HARLEY
They were dead, and they all new it.
They were outnumbered a hundred to one, at least. The tall gecko-men were armed with small shields and wickedly curved sword and axes. They were now steadily advancing toward the outnumbered demigods.
"Surrender now and your lives may be spared." said a cold, hissing voice.
"No." said John, shield and sword now at the ready.
"Do you have any idea how cliche that sounds?" Put in William.
William readied his shield and spear, and Zoey was now holding her golden two handed sword. Annabeth pulled out her celestial bronze knife, and Percy uncapped Riptide, much to John and Williams surprise. Harley pulled out her dagger and a roll of extra strength duct-tape.
The two sides were about to charge when it happened. From the south, over the lake flew a huge Greek trireme.
The Argo II! Yes! Wait, where the hell did they come from?Thought Harley, and she smiled.
The Argo II landed on the lake, and Harley could see that a landing party was already headed toward them in a small wooden rowboat.
The Forgotten Legion charged.
Suddenly the air was full of war cries and screams and yells as the two sides collided. The three children of Athena fought side by side, slashing and hacking at the hundreds of gecko-men. Zoey was Hurling Lightning bolt after lightning bolt at the forgotten legion. Meanwhile several tendrils of water erupted from the lake, and hurled themselves at the forgotten legion.
Go Zoey! Go Percy! Harley shouted inside her head. Harley slashed toward the nearest gecko-man. It was a lucky swing, because he erupted in a shower of golden monster dust. Harley moved on to her next target, and soon another Gecko-man dissolved in front of her. The six demigods were being pushed back toward the lake, step by step, they were losing ground. Harley slashed through one enemy, and then another, before one of the lizard men grazed her left arm with his sword. The Gecko-man smiled, but Annabeth stabbed him in the side, and he dissolved.
The row boat made it to the shore, and Harley recognized the demigods that hopped onto the shore. There was Miki, and 'Sunshine'. There was that girl with the swords and the shadow beasts, and Malcolm from the Athena cabin.
The demigods were re-boarding the boat when their bad luck returned. Out of the corner of her eye, Harley could see movement in the forest. Being rolled toward them were several giant wooden catapults.
If they hit the Argo II with one of those, we're going to lose our only way out of here. Harley thought.
As if on cue, the soldier's began to slowly pull back the long arm of one of the catapults.
"Lets go!" Yelled John.
Harley climbed aboard the rowboat, and John pushed it out into the lake, before jumping in himself.
There was an enormous creaking sound as a rock the size of a basketball was fired toward the Argo II.
Oh sh-
The rock impacted the hull of the Argo II just below the waterline. The Argo II began to sink instantly.
Harley could see the crew-members jumping from the ship, they were now swimming toward the shore.
Oh no.
An extreme sense of dread had a death grip on Harley. Things hadn't been this bad since the titan war.
"Get out of the boat," said Miki, "We're not going anywhere."
the demigods jumped from the boat, and now they were standing waist deep in the lake, with the forgotten legion soldiers advancing on the stranded Demigods.
A lightning bolt arched out of the sky, it struck Zoey, who re-directed it toward the advancing lizard men, dozens of which exploded instantly. John and the children of Athena charged toward the gecko-men. Harley charged and slashed her way into the fray, the one by one, the gecko men were falling.
A lightning bolt shot past Harley toward the gecko men, and Harley turned to see Zoey kneeling on the ground holding her head, as if she were dizzy. Harley dodged a sword as it swung by her left arm, and she stabbed the gecko-man in the stomach, before turning back toward Zoey.
"I cant do any more lightning bolts." she was saying to John.
"It's Ok." he said, before charging back toward the enemy.
Slowly the demigod crew members of the Argo II Joined the fight on shore. Thirty demigods against a few hundred gecko-men was still not very good odds.
A shadow wolf passed by Harley, followed by its master, wielding her two one-handed swords.
Harley watched as the girl plunged the short black blade into the gecko-man in front of her.
Harley slashed through another gecko-man, before she was kicked in the shin, sending her tumbling into the ground. The gecko-man was mid swing when the bronze arrow caught him between the eyes.
Harley looked behind her to see who had saved her. Behind her stood Sunshine, his hand was still on his cheek, where he had released the bow string. Harley was up and fighting again within seconds, slashing through a new wave of enemies. Harley stepped over the body of a demigod she did not know, and she found herself remembering the titan war, being surrounded by monsters of all kinds, and watching her friends die before her very eyes.
War is disgusting.
John and William were fighting back to back, with a small ring of enemies surrounding them. Harley watched as an axe blade skimmed Johns forehead, and blood flowed down his face from the wound.
The battle seemed to drag on forever, with each enemy that died another seemed to take its place.
After what seemed like an eternity, the demigods found themselves fighting over the catapults that had sunk the Argo II. It seemed like somehow, they might win this fight, despite all odds.
Finally the last of the gecko-men fell, and after a booming victory cry from the demigods, all was quiet.
"We've done it!" exclaimed Harley.
The ground was covered in monster dust, and their were now several bodies scattered around the beach.
"How many did we lose?" Percy was saying.
"We lost Bill from the Hermes cabin, and Sammy from the Apollo cabin."Miki choked out.
Bill's dead.? No it cant be, Bill cant be dead.
Bill had survived the titan war, how could a few gecko-men have killed him?
The thought was interrupted when William spoke.
"Do you hear that?" he said, a worried tone in his voice. The demigods silenced themselves instantly.
What Harley heard scared her half to death. The sounds of hundreds of feet marching together met her ears.
Oh no. She thought.
It was then that shadows could be seen moving in the forest, hundreds of figures marching in time.
"Form up!" Shouted John. "Form a shield wall! Archers in the second rank, everyone else behind!
Instantly the demigods were moving, scrambling into their positions.
Soon there was assembled, a wall of bronze shields, behind which Harley and Zoey were readying themselves for the hellish encounter which lay ahead of them. Miki and sunshine were with them too, and up front were John and William, as part of the shield wall.
"Archers steady!" John yelled, raising his sword above his head.
The shapes were more clear now, hundreds of lizard men marching in organized ranks.
These were not the slimy gecko-men that they had been used to fighting, these Lizard men were eight feet tall, and in place of shiny scales, these lizards were covered head to toe in green armoured plates. On the top of their heads, were three short red horns. They were armed with long black wickedly curved two handed swords, and dark jagged battle axes.
"Steady!" Yelled John.
The lizard-men kept marching, and they began to emerge from the trees.
"Steady!"
Why is he waiting? Harley wondered. Oh. The idea was to wait until the lizard-men left the shelter of the trees, the volley of arrows would be most effective when the lizard men had no cover..The majority of the lizard men had left the trees now, and from somewhere in the formation, a loud deep, raspy voice yelled out."Charge!"Only a fraction of a second passed before John responded."Fire!" He yelled, swinging his sword toward the ground. Dozens of arrows flew toward the formation of lizard-men, dozens of whom disintegrated. The Lizard-men kept charging, however, and from her right, Harley heard Zoey speak."Good luck."Zoey said."You too."Said Harley. The Lizard men were almost upon them Harley prayed to all the gods that they would be alright. Suddenly dozens of silver arrows emerged from elsewhere in the forest, and they flew into the ranks of the forgotten legion from their flank. The hunters of Artemis!Harley exclaimed in her head. There were still hundreds of lizard-men charging toward two sides collided. Harley watched as William and John were thrown backward by the advancing lizard-men. Zoey's sword arched toward one of the lizard men, and its head fell to the ground as its body dissolved. Harley ducked as one of the lizard-men swung his sword toward her head. Harley lunged at the lizard-man, and her celestial bronze knife buried itself in between two of his ribs, but he did not dissolve like she thought he would. The lizard-man swung at her again, this time his blade missed her ear by millimetres. Harley slashed his face, and he battle raged on for what seemed like hours. Lizard-men dissolved, and blood was spilled, and it almost seemed like they could win. William was now surrounded by lizard-men, he blocked a sword on his shield, and dodged a battle axe as it swung toward his side. Harley and John were fighting side by side now, neither said a word but the both knew they had to get to William soon. William dodged another sword, and he managed to stab one of the lizard-men. The scene was looking more and more familiar, and not in a good way.
Oh no.
Harley watched in horror as one of the lizard-men knocked William's spear from his hand. William raised his shield to defend himself, but the lizard-man hooked his axe on the rim of the shield, and pulled the shield away.
No.
William was now fully exposed, and Harley watched as a lizard-man slashed his sword across Williams chest, sending blood spurting and gushing from the wound.
"No!" Harley and John yelled in unison.
Johns face contorted in rage, he stabbed the lizard-man in front of him,and slashed at the one in front of Harley. John was charging at the group of lizard-men that had killed William when The tears started to fall from Harley's eyes. John slashed at one and then the next, his sword was a shining bronze blur as John swung it through the air. Harley watched as John killed the lizard-men one by one.
Soon only one lizard-man remained, the one who had killed William.
John let out a loud cry of rage before charging at the lizard-man. John knocked his axe away with his sword, before slashing off one of its legs. John spat at the fallen lizard-man, and then he brought his sword down on its exposed back.
Immediately John and Harley ran toward William. Harley got there first, and she knelt down beside William's seemingly limp form.
There was blood everywhere. Williams shirt was slashed and torn, revealing the ruined flesh of Williams chest.
Oh gods, why?
A fresh wave of tears seized Harley as she cradled the limp form of William in her arms. He was still breathing, but he wouldn't be for long. John was beside her now, tears were running down his face.
It was just like her dream, William was dieing in her arms.
Why?
It was then that William stirred, letting out a huge groan. He slowly opened his eyes and took in his surroundings.
"Harley." he whispered, reaching a hand up to touch her face. He smiled despite the fact that he was obviously in immense pain.
"shh.." he said, wiping a tear off of her cheek.
"It's Okay." he said.
"Miki! Come here!" Yelled John.
Miki ran over and stopped when she saw William.
"Oh gods." she said. She knelt down beside John, and pulled a small bottle of nectar out of a pouch on her belt. She put the bottle to his mouth, and he took a few gulps. Miki poured what was left over the wound, there was a hissing noise as the wound began to close itself up.
William smiled as his eyes slowly closed.
No! not now!
"He's still breathing." Miki said.
"Thank the gods." said John.
A long time passed before Harley spoke.
"We won."