Well, well! Took me some time but here is the newest chapter! I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 11

Percy´s POV

"Remind me again, why do I have to do this?" Annabeth groaned annoyed when we arrived in front of the large double doors that led right from the palace to the big market place of Olympia. You could hear the huge mass of people that crowded on the place even through those thick walls.

I took her left hand in mine and rubbed it reassuringly "I know that you don´t like those kind of event love. But you know that it´s important that the people can see your return with their own eyes. I mean they thought they had lost their princess for the past three weeks now. It will comfort them if they can actually see you again."

In reality I probably hated the idea of the king even more than Annabeth did. It was pretty dangerous for her to walk straight through a huge mass of people, with only eight guards and a plasma shield protecting her. Sure those safety measures would block most ranged projectiles but a big explosive? No chance. I had very persistently tried to convince the king to cancel the trip outside but Frederick was adamant that the people needed to see that the princess of Olympia was alive.

The walk outside would take four minutes, from the palace in a circle around the marketplace and then back inside. Four minutes too many for him.

Annabeth looked at our intertwined hands and suddenly she smiled at me and shortly pecked me on the lips. Then she said "You know I´m looking forward too when we can finally announce our relationship publically…"

This time I had to groan because I was pretty sure that the higher officials wouldn´t really find the idea amusing that a member of the royal guard was dating the princess of Olympia.

"They´re gonna rip me apart!"

My girlfriend chuckled "I´m pretty sure that the people will love you. Especially because you´re not some stuck up aristocrat but… well normal."

"I was talking about the members of the ministry and your father´s advisors."

"Don´t worry about them. You´re the deputy commander of the royal guard that is already a high rank if you ask me."

Now that I thought about it, she was probably right. Still I was pretty glad that her father insisted that our relationship stayed a secret for now.

My thoughts were interrupted when the massive door opened a slight bit and one of my fellow guards, Mason, entered and said "Sir, the security checks outside are done. Can we start?"

I nodded confidently "Yes. You can open the main door now."

To be honest I didn´t felt confident at all. There were so many things that could go wrong here…

Apparently Annabeth saw my worried face and grinned smugly at me "Looks like I´m not the only one who doesn´t like this."

God I hate it when she grins like that!

"Let´s just get this over with!" I sighed and started to walk through the doors with Annabeth right at my side, my hand rested firmly on my lightsaber.

Immediately we were greeted by loud cheers from the people that had gathered around the market place. I put on my best don´t-mess-with-me-face and let my eyes wander through the area around us. Some other members of the guard where walking on each side of us, but far away enough so they wouldn´t immediately be spotted by civilians or potential assassins.

When we were reaching the end of our tour and I was almost relaxed again, I suddenly heard it. The all too well known sound of a blaster firing one of his energy beams.

I barely managed to push Annabeth out of the way before it would have hit her. Instead it just slightly graced my shoulder, while most of the impact got absorbed by my armor.

Swearing loudly I pulled out my lightsaber and stood protectively in front of the princess, ready to block the next shot. That´s when also the people around them started to realize what just happened and started in panic to flee from the place. Which sadly just made my job harder because with all the screaming I wouldn´t be able to hear the blaster firing.

Luckily Jason who had just arrived was able to see the next blast and deflected it with his on lightsaber.

"The shooter is behind you Perce!" he yelled but was proofed wrong when the next shot came from the exact other side, which I managed to deflect.

"We have to get her out of here! Let´s retreat back to the palace!" I commanded while I hid Annabeth behind my back.

"Why the hell are those shields not working?" another guard asked, swearing when a shot graced his left arm.

Good question. If I get out of this whole mess someone is going to pay a hefty price!

Annabeth shook me out of my thoughts when she grabbed my arm "We´ll never make it back inside the palace!"

Unfortunately she was right. The guards where barely managing to block the incoming attacks and sooner or later we would all get tired of it and eliminated. I let my eyes wander over the whole place, desperately trying to find a suiting hiding place and managed to find a small path that went right between two houses.

"In there!" I yelled, deflecting another shot that ignited a small wooden fence.

It turned out that the pathway was indeed much easier to defend because the high walls blocked off the shooters sights. But I knew it was very risky to stay here. One would just need to climb one of the houses and throw down a plasma grenade and we would be all dead.

"Percy, we need to move before we get surrounded!" said Clarisse eying the roofs of the buildings.

Suddenly Ethan announced "Sir, I think I found a good spot to hide! This door here is open!"

I turned around and noticed a small door that led into one of the houses.

"Better than nothing…" I mumbled and stepped inside the dark room and after looking around a bit yelled "I guess it´s save! Everybody come in!"

As the other guards and Annabeth huddled inside my thoughts drifted off to the shield that was supposed to protect us from the shooters. There were just two possibilities. The shield was defect which was highly unlikely because it not just checked but double if not triple checked. Heck even I had paid the shield generator a deep control view. The other option would be that somebody has manipulated the generator just before our walk through the market had started. Which made me kind of sick considering that only one of my fellow guards could have done that. And that meant that I had an imposter in my team. Most likely the guy who made the last check…

"Hey Clarisse!" I whispered to my second in command.

She turned around to me and squinted her eyes "What is it?"

Maybe I shouldn´t ask her… what if she is the traitor?

Angry at myself I shook my head. I´ve known Clarisse for many years, we weren´t exactly best friends but she was absolutely loyal to the king. I could trust her.

"Who was the last guy that checked the shield generator?" I muttered to her.

She frowned and thought for a while and before realization was written in her face "Ethan Nakamura came to me when the walk was announced to us if he could do it. I saw no reason to not let him so… you think he manipulated the generator?"

I had a dark look in my face and nodded. Then I suddenly noticed something, wasn´t Nakamura who found this supposedly save area?

"Oh crap!" I yelled before I noticed a small projectile moving at me and I tried to sidestep it but the plasma beam still managed to hit me in the stomach and knocking me to the ground. My left hand wandered over my wound which was bleeding profusely and I noticed that my vision slowly began to fade. I tried to fight the unconsciousness but to no avail.

The last thing I heard was Annabeth screaming in terror before my eyes closed.

Annabeth´s POV

I awoke in a small but fancy chamber and immediately noticed that my right foot was chained to the bed I was lying in. A small lamp on the side of the bed provided a little bit of light, just enough so I could make out everything. Everything looked kind of expensive but also a tad bit cold.

Okay time to get up!

A jolt of electricity ran through my whole body when I tried to move the leg, making me groan in pain.

So I am a prisoner now? But by whom?

My silent question was answered about two minutes later when a guy, about 25 years old entered the room and I couldn´t help but find the face oddly familiar. And then my eyes widened, I knew him, he was a member of the royal guard.

"So you are awake now? Good then let´s play a game, shall we?" he snarled and grinned at me sadistically.

Alright that was chapter… holy crap I lost count! Next chapter I coming a lot sooner now that I have more time again. I hope you guys liked it. Because I really enjoyed writing this one.

I also hope you don´t kill me for kidnapping Annabeth here, but I thought the story could use some thrill again and I really wanted to write a cliffhanger again ;D

What do you think will happen next? Did you liked it? Hated it? Write a review about it and share the story with your friends!

-Inverted Logic