The timing is a bit different between the two POV's right now, but it'll level out soon enough.
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO
Percy's POV
"Mother!" I yelled running towards her.
"Stop him!" bellowed the man holding the knife to her neck, and two men stepped forward to intercept me.
One slashed his sword at me, but it was a clumsy strike, and I had been trained well. I stepped inside the swing and brought the hilt of my sword into the mans chin. The lights went out in his eyes and he crumpled to the floor. The second man levelled his spear at me and advanced slowly. He backed me up to a wall and jabbed the spear at my chest. I spun away and the spear lodged itself in the wall. Whirling around I slashed through the wooden shaft, splitting it in two. The man backed away and drew his sword. We fought around the room, but as we neared the fireplace I tripped on a log and went down, losing my sword. As I fell the soldier slashed out with his own blade, but his swing went wide and struck the stone hearth. Vibrations shot up his arm and his sword clattered to the floor. Sticking a hand into the fireplace behind me I felt around blindly for a log. I grabbed a thick, solid piece of firewood and brought it up hard against the mans temple. He teetered for a moment then fell to the floor unconscious. Picking up my sword I faced the man holding a knife to my mother.
"Let her go!" I shouted frantically.
The man laughed.
"Not a chance." he said, and clapped his hands twice.
More soldiers rushed in, and before I could move I was hit over the head with a shield, and collapsed. My head was throbbing, and when I looked up, everything was blurry. The room was spinning, and I thought I could hear someone talking, but my ears were ringing, and it sounded like everyone in the room was yelling. I tried to put my hands to my head, but I couldn't move them. My vision cleared a bit, and I looked down. There were thick chains around my wrists, and I was being held down by three huge men.
"...was quite impressive, Sally. Your boy fights well; he's so much like his father." said the man with the knife.
"What do you want?" I asked, still slightly dazed.
"What do I want? Oh, nothing at all! I was just in the neighbourhood, thought I'd stop in," said the man cheerfully, "don't you remember me Percy? Your father and I were...old friends."
I tried to focus on the mans face, to see if I recognized him, but my head wasn't working quite right.
"Just let us go. We don't have anything to give you." I said.
"No no no Percy, I don't want anything. I've just been visiting the families of all the soldiers who fought against me in the war. To show them just what I thought of them."
Finally I got my thoughts straight, and I focused on the mans face. That's when it hit me.
"You! You killed him! You killed my father!" I roared.
The man laughed again.
"That's my boy Percy, I knew you'd remember." he said, walking behind my mother, but keeping the knife to her neck. "I just thought that General Jackson's family should get a, special visit."
"Don't you touch her! If you lay another finger on her I'll-"
I couldn't get the rest out. The man had slit my mother's throat. He let her drop and she fell to the floor, her eyes clouding over. I opened my mouth, but couldn't speak. Looking back and forth between her and the man with knife, my throat dry, my head spinning. I couldn't believe it. My mother, the most innocent person in the world, dead. The only person in my life that mattered was gone, and I couldn't get my head around it. I didn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. I absolutely refused to believe it. Hundreds of emotions were bubbling up inside me. Disbelief, sorrow, misery, hopelessness, despair. But all of these things were drowned out by the one that consumed me. Complete and utter, rage filled, hatred.
My eyes started to water, and my blood boiled. My breath started to come in ragged huffs, and my vision burned red. I threw my mouth open wide, and screamed. It was a wordless scream. Pure hatred. Pure sorrow. It built up from somewhere deep inside me and burst out with such force it felt like it would shred my vocal chords. I howled as they hauled me from the burning house. Howled as they threw me into a cage. Howled as I watched my house collapse into a charred heap, knowing my mother's body was still inside. Eventually my roars turned into sobs, and I collapsed, welcoming the darkness that enveloped me.
It was early morning, and we had just reached the city of Atlantis. The soldiers had let me out of the cage a week ago, and ever since then I've been marching along with the rest of the slaves. We were all chained to each other in pairs, and then strung together in a long line. I was paired with a boy named Nico. He had told me that we were being taken to Atlantis to be sold, and then our new owners could do what they wanted with us. Nico and I had become pretty good friends, and I learned that he had been taken from his home too. He had also told me that this army's leader, Kronus, was the man who killed my parents.
That's what kept me going. I would've broken long ago if not for my need to kill him. I tried not to give any of the soldiers the satisfaction of seeing me in pain. Every time I was whipped or beaten, I took it without blinking, and glared back at them furiously. A few of them even steered cleared of me now, worried that if I got my hands on them, they'd never get up again. They were right too.
"How much longer do you think until we get there?" asked Nico sluggishly. "I need to sit down."
"Probably another twenty minutes." I said, just as tired as he was.
We'd been marching almost non stop for a week, and we were dead. The sooner we got to this place, the better. I don't care if we have to work all day, I'm used to that, as long as I can just lay down, and sleep.
"Wanna carry me the rest of the way?" asked Nico hopefully.
"Bite me," I said jokingly, "The day I carry you is the same day I-"
"Quit chyer yappin!" yelled a short, skinny soldier with an eyepatch. "Slaves ain't uhllowed to be talkin!"
He brought his whip down on my back, and the sharp barbs at the end ripped violently through my flesh. But I didn't make a sound. I grit my teeth and kept walking as he brought the whip down again and again. Finally I couldn't take it anymore, so I turned and fixed him with my best death glare.
"You thinks ya can scare me witchur freaky looks? I'll wipe dat off a yur face yet!"
He lashed out with the whip again, and this time it caught me in the ear. I winced, and put a hand to it as blood started to pour out. The small man cackled.
"You like dat? Have another!"
He went to whip me again, but I held up an arm to protect myself. The whip wrapped around my wrist, and I grabbed onto it. The soldiers eyes widened, and he pulled on the whip nervously, but I didn't let go.
"You let dat go now son, an I won't hurtcha."
I grabbed the whip with my other hand and started to pull it towards me. The soldier dug in his feet, but I dragged him closer. For some reason, the guy didn't let go either, and I got him within my reach. I stuck my hands out and clamped them around his neck. His eyes bulged from his head, and he beat at my arms and chest frantically. I started to shake him, and he thrashed wildly, trying to get out.
"Hey! Get off him!" shouted another soldier, and they rushed over.
They hammered away at me with clubs and shields, and finally they broke my grasp on the mans neck. He collapsed, blue in the face and gasping for air.
When the soldiers stopped attacking me, I stood up from the dust and kept on walking. We reached the edge of the city and were met by a new group of armed men. They looked like guards. They were taking slaves and giving them wooden swords, then getting them to fight with each other. Whenever a slave had decent fighting ability, they were taken by the new guards. I realized what was happening and tried to instruct Nico as best I could.
A guard came and took Nico away, and he fought with another slave. Nico had limited knowledge, but the guy he was fighting had none, so it made him look better than he was. The guards took Nico and chained him with the others they had taken. They led me over to another slave and handed me a wooden sword. I looked down at it, and dropped it.
"Pick it up you filth," said one of the soldiers, "or I'll gut ya."
Reluctantly I picked up the sword and fought the man. I beat him easily and was led over to the new string of slaves, where I was chained just behind Nico.
"Thanks for the tips Perce, no telling what'd happen if we stayed with Kronus."
"Yeah, don't mention it." I said dismissively, and waited for the rest of the slaves to be chained up.
When the guards were through picking slaves, one of them handed a large sack of gold to Kronus, and then they led us into the city.
As we passed through town, people laughed and threw things at us. A few people even came over and smacked me, but I resisted the urged to throttle them.
We came to what looked like the town square, and heard trumpets sounding. A horse drawn carriage was making its way toward us, and people were bowing down as it passed. The slaves around me copied them, but I didn't move. I wasn't going to kneel to some snob who thought they were better than me because of power or money.
The carriage rattled past, and I looked in through the parted curtains. I saw a girl staring back at me. She was beautiful, and I caught myself drooling over her pretty face. I couldn't tear y eyes away from her curly golden locks... That snapped me out of it. Curly golden locks? Who even says that? I shook my head and blinked a few times, then saw that the girl was still looking at me. My eyes widened and I blushed a little. She smiled, and I thought I could see her laughing. I smiled back briefly, but was struck from behind by something heavy, and it forced me to my kneel.
I looked up again, but the carriage had passed, and the girl was gone.
Cool, so what do you think so far? Better?
R&R please and thanks.