Short chapter!
To RandomFanAuthor- No. You must wait. And the sticks took your family? Did they also, perhaps, take your sanity too? ^_^ I will only do that one shot if I can put Tyson, Nico and Hazel in too, get all the Big Three kids together. And no. Five in the morning is not acceptable.
A chill ran through their formation at the sight of Commodus's army rounding the corner. They lined up between each edge of the street, dog-headed men leading the march, growling and eager to run forward but restrained by their emperor. He rode in on a battle ostrich, more of the armoured birds trotting behind him. Surrounding him were dozens of Germani and then row upon row upon row of heavily armed foot soldiers. Cyclopes close behind, slamming their clubs on their hands, wielding them over their heads, roaring challenges. Blemmyae shuffled along, mumbling apologies and gratitude, metal heads wobbling, disguised as police officers, fire-fighters and the like.
"Stand fast!" Thalia called, motioning to her Hunters. They took aim. Louisa was bouncing on the spot, raring to go. Commodus's ostrich trotted to the front. The emperor spread his arms.
"I have come to destroy your little hovel!" He declared. "I give you a choice- join my ranks or die at my hand!" Thalia signalled and a silvery volley slammed into his forces, cutting down the first line and a dozen or so more scattered behind them. Commodus's smile melted into a snarl. "Very well! ATTACK!"
Thalia and Louisa led the charge, yelling defiantly. Half the Hunters were behind them, the rest were still firing from the rooftops. Jamie was with them, Sssssarah, several other rescued demigods. Their number didn't even match Commodus's collection of ostriches, but they ran in anyway. Thalia drew her sword, Aegis on her arm. Dog-headed men growled at them and Louisa growled back, stabbing the first one in the chest.
It took seconds for them to be lost in the swell of enemy, separated, losing sight of each other. Thalia stabbed and parried, slashing and thrusting forward her shield to drive them back, many recoiling at the image of Medusa. She called on lightning, reducing a dozen cynocephali and Cyclopes to ashes. She saw a flash of silver, Hunter charging through and tackling a Germanus. Jamie commandeered the fountain, holding his ground with a bronze weapon that resembled a double-wide hockey stick. Each swing cast tendrils of electricity through his opponents, but it was different to Thalia's- a more humid scent of ozone, a darker red hue to the flashes. They were so going to compare notes later.
Arrows rained down all around them, monsters and demigods toppling, blemmyae protesting 'THAT IS RUDE!' as they crumbled, tripping up their allies. Commodus streaked through on his ostrich, swinging a spear. A trio of Hunters darted around him, stabbing at his legs, at the bird, cursing him out the entire time. Jamie's lightning crackled with more vibrancy as he slammed his weapon into a dog-headed man's face. Sssssarah was chasing after Germani, hands outstretched.
"Let me eat you!" She demanded, hissing hungrily.
Louisa saw her go past, but couldn't stop to help Sssssarah get a snack. She hopped off a Cyclops' knee, swinging up and around to sit on his shoulders. He bellowed in rage, swinging his club wildly, uncaring if he hit friend or foe. Louisa grabbed his ears, steering him away from smashing a Hunter in the back of the head. She locked her legs around his neck, throwing her weight backwards.
"Come on!" She demanded, leaning as far back as she could. The Cyclops grunted, holding his bat out before him. Louisa leaped away at the last possible second, a sickening crunch as he drove his club straight into his own skull. The force staggered him into a stampede of ostriches, trampling him into dust under their weaponised claws.
"RAARRRR!" Large, sweaty arms crushed her from behind, catching her before she landed, driving the wind from her lungs. The smell of sheep wool and rotten meat clogged her nose, making her gag. Another Cyclops snarled in her face, clamping a hand on top of her head, beginning to squeeze.
Her vision blurred, crying out. Sight darkened by the beast's palm, her mind supplied different images. She saw trees toppling around her, the ground folding in on itself. It wasn't arms around her, but tree roots. She could feel something crawling on her face, panic overtaking her.
Louisa screamed.
A rumbling below their feet and the ground undulated, cracking like a dry riverbed. Geysers of water hit with such force, they disintegrated monsters on the spot, washed away demigods and Germani. It cleared the divides between the Waystation fighters. Thalia saw Louisa crumple to the floor, dropped by two disintegrating Cyclopes as water swirled around her. Her hands struck the floor, cracks splintering from her palms outwards. The wind howled, circling her in the beginnings of a hurricane, sputtering and spraying water.
The cracks continued, chasing after ostriches, blemmyae and cynocephali. Water flooded from them, widening the breaks. Thalia dropped to one knee beside Louisa, gripping her shoulder. The hurricane dissipated. She was trembling, breaths shuddering.
"Hey, hey," Thalia shook her gently, "talk to me, what's going on?" Louisa shook her head, tapping a finger on her forehead. "This is not a good time to overload your brain, Lou-"
"Got stuck." She gasped, shaking her head again. "Don't…" She shuddered, coughing.
"GET THEM!" Commodus screamed. Louisa groaned, struggling to her feet, Thalia's hand on her arm.
"Come on," she said, "we've got this."
Review! There's only four more chapters and I need my review fix, please and thank you! ^_^
Now...
Stay inside! Trying to avoid a second peak so please stay inside. I'm not fully up to date on the situations outside of the UK, but our government in England is... not handling this very well, to put it nicely. So stay inside! Look after each other! Ring your friends, how are they getting on? And give your pets a scratch behind the ears for me! (If you have a dog though, I may try and steal them once this is all over O:) )