Hey there, sorry about the sporadic updates but here's another chapter. Thanks for all the reviews - I'm amazed it's at over 100 now, you guys are awesome!

Accidentally posted chapter 24 twice but it's fixed now!

I struggled to stand up, my whole body aching from the fall, the only reason I was still conscious at all being the fact that we'd been flying at such a low height. Bruises were no doubt forming across my body and my breathing sounded alarmingly harsh to my ears; that and each breath seemed to hurt. My head was spinning and my unsteady movements were not helping, even my vision seemed blurry, disorientated as I was.

I closed my eyes, in an attempt to detach myself from my surroundings, to distance myself from all the pain. Seeing some comforting darkness helped me to think. How had I gotten into this situation? Monsters…

I took another painful breath, trying to get myself to focus. Slowly, the dawning horror of my situation became clear to me. There were monsters in pursuit of me and I did not have the means to escape them, nor was I strong enough to fight them all off. My hand twitched, but at this point the lack of a sword seemed a somewhat minor issue. The only hope for me was that I still had allies who would come and find me; if they weren't also captured.

My right hand fell on a small vial I'd attached to my hip next to the empty sheath for my sword that was lying on the ground next to me I now realised. I'd been disorientated enough to drop it but I was now certain it was right next to me if I opened my eyes to check. I gingerly picked up the vial, smoothly undid the seal and brought the powerful medicine to my lips.

Nectar. The golden drink tasted sweet like honey, intense to my previously dulled senses. It instantly revitalised me and I drunk the entire vial before easily kneeling down to pick up my dropped weapon. On my back, I could feel my bow and recalled that I'd used magic to conceal it from sight. My sword sent a light pulse through my mind and I opened my eyes to monsters.

The pain had not gone away – far from it - but nectar had given me energy and I was not going to allow myself to be captured. So a few demons charged at me, grinning at the sight of what looked to them like easy prey. I turned all three of them to dust with a few rapid sword swings. That was easy.

More monsters charged but I met them unflinchingly, using the brief surge of energy granted by the Nectar to the best of my abilities. My body protested with each fierce swing and each deft dodge but I kept on fighting, for as long as I was able.

Inevitably, a Dracanae grabbed my arm in an impossible to break grip and, sensing an opoortunity, to more restrained me. I struggled but there were too many of them and the effects of the nectar were already wearing away. I could only hope that Percy and Frank weren't captured because I doubted escape would come very easily.

One of the draconic creatures laid a clawed hand across my neck menacingly, the meaning it was trying to send completely clear: it could kill me if it wished though they seemed to have chosen not to. Indeed while they roughly tied my hands behind my back and snatched my sword off me, they didn't seem to have any inclination to actually kill me for whatever reason. For that, I was grateful.

I allowed them to lead me through the woodland towards where the army had made their campsite and it was a long walk as we'd managed to get surprisingly far away from the camp while flying. In fact, I'd very nearly escaped completely as these monsters had no doubt charged as fast as they could in pursuit of us but only the wyverns had had a hope of keeping up. It made getting caught all the more bitter.

I walked in silence for a few more minutes and the monsters did not seem interested in conversing me either. I exaggerated my tiredness a little, trying to make each step as slow as possible in the hopes of seeing a way out of this mess. Once I was inside the camp itself, my options would be very few as there was such a high volume of enemies.

While I'd been anxiously hoping for a last minute rescue, when one came I still couldn't help but be shocked. A tall skeleton warrior charged through the trees carrying a massive longsword, catching the monsters guarding me by surprise as well. One skeleton alone was only a small threat but it was quickly followed by Frank and Percy and a girl whom I did not know. Had they found help from somewhere near here?

Sensing that I could be a liability if the monsters tried to use me as a hostage, I began struggling with my nearest captor, a Dracanae, kicking her and shoving her with my shoulders – it was lucky that my legs hadn't been restrained even if my arms were. Claws raked acroos my arms from my other side and I thought someone had attempted to cut my arm with a sharp knife though I ignored any pain while fighting.

That skeleton was scarily effective and I wondered where he had come from and whether it was indeed strong enough for all of us to get out of this fight. I was surrounded on all sides and the element of surprise was wearing off quickly, ducking and dodging attacks was rather difficult when they seemed to be coming from all sides though I hadn't been subdued yet.

Percy seemed to be at least as skilled with Anaklumos as the skeleton was at destroying monsters and within a minute the group had halved in size. We had to be quick as well though for we were still so close to the enemy camp with a rather thin chance of not noticing that a fight had broken out. When Percy killed the dracanae nearest to me I took the opportunity and ran to the edge of the fight, unfortunately with my hands still restrained behind my back.

"Let's go!" I yelled to my companions, seizing the opportunity to get as far away from here as possible.

Frank turned to me, seeing I was momentarily out of harm's way, and quickly repeated the order and I followed him as he retreated. Normally I rather disliked running but there hadn't been a shadow of a hope of just the three, well four of us, of taking out a hoard of monsters. Just escaping was something of a minor miracle.

I tensed as I felt a sword swing behind my back but was gratified when the ropes tying up my hands were abruptly cut off and glanced at the strange girl behind me, whilst still putting distance between our foes. I couldn't begin to guess where this girl had come form in between me getting captured and escaping.

She showed me that she'd been riding my Pegasus, Sherbet, as she immediately climbed on behind me when I found him and immediately mounted him. Percy and Frank were hastily mounting their own horses and the four of us didn't waste any time in flying off as the diminished group of monsters attempted to give chase.

I decided I liked the girl behind me when she pulled out a bow and started firing at any dangerous looking pursuers as we quickly took to the air. She was the excellent guard that ensured those wyverns wouldn't be able to surprise me a second time and I could focus on flying as far away as possible.

"Wow, we're really escaping! My name's Fleecy by the way, glad I could help," the girl exclaimed as she shot another arrow.

It was a relief when it seemed we had finally lost sight of that horrible army, almost unscathed though I couldn't deny being slightly injured even with all the nectar I'd drunk. We'd been pushing the Pegasi awfully hard in order to make a successful retreat and when it seemed safe to relax, we landed to camp out for the night.

Indeed, evening had come and wounds needed treating. Frank seemed to be a little on edge after the unfortunate encounter and Percy looked really confused about the whole thing. He approached me when I sat down on the grass to relax and get used to being on the ground.

"I think we've met before."

That's it for now, thanks for reading and please do review!