War has arrived! Hope you enjoy it. Reviews are welcome.
Chapter 27: First Day of War
'Yeah, no thanks. I'm not going to be the leader,' said Sam as he strapped on his armour for the upcoming battle. 'Let one of the Council demigods be elected.'
'We've already taken a vote,' replied Eve smilingly. 'You won by unanimous vote. You're the commander.'
'Great,' he muttered picking up his weapons of choice.
The two walked towards the dining pavilion that had become their base of operations. Eve was wearing some lightweight armour that allowed her more agility with her bow and short sword.
'I take it that you'll be in the ranged troops?' asked Sam as they entered the packed space.
The Apollo-leader shot him a smile. 'You crazy? I'll be in the front line. I've heard too many stories to not get my piece of the action.'
'Commander,' said Harley with a grin. 'We've been over the plans for the battle. Any pointers?'
'First order of the day. If anyone calls me that again, I'll feed them to the lycans myself,' said Sam overlooking his troops.
'Aye aye captain,' said one of the Hypnos campers.
Sam returned to the table with the cabin leaders. 'So, what's the plan?'
'We'll set up two teams of archers on top of Half Blood Hill,' replied Rick. 'They will provide suppressing fire. Fifty of the best fighters will form teams of five and stop the first wave of attackers. If needed we retreat beyond the borders of camp. They should be able to hold them off in the hour of need. Athena and Hephaestus are designing and building catapults as we speak, we could use the fire power.'
'Five people will be guarding the young ones in the arts and crafts cabin or the Big House, I will not have them see the battle. Keep them busy as we fight,' said Sam. 'George, do you have a large shield that I could exchange for my aspis?'
'Yeah, why?'
'I'll need the extra cover,' replied Sam. 'Which team will have me in it?'
'Actually, we wanted you to be on the support side of the battle,' replied Mike. 'We could use your magical shields to our advantage.'
'Fair enough,' said Sam. 'How's Camp Half-Blood's food supply?'
The others stared at him with a puzzled look. Sam shook his head.
'You know that they are outnumbering us at least 20 to 1? They could easily keep us prisoners within the borders of camp. Have you seen any nymphs lately, you know, the kind that prepares our food? Do the cups of plenty still work?'
'Yeah, those still work,' said Lianne as she sipped from her drink. 'But I see where you're going with this. If this war is going to last, we'll need food and water.'
'We have about ten hours till dawn,' said Sam. 'Let's see what we can come up with. Half of you ought to get some rest. I'll be in cabin 20, trying to figure how to get the others back. Oh yeah, has anybody thought of using the guns we have in storage?'
'They can't be serious,' said Demeter as they watched Sam walking off towards Cabin 20. 'Pandora's army has them outnumbered forty to one.'
'And four mages to one,' replied Hecate. 'Their chances aren't good.'
'They have a good plan,' said Annabeth angrily. 'They'll hold their ground. Pandora will not take them down so easily.'
'She won't have to,' said Ares. 'They'll get slaughtered before the day is over. Thirty archers won't hold the lycans and others at bay forever.'
Suddenly a demigod rose and stalked over to the Lord of War slapped him in the face. Clarisse La Rue stood before her father and stared at him with fire in her eyes.
'Not another word,' she spat. 'They are doing everything they can to save themselves, they could use your help, not your doubt. Get off your high horse and help us get out of here.'
'What do want me to do?' replied Ares. 'Do you want me to bang on the doors of elevator until it comes? Fine.' The god stood up from his seat and made a war hammer appear in his hands as he walked towards the doors of the throne room. He exited, leaving the doors open. Sounds of metal clashing with more metal were heard. In the silence they could have easily been cries for help.
Dawn had come too early for the demigods. Sam had slept for a couple of hours after searching the library of books for solutions for their problem. After a quick breakfast, he had been updated. Thanks to a proper camp pantry located at the back of the dining hall, the demigod forces would be able to eat two meals a day for three days, if the war lasted longer than that, they would have to start rationing.
'Start it immediately, we have no idea how long this is going to last, from sunset today, no more than a single meal,' argued Sam. 'Tell the Demeter cabin that we'll need their expertise on growing food.'
At the brink of war, better news had come to him. The storage had contained several rifles and enough celestial bronze bullets to last long enough. A couple of shotguns had also been found. The rifles and scopes were handed out to the most proficient demigods to be used alongside the arrows. Since the lycans would be less affected by the bronze, they were tasked with focussing on the other enemies.
'You ready?' asked Harley as they stood beside the pine tree. Before them stood a wall made of sandbags. The two teams of marksmen hid behind a wall of Roman-styled shields, with the squads standing at the base of Half Blood Hill.
'As I'll ever be,' replied Sam. 'You good?'
The doctor nodded. 'Send any wounded to me and I'll have them patched up in no time.'
And with that the sun appeared at the horizon. War had arrived.
'This is it,' said Percy. 'The fight begins.'
The audience watched the screens in front of them.
The first enemies ran towards them. They were the large wolf-like creatures that were lycans. Even in their hideous forms, most of them wore simple plates of armour, leaving pieces open for the arrowheads.
Emily was the first to release an arrow. The Ares-camper had perfectly aimed for the farthest enemy. The silver arrow pierced the distance with ease. It embedded itself in the neck of the lycan who crashed mid sprint. The monster vanished in a cloud of gold dust. More arrows were shot, with most of them being instant kills by the Hunters. Gold dust filled the air.
On the horizon appeared the next wave of armoured lycans accompanied by monsters of all sizes. From his high vantage point he spotted hellhounds as well as giant snakes. A drakon appeared as well.
'Snipers, keep your eyes on the hounds and snakes,' he yelled. 'I'll hold off the drakon for a while.'
Sam kept his eyes on the drakon as he stretched out his hands and whispered a spell. A white shield appeared in front of the beast and held it back as the others advanced. The first enemies reached the squads stationed at the bottom of the hill dressed in full armour. The Ares-campers stood their ground against the lycans as they defeated two of them by quickly stabbing them and retreating.
The fight continued, with monsters being killed by sword, arrow or bullet and more monsters appearing on the horizon. After what seemed hours, the first wounded appeared on the demigod side. A Hades camper and Athena camper had both been wounded by the swords of Scythian dracaena. As their team helped them up the hill, the other teams closed the ranks.
The squad delivered their wounded to the medics. Sam watched the medical team, led by Harley and Calypso, as it treated the wounds immediately. The squad recovered with a beverage and a quick snack before heading back down the hill. Sam released his grip on the drakon which was promptly shot by two Ares snipers.
As the sun reached its high point, the waves of monsters stopped. Sam took a seat against the pine as his shoulders ached. He sighed. John and Lou would've been down there and kicking monster butt, he was sitting tiredly after a couple of hours of simple defensive magic.
From the horizon appeared a new monster. It was a harpy who carried something in it's claws. As the monster approached the troops, it was shot down. It's package plummeting towards earth. With no monsters in sight, a demigod picked it up and brought it over to Sam, who recognized the demigod as Jake, an Hephaestus camper.
He opened the package. It was a scroll that asked for a meeting between the sons of magic in three hours. There would be no more attacks until after the meeting. The letter was signed by Pandora. Sam crumpled the letter as a feeling of relief washed over him.
'Jake, tell the others to come back inside the borders. Leave five of them on guard duty with four archers and anyone else who wants to stay.'
'Aye captain.'
Sam joined the others for the noon meal at the dining hall. Harley and Cali joined him.
'Tim and Luke will be making a full recovery. They'll be able to fight tomorrow.'
Sam nodded. 'Good. How's Calypso doing in the medic bay? Haven't spoken to her since all of this mess started.'
'She's a great asset. She might not be super-powered anymore, but she knows her healing stuff like no other. She's making potions and ointments as we speak. Maybe she could help you with our biggest predicament.'
'Cool.' Sam stood up and almost made it out of the hall before Harley spoke.
'You did great, commander.'
'You're lucky we whacked all lycans today, lieutenant.'
'They fought well,' said Poseidon.
'It was a test,' said Annabeth. 'To see what they are capable of. There will be harder challenges.'
'Sam must have an ace up his sleeve,' said Liam. 'You've never played a game of poker with him have you? The kid always has something to get back up.'
Sam walked over the infirmary and found Calypso being busy with all sorts of ingredients. The former Titan wore a white tunic while her caramel brown braid was pinned into a bun of sorts. She was humming a tune.
'Hi Calypso,' he said.
'Hi Sam. Heard you did great today.'
'Had some help with that.'
'True, yet most leaders get the praise.' The Titaness gave him a small smile.
'I need your help,' admitted Sam. 'I heard that you were a great sorceress back in the day and I was wondering if you could help me with our current situation.'
'The magic used to separate us from the older demigods and gods you mean. I should be able to help you with it, but as you know, I have no more powers of my own. You'll have to do all the heavy lifting unless you can find another sorcerer.'
'I'll take what I can get.'
'Then, please show me the Hecate library.'
'So it seems you've survived the first assault. Not many lycans left I might add,' said Alabaster as he poured a glass of water.
'We found some spare silver,' replied Sam.
'Pandora has seen your actions and was quite impressed. She has given me the task to offer you peace for her pithos. If you give her what she wants before ten pm, she will spare you and everything else you wish for.'
'I'll talk it through with my team. Anything else?'
'We can make things quite hard for you should you continue this useless thing. Remember that you are opposed by stronger mages and sorceresses. Have you found that spy yet? You know the one that got the Lion inside the camp and turned you on each other? Have fun with that. Don't forget, you have until ten pm to send me a message.'
And with that the eldest son of Hecate vanished into thin air.
That evening Sam, Calypso, Cali and Freddy, an Athena camper with the ability to read at extreme speeds, searched the Hecate library for clues on how to get the others back and restore their connection to the gods. After a while, Cali cried victory as she showed the others the leather bound volume.
'I found a spell that requires a lot of magical energy to accomplish. It enables to seal off a certain place from the outside world. If I remember mythology classes right, your mother used it during the Battle of Manhattan.'
'Alabaster is considered to be the strongest mage alive,' said Sam. 'I have no idea how strong Pandora is, but I'm guessing she isn't a push-over.'
'Circe has to be one of her magic users as well, as a minor goddess of magic and fire, she's a fine asset,' said Calypso.
'Medea has to be the fourth,' said Freddy. 'I read the stories of the Seven and when they met her, she told them that she had been trained by Circe. The spell Cali found has a serious drawback besides the massive amount of magic needed. It is anchored to a single person. As Hecate was the anchor at Manhattan, my guess is that Pandora is the anchor here.'
'We take her out, we can get the gods and the others back,' said Cali. 'Damn, that's not going to happen.'
'Alright, why don't you guys get some sleep. I'll go and give Alabaster our answer. Freddy, can you ask the Athena campers if they've made any progress with the pithos? It has to be at camp.'
'What did you do with the pithos after I gave it to you,' enquired Percy.
Hestia smiled. 'Hid at Camp half-Blood at the request of the Fates, not even I can ignore them. I've hidden it in my domain.'
'The hearth of Camp,' said Percy.
'Exactly.'
Once again, Sam found him sitting across Alabaster Torrington. The elder mage wore a black robe with white runes.
'What is your answer?'
'We haven't found the pithos yet. And we have no intention of surrendering. If we want the gods to come and help us, we need to take out your anchor.'
'Ah you've found out which spell was used. Well, I'll take your message to my commander. I suggest you keep some fires lit the next couple of days. Enjoy your last hours. Tomorrow we start the real war.'
The next day, the demigods found themselves standing on top of Half Blood Hill staring at the forces standing on the horizon. Hundreds of humans, Cyclops, and other monsters stood next to each other in glittering armours thanks to the morning sun. Their flags bore the red pithos of Pandora. As the opposing forces waited, the sky darkened.
As the first snowflakes touched the ground, so moved the army towards Camp Half Blood.
