Well here we are, the tenth chapter! What a milestone. Honestly I never dreamed this story would become so long. I apologise for the long wait, though, I've been busy with my FYP.
"Someone summoned it." Nico said. "Someone inside Camp."
"But who?" Piper asked. "Who would do such a thing?"
Nico's breakfast over, they were meeting in the Big House to discuss the situation.
"Someone with a grudge against the hunters," Jason guessed.
"When I find this person," Thalia growled. "I'm going to make him wish he was dead."
"How though?" Percy asked. "Grill everyone until they confess?"
"The mechanism of summoning a hellhound isn't common knowledge." Chiron, who'd been silent so far, said thoughtfully. "Whoever did this is not an average camper."
"Someone senior, then." Jason said. "Like one of the head counsellors."
"Or a child of Hecate," Percy added.
"That's possible too." Chiron nodded.
There was one thing Nico couldn't figure out. "If someone knew how to do it, why hadn't they done it before? These things used to happen all the time, didn't they?"
"They did," Chiron agreed.
"Whoever it was had no reason to do it before," Piper hypothesised. "Until the hunters came."
"It's likely to be someone who has close connections with the hunters," Nico told Thalia. "Ask your girls if they know anyone whom they might have offended."
"Just as likely to be a prank from the Hermes campers." Percy pointed out.
"Can't we rule somebody out?" Thalia said exasperatedly. "If there's no progress to report back the hunters they might go on a rampage."
"You're the lieutenant. You can't keep them in line?" Nico asked.
"Imagine if five of your sisters had just been killed. Do you think you'll be able to stay in line? It's bad enough that they hate this place. I can barely keep them under control. They could destroy this place if they wanted to."
"They could try." Nico snorted.
"I'm serious."
"Oh, I believe you." Nico said. "I just don't believe they can destroy the whole camp."
Thalia gave an exasperated sigh. What was this guy's problem? "They have explosive arrows. There's over thirty hunters. A single volley could wipe out all the cabins."
Jason shook his head. "Thalia's right. This is serious."
"Anti-violence spells?" Percy suggested. "The Hecate cabin could whip something up."
"The hunters are trained to disable such things. It won't work." Thalia said.
Nico pounded his fist on the table. "Set a sting."
"Sting?" Thalia asked.
"Get the hunters out of the cabin. Go to the beach or something. We'll create an opening for the assassin to strike again, but this time we'll be ready."
"That could actually work." Piper nodded. "Thalia?"
"Maybe," she tilted her head as she mulled it over. "I'll see if I can get them out on an exercise or something."
"It has to be a convincing reason," Jason pointed out. "Otherwise your assassin might see through it."
"I'll think of a good one," Thalia sighed as she stood from the table. "Meanwhile I better get back before they start a riot."
They carried out the sting that very evening.
The bodies of the dead hunters had been cleaned and dressed, but unlike Camp Half-Blood the hunters buried their dead. Chiron and the dryads had created a small clearing in the woods large enough for a small hut made completely of silver. Inside the hut were the stone graves of the five hunters, laid out in silver coffins with their weapons by their sides.
"This place is sacred ground," Thalia told the assembled hunters. "Only followers of Artemis will be able to find it."
All the hunters were sniffling and weeping. Annabeth and Piper passed a box of tissues around as Thalia gave a short eulogy.
"Nothing," Nico muttered, watching the group of girls with a pair of binoculars. "The hunters are better hidden than Percy's box of cookies."
"Percy has cookies?" Annabeth, who'd heard him through the comlink, blinked, surprised, before resuming her scrutiny of the hunters' surroundings. "I didn't know."
"How did you know about them?" Percy asked incredulously.
"You had a crumb on your face when you arrived for breakfast two mornings ago." Nico replied. "Where else would that have come from?"
"Guys, I'm not seeing anything." Jason was fifty metres above the canopy of leaves. "There's no air movement outside the shrine."
"Not a soul around for half a mile," Nico confirmed. "Not even a monster. Looks like our assassin isn't coming."
"This is such a stupid idea," Annabeth growled under her breath. "Why would the assassin take on a crowd of heavily armed hunters?"
Nico slapped a palm to his forehead. "You're right. Ugh, I can't believe I didn't think of that."
"What are we going to do now?" Piper asked.
"Back to the drawing board," Annabeth groaned.
"The assassin might still show up." Percy said hopefully.
"Highly unlikely," Annabeth concluded. "But we'll keep watching until the hunters leave. Just in case."
A few of the hunters who'd been particularly close to the fallen sisters stayed in the forest for the entire night, much to Nico's annoyance. It was seven in the morning when, sleep-deprived and irritable, he headed out of the woods and back to his cabin.
His skeleton butler opened the door for him, this time smartly dressed in a suit and bow tie.
"I'm not even going to ask where you got that." Nico grunted. He kicked the door shut with his heel and threw his sword belt into the umbrella holder. "Stupid hunters. I don't know why I bother watching over them. They bloody deserve to die."
He pulled his clothes off and headed for the bath, half-tripping as he shuffled out of his jeans.
The warm water was too much this time and he fell asleep in the bath. He would probably have continued soaking until he dissolved in the water if not for the explosion fifteen minutes later.
"What the—?" The sleep evaporated from Nico's mind just as a second impact shook the ground, making the bath water ripple. Nico jumped out of the tub in a single fluid motion, landing impressively on both feet in a shower of soapy water droplets. "Not even an hour of sleep!" he roared furiously.
Two skeletons dried him off as he stepped into his pants while the butler buttoned a shirt around him. Nico stormed out of the bathroom, grabbed his sword and flung open the door.
Smoke reached his nose, making him twitch in reaction, then the flickering flames and flying silver arrows caught his eye. "Oh, holy shit." He shook his head, part amused, part shocked at the sudden turn of events. "It's about to get real."
The Hermes cabin next to his, partially collapsed, was on fire. Flames roared twice the height of the old, wooden building. As Nico watched, the damaged roof caved in, sending a fresh eruption of smoke and a shower of embers into the sky. Heat blasted him in the face like dragon breath.
Over the crackling flames a new, more familiar sound reached his ears, the metallic clash of sword on sword. Through the billowing smoke partially obscuring his vision he saw flashes of light reflected off weapons, people struggling against each on both sides of the circle of cabins. Amongst the more numerous orange Camp t-shirts were the distinct silvery garb of the Hunters of Artemis. Nico swore as he realised Thalia's worst fears had been realised. Artemis's handmaidens had gone on a rampage.
"That's it," Nico muttered. "I'm done being a nice guy."
Skeletons marched out of the Hades cabin in a double file, Nico's butler, now dressed in a leather jacket and jeans like a biker, in the lead. He carried a heavy length of chain in one hand that he started to wrap around his fist. In his other he had a Stygian Iron knife that he handed to Nico.
Behind him came ten others clad in full Roman armour. They carried long Spatha swords and round Greek-style shields with an assortment of other weapons strapped to their backs.
The last two skeletons were from Nico's closet and were dressed in fluffy white bathrobes that immediately turned black with soot from the billowing smoke. Nico scowled at the robes until they held up baseball bats.
"Fine," he snapped. "You, you and you," he pointed to the three bathroom attendants. "Do something about that." He jerked a thumb at the fire.
He turned his gaze back to the other cabins just as a second building caught fire. Flames rolled out of Cabin Ten's windows as an unseen incendiary detonated inside. Half its roof blasted upwards in an explosion of smoke. The other half collapsed. Nico could hear the Aphrodite campers screaming from across the commons area.
He drew his sword and stabbed it into the dirt. "Come join the party."
The ground erupted as more skeletons clawed their way to the surface. There were ten of them in total. These skeletons were dressed in rags under Greek breastplates and helmets. All of them carried short Spartan gut-cutters and large metal shields.
Scanning the scene, Nico realised most of the fighting was either on his side of the row of cabins or across the field at the Artemis cabin. The Artemis side's conflict seemed particularly fierce, while on his side the campers were mostly unarmed and were getting a pummelling from the Hunters of Artemis.
"Right," he pulled his sword out of the ground. "You ten with me." He pointed to the Roman skeletons. "We're going to break things up on this side. You lot," He pointed to the Greeks. "Get over there and teach those little girls a lesson." He pointed his sword at the Artemis cabin.
Both groups saluted and headed out. Nico broke into a run towards the Ares cabin where, unsurprisingly, the campers seemed to be putting up the most fight.
A sudden wind came howling out of nowhere, a powerful gale that blasted all the smoke from the battlefield in an instant. Thunder boomed, making Nico's eyeballs rattle in their sockets. He realised that either Thalia or Jason must have gotten wind of the situation. A spear of lightning split the sky, another peal of thunder, then rain fell.
In an instant the entire area was blotted from sight. It was a cloudburst, a torrent, a seething pelting storm that churned the grassy field into mud. Nico yelled curses into the wind as water fell into his eyes, obscuring his vision and making him blink.
"Damned children of Zeus!" he spat, even though he knew the rain would help put out the fire.
Ever-prepared, he pulled a pair of swimming goggles from his jacket pocket and put them on, wincing as the elastic band flattened one of his ears. He ran on towards the Ares cabin, knowing that the two groups would kill each other if he didn't intervene.
The first combatants to come into sight were a pair of girls, both hunters. They were peering hopelessly into the rain, trying to take aim with their bows. Nico ignored them, running past towards the bigger fight ahead. The hunters gave an exclamation of surprise as he ran past them, taking aim at his back as it disappeared into the rain, but before they could fire a line of skeletons ploughed into them from behind, knocking them to the ground in a stampede of skeletal feet. The teenage girls yelled as the Roman legionnaires fell on them with batons and clubs.
The next hunter Nico saw was more alert and levelled her bow at him as the boy appeared out of the rain, but Nico was already too close and swung with his sword, knocking her bow aside, and punched her in the face. The girl swung her bow at him as she reeled backwards, pulled a knife and swiped at him. Nico leaned back from the two blows, blocked a third, then his skeletons arrived to shoulder-barge the hunter to the ground. The teenage girl spat oaths at him before a skeleton slammed her head into the mud, knocking her out.
Nico and his skeletons had arrived to the main fight at last. Campers and hunters fought in twos and threes, cursing in the rain as they hacked and slashed at each other. Already several lay groaning on the ground. Nico's only consolation was that there seemed to be an equal number of casualties on both sides.
"Take them all down." Once the Ares campers had been whipped into a frenzy Nico knew there was no reasoning with them.
Nico and the skeletons plunged into battle. The skeletons fought with batons instead of their swords, trying to minimise the damage. Nico himself tried to use the flat of his blade, but the Hunters were no mean fighters and he quickly realised he was taking too much time. He cut one hunter down, sweeping low with his sword to sever a leg muscle, then darted away into the rain before she could react. He moved fast among the fighting groups, cutting and vanishing before they even realised he was there. He moved towards three hunters as they beat an Apollo camper to the ground in a rain of blows, but by the time they realised his presence it was already too late. Nico cut the first one across the back as she straightened. The second turned, blade out, and Nico's knife hilt connected with her temple, knocking her out. The third lunged for him and Nico caught her arm, snapped it, kicked her in the knee and ducked away.
Caught unawares in the downpour and occupied with fighting each other, the first few brawlers went down easily. Then the hunters realised they were being picked off and started to get organised.
The fighting was frenzied and chaotic. Nico could see nothing through the wind and rain. Hunters suddenly seemed to come from all directions. He disarmed one and kicked her in the stomach, then two others rushed in from behind and he spun around, swinging his sword in a wide arc. The hunters were fast and trained and both ducked under his sword, lunging up with blades out. Nico stepped fast back, a knife flashing past his face. His own knife swept out in response and a hunter gasped as she dropped her blades, her forearms nearly severed. Nico back-cut her savagely, sidestepped and shoved her into the second girl, then grunted as a piercing pain erupted in his back. A third hunter had snuck up behind him and stabbed him with a knife; she now ripped the blade free, sending up a spray of blood that instantly diluted in the rain. The hunter ducked and kicked him in the back of the knee. Nico fell hard into the mud.
"Murderer!" the hunter yelled.
Her hesitation was her downfall. One moment the black knife was in Nico's hands, the next he'd plunged it backhand into the hunter's leg. The first hunter came from the front and Nico's sword cut her down.
There seemed to be no end to the silver-clad girls. Another charged out of the rain as Nico levered himself up. The girl swung high and early, a beginner's mistake. Nico dropped back down and the girl ran herself onto his sword.
"Little girls." Nico plucked the silver knife from her fluttering fingers and brought it down on her head. "Don't worry. You'll live."
An icy pain was beginning to fill his chest. Nico took a deep breath, gasping slightly as he felt something gurgle. "Missed my heart by a whisker. Those bitches."
Then Lanesra appeared out of the rain. "You." she growled, seeing the fallen hunters and silver knife in his grip.
"What do you think you're doing?" Nico yelled. "You want to kill everyone in Camp?"
"You murdered my sisters." Lanesra drew back her bow. "You don't deserve to live!"
"Go on, then." Nico said calmly. "Don't keep my old man waiting."
Lanesra screamed in fury and released the shot. Nico vanished.
The experienced Hunter spun around immediately, realising he'd shadow-travelled, but Nico was cannier and had shadow-travelled in front of her rather than behind. Lanesra froze as she felt Nico's blade at her throat.
"Too slow, Second Lieutenant." Nico smiled despite his sudden exhaustion. He kicked her in the back of her knee, bringing her down. "Drop your bow. Hands where I can see them."
Lanesra obeyed, shaking with rage. Nico nodded. "Good girl."
A roaring sound filled Lanesra's ears. She surged upwards, both arms grabbing for her knives without her conscious control.
Nico raked sword and knife across the back of her upper arms as she rose. Lanesra howled in pain and Nico kicked her into the mud.
"One of these days," Nico planted his boot between her shoulderblades as she struggled to rise. "That attitude is going to get you killed." He tapped her skull with the flat of his blade, knocking her out.
The rain was beginning to stop at last as Nico stepped over the unconscious girl. Nico pulled his goggles off and blinked a few times, surveying the scene.
Hunters and campers lay groaning on the ground. His ten skeletons stood over them, silver arrows and knives sticking out of their bones. Everyone was covered in mud.
Chiron came galloping up, longbow in hand. His expression was a mixture of sorrow and anger as he took in the carnage, the armed skeletons, and finally stopping at Nico. "Nico…"
Nico sighed. "I didn't do it."
If you've made it to the end still standing, like Nico, leave me a review. As always, thanks for reading!