~ The Brewing Storm ~
SAPHIRA
There is a great commotion in camp that stirs Saphira from her sleep. She judging from the very low level of light seeping into the tent, she deems it to still be quite early in the morning, perhaps first rays of dawn. A hunter's horn sounds off and gets her moving. What could be going on that would warrant an alarm? Then, she hears the excited voices of her sisters outside and the soft, rushed footfalls in the snow.
"Thalia's back!"
"She brought reinforcements!"
"Be ready to shoot any boys that try to flirt with us!"
The lieutenant has returned? Beside her, Chloe stirs and sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What's going on?" she asks with a tired yawn.
"Thalia's party has come back, and it sounds like she brought help. Come on!" Saphira urges her friend to get moving before she hastily pulls on her hunter's cloak over her sleeping attire. She pulls her socks and boots on quickly and hurries to throw open the tent flap, peering outside. Many of the girls are scampering towards the southeast side of the camp, so that must be where Thalia is.
"Hurry up, Chloe!"
"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!" the Apollo girl grumbles. "I kind of preferred it when you weren't a ball of energy. I got more sleep then."
Together, they climb out of their tent and dash through the camp, following their sisters. A small crowd has formed at the edge of the southeast side, so Saphira and Chloe have to push their way through to see what's going on. Laura and Amaris are already at the front, seeming to be just as eager to greet their lieutenant home. Then, there she is. Thalia strides forth into the camp, leading a much larger group than when she had left.
"We're home, girls! And we brought reinforcements!" she announces proudly.
Saphira scans the group that accompanies her, and her heart soars when she sees ten war chariots, each pulled by a pair of armored horses. Each chariot is carrying about five campers, all fully geared with celestial bronze armor, equipped with spears, swords, and shields. At first, Saphira worries about the material of their weapons, until she sees that the familiar celestial bronze gleam appears to have a glint of silver. They must have modified their weapons to be able to deal with the wolves and other monsters they might encounter.
There must be at least fifty demigods that have answered their call for aid.
"Demigods, the Hunt welcomes you! Boys, no flirting with my hunters!" Thalia warns, then narrows her gaze into the crowd of demigods. "That means you, Stoll brothers!"
"We would never!" a male voice calls back at her.
"Don't worry, Thalia," one of the female demigods says, stepping forward. "I will personally ensure that they all behave themselves. Any of them steps out of line, they answer to me!"
The demigoddess reminds Saphira of Xenia a bit. Tall, muscular, radiating authority and power. She wields a large, vicious-looking spear and a broad shield. Her armor bears an engraved symbol of Ares. Of course. Only a child of the god of war could have such a character. Her warning has the other demigods shuffling nervously, obviously taking her declaration completely serious.
"I appreciate that, Clarisse," Thalia replies, then returns her attention to the Hunt. "This war may yet turn in our favor. We'll avenge our fallen sisters and burn those mangy dogs until every last one of them is back in Tartarus where they belong!"
A cry of agreement roars up from the gathered hunters and demigods until she raises her hand for silence. Saphira forgets that Thalia was once an admired hero of Camp Half-blood held in high esteem by her former fellow campers. It's incredible to Saphira that the lieutenant still commands the same respect from the demigods as she had all those years ago, alongside the respect from her fellow hunters.
"Clarisse, if you'd like, you can take your company and set up your part of the camp on the north side. There should be plenty of room in the clearing. I need to speak with my next-of-ranks," Thalia says.
The daughter of the war god nods and clashes her spear against her shield.
"You heard her, half-bloods. Get to work!"
Immediately, the demigods begin to make their way to the north side of the camp, leading the horses to pull their chariots and supplies. While they head off to start setting up themselves up, Thalia comes forward to properly greet her sisters, and Saphira finds herself hurrying to meet her.
"How has everything been? Everyone is fine?" the sky child asks.
"We're all okay, Thalia. We were fortunate enough for nothing to happen since your departure," Amaris replies, stepping forward to hug her.
"Thank the gods! I could hardly sleep the entire trip because I was freaking out internally about what might be happening here," she says, breathing a sigh of relief. Then she shifts her gaze to Saphira, offering her a friendly smile. "Thanks for keeping everything covered."
"Of course. Welcome home," Saphira says, taking her turn for a greeting hug. Thalia stiffens and only stares at her in silence when Saphira pulls away, and she suddenly feels awkward. "What is it?"
"You haven't done that in years," Thalia says with astonishment. Saphira is now very aware of the many eyes on her.
"Yes, the strangest thing, isn't it? She's finally started to come out of her shell while you were away," Chloe chimes in.
"She even joined in a snowball fight with us!" Laura exclaims. Thalia's eyes widen as she glances at Saphira.
"No way!"
"Alright, enough!" Saphira pleads, pulling the hood of her cloak low over her face to hide her flushed, embarrassed smile. "I get it. I was an anti-social loner for a few years. Can we stop talking about it?"
"The hell we can! I want to know more about why you're suddenly being fun and friendly again! What happened when I was gone?" Thalia says, slinging an arm around Saphira's shoulders. Before Saphira has to answer, one of the girls from her traveling party leans in to whisper into Thalia's ear, and she nods.
"Right, thank you, Jamie. Before we bug Saph about her transformation back into the lovable and fun girl we knew her as, we've got some things to discuss," she says and then looks around, past the girls. "Where is Xenia?"
"She has yet to return, lieutenant," Amaris informs her. Thalia's smile wavers, and Saphira doesn't miss the glint of uncertainty in her electric-blue eyes.
"I'm sure she's okay. She's Xenia," Saphira tries to reassure her.
"She's probably on her way back right now," Laura adds.
"Right," Thalia rasps. "Okay. Next of ranks, we need to have a meeting in the tent ASAP. Chloe, be a dear and let Clarisse know to join us in there. She's welcome to bring a couple her own lackeys if she wants."
"Will do," Chloe says before scurrying off.
Thalia then ushers Saphira, Laura, and Amaris off to the meeting tent, only pausing briefly to say her greetings to a couple of their rejoiced sisters. Once they are gathered within the tent, Thalia begins questioning them on how the camp has been running the past few days of her absence. Amaris reports no further attacks or incidents while Laura confirms that her trappers have found nothing during patrols to check their snares, meaning that there appears to be no monster activity in the region… until it's Saphira's turn. She remains true to her story about her encountering and killing the two wolves on a hunt, feeling a twinge of guilt for lying to Thalia, but she has no choice. In altering her telling of the events, she's keeping her wolf friend out of danger.
"And you're sure that there were no others close by?" Thalia questions once Saphira has finished.
"Yes. I haven't run into any others since that day, nor have I found any signs of their activity in the area," Saphira says. At least that part is entirely true.
The tent flaps around thrown open to reveal Clarisse, still in full armor save for the helmet that she has removed. Closer up, she reminds Saphira of Xenia even more; battle-hardened gaze, hungry for combat, like she'd be willing to take on Zeus himself.
"Alright. So, now that we're situated, give me the rundown of this war you gals have been fighting," she says, placing her helmet on the table before her. "I don't think anyone from Camp Half-blood has ever had to deal with the Wolves of Lycaon aside from the Seven. All I know is that they're harmed by silver, which is why we added a touch of the stuff to all our weapons."
"During the war with Gaea, the Wolves of Lycaon, AKA, the Pack, was recruited by the hunter giant, Orion to help him hunt down the Seven. We decided to hunt them down, which reignited an old feud between the Pack and the Hunt," Thalia explains, taking a breath before continuing. "A feud that didn't end with the defeat of Gaea. The wolves continued to be a problem that quickly blew up into another full-scale war between us and them, a war that they've been winning so far."
Clarisse frowns in confusion. "I don't understand. How are they winning?"
"They're not like normal wolves. They're more than twice the size of our timbers. Much stronger, faster, and they still retain their human-level of intelligence," Amaris says.
"They can crush metal in their jaws as if it were a twig," Laura adds.
"I see. How many of the mutts are there?" Clarisse asks.
"We're not sure. Could be dozens or hundreds. They can replenish their numbers by tearing through a village or town and inflicting their curse upon the inhabitants with a single bite," Thalia says.
"That, and also the fact that they reform like any other monster," Saphira pipes up. "It's impossible to know how many there are right now."
"So how are we supposed to be able to beat them?" the war child questions.
Thalia studies the map of the region laid out on the table.
"We can never eradicate them for good, but what we can do is keep their numbers so low that they won't ever be able to keep up a war like this again. A few days ago, a patrol was attacked by a small band of the mongrels. I sent one of my highest out with a company of twenty to track down where they could be hiding. If we can manage an offensive on their lair and kill as many as we can, we can bring their numbers down to a point that the Hunt can manage them without it being blown up into another war."
"Who and where is your highest now?" Clarisse asks.
"Her name is Xenia, and to our knowledge, she is still tracking them down or on her way back… I hope."
That pause tells everyone all they need to know about what Thalia's really thinking… that Xenia 2and her company may not return.
"So, what's our plan?" Laura asks.
The lieutenant is silent for a moment, likely contemplating what they should do.
"We'll give Xenia one more day. If she doesn't return, we'll conduct our own hunt for the wolves," she decides.
"Alright. If that's everything, I'm going to make sure my demigods aren't being idiots around your hunters," Clarisse says, straightening her posture and lifting her helmet.
"That is everything," Thalia confirms, waving around the tent. "Everyone's dismissed."
Saphira follows everyone else out of the tent. It's begun to snow lightly, but with the darkening clouds and winds that are beginning to pick up speed, it's easy to tell that a heavy storm may be on the way. With everything that's going on, she may have to forego heading out to see Lykos today. She hopes that he'll be okay. As a wolf, he should be perfectly well equipped to deal with the cold. She's felt his fur, and it's definitely thick enough to ward off the ice and snow.
"So, Saph. Talk to me."
Thalia's voice disrupts her thoughts. The daughter of Zeus has followed and caught up to her, looking a little curious.
"About what?" Saphira asks, confused by her meaning.
"About you, becoming this social butterfly while I was away. Smiling, laughing, and having snowball fights."
"Oh. It's nothing, Thalia. I'm just… trying to move on," she replies. She hates having to lie to her sisters, particularly to Thalia and Chloe.
The lieutenant looks disappointed that's all there seemingly is to it, but she thankfully doesn't press the matter further.
"Well, I'm glad that you're turning things around. Remember, if you need anything, you can always talk to me," Thalia says.
Saphira nods and smiles at her. "Thank you."
The winds begin to whistle softly, a sign that they're picking up even more. Both girls look to the skies, taking in the sight of the darkening clouds.
"Storm is brewing," Thalia murmurs. "Come on. Let's get breakfast before it hits, because I'm starving."
