She was bandaging Thalia's forearm which had been burned by a basilisk when the wolves began to howl. It was not a howl of warning, but one that they reserved for hunter after returning from an expedition. One wolf in particular seemed especially happy, prancing back and forth across the ground like a puppy. "What's with them?" Thalia wondered. She thanked Jude for the medical assistance and pulled her shirt back on, sweeping out of the medical tent without a backwards glance. Jude cleaned up the remnants of some bandages and, after disposing of them, followed the Lieutenant outside, curious to see what had caused the wolves to behave as such. The other Hunters seemed similarly curious, emerging from the tents they had set up on the edge of Camp Half-Blood to investigate. The wolves seemed to be waiting for something, or someone, with very little patience. They paced back and forth, a whine escaping from them as they looked out to the trees.
Jude waited for what she considered to be an understandable amount of time before returning inside the tent. She had been patching up Hunters and, to her eternal displeasure, campers all morning after yet another monster attack. This one hadn't been as bad as the others, Atlas hadn't even shown up, but there had still been an abundance of injuries. The Apollo cabin had provided the majority of the care for the wounded but most of the Hunters had turned to Jude. She had been treating and healing the Hunters for well over four hundred years after all. Her medical knowledge was substantial, and she truly had a gift for the art of healing. She had never lost a patient in all her years, something she was very proud of. That's not to say there were some, one in particular, whom she almost wished that she hadn't had to heal. But she had healed him nonetheless, ignoring the bad feeling she had gotten from the second she had placed her hands on him. In addition to being able to feel the various injuries that someone was suffering from she could also feel their direct emotions. She could feel through the façade that people put up to hide their emotions, even one as deep as his. Ryker had felt such anger at being forced into the Hunt, fury like Jude hadn't felt in a very long time. A deep-seated rage that could very easily boil over into hatred if left untouched. Hatred like Orion bore towards them. But she had tried to look past that anger to the goodness inside him. It hadn't been hard, Ryker wasn't a bad person like Orion was. He simply wanted to be left alone. The wolves had picked up on his real nature as well, greatly enjoying his presence. In fact, if Jude didn't know better, she would have said that such an enthusiastic welcome from the wolves would have only been for either Ryker or Artemis.
She sighed and folded up the blanket she had let Thalia lie on while she was treating the Lieutenant. Jude turned around and was startled into dropping the blanket. Leaning against the cabinet that held all of her medical supplies was Ryker. He had his arms crossed and a contemplative look on his face, which was odd for the usually scowling demigod. Jude blinked and then assumed her blank expression that she wore whenever he was around. "Why are you here?" She asked in a bland voice. "I thought you were at Camp Jupiter."
"I was." Ryker agreed, staring at the ground. "But I left. They took something from me, something I won't be able to get back. Not the original anyways."
"If you came in here to have someone listen to a sob story, keep looking." Jude said coolly. "I don't care. Maybe you should try the wolves. They seem to be the only ones who actually want you around here."
"Which is exactly why I don't want to speak to them." Ryker looked up at Jude now and she immediately knew that something was wrong. She had seen the look in Ryker's eyes before but not from Ryker. She had seen it in Orion's demonically glowing red eyes as he attacked the camp and tried to kill them. They were eyes without remorse, eyes that seemed to find reason in killing. Perhaps even pleasure. "Because I actually like them. You? Not so much? You, you are expendable. Vital to the Hunters and yet so weak. You aren't a fighter. You are prey."
"What do you want?" Jude knew that she should scream for help, knew that she was going to die, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She simply couldn't fathom the idea that her life was about to be ended by the same demigod whom she had saved from dying. It didn't seem fair, it didn't seem right. Ryker had a conscience, he knew how wrong such an action was, so why was he looking at her now like he couldn't care less? Angry, misguided, raised in solitude, all of that aside he was a good person. Her mind racing with ideas, desperate ideas aimed at furthering her survival, Jude began to speak. "What do you think you are doing?"
"Making my own choice for the first time since you and your friends brought me into this war." Ryker said after seemingly thinking about his answer for a moment.
"What choice-?" Jude began to ask, but her words were cut short when Ryker's hand punched into her chest and exited through her back. She stared down at his arm even as blood began to trickle out of her mouth. Strangely she could not taste it, could not even move her lips or tongue to form a word. She sagged forward, impaling herself further on his arm. Ryker supported her weight for a moment before pulling his hand free and stepping back. Jude tried to make her legs move, to stop her fall, but she fell despite her efforts. She did not feel the floor's impact but she knew she had landed from how closely the carpet now was to her face. Blood dripped onto the carpet in front of her, her blood, presumably from Ryker's claws.
Even as the world began to darken and her vision began to dim she saw Ryker crouch next to her head. He turned her onto her back and stared down at her, his eyes showing real pain for the first time since she had known him. Pain, and resolve. The resolve to walk down a road that Jude was certain would end up destroying him. Why am I worrying about him now? She found herself thinking crossly. He just killed me!
"For what it's worth, you should have let me die." Ryker told her honestly, wiping her blood off of his claws and onto her silver shirt. "But you didn't. And for that I am grateful. You probably won't believe me, but I wish it hadn't come to this. Truly. It would have been so much easier if you had just let me go back to my forest. If nothing else, know that you brought this upon yourself. Not me."
Ryker watched Jude bleed out, watched as the light left her eyes. Once she had passed he reached forward and closed her eyes with two fingers. His last words to her had been cruel, perhaps unreasonably so, but they had been necessary. He felt that they needed to be said, even if the person who they had been said to was on the verge of death. He slowly got to his feet and stared at the arm he had thrust through Jude's heart. Her blood had burned his skin like a fire, like the Blessing of Artemis had been outraged that he had killed one of those who shared the Blessing. Undoubtedly Artemis would be there soon to figure out what had killed one of her Hunters. Ryker heard the wolves outside begin to snarl and scratch, moving ever closer to the tent he was now alone with Jude's body in. They undoubtedly smelled her blood, the smell probably causing them great unease. The Hunters would pick up on that tension very quickly and would be investigating the source soon enough. Ryker reached into the quiver he had over one shoulder and pulled out the largest of the arrows he had in there, the one which was too large for even his bow. One of Orion's. With a look of grim determination, Ryker thrust the arrow through Jude's chest where he had hit cut through her with his claw. The arrow was embedded into the floor under Jude's back and left there. The Hunters would immediately blame Orion and Ryker would not be even thought of. Or at least that was the theory. His claws were fairly recognizable and anyone with any sort of experience would immediately see that the arrow had not caused the gaping hole in the Hunter's chest. But that was a risk Ryker was willing to take. Even if they realized that Orion had not been the killer Ryker would already be long gone and without the blessing of Artemis, they would not be able to find him nearly as easily as they had before. Especially since now he would be the one hunting them.
He turned on his heel and slipped out the back of the tent, melting into the trees in seconds. He laughed softly when the sounds of agony and outrage rang through the trees in a scream. "ORION!" Thalia raged, her voice easily traveling through the forest. The wolves echoed Thalia's outrage in their howls and Ryker was certain that they would begin to search for the Giant immediately. They would want revenge, but they would never be able to catch him to exact said vengeance.
Though Ryker showed no outward signs of it, killing Jude had truly pained him. He did not want to kill her, she did not deserve to die after all, but more than that she had not had the chance to fight back. Perhaps if he had given her the chance to scream for help…. But no, that would have defeated the purpose of the assassination. Ryker shrugged off the momentary weakness with a growl and began to move quicker through the woods, putting distance between him and the Hunters.
He ran for perhaps a dozen miles before Orion appeared before him, emerging from the earth as he always did. The Giant waited for Ryker to come to a halt before him and raised an eyebrow in question. "One Hunter is dead." Ryker said. Even to him the words sounded hollow, as if he lacked the conviction the act had taken.
"Just one?" Orion seemed disappointed. "I was hoping that you would kill a few more than just the one you needed to. But, that's just me. Good job though, the Blessing of Artemis is gone. You are free."
"What do you need me to do now?" Ryker asked, running a finger across the smooth metal of the bow Orion had given him. It was a smaller version of the Giant's, standing about six feet tall. Orion's was nearly eight feet tall, exactly as tall as the Giant himself. "Did you want me to try to get rid of some of the other blessings I might have on me?"
"Oh, no." The Giant chuckled. "The man in charge has a different plan for you next. We have someone we need you to kill."
"Who?" Ryker asked, forcing resolve into his voice.
"His name is Grover, he's-."
"A satyr, I know him." Ryker remembered the Satyr from when he had confronted him over smelling like Pan. "So he's my next target?"
Orion nodded. "Him, and whoever else you think is in your way. We aren't really choosy about who you kill. The more the merrier actually."
"What, you don't want me to help you kidnap the demigods?" Ryker asked, one eyebrow raised. "I thought that's why you wanted me to join your little cause."
"I wouldn't say 'little'. Overthrowing Olympus isn't exactly a small task you know." Orion remarked dryly. "As for kidnapping the demigods, sorry. You don't need to know what we are doing with them. Don't take this the wrong way but we don't trust you that much. Just kill who we tell you to kill and don't ask too many questions. Before you know it you will be back to your little forest."
