The Secret Army:

The First Gate Is Pain

The first one they took was a son of Bellona. Grant Hudson. At first, Dakota thought Reyna was going to lose it. But she had her mask firmly fastened over the anger. The entire camp had been assembled to watch as Grant was taken away. And by his own brother, too. But no one dared to think about that. No. The cowards could take their short taste of freedom for all they cared. They would end up in the camp one of these days. But the rest of the inmates, those that had been in there from the very beginning, they would willingly give their lives for the gods.

A heavy sigh escaped Dakota's lips as he stared up into the bunk above his head. He was cramped and uncomfortable. But no matter what he did, he remained that way. Which meant that he couldn't sleep – and that was the very thing he should have been doing. It was a rule that by ten o'clock sharp, everyone had to be asleep. And it was seriously enforced. Dakota knew people who had been found awake past curfew and had been dragged out into the night, stripped completely of their clothes, and forced to sleep on the hard ground for the rest of the night. It was also customary for the Watch to kick whoever was outside, too.

After three offences, they were taken. Where? No one knew exactly. But people had their suspicions. In a valley, a good day's walk from the camp, was a place every single inmate called 'the Grotto'. And the bad thing was that you had to walk all the way down the roughest path possible. People who were taken usually left as the sun went down and were forced to walk through the night. Once they got there, it was morning. And morning meant work. Whoever was sent to the Grotto was never heard from again. Since Grant had been taken, many a good fellow had followed suit; their fates left to the primordials and whoever ran the Grotto.

The door to the Bunker opened with an ominous creak. Hastily, Dakota closed his eyes. He prayed to his father that he was not one of the unlucky who lay awake. Already the Watch was on alert for his final time. Two quick thumps on the wooden floor alerted him that the Watch had found two people in offence. The shuffle of leather-bound feet echoed through the silent bunker as whoever it was was escorted outside.

He waited. The seconds ticked by. Little Julia coughed in the end row of bunks. A bunk above him but down the row a little further creaked. Another bunk, this time from the first row near the door on the floor level, gave the all-clear.

Tap-tap-tap-creak-tap-creak.

Dakota opened his eyes and stole a peak around the Bunker. There were two empty spaces from the third bunk; one from the far end of the top row, one from the closer end of the bottom row. The top row belonged to a son of Thaumas (Whoever that was. Must have been Greek). Dakota wasn't even sure what his name was. The bottom row belonged to a man in his mid to early thirties. His name was Jim-Bob and what surprised everyone most was that Jim-Bob was a mortal… at least almost everyone. There had been stories from Third Bunk that Jim-Bob and the son of Thaumas were communicating with each other, but nobody knew how.

" Oh man. They've taken Dylan." Travis Stoll, son of Mercury… um, Hermes, from the Greek camp, whispered so faintly it still ended up echoing through the darkness. His voice came from two bunks up.

" And Jim-Bob." A daughter of Pomona from the Forth Cohort added in the same silent whisper.

" I warned them to shut up." Another unknown male grumbled.

" I need Kool-Aid." Dakota sighed.

There were a few groans from the surrounding Roman demigods that were awake. But what could he do? They didn't serve the small taste of heaven during the rations. They only gave stale water. And he had been craving the stuff for the past four months. He couldn't even remember what month it was, but he knew that he had been separated from his Kool-Aid for four months. If he didn't get any soon, he was bound to go insane. And if that happened, there was only one place he would be taken… the Grotto.

Finally he managed to get to sleep dreaming about the day that he was reunited with the awesome deliciousness of his red Kool-Aid.

Sitting under the shade of an oak tree, Luke Hedge was beginning to fall asleep. Beside him, his white griffin was already taking advantage of the peace and having a little nap herself. Who wouldn't be? The sun was high in the dull blue sky. There were birds whistling in the small patch of heaven that was his home. The various small children were playing their various games. The friendly sound of metal against metal rang in the air as well as the animated voices of the others. And to top it all off, his girlfriend was right beside him, grooming a magnificent bay Waler horse while humming a gentle tune.

" You know, Luke." She said after a few more minutes of peace.

" Hmm?" Luke replied, still in his half asleep state.

" I think this day has turned into quite a peaceful day."

" Careful there, Sarai. You know how you demigods are like with luck."

" You say it like it's a bad thing."

" Not at all. I just don't want this peace to end."

" Explain."

Luke got up from his spot under the tree and went to lean against the fence railing. " You. Me. Not a care in the world. The entire population of the Secret Army going about day after day as if…"

" If you finish that sentence…" Sarai warned.

" Okay, okay!"

Unfortunately, the peace that Luke had wanted left alone was suddenly shattered by someone singing rather loudly and the sound of a herd of war elephants trudging by. The mortal griffin keeper spluttered some choice words of his own at the shock, though they were quickly reprimanded by the daughter of Epona he was in love with. Even the white griffin was squawking in annoyance at the disturbance of her sleep. Unfortunately, it wasn't a herd of elephants that was trudging by. It was a clan of dragons marching along to the song.

" Tell everybody I'm on my way. New friends and new places to see. With blue skies ahead, yes I'm on my way. And there's nowhere else that I'd rather be." The dragon keeper was singing as he marched along in front of the hoard of hatchlings behind him and between the three adults.

" Kaine! Shut up! Just 'cause you're the son of the Greek god of music doesn't mean you can go trudging around camp and otherwise disturbing the peace!" Luke growled, his anger quickly rising.

" It's exercise time!" Kaine replied rather excitedly as the turquoise female began jumping around.

" You're kidding."

" Nope. Hatchlings need exercise."

" Hate to say this, but I think these ones get enough exercise just by being themselves." Sarai said, a small smile on her face.

" Mosrak and Brorim get lazy. They need the exercise."

" Well can you do it a little quieter?" Luke asked hopefully.

" Sorry. Only way to get them moving."

" Great."

Master Kaine, the hatchlings get restless. We must continue on. A deep male voice urged. With the way the brown and white male's head was positioned, it could have only been he who had talked.

" Okay. To the training pens!" Kaine yelled before turning to the adult dragon. " And how many times has Kaine told you not to call him 'master'?"

Many.

" Does that not mean anything?"

The dragon didn't reply… at least not in a way that Sarai and Luke could understand. All they could make out was that he had tilted his head slightly, scratched at the ground a couple of times, flicked his tail and stared blankly at the dragon keeper. Apparently he had said something that irritated the boy because Kaine ended up sighing.

" Just try to learn, Ingavar."

Again the dragon just looked at the elfish looking human that went by the name of Kaine. Luke and Sarai could only watch as the boy, only a few years younger than themselves, placed a smile on his face and started to move off again. Only this time it was Sarai that stopped him.

" Wait! Have you heard any news on the Seven?" She asked.

Kaine's smile slipped from his face and Luke's anger drained from him instantly.

" Nothing." The dragon keeper sighed. " And Michael won't go anywhere near their rooms."

" Trust me, Sarai. We'll know instantly when something happens to the Seven." Luke added.

" I guess you're right." Sarai sighed.

With that, Luke leant over the top railing and planted a soft kiss on the stable hand's cheek. And once again the moment was ruined by Kaine.

" Ugh!" He exclaimed, pulling a face. " Love dove. Yuck. Kaine is out of here."

" It's 'lovey dovey', mate." Luke retaliated. " And stop referring to yourself in third person."

Kaine, however, seemed to have become hard of hearing because he had gone right back to singing and leading his dragons away through the various bunks and buildings.

" Not the snow, not the rain can change my mind. The sun will come out, wait and see…"

" You missed a few verses!" Luke called after him.

" Give him a break, Luke. He's still learning." Sarai said as she picked up her grooming kit.

" And I'm telling him, he needs to start using first person."

" When he gets older, he will become great."

" He's a wild child that was raised by dragons."

" Need I remind you about the story of Romulus and Remus?"

" Oh, please. Not that again."

He didn't want to admit it, but Luke was afraid of what had become of the world since Gaea had taken over. All he ever heard of the outside world was that there were unexplainable things happening that was turning the world's population into mass chaos. Animals turning on humans. Deserts becoming oceans. There was even news of another ice age starting in the very near future. Darling Mother Earth was really going all out on the punishment of her children. He was still mulling it all over in his head when Sarai disappeared into the stables with her grooming kit and returned with an all-purpose saddle.

" Come on, dilectione mea. We have watch duty to attend to." She said once she had saddled the horse.

Will Solace watched with broken eyes as the Watch escorted the dragons down to the stadium. Or should he say the colosseum. That's what it was like, anyway. Almost always, there was a torture show held whenever anyone was going to the Grotto. Ever since the Roman dude, Hank, was taken. It meant that the Watch could torture both the beasts that were forced into the stadium and the unfortunates. In other words, they had a field day whenever someone was caught.

The dragons looked so underfed and weak; it was amazing they could still stand. He had heard from someone in his Bunker, someone by the name of Melissa Tamworth who claimed that she was a dragon keeper, that they only got fed once every two weeks when they really should be fed twice every week. And apparently they were given dog-sized portions instead of their needed elephant-sized portions. The result in the poor care was that the dragons' scales had dimmed, they seemed to have only four emotions; anger, pain, hopelessness and fear, their eyes no longer shone bright with life and enjoyment, and more importantly, they would attack anyone for any reason at all.

" Get back to work!" A gruff voice roared behind him as a sharp sting was sent across the back of his legs.

Instantly, his vision blurred and he was brought to his knees. They must have designed a new form of whip that silenced the crack. He should have heard it. He knew it was bound to come, but why didn't he hear the whip crack? Someone yanked him to his feet by his hair and wrapped his brass knuckles across his face. With what he was sure was supposed to be a harsh word or two to get him moving, he was pushed back to the quarry that his Bunker was located at that week.

The force made him stagger a bit and he was aware of the large rock that was coming to meet him on his way down. Rough hands stopped him in his tracks, though, and the face of a hard-working, bearded man came into view. The man looked like he was saying something, but something was wrong. Will couldn't hear anything. His mind thought back to the last day he was awake. That was two days ago. He had been one of the randoms who got sent into the stadium to fight a gryphon. And he had taken a rather nasty beating. He managed to survive the fight, but when he went to sleep that night he fell into a coma. He only woke two mornings later because he swore he could hear someone singing Phil Collins. With a shock, he realised that that last blow to the head must have thrown something out of whack inside of him.

" You alright there, son?" Finally he was able to hear what the man was saying.

" I… uh… yeah." Will managed to get out.

" Good. 'Cause you're going to need to get up. Those red coated bastards are on their way back here."

Red coats. That's what the Watch wore. They probably thought that by mimicking the British Army, they could regain control over the rebellious American demigods. But the gleam in the older man's eyes put enough spark within Will's heart to tell him that they were wrong. As fast as he could, Will tried to get up and turn around. If they found him 'slacking off', they would send him into the stadium again – and that was the last thing he needed. His efforts were aided by the bearded man as a pick axe and a stone lab were shoved into his hands.

Silence passed between the two men as the Watch marched by, their whips ever at the ready. Around them, the sound of metal striking stone rang in their ears. Above them, in the skies, hovered a peregrine falcon. The shrill call of the bird of prey echoed off the rocks, startling more than one person into looking up into the sky. Of course, with a crack of the whips, all eyes returned to their work.

" Colton Jarvis." Said the man after a few more minutes had passed.

It took Will a few seconds to realise that the guy had just introduced himself. Once he did, he introduced himself as well.

" You see that peregrine up there, Will?" Colton asked.

" Yeah. I heard him, too."

" That bird right there is a symbol of hope. Never forget that peregrine. Never forget that hope that each one of us has inside. We'll get out of this. Just you wait."

All this time, Colton seemed to be ploughing through the walls of rock like he had been doing it all his life. And considering his size and muscular body, that was a fairly reasonable guess. But silence had to encase them once more as the Watch made their rounds again. Suddenly, Will could feel his anger beginning to rise. It was the Watch that had forced him and his friends out of their home and into this dreary place. It was the Watch that had forced them all, Greeks and Romans alike, to cut and form the fences and walls of the Grotto. It was the Watch which had given him the scar that now ran down the side of his face and impaired the vision of his left eye, not the gryphon.

It was the Watch that had stolen their lives. And they were going to pay, even if it was the last thing that Will did.

" That's it, boy. Use up all that anger to shape your stone. We can't have you storming about like a solar flare, now, can we? At least… not yet." Colton's voice pierced through the anger.

But when Will turned to where his new acquaintance had been standing, he found nothing of a body in sight. There were no sounds of a scuffle as members of the Watch attended the capture of another of the inmates. All there was was the glowing mark in the stone that spelled the name 'Ponos'.

The stadium was quiet as Will looked around. The stands were marked according to the Bunker you came from. In all, there were eight Bunkers. Each Bunker had its own symbol of sorts that was emblazoned onto a grey sheet that marked your Bunker's place in the stands. That same symbol was emblazoned onto the fronts of each shirt you owned. And the Watch controlled what you wore and when you wore it. Just another thing that filled Will's anger.

Over to his far right, next to the first of the two bridges into the Golden Box, was where Bunker One stood. Its symbol was of a biohazard sign with three red and black stars of David, one in each of the crescents. Most of the people in Bunker One were older people from the Roman camp, but the Hecate and Iris children were also there. There were also a few outsiders as well.

Next to them stood the inhabitants of Bunker Two. That was where members of the Hades, Hypnos and Nike cabins were placed. Younger members of the Roman camp were also placed there. With Bunker Two, outsiders were also a common sight. Will got the feeling that the Watch didn't care where someone was placed, just as long as every Bunker was full. Bunker Two's symbol was some weird triangle that looked like it was made out of three very straight, very sharp hooks. It be honest, it looked like one of those ninja weapons.

He wasn't sure who inhabited Bunker Three, but there were rumours going around that the Roman Praetor was stationed there. Being Greek, Will couldn't be too sure about that. The weird thing was, all the outsiders seemed to know who the Praetor was as well. Its symbol was of a pair of crossed over elephant tusks with a red and black arrow pointing down. But it wasn't a normal triangle and rectangle kind of arrow. It was more of an archer's arrow.

Bunker Four's symbol was a couple of straight edged snake heads in a 'V' formation with what looked like a pair of pincers in a smaller 'V' inside the first 'V'. Will was pretty sure that whoever led Bunker Four had to deal with all the children of Ares… from both camps. And he wasn't at all sorry of the Watch if they had been injured in any way by the Ares kids. In fact the entire Bunker was taken off rations and worked extra hard because they had cheered when that Roman dude, Hank, had managed to put up a fight as he was taken to the Grotto.

Will knew for sure that the Aphrodite cabin was one of the members of Bunker Five because he had seen Drew Tanaka talking with her brother, Mitchel, and sister, Lacy, when the Watch wasn't around. He had also seen Mitchel being dragged out one night because he had been awake. He had been forced to lie against the edge of his Bunker that same night. Their symbol was a weird three clawed foot curving out of what looked like a wave.

Then there was his Bunker. Bunker Six got a clawed hand as their symbol. In fact, he had heard someone from the Roman camp call it the harbinger of the deceiver (whatever that meant). His cabin shared it with the Hermes, Demeter and Dionysus cabins. It was because of two of his Bunker members that the stadium was now full. Apparently last night was Dylan and Jim-Bob's last night of offense.

But they weren't the only two that were going to the Grotto from Bunker Six. A teary-eyed Katie Gardner stood behind him, feeling like it was her fault that her boyfriend was being taken. After Will have unknowingly been helped by the god Ponos, Katie had accidentally slipped on a loose stone and broken a piece of limestone in her hands. The Watch had been right there, too. So they had given punishment. Only, Travis Stoll had leapt at the Watch before they could bring down their whips for a third time. Needless to say, he had been taken off to the stadium while leaving a teary-eyed Katie and stone-faced Connor behind.

Next to Bunker Six, was Bunker Seven. They were also looking a little more emotionless than usual. Apparently, they had been ransacked for unfortunates this time. Their symbol was a circle surrounding another circle that was locked into a triquetra. Will had a feeling that whoever had made the symbols had been beginning to get bored with the job they were assigned.

This was especially true because Bunker Eight had the triforce. There was no other form of symbol added to the triforce. It was just three black triangles meeting at their points. Someone must have seriously been bored and couldn't be bothered to make a new kind of symbol. Either that or they just liked Zelda that much that they had to add it into their 'camp' somehow.

Then there was the Golden Box. Only accessible by the bridges that ran from the stands of Bunkers One and Eight, the Box stood at the front of the stadium. It was positioned in such a way that every member of the Watch could see everything. And the only way to get in was through a series of locks like key-cards, security codes and eye scans. Whoever was forced to make that was immediately sent to a holding facility that was quiet a distance away. Some say that they never even made it there.

Finally, the 'games' were started. At first there was a bear fight. A group of five demigods had to fight five full-grown adult male grizzlies. It was not fun to watch considering it looked like the animals had been starved and the demigods were only armed with swords and shields. You weren't even allowed to use your godly powers to protect yourself. It was a true gladiator fight to the death. One of the demigods fell along with three of the bears. The remaining two bears would probably be used for another fight another day.

Another group, this time outsiders, had to fight against a giant scorpion after that. That was interesting to see, because one of the outsiders was actually managing to control the scorpion. The other four had gotten into a 'V' formation behind the boy while he was ordering the scorpion around. Then the Watch got the surprise of their lives when the scorpion allowed the boy to sit on its back. Suddenly, people began cheering as the Watch desperately tried to regain control of the situation. But the Scorpion Rider just offered his hand to his companions and allowed his steed to rear up in a victory salute.

" People, remember me! My name is Chico Santiago!" The boy called out in a thick Spanish accent. " I was born in Puerto Rico! And I thank you for returning my scorpion to me!"

Those words caused such an uproar amongst the Watch that they had actually resorted to using their various demigod powers to try and contain the situation. But the scorpion kept dancing around the stadium. It looked like it was searching for an exit or else waiting for an order or something. Will got the feeling that it was sizing up the walls and looking for the easiest point to jump at.

" Son of Thaumus, son of Jedidiah Russet, my brothers, my sisters, I know you can hear me! Listen well, now! The pain will end! But you must endure it a little more! Help will come! We will make sure of it! I promise you all!" Chico continued.

" Enough of this!" One of the Watch Commanders roared. " Send out the-"

But he never got to finish because at that moment, Chico gave his command. " Vaskeg! Ir a casa!"

With that, the scorpion leapt into the stands between Bunkers Two and Three and scuttled its way out of the camp. It was gone before anyone realised that it had even left the stadium. But the roar it left behind was something that would not be forgotten. The dragons were released early in order to settle the inmates. Will knew that there was going to be major punishment later.

Grant Hudson lifted his head weakly as the sound of scuttling claws reached his ears. Thinking it was just his imagination, he picked up the axe he had in his hands and continued hacking at the roots of the trees surrounding the Grotto. He'd been doing that for the past three months; hacking away at trees with only a small hand axe. He much preferred being back at the concentration camp than here. At least they only used whips there. In the Grotto, the Elite had Tasers as well as whips. Grant wasn't sure what else they had and he sure as hell wasn't planning on finding out any time soon.

" Keep it up, Hudson. You're doing a marvellous job." His guard said, mockingly.

He knew he didn't mean it. Not one of the Elite members ever meant what they said unless they were either growling or yelling their words in your ears. But what could he do with a hand axe against a large and ancient tree in his weakened state? He'd been working on this one tree for the past two days… and he hadn't even started on the trunk yet.

The scuttling stopped a few trees away, making him look up. In the shadow of another rather large tree, he could make out the form of a giant scorpion carrying five people on its back. That in itself was weird. Don't get him wrong, he'd seen giant animals before. But this thing was at least the size and length of a thirty seater minibus. And the stinger on the tip of its tail looked like it was as long as a dog. If that wasn't scary, Grant didn't know what was. He was forced back into his work by the crack of the Elite's whip in front of his face.

" What are you staring at?" The Elite growled.

Grant stole a teary-eyed glance at the scorpion, noting the rigid stances that both the animal and its passengers were in, before replying, " Nothing."

" Then get back to work!"

Grant continued his woodcutting as the scorpion turned away from the scene and scurried off once more. The son of Bellona hoped that they managed to get as far away from these accursed places as they could. Being the first one sent to the Grotto, he was certain that if they were caught again, they would face a fate far worse than what they had already been victim of. Hopefully Fortuna would spare them some sympathy and grant them enough good luck to evade detection and capture to get to safety. There would be too much pain, otherwise.

Translation time:

'Ir a casa' = Spanish for 'go home'

'dilectione mea' = Latin for 'my love'