"It is amazing what can be accomplished when the threat of imminent death is there to provide a nice amount of motivation." Dante said cheerfully as two of the guards, one Greek and one Roman, led him back to camp. He kept his hands on his chakrams, casually running his thumb across their razor sharp edges.
The Greek and Roman glanced back at him with angry glares before turning their attention back to the path before them. The two Camps seemed to sense that something was amiss and a small group of them met the sentries as they entered the main settlement. They shot questioning glances to Dante and he raised his chin and smiled in a superior fashion. He heard muttering begin as he passed, catching brief snippets regarding his odd weapon choice and choice of clothing.
Sure enough, more and more demigods appeared at the edges of the path they walked. The sentries paused before a rather large tent and turned back to face Dante. "Stay here." The Roman woman commanded, slipping into the tent. The Greek shot him a scowl and followed suit a moment later.
Dante smirked and followed right after them, the cloth doors of the tent not so much as moving as he passed silently past them. There were two people inside the tent, not including the guards who were looking very nervous now. The two other people were both female, hunched over a map stretched out on the desk before them. Knives had been used to keep the corners from rolling in, standing straight up on the desk. Dante knew both of the women, their appearance and garb a dead giveaway. "Thalia Grace." He said softly, his voice scarcely more than a whisper. "And Praetor Reyna."
They both looked up sharply and Reyna narrowed her eyes, glancing to the sentries. "I thought you told him to wait outside?" She snapped.
"Oh, they did." Dante said, striding forward and patting the Greek sentry on the shoulder as he passed. "But I have no reason to listen to them, or you for that matter."
"And who might you be?" Thalia asked, tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear and frowning slightly.
"My name is Dante." He answered politely. "I think, Thalia Grace that you may want to summon your patron. I've been sent to speak to the leaders of the two camps and the Hunters of Artemis."
"And who sent you?" Reyna demanded, rapping the table with a knuckle and fixing him with a dangerous look. "Making such demands is dangerous, particularly nowadays."
"I am aware of your… problems with the Corrupted and Tartarus." Dante informed them. "Very aware. But, to answer your previous question, I was sent by Ryker. Ryker… and Orion."
The speed at which Thalia removed a dagger from the corner of the map and launched it at Dante was impressive to say the least. Unfortunately for the guard directly behind Dante, the dagger sailed right through his chest and buried itself in the flesh of her shoulder. She fell to the ground with a confused cry of pain, her spear clattering to the floor beside her. Dante glanced around and frowned disapprovingly before he glanced back to Thalia and chided, "Now, you see what you did? Really should be careful with knives. They can really hurt someone."
Thalia was still moving before he had finished speaking, momentarily having been stunned from the ineffectiveness of her knife against Dante. She grabbed him by the front of his shirt, appearing somewhat surprised at her ability to actually touch him, and gave him a rough shake. "What do you know of Orion?" She hissed, her voice low and deadly.
"A fair amount actually." Dante said, stepping backwards. Thalia's hands, which had been gripping his shirt tightly, were suddenly holding nothing. He brushed off his shirt, lip curling in disgust and rolled his eyes. "But, as I said, it would be best for us to have this conversation with the leaders all present. I do so despise repeating myself."
"Who's your godly parent?" Reyna demanded, looking from Thalia to the wounded guard. The other guard had immediately gone to his aid and was now wrapping a bandage around the wound, the bloodied knife lying discarded on the floor.
"I don't know, and I really do not care." Dante answered, "In all honest-."
"Melinoe." Thalia said suddenly, unexpectedly. "I've seen an ability like that before. One of our Hunters is a daughter of Melinoe, her name is Lydia."
As if on cue, a flaming brand appeared in the air above Dante's head. He glanced up in disgust and looked away just as quickly. "I have no parents." He said coldly, turning on his heel and marching to the tent's exit. Over his shoulder as a last aside he added, "Once the leaders have been gathered, bring them to the camp's border. Not the tree line, the tent line. We will meet you there."
"'We'?" Thalia repeated warily. "Who is we?"
"The Hunters of Orion." Dante said before slipping out of the tent, leaving a breathless silence in his wake.
Thalia and Reyna slowly met one another's gaze, incredulous disbelief written all over their faces. "There's no way." Thalia said after a few moments of silence. "None. The Hunters of Artemis-, we… he was lying there is no way."
"He wasn't lying." Reyna said grudgingly, glancing to her dogs hidden by the tent's entrance. "They didn't growl so much as once, he was telling the truth."
"I don't believe it." Thalia declared, exiting the tent. Reyna watched her go and then departed the tent as well a few moments later, going to search for the Chiron, Connor Stoll, and Butch Walker. They were the current impromptu leaders of the Greeks and it made coordinating with them… difficult at best. Connor seemed only really interested in causing mayhem for the Corrupted when they attacked, or stealing everything that wasn't nailed down when they weren't planning. Butch on the other hand spent more time with the pegasi than he did planning and pulling him away from them proved to be a significant battle in of itself.
With her head full of angry thoughts and possible explanations for how this Dante character might have fooled Reyna's dogs, Thalia quickly made her way to where the Hunters' tents were and threw open the door to the first tent on her right. As expected, the Hunter she was looking for was there lounging on the couch reading a bloodstained copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. She glanced up at the arrival and nodded to Thalia before returning to her book. "Lydia!" Thalia barked, startling her into dropping her book onto her face.
When she retrieved her book from where it lay on her face her face had twisted into an irritated scowl. "Yes, whatever can I do for you?" She asked coldly.
"Can you lie?" Thalia asked bluntly.
"Can I lie?" Lydia asked, opening her book once more though her attention remained on Thalia. "Nope. Never. Everything I have ever said is the absolute truth. I can't even spell the word lie."
"I'm being serious." Thalia snapped, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at her.
"Whoa, what happened to you?" Lydia asked, frowning at the tone her lieutenant was using. "You seem really pissy."
"Answer the question, Lydia!" Thalia said tiredly.
"Yes, of course I can lie." Lydia said, stating the answer as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Everyone can."
"No, I mean like can you get away with lying in front of Reyna's dogs?" Thalia elaborated, eager to have the answer. "Can your siblings?"
"I don't have any siblings, first of all." Lydia said, slightly disappointedly. "Never have. And… if this is about the books missing from the Roman library, I'm not giving them back. They are mine now, and those dogs can get over it."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Thalia said, not at all following the direction this conversation had taken. "What books?"
"What are you talking about?" Lydia asked, clearly hesitant to incriminate herself any further.
"There was a boy who came to the camp-."
"A boy?" Lydia asked, suddenly serious. "Was he a Corrupted?"
"No, at least, I don't think so." Thalia said, waving aside the question. "He did the same thing you did, where you can't be touched. He did it twice, so I know it for sure."
"So you think he might be a son Melinoe?" Lydia asked, suddenly eager. She had never actually encountered another child of Melinoe and the prospect was quite appealing to her, though it had nothing to do with a desire for any sort of family reunion.
"I'm sure he is." Thalia confirmed. "Before he left, her sign appeared in the air above him. But that's not the problem!"
"I agree, this isn't a problem this is awesome!" Lydia said enthusiastically.
"You aren't listening, Lydia!" Thalia snapped, throwing her hands into the air. "He said he was part of the Hunters of Orion!"
That brought any potential joy that Lydia was feeling to a frosty halt. Her joyous grin and wicked glee in her eyes was replaced by a snarl. "There is no such thing, we would have brought it to a stop a long time ago." She said dismissively.
"I thought the same thing." Thalia agreed. "But he said it in front of Reyna's dogs and they didn't say a thing. If nothing else, he was being honest."
"Well, we know what we have to do then." Lydia said, carefully placing a bookmark in her novel and laying it on the couch. She rose from her seat and darted into her room, returning with her bow in one hand and a quiver of silver arrows on her back. "They wanted to play, let's play."
"That's the thing…" Thalia said slowly, patting the air soothingly. "He didn't mention anything about wanting to fight us, in fact he didn't attack us at all. I attacked him, and he just brushed it off."
"This is very grave news." Artemis said suddenly from directly behind Thalia. The lieutenant whirled around in surprise and shook her head in dismay. "If Orion has started a rival hunt, I am inclined to agree with Lydia. Such a thing cannot be allowed to exist, particularly if it is outside the control of the gods."
"My lady," Thalia inclined her head and then continued, "They asked for a meeting on the boundaries of the camp, they asked for you and me to be there as well."
"Naturally." Artemis nodded. "And I am certain they asked for the other leaders of the Roman and Greek camps to be there as well."
"He did." Thalia confirmed. "What should we do?"
"You and I will go as requested." Artemis answered immediately. She turned to Lydia and continued, "You will gather the Hunters and instruct them to make their way over to the meeting place as soon as they are all ready. Do not come over one at a time, or in small groups. Ensure that the whole force is shown as one."
"Of course my lady." Lydia bowed her head and then disappeared out of the back of the tent, passing through the fabric like it wasn't there at all.
"Shall we?" Artemis asked, assuming her goddess form and her silver dress. An elegant bow was over one shoulder, the weapon deviously misrepresenting what true destruction it could wrought. She stepped out of the tent and set a pace towards the expected meeting place that had Thalia jogging lightly to keep up. "Keep your shield and sword ready, Thalia."
Thalia reached over one shoulder and patted her shield fondly, her sword bouncing by her hip. Since the first attack by the Corrupted she and every other demigod had taken to carrying their weapons on them at all times, resulting in some rather bizarre medical issues being attended to by the medical cabins. "Of course." Thalia nodded.
They met Chiron, Reyna, Connor, Butch, and surprisingly another of Artemis's chosen at the edge of the tent line as expected. "Artemis, always a pleasure to see you." Chiron said, his voice grave as he carefully watched the treeline.
"Violet, what are you doing here?" Thalia asked in a low voice once she had taken a place by her side.
"Well I heard something was going down, and I couldn't let my baby brother do something that could get him hurt." She said loftily, shooting a sly grin to Butch who scowled in response.
"I told you to stop calling me that." He snapped irritably.
"Never." Violet grinned.
As if on cue, once Thalia and Artemis had come to stand next to the other assembled leaders, red garbed demigods began to drop out of the trees and step out of the forest's shadows. They stepped out from the tree line as one, drawing a low whistle from Connor as he beheld their numbers. While they were certainly not as many as the Hunters of Artemis, perhaps two dozen less, they still had a sizable force at their disposal. As they grew closer and closer to camp, flaming brands began to appear above their hands at a faster and faster rate until it looked as though a horizontal pillar of flame had formed over their heads. They stopped ten yards in front of the leaders of the camps and Hunters of Artemis, their eyes clearly wary underneath their cowls.
After a brief pause, three of the red-clad demigods moved forward. Two of them threw back the cowls of their armor, the third remaining hidden behind a mask that covered the lower half of his face. "As promised, the Hunters of Orion." Dante said with a small, mocking bow. "For those of you who don't know, my name is Dante. This is Zain, and Leonard."
