III PERCY
THE HORSES SUDDENLY SNAPPED right off of the chariot, kicking and screaming. Hazel barely had time to gasp before she was run into, knocked back seven feet, and sent skidding. Before the horses could trample her, she swung her spatha in a wide arch above her head, slapping the first one on the side of the neck. Unfortunately for her, she had grabbed her weapon the wrong way and hit her animal enemy with the blunt end, the pointy bit pointed down at herself. The horse only seemed dazed, and the second one was advancing quickly.
"Annabeth!" Percy shouted, Riptide already in hand. "Help her!"
Annabeth hesitated, then pulled out a dagger she had taken from the Argo II's weaponry and ran over.
Percy had just turned to face Pelops when a javelin was swung at his head. He swerved out of the way and thrust the flat of his blade at his stomach, but the javelin caught it, and Pelops only staggered back a few steps.
He wildly swung his weapon at Percy's neck, but Riptide met it in the air and threw it off to the side. It should have spun out of his grip, but Pelops was stronger than he appeared. He thrust the end of his javelin into Percy's gut, which wouldn't have been a problem if Percy had been wearing armour. But the unfortunate truth was that he wasn't. It was just impractical. Armour was hot and heavy and although it often saved lives from pointy things, Percy found the protective covering really bothersome. Percy rolled out of the way and quickly skidded back to his feet.
Percy swung his blade at Pelops's shoulder, just to remember it was artificial. Riptide bounced off with a loud CLANG, giving Pelops the small satisfaction of watching Percy suffer the back shock.
A few meters to his left, Annabeth was busy hacking away one of the crazy horses, which kept inserting profanity wherever it could. Percy briefly wondered if it was related to Arion somehow.
Hazel wasn't going that well either. One of the horses had managed to stomp down on her head somehow, leaving behind a large horseshoe print that, okay, sort of looked comical. Her horse whined furiously, a gash on its side bleeding. Its useless white wings batted at the air as if hoping that miraculously it would gain the ability of flight.
Hazel caught Percy looking at her, and her eyes widened in horror. "Percy, look—!"
The end of a javelin came down on his head, rattling his skull and disorienting his vision. Percy stumbled, blinking several times, and then slashed Riptide at Pelops. He manoeuvred out of the way, and while Percy was still partially blind he swung his weapon like a baseball bat at his chest.
Percy barely managed to stay on his feet. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his head, he charged at Pelops, slashing as viciously as he could. He remembered how easily his half-brother had defeated him on their way to Rome. Percy wasn't making the same mistake with some ex-apprentice of his father's.
Just the thought of his half-brother creep fuelled Percy's furious motivation to completely annihilate this guy.
Pelops seemed to notice Percy's determination and scowled."I am a king!" he bellowed, as if shouting would make Percy feel more intimidated. "I was dead, but came back! Twice! My entire bloodline suffered a curse because of a stupid half-blood! My wife hanged herself, just after I was forced to banish her and two of my sons for murdering their brother! I will kill you, Percy Jacks—!"
Then the golden chariot smashed into him.
Pelops flew sideways several feet, too surprised to scream. The chariot landed on him, and only his twitching legs and arms were left visible. Percy turned to his friends.
Hazel panted, one hand resting on her knee, the other extended in front of her. By her feet, the golden remains of one of the wild horses lay scattered on the ground, before the gentle summer breeze swept them away. And apparently they could fly, because the second one was already three streets away, screaming something about moving to McDonalds.
"You guys okay?" Percy asked them.
"Fine," Annabeth replied, and spat a mixture of horse blood, monster dust, and phlegm onto the street. (Percy had no idea how those three got together in her mouth.) "Well, we've got the chariot. Now what?"
-o-O-o-
Five minutes later Hazel was rolling the cart along the streets of Gaios, down toward the harbour. No one paid them any attention.
"So the plan is to simply dunk it in the sea," Annabeth summarized.
"Yes," Percy replied as they passed by a Greek policeman on his way to help all the mortals Pelops had hurt. "Dad will get it."
If he isn't suffering from multiple personality disorders like the rest of the gods, he added in his mind.
They reached the docks. Swerving around Greek fishermen and tourists, they arrived at the edge of the water. With a final push with her powers, Hazel sent the chariot splashing into the Ionian Sea.
"Nep… Poseidon won't be upset that I killed one of his horses, though," Hazel double-checked, rubbing her horseshoe print off her forehead. "Will he?"
Percy shook his head. "Probably not," he decided.
The three demigods stood at the edge of the water, staring down at their own grim-faced reflections for a moment. Percy realized he was in desperate need of a shower.
"Come on," he told the girls. "We have a long journey ahead of us if we want to get to Athens for the Feast of Spes."
So, Percy's three-chapter POV is officially finished. Will his POV appear again in this story? Will he as a character ever appear again in this story? Will he ever be noticed again by anyone in this story? No one knows. (Except me. *cackles evilly, but begins to choke*)
Yeah, it turns out I have asthma.
(::) (::) (::)
(And above I present to you cookies, in case you need something to be bribed with in order to review.)
