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Artemis POV
As I and my lieutenant reached the camp borders, I asked the boy to stop. (I had asked the other huntresses other than Zoe to return to camp and not speak of the boy)
"Stop boy", I tell him. Zoe also stops and turns around at my side to face the boy.
"You shall not enter camp today. The huntresses may not like your presence just now. Find your shelter for tonight. I will explain to the huntresses about your trial for the position. I will meet you here tomorrow morning and only then will you enter the camp. Understood? If you follow, severe action will be taken."
At this, he bows again in that unorthodox style. "Understood Miladies.", he says and walks away to look for a shelter.
I pinch the bridge of my nose as he disappears from sight. I start wondering if I made the right decision but something told me he was bound to meet us. But how do I explain this to the hunters? They have not met him, they are most likely try to kill him. What if my father's chosen Protector is like those other males. What if I lose a worthy Protector if I let Perseus get killed or chased away.
"Milady what is bothering you?" Zoe asks, concerned as we start walking back. This shakes me out of my thoughts. Zoe is always there for me. She is more like my best friend rather than being my huntress, hence I share everything with her.
"Zoe, did I do something wrong in trusting that boy with the position? How shall I explain to the other hunters that he is to be the Protector even though we just met him? What if lose a worthy Protector if they don't accept Perseus?" I ask her.
Zoe just smiles, which believe me she rarely does. "Milady, I will help you explain. I never wanted to say this but I must. Perseus sure is different. The way he acted towards that pig who killed his sister and the way he talks to us and wants to redeem himself intrigues me. He sure deserves a chance to prove himself. My personal belief is that he may be the perfect Protector, trial or not."
This surprises me. Zoe was wronged by the male race yet she speaks so differently about Perseus. He once again has proved to be contrary to our beliefs of men. My surprise turns into confidence as I now strongly believe I made the right choice. One thought that still clings on is the fact that I have not seen him fight. Would he be capable enough?
Soon we reached the camp. I asked the girls to gather near the campfire after dinner since I had important news to share. At this, all ears perked up since all of them had heard the scream earlier and had experienced an earthquake. I tell them I would only tell by the campfire and leave Zoe in charge as I retire to my tent since I didn't feel hungry.
After about 45 minutes later, all the girls and I were seated around the fire. The girls were super excited at the thought of some new news. I still felt somewhat strange to explain to them about Perseus. After all, they were trained to hate men, apart from the fact what the male race had done to them. They also had not seen Perseus, hence more reason to not accept him. My only consolation was my lieutenant.
With a feeling of discomfort and strangely concern, I start telling them about Perseus, telling them about what happened to his sister and the man who was killed by him. I also tell them about his views on the male race and how his mother taught him to live by example. For once they were actually quite impressed at the thought that there existed men who are not total bullcrap natured. All was merry until that point. The point where I told them he was to be tried for being the Protector of the hunt.
All of them started shouting about the male race. The scum they are. Disrespecting pigs, etc. Before I could say anything, Zoe came to my aid.
"Girls SILENT!" She yelled. At once the whole camp went quiet. She continued "I understand your concern sisters. You know me well and also know my past with males. But trust me on this. Milady and I personally interrogated him. As hard it is for me to say, I admit that boy has gained our respect. I understand your concern since you have not seen him in flesh and blood. But trust me on this. If anybody has to be the Protector, I say he has earned the right to prove himself. We made him swear to not view the hunters in any way that we may not approve and Milady has already pledged to send him to Tartarus shall the need arise. So I expect all of you to at least give him a chance as he arrives tomorrow since Zeus will anyway assign us one regardless we like it or not."
Stoically, she continued "So Girls, shall we give him a chance in the coming week? I need a yes right NOW!"
Grudging and groaning, all of them said yes and were about to turn and go away when Zoe spoke again "Why so glum sisters? I never said we can't prank him; the only conditions being we can't kill or castrate him."
As soon as she said this all the girls grinned evilly and started whispering among themselves.
I gave Zoe a grateful nod and declared it a day while I myself returned once again to my tent. After I changed and lied down on my bed I began wondering about the day and what will happen tomorrow when the hunt meets Perseus. As I was thinking, I soon slept into the realm of Morpheus.
- LINE BREAK -
3rd person POV
It was 7 in the morning when the hunt gathered in the dining tent. Most of them evidently restless from the anticipation of meeting Perseus, not because they were looking forward to a visit, rather they were excited because they would get to prank him hard.
After breakfast, Artemis and Zoe set out for the spot they had Perseus to meet them at. When they reached they couldn't see him. They assumed it was too early so they decided to wait while speaking about how lazy and undisciplined the male race is. As time passed and soon it was an hour since they reached the spot, they started to get angry.
"I guess I was wrong. He is one of those male scum. Lazy and Ignorant. He shall face severe punishment for making me wait" grumbled Artemis in an irritated tone.
"So he is just another insolent-" Zoe abruptly stopped speaking and grew pale. This was enough to catch her mistress' attention. Seeing that Zoe had Artemis' attention, she pointed towards a lot of red liquid pooled on the ground near the bush across the meeting spot. As they walked over to inspect, their worst fear came true...it was indeed...BLOOD...Perseus' Blood.
They frantically looked around and finally saw that it was not the only pool of blood. Small patches of them lead the duo towards another clearing. What intrigued them was the presence of another pool...except it was Ichor. They ignored the Ichor for the time being and burst into the next clearing.
What they saw was something they were highly unprepared for. Leaning on a rock was a very battered and bloodied son of Poseidon, namely Perseus. He had a gaping hole near his abdomen which was still leaking blood, while his whole body was covered in cuts like the ones you get fighting a spear wielder. There was a deep gash on his forehead. His bloodied face was pale from the blood loss. Near him lay a pair of shattered twin swords, one of whose shards was sticking out of his right thigh. There was also a broken spear lying some way near the other end of the clearing. Seeing his condition both of them rushed to his side to help him; male or not it was a natural tendency to help the wounded. Before they could do anything, sensing their presence, Perseus seemed to regain consciousness and breathed in a painful breath, coughing up a lot of blood. Yet again before they could react, Perseus very painfully dropped into his special bow. His eyes were dull from pain and couldn't focus. Forcing himself to smile, he told them, "Miladies, Gration tried to ambush your camp. I tried my best to hold him off, but he was too powerful. But I managed to harm him enough for him to not show up for the next century. I am sorry that I caused you to worry because of my injuries. Just put me in water and I shall be fine."
Perseus felt that his consciousness was slipping. He fell forward from his bow towards the ground. Before he could hit the ground, he was caught by both Artemis and Zoe. He vaguely remembered himself to be in Artemis' arms and heard her say "Rest Protector, you have earned it" before he passed out from exhaustion and severe blood loss.
Artemis POV
I was shocked would be a lie worthy of Fields Of Punishment. No. I was shocked beyond the 3000 years I have been alive. Perseus Achilles, named after 2 great heroes, has already proven his worth. Selfless would be wrong...the word is inhumanly selfless. That boy fought off Gration, named to be my bane. He saved us from the ambush at the dead of the night. He almost sacrificed his life to save me and my hunters. Any doubt of not seeing him fight was erased from my mind. That boy took Gration head-on and managed to injure him enough to not being able to attack for another century instead of running away like what other males would have done. Yet he apologizes for causing us to worry because he is injured. He is definitely different from the entirety of the male race. I am actually forced to admit, he lives a life of example, a life of an ideal male, different from every other. Any other male and I would have happily let him die. Yet there he was, unconscious in my arms. IN MY ARMS. Never had I ever thought that I would let a boy take refuge in my arms. Somehow this didn't feel wrong. He had earned it. He had earned the right to rest in my arms. He had once again earned my respect.
I looked over to Zoe, she was staring intently at Perseus. As my eyes met hers, an understanding passed. She was equally impressed by Perseus. He had done what no other male would have done, he had won Zoe's trust. She was the first to speak since Perseus passed out.
"Milady, I think you agree that we have found a Protector worthy enough. He has proven himself even before his one-week trial started. The only challenge for him is to earn the Hunt's respect.", she said in a serious tone.
I nodded in acknowledgement. "He certainly has the potential of becoming the Protector. Though I will officially make him the Protector next week only, otherwise the girls might suspect us."
I turn towards Perseus, who was still in my arms. I spoke softly to him even though he couldn't hear "You have proven your worth Perseus. You will officially be the Protector by the next week For that I shall keep you."
His blood was all over my and Zoe's parka. With her help, we managed to get up along with Perseus. We both had one arm each around his shoulder while forcing his hands around our shoulders. At that moment, both I and Zoe forgot that we had willingly helped a boy, leave alone the fact we had our arms around him, probably breaking every moral we had as hunters. But at that moment we had no time to notice, we were too focused on saving Perseus.
In that manner, we half dragged- half carried him to our camp. No sooner did we reach the border, we saw all the 48 members of the hunt focused on Perseus, the ones nearby had hunting knives out while the others behind had their bows out. Before we could react, Aspilya (one of the hunters), sprung out and lashed at him, putting her fist in his stomach. Even in an unconscious state, he winced and coughed out a LOT of blood. Seeing this, Aspilya flinched and somewhat guiltily returned to her sisters. I was pained at the thought of Perseus further getting hurt. It was unusual if not impossible for me to feel that way for a boy. But one look towards Zoe confirmed that she too was feeling the same. So I spoke out.
"Girls this is our Protector. His name is Perseus, a son of Poseidon. No further questions will be answered till he is in the infirmary and is in a stable condition. Luisia, fill the largest tub with water and add Nectar to it. No orders are to be disobeyed. Two of you come and help us with Perseus."
There were groans and many protests. But one sentence was clearly heard which annoyed both me and Zoe. One of the hunters snicker and say, "Insolent, foolish boy. Most probably tried to show off and failed miserably. Foolish pig, thinks himself to be worthy enough for being the Protector." Zoe beat me to react on time.
"Do NOT speak of him in such a way. You know not what he did. So you have no right to speak of him in such a way. What he did will be revealed later. And one thing, DO NOT GROUP HIM WITH OTHERS OF THAT VILE RACE." She said in an irritated tone and shouted out the last part.
Many were taken aback. The girl who said these words merely huffed and went away.
With the help of Zoe and two other hunters, I took Perseus to the infirmary. Inside there was a bed to the left while 3 beds had been removed to fit the tub filled with water and Nectar. We laid him on the bed and I snapped my fingers which effectively changed his clothes. Instead of wearing a bloodied and tattered chiton, he was wearing trousers but he was shirtless so that we could dress the wounds. Perseus had a swimmer's build, a chiselled body, not too lean like Apollo yet not too ripped like Ares. Involuntarily, all four of us blushed; it wasn't like we saw a shirtless boy every day. One of the two hunters who came to help was a daughter of Apollo and seeing that determined face of my mine at once started dressing his wounds with antiseptics and painkillers. Once we cleaned all the blood on his body, we tried to force-feed him with Nectar. This didn't apparently work since we found out that his food pipe was punctured along with his left lung while the spear had narrowly missed his sternum. As a final measure, we had to inject him with Nectar. Instantly, some colour returned to his face while his hitched breathing was fixed, meaning the lung puncture had closed. Assuming his punctured food pipe had also closed, we force-fed him a block of ambrosia, which he managed to swallow in his unconscious state. Once we were done, we carried him to the tub and put him in it. Almost instantly, all his wounds closed, except that shard wound on his thigh which turned into a small scar, while the spear hole closed drastically. Well, that is gonna stay; I thought. We made sure he had stabilised and left the tent, allowing him to rest.
We exited the infirmary to see the entirety of the hunt looking at us, forming a semi-circle. The two girls who had helped us earlier joined the semi-circle. One of the older hunters popped the question "Milady, we see that you just brought a boy we have never seen before in almost fatal condition, declared him to be the Hunt's Protector and took upon yourself to save his life. Can you explain that Milady?"
"Well, this is the boy we were talking about yesterday, the one who wanted to die just to be with his sister in the afterlife. He seems to already have a radar for judging good and bad people. He is selfless enough to die for the ones he is to protect. We interrogated him thoroughly and found that he is different from other males. The only doubt we had were his fighting capabilities, which he has now proven" I said in an explanatory tone.
"But Milady how has he proven his skill in fighting? For all we know, he returned in a semi-dead condition? How does being almost dead prove his skill?" another hunter asked.
"Because my dear, he prevented an ambush by Gration. He held Gration off by himself, at the dead of night. He saved us from ambush even though he is not sworn in as the Protector, and risked his life for those who he hasn't even met" I calmly said. That effectively shut everybody up.
That is until somebody asked, "What if he is bluffing about fighting Gration?"
"Are you forgetting that I and my brother can sense lies?". They nodded in understanding.
"He will officially be sworn as the Protector next week. I am forbidding you guys from pranking him. He has been through a lot in the last few days and has proven us to be optimal for the post. He has not eaten in 3 days and is exhausted from yesterday's fight, so he deserves to rest. Can I get a yes?" I said. They nodded and hesitantly said yes.
"Now get back to your daily chores. We will ask Perseus himself about other things when he recovers" said Zoe, who had been standing beside me silently until now.
Thus all of us went to do our respective chores and waited for Perseus to recover so as to get the rest of the information.
A/N: And CUT!
Well, I am trying to make the chapters extra long. My life is messed up, but I am trying. Thanks again guys for reading this story. Favs really boosts my morale, so please do fav.
See you in the next chapter.
Ciao
-KK42069
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