Chapter 30 - But Maybe I Don't Want to Be A Sacrifice?
At first, everything went like I planned. I walked unopposed to the first onager. Two evil cyclopes guarded it, but "guard" should be used loosely. They clearly weren't expecting trouble. Before they knew I was there, I cut them down using my drakon sword. I coughed as the monster dust blew into my face. Then I cut the spring cord in one movement, disabling the onager completely. Then I went to the next one. Three empousai guarded this onager. I cut down two in a quick arc of my sword, then stabbed the third as she turned to see what was happening. I cut the torsion ropes, rendering it useless.
I heard the chanting in the Parthenon growing and ground my teeth. I might not be in a good place with my mom right now, but that was still her temple. This would not do. Whenever I passed single monsters I ran them through, trying to even the odds for our group. Anything larger and I avoided them. I didn't want a single monster to get back to the Parthenon and warn the Giants that war was here, on their doorstep and ready to fight. I slayed the monsters at the third onager, disabling it like I had the first two, when I noticed bees flying by me. I hoped it was Frank and raised my hand in a small wave. Then I noticed that he was flying back and forth between me and the Acropolis.
Percy, I thought, and ran to find him. Frank must've been trying to tell me he was in trouble. I found him, crouched behind the Giants' throne. Before I could ask what was wrong, the chanting stopped. Not good, I thought. A huge BOOM echoed around us, temporarily deafening me. I blinked out of reflex and noticed that Percy's disguise had been blown away. I heard a roar of triumph and was pretty sure it was not Percy.
"Well! What have we here? Two demigods, ready for the sacrifice, right on cue! Thank you for being so accommodating!" One of the Giants roared.
I felt hands scoop me up, but was too dazed to do much. I was aware that a second Giant had Percy. Whatever Giant had me grabbed me by the neck, near about crushing me but it didn't. It must need me alive for the sacrifice. I tried to break free, but was hopelessly outmatched. I kicked my legs and screamed as the Giant paraded me around the Parthenon for the others to watch. Then, the Giant turned to offer me to King Porphyrion.
"Right on time!" Porphyrion bellowed with laughter. "The Blood of Olympus to raise the Earth Mother!" My mind raced with what I knew about human sacrifices. The Aztecs, cutting out human hearts with their victims still alive. Native American cultures who clubbed their victims to death. Roman victims being brought to the Colosseum, or buried alive. Chinese sacrifices to the river god Hebo were drowned. Almost every ancient culture practiced it in some fashion. And I was not exactly happy about joining that tradition.
King Porphyrion got up off his throne. He was green, his hair braided with weapons taken from demigods he had killed. I couldn't attack the Giant holding me for fear it would crush my neck. And I couldn't find a way to escape.
"Just as you foresaw Enceladus, well done!" Porphyrion bellowed.
"It was simple, my king." The one holding Percy said. I couldn't see him from where I was. That scared me almost more than the Giant holding me. I couldn't see Percy. I had no way to know what was happening to him. And I couldn't see if Piper was anywhere around.
"I knew these two would lead the assault! I understand how they think! Athena and Poseidon - they were just like these children. They both came here thinking to claim this city. Their arrogance has out done them." The Giant holding Percy bellowed. My mind was working in over-time, processing everything that had happened.
These two. These two. They didn't know about Piper. I doubted she had run - she was around here, somewhere, trying to find a way to get us out of this. I just had to find a way to stall for time.
"You think we're alone? You th-" I tried to say, trying to taunt the Giants, but the Giant holding me shook me by the neck. My eyes rattled. I felt like puking.
"Shut up. None of your silver-tongue trickery!" The Giant yelled at me. She had a higher pitched voice. Possibly a female? I wasn't sure. My ears were still ringing from the original explosion but this made it worse. "Let me do the honors, Father!" The Giant bellowed. I wasn't positive, but I thought I heard her draw a blade. So it was time for Percy and I's blood to be spilled in Athens. I wondered if they'd let us hold each other, at the very least.
"Wait, daughter." Porphyrion called to her. "The sacrifice must be done properly. Thoon, destroyer of the Fates - come forward!"
A new Giant shuffled into the room. This one looked ancient. I mean, they were all ancient, but this one looked it. He appeared blind, old and weathered. He was a grey color and his eyes were milky white. He was carrying a giant-sized meat cleaver, which did not give me the warm fuzzies about what was about to happen. He fixed his eyes on me.
I heard Percy yell something. Then, suddenly, a hundred yards of water shot into the sky like a geyser. I knew he was trying to save me, but it did nothing against the Giants.
"You'll have to do better than that, son of Poseidon!" Porphyrion said with a laugh. "The Earth is too powerful here! Even your father wouldn't be able to summon more than a salty spring. But never fear. The only liquid we require from you is your blood!"
Thoon, the old blind Giant, knelt and began a sacrificing ritual. "Mother Gaea. In ancient times, blood mixed with your soil to create life. Now let the blood of these demigods return the favor."
I struggled wildly, trying anything I could to get free. I no longer cared about the Giant possibly breaking my neck. It was now or never.
"We bring you to full wakefulness! We greet you as our eternal Mistress!" Thoon intoned.
Suddenly, an Earthborne jumped from the scaffolding. It shoved through the Giants and ran at Thoon. Piper, I realized. Her disguise was still intact. Her sword flashed. Thoon's hand fell to the ground. The cleaver and hand laid at the ground as Thoon wailed. Piper's disguise vanished, leaving her in full view of the others. She was alone. In the middle of a room full of enemies. I could do nothing to help her, nothing to save her. We couldn't even kill most of these enemies - we didn't have a single god on our side.
"What is this?" Porphyrion bellowed. "How dare this weak, useless creature interrupt?"
Piper drew her knife and threw it at Enceladus. I still couldn't see that Giant, but I heard his howl and hoped he had dropped Percy. The Giants all grabbed for Piper, but she ran and dodged, letting them slam into each other. I wondered, could a Giant be killed by another Giant? Was that our strategy?
I couldn't see Piper anymore, but I'd occasionally catch a flash that I thought was her. And I could hear her voice, yelling "Run away! Run away!" To everyone within earshot in her charmspeak.
"No! Stop her! Kill her!" Porphyrion thundered as he made several random grabbing motions I assumed were aimed at Piper.
I kept trying to kick the Giant holding me, free myself from her so I could help Piper.
"I think not, demigod!" The Giantess holding me yelled. "This one bleeds!"
I saw the Giantess raise her knife to cut me in two. Then something strange happened. I heard Piper scream, "MISS!" with so much force behind it every attack in the Parthenon missed. The knife stabbed towards me and I kicked up my legs, trying to be as small as possible, as protected as possible. I felt it cut off part of my thigh. Then, the Giant opened her hand with a scream. I fell to the floor, rolling as I hit. I could feel the blood coursing down my leg, soaking into the earth.
Soaking into the earth. I said every curse word I could think of in English, Latin, and Greek as I stumbled away. The Blood of Olympus was now soaking into the earth, waking Gaea. I turned to see Piper stab the Giantess through the gut. Ice spread from the wound, covering the Giantess. The Giantess tumbled backwards, frozen into a popsicle. She hit the ground with a thud that made me lose my balance. I fell to the ground and tried to crawl away while I heard Porphyrion yell, "My daughter!"
He leveled his spear at Piper, when suddenly, Percy charged into the fight. I looked to see what happened to his Giant when I noticed him stumbling around trying to pull Piper's knife from his forehead, golden ichor blinding him. Percy didn't use his powers, he simply grabbed Porphyrion's spear head and forced it towards the ground. The Giant didn't realize what was happening in time. The spear lanced the ground and his own momentum carried him forward, launching him onto his back.
Piper was suddenly in front of me, protecting me from the Giants with her sword. It was now giving off extra cold powers, turning the air around it to ice.
"Who wants to be the next popsicle?" She yelled at the Giants. Her anger was palpable, even without the charmspeak. "Who wants to go back to Tartarus?"
"Not me." I muttered, trying to get a better look at my leg. It was a bad wound - it had cut most of the muscle. A large area where I was sure there had been jeans and leg this morning was definitely missing now. I yanked bandages and ambrosia from my small supply bag and did the best and fastest first aid job I could manage. I was already getting weak from the blood loss. I desperately hoped the blade had missed any of the big veins in my leg, but it was such a bloody mess I couldn't even tell the full extent of my injury.
The Giants shuffled uneasily, glancing at the fallen Giant who had held me. I didn't blame them. Piper looked dangerous, vicious even. I looked to see where Percy was. He was trying to get a sword from Porphyrion's hair. I wasn't sure what happened to Riptide, but clearly Percy was unarmed.
"Fools!" Porphyrion screamed as he backhanded Percy. I saw him fly across the Parthenon, hitting a column.
"Percy!" I screamed. I had seen him take worse in the Titan War, but that was when he had the Curse of Achilles. Now? Now he was vulnerable. He wouldn't withstand the strike or the column.
Porphyrion rose, looking angrily at the other Giants. "These demigods can not kill us. They do not have the help of the gods. Remember who you are!"
There goes our last advantage, I thought. I managed to grab the Giantess's hunting knife, the one she had intended to use to kill me. I used it as a crutch to struggle to my feet and hobbled to Piper's side, ready to help defend her to the death. It was hard - the muscles in my leg had been cut. I was rapidly losing blood - I'd already soaked through my makeshift bandage. Possibly more concerning, each drop of my blood that hit the earth bubbled up, turning from red to gold. I wondered if Gaea was possessing me, even now, like Kronos had done to Luke. Would she gradually take me over? I should order Piper to run. Across the Parthenon, I saw Percy struggle to his feet and nearly sobbed with relief. He was alive. Somehow, thank all the gods, he was alive.
"Come on then!" Piper yelled at them. "I'll destroy all of you myself if I have to!" Piper McLean, ladies and gentlemen. The craziest, bravest, most all around bad-ass demigod that has ever walked the earth. Then, the smell of a storm filled the air.
"The thing is -" a voice above us called down. "You don't have to."
I spotted him. Jason was standing above us on the columnade. He was ready for a fight. Frank stood next to him, his bow ready, and arrow already notched. Hazel was next to him, sitting on her magical horse Arion. She grinned at me - a tight, almost evil grin that showed she was ready to get to work. The three of them looked like heroes from a movie, ready to charge into battle. A lightning bolt lanced into Jason as he jumped off, straight at Porphyrion's face. He was completely sheathed in lightning. The force drove Porphyrion to his knees. Jason's sword found its way into the Giant king's neck. Frank launched arrow after arrow into the Giants near Percy, giving him time and space to get away. I saw the Argo II rise above the ruins. Every weapon on board was aimed towards us. When they fired I realized Leo must've taken extreme care - the shots engulfed the outside of the Parthenon in flames, destroying most of the smaller monsters while not harming those of us still inside the Parthenon.
"Surrender!" Came his voice from the ship. "You're surrounded by one spankin' hot war machine!"
I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry or just sit down and thank the gods for my friends a million times over.
"VALDEZ!" Yelled Enceladus, Piper's knife still in his forehead.
"What's up, Enchiladas? Nice dagger in your forehead." Leo's voice asked from the loud speaker. I laughed at that. I had never heard Leo's name for the Giant. It reminded me of Percy, who always chose weird names for the monsters he couldn't pronounce.
"Monsters! Destroy that ship!" Enceladus roared to the others. Griffins rose to attack the Argo II, but Festus blew flames at them, leaving the smell of cooked chicken in the air. Earthborne tried throwing boulders at the ship, but Archimedes spheres flew from the hull, intercepting each attack. Where had Leo found the time and spare parts to make all of this stuff? It didn't matter - it was saving us.
"Put some clothes on!" I heard Buford yell, thoroughly confusing the Giants.
Hazel and Arion leapt into the fight. Arion was seriously immortal - that fall would've killed any other horse, but he hit the ground running, taking Hazel around each Giant as she stabbed them in the feet, legs, and butts - anywhere she could reach. She wasn't doing tons of damage, but she was distracting them and annoying them.
In several places around the ruins the ground turned into the green snake goo and I saw Kekrops and his snake people slither into the Parthenon to join the party. They were armed and ready to fight. I wasn't sure if they were for us or against us.
"Kill the demigods! Kill the tricksters!" He yelled. So, against us, then. I wasn't sure Piper wanted to sing right now.
Before I could think of what to say, Hazel pointed her sword at the snake tunnel nearest her. The membrane popped and the tunnel collapsed, spewing dust into the air. All the other tunnels followed suit, leaving a lot of dust in the air and about six snake people following Kekrops.
Kekrops looked, saw what had happened to his people, and screamed, "Slither away!"
I laughed at that and saw Hazel was laughing as well. She winked at me and turned back to the fight. Frank did not laugh - his arrows took care of the snake people as they ran.
The Giantess that Piper had frozen was already thawing. She grabbed at me, but I stabbed at her with the knife she had meant to use to kill me. It seemed like some kind of ironic justice. I stabbed at her again, then ran for the throne. She kept chasing me around the throne as I'd get in a hit here, a hit there. Sometimes I'd change direction and run the other way, ducking between her legs. It hurt like Phlegethon water to run on my leg, and I wasn't sure I could keep this up for much longer, but for now, I was holding my own. I'd catch glimpses of the fight each circle we made of the throne.
Percy was back up, Riptide in his hand, which made me feel better. Percy is a pretty great swordsman. He was fighting the ancient grey Giant, Thoon. The one that had wanted to sacrifice us. His hand had reattached and he was swinging the meat cleaver at Percy. That was what sucked about this whole thing - no gods meant we couldn't actually kill a single Giant in the room. We could tire them out, injure them, defend ourselves. That was it.
"Come on, Mom." I muttered, making another round of the throne and stabbing at the Giantess. "Any time now. I rescued the stupid statue. I went through Tartarus. I'm defending your temple. I'm fighting for my life here. A little help would be nice."
My next round of the throne I caught sight of Piper. She and Jason had found each other and were fighting back-to-back, as Percy and I so often did. It made my heart hurt a bit. I wanted to be with Percy, watching his back as we had always done. But he was clear across the room and I had a Giantess and a major leg wound to deal with.
I stabbed the Giantess in the big toe, then made another round as she howled. Frank must've run out of arrows - there was a giant rhino in the clearing attacking the Giants now. But no matter how much he knocked down Giants and gored them, their wounds healed. They got back up.
"MOM!" I complained. "Come ON! Get down here and help us kick some Giant butt!"
I could tell the Giantess was gaining on me. I was tiring. I couldn't keep running on a bad leg forever. Something needed to happen. We needed reinforcements. Godly reinforcements.
My next round of the throne I saw more scenes I didn't like. Jason tried the lightning thing on Porphyrion again, but this time the Giant was ready and merely deflected it. I couldn't see Hazel, but Arion no longer had a rider. A row of boulders slammed into the Argo II, ripping off oars and making the ship tilt in the sky above us. Enceladus threw his flaming spear at the ship and I saw flames blast from the hull.
Leo, I thought, my heart sinking, as I made another turn around the throne. I heard Jason scream for him as well. When I got to the other side I started fighting my way to Piper and Jason. I'd need some help soon. I couldn't keep going like this and they were nearest. A black cloud was billowing from the Argo II as it sank in front of me.
"You demigods have learned nothing!" Porphyrion laughed. "You have no gods to aid you! We need only one more thing from you to make our victory complete!" He grinned evilly and I looked where he was watching. Percy. His nose was bleeding, from a monster attack or the hitting the column I wasn't sure. The blood had run down his face to his chin. He was still fighting Thoon and hadn't noticed. All that had to happen for Gaea to wake and the fight to be lost is for that drop of blood to hit the ground. I heard Piper try to shout something to him, but it was too late. A drop of blood rolled off his chin, dotting the ground. The Acropolis groaned and shifted, nearly throwing me to the ground again. Gaea was awake.