Annabeth: Casting aside an old grudge to survive
One thing I will have to say about being the only demigod General in the absence of the four most powerful demigods in Camp. It sucks and not only does it suck, it's almost too much work compared to say doing chores for instance. But if there's anything a child of Athena likes the most, it's lots and lots of work to entertain the mind. Chiron had me come up with strategies to defend Camp and I already suggested that we get walls built in places exposed to attack like the Zeus' Fist and the forest where we play Capture the Flag.
Although a lot of Campers didn't like it, I knew it was for the better that we set up fortified walls in places like that. I even made sure to customize the walls already established around the Camp to be both physical and magical. What I wound up having was a metal wall that went around the full range of the Camp and for every thirty feet, there was a post with demigods from Camp watching the posts. On top of the posts was a signal beacon that once lit up would notify all the others to light up until all of the Camp knew of the attack.
Once the entire Camp knew of the incoming enemy there would be no hope for a surprise attack. Believe me when I say that that was a major improvement from how the walls had been before and from Zeus' Fist being exposed to an infiltration of enemy troops. Yes, we still had the magic barrier conjured up by the Fleece but for some reason, the wall seemed to make the magic barrier even stronger. When I took the barrier's strength for a test using an old cannon from the Revolutionary War (courtesy of Nico and his father Hades) and the barrier absorbed the shock like it was nothing.
Not only did it absorb the cannonball, it also thrust it back at the cannon and destroyed it almost immediately. I had also made sure to make regular trips around the wall in order to see to it that the wall was protected and some of the designs in Daedalus' laptop were put to good use. Come on, he gave it to me for finding ways to use his designs before he died and I was doing what I could to use as many as possible. I was called over to one of the beacons by a kid from the Hermes cabin because I was told that there was something wrong with that beacon.
Now I had been tricked into going to see what was wrong with beacons before only to be splashed with water or hit in the face with a pie. So I made this kid swear on the River Styx that he wasn't just doing this for the sake of playing a prank on me. The kid named Mark gave me his oath and we soon arrived at the beacon by Zeus' Fist where the "problem" originated. "Since you have the original designs for these beacons we thought you'd take a look at this beacon and tell me why the lighter isn't working," he explained to me.
It didn't make sense that the lighter wouldn't be working but then I remembered something. The lighter could only be made to not work by either my hand or the hands of a god. Now, I had never given the order for the lighter to the Zeus' Fist beacon to be deactivated so there was only one way it could have happened: a god on Olympus had chosen to deactivate it in my place. It only quick deduction through my memories to see that Hera was behind this and I immediately offered a prayer up to her to demand why she did this.
She was apparently listening and interested because she answered just a few minutes after I had made the prayer. "Ah Annabeth, so good to see such an unfortunately familiar face again," Hera teased. "The pleasure is mine my Queen, I just need to know why you deactivated the lighter for the Zeus' Fist beacon," I replied. She smiled and laughed explaining that her reason was quite simple.
"You see, normally I would continue to hold my grudges until the day I managed to either get even or the subject of the grudge was dead. However, Zeus and Athena have both ordered me to put aside my grudge to you and I tried to think of the most subtle way to get your attention. Though this was not as subtle as usually would be capable of, I had no choice but to go through with it to get your attention," Hera explained. "So you're basically coming to apologize for treating me badly like you had?" I asked.
She nodded and apologized for sending those cows that crapped on my dad's property. Generously, she also apologized for the way she had treated me afterwards before she felt that she had achieved revenge. I returned her generosity and apologized for what I had said in the Labyrinth to start the quest for vengeance. "But let me ask you a question Hera: isn't there another reason why you chose to apologize to me?
"Knowing how you operate, there has to be a bigger reason besides that why you came to apologize," I asked. Hera laughed so I knew that there was another reason for her coming to apologize to me for her vengeful actions against me. "In this dark hour where Prometheus' rebellion threatens to destroy everything that Zeus has created, it is best that the Olympians are as united as possible between both gods and demigods. But please do nothing to regress our new relationship back to what it once was," she answered.
"Please don't insult my intelligence, it makes me irritable. Percy Jackson has already seen how I am when I'm irritated," I warned. "I wouldn't want it that way especially when the lighter has be reactivated and probably will go out of control within the next few minutes," Hera replied. I went immediately to go and make sure that didn't happen, not even stopping to see if Hera had left.
The Zeus' Fist was our most vulnerable spot, I had to make sure that there was no reason for the beacon to go off. Running like a Hermes kid with a tail between his or legs, I arrived at the Zeus' Fist beacon in a few minutes from the forest where I had been. To my surprise, the beacon went off right after I arrived and I saw that there was a battalion of Titan troopers approaching. The beacon went off right on cue and soon, the walls of the camp were alerted to the presence of the battalion.
Luckily for us, it was simply just bringing in the archers and having them shoot down the battalion. Those of them who were smart retreated after seeing their friends die to the arrows of the Apollo kids. But then I realized something: that wasn't a battalion meant to attack and it definitely wouldn't even qualify as a raiding party. This was a scouting party that had tried to test us out for weaknesses.
Soon, the Titans would know how to be able to force most of our defenses to one spot so they could then bring down the main gate. I knew that I had to call for the Hunters of Artemis or some other party that could give chase to the scouts. Immediately, I ordered the nearest patrol of Hermes or a minor god/goddess to give chase and never stop until they destroyed all of the scouts. But my strategy extended past just them giving chase and destroying the scouts, it included exhausting the ones who avoided my patrols in the vain hope that they did not reveal the one weakness they had before they died.
It was a cruel tactic but it was an effective one and a necessary one to protect our camp. Optimistic as he usually was, Chiron agreed that this crude tactic was necessary and Mr. D was his usual careless self about it. My one hope was that not a single scout reached Mount Orthys alive or at least, freshly dead for the Titans to be able to read his mind for his or her last memories. But when I lied down to rest, my dreams did not exactly hint at anything improving for us; in fact, it seemed to take a turn for the worst.
In my dream, I saw thousands of soldiers training to fight with dummies that had the orange Camp Half-Blood shirts on them. Watching them was Atlas and his brother Epimetheus, the former looking a little less pleased with the soldiers than the latter. "Brother, if you're not happy about these soldiers I can assure you that they're the best of the entire army. Not only that but they will not disappoint you when the time comes to fight those accursed demigods," Epimetheus said.
"Well, our brother Prometheus does not share your optimistic appraisal of the trainees. Do me a favor and tell them to take the firmest and most defensive stance they can," Atlas replied. Epimetheus obeyed and all of the soldiers took their most defensive stance possible. He looked at one soldier and complemented him on how firm his stance looked from up-close.
"However, looks are not everything nor are looks even significant in this army," he added before dropkicking the soldier. He watched as the soldier fell down with ease and had barely had enough time to recover before Atlas had thrown down another soldier to the ground. "They are nowhere near the fighting capacity that either I or Prometheus are comfortable with!" Atlas yelled. "I assure you that I'm making strives to improve their abilities with each passing day," Epimetheus replied in calm.
"Perhaps you can tell Prometheus that when he returns from his mission with Ouranos to make special preparations for our backup plan," Atlas said. "He's returning to Mount Orthys from the mission?" Epimetheus asked. "That is correct and he is most displeased with your apparent lack of progress," Atlas answered. "Then I shall double my efforts to get them trained in time for the battle," Epimetheus said.
"I hope so Epimetheus, for your own sake. Prometheus and Ouranos are not as forgiving as I am," Atlas warned. Then he marched away to possibly walk the anger out of him, his huge broadsword hanging in its scabbard off the left waist. As he marched, his purple cape flowed with the wind and Epimetheus watched as his brother while their soldiers resumed the exercises. Then he himself decided to leave them to resume the exercises on their own for just a little bit.
I saw how his spear just barely avoided slipping under his tight grip and avoid breaking if it didn't slip from his grasp. After Epimetheus left, my dream's eye turned to see the entire army numbering in the thousands if not hundreds of thousands. All of them were training to kill members of Camp Half-Blood and all of them were training in the Ancient Ways of the Grecian warriors. But that was not the worst part, that came when I saw the skies above their training ground.
The skies above revealed bloodcurdling eyes made from the stars in the night sky. A nose formed followed by a mouth with a beard separated only by the spaces between the stars as well as the shape of the facial features. Just below the beard, the distant form of Prometheus developed and descended down from the heavens with Atlas meeting them at the top of Mount Orthys. After Prometheus descended, a more human form of Ouranos followed and on his belt was the sheathed Sky Sword (also on the left waist).
The only one whose sword was not at his belt was Prometheus and he held the sheathed Black Sword of the Night across his back diagonally to the right. Before my dream ended, I saw four figures just a few miles from the base of Mount Orthys. I recognized them immediately as Gabriel, Nico, Percy, and Thalia and I knew what they were likely doing right now. If they had not already done so, they were making preparations to assault Mount Orthys before the armies of the Titans were even ready for it.
But just as I thought the dream was coming to a conclusion, an image of Hera came up and everything else disappeared. "This is my gift to you Annabeth Chase as proof of my sincerity in our little alliance. Your friends are already there and they will attack Mount Orthys on schedule. In two days, you will have to begin making preparations for any retaliation from the Titans," she said.
I woke up drenched in sweat through my nightgown and it was a good thing I had my knife within easy reach because I thought something was attacking me. As it turned out, it was just my brother Malcolm wondering if I was all right since he saw me sweating. "I'm all right Malcolm, I just had a vision about the events going on right now near Mount Orthys," Annabeth said. "Are they all right at the moment or should we be wondering about their safety?" Malcolm asked.
"I am pretty sure they're fine, I saw nothing in the vision that would hint otherwise. But I must say that the Titans are on the verge of an army more than capable of destroying Camp Half-Blood and still have the capacity to hold their own on Olympus," I answered. "A sign from the gods of events to come in the near future?" Malcolm asked. "Just one god: Hera, queen of the gods of Olympus herself," I answered.
"Why would she want to help you if she's out for your blood?" Malcolm inquired. I explained to him about Hera apologizing for treating me the way she had been and explained the reasons she gave for doing it. "Something's fishy about that but Fate shall decide whether to tell us the truth of it or not," he said with a shrug. I agreed with him because we both knew there wasn't much more to do than trust Fate to do what it wanted to with information like that.
To pass the time quietly, (this was the hour where we were supposed to be sleeping but I couldn't sleep after that) I decided to write a note for Percy to read when he got back to Camp. I made several attempts that I failed miserably at since I was a better strategist and orator than I was a note-writer, apparently. Then I asked Malcolm to help me in spite of his grouchy mood from being woken up again for a love note. At first, I was a loss for reasons to write a love-note but then I remembered that in the event that Gabriel and the team emerged victorious, there would be a big firework celebration.
Malcolm wrote the note, handed it to me, then went back to bed so that way he could get some sleep in before the morning. I read the note carefully to make sure he had copied every word correctly and even went as far as to quadruple check that it sounded all right to me. After that, I made sure to put it in the left back pocket of my jeans that I intended to wear tomorrow so that I didn't forget it. With that all tossed aside, I decided to try and get some sleep since Chiron would be needing me in the morning to make the final preparations for the event of the Titans assaulting Camp Half-Blood.
One thing I knew was that fortifying new walls and constructing beacons would be pushovers compared to the things I had to do for the next week. I just hoped that I would have my Percy back by then to keep me sane inside the insanity of next week.