Chapter 31
Everyone who had a life in or around Camp Jupiter knew an attack would be coming any day now. They had defied the odds for too long, and the attack had to be imminent. The legion had scoured Mount Diablo searching for this entrance to the Labyrinth, but they had found nothing so far.
Percy and Cassie had made plan after plan in preparation for an imminent attack, and had decided on hosting war games even on top of and around the mountain to prepare for a scenario that could lead to some sort of advantage for them. There wasn't a single person in the legion that didn't know just about every inch of the mountain by this point, and Bianca Di Angelo as a daughter of Pluto, who was the god of all things under the Earth, had discovered countless numbers of cave entrances, and tunnels, which meant the truth was they had only discovered about half of them.
It had been two weeks since the encounter at Yosemite, and the Guard had been stationed at camp ever since preparing for the inevitable blood shed. Percy had pushed the legions harder than ever before to prepare them for an uphill battle, and he was confident in the progress shown by all the cohorts that they could defeat any force the Titan army threw at them.
Other than the cohort training the guard had kept up with their own. They pushed harder than ever, and when they faced Percy nothing was held back. Each member of the guard wanted to do whatever it took to give Percy a better chance at surviving the Great Prophecy. Jason and Bianca teamed up against him, often proving to be the most difficult pair for him to work out since their powers were so different, but he reveled in the challenge.
Since raising to Praetor Percy had proven to be extremely busy around camp, he tried his best to make time for his friends to not allow his life to be fully consumed by his training, though they all knew that the Endgame was coming. Percy had been working on Wargame exercises for the legion to conduct on Mount Diablo, and today he looked forward to participating in the training exercise.
Percy stood before the legion on the field of Mars proudly, "Legionnaires!" His call silenced the excited chatter around the field, "Today we will attempt to simulate what an attack from Labyrinth could feel like. In order to do this three cohorts will descend the mountain top to attack, and two cohorts will defend. We can count on being outnumbered by our enemy, but I believe we show the superior tactics, skill, and intelligence that will make this exercise much more difficult than what the real attack could entail. Cohorts 2, 3, and 4, you will attempt to assault the ground forces. Cohorts 1, and 5, you will attempt to repel the enemy forces. You must hold the line, and not allow them to pass towards our camp's borders. I will fight with the defending cohorts, and Cassie will fight with the attackers, now PREPARE YOURSELVES."
A cheer went up throughout the legion, and Cassie led her forces up top, while Jason, Dakota, Michael, and Summer made their way towards Percy. The four Centurions would be leading the charge, but it was up to Percy to break down the plan for them. Bianca came to stand at his side as he grinned at his friends, "Cassie is no slouch, and she has the advantage of knowing all my defensive strategies that I have put in place for the real invasion so I have had to think creatively in order to make something different that might work."
The four centurions listened carefully as Percy pulled a bronze disk that projected an image on the display as he lit it up, "The green is us, and the red is the attacking force. My plan is to simulate what it would be like if we managed to find this Labyrinth entrance before we are attacked. I am going to have Bianca take me up to the top of the mountain, and have Michael hold down the main front line. Jason I want you to split your cohort and try to bottle up the forces from the right flank. If you can separate the cohorts then you can crush the legionnaires in the middle, and then the numbers should be pretty even. Dakota I want you to reinforce Primus Pilus to make it look like those are the people you have. From their vantage point it will be difficult to tell that so many are missing. A good part of the mountain is too steep to fight or climb down so that will leave a smaller area for them to attack. We have advantages and we have to use every single one of them."
Michael then asked, "What are you going to do from the top?"
Percy grinned, "During the real battle I plan to cause rockslides with my power as an Earthshaker, and have Bianca shadow travel me to areas our forces are getting hit the hardest. During this exercise I am going to have Bianca transport me around and cause disruptions in the formations. Little tremors, push people over, stuff like that. Hopefully my girl is ready to do lots of shadow traveling."
His eyes went to Bianca and she blushed when Percy called her his girl, but the others all grinned at the two. When the insinuation hit Percy he blushed too, "I meant my-"
Michael laughed, "No it's okay Percy don't stick your foot in your mouth on this one. I will save you the headache. We have our orders, and we will do our best to hold the line."
Percy nodded, giving the demigod a grateful look, "Good go lead your cohorts to the best of your abilities. Good luck everyone."
The group split apart leaving Bianca and Percy alone for a moment. There was an awkward silence for a few moments when he smiled sheepishly at her, "I didn't mean to embarrass you. I was just trying to have some fun. Wasn't really thinking."
Bianca looked at him in bewilderment, "You think you embarrassed me because you called me your girl?"
Percy's brain seemed to stutter there. He felt like they had been dancing around each other for the last few weeks, and he wasn't sure what to say, "Well I guess it was just unprofessional of me to say that while I was breaking down the plan of attack."
Bianca rolled her eyes, "Unprofessional? Who cares? We are all probably going to die in the next few months. I think a little unprofessionalism is acceptable."
Percy grinned, "So you didn't mind me calling you my girl?"
Before Bianca could respond a messenger ran up, "Sir the Centurions have passed the orders down the line. We are ready to begin the games."
Percy nodded looking away from Bianca as her grin made him want to blush, "Thank you Jacob. At the sound of the horn the games can begin. Cassie is still pushing her cohorts up."
"Yes sir I will pass the message down."
With that the son of Fortuna took off down the hill while Bianca came up to him and bumped his shoulder, "Why do I feel like everytime we might have a moment it gets interrupted."
Her boldness surprised him, so he winked at the girl, "Well one of these days we will get away with it."
This made her laugh as she took his hand, "One day I am just going to kidnap you in the shadows, and take you somewhere we won't be interrupted. The Underworld if I must."
Percy wasn't sure if she was kidding, but before he could banter back he heard the sound of a war horn, and knew the games had begun. Without prompting Bianca pulled him towards a nearby shadow, and the two disappeared. The shadow travel was a short trip to the highest point of the mountain that had a shadow, and below them he could already see the three cohorts in a large pyramid formation marching down the mountain. Percy knew this would be far more organization then that the Titan army would muster, and he also knew they couldn't march a force this size out all at once, but it will still be a good test for the first and fifth. If they can stop this force then he liked their chances against the Titan army.
The young Praetor examined the force below searching for weaknesses. IF this were a real battle he was confident he could have easily destroyed this first wave with his power as an earthshaker, but he couldn't kill his fellow legionnaires in a game, so he sought disruption instead. He put his hand on the ground and caused a mild shimmer making many in the pyramid scheme to stumble, but it was clear Cassie warned them that he would try this, because in the weak points the rank quickly closed. They were probably only fifty yards from colliding with the first cohort and half of the fifth who were locked in tight formation only three deep.
The son of the seas frowned at the lack of effectiveness his tremor had caused, and he turned to Bianca, "Can you summon some shadows to wrap around a few ankles to trip them up?"
Bianca nodded her head, closing her eyes, and taking a look of focus. Somewhere along the lines he saw the pyramid start to falter more, and this time it was more costly as Jason's force ambushed them from their right flank. This caused the pyramid to crumble a few levels, but the large force surged forward in hopes of overwhelming Michael and the first, but they held like a perfect wall while Jason surged through the ranks fighting aggressively, and even moving down the line in hopes of cutting off the force in the middle. Percy grinned, "Get us down there, and let's join Jason."
Bianca smiled offering her hand again, and when Percy took it they shadow traveled. Unlike the first trip which seemed nearly instant this trip felt much longer, and when they exited the cold realm of the shadows they were in a cold dark area. It was so dark Percy couldn't even see. Thankfully he was still holding Bianca's hand who was now squeezing his tightly, "Bianca where are we?"
She said nothing for a moment, and then quickly let go of his hand letting out a gasp of pain, "BIANCA!"
He quickly searched through the dark trying to find her, and his hands easily found her downed form, "Bianca are you okay? What happened?"
She gasped, "I don't know! I tried to shadow travel us out of here, but I can't. My power is being blocked by something."
Percy frowned, "Do you know where we are?"
"I'm not sure. I would guess we are somewhere in the mountain. I tried to shadow travel us down to the front lines, but I don't know what happened. I suppose I could've over shot us, but that hasn't happened since I first learned how to shadow travel."
"Take my hand, and let's try and find a wall. We have to be careful there could be a weakness in the floor." Percy said carefully.
He felt the small hand go in his, and he felt a small amount of strength and courage return to him as he slowly guided the daughter of the Underworld behind him. With his front foot he tried to touch the ground before shifting weight on it. He didn't want to risk the floor suddenly ending and then tumbling off a cliff, or falling into water, or falling into the abyss. It was anyone's guess at this point what might happen.
They walked through the dark with agonizing slowness for several long minutes when Percy finally found the wall. He sighed in relief when his hand made it and began tracing his hands along the wall to see if he could find a ceiling, but as far he could tell now it was an endless blackness that made it a little hard to breathe. Suddenly though his hand found an indention in the wall, and the large cavern seemed to illuminate with a small light that came from the wall. A Greek Delta gave off a soft blue glow that finally showed Percy and Bianca the magnitude of the place they came into. The cavern was massive, and ceilings were easily thirty feet high. Bianca gasped, "Percy we found it. The entrance to the Labyrinth. The Greek Delta is the sign of Daedalus."
Percy's eyes widened as he realized she was right, "But how is that possible? How did we get forced into this place by accident?"
Bianca looked thoughtful as she looked around the area, "Maybe my father guided us here."
"If your father knew where the entrance was I think he would've told us by now." Percy said in confusion.
"Ancient laws and interference, you know how it is."
"But if he brought us here that sounds like a lot more interference than finding some other way to leave the message for us." Percy argued.
Bianca looked contemplative at this as she pushed her hand on the delta and the wall shimmered and collapsed in a pile of boulders making Bianca jump backwards in a panic thinking she had caused a cave in, but instead a new doorway had been created. Percy stared in trepidation, "Forward leads us into the Labyrinth. Backwards has to take us wherever this dumps out. We would know where the exit the Titan will have to take. We need to go back."
Bianca shook her head, "What if backwards takes us nowhere and we get hurt. We don't know how I got thrown off path into this area; we may not even be in Mount Diablo. I think forward is our best option."
"What an interesting choice you have half bloods." A deep voice entered the cavern.
"One path takes you to certain death." A lower voice said.
"While the other takes you into the Labyrinth."
"What will you choose?"
"Forward or backwards?"
"Death or life?"
Percy and Bianca drew their weapons looking at a man with one body, but two faces. One looked one way, while the other looked the opposite. The man was dressed like a doorman, but it was impossible to look at both faces at once. Percy cleared his voice, "Identify yourself."
Both heads cackled, "I am Janus."
"The God of Choices, and you are being presented with a difficult one."
"I'm your best friend."
"I'm your worst enemy."
The heads were taking turns speaking and Percy tightened the grip on his spear. Bianca took his spare hand, "What do we do?"
A female voice came from inside the Labyrinth, "Janus be gone. It is not time for Perseus Jackson and Bianca Di Angelo to make their choice."
Both faces on the two faced God looked sour as one turned to the woman that was stepping into the cavern, "Queen Juno."
"What a pleasant surprise." The other head said.
Juno had an unpleasant look on her face. Her goatskin fleece made her look regal, and clearly her appearance made the minor Roman God uneasy.
"Do not flatter me, Janus. Be gone." Juno said, and with a wave of her hand the minor god vanished.
When it was just the three in the cavern Percy and Bianca slowly kneeled. Percy said, "Queen Juno. Thank you for staving off our decision."
The woman smiled which made her seem sinister in the light glow of the Greek Delta, "It is my pleasure demigods. Rise."
Percy and Bianca got off their knees, and Juno spoke, "It was I who guided you Ms. Di Angelo. I led you down into the Labyrinth."
The son of Neptune felt uneasy at her tone, but didn't comment, and merely bowed his head, "Thank you my lady. You have given our side a great advantage in the coming battle."
"Do not be so sure son of the seas." Queen Juno chided softly.
Bianca questioned this immediately, "What do you mean my lady?"
"I have granted you access to the Labyrinth, but still you must find a way to navigate it. Going through this door will lead you to your first test, and you must act swiftly. Time passes differently here in the Labyrinth, and your friends at Camp Jupiter do not have forever." Juno said as if it was of no consequence.
Percy felt a small bit of anger in his chest as he spoke, "We should find an exit and get back to camp immediately."
"Oh but then you will give up a game changing advantage. Leaving will lead you down a path to much more death and destruction than you can possibly imagine. In order to save the Roman way of life you must be able to navigate the maze." Juno said simply.
Bianca put a hand on Percy's chest to calm him down as she spoke, "Queen Juno, is there any advice you can give us then to make our task go as simple as possible. Legend only tells us one way to navigate the Labyrinth but Ariadne's string has been lost to antiquity. We have no hope of finding it on such a short deadline."
The queen of the gods looked to the young woman with a sinister grin, "Pass your first test Bianca Di Angelo, and then find my son. He is an old friend of the inventor and he will be able to guide you to his workshop where you will be able to acquire an ability to navigate the maze. Do this, and you will stop the attack on Camp Jupiter in time to save your homes, and be able to launch an assault on the Black Fortress in retaliation. Victory is in your grasp you must only be...bold enough to get it."
With that the woman began to glow brightly, and before Percy or Bianca could question her further she was gone.
Percy immediately swore, "Dammit! We don't have time for this."
Bianca sighed, "Queen Juno did us a great service by getting us down here. If we can pass this task she spoke of, and then get to Lord Vulcan's Forge, we may have a chance of salvaging this."
Percy took her words into consideration and then nodded, "We need to get above the surface somewhere and send Jason and Cassie an Iris message about what's happened. If we don't, the camp will panic."
Bianca nodded her head in understanding, offering her hand, "Well that means there is only way to go."
Percy nodded, taking her hand with a slight smile, "Forward."
Together the two delved into the maze quickly in hope of saving their home.
(A/N) The entrance to the Labyrinth has been found, and now we can begin the events that will lead us to the battle for Camp Jupiter, and of course the battle at Mount Othrys. We are marching towards the end, and I can't wait to show you guys what's next. Shout out to James Marx for beta approving this chapter.
Please follow my new discord page! Trying to build up a server where we can all gather, and talk Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and all sorts of other fun topics. I will also be talking a lot about the future of my works so if you're interested I will provide the link below just be sure to delete the spaces out of the link. Cheers!
discord. gg /RBBZJgBu
