront of his brain. A bad idea. A really bad idea. He nearly cursed. It was one of the ideas he used to get that would always make Annabeth slap him upside the head, but it was all he had.
He grabbed a handful of Kóliro's fur the next time his paw got close.
Percy was surprised. Kóliro's fur was actually very fluffy. And it was soft, too. So soft…
"Snap out of it!" he yelled at himself. Holding on for dear life as Kóliro raised his paw again, he braced himself for the ride. Kóliro stomped, flinging his body around like a bucking bronco as Percy slowly climbed up his front leg. He snapped at Percy, but the sharp edge of his bronze sword kept the gnashing teeth at bay.
He got to the elbow… or at least, Percy thought it was the elbow. He never really had the need to study a dog's anatomy. He knew that it couldn't possibly by called a dog's 'elbow', but it was close.
"Snap out of it!" he yelled again. Why was his ADHD so bad right now? This was almost the most important fight he'd ever been in, and his brain decided to be distracted for at least sixty-five percent of it.
He continued climbing, gagging as the higher he went. The closer he was to the warm body the smellier it was.
Percy braced himself, swinging his body around to pull his legs up on the back of his opponent.
Kóliro's head swiveled around. His pupils contracted in anger and his lips pulled back in a snarl. The look on his face was clear: 'Get off my back!'
Thalia was worried. She'd been stuck in this dark, damp cell for hours now, Percy having left shortly after she'd woken up. She hadn't seen him since.
She sat awkwardly, trying to get comfortable by placing her body in every position imaginable. None worked, so she settled on sitting with her legs stretched out, her back leaning against the rough surface of the wall.
She shifted her body again, wincing as her knee twisted. She must've hurt it earlier, when she and Percy had been captured. It's didn't feel dislocated, so maybe it was just badly sprained. Thalia shrugged as she looked down at it. It was certainly swollen enough, the puffy skin pressing against her jeans like an overly inflated balloon.
"Percy," she muttered into the darkness, "You better come back, quick. Or else…" her voice trailed off. It died in her throat, froze like a deer in the headlights. She didn't know what she'd do, but she definitely didn't want to say it out loud. Saying it aloud would make the threat a lot more real, and that would mean that she could no longer fool herself about hers and Percy's predicament.
She closed her eyes. It didn't make much of a difference, since it was so dark that she couldn't even tell whether her eyes were open or closed until she felt the need to blink. Leaning her head back, she felt a pinch of pain at the nape of her neck, foreshadowing the certainty of a dreadfully sore back in her future.
As soon as she'd get out of this cell, she'd take a nice, scalding hot bath, and then faceplant on her plushy mattress in Artemis' temple. She often wanted to sleep for days of that bed, but now, she'd have a reason to. It was almost a sickening kind of situation.
She was just drifting off to sleep when the cell door slammed open, casting a bright glow against her eyelids. Thalia flinched away as the light seeped in even through her closed palpebrae. She heard the distinguishable thump of a body hitting stone and then the darkness returned, and she relaxed.
"Thalia?" a scratchy voice asked. The sound slunk through the darkness to Thalia's ears, and for a moment, she thought that it had all been in her head.
"Percy?" she asked in return, her voice just as scratchy.
"Yeah. You okay?"
Thalia's eyes flew open, even though it didn't really do much. All she saw was black on black on black. After a few seconds, she was able to see a slight bit of movement - a black lump against the blacker background.
"Me? I'm fine. I've been here the whole time. How about you? Where did they take you?" she asked. Her voice was still sore from disuse, but it was getting better and better with each words that slid off her lips.
She inched towards him, mindful of her knee, and ran her fingers over his face, checking for cuts and bumps. Reaching where she thought his right eye was, her fingertips brushed against something sticky. The scent of copper reached her nose and she immediately knew that he was bleeding.
"Percy! You're hurt!" she cried, feeling the swollen flesh that sealed his eye shut.
"I'm fine. Really," Percy tried to assure her. "You should see the other guy. I got him real good."
Thalia gave a small laugh at Percy's antics. "Really, Perce? What happened?" A touch of concern made its way into her voice,
"They put me in a ring. Had to fight a monster. I won," he explained shortly.
"How'd you do it?" she asked.
"I got him in the eye."
Thalia raised a sceptical eyebrow. "You got him, or he got you?"
"Both. Difference is that he's dead. For now."
"Well, that's good. Now rest. You're going to need it if they're going to put you out there again."
Percy leaned back again, resting his head on Thalia's shoulder. They sat in the still darkness together, neither speaking, until Thalia heard his breathing slow.
Word Count: 1483
Average Words per Chapter: 1488
Word Total: 10, 415
CSP2708
Dylan Walts
