CHAPTER 5 – KURT

After they had left the camp through the Caldecott Tunnel, they drove down the highway towards Mount Tam. Kurt took his helmet off and regarded his friends.

"Ok, regardless of what Reyna said, we aren't going to Mount Tam yet. There's too much monster activity and the Legion has been spread thin, so we're stopping off at the parks on the way to lend a hand. Alright?" he asked.

"I'm sure we can lend a hand, or a sword," Brady replied, laughing to himself. The rest just nodded, ready for the upcoming battles. Kurt put his helmet back on and got himself ready too.

The first park they came to was Mosswood Park, one of the smaller parks in the city. They parked next to the basketball court, and saw the first signs of battle. The fences were all torn up, the ground was destroyed and there were holes and trenches everywhere, with a lot of debris. They piled out of the SUV and ran straight into the park. Kurt then spotted activity near the building in the middle of the park - glass shattering. He motioned for his team to follow him and charged towards the sound. Leaping over trenches and debris, he rounded a corner to spot Earthborn hammering some demigods in dented armour, hardly fending off their attacks.

"CHARGE!" Kurt shouted, sprinting towards the Earthborn, drawing his greatsword as he ran. Leaping into the air at the last second, the sliced his greatsword straight through an Earthborn that was about to smash a demigod's head open with a rock. He carved it in two with a single swing from shoulder to waist, and it collapsed into a pile of clay. He lunged for another Earthborn, grabbing it around the waist and pulling it towards him, using the spikes on his armour to tear it open. It also collapsed into a pile of wet clay, some of it sticking to his armour. He managed to tackle another Earthborn before his team caught up and tore into the remaining Earthborn.

Earthborn were minor children of Gaia, six-armed monsters made of clay and mud, hell-bent on wreaking havoc on enemies of Gaia, and Roman demigods proved to be good enemies to tear into – until they themselves got torn into by Kurt and his team.

It was over in minutes. Piles of clay on the floor, and about a dozen demigods caked in it. Some centurions from the First Cohort were sent to contain the threat of the Earthborn, but it had proved too much for them. Ten came, but only four remained, the other six lying motionless throughout the park. Kurt sighed. The threat was gone but they had lost men and women. He thought about the other parks, if they were as poorly defended as this, they had definitely better stop off at some on the way to Mount Tam.

Kurt instructed the surviving members of the First Cohort to go back to camp, and he and his team piled back into their SUV and headed for the next park – Leydecker.

Leydecker was another small park with a baseball diamond, some grass and tennis courts. They parked the SUV next to the courts, and got out. They heard it immediately – galloping. Kurt sighed, it was probably centaurs. They ran for the baseball diamond and saw the demigods in a tight circle, trying to defend against the centaurs that were running rings around their defence. Kurt unsheathed his greatsword, and with a cry ran to battle. He sprinted for the nearest centaur, slicing his greatsword up through its horse body. It didn't even have time to make a sound before it disintegrated, falling to the ground as a pile of ash. He spun and ducked, dodging a mace that swung for his head. He stabbed his greatsword into the next one, impaling it before it too disintegrated. The centaur with the mace charged at him again, and he sheathed his greatsword, drawing his daggers instead. As the centaur charged, the mace positioned to take his head, he leapt, grabbed its arm and hoisted himself onto its back. He stabbed one dagger into the centaur's shoulder and rammed the other into the back of its neck. With a squeal, it fell forwards and disintegrated before it hit the ground. Kurt landed in a crouch, throwing the daggers at two centaurs in front of him. Both found their marks, slicing through their throats and toppling them. Kurt sighed, stood up and looked around. He watched Paul decapitate the last centaur, and stamp the body into dust. The head remained though, so Brady grabbed it by the hair, and proclaimed it a trophy, and threw it into the SUV. Kurt went to check on the demigods stationed here.

He took off his helmet as he reached the assembled demigods. This team of twelve seemed to be intact, albeit with dented armour and several injuries. After sending them back to camp, Kurt recovered his daggers before piling back into the SUV and driving off to the next park.

"Centaurs and Earthborn… What next, Cyclopes?" Brady asked, his foot pressed firmly on the accelerator to hurry to the next park.

Kurt shrugged; he was as clueless as Brady. There were loads of different kinds of monsters, who knows what they could face next. Cyclopes, harpies, dracanae, even a drakon. He shuddered at the thought. Drakons were the reason his armour had spikes.

The next park they got to was Coyote Hills. This one was a massive, wide open space, so they decided to head for the Visitors Centre and hoped that the demigods sent there would be there too. Fortuna was with them today, at least a little, because as they got to the visitors centre, a demigod came flying out of a window. They pulled up beside him, and ran to him. He looked up fearfully when he heard them coming, but relaxed when he saw Kurt and his team.

"It's a drakon! A mighty strong one at that!" he said as Kurt got to him. Kurt sighed, he knew this was coming. Nodding resolutely, he drew his broadsword and a dagger, and started towards the building. He didn't get far when the wall was demolished and the drakon lunged out. Drakons are essentially dragons with no wings, and it stared at Kurt with its beady, hypnotic eyes. Kurt wasn't fazed by it's paralysing gaze, so as it lunged straight at Kurt, fangs dripping with poison, he lifted his broadsword to parry it. He used all his strength but it landed on him anyway and they went down together, Kurt grappling with it, stabbing the spikes on his armour into it repeatedly. It howled with the impacts and rolled off him and he got to his feet, brandishing his weapons in front of him. The drakon lunged again, trying to bite his head off, but he smashed the hilt of the broadsword against its mouth and the front teeth shattered. It roared at him, and its throat began to glow. He barely managed to roll to the side as fire belched from its mouth, coating the ground where he was a moment before in red-hot fire. Before it could turn and aim the fire at him or his team, he clambered onto its back. Standing on a rock-hard scale, the drakon couldn't feel or see him, so it had no idea where he had gone – until he slid the broadsword under a scale and stabbed down hard. He drove the sword straight into the drakon and it screamed, thrashing until Kurt rolled off its back, the broadsword still stuck in its back. He drew the other dagger, and ran at the drakon again. He rolled under its gaping jaws and stabbed one dagger into its throat. It screamed again and lifted its head up, forcing Kurt to let go of the dagger. He threw the other at its right eye as it looked at him, and it was a perfect shot. It sliced straight in, making it thrash and roar in pain. None of this seemed to be fatal enough to kill it though.

Kurt's tactics instantly changed, and he thought about how gold is a good conductor. Raising his right hand, he closed his eyes and concentrated. A second later, thunder rumbled through the sky, and a bolt of lightning came down and struck the drakon on the back, where the broadsword was impaled. The lightning went straight through the drakon to the dagger impaled in its eye and to the dagger in its throat. The drakon screamed as the electricity coursed through its body, before it poofed into a large pile of ash, the gold weapons clattering to the floor, steaming.

His team and the last remaining demigod cheered, and Kurt went over to retrieve his weapons. Sheathing them all, he told the demigod to head back to camp and report to the praetors. He could see that he was the only survivor. Once more the demigods piled into the SUV.

"That was a great fight, Kurt. You really took it to that drakon!" Sandy exclaimed, patting him on the shoulder. He didn't smile. He sat there, straight-faced, so full of adrenaline that he didn't even notice that she'd said anything. He was in war mode, and it was time for the main event.

"We've wasted enough time here. If the rest can't manage without us, then so be it. Take us to Mount Tam." Kurt said, and Brady hesitantly nodded before stamping on the accelerator.

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