I own nothing.
I was going to make the red haired girl at the battlefield be Rachel but that wouldn't work. I made the girl be seven, and that would mean that Annabeth had already run away which would mean Luke would be much older, so it's jus some random girl.
"I need your help." Were Luke's next words to us? "See that hill over there." He said pointing to a hill. "I was using the bunker in it as a temporary structure until some sort on dragon decided to make its home in it."
"So you want us to kill the dragon."
"Or just get it out of my bunker, yeah." Luke said. "Four demigods should be able to do it."
"Can you actually use that sword in a fair fight?" I asked pretty sure this kid was more specialized in stealth than toe to toe fighting."
"I'm not a rookie." He said shifting his gaze away from me.
After deciding that if the bunker were the ruins that the Sacred Captain was talking about all three of us decided to take a look at the bunker and dragon.
"Try to keep all weapons sheathed," I whispered as we approached the hill "I don't want to alert the dragon to us before we know what we're dealing with."
As soon as we all got to the base of the hill I whispered for the others to stay behind while I inched closer to the bunkers opening on the other side of the mound. One thing that I hate about Virginia is the dry grass. Whenever I tried to inch forward the grass would crackle causing me to whirl around to make sure that I wasn't about to roasted by dragon fire.
When I finally managed to make it just outside of the entrance I got down on my elbows and knees and poked my head from around the bunker I was shocked to say the least.
What was in the cave was a giant gold serpent with red scales jutting out of its back with two hands each with three dagger sized claws. I started to back away making my retreat, but just then its head snapped in my direction. Its fiery white eyes burned in my direction as its serpentine tongue slithers in and out of its mouth with two large horns where a human's eyebrows would be.
I stopped dead in my tracks, hoping that it didn't actually notice me. To keep comfortable my hand reached for the hilt of my falcata. Finally it must have gotten bored of looking for me and grabbed the top of the bunker and pulled itself up.
I caught my breath, with my sword hand firmly grasping the hilt of my falcata. I hoped my friends were already working out a plan, trying to figure out how to beat such a monstrosity. Then it looked over to where I had left my friends and roared.
It wasn't as I expected it to be. I thought that dragon roars would be more how people deciphered dinosaur roars to be, loud with a lower pitch. This dragon let out more of a screech than a roar but it made it none the less intimidating. That's when it pulled itself down off of the
bunker causing it to send bits of dirt and grass flying everywhere.
I really hoped that no tourists were witnessing this, however the mist would probably cover it up as some sort of battle reenactment or something, but then I had bigger things to worry about.
Most prominent was how to stop the dragon from roasting and then eating anyone.
That's when an arrow embedded itself in the dragon's left eye causing it let out another shriek or roar, followed by both Luke and Elissa tuning around the dragon. I had memorized the tactic that were using, however it was usually more effective with more than three people. Anger the monster into attacking one person while the majority of the forces would focus on flanking the enemy attacking from three sides. It was Hannibal Barca's famed tactic, the double envelopment. They were just missing the part where the cavalry would crash into the back of the force. That was when I had a brilliant idea.
"I should probably go help them." I thought to myself.
With the, now partly blind, dragon focusing on Elissa, who had just slashed at one of the dragon's claws, I moved in from the dragon's back. The dragon's tail whipped around catching Gisco off guard and sent him flying backwards a couple feet
The dragon spit an arc of green goo that I assumed to be deadly at Elissa, but thank the heavens she was light on her feet. She dogged out of the way stabbing any exposed part of the dragon she could to keep the dragons focus on her and away from Gisco who was groaning and trying to get to his feet.
"Hey!" I shouted purely on impulse because if I realized what would happen I doubt I would have done it.
The dragon, now probably very annoyed after having been partly blinded and stabbed at multiple times, pivoted its body to face me. This allowed Elissa to the opera unity to bring her blade down upon the dragon's flank, but her sword went about an inch into the dragon's thick hide before stopping. It seemed that that sword strike annoyed it more than anything.
Gisco had finally regained his footing and was able to draw another arrow and fired, but this arrow bounced harmlessly off of the dragon's armor like hide. Before I was given the chance to run towards the serpent it unleashed another jet of green group right where I was standing a moment ago. I realized that a monster this big would have trouble maneuvering in tight areas allowing for a decreased chance of collateral damage if all of us were to get in closer with it.
I swallowed and charged, my falcata raised. If I learned anything from watching the Hobbit it was that dragons have weak spots. I hoped that this one was no different.
The dragon's gaze was still fixed on me and watched me as a cat would a mouse at dinner time. By this time I had lost view of everyone behind the dragon's enormous body. I remember praying that my companions were still alive as I dodged another stream of green deadly goo.
"Its hide protects it from attacks!" I heard Gisco yell "try to find a chink in its armor!"
I wanted to shout back and ask what he thought I was doing but I decided to reserve my strength for bringing the dragon down.
While jumping around the serpent's body trying to stay as close to it as possible trying to find any weak points I finally noticed a part of the dragons underside that looked less armored than the rest. Just my luck it had to be right below its jaw which was about ten feet off of the ground.
"Gisco!" I yelled trying to shift his attention to this new target. A few seconds later a deafening boom sounded out. I stopped dead in my tracks. Thankfully for me the dragon also stopped moving otherwise I would have been flung back by the serpent's tail.
I looked to see where the noise had came from, and what I saw made me stare in amazement. A civil war era cannon, its muzzle still smoldering after having been fired.
The only problem was the cannon was firing blanks.
"Curse it!" Shouted Gisco. I then realized that he had ran out of arrows.
All of this commotion was getting the attention of the visitors and worse the parks staff. Most of the visitors were watching us probably seeing some sort of reenactment battle, while the staff was probably wondering why there was a reenactment out of schedule.
I continued to keep my eye on the dragon's weak point, watching to make sure that the dragon didn't turn me into a human pancake. That's when I noticed Luke making his way over to me. I must admit, the boy was sure light on his feet.
"How are you holding up"? I asked him.
"I'm fine." Was his reply. He sounded sure but he was sweating beads and his hands gripping sword were white. Luke then noticed were my gaze was focused on and immediately brightened up.
"Your friend with the bow can shoot him." Said Luke.
"He ran out of arrows," I said matter of factly, "but I have an idea, if Gisco and Elissa can keep the dragon's attention on them I could be able…"
That's as far as I got before the boy had already sprinted to the dragon's tail and hoped on.
"Luke!" I yelled, trying hard not to get the dragon's attention. But neither seemed to hear me, the dragon was still more interested in what it thought to be the more pressing issues. I watched in horror as Luke clambered his way along the dragon's back. I then realized as Elissa was recovering from blocking be dodging the dragon's attacks slower.
Luke had almost made it to the dragon's throat, but then the dragon knocked Elissa back with a swipe of its tail shaking Luke around, he was just able to grab onto one of the dragon's scales that stood out of the dragon's back.
This was the worst situation, Luke was barely hanging onto the dragon and Elissa was about to be melted by toxic green dragon acid.
However something strange happened. The Dragon reared its head back, it's throught was turning a light shade of green, and Luke was thrown off of the dragon. Still managing to clutch his sword in his right hand, the blade managed to reach far enough that it sliced the dragon's throat.
I realized that this was very bad. While Luke's fall had saved Elissa's life, now it was Luke who would be killed by the dragon's acid as the green goop fell from the gash that Luke's sword had cut. I could tell that the sword itself was being eaten away by the acid right away as soon as the blade came out of the dragon. On top of that the dragon looked surprised as it started to fall. I managed to outrun the falling dragon but I was confident that Luke wouldn't be as lucky.
As soon as it hit the ground the dragon exploded into red dust and monster goop probably mixed with the leftover acid. Then the audience broke into applause. I managed to rally all of my friends and Luke who was shaken but still alive and we made a sprint for the forest.
"Well, that was exciting." Elissa said when we were finally out of danger. "I'd liked to have been able to sleep in an actual bed once since New Carthage."
"We did on the train." Said Gisco.
"You could actually sleep! I stayed awake for hours." Yelled Elissa.
"Guys," I Yelled, "we need to continue on our way to New York.
"You're right, I'd at least like to have been able to retrieve my arrows now I have nothing but a knife and a celestial bronze sword." Gisco said pulling the ball point pen out of his pocket.
"Yes, well, does anyone know which way to go to get to New York"? I asked.
"I do" mumbled Luke, "I'm from Connecticut I ran away … Left home because of … The gods. This way" he said leading us away from the battlefield.
So, what exactly are we doing"? Asked Elissa. I forgot that she wasn't there when we were talking to Artemis.
"We're returning an item to the Greek camp." I said keeping my gaze focused on Luke as he led us through the forest.
"Artemis wanted us to go into the Greek camp? We can't we couldn't get past its borders and even if we could, that would be suicide. Why would she asked that." Elissa said.
"I don't know, "I said lowering my voice, " but she also said that someone in Virginia could help."
"You think Luke was the person she was talking about, but he's so young and inexperienced."
"You saw him slay the dragon didn't you"? I asked.
"Yeah, well that was luck. He was thrown off of the dragons back and just managed to slice the dragon in its weak spot."
"Ok, fine. We could still use some luck as us three seem to have so much." I said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
We continued walking into the night, and only stopped when we came to clearing in the forest.
"We should stop here." Said Gisco. Nobody complained, my feet felt like they were on fire and I'm sure everybody else felt the same.
"So," I said sitting down next to Luke. "What were you doing in the bunker back at the battlefield"? I asked.
He shifted uncomfortably, "I have to keep moving around a lot to keep from being by child services. I've made a bunch of safe houses but was chased out of every one, either by monsters, police, or both."
"Well, that doesn't matter now, now that you're with us you'll need a weapon.
Gisco!" I called out, " do you still have that knife we found in Orthrus's cave"?
"Yeah it's right here." He said unstrapping the celestial bronze knife from the inside of his pant leg.
"You've kept it there all this time"? I asked.
"No, just since I got another one. You giving it to the kid"? He asked, tossing me the knife inside of its sheath.
"Well, a knife is a better weapon against monsters than his hands I recon." I responded almost dropping the knife.
"I don't know if I could use it." Came Luke's voice. " I usually use something with a bit more force and range. Can I see that sword you were using"?
"Um," I said unsure of what to do. Normally I wouldn't mind showing him my falcata, but the way he was looking at it made me a little nervous, so decided that I would show it still sheathed to limit the epicenes that I would be showing.
"That's a different kind of sword," he said observing the blade, "why is it bent what happened to it."
"Nothing" I chuckled, "it's useful if you're in close combat but a long sword would have a better reach on it. Use the knife for now and I'll keep my eye out for a blade more your style." I strapped the sheath back on my belt.
Latter we then decided that I would be first on watch. As all of the others laid down, I sat up looking at the stars. They were more intense than what I was accustomed to back in New Carthage, with the industry and mercantile districts sending smoke and light into the sky.
Or, at least was, sending it. I clenched my fists, for the first time in awhile I started thinking about the mercenaries. They were the ones that sent us away, they were the ones that had…
That's when my thoughts drifted to the Romans.
They were the ones, they were the ones that had destroyed Carthage, they were the ones that burned our city salted our fields and sold my people into slavery.
And the Greeks? They were no better they just sat back and watched. Even when Rome had captured Greece Rome had always treated Greece like a worthy rival. Did the Romans burn everything that the Greeks ever wrote? No. Every single empire, republic, kingdom, or collection of city states hated us. We were nothing more than a bunch of cities that were in the way of a rising superpower.
I must have had been thinking about that for longer than I noticed because I remember Gisco tapping me on the shoulder and telling me to get some rest.
I nodded to him and layed down the last conscious thought going through my head was me swearing that I would never forgive Rome for what it had taken from me.
My history.