Chapter 7

It was training time. All the campers gathered, separated by house. They formed a line of bronze and sneakers. Chiron and Mr. D were at the sides, observing. Or in Mr. D's case, making several quips, while swigging on over carbohydrated grape juice. Annabeth, as leader of the Greeks, was standing at the front. Walking towards her was her co-leader. Loh Shim was casually walking towards them, puffing a cigarette. With his bandana, chiseled jaw, and dispassionate whiff of tobacco, he had an air of swagger and non chalantness. A couple of the Aphrodite girls were giggling and whispering at each other. He raised his hand, as to speak. The whole crowd went silent.

"Last year, you got beat back hard. From what I heard it was pretty embarrassing too."

Some in the crowd grumbled. The jamboree was a pretty sore point in the camp.

"What do the Romans have, that you don't. Organization. Rome once controlled most of the known world. How? They trained and trained, and trained. But unlike you Greeks, they trained together. You Greeks are the finest warriors, but the Romans are the finest soldiers. The best solution would be to be better soldiers than the Romans. But you can't, they've been training since adolescence, some since birth. You can never beat them at their own game."

The crowd started to feel dejected. He's supposed to be their leader, but all he's been doing is giving them a lecture about how much they suck.

"But you're better warriors, one on one, you can take them almost every time. But this isn't one on one."

But then he gave that devilish smirk, as if he had a plan, and you're afraid what that plan is.

"But what if you can. Lure them in where their formation is useless, and they'll have to face you man to man, soldier to warrior. The German chieftain Arminius thought of that in Teutoburg. He defeated the Romans so terribly, two legions were lost. The battle so devastating, the Romans never crossed the river Rhine again. That will be you this year."

The crowd started to murmur. They were getting excited. This guy, this stranger was onto something. Even Annabeth was impressed. Last time, she tried to be better soldiers than the Romans. But the Greeks quickly broke formation, and were beaten down. Loh Shim reached for a spear, but this wasn't a normal spear. This spear was 20 feet long, twice the length of a typical Greek dory. It's a sarissa.

"Today you don't fight like Greeks. Today you fight like Macedonians."

"Uh, didn't the Macedonians get pummeled by the Romans", chimed Leo.

"Yes, but your job won't be to win with the phalanx. Your job is to hold them off."

Annabeth's brain started swinging in full motion, she was starting to get the genius of the plan.

"The phalanx is a distraction"

Loh Shim, grinning at Annabeth,

"Smart girl. The Romans employ a tactic of rotating front lines, meaning they can continue battle, even after six minutes. All you guys have to do is hold them off for enough time, before the true battle starts."

For two months, the Greeks trained with the sarissa. They went from accidentally bashing each other with the staff, to becoming a well oiled pike square. To maintain formation, each phalanx was divided by squares, with a "sergeant", whose main job is to keep everyone in line. Loh Shim also ordered celestial bronze halberds and scale armoured chariots. At the end, they looked more Byzantine than Classical Greek.

Girls who, a couple weeks ago made fun of how he looked like drunken wizard, were now fighting over who got to refill his drink. Overtime Loh Shim got to learn a lot about the camp rules, most he didn't like.

"What do you mean alcohol is banned, I'm an adult."

"Welcome to my hell", quipped Dionysus.

Any attempt to confiscate his cigarette, however was met with an armlock. Aside from his bad habits, Loh Shim showed himself as an able leader. While largely cynical and derisive, he instilled military like discipline. When he wasn't drilling, he was helping the Greeks train in duels. Every challenger ended up eating dirt. Even Percy, one of the best swordsman in the camp, was tripped over in one move. Furious, he went for another strike, only to immediately fall head first in the sand. Everyone would become enchanted with his sword. It was like nothing they've ever seen. Generally Greek swords are short, leaf shaped, and either made with celestial bronze or imperial gold. But this, it's long, medieval and made of stone. It also exerted power, like never seen before. Sometimes, when Loh Shim swung it out, kids would just drop their swords.

Annabeth continues to be perplexed by this mysterious stranger. According to him, he has never fought with a sword in his life, yet he swings it like his own arm. When she met him, he was just a bitter vagrant. But now she sees he has the mind of a philosopher king. I'm pretty sure he'd get along famously with her dad.