Welcome to chapter four of Dealers Choice, this chapter has to be my favourite to be do so far! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4: This Way And That

I had managed to get some sleep last night and woke up feeling more refreshed then I have in months. Thankfully there was a shower in the bathroom connected to the bedroom, so I took the longest shower I possibly could and then dried myself and got changed into the clothes he left in the room for me, a purple top with SPQR on it and pants. "pretty cool" I muttered to myself as I opened the door and walked won the hallway to where I could hear some voices. I rounded the corner and saw Jason talking with a middle-aged woman with dark flowing hair down to her waist while he was making food in the pan. He noticed me and smiled "morning Blake" to which I replied "good morning Jason" the lady he was talking too turned to face me, her face is what I could only describe as wolfish in a sense.

She looked like the kind of lady who would bite your face off if you ticked her off. She stood up and stalked over to me and sniffed the air all the while not taking her eyes off me. "so…this is the son of Janus that arrived yesterday?" with a hint of a growl at the end of her sentence, I guessed she must be important if she was using my fathers name instead of my own. I nodded "Blake Jefferson" I held out a hand. Jason went bug eyed in the background and facepalmed. The woman just looked at my hand like it had no right to be there, so I slowly took it back. "sorry but…who exactly are you?"

She stood up to her full height which was well over seven-foot-tall and she spoke "My name is Lupa, the wolf goddess judger of Heroes, protector of Rome and leader of Wolves." I swallowed and realised I had just stuck my hand out to shake a goddess's hand instead of bowing. I quickly bowed to make amends for my earlier mistake while I could see Jason behind her trying his best not to laugh "rise pup" Lupa commanded to which I went bolt upright and stood to attention. "you will follow me to my home and you will be tested to see if you can join the legion" I swallowed down the nerves and nodded "yes lady Lupa" I replied. "goodbye praetor Grace" Lupa growled out and stalked out of the house without another word. I looked at Jason who just looked at me "go Blake I'll see you soon" and I followed Lupa out with out a glance back and with Verdict on my finger I stepped outside and began my new journey.

I had followed Lupa all the way through camp while we were walking, the campers had all stopped their daily activities to stop and train as I heard whispers "son of Janus" "that's lady Lupa" Lupa muttered at the front "Ignore them young one" I just kept my eyes on where we were headed and it seemed that was outside camp as we entered the tunnel I hoped that the cyclops wouldn't be there again when we exited onto the other side. But as we came out I had a sigh of relief as the wreckage and the pile of dust that was there was gone. I ran my fingers on my other hand over verdict in a gesture to relax myself.

"Lady Lupa, may I ask a question?" she simply nodded or was it a bob of her head as she walked? But I went ahead and asked anyway from behind her "do you know my father well?" there was a tense silence before she answered "yes, I do. Your father Janus is a friend of mine, at one point he saved my life even" she waved her hand dismissingly at the mention of that and continued "your father, considered a "minor" god is far from it, he guards the entrance to Olympus, he is the god that saved his younger brother Saturn when he was cast from Olympus by Jupiter and your father saved me from the wrath of the giants and titans during the first giant and titan wars."

She paused, stopped and turned to face me as we were about to go into the forest. "Blake Jefferson son of Janus, I swore an oath to your father that I would make you the best warrior possible and that means you will try your best with me is that understood young one?" I nodded answering back "yes Lady Lupa."

Just like that she turned around and trudged into the forest with me trailing behind her. We walked for what felt like hours as we finally came into a clearing with an old white house in front of me, it looked like a house from the colonial era. With the huge windows and big balcony. Lupa kept going and walked into the front door and I followed her and the moment I went inside the doors closed so I spun around to try open the door and it was gone, replaced by a corridor and then I glanced around and there were three more identical ones around me. I seemed to have been placed in a maze! I felt a pressure in the front of my head build up and when I opened my eyes,

I could suddenly see everything more clearly in the maze as I slowly scanned the room for a possibly way until I looked down the third corridor and a voice in my head seemed to say, "That way!" so I followed it I noticed the details on the walls had pictures and sketching of beings on the wall, possibly the Olympians , in one sketching it is a man with a trident and a man with a lightning bolt doing battle, Neptune and Jupiter it seems.

While in another it shows a man with two faces holding a woman from falling off a cliff, it looks like my father saved Lupa more then just once form the giants. Another shows the gods now doing battle against the giants with Lupa and Janus fighting side by side against an army of monsters. Huh it seemed they were more than friends I chuckled just thinking about that. But I continued my way through the maze as each crossroads I came to I could easily navigate I kept thinking about why I could see so easily and then I realized, my father he's the god of passages also! So, I must be able to navigate tunnels and mazes and such easily, it must be one of my powers! Eventually I reached the end where Lupa was standing there with her arms crossed. "took you long enough pup, a son of Janus would normally be out of there in under 2 minutes, it took you 20 minutes." I nodded, and my head dropped, as I just stared at the floor mulling over her words.

She sighed and told me to follow her to which I did. "now son of Janus draw your weapon and show me what you can do" I drew Verdict and she launched herself at me, knives appearing in her hand when she was mid-air, so I had little time to swipe and suddenly I was on the floor with her on top of me and I'm pinned to the ground. I groaned under the weight of her on top of me. After she got off me the training went like this for a couple of hours, back and forth, he attempting to hit her and Lupa beating me to the floor in submission, it really was a sight to behold.

Until finally I swiped my javelin at the right moment and I caught her in the chest launching her back across the room into the wall with a crack. She looked up and grinned evilly at me to which I swallowed and stepped into the stance she told me to stay in with my point going straight at her chest. To which she charged at my again with a flurry of swipes and I was swinging Verdict with little effort blocking every strike as if it was natural and I swept my leg out and tripped her up and she fell onto her back and I went to stab down with the point to which Lupa rolled away and sprang up at me again causing me to take a step back.

Right over a rock with my foot caught on and I tripped and fell onto my back and the spear fell out of grip again and Lupa suddenly had her dagger at my throat. "I believe I win young pup, you are getting better Son of Janus, I believe you will make a fitting member of the legion, go join your brethren." I looked at lady Lupa "may I ask one final question?" she nodded, and I continued "were you and my father married?" she seemed stunned at this question and she was silent for a long time while just looking at me and she simply replied "yes" I smiled at her answer. "so, what happens now lady Lupa?" I asked her, and she quickly replied "you go the camp, you join the legion" I frowned thinking about how short my training was with her. She seemed to read my mind, as she replied saying "from now on training is your own Blake Jefferson, Son of Janus, you must make your father proud, you must do as Romans do, you have much potential young pup, so you must embrace Rome and its training methods as your on, is that understood?" I nodded, and she said, "now head to the camp and tell the Praetors your training is complete. That you are not to become a probation, I had a deal with your father and Jupiter on that.." I nodded once more, and I shrunk verdict into its ring form by tapping the javelin shaft 4 times with my index finger. "I have one more item for you!" she turned, went into another room and came back out with a helmet and a set of armour, but not only was it imperial gold like my spear the helmet had two faces, one on each side of it facing east and one west and the armour breastplate had two faces on the front of it facing towards my arms.

"this is a gift from your father to give to you when you completed your training with me young one, make sure you wear into battle to make him proud because I already know he is" she smiled that wolfish smile of hers and I put the armour on and held the helmet underneath my arm as I thanked Lupa again and told her goodbye and then I turned around and walked back towards camp.

That's a wrap for Chapter Four!

Ryano!