Chapter 31

The five of them trekked through the icy plains, the sun was bright in the sky but did little to provide any heat, but at least they could see, not that there was much to see, just white with a blue sky stretching for miles.

Damien had no idea if they were going the right direction but he was sure that Reyna knew how to use a compass, he remember Hazel saying that she had always had a good sense of direction, so he just followed the group, trying to keep his mind on what they were going to face.

"You are quiet"

Damien almost forgot that Hazel walked beside him, he looked down at her as they continued their journey

"Just thinking is all" he replied with a slight smile

Hazel nodded and returned the smile then her face became a little more serious

"Are you ready for what is ahead?" she asked, her golden eyes going back to watching the horizon

Damien shrugged "I hope so" he couldn't answer confidently because he honestly didn't know how he would do in a proper fight "I haven't had as much experience as the rest of you have when it comes to this sort of thing, I don't want others to get hurt if I mess up"

"I'm not going to lie to you Damien, it won't be easy, but just stay close and do what we say" Hazel said "No running off" she gave him a pointed look

She turned away her eyes focusing on something in the distance, Damien followed her gaze and saw a difference in the flat horizon line, a slight peak

"Reyna?" Hazel called

The raven haired Praetor had stopped and was looking at the horizon too

"I see it too" Reyna replied "That must be the so called Ice Palace, Thamyris Glacier, this is it"

Damien could see everyone else's posture change, the big guy, Markos had his hand already on his blade and the three girls became a little more focused, Damien did the same

"I hate the fact there is no cover" muttered Annabeth, her grey eyes darting around

"Agreed" Reyna said "We have no choice but to approach it face on, we just need to be ready for anything"

Markos inhaled deeply, standing close to Annabeth, Damien noticed that the blonde gently placed a hand on his arm and whispered something to him, his shoulders relaxing slightly, he really was one of these warriors, not quite like the romans back at Camp Jupiter, a little more wild… like a caged beast, very protective over Annabeth.

Damien took a deep breath and looked back to Reyna, not realising that her eyes were watching him, her face didn't show any emotion but in her brown eyes there was concern, she dropped her gaze and turned back to the glacier

"Let's get going, the mortals might not have much longer before the damage is irreversible"

And so the group continued towards the icy mound in the distance, with each minute that passed Damien could feel the air change, he wasn't quite sure what it was, maybe the prefight energy or perhaps even the fact that the muses's magic was fading and it had started to affect the Demigods, he hoped not.

The glacier just kept getting bigger and bigger, with nothing to measure distance against, none of them could tell just how big or how far away it was until they had actually reached the entrance, it was dark inside, shadows reaching back as far as Damien could see.

They came to a stop by the entrance, Reyna pulled the torch from her backpack and shone it into the cavern, it barely illuminated anything, this was a large and gloomy place and it put the Praetor on edge, it was so quiet, she had expected to run into someone by now, a guard perhaps, she refused to believe that Thamyris was working alone, he must have had help to capture the Muse and that meant there could be danger around any turn. Reyna hated the unknown.

The rest of the group also shone their torches around, Damien watched as they all readied their weapons, he did the same, drawing the golden sword from it's hidden place as a belt, he felt a little more confident with the cold gold in his hand, he hoped the confidence would carry him if a battle would ensue, the last time he had fought with a sword it had been at Camp Jupiter during the war games and that had ended up with him spending the two days after in the medics building.

He took a step forward to stand closer to Reyna, he knew it was silly and that she was a much more skilled fighter but his instincts told him to, if anything happened to her he wouldn't know what to do, even if she did not want him, he would protect her no matter what the cost to himself.

They all proceeded forward and into the dark cave, seen that there was a set of steps made from the ice, forcing them to go into a single file, Reyna did not like this, making it easier to pick them off one by one, but there was no other choice, it was the only way down from what she could see.

Slowly they descended, Damien staying close to Reyna, his eyes scanning the shadows and the great depth below, he could not see the bottom of the spiral ice staircase and that made him feel on edge, he had no idea how far down they had left to go and he agreed with Reyna, it was too quiet.

Further and further down they went, following the circle of steps, Damien was thankful that it was at least a little warmer down here, he removed his gloves so that he had a better grip on his sword.

"I can see the bottom" Reyna whispered as she glanced back to Damien, who also looked downwards

"We should have run into someone else right now" Annabeth muttered "I don't like this, there should have at least been a trap of some kind"

"I agree" grumbled Markos as he guarded their backs

When they neared the bottom, Damien noticed something odd on the floor by the steps, almost like a floating mist that was barely visible, but the way it moved wasn't natural, he grabbed Reyna's arm, stopping her from going any further, she froze

"What is it?" she asked, eyes scanning the surroundings, looking for the threat

"Maybe nothing, but does the floor looks… odd to you" he pointed to the ice just below Reyna's feet

Reyna followed his gaze and inspected the ice, careful not to get too close to it though

"Hazel?" she gestured for the younger demigod to come forward

Hazel's golden eyes shone for a moment as she allowed her magical senses to examine the fog "It's enchanted with faun magic" she murmured

"A faun is helping Thamyris?" Markos glared down at the floor "Great what do we do now?"

Damien got the sense that Markos didn't like things that he couldn't physically fight, the son of Letus studied the floor, seeing that it was only the ice closest to them about 5 metres away it seemed to be normal, he then looked towards the wall, judging the curvature to it, envisioning the foot placements for a wall run

"Anyone got any rope?" he asked