The whole school was gathered in the central meeting hall anxiously awaiting what the Academy's headmaster, Cheiron was going to say to them. Thoughts of the past week's hoolies raced through their heads as they wondered what they would be reprimanded for. Not all the cadet's had arrived yet though, as it was in between lunch and dinner so some of the cadets where finishing up drills, while others were working diligently, whether at a job or attempting to stay awake in a class. I, on the other hand had the afternoon off from work at Kora's so I was one of the first cadets to arrive. I sat down in the middle of the large room and waited for some of my fellow cadets to join me. Fortunately I didn't have to wait very long before Hercules walked in with his half-sister, Neila. The two cadets looked so much alike. They both had the same color hair so I imagined that's what their father, Zeus' hair must look like. Nothing like my brother and I, who we're complete opposites. I have light blonde hair and blue eyes compared to Dracus' dark brown hair and piercing green eyes. Herc and Neila were joking about something or other and came down to sit in front of me.
"Hey Ash," Herc said smiling. "You aren't working today?"
"Nope I had the afternoon off because I worked an extra time last week when Iolaus was sick," I explained.
"Nice," Neila replied. Not long later, Mimma strolled in with Casche, Celest and Dracus. The three girls and my older brother had just finished a grueling and very long training session for the afternoon. They walked in looking tired and as if they we're glad for a chance to sit down finally.
"That was a great workout today," the goddess of stars and constellations told us, pushing a ringlet behind her left ear.
"Definitely, but it felt good," the young sorceress added to Celest's remark before stretching out her long legs and sitting to her friend's right. "Plus I kicked Dracus' butt....again"
"I let you win!" Dracus said, attempting to defend himself, though no one really believed him. He was still trying to get used to the idea that girls could, will, and did beat him at many of the events the Academy offered to us each and everyday.
"Sure you did D. Just keep on telling youself that!" I teased my older brother knowing very well that he'd be mad at me later for not defending him.
Casche sat down next to me and looked around the central meeting hall before asking us all, " Hey where's everybody else?"
"Well, Iolaus is working but I have no clue where the others are," Herc confessed. Not long after he spoke in two other cadets walked in to join us. Alayia came in first, looking as if she was about to fall asleep, followed closly by an equally as tired looking young prince of Corinth. They both strolled in and sat down next to Zeus' two children, Hercules and Neila.
"Where were you guys?" Neila asked wondering about the two latest arrivals, who had joined us a little tardier than most of the school.
"We we're in a class, it seemed like old Fiddle-Face droned on forever!" Alayia admitted. "I can't even remember what he said, my brain just blocked it out".
The group let out a simultaneous "oooohhhh we know how that can be" before one of our friends continued.
"Yeah you know good old Feducious, he was conducting his experiment to see how much boredom was humanly possible," Jason said grinning.
At this point, Cheiron had decided to start this little meeting and all the cadets were anxious to see what it was about. Feducious had gotten our attention and surprisingly everyone was silent. Although that did not last very long. Iolaus came running through the door, not noticing the disturbance he had caused. The whole school turned to see Iolaus who immediately turned bright red.
"Sorry I got out of work late. You know Kora," he mumbled as an attempt at an apology before taking a seat next to Jason.
"As I was about to say," Cheiron spoke, causing Iolaus disturbance to disapear. "The Academy has decided that all of you students need a reward for your good work and effort of late. We know it is a long time between the upcoming break so you need any little breaks you can get. We'll be starting a camping trip tomorrow. Feducious will lead it and all who want to sign up are welcomed to. And those who want to stay at the Academy are welcomed. I will be here and there will be activities available here also in case anyone is not interested in taking the trip."
With that all of the cadets stood. I walked over to sign the scroll for the camping trip and wondered what surprises this trip would hold.
I was the first to reach the scroll and quickly scribbled down those six letters that would let Feducious know I was ready and willing for this trip. I turned to leave and was just about at the door when Feducious announced, "Any one planning on attending the camping trip stay here for another short meeting"
"Figures he waits till I'm practically out the door," I mumbled to myself before taking a seat near the back of the auditorium being too lazy to walk myself all the way up to the front.
Feducious waited for all the cadets that wanted to had signed up before beginning yet another boring speech that he was so famous for.
"All right now listen up and listen good. There will be no rule breaking on this trip. You all understand me?" he began as he paced across the front of the large room. "You will listen to me at all times and anyone who disobeys will be punished both our there and once we return to the Academy. Am I clear?"
"Crystal," I heard an agitated Iolaus say under his breath from the a couple of rows in front of me. The rest of the group mumbled a low "yes sir" or nodded tired heads.
"Good. Now we leave tomorrow morning at dawn so make sure your all set by then. I'll explain the rest of the rules then. Get to bed early. We have a long trek ahead of ourselves tomorrow and I don't want any of you dragging behind because your too tired. Pack lots of warm clothes. The nights out there are cold and I'm not going to listen to all of you complain. Dismissed."
Everyone piled out of the auditorium and headed towards the mess hall to catch some supper. The cadets who had not signed up to go camping were already there digging into some of the food, despite it's awful taste. I found an empty table and proceeded to sit down and stuff my face like my fellow classmates. I guess I didn't realize how ravenous I was until food was placed in front of my face.
"Hungry are we Ash?" a brunette girl asked.
"How could you tell Smenzer?" I answered still eating. The response I got from the new cadet was a giggle and a shake of the head as she sat down next to me with her plate of food.
"This trip sounds like fun," Hercules said as he walked over and sat across from Smenzer and I.
"Yeah I know. I can't wait," came Mimma's soft voice from right behind the young demi-god.
"As long as we get away from classes I'm happy," Celest added coming closer to the table.
Soon the table was filled and everyone was talking excitedely about the field trip we would all taking the following day.
"I can't believe we have to wake up so early," Iolaus whined through a mouthful of food
"I know it is awfully early, "Alayia agreed.
"But the earlier we get up the quicker we get there," Neila told them.
"That's true," Casche agreed.
"Well I'm going to go pack, anyone else going back to the dorms right now?" Jason asked before glancing around the table.
"Yeah I am," I said before sticking one last bite of my food in my mouth and getting up to follow Jason. "See you later guys"
"Bye," Jason added before we walked out of the dining hall together.
"How long do you think we're going to be gone?" I asked the monarch that accompanied me.
"A few days at least. I don't even know how long it will take to get there but I think I heard Feducious and Cheiron talking the other day saying it would be a day's walk. At the time I had no idea what they were talking about but now I think that they were talking about this trip. So I figure since it'll take a days walk to get there and a days walk to get back to the Academy that's two days. And then once we get there we will probably stay at least two days. If not three so we'll probably be gone anywhere from four to six days, most likely"
"Wow, Jase you know you could have just said something like 'I don't know probably a few days'," I teased as I laughed at Jason's love of detail.
"Well you know me!" Jason replied as we approached the place where he headed for the boy's dormitories and I headed for the girls. "All right Ash, I'll see you in the morning, you got any questions on anything don't hesitate to come and ask me. You know you can"
"Thanks and I'm sure if I do I'll get a days talk about a yes or no question!" I teased as I headed towards my room. He playfully swung at me but I ducked out of the way and skipped down the hallway giggling all the way.
I finished packing and climbed into bed as I heard the rest of the cadets returning. I was tired from the day and decided to get into bed early not because of what Feducious said but hey a girl needs her beauty rest!
The next morning I woke right as the sun was peaking over the horizon. I reached my arm out the window and it felt as if it was a little chilly outside. I got dressed in my normal clothing though figuring it would get warmer as the day went on and considering we would be walking a lot. I grabbed my cloak and bag and dropped it outside my door and decided to wake some of the other girls up so our adventure could begin.
I went to Smenzer's door first and knocked lightly before saying, "Smenzer, you awake hun?"
The door opened and the new cadet stood there smiling, "Yup I'm excited for the trip! This is my first trip with the Academy!"
"Mine too! I can't wait to get going. I bet the guys will be late though. Trying to get Iolaus out of bed is a feat in itself!" I exclaimed. "Why don't you go wake up Neila and Casche and I'll wake up Celest, Mimma and Alayia."
She nodded before turning and heading down the corridor in the opposite direction as I was going.
Mimma and Alayia we're awake when I knocked but Celest wasn't. "Come on Celest rise and shine! We're going camping this morning remember!" I am definitely a morning person, even though I'll be tired later in the day.
I walked back towards where my bag was and Casche, Neila and Smenzer were waiting with their bags. Alayia and Mimma came out a few moments later to join us. After a few moments and a lot of noises of clothes being thrown about, Celest appeared looking sleepy.
"Morning sunshine!" Mimma exclaimed at her drowsy friend.
"The suns not even up yet so how can there be sunshine! You know theres a reason I'm the goddess or stars and constellations because then I don't have to deal with mornings!" Celest said managing a smile with squinted eyes.
We headed down towards our designated meeting area where about 10 cadets were already there. Feducious was there with his usual puss on his face. He was joined with Garen, a new teacher at the Academy. Garen was young and looked as though he had graduated only a few years earlier. He related well to the cadets and everyone liked him and wished they were in his class.
"Hey girls. Don't you all look lovely this morning," my brother Dracus flirted with my friends as he approached us, with Jason at his heels.
"Save it Dracus. I told them all you wet the bed till you were 14 summers old. None of them are going to like you," I teased as Dracus turned bright red. He was only my half my brother but since we found out we only shared the same mother, I think we began to get closer.
All the other cadets laughed and Jason playfully punched him before saying, "She got you good!"
"Where are Iolaus and Herc?" Casche asked, looking around but could not find her two other friends in the crowd with the other cadets getting ready to leave for the camping trip.
"Trying to wake up Iolaus. Where else?" Dracus said laughing. Everyone joined him well knowing Iolaus was the most difficult person in the world to wake up. They figured Hercules wouldn't be down for a while.
Feducious looked around before taking out a scroll from his pocket. "All right everyone time for roll call....... Alayia........Ashley.........Andros.........Casche.........Celest.........Dracus........Erran........Hercules........Where is that boy?"
Up until now, all the cadets had answered with a simple "here" or "present" but there was no reply, as the young demi-god was not here. "Um sir?" Alayia was the first to speak walking up to Fiddle-face before explaining "I think Hercules and Iolaus are on their way down here right now,"
"I told them to be in time!" Feducious fumed. "Take this and finish attendance," he added before handing the scroll to Garen who made a face after Feducious turned away, causing all the cadets to laugh at a oblivious grumpy old man.
"Ok so If Hercules isn't here then neither is Iolaus," the young teacher spoke. His voice was deep and many of the female cadets had crushes on him. He was only a couple years older, which made him seem more in reach. The fact that most of the female population at the school had a liking to Garen, obviously made the many male cadets jealous of the teacher. Though they all looked up to him and thought he was extremlely cool "Moving on......Jason.........Kapper........Mimma...........Neila...........Smenzer. All right well everyone else is accounted for so I guess all we can do is wait for Feducious to return with those two."
A few moments later Feducious came streaming down the hall, looking more furious than when he left. Hercules followed behind with a very sleepy looking Iolaus. The young hunters hair was everywhere and the other cadets couldn't help but laugh at him. And of course, Iolaus had no idea what everyone was laughing so hysterically at. They could only imagine how one would try and awake Iolaus in the mornings once they started the trip.
"Everyone pick a partner. And quickly we've already wasted enough time," Feducious shouted at all the cadets.
Smenzer and I joined up and us, along with the rest of the cadets headed out the door on the way to begin out adventure.
The sun had not reached mid day once we started our journey. It was very humid out and sticky. We walked what seemed like forever without so much as a break. Feducious was like some kind of slave driver out there. Once the sun was directly on top of us we were all drenched in sweat. Feducious finally gave us a break and we all sank to the ground where we were. Everyone pulled out their canteens and began to chug their water as if there were no tomorrow.
"Wow I really have some swack," Iolaus said, removing his now wet hand from underneath the back of his vest.
"Swack? What's that?" Smenzer asked curiously. She was not the only one that didn't know though everyone looked at Iolaus with that confused look he often gets once he starts talking his own language again.
"The Sw is from sweaty and the ack is from back. Get it? Sweaty back!" Iolaus said happily.
"Only Iolaus would think of something like that!" Mimma exclaimed between sips of water.
"Hey Feducious when are we going to stop for water again? I drank all my water," I commented, hoping it would be soon. I think all of us had the same problem. We were so happy to have a break we ended up finishing off all of our water.
"Once we find a suitable drinking source," the grumpy old man replied. He was a miser and of course still had all his water left.
"But we haven't even looked yet," Hercules protested angrily to his teacher. He did not like the way Feducious was leading this trip at all.
"Herc's right. We've probably gone by 10 at least. Can we look around here for one while we're resting?" Neila asked, adding to her brother's protests against their current leader.
"Fine, but only a few of you go. Celest, Jason, Hercules and Casche can go. The rest of you stay here. And don't go far. Be back here in a little while or you will be in trouble," Fiddle Face scowled.
The four cadets nodded and turned and walked to my left, hoping they would find a water source.
"We're lucky he actually let us go," Hercules deduced as they walked across the dry grass.
"I know. You and Iolaus got him into a bad mod this morning when you guys weren't there on time," Jason told his demi-god friend.
"Its not my fault Iolaus will never get out of bed on time! Besides, you and Dracus are the ones who left *me* to wake him up! I don't suppose you tried to cover for us when we weren't there either," Hercules retorted, half joking.
"All right boys, calm down there!" Casche said, sneaking in between two of her fellow cadets. "We have to find the some water and get back before Feducious has another fit."
"Casche's right. If we don't find some water then we have to keep walking without it and it's too hot outside for that," the goddess of stars and constellations said after wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.
"All right All right, we're looking!" Jason replied.
The quad of cadets had not been walking for long when they came across a rather large lake. The two girls were sent back to the group to inform them of the lake. Hercules and Jason stayed at the lake and awaited their two friends return with their fellow cadets.
"Oh wow! This lake is beautiful," Alayia exclaimed as she bent over and filled up her water canteen.
"I know it is!" Smenzer agreed as she walked over next to Alayia. "Look at the way the sun hits the water."
"Your right," I added coming over to my two friends. "I hope wherever we're going looks like this"
"Where are we going anyways?" Iolaus asked.
"I have no clue. Feducious and Garen won't tell us that, "Jason answered. "All I know is that I head them say it's a days walk. So wherever we camp tonight that's probably the place"
"I guess since we're stopped we should have some lunch now. Eat if you want but remember this is the only time we're stopping to eat lunch. We have some rough terrain coming up ahead of us so we won't have many places to stop if we want to make it to our destination by night fall. There are *no* possible areas for us to stop in between here and our desired campsite for the night," Feducious explained. The idea of the land being too rough to be able to set up a camp scared me a bit but I figured Feducious was just trying to scare us. If I only knew then what was ahead for my traveling companions and myself.
We all happily munched on some berries and apples as we waited for our instructor to tell us it was time to up and leave again.
"This trip was a really good idea." Neila told us, in between bites of the juicy red apple in her left hand.
"I know I'm so glad they had it. Plus it gave us a chance to get out of classes," Smenzer said as she placed some berries back on top of her bag and stretched her arms over her head.
"Are you going to eat that?" Iolaus asked almost immediately as it left the previous cadet's hand.
"Yes! I was just stretching Iolaus! Besides you've got your own food there!" Smenzer replied, grabbing her food before Iolaus could devour it on his own.
"Hey Hercules come here for a second," Casche said as Zeus' son walked over to her. She pushed away the hair that was in front of his face and started laughing. "Does anyone else see that? Hercules has a tan line from his hair!"
"Oh yeah! I can see it look! There's that strip across his forehead," Celest giggled as she pointed at Hercules' forehead.
In the sun that day they had all gotten tans. Or sunburns in some cases. Hercules was just had the misfortune of needing a haircut. When his hair hung over the front of his face you couldn't see the line but once it moved you could. It looked as if he some weird birth mark. Everyone was laughing though Alcemne's son did not seem to appreciate it very much.
"All right cadets. Fill up your jugs and let's get going. We still have a long ways walk ahead of us," Garen instructed much to Hercules' relief.
Everyone began to follow Feducious while the other young teacher stayed around filling his canteen. Apparently he was going to be the one keeping watch from the rear this time.
We all walked on along the flat surface for only a few precious moments after leaving the serene lake. Slowly our path began to recede. The next thing was the ground. It went from soft grass to dirt, and finally to rocks. As the path got smaller our legs grew wearier. The path changed from ascending to descending so many times we had no idea what level we were at.
We walked along a narrow path turned sideways and inched by an area with a large pit on both sides. In some areas the path had large puddles from the recent rain which only made the path smaller. I was the last of the cadets as we all slowly made our way across. The ground was covered with leaves and as I took a step with my left foot it fell out from me and I lost my footing as the air rushed by me.
"Hey Ash," Herc said smiling. "You aren't working today?"
"Nope I had the afternoon off because I worked an extra time last week when Iolaus was sick," I explained.
"Nice," Neila replied. Not long later, Mimma strolled in with Casche, Celest and Dracus. The three girls and my older brother had just finished a grueling and very long training session for the afternoon. They walked in looking tired and as if they we're glad for a chance to sit down finally.
"That was a great workout today," the goddess of stars and constellations told us, pushing a ringlet behind her left ear.
"Definitely, but it felt good," the young sorceress added to Celest's remark before stretching out her long legs and sitting to her friend's right. "Plus I kicked Dracus' butt....again"
"I let you win!" Dracus said, attempting to defend himself, though no one really believed him. He was still trying to get used to the idea that girls could, will, and did beat him at many of the events the Academy offered to us each and everyday.
"Sure you did D. Just keep on telling youself that!" I teased my older brother knowing very well that he'd be mad at me later for not defending him.
Casche sat down next to me and looked around the central meeting hall before asking us all, " Hey where's everybody else?"
"Well, Iolaus is working but I have no clue where the others are," Herc confessed. Not long after he spoke in two other cadets walked in to join us. Alayia came in first, looking as if she was about to fall asleep, followed closly by an equally as tired looking young prince of Corinth. They both strolled in and sat down next to Zeus' two children, Hercules and Neila.
"Where were you guys?" Neila asked wondering about the two latest arrivals, who had joined us a little tardier than most of the school.
"We we're in a class, it seemed like old Fiddle-Face droned on forever!" Alayia admitted. "I can't even remember what he said, my brain just blocked it out".
The group let out a simultaneous "oooohhhh we know how that can be" before one of our friends continued.
"Yeah you know good old Feducious, he was conducting his experiment to see how much boredom was humanly possible," Jason said grinning.
At this point, Cheiron had decided to start this little meeting and all the cadets were anxious to see what it was about. Feducious had gotten our attention and surprisingly everyone was silent. Although that did not last very long. Iolaus came running through the door, not noticing the disturbance he had caused. The whole school turned to see Iolaus who immediately turned bright red.
"Sorry I got out of work late. You know Kora," he mumbled as an attempt at an apology before taking a seat next to Jason.
"As I was about to say," Cheiron spoke, causing Iolaus disturbance to disapear. "The Academy has decided that all of you students need a reward for your good work and effort of late. We know it is a long time between the upcoming break so you need any little breaks you can get. We'll be starting a camping trip tomorrow. Feducious will lead it and all who want to sign up are welcomed to. And those who want to stay at the Academy are welcomed. I will be here and there will be activities available here also in case anyone is not interested in taking the trip."
With that all of the cadets stood. I walked over to sign the scroll for the camping trip and wondered what surprises this trip would hold.
I was the first to reach the scroll and quickly scribbled down those six letters that would let Feducious know I was ready and willing for this trip. I turned to leave and was just about at the door when Feducious announced, "Any one planning on attending the camping trip stay here for another short meeting"
"Figures he waits till I'm practically out the door," I mumbled to myself before taking a seat near the back of the auditorium being too lazy to walk myself all the way up to the front.
Feducious waited for all the cadets that wanted to had signed up before beginning yet another boring speech that he was so famous for.
"All right now listen up and listen good. There will be no rule breaking on this trip. You all understand me?" he began as he paced across the front of the large room. "You will listen to me at all times and anyone who disobeys will be punished both our there and once we return to the Academy. Am I clear?"
"Crystal," I heard an agitated Iolaus say under his breath from the a couple of rows in front of me. The rest of the group mumbled a low "yes sir" or nodded tired heads.
"Good. Now we leave tomorrow morning at dawn so make sure your all set by then. I'll explain the rest of the rules then. Get to bed early. We have a long trek ahead of ourselves tomorrow and I don't want any of you dragging behind because your too tired. Pack lots of warm clothes. The nights out there are cold and I'm not going to listen to all of you complain. Dismissed."
Everyone piled out of the auditorium and headed towards the mess hall to catch some supper. The cadets who had not signed up to go camping were already there digging into some of the food, despite it's awful taste. I found an empty table and proceeded to sit down and stuff my face like my fellow classmates. I guess I didn't realize how ravenous I was until food was placed in front of my face.
"Hungry are we Ash?" a brunette girl asked.
"How could you tell Smenzer?" I answered still eating. The response I got from the new cadet was a giggle and a shake of the head as she sat down next to me with her plate of food.
"This trip sounds like fun," Hercules said as he walked over and sat across from Smenzer and I.
"Yeah I know. I can't wait," came Mimma's soft voice from right behind the young demi-god.
"As long as we get away from classes I'm happy," Celest added coming closer to the table.
Soon the table was filled and everyone was talking excitedely about the field trip we would all taking the following day.
"I can't believe we have to wake up so early," Iolaus whined through a mouthful of food
"I know it is awfully early, "Alayia agreed.
"But the earlier we get up the quicker we get there," Neila told them.
"That's true," Casche agreed.
"Well I'm going to go pack, anyone else going back to the dorms right now?" Jason asked before glancing around the table.
"Yeah I am," I said before sticking one last bite of my food in my mouth and getting up to follow Jason. "See you later guys"
"Bye," Jason added before we walked out of the dining hall together.
"How long do you think we're going to be gone?" I asked the monarch that accompanied me.
"A few days at least. I don't even know how long it will take to get there but I think I heard Feducious and Cheiron talking the other day saying it would be a day's walk. At the time I had no idea what they were talking about but now I think that they were talking about this trip. So I figure since it'll take a days walk to get there and a days walk to get back to the Academy that's two days. And then once we get there we will probably stay at least two days. If not three so we'll probably be gone anywhere from four to six days, most likely"
"Wow, Jase you know you could have just said something like 'I don't know probably a few days'," I teased as I laughed at Jason's love of detail.
"Well you know me!" Jason replied as we approached the place where he headed for the boy's dormitories and I headed for the girls. "All right Ash, I'll see you in the morning, you got any questions on anything don't hesitate to come and ask me. You know you can"
"Thanks and I'm sure if I do I'll get a days talk about a yes or no question!" I teased as I headed towards my room. He playfully swung at me but I ducked out of the way and skipped down the hallway giggling all the way.
I finished packing and climbed into bed as I heard the rest of the cadets returning. I was tired from the day and decided to get into bed early not because of what Feducious said but hey a girl needs her beauty rest!
The next morning I woke right as the sun was peaking over the horizon. I reached my arm out the window and it felt as if it was a little chilly outside. I got dressed in my normal clothing though figuring it would get warmer as the day went on and considering we would be walking a lot. I grabbed my cloak and bag and dropped it outside my door and decided to wake some of the other girls up so our adventure could begin.
I went to Smenzer's door first and knocked lightly before saying, "Smenzer, you awake hun?"
The door opened and the new cadet stood there smiling, "Yup I'm excited for the trip! This is my first trip with the Academy!"
"Mine too! I can't wait to get going. I bet the guys will be late though. Trying to get Iolaus out of bed is a feat in itself!" I exclaimed. "Why don't you go wake up Neila and Casche and I'll wake up Celest, Mimma and Alayia."
She nodded before turning and heading down the corridor in the opposite direction as I was going.
Mimma and Alayia we're awake when I knocked but Celest wasn't. "Come on Celest rise and shine! We're going camping this morning remember!" I am definitely a morning person, even though I'll be tired later in the day.
I walked back towards where my bag was and Casche, Neila and Smenzer were waiting with their bags. Alayia and Mimma came out a few moments later to join us. After a few moments and a lot of noises of clothes being thrown about, Celest appeared looking sleepy.
"Morning sunshine!" Mimma exclaimed at her drowsy friend.
"The suns not even up yet so how can there be sunshine! You know theres a reason I'm the goddess or stars and constellations because then I don't have to deal with mornings!" Celest said managing a smile with squinted eyes.
We headed down towards our designated meeting area where about 10 cadets were already there. Feducious was there with his usual puss on his face. He was joined with Garen, a new teacher at the Academy. Garen was young and looked as though he had graduated only a few years earlier. He related well to the cadets and everyone liked him and wished they were in his class.
"Hey girls. Don't you all look lovely this morning," my brother Dracus flirted with my friends as he approached us, with Jason at his heels.
"Save it Dracus. I told them all you wet the bed till you were 14 summers old. None of them are going to like you," I teased as Dracus turned bright red. He was only my half my brother but since we found out we only shared the same mother, I think we began to get closer.
All the other cadets laughed and Jason playfully punched him before saying, "She got you good!"
"Where are Iolaus and Herc?" Casche asked, looking around but could not find her two other friends in the crowd with the other cadets getting ready to leave for the camping trip.
"Trying to wake up Iolaus. Where else?" Dracus said laughing. Everyone joined him well knowing Iolaus was the most difficult person in the world to wake up. They figured Hercules wouldn't be down for a while.
Feducious looked around before taking out a scroll from his pocket. "All right everyone time for roll call....... Alayia........Ashley.........Andros.........Casche.........Celest.........Dracus........Erran........Hercules........Where is that boy?"
Up until now, all the cadets had answered with a simple "here" or "present" but there was no reply, as the young demi-god was not here. "Um sir?" Alayia was the first to speak walking up to Fiddle-face before explaining "I think Hercules and Iolaus are on their way down here right now,"
"I told them to be in time!" Feducious fumed. "Take this and finish attendance," he added before handing the scroll to Garen who made a face after Feducious turned away, causing all the cadets to laugh at a oblivious grumpy old man.
"Ok so If Hercules isn't here then neither is Iolaus," the young teacher spoke. His voice was deep and many of the female cadets had crushes on him. He was only a couple years older, which made him seem more in reach. The fact that most of the female population at the school had a liking to Garen, obviously made the many male cadets jealous of the teacher. Though they all looked up to him and thought he was extremlely cool "Moving on......Jason.........Kapper........Mimma...........Neila...........Smenzer. All right well everyone else is accounted for so I guess all we can do is wait for Feducious to return with those two."
A few moments later Feducious came streaming down the hall, looking more furious than when he left. Hercules followed behind with a very sleepy looking Iolaus. The young hunters hair was everywhere and the other cadets couldn't help but laugh at him. And of course, Iolaus had no idea what everyone was laughing so hysterically at. They could only imagine how one would try and awake Iolaus in the mornings once they started the trip.
"Everyone pick a partner. And quickly we've already wasted enough time," Feducious shouted at all the cadets.
Smenzer and I joined up and us, along with the rest of the cadets headed out the door on the way to begin out adventure.
The sun had not reached mid day once we started our journey. It was very humid out and sticky. We walked what seemed like forever without so much as a break. Feducious was like some kind of slave driver out there. Once the sun was directly on top of us we were all drenched in sweat. Feducious finally gave us a break and we all sank to the ground where we were. Everyone pulled out their canteens and began to chug their water as if there were no tomorrow.
"Wow I really have some swack," Iolaus said, removing his now wet hand from underneath the back of his vest.
"Swack? What's that?" Smenzer asked curiously. She was not the only one that didn't know though everyone looked at Iolaus with that confused look he often gets once he starts talking his own language again.
"The Sw is from sweaty and the ack is from back. Get it? Sweaty back!" Iolaus said happily.
"Only Iolaus would think of something like that!" Mimma exclaimed between sips of water.
"Hey Feducious when are we going to stop for water again? I drank all my water," I commented, hoping it would be soon. I think all of us had the same problem. We were so happy to have a break we ended up finishing off all of our water.
"Once we find a suitable drinking source," the grumpy old man replied. He was a miser and of course still had all his water left.
"But we haven't even looked yet," Hercules protested angrily to his teacher. He did not like the way Feducious was leading this trip at all.
"Herc's right. We've probably gone by 10 at least. Can we look around here for one while we're resting?" Neila asked, adding to her brother's protests against their current leader.
"Fine, but only a few of you go. Celest, Jason, Hercules and Casche can go. The rest of you stay here. And don't go far. Be back here in a little while or you will be in trouble," Fiddle Face scowled.
The four cadets nodded and turned and walked to my left, hoping they would find a water source.
"We're lucky he actually let us go," Hercules deduced as they walked across the dry grass.
"I know. You and Iolaus got him into a bad mod this morning when you guys weren't there on time," Jason told his demi-god friend.
"Its not my fault Iolaus will never get out of bed on time! Besides, you and Dracus are the ones who left *me* to wake him up! I don't suppose you tried to cover for us when we weren't there either," Hercules retorted, half joking.
"All right boys, calm down there!" Casche said, sneaking in between two of her fellow cadets. "We have to find the some water and get back before Feducious has another fit."
"Casche's right. If we don't find some water then we have to keep walking without it and it's too hot outside for that," the goddess of stars and constellations said after wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.
"All right All right, we're looking!" Jason replied.
The quad of cadets had not been walking for long when they came across a rather large lake. The two girls were sent back to the group to inform them of the lake. Hercules and Jason stayed at the lake and awaited their two friends return with their fellow cadets.
"Oh wow! This lake is beautiful," Alayia exclaimed as she bent over and filled up her water canteen.
"I know it is!" Smenzer agreed as she walked over next to Alayia. "Look at the way the sun hits the water."
"Your right," I added coming over to my two friends. "I hope wherever we're going looks like this"
"Where are we going anyways?" Iolaus asked.
"I have no clue. Feducious and Garen won't tell us that, "Jason answered. "All I know is that I head them say it's a days walk. So wherever we camp tonight that's probably the place"
"I guess since we're stopped we should have some lunch now. Eat if you want but remember this is the only time we're stopping to eat lunch. We have some rough terrain coming up ahead of us so we won't have many places to stop if we want to make it to our destination by night fall. There are *no* possible areas for us to stop in between here and our desired campsite for the night," Feducious explained. The idea of the land being too rough to be able to set up a camp scared me a bit but I figured Feducious was just trying to scare us. If I only knew then what was ahead for my traveling companions and myself.
We all happily munched on some berries and apples as we waited for our instructor to tell us it was time to up and leave again.
"This trip was a really good idea." Neila told us, in between bites of the juicy red apple in her left hand.
"I know I'm so glad they had it. Plus it gave us a chance to get out of classes," Smenzer said as she placed some berries back on top of her bag and stretched her arms over her head.
"Are you going to eat that?" Iolaus asked almost immediately as it left the previous cadet's hand.
"Yes! I was just stretching Iolaus! Besides you've got your own food there!" Smenzer replied, grabbing her food before Iolaus could devour it on his own.
"Hey Hercules come here for a second," Casche said as Zeus' son walked over to her. She pushed away the hair that was in front of his face and started laughing. "Does anyone else see that? Hercules has a tan line from his hair!"
"Oh yeah! I can see it look! There's that strip across his forehead," Celest giggled as she pointed at Hercules' forehead.
In the sun that day they had all gotten tans. Or sunburns in some cases. Hercules was just had the misfortune of needing a haircut. When his hair hung over the front of his face you couldn't see the line but once it moved you could. It looked as if he some weird birth mark. Everyone was laughing though Alcemne's son did not seem to appreciate it very much.
"All right cadets. Fill up your jugs and let's get going. We still have a long ways walk ahead of us," Garen instructed much to Hercules' relief.
Everyone began to follow Feducious while the other young teacher stayed around filling his canteen. Apparently he was going to be the one keeping watch from the rear this time.
We all walked on along the flat surface for only a few precious moments after leaving the serene lake. Slowly our path began to recede. The next thing was the ground. It went from soft grass to dirt, and finally to rocks. As the path got smaller our legs grew wearier. The path changed from ascending to descending so many times we had no idea what level we were at.
We walked along a narrow path turned sideways and inched by an area with a large pit on both sides. In some areas the path had large puddles from the recent rain which only made the path smaller. I was the last of the cadets as we all slowly made our way across. The ground was covered with leaves and as I took a step with my left foot it fell out from me and I lost my footing as the air rushed by me.