Chapter 25 - Sea Crowned Puppet

Soft candle light flickered somewhere to his right as Percy slowly begun to stray from sleep's warm embrace. The cotton-thin bedsheets were cool against his skin, leaving a shiver to run down his spine. He frowned and twisted his head onto the side in discomfort, but refused to open his heavy eyelids.

With each breath, Percy crawled back to reality, only, it was like his body was suspended deep underwater. He floated, distorted, weightless and suffocating all at once, as if the world around him was no longer there. The pressure built and built like a thorn in his mind, persistent, keeping his thoughts submerged in a dark abyss. Yet, as Percy blinked sluggishly, shadows filling his eyes, the world turned sharp, focused. He had one purpose. One that sunk into his mind and quickly took hold.

He was a solider, one of many, and vowed to serve Lady Eris.

Bending his elbows, Percy tried to push himself up. A hand settled on his back, brushing against his spine, helping him the rest of the way and a glass met his dry lips. He gulped down the first three mouthfuls greedy before the water reached his stomach. The next few sips left a sickening aftertaste of bile in his throat.

As the glass was drawn away, Jack turned to look at the person sitting beside the bed. His silvery eyes were cat-like, reflecting the glow of the lit candles. They narrow, searching his own for something. His hair caught the colours of the warm flame. And Percy. Knows. This. Boy.

The notion caused the thorn in his head to burrow deeper. Something told him it was unimportant, trivial, and oblivion swept all recognition away. There was an emptiness that consumed his head and bled over his features. He stared at the other, waiting for a command.

A pained expression crossed the boy's face as he parted his lips to speak. His words were lost to the moment as the door swung open to reveal a girl, short brown hair and blue eyes, no older than him.

"Mordred? What are you doing in here? I've been looking everywhere. Lady Eris wishes to speak with you." She hesitated, eyes straying over to Percy. "It's time."

When the boy did not move, she sighed, crossed her arms and leant on the doorframe.

"What is it? Don't tell me you actually want to do him or something?" There was a coolness in her tone that bit like winter frost.

He looked away at her words and replied with a cool voice.

"He's my friend."

"Not anymore. He's one of Eris' puppets now."

The silver-eyed boy refused to react and she continued.

"Mordred, we made this choice. You made this choice. Our parents love their thrones more than have ever loved their children so we're going to turn them to dust. Don't lose sight of that. This is war and we are the Generals."

"But-"

"-He isn't your friend, Mordred. He's just another pawn. So now that he's awake take him down to training grounds then- Go- Meet- With- Eris."

She rested a hand on the boy's shoulder and squeezed gently. "We're so close. Don't lose sight of that, Mordred. Don't give up now."

Percy might have noticed the death of something small and delicate in the boy's eyes, if only his thoughts weren't so easily washed away by endless, cool waters. Pulling him down ever deeper to s sweet, silent oblivion.

xXx

Was there was something before this. . .

. . . brightly coloured flags. . . Gold helmets. . .

Laughter and voices flash across his mind. He recognised a lake, soft waves sweeping over the shore. . . dark brown eyes and hair. . . that sparked pain in his chest. . . a name. . . he knew the name. . . he knew. . .

Except-

-he didn't.

xXx

The boy led Percy out of the room by a steadying hand on his shoulder. Never speaking, never faltering. Time seemed non-existent, washed away as everything else was to him. Each step was not his own, each breath felt foreign. . . There was something terrible wrong and Percy could not quite put it into words.

The corridors stretched for miles, a maze of stone and shadows. Percy followed the silver-eyed boy obediently, without question of where or why. Their boots THUDDED against stone floors and the chill in the air caused him to shiver. Eventually, they reached an empty room, donned with weapons across the walls which flash silver as they reflected the orange torch light.

The boy moved forward and returned swiftly with a leather breastplate, arm guards and pauldrons. Then he offered them Percy.

A moment passed as he stared at them blankly, but when he made to move to take them, the boy sighed and stepped closer.

"Lift your arms." He ordered.

And Percy obeyed.

First, the boy, Mordred as the girl had called him, secured the arm guards and bound them tightly. He then fitted the breastplate and lastly the pauldrons. It was not heavy on his chest, but it was not exactly light either and just for a second, Percy pitched found, losing his centre of balance. The boy grabbed his arm to steady his swaying frame.

Percy's head spun and his world bleached white.

A few second passed before Percy came half-way back to reality as the boy snapped his fingers in front of his face. Vaguely, he recognised the worry in those silver eyes and a distant frown crossed his features. The boy sighed again, pulling him further in the room, past stacks of swords and shields, past spears and bows resting on the walls, to a door.

"Wait here. I will go get your Handler."

The boy disappeared from Jack's line of sight and time drifted uncertainly. He swayed on the spot. Colour flashed before his eyes, voices sounded in his ears. There was endlessly, dark eyes calling him. He knew the name. . . He knew-

Percy crumpled to the ground.

xXx

Blurry, slightly out-of-focus faces greeted him as he woke. The older one tilted his head to the side.

"What happened?"

"You haven't seen this before, Adonis?"

The man frowned. "No, why?"

"It's the spell he's under, when- if they start to fight it, the demigods will pass out to stop them breaking free and so the enchantment can possess them once more."

"This better not happened again," the man huffed. "I don't need soldiers in my garrison collapsing out of the blue."

"Keep him busy and it won't."

"Why does Eris care so much about this one? He's just a small-time child of Venus."

"That sort of thinking will get you killed, Adonis. Never underestimate a demigod. Get him up."

Hands gripped the material at his shoulders tightly and yanked him upwards. He found his feet dizzily and somehow still felt like a ragdoll. His mind kept reeling, detached.

"Well, I'm off my friend." The silver-eyed boy said dismissively. "The usual, okay. Train me. Don't break him. Lady Eris wants him kept alive."

Adonis hummed out a goodbye and guided Percy away without another word. There was an archway ahead, engraved with symbols he struggled to unscramble. They stepped through and the ground beyond are endless. The sky above was forever red, hanging over hundreds of fighters, training, battling. The clash of swords against swords lit the air. His eyes dulled and his mind quietened at the sight.

He has one purpose. One goal.

He is a solider, one of many, and vowed to serve Lady Eris.

xXx