Okay hello there everyone! Now, since you all felt very very very very cliffhung (is that even a word?), here is the new chapter! (YAYYYY!)
But seriously. You will hate me. More.
~Apollo'sAwesomeDaughter
Chapter 30
"Ready, Jackson?" Reyna panted, nudging his shoulder with her own.
He grinned, despite his aching body and blurring vision. "Hell yeah I am." he laughed. The war horn sounded once again and with a great cry, the army surged forward, bearing their weapons.
A few warriors in dark armor came to intercept them (and ended up dying), but most retreated back over the hill. The army gave a great cry, celebrating their victory. Kronos and his army retreated without putting up much of a fight. They threw their helmets in the air and clapped each other on the back.
" Victory!" Ares bellowed atop his horse. "We have one! For the kingdom!" he yelled, raising his bloody sword.
"The kingdom!" their army echoed.
They trudged along the dirt path they had come from, the sun beginning its decent from the sky. Soon it would get dark.
Their pace was slower compared to this morning's journey. There were just so many wounded people and more need for replenishing and rest. They had passed the desert and the plains and were now in the grass-valley.
The grass was dark and tall, as still as trees. The path they trudged on was narrow and uneven, filled with mud holes and rocks, so Percy would stumble every so often.
He just couldn't wait to get back to Annabeth, to let her see that he was alive.
He was lost in his thoughts when he stumbled on another rock and fell sidewards into the grass. He could hear his comrades snickering behind him. He glanced up and caught a glimpse of irregular movement in the tall glades. Something shined in the grassy distance but was immediately concealed. He didn't have much time to think when he was roughly pulled up by Clarisse.
"You hit your head too hard, Jackson?" The general's daughter snickered, followed by the rest of the soldiers behind her. She had taken a small liking to him, having been the most persistent soldier to follow her command. But Percy felt like something was wrong. He felt like someone was watching them… waiting.
He was staring off into the grass. All was still until… movement.
"Stop!" Percy halted in front of the line of soldiers. He spotted another rustle of grass on the other side, a gleam of light. A reflection…
An ambush, Rachel's voice echoed in his mind.
Clarisse caught his train of sight, so did Ares and Reyna. Another brush of movement far closer that the last one. A scuttle of dirt of to their left…
All they had was a second to pull out their swords before it happened- an entire fleet of soldiers in black flooded through the tall grass on either side. They should have been suspicious, they should've anticipated attack.
They've let their guard down, and now they were being killed off for it.
The wounded ones were slaughtered, and the relatively healthy ones were wounded. Badly.
Alarm bells.
That was what she was hearing.
Realization struck her like a tidal wave. Something bad was happening. She needed to know what.
Slipping on her boots, Annabeth flung open her bedroom door and flew down the stairs. She arrived at the throne room just in time.
She rushed to her father's side to ask about the bells, but a messenger from the watchtowers came running in through the doors. He was scrawny and looked like he was about to collapse, but he didn't.
"Well?" The king demanded, his family standing impatiently behind him.
"The grass path…" The messenger panted, holding himself up on his knees. He swallowed heavily before continuing. "My lords and ladies, I bring news from the outer watchtowers. " He said. "The army has returned from the battle. But in the grass path, not far from the outer borders, just past the plains, they seem to be fighting another one. It looks as if they have been ambushed!"
"Ambushed?" Annabeth was the first to react. "By Tartarus's army?"
The messenger nodded weakly. "We've sent the some of the reinforcements to help, but it might have seemed a bit too late."
"Kronos," King Frederick spat out the name as if it was poison in his mouth. "That tyrant failed to honor the ancient laws of battle." He growled to himself, then looked back up at the messenger. "Round up the physicians and the last remaining reinforcements. Send them to meet the wounded soldiers at the outer gate. We must preserve our army. Go!"
The messenger scrambled back out the doors and off to the barracks to enforce the king's command.
"Father, I have to go! I want to help!" The princess demanded, shaking her father's arm. He looked at her sternly.
"No." He said."It's too dangerous, Annabeth. I know you want to see your friends, but the enemy-"
"I don't care!" She screamed. "Please, I can handle myself."
His expression softened. He was proud of his daughter, but he knew it would be too dangerous. For all he knew she could scramble into the fight and get herself killed. He promised Athena to keep her safe. He had always let his daughter roam free and do as she pleased, but something unsettled him this time. He felt that this battle shouldn't involve her, even if she just stood at the gates. No, he needed to keep her from breaking out.
"Xaivier!" he called to one of the guards standing by the great doors. "Lock down all the doors in the palace, don't let Annabeth escape." He fled the room, Annabeth at his heels.
She finally gave up when he slammed the door on her face.
"Well that was harsh." She muttered. She banged her fist on his door for good measure and then ran to her room.
She found Thalia standing in the hallway, and pulled her by the arm, dragging her friend into her bedroom.
"Ow! OW! OW! WATCH IT!" Thalia screeched.
Annabeth decided to cut to the chase. "Okay, so the army is being ambushed in the grass valley." Cue surprised face from Thalia. "And my dad put me on lockdown so now we have to get out."
"Normally I would try to talk some sense into you." Thalia said. "But yeah, c'mon."
Annabeth was already hauling up the rope over her balcony when Thalia joined her, slipping on the extra leather gloves she found by the bed.
Percy really wasn't in the mood for cutting down enemies the second time that day. His sword swung back and forth, trying to kill as much black-armored soldiers as possible. Several times he spotted Kronos, their king, hacking at Percy's fellow soldiers, dotting in and out of the battle, laughing hysterically.
That guy was a madman.
It wasn't until that blood curling scream had he felt such a chill down his spine.
Ares, their general, the most respected leader in their kingdom, had been struck from behind by Kronos's golden blade. He fell, Kronos laughing like a phsycopath. He enjoyed death, he breathed the scent of blood, he lived off the sound of screams of the fallen. Everyone knew that now. The king had made his mark on their land. His goal now was to implant fear into the eyes of the innocent.
But Percy couldn't let that happen.
He charged. Kronos was surprised to see such an upstart nobody attack him so suddenly, but he was late in intercepting the soldier's blade. He staggered backwards.
Ares was able to wound him- just a little on his waist, between his armor. But it was enough to draw blood and weaken him. Yet he smiled.
"You are brave, child." His voice was rough and venomous. "Yet foolish all the same."
The ringing of their swords echoed across the grassy valley, neither of them willing to give up.
Percy was almost skewered several times. But Clarisse came charging in like a bull, her eyes flaring. That gave him strength.
"You killed my father!" Clarisse screamed, bearing her teeth at Kronos. The king now struggled to handle two soldiers battling him whilst having a wounded side.
Percy decided to follow Clarisse's tactic- hack away.
"A stab in the back?!" She continued. " Dishonor! Disgrace! Disrespect! Foolishness! How dare you?!" Strike after strike she gave, not ever holding back.
But she threw her arm back too far, giving the phsycopathic king the chance to kick her in the stomach with immense force. She flew backwards, but managed to throw her sword at him as a distraction.
It hit him square in the face, but didn't exactly slice through him. She was disappointed, but it did what it had to do.
The king tried to defend himself, but it was too late. Percy drove his sword deep into the his already wounded side. Kronos fell, but his arm, along with his sword, was already raised ready to strike. He brought it down, nonetheless, ready to take one last soul.
It hit it's mark.
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Sort of.
See? I told you so.