Sorry it took so long… again *insert lame excuse here*. To make up for it, this chapter is much longer than usual. Read, enjoy, and review.
Chapter 7
I looked around at the scene in front of me and resisted the urge to yawn. I had invited the Roman captains and the Greek "camp counselors" to a meeting to discuss the upcoming fight in Greece, only for it to immediately (and not surprisingly), become a glaring contest. It was becoming a little ridiculous to have to keep putting up with all of that nonsense and Jason and Percy couldn't help because only the Greeks were willing to listen. I guess it didn't help matters that the Greeks were sitting in the chairs that the evocati used whenever they were needed in the Captains' Room. Both sides were stiff and had their hands on their weapons in case they completely lost control. Will they ever stop acting like toddlers?... Ugh. My head was still killing me from that duel. Where is that centaur… Chiron, when you need him and his boring lectures?
The only ones not making complete fools of ourselves were me, Jason, Percy, and strangely, Hazel and Annabeth. They finally seemed to have gotten over grudges and were marking a map of Mount Olympus with places to put up defenses. Normally, I'd stop the idiots right then and there by taking out my bullhorn and blasting it right in Dereck's ear. But, unfortunately, Clarisse was sitting right next to him and would probably start a fight. There was little chance it'd have helped get any real work done anyway.
I finally gave in and yawned, then glanced over at Percy. He somehow seemed even more bored than me. "We really need everyone to get along already."
He nodded and thought about it for a moment, "how about Capture the Flag? It is Friday and I think everyone needs to use their energy on something a little more helpful."
I weighed the idea and agreed. Though I was surprised, usually Jackson just cracked a joke and went back to day-dreaming, but he was actually being helpful for once. And maybe the Romans will ease up a little too, now that they know both Percy and Jason like the Greeks and are still okay. It was pretty hard for the Romans to not figure out about Percy (even though they can be pretty slow) when we first let the Greeks into the Den. Camp Half-Blood had made it so stupidly obvious that Percy was one of them it made my head spin. Luckily, they didn't take it too bad because Jackson was only an Evocati anyway and I wasn't feeling mad or betrayed at all (unlike with Jason) and I was the only one who was particularly close to Percy.
So, with an actual plan in mind, I then took out the bullhorn and just seeing it, all the Romans stopped what they were doing and shut up. The Greeks followed suit. The captains had good reason too; way back when Jason had first become commander I'd gotten so sick of watching him scream his lungs out to get everyone's attention that I had the captain of Hall Vulcan, Sam, make me a bullhorn that was loud enough to be heard over everyone in the vast Colosseum. Needless to say, in the small Captains' Room, it stunned everyone for a while after they heard it.
"Alright then, now that everyone is done goofing around, let's get onto the meeting, shall we?" Everyone nodded and most of the captains apologized. "Anyway, it's clear that us demigods need to focus on something besides mindless banter, so Jackson has proposed that we have a game of Capture the Flag here. I agree to it, but only if everyone is willing. It would be Greeks versus Romans and maybe we'll try out strategies to be used on Tellus' army. It's help let out some steam too." I waited to see if someone objected, but after the Greeks looked Percy over and the Romans checked to make sure I was serious, everyone agreed. "Evocati, would you mind explaining the rules to the captains?"
He yawned and rubbed his eyes. "okay, in our demigod version, all weapons and magical items are allowed… each teams flag must be prominently displayed and can have no more than two guards… Taking prisoners is allowed, but they may not be bound or gagged. No killing or mainiming is allowed either… Anything else, commander?" He sounded like he had heard this a thousand times and probably had.
"Yes, the game will take place down below at 6 and the boundaries are the beginning of the mountains around it. Hopefully both Lupa and Chiron will be willing to referee. Any questions?"
Gwendolyn, the evocati of Hall Vulcan, always made sure that she had the last word in any conversation, even though she was only present because Captain Samuel was working on the plane/ship that was going to get the Romans to Greece. This was both because I refused to referee any fights and there wasn't enough room for all of us on the Argo II. With only a week to get it all done, the Vulcans were basically throwing together spare parts from past projects, even enlisting Halls Trivia and Mercury to help. Even with her Hall so swamped with work, Gwen took every chance she got to bother her superiors. "So lieut- sorry, I mean Commander Salazar, what's the point of this game?"
I glared at her but decided it was better not to reply. "Hazel, how about you tell us what you and the blonde have been chatting about all this time?"
She nodded and pressed the black button on her chair, opening the curtains above the door and revealing a projection screen. It showed a map of Mount Olympus and the surrounding areas. "Annabeth and I agreed that we should surround the mountain from all side, with the Romans guarding the west half and the Greeks will take the east. The Giants will probably attack from the west, as far away from the water as possible…" Hazel began to drawl about how the troops would be organized: good places for long-distance weaponry, yada yada. That was all Hall Minerva's duty to organize. No one ever challenged them on anything unless there was something obviously wrong with their plans, which was exceedingly rare.
While Hazel explained her complicated plans, instead of adding anything, Annabeth was too bust staring at Percy with a confused look on her face. Is he really that different from before? But then I thought back to his first week at the Den. He'd been stiff, unhappy, and confused, but eventually, like he was coming out of a fog, he started to open up and joke around. But it'd been six months since then and he'd become more controlled and formal, like a proper soldier. Good thing too, he'd begun to seriously annoy Hall Mars.
"You know Commander, it's probably not a good idea to take a nap right now. You're supposed to be setting an example."
I had absent-mindedly shut my eyes; there were fewer distractions that way so I could think more clearly. But, as usual, one of Dereck's sarcastic comments had snapped me back to reality. I returned the favor with a complimentary glare.
Hazel's eyes flickered over to me for a moment, but quickly returned to her laptop. Then Jason decided to finally speak:
"But what about the gods? We can't win without them."
The Romans squirmed a little in their seats; none of them liked to mention the gods unless they had to. "That's up to the gods. Hopefully they'll show and if and when they do, we'll be ready to change tactics if we need to. That's the best we can do, right?" Everyone readily agreed with me. The gods were unpredictable so we just had to be ready for anything. "Anything else to add Hazel?" She shook her head. "Anyone else?" No one did so I sent the Greeks, including Percy, to the cafeteria to plan for a game. All the counselors were handed a map of the area on the way out.
"Hall Vulcan won't be able to participate, sorry Reyna," said Evocati Gwendolyn before she left the room. Actually, no one in the 4th legion could make it (Halls Vulcan, Ceres, Iris, and Aesculapius all had their excuses) or any of the five wind gods. Luckily, everyone else was eager enough, so we brainstormed a plan of action.
At around five everyone was ready for the game. Lupa had agreed to referee from the Observation HQ and so did Charon, except he was going to be on the actual game field.
About a hundred or so of the Romans had shown up and the Greeks were all present, so our numbers were about even. In terms of advantages, the Greek flag (which had been removed from the Argo II) was on higher ground but the Roman flag was in the middle of a group of streams. There was also a thick forest in between the two flags.
Hazel and I had come up with a couple of strategies, though nothing too complicated because that seemed like a waste of effort. The final plan was standard: the 2nd legion was thinly circled around the flag (they were normally in charge of defense) and the 1st legion spread out pretty randomly around them (we're usually offensive), mostly to cause distractions and slow the Greeks down, and the 3rd legion was mixed in (special operations). Me and about a dozen kids from Hall Mercury would be retrieving the flag since we were the fastest and Jason would be guarding the flag alone. This all seemed easy enough, but me and the other retrievers had all worn our lightest armor and placed our swords on our back for easy reach, just in case the game became sour.
I honestly had no clue what the Greeks would do, nor did I care. I just waited for the horn to blow and me, Bobby, and the rest of the group charged off towards the Greek flag.
The first few Roman soldiers locked their soldiers together in front, with more shields over their heads. This famous formation is called the testudo, or tortoise shell, and is also my favorite. As soon as the Greeks were done shouting blunt arrows, the Romans spread out and began knocking Greeks around with their shields.
My group was busy weaving through the trees. I was safely in the middle of the group, surrounded by the rest of my small pack. As expected, we were soon jumped by five Greeks. We trapped them in a net and kept going. Ever so often, one of us would peel away from the group until it was just me and Bobby.
"You ready to rumble?" he smirked.
"Ready as ever."
Bobby gave me a classic Hall Mercury grin, then ran off to his designated place. I took a deep breath and climbed up into the nearest tree and leaped through the trees for the final length to the Greek's flag. Right when I was near enough, I lept into the air, pulled out my swords, and created a huge jet of water. I landed in front of Percy and Annabeth (can't imagine how much teasing they went through to be together). Annabeth looked at me funny, but stepped out of the way.
"Reyna, didn't expect you to be on offense, especially not alone."
I didn't bother to reply, so we charged and began our duel. In all honesty, I'd expected to lose since I'd only win a sparring match against Jackson based on strategy and cunning alone. Just because I had two magic swords didn't mean I could beat a tank like Percy easily.
I tried to hit Percy so he'd lose consciousness, or at least be on his knees. But even when he wasn't fighting for his life, the guy still made sure he was really hard to hit. I did manage to jab him in the arms and chest with the butt of my sword when I was at my fastest, but so did Percy. Not that the outcome of our match mattered. What was really important was that I lasted as long as possible, which wasn't too difficult since Percy didn't have a water source.
Once two minutes passed, the rest of the group acted. From behind, one soldier grabbed Annabeth, holding a dagger to her neck, while the rest surrounded Percy. While he was distracted I jumped, kicked him in the chest, and ran. Bobby had already grabbed the flag and we were gone before the two (Annabeth had been shoved to the ground almost as quickly as she had been grabbed) could get help.
Bobby passed the flag to me and we all split up again. Everyone else was going to make as much noise as possible while a quickly ran above their heads. The plan would have gone perfectly, except a giant screamed a challenge at the top of his lungs:
"Puny demigods, you are foolishly playing a childish game with me nearby? Who is your idiotic leader and why does he think he can insult my strength with this? Now, children of Tellus, teach these demigods a lesson."
Tellus – Gaea
I got sick of translating the names every chapter, my next chapter will have all the translations and the layout of the Roman Army. So really, it's not a chapter, but a form in case you readers forget any names or anything.