~ Storming The Mountain ~
SAPHIRA
The whistle of the wind sweeping through the trees and the falling snow is already whipping out heavily. Yet, the cold is of little notice to Saphira, and she can still see just enough to gaze anxiously up at the towering mountain… and at the mouth of the dark cave before her. Their entire battalion has assembled. The campers have positioned themselves to make up the majority of the front line, with the Hunters directly behind them to provide archer support.
Many of her sisters have also taken perch in the trees to serve as snipers. The falcons roost alongside them. The timber wolves lay low amongst the ground troops' ranks. Saphira remains at front with Thalila, Xenia, Clarisse, and of course, Artemis herself. The goddess is as silent as they are, all of them waiting for her command to begin the assault.
Saphira casts a glance over her shoulder at her Wolf companion. He was kept behind them, his ropes once again lashed around the trees to restrain him from going anywhere. His demeanor is anxious, perhaps even fearful, as he shifts his weight over his paws. He shuffles from side to side, crouching low to the ground with his ears fallen back. He must think what she does.
That this move to attack the mountain will cost them all.
Artemis seems to sense something, because she lifts her chin towards the cave. Her silver eyes narrow as her cloak waves in the wind of the incoming blizzard. Saphira grits her teeth, nervously awaiting her goddess' next command.
"Fire a single shot into the cave," she speaks, directing the order to Laura. "Light it before you shoot."
Laura does as she's ordered, nocking an arrow to her bowstring and holding it for Amaris to light with a torch. Once her arrow is ablaze, she raises and aims up towards the mouth of the cave, pulling back her string. The bow creaks before she releases the string with a snap, and the arrow soars straight into the cave and disappears.
At first, nothing happens.
Then, Saphira hears Lykos become antsy behind her. She turns around. He's struggling much harder against his restraints now, shaking his head and attempting to break free by throwing himself side to side. He tries to get the ropes off his muzzle by scraping his dewclaws over it until he manages to slip it off. The moment his muzzle is off, Lykos unleashes a racket, whining, barking, and growling. He locks eyes with Saphira and emits a sound like a combination of the three, his eyes wide with fear. What he wants to convey is clear.
They should have never come here.
A storm of howls, barks, and snarls erupt from the cave, echoing over the whistling winds. Hundreds of pounding steps ring out and sends her heart racing.
"Demigods, shields!" Clarisse roars, and the campers assert their battle stance, aiming their spears over their shields. The Hunters respond as well, every single girl preparing their bows with arrows. Artemis nocks her arrows along with them, taking steady, unwavering aim at the cave.
Then, the cave's mouth explodes with a churning wave of black. Snow is thrown up in a flurry, obscuring vision more than the storm that rages over them. Hundreds of massive, black beasts stampede towards the battalion with gaping jaws, and that's when Artemis gives her command.
"Fire!"
She, Saphira, Thalia, Xenia, and the other fifty-two girls release their arrows, sending a volley of silver streaming into the ranks of the enemy. Dozens of Wolves go down instantly, their dissolving bodies tripping their brethren and slowing them down further. The Hunt doesn't stop after their first volley, and they continue to fire and shower the enemy with arrows. The snipers in the trees prevent the Wolves from breaking towards the flanks, and the snow soon becomes stained crimson with blood.
Despite the relentless volleys, the enemy still gains ground quickly, their numbers and aggression more than making up for those that are slain and it becomes apparent that this battle will become one of close-quarters combat.
"Hunters, fall behind the phalanx!" Thalia shouts.
The girls fall back as the campers divide by one step apart to allow them to pass through, closing ranks the second that they're behind the shield wall. The Wolves close the distance only seconds after the phalanx is closed, the horde of the beasts clashing against the camper's shields with such force that their entire line is pushed back several steps.
"Hold firm!" Clarisse bellows, and the line finds their purchase in their footing. Their extended spears that stick through the gaps in their wall do their work. The beasts recklessly hurl themselves into the phalanx, running themselves through on the spearheads. Thank the gods that Clarisse had the foresight to lace their weapons with silver, as plain celestial bronze would have done nothing to the Wolves.
The Hunters continue to provide their archer support, firing arrows over the heads of the campers. Their strategy seems to be working for the moment, but it can't be long before the worst arrives on the scene. Saphira knows that if the giant shows himself, the phalanx will not stand a chance to stop him.
"Hyperboreans!"
The alarm cry rings out over the noise of battle. A moment later, a trio of the frost giants emerge from a bursting cloud of snow and ice. They lumber towards the phalanx, trampling a few Wolves that were too slow to get out of their way.
"Bring those beasts down!" Artemis commands as she fires her shot. A cluster of arrows suddenly sprout from the chest of the first of the three hyperboreans. The giant releases a surprised, choked groan before it begins to topple over, freezing into a sculpture of ice as it falls and shatters against the ground. However, the other two hyperboreans quickly unleash a breathy cloud of frost that sprouts shards of ice. The campers lose nerve and break ranks to avoid the incoming frozen projectiles.
The Wolves surge forward, through the broken line and into the midst of the battalion.
"Break line and engage!"
The campers disband their phalanx wall and spread out to turn on the enemy that now surrounds them. Saphira fires one last arrow to down a charging Wolf, but before she can reload, she's rushed by another. Thinking fast, she grips one end of her bow in both hands and swings with all her might to crack the Wolf on the side of its skull, while dipping out of its path with a nimble sidestep. The Wolf yelps and tumbles past her headfirst into the snow. Two timber wolves pounce on the thrashing beast, but even their combined strength cannot keep it pinned. Still, they slow it down enough for Saphira to reload and dispatch it with an arrow to the torso.
She hears pounding steps behind her, already too close for her to defend herself, but she turns just in time to see the Wolf be dropped by a shot that pierces the back of its skull. Saphira looks to the trees from which the shot came from, and spots Chloe perched high in the branches. The daughter of Apollo gives her a brisk nod as she fires and kills another of the Wolves.
"Make cold!"
The booming voice has Saphira spinning on her heel. It's one of the remaining hyperboreans, swinging a large club made of ice. Quickly, she nocks and fires an arrow, scoring her shot in the giant's shoulder. It makes a pained bellow and staggers from the arrow, but it never stops swinging its great club. A pair of campers attempt to stand against it, shields first, but the hyperborean's strength sends them sprawling into the air. It then spots her and stomps through the snow towards her, raising the club high over its head, but she's much quicker.
Dropping her bow in the snow, Saphira dives forward with a roll, drawing her knives mid-roll and slipping between the hyperborean's legs. It smashes its icy club into the snow where she had just been standing, sending up a flurry of white powder as she springs up the giant's back, slashing with her knives as she goes until she pounces and stabs both blades into the base of its neck. The hyperborean howls in pain and stumbles about, flailing its arms around like a giant toddler. Saphira glances over her shoulder in time to see them headed right for a large pine, mere seconds from getting crushed between it and the giant's bulk.
She hoists herself up onto its shoulder and launches herself skyward just before the hyperborean crashes back against the tree. She hammers her knives into the side of another nearby pine and shimmies around the trunk to perch on a thick branch and looks back down at the hyperborean. It didn't miss her jumping off its back, and looks angry with her for wounding it. It sucks in a great breath of air before bellowing its icy breath at the base of her tree, rapidly freezing the trunk below her. She guesses its intention just as it acts upon it. The hyperborean barrels through the frozen trunk, shattering it to splinters and toppling the entire tree over as she holds on for dear life.
"Eugh!" Saphira grunts as she drops off the falling tree to land in the snow with a roll. Snapping her gaze back, she sees the giant bearing down over her, ready to crush her.
Suddenly, there is a flash of silver and the hyperborean's head rolls down from its body before both freeze over and shatter into a million pieces of ice. Artemis stands in the midst of the hyperborean's remains, whipping her long knives clean of blue blood. The goddess is a whirlwind, a force of nature as she wastes not even a second in laying waste to other monsters. She's so fast that the Wolves cannot escape her slashing knives, singlehandedly slicing her way through nearly a dozen of the beasts in mere seconds.
Saphira then realizes just how much a difference the Goddess of the Hunt makes in battle. If not for her being here, they surely would have been massacred by the Wolves by now. She alone makes it seem as if Thalia and Xenia are doing almost nothing by comparison, and Saphira is not the only one to notice. Many of her sisters also throw an awe-stricken glance to watch Artemis make short work of any Wolf that she sets her sights on. Even some of the campers seem to be invigorated by this and rally around her, driving back the enemy out of their ranks. The Wolves are routed, seeming to realize that to be in such close quarters with her is a terrible idea, and they begin to retreat.
Surely they must only be regrouping?
"Artemis!"
The roar-like male voice thunders over the noise of battle, and both sides suddenly cease everything. All heads turn up the mountain path, and Saphira's blood run cold at the sight of the one who had spoken.
A muscular, rugged man, ten feet tall with wheat toast skin and dark, undercut hair swept up into spikes. He's dressed in a jerkin, with black leather breeches and a belt saddled with a large hunting knife. He holds a large, composite bow in his left hand and a quiver slung over his right shoulder… but the most recognizable and intimidating feature, is his pair of bronze, mechanical eyes. The eyes targeting system shines red-focus lasers right down at the goddess, who glares right back up at him.
"Orion!" Artemis growls through clenched teeth.
"Long time no see, old friend!" Orion calls to her, wearing a smug, arrogant sneer on his lips.
Artemis steps forward and points her knife up at him threateningly. "You do not get to call me friend, giant!" she spits the word giant like its bile in her mouth.
"My, my! Someone is still holding her grudge!" he sneers.
"You murderous, perverse bastard!" The goddess bristles at his words. "You think I would forgive you for all the lives you took? For all my sisters who you slaughtered?!"
Orion tips his head to the sky in a cackle, as if what she said, the crimes that he committed, was some kind of joke.
Artemis growls and begins to advance, but a Wolf's howl pierces the air. Saphira instinctively snaps her gaze towards Lykos, but he's still bound to the trees. He makes eye contact with her and rapidly shakes his head, telling her that the howl was not him. She turns her widened eyes back around and sees another arrival, a Wolf that greatly outsizes the others; definitely much taller than her, solid black like his brethren. The other Wolves that still remain yield to him, dipping their heads low in submission as he approaches.
The massive Wolf stands below Orion at the base of the boulder and begins to morph until a tall, lean man stands in his place. Only his fangs, claws, and blood-red eyes remain in his human form. Lycaon…
Saphira tightens her grasp on her knives, itching to drive them through both the Wolf King and the Archer Giant, but her rational side warns her to stay put and wait for Artemis' signal.
"Fitting that you both are here," Artemis growls. "Now, I can save time on having to track and kill you two separately."
"Prude of the Moon, I would love to see you try," Lycaon snarls back in retort.
Orion clicks his tongue in warning. "Ah, ah. Remember, old friend. She's mine." He then flicks his hand almost dismissively at the rest of the Hunters and campers. "Her brats, on the other hand… kill as you please."
"With pleasure!" Lycaon spreads his arms out over the scene. "My Wolves! Finish killing them all!"
