Nico and Percy stood with the two kings, readying their powers for the oncoming fight.
Thalia ran to a tree, climbing it in two seconds and crouching on a branch, drawing her bow and setting an arrow on the string. Many elves followed her, climbing in trees as well. Legolas choose to stay on the ground with his dwarven friend.
Nico pulled out his Stygian sword, the black blade seeming to devour the sunlight. Shadows danced on the edge of it.
Percy threw the cap off of Riptide, and the sword sprang into full size. A few men gasped, murmuring about magic, and Percy smirked. If they thought that was magic, they had another thing coming for them.
The clearing sat in charged silence, the men all readying for battle.
Howls were sounded again, and Percy gasped as the first Wainrider stepped into the clearing. Before he could utter a word, arrows flew through him and his mount's eyes.
More flooded in, snarls filling the air, but they died before making it two feet. And then the monsters stepped in. A woman with one bronze leg and one furry leg limped forward. "Percy Jackson," she hissed, her eyes zeroing in on him. "You will meet your doom."
He hefted Riptide, spinning it once. "Yeah, I don't think so," he said. Wooden arrows were shot at her but just bounced off, like she was wearing armor. Thalia shot a silver arrow through her heart, and she dropped to the ground, dissolving into dust.
"Save your arrows, Thalia," Percy said, realizing that the elven arrows would not harm the monsters.
She nodded, and drew her bow again, readying another arrow.
"How did she do that?" Legolas said, staring in confusion at their own arrows laying on the ground, along with Thalia's silver one surrounded by monster dust.
"Monster's aren't affected by mortal weapons. Your arrows won't hurt them. But hers will. And the dust, monsters don't die. They just go to… to a different place, where they regenerate and come back. Your swords won't harm them either, so just pick off the ones you know you can kill. We'll deal with the others."
"There must be fifty of those things. You three couldn't possibly kill all of them," Gimli huffed, holding his ax up high.
Nico smirked. "You'd be surprised."
A draconian slithered forward. "My brethren," she hissed. "Attack!"
The monsters charged forward, and Percy and Nico ran to meet them, cutting them down with such practiced efficiency that the soldiers couldn't help but gape.
A Wainrider stepped forward and yelled something in a harsh and guttural language. The Wainriders rushed forward like a burst dam, and the soldiers quickly had something better to do.
Many of the monsters were shot down by Thalia's silver arrows before they even reached her cousins. One sneaky hell-hound had sneaked up right behind Aragorn, and as he turned in horror, she shot it in the neck. He gave her a nod of thanks and kept fighting.
A hell-hound lunged for Percy's head, but Nico sliced through its neck before it could even come close to him. "Nico," Percy yelled. "You got enough strength for underworld magic yet?"
"Almost," he grunted. "Use your powers!"
"I'm not near water!"
Nico paused for one second, pure disbelief on his face. "Earthquakes you moron. You can make earthquakes!"
Percy paused as if he couldn't believe himself. He kneeled down, plunging his sword into the earth. The ground began to shake, and many of the soldiers turned to stare at him in amazement. The Wainriders wobbled slightly, their humongous mounts unsteady on the moving ground.
Sam was holding his own in the corner of the clearing, bashing many heads in with his beloved pots and pans. Merry and Pippin were next to him, brandishing small swords and hacking at the feet of the attackers.
Legolas had put away his bow and arrow and had unsheathed his swords, fighting side by side with his dwarven friend. Gimli was hacking at wainriders and wargs that came his way with his ax, still jovially keeping up his count with Legolas. "That's 7 for me," Legolas said, smirking. "Hmm, very good," Gimli replied as he killed another warg. "And that's 10 for me, laddie!" Legolas's face fell, and he went back to killing wainriders with renewed vigor.
Eomer and Aragorn were also fighting back to back, working with such precision and flawless teamwork that it was obvious that they had fought together before and trusted each other with their lives.
As they were gaining confidence in the dwindling numbers of monsters and Wainriders, a warg let out a howl. Aragorn sliced across its throat, silencing it, but not before more howls rose up to answer it. Their faces fell, and the monsters and Wainriders threw themselves into the fight, knowing reinforcements were coming.
Monsters, wainriders, and wargs all flooded in, fresh and thrusting for a fight. Thalia ran out of arrows, and cursed, putting away her bow and drawing her golden sword, jumping down from the tree.
She ran to her cousin's side, and the three of them were spinning their blades, slicing and slashing, monsters falling on their swords until they were all surrounded by a small pile of golden dust.
"Thalia!" Percy cried, thrusting his sword in the air. She followed suit, and deafening thunder rumbled above them, as clouds rolled forward and the heavens opened up.
Percy was in his element, honing the raindrops into small daggers to slice at monsters, energized by the water falling onto his skin. Lightning danced on Thalia's fingertips, and struck large groups of monsters, charging the clearing with the smell of ozone.
Before long, almost all the monsters were either dead or fleeing. The clouds that had darkened the sky disappeared as quickly as they had arrived.
The demigods turned to help the others, and attacked the wargs, throwing the wainriders off their backs and to the mercy of the men, elves, and dwarves.
When it seemed the fight was coming to a stop, Percy said, "Thalia, Nico, I've got this. Go hunt down the rest of the monsters."
The two nodded and ran off to catch the fleeing monsters.
He ran up to the two kings and helped them fight off a couple of Haradrim, who were quickly defeated by the skill of the three experienced warriors. Percy couldn't use his sword, but he could use his fists.
When they were done, they looked around the clearing, where the last of the Haradrim were being taken care of. "Thank you," Eomer panted. Percy nodded. "No problem. We finished off the monsters, so I decided to help you. Nico and Thalia are chasing after the last of them."
Aragorn turned to stare at him. "There were at least seventy monsters there. How did you three take them by yourselves."
Percy opened his mouth to answer, but the demigod was saved from any awkward explanations by a horrid bloodcurdling shriek. A few seconds later, a harpy emerged from the trees, a silver arrow embedded in its leg.
It flew straight towards Aragorn, screaming at the top of its lungs.
"DIE!" she screamed, and Aragorn turned to face her but he was too slow. Too slow. And suddenly Percy wasn't watching this scene, but a thousand others, of friends that he couldn't save, because he wasn't fast enough, wasn't good enough.
Before he knew what he was doing, he was running in front of Aragorn, shielding him. He raised his sword, but not fast enough before the harpy was plunging the object in her hands, a black dagger, into his chest. He fell to the ground, struggling to breathe from the pain.
Cold, so cold. It hurt. It hurt so much. What was that? Poison?
The harpy yanked the knife out of his chest, the stab wound squirting blood, and was about to plunge it back in when Aragorn, coming to the young man's aid, sliced Anduril through the air. The harpy's head thudded to the ground, before dissolving into dust.
Eomer and many soldiers ran over to them, putting their swords up. Aragorn quickly knelt down to the 19-year-old's side, laying his hands on his chest and putting pressure on the wound.
"Percy," he said, staring at his face. "Percy look at me!"
Percy, wheezing slightly, sluggishly turned his head to look at Aragorn. "It's, it's fine. I'll be f-fine. Jus', jus' get Thalia n' Nico. I'll be fine."
Aragorn stared at him doubtfully, before giving in. He whipped his head around and barked at the closest uninjured soldier. "Find his cousins. Quickly."
The man nodded, bowing, and turned to run into the woods to find them, when they ran out of the trees. Nico and Thalia were grinning, but the moment they spotted the King kneeling next to their cousin, their faces fell.
"Percy," Nico whispered as they ran to his side. Falling to their knees by their cousin, they looked him up and down. "What happened!" Thalia barked at Aragorn, blue eyes crackling with energy.
"A woman," Eomer said. "A flying woman."
"Harpy," Nico growled.
"How bad is it," Thalia said, scanning her groaning cousin and the growing pool of blood.
"I"m not sure. The blood should be slowing soon. Your potion, could it heal him?"
"Potion? What do you mean, potion?" Thalia said.
"The potion you gave him," Eomer said, nodding his head to Nico. "It healed his shoulder almost immediately."
"Nectar," Nico gasped. "Thalia, get the nectar!"
Pulling out a canteen of their nectar, which they had pooled together the night before, she lifted it and held it to Percy's lips. Nico lifted his head up, and they gave him a few sips of the golden drink.
The color returned to his face, and the bleeding slowed, but the wound remained, a gaping stab wound on the left side of his chest.
"Why didn't it work?" Nico asked, turning to Thalia.
"I don't know."
"Give him some more," Aragorn urged.
"We can't. Any more and he'll burn up," Thalia said, rummaging through her pack. "Aha!" she cried, triumphantly pulling out another canteen, and pouring it into Percy's mouth. The liquid looked like pure silver.
"What is that?" Nico asked.
"Moonwater. It's Lady Artemis's version of nectar for her hunters, since some of them are mortal."
The bleeding stopped altogether, but the wound was still there.
"Why isn't it healing?" Thalia said.
"Water," Percy said, finally becoming lucid again. "Get me to some water.
Nico spun to face the King, who was just removing his hands from Percy's chest, slick with blood. Percy's blood, Nico thought, his stomach rolling. "Is there any main body of water near here? A lake, a river, a pond, anything?"
"The river Anduin is just down the hill," Aragorn replied.
"We need to get him to that river," Nico said, as he and Thalia each wrapped one of Percy's arms around their shoulders, lifting him up off the ground.
"Wait," Aragorn cried. "You should not move him. The bleeding could start again. Let me look at the wound first."
"He needs water," Thalia said.
Giving the two of them a questioning look, he gestured to Sam. "Ask Sam for one of his pots. One of my men will lead you to the river, and you can fill them up there. I don't want to move him."
They nodded, and went off, seeking to get water to hopefully save their cousin.
Aragorn then called for a knife and cut open Percy's shirt. Upon seeing the wound, he dropped the knife in shock, crying out. Ominous black lines were spreading from it.
"Aragorn, what is it!" Legolas and Gimli asked, kneeling by his side.
"Quick, get me the knife that stabbed him!"
Legolas grabbed the knife, which was still lying in the grass among the dust of the harpy. He watched in shock as the blade dissolved in his hand, throwing down the hilt in disgust.
"A Morgul blade," Aragorn murmured.
AN
So I know this is a lot longer than what I usually post for these chapters, but I just felt it needed to be told together.
I'm gonna be real, I forgot Merry, Pippin, Sam, Legolas, and Gimli were there for a page or two, so that's why they're not mentioned a lot.
I realize Percy literally said that their weapons wouldn't hurt the monsters, and then Aragorn went and killed that harpy, but that is because Anduril isn't a mortal weapon. (Don't mind me frantically kicking a carpet over the plothole in my fic)
Percy was stabbed by a Morgul blade, so fun. I wonder how his half-god genes will deal with turning into a wraith.
The OG's will remember exactly a year ago when I was posting this story, and I fucked up my ankle. Well, it happened again bitches. I will now go cry in my room and disappear for a week until it is time for the next update. Farewell.
Fallen-Angel signing out.