"Have fun?" Silver asked interestedly when she found Ryker wandering around the camp. The Romans had gathered for some manner of after-game celebration.
"I think I scared Frank," Ryker said without a trace of care. "He transformed into a bear and I made him attack his friends."
"Well, people generally don't like being controlled." Silver advised. "Did you at least apologize?"
"No." Ryker narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the trees that lined the very edges of the Roman city. He had done some more research in the aftermath of the game and had discovered that each time a legionnaire had been taken no one had seen them disappear. It was as though they had simply vanished into thin air during the night.
Silver saw his studious expression and raised one eyebrow. "So what's this plan of yours?"
"Find whatever it is." Ryker said simply. "Whatever it is won't expect to be hunted back. The camps are on the defensive right now."
"So what, are you planning on wandering into the woods alone?" Silver asked, not following.
"Something like that." Ryker glanced over at the horizon, watching as the sun began to disappear. "There's not much time left in the day. If this thing is going to attack, it will attack when darkness first sets."
Silver watched him carefully as he pulled on the clawed gloves and shrugged off the backpack. "I was joking about the whole walking into the forest alone thing." She told him haughtily. "I was sent to keep an eye on you, I wouldn't be doing my job if you got captured."
"If you want to go with me, go as an owl." Ryker told her. "That way even if I get caught you will have an idea of whatever this thing is to take back to Reyna and the others."
"Are you expecting to get caught?" Silver asked.
Ryker allowed himself a rare grin. He wouldn't admit it, but he was looking forward to tracking down whatever it was that had the demigods in such a panic. Whatever manner of creature it was, Ryker was certain that he would be able to best it. "I'm planning on killing it." He said quietly.
"I thought you were planning on setting some sort of trap?" Silver reminded him.
"I am." Ryker nodded. He examined the gloves one more time before tossing her the backpack. "If it comes for me, I want you to keep an eye out."
Silver watched him as he walked off towards the woods with confidence seeping from him. The nervous looking guards nearly jumped out of their skin when Ryker ghosted past them, both of them fumbling for their spears. "H-halt!" The female guard shouted, pointing her spear at Ryker. "Where do you think you are going?"
"Into the forest." Ryker answered. "Going to stop me?"
The guards exchanged a look and they slowly shook their heads. Ryker set back off into the woods. The guards were further unnerved when he stepped past a tree and seemingly became one with the forest. In reality Ryker simply hid his presence, but to them it seemed like he had ceased to exist. He moved deeper into the forest, silent as a ghost. Quieter in fact. Ryker didn't speak. The Lares seemingly did not stop talking. When he was about a hundred meters away from the guards Ryker sensed someone else in the forest. He didn't react until he passed by where the person was hiding. In an explosion of movement he lunged to the side and grabbed hold of whatever it was that was hidden in the shadow of a tree. Nico di Angelo gave a shout of surprise when he was forcibly pulled from the shadow he had been hiding in. Ryker blinked in surprise when he saw the pale demigod and quickly released him. "What are you doing here?" He asked, confused by the son of Hades' presence. He had told no one of his plans to leave the camp, apart from Silver. But even if she had gone to tell someone he had not given them enough time to track him. Apart from that, tracking him in the forest should have been nigh on impossible. Only the Hunters of Artemis and the goddess herself had been able to find him.
"How did you do that?" Nico asked, clearly unnerved. "I was a part of the shadows and you grabbed me!"
"You were hiding in a tree." Ryker told him. "Son of a nature goddess, remember? You can't hide from me in a forest, no matter where you try."
"But that shouldn't have been…" Nico blew out a frustrated sigh and shook his head. "Never mind. We can talk about this later. For now though, what are you doing out here?"
"I could ask you the same thing." Ryker shot back. "I'm trying to catch whatever this thing is. That's what the gods want me to do, so this is the most direct way of doing things. Now what are you doing out here?"
"Making sure that you don't get yourself killed!" Nico scowled. The expression seemed well practiced on his face. "Whatever this thing is has taken over a dozen demigods, and you just came out here by yourself? Do you have any idea how stupid that looks?"
"I never said I was alone." Ryker inclined his head up to where a spotted brown owl sat peering down at them. Silver hooted in greeting and shifted on her perch, ruffling her feathers for good measure.
I agree with him, for the record. She offered.
No one asked you bird.
Remind me to bite you later.
Not going to do that.
"Okay, you have her with you." Nico allowed, waving at Silver. "But that's not enough! You should have told us what you were planning so that we could talk about it!"
"Why would I do that?" Ryker frowned. "I can handle whatever this thing is without your help."
"Do you even remember what Mars said?" Nico hissed, suddenly furious. "He told you that you will have to depend on more than just yourself! You might not realize this, but prophecies are no joke! If the gods have taken this much interest in you there is a good chance that whatever is coming is no joke."
"I was told to find out whatever it was that is taking demigods." Ryker said stubbornly. Silver hooted in protest but neither Nico nor Ryker paid her any mind. "Like I said, once I'm done here I am leaving. End of story. Whatever happens after that is your business."
"So what about the other demigods?!" Nico shouted. "Are you just going to let them remain missing?"
Ryker sighed and shook his head. So much for remaining hidden. Whatever it was that was taking the demigods would have undoubtedly heard the commotion and would have given them a wide berth. "Look, I'm sure that all of you are very good friends and what not. I'm not. The people who got taken are nothing to me. I owe neither them nor any of the rest of you any loyalty."
Nico looked like he would enjoy nothing more than to run Ryker through with the black sword that hung at his side. "You… you…" Nico struggled to find the words that would describe Ryker's cold manor. He glanced up to Silver for encouragement and frowned. "Where's Silver?"
Ryker glanced up and immediately sensed something was amiss. The normal sounds of the night had vanished. The crickets and birds of the forest were silent. That was a phenomenon that only happened when something dangerous or unknown was lurking in their territories. They were the forest's warning system and Ryker had not been listening. "Silver!" He shouted out with his mind and voice alike.
He ripped off his gloves and dug his hands into the dirt, listening intently for the sign of anything amiss. For a moment Ryker heard nothing, but after a beat he heard the faint distinctive sound of footsteps on the grassy earth. He grabbed his gloves and shot off through the trees in the direction that the footprints had come from. He left Nico standing where they had been arguing without another thought. The trees seemed to bend around Ryker as he ran, feeding off the energy of the forest to push his body to even greater speeds. As he ran he felt the distinctive pressure of Silver's mind coming closer and closer. Ryker had just closed in on her presence when it seemingly vanished. He broke past a line of trees as a large hole in the ground closed with impossible quickness. Standing over the hole was a massive man with glowing red eyes and a large black mechanical bow. He glanced over at Ryker and his red eyes seemed to change their focus. "You!" Ryker snarled, advancing on the giant as he pulled on his gloves. "What did you do with Silver?!"
"Was that her name?" The giant laughed and shook his head as he pulled a massive red and black arrow from the quiver on his back. "I didn't ask. Don't really care. You shouldn't have followed her. I can't have anyone see me."
Ryker leapt across the clearing and slashed at the giant. The giant moved back with impossible quickness and smashed the shaft of the massive arrow across Ryker's back. "I don't have any use for you." The red eyed giant said coldly, kicking at Ryker with his metal tipped boots.
Ryker, who had been stunned by the impact of the arrow, felt several ribs break as the large foot connected with his side. He went rolling away and landed on his back, gazing up at the night sky as he struggled to draw in breath. "Why you…" The words hurt to even speak and Ryker tasted blood on his lips, but he ignored both factors. He got woozily to his feet much to the surprise of the giant. "Who are you?" Ryker gasped out. He took a step toward the giant as a tremor of pain racked the broken half of his rib cage.
"Tough one, aren't you?" The giant asked. His red eyes seemed to change again, the pupils widening and narrowing. "Fine. I'm going to kill you anyways, might as well tell you. The name's Orion."
Ryker remembered Artemis saying something Orion, but he couldn't recall what it was. "Give… Silver… Back." He took another step towards Orion, his eyes blazing anger.
"Sorry." Orion told him carelessly. "But she's gone. I would worry about yourself though. You have bigger problems."
Ryker felt the hand that Mars had marked begin to glow white hot. He gave into that heat and it grew into an inferno as it ran up his arm and from there throughout his body. Orion's red eyes narrowed and he set the arrow onto the bowstring. "I don't know what you have planned, but this is the end of the line for you."
The giant sent the arrow loose and the shaft ate up the distance between them. The fire that poured from Mars' mark had spread to every part of Ryker's body now. The pain was great, but Ryker found it was bearable. When the arrow was an inch from Ryker's chest he sidestepped and the shaft went skittering off into the forest. He ran at Orion again, but faster this time. The giant swatted at him with the massive black bow but Ryker was able to avoid the attack. His claws went to work gouging out bloody furrows in Orion's legs as Ryker hamstrung the giant. Along with seemingly increasing his physical abilities Mars' mark seemed to accelerate Ryker's anger. He went after Orion with all the fury of a cornered beast.
Ryker had just brought Orion to his knees when the fire that permeated his being suddenly extinguished itself. He blinked in surprise and caught the end of Orion's bow as the giant swung it hard at Ryker. The demigod went tumbling back for the second time in minutes. The wounds he had inflicted on Orion seemed to be healing with impossible speed, the golden ichor quickly stopping its flow. The giant slowly got up off his knees and nocked another arrow to his bow, gazing at Ryker down its sights. "You can't kill me." Orion told him coldly. "Only a god and demigod can kill a giant… And now maybe not even then."
He couldn't have dodged Orion's arrow. Not in the state he was in. Ryker watched as the arrow left the bow and traveled the distance between them. It was almost as if it were in slow motion. It was made all the worse when the black and red shafted arrow cut into the center of his chest and blew him off his feet. He was pinned to a tree, gazing with disbelief at the arrow. Orion slowly lowered the bow just as another pit opened in the earth. The giant gave another long look back at Ryker before leaping into the pit and disappearing. Blood poured from Ryker's chest, coating the shirt he was wearing. He managed to get one hand onto the arrow and gave it a halfway decent pull, but the arrow was embedded too deeply in the tree behind him. Ryker's hand fell away and his world went dark.
Hello, hello, my readers. Bit of an action-packed chapter this time. Before anyone says anything, here are two points I want to make. First would be that yes, this chapter was rather fast paced. It was intended to be. I wanted to convey the suddenness of Ryker's decision to do things by himself. The second is that yes, you read correctly. Silver is a demigod. More on that later of course. As always, thank you so much for reading. I appreciate it more than words can express. I wish you the best. -Hallowed
