A/N: Hey guys, I'm back, I for whatever reason have had a spurt of motivation to write; probably to avoid doing AP homework lol.
Anyway hope you guys enjoy this chapter and thanks to everyone who followed, favorited, or reviewed!
"love the longer chapters! also where's percy? i thought he escaped the jar? and he was on display?!" -brookeyy14. Thank you, I'll try to do more! Only Percy's sword and some monsters he captured were on display in the museum. You may see him meet the rest of the characters soon though!
"Still don't understand why this doesn't have more people reading it"- Chaosmaker55. Thank you so much :) Hopefully more people start reading!
1410 BCE, Island Of Crete, City of Knossos.
It had Perseus longer than he had initially expected to cross the island and get back to Knossos. After he had woken up next to the spoils from the defeated Chimera he had begun his long trek back to prove to Minos he had killed the beast.
Alexios was incredibly grateful, and after a quick goodbye Perseus had been on his way. He glanced down at his shield which still bore some melty spots from the Chimera and the Hydra which he had barely escaped from.
That wasn't the important thing though, if the signs were at least semi-accurate the city should be coming up soon. After a couple more minutes of walking the city gates appeared through the trees. Perseus finished the curve in the road which brought him just before the pretty massive doors that barred his entrance.
A quick glance from a sentry determined he wasn't a threat and the gates swung open enough for him to pass. The large goat horns strapped to his back drew some weird looks as he stepped into the bustling streets. Merchants shouted out their 'fantastic' prices and farm animals brayed as they were led around the square to potential buyers. Although Perseus preferred the outdoors or the ocean he could admit that seeing so many healthy people of his culture in the same place.
If the phoenicians had their way this would all be a pile of ash and bones. The thought of that outcome drove his feet harder onto the cobbles as he exited the square and headed towards the palace complex. As he passed he heard snippets of news about how the war was going mediocre at best.
The Cretan culture and civilization was heavily based upon trade and with the Phonecians raiding their trade ships there was only one outcome. The people of this city and this nation needed people to help defend their livelihoods and Perseus wanted to help do that.
He was so wrapped up in this thoughts that he looked up and he had reached the palace steps. Bronze-armoured guards with blue plumes on their helms stood by the sides of the entrance. He approached the stoic soldiers who crossed their spears in front of him and demanded that he drop his weapons before continuing.
He left his shield and sword at the door and continued into the throne room. The grandeur of the palace never failed to amaze him. Columns stood on either side of a white marble walkway that led to the throne which itself was covered in gilded inscriptions of past kings and deeds.
The chattering advisors that filled the sides of the walkway slowly quieted, as he approached the throne which Minos sat upon. Perseus kneeled, "Your majesty, I have slain the beast as requested." He reached around his back to untie the goat horns from his pack and once they were freed he laid on the ground before Minos. The curved and intimidating horns were too large to be of any normal goat which Minos took good note of.
"Rise Perseus" Minos commanded. "You have done the people of this island a great service. Seeing this I look past your age and appoint you to the position you requested, if you still desire it."
"I do" Replied Perseus, his eyes still trained on the floor.
"Good, you will be one of the kybernetes upon the warship Potnia Theron. You will find the ship waiting in the harbor. Give this scroll to the Trierarch. As a demigod I expect great things from you."
"Thank you sir" Perseus replied before standing up and leaving the throne room. Perseus had always thought very highly of Minos. He was very kind with the power given to him by the gods. He doubted any other king would have the faith in him to appoint him to such a position.
The buildings became larger and larger as he approached the harbor. More buildings to store goods were mixed into the the confusing urban mix of homes and stores.
The wind whipped past him, tussling his hair, it brought with it the smell of salt and the cries of sea birds. Perseus breathed deeply, he loved the smell of the ocean, maybe it had something to do with his parents.
He had always loved water but after Poseidon had claimed him, at least that what he thought that mark that had floated above his head was, since that day he had been trying to control water. He had so far succeeded in moving a medium sized glob around but it exhausted him to the point where he had to sleep for several hours afterwards.
Perseus looked around the harbor and saw what had to be the Potnia. Its bow and stern were raised above the rest of the deck, a tier of oars stuck out from the curved hull below its mast and furled sail, men walked around on deck loading supplies from the dock onboard. Perseus approached the boat and stepped onto the deck from the dock.
The sound of the creaking wood and lapping waves reassured him as he walked up the stairs to the stern of the ship dodging bustling crew the whole time.
A smile was set firmly upon his face as he handed his scroll to who seemed to be the Trierarch and he mentally prepared himself for the long journey and the brutal battles that inevitably awaited him.
1410 BCE, Aegean Sea.
I looked up to see an arrow whiz right over me and imbed itself in the mast I peeked my head over the gunwales of the ship to see three more arrows whiz by, this time significantly closer; I ducked back behind the wood.
Crouched beside me was one of my fellow kybernetes, Sarpidonas, who also happened to be my best friend, over the three months that we had been patrolling the Aegean for Phoenicians I had settled into my command over my section of the ship and made a couple of friends, Sarpidonas was a rather tall, well built Cretan with closely cropped brown hair and eyes.
He the one to show me around the ship and introduce me to the rest of the officers onboard. The shouting of the enemy ship brought me back to the rather perilous situation at hand.
The enemy ship had come out of basically nowhere and we had barely enough time to drop our sails and find cover before they started shooting.
I nodded at the men crouched at the stern behind the gunwales as well. I shouted "Now!" and the twenty five of us or so on deck stood up, drew back the strings and released. The arrows shot towards the enemy ship, now it was their turn to dive for cover.
I was pretty useless with a bow so while Sarpidonas directed the archers I sprinted below decks to find a brazier, I ran past the oarsmen at their stations straining to propel the ship forward. I burst through the doorway into the store room and grabbed the bronze obverse disk and some chunks of wood.
My feet carried me back up topsides, grabbing a torch on the way out. The phonecian ship was significantly smaller than ours was and as a result, we had so far suffered no casualties, due to archers on the enemy ship having to shoot up at us.
I skidded to stop behind some of the archers, put the disk on the 'ground', set the wood into the brazier and tossed the torch in too. Some of the archers turned around to wrap pieces of fabric around their arrows and light the shaft on fire in the brazier.
Soon flaming arrows began to embed themselves in the ships hull and into its sail and rigging. Aristid, the Trierach was still directing the rowers below deck as the Phonecian ship began to flee. That would be my reaction too if my boat was flaming and under relentless arrow fire. He walked up behind Sariponis and I,
"Good job, Sardiponas, Perseus."
"Thank you sir." We replied in almost unison.
The archers eventually stopped firing as their arrows were no longer reaching the target. The efforts of the men on deck now turned to collecting the arrows bristling out of every part of the ship to replace the ones we had fired.
"Perseus, I want you at the helm, Sardiponas, go inform the rowers they can withdraw their oars." Astrid commanded before he turned and walked over to the mast to direct raising the sail. I winked at Sardiponas as I walked past him to the stern,
"Looks like I'm more important than someone"
He put out his foot to trip me, which I dodged then informed me with a smile "In your dreams." We both paused and looked at the Phoneican ship heading into the horizon.
"We'll get them next time." He asserted before we both headed to our respective tasks.
A/N: Hey guys, hopefully you guys liked this new chapter, it's not as long as the previous one but hopefully its action packed enough! All you wonderful people reviewing, favoriting, and following is the best motivation, so thank you :) Thanks again for reading and I'll see you guys soon!