Fiction is the Truth: They mustn't get much education if that is monthly - Well they learn other things I guess. SOLANGELO! - Well. Yeah. They better decide to join their friends soon.

Sorry for not updating, in like, forever! I had a nice, fun, busy month! And it's probably my fault for watching too much Supernatural, AND skipping the first three seasons. Haha...

Did anyone see the moon in the morning? I did! And I had a really great view, minus the trees, obviously.

BTW, changed my username from TheDoctor3310 (featuring two of my fandoms) to CastielTheDoctor (featuring two fandoms as well).

Chapter 29: Horace Altman POV: 1 - Sword Fighting Class #2

September 3, 8:30am, Swordfighting Class

It was the second sword fighting class! Horace was excited. Finally, they would be doing actual sword fighting, and not doing introductions or anything like that. The two teachers were Mr. Ares and Baron Arald, and there were five students other than himself: Percy, Annabeth, Clarisse, Rose, and John.

But Horace, coming from Araluen where there were knights, was probably better than all of them. Maybe even Baron Arald - after all, he had defeated Morgarath during the first book... Huh, why was he describing it as a book anyways.

"Welcome, class," Mr. Ares said. For some reason, Horace felt like he wanted to punch someone. Mr. Ares jsut seemed to inspire this feeling in people. He could see Percy, Annabeth, and Rose narrow their eyes unconscioulsy and clench their fists. He was probably doing the same thing. Horace made a mental effort to unclench his hands, and he could see the other students doing that too. Although, Clarisse and John were either not experiencing the Mr. Ares effects, or they were good at controlling themselves.

~Maybe Ares did tone down the aura a little...~

"Today, Mr. Ares and I will doing a little demonstration!" Baron Arald announced. "I will first show you a move, and you can practice it yourselves. At the end of class we will do our mock sword fight!"

Baron Arald held his sword like he was fencing - What, Horace read up on this type of information. It was much more interesting than a math textbook after all.

Then Baron Arald lunged and extended his arm, like he was stabbing something. Well, he was stabbing something - one of the straw dummies. The sword fighting arena was basically the Astronomy field, but all the equipment was stored in a nearby shed every night.

"That's Roman," Mr. Ares announced. He looked like he had some sort of mental problem, or maybe his head hurt. Suddenly, Mr. Ares's form seemed to flicker slightly, but then it was gone. Horace had probably imagined it.

"All right, pair up and practice! If you know about sword fighting, try a little mock combat with each other. Please use theses wooden swords," he gestured at a rack on the side.

What a shame. Horace had really wanted to show off his giant sword. That would probably have to wait until all the students were sufficient in defending themselves against real weaponry, though.

Percy and Annabeth paired up, while John and Rose paired up. John seemed to be lecturing Rose, while Percy and Annabeth chose wooden swords - Percy complained that it "wasn't balanced" or something, and they began to have an intense mock sword fight.

"I guess I'm stuck with you, then," a voice said. It was Clarisse, and she had already chosen one of the wooden swords. "I hope you know how to fight, or I'm going to be stuck here lecturing you."

"Nah, I can fight," Horace chose one of the larger wooden swords. "Shall we do a mock battle?"

"Sure," Clarisse responded. "Easy, medium or hard?"

"What?" Horace asked. He had been about to ask the same thing. "Hard."

"You sure?" Clarisse looked at him disbelievingly. "The only people that can beat me when I'm going at hard are Percy, Annabeth, my father, and some of my other family members. And Luke could too..."

Horace didn't understand. Maybe Percy and Annabeth were really bad or something... Actually, a quick glance at their still-continuing mock battle made Horace shiver. Oh, Percy and Annabeth could probably beat her because they were that good. So Clarisse might not be the best... But she was a girl...

"I'm sure," Horace said. Clarisse shrugged. "Well, don't complain if I hit you too hard, then."

They began dueling intensely. Baron Arald and Mr. Ares had come over to watch.

"Go Horace!" Baron Arald cheered.

"Come on, you're my favorite daughter, you can definitely beat a puny mortal like him!" Mr. Ares said.

If Horace had been paying more attention to the conversation rather than not getting beaten to a pulp, he may have caught the part about "puny mortal(s) like him". But he did hear the part about Clarisse being Mr. Ares's favorite daughter.

The duel ended with Horace on the ground with quite a few bruises forming and Clarisse holding her sword to his neck. She looked rather winded, but barely injured.

"Mr. Ares, is your last name by any chance 'La Rue'?" Horace asked. "If so, why do you want us to address you by your first name? And what do you mean by favorite daughter?"

Mr. Ares seemed to smile, but honestly it looked more like a maniacal grin, something you would see from a crazy war general about to cut his enemies' head off.

"Well... I suppose," he said. "And my, aren't you perceptive. I mostly have sons, like Phobos and Deimos, who are sometimes jerks like me. Clarisse has been on an expedition that won her quite some glory. Well, that Prissy jerk was there too, but that's okay. He didn't take any credit."

Horace had no idea the "Prissy jerk" was actually Percy.

"Cool," was all he could manage.

"And time for our mock battle!" Baron Arald separated the group. "Mr. Ares, if you will?"

The two grabbed wooden swords, and began to battle.

The demigods could see that Ares was going SUPER easy.

"I only wish he went that easy back when I was twelve," Horace heard Percy say to Annabeth and Clarisse.

Horace kept watching the battle and was horrified to learn that the almost undefeatable Baron Arald had just been defeated in a sword fight. Was Mr. Ares La Rue some sort of knight? Did he do fencing? Or maybe karate - Horace read that they occasionally used swords. Whatever the case, Mr. Ares was definitely good, since Baron Arald had trained to be a knight since he was younger. Perhaps Mr. Ares could beat Baron Arald because ... cough cough... Baron Arald did have a bit of difficulty getting on his horse in the mornings... Also, Baron Arald was older than Mr. Ares, obviously, so his skills probably weren't at his best. Horace went off to his Biology class.

January 31, 2018