Chapter Ten: After the Fire...
Wake up...
Awaken, Lieutenant...
Awaken...
Jason's eyes slowly fluttered open. The world was fuzzy and out of focus, almost as if he were seeing the world through a window of plastic. But he blinked and squinted, and slowly his sight returned to normal. The first thing he saw was Darren's face. And despite himself, he could not help but grumble.
"Darren..." he mumbled.
Darren brightened up at the awakening of his lieutenant. he threw down the book he had been reading, propped himself up from his lying position with his back to the tent, and hobbled on his bad leg over to where Jason was waking up. Jason looked up and saw Darren's grinning face, still ravaged by the hellish battle they had narrowly survived.
"You know something?" Jason asked, "I just realized."
"Just realized what?"
"Your face is not the best thing to wake up to in the morning..."
Darren cracked a grin and chuckled.
"Well, you look just like I feel. Speaking of which, how do you feel?"
"To put it bluntly...like shit."
"Well, join the club my friend."
Jason slowly began to get up. his muscles were stiff and thuggish, and so he needed to take a minute to gather his strength in order to push himself up. Finally, he stood at his full height in front of Jason. Darren grinned.
"Still taking the theatrical stance are we?"
"Oh shut up..."
Then Jason had to ask the fateful question. His mood suddenly became raw and sorrowful.
"Darren...how many did we...well, how many have we lost?"
Darren sighed and looked at the ground. Then he looked at his lieutenant straight in the eye.
"Ten...we lost ten of our own today. And of the fourteen of us still here, well, we're all pretty messed up..."
Jason nodded, and swallowed the sorrow that raged in him. Ten of his brothers were now dead, sent to Elysium by the hand of true monsters, and were now living forever. While he felt a twinge of sadness for their loss, Jason could not think of a better way to die then for the cause that they had taken.
"What of the refugees?"
Darren brightened up a bit.
"Most got away, toward the next town."
"Most?"
Darren actually chuckled at that.
"Well...Garret sneaked back here just after the battle. Elizabeth was with him. He seemed sad that he missed it."
Jason nodded, and did not show emotion at this revealed info. But his heart swelled at the courage of the young boy. For someone so young to willingly run toward the site of one of the most hellish fights one could be in, and still want to fight, showed that this boy was something special. Maybe not special in the "super-human-know-it-all" but something else. Something that was above powers or skills. Garret had courage...and a lot of it.
He began to walk out of the tent, but Darren stopped him.
"What's the deal?" Jason asked.
"You might not want to step out there. Why don;t you just chill here until they're gone?"
"Till who's gone?"
Darren allowed a brief flare of anger to be seen.
"Them..."
Jason did not need to investigate further to know what Darren was talking about.
"Let me go Darren. I won't kill any of them...unless they ask for it..."
Darren smirked and nodded, removing his arm. Jason nodded once at him, taking notice that several other unconsciousness brothers were lying within the tent as well. Then he opened the flap and walked out.
The Hunters Of Artemis had indeed arrived, shortly after their mistress had saved them from that final attack. They had run in blindly, seeming to be trying to catch up with their mistress, and had run smack into the remnants of the brotherhood. There were some tense moments. In actuality, some very tense moments, before Artemis ordered them to stand down, and Orion simply told his brothers it was safe to collapse now. He had not meant literally collapse, only to put down their weapons. But in the minutes that followed, quite a few of the brothers really did faint from exhaustion, combined with the blood loss from the wounds every single one of them were bearing. If a brother had not been killed, then he had been wounded, most of them several times.
This was dangerous. Jason had no doubt that the huntresses would be having thoughts of revenge for the actions of the previous few months. And the frightening thing was that the brothers were in no position to fend them off properly. They had exhausted their arrows, and their swords, with the loss of adrenaline that had been flowing through them during the entire battle, were heavy in their hands. If the huntresses were to deny their mistresses orders and attempt to kill them, then the brothers would still fight to the death. But it would be a very short battle.
But to every single one of the remaining brothers complete shock and awe, the huntresses made no such attempt. Apparently, they knew of loyalty. They stayed a respectful distance away, and did not bother them unnecessarily. But they did do something, and it was not by their mistresses orders...
They had helped carry the dead. The dead brothers that were scattered over the long trail of their running fight were sought out by the huntresses, and then carried back. Jason could not believe it. These huntresses should be spitting on the dead boys. They were enemies not several months since, and tensions had not really died down.
And yet here they were, carrying the dead brothers with a strange amount of care, as if they cared if they roughly set down the fallen brother. Jason did not think he would ever live to see the day that huntresses would "degrade": themselves by gently carrying the dead body of a former male enemy to a final resting place, set him down, and then gently wrap him in a blanket. But they did so, and most seemed to actually look at the body in a moment of remorse.
The huntresses were showing mercy...now this was not something one saw everyday...
In fact, Jason learned another thing that they had done, and this was also not with their mistresses orders. They had taken the wounded brothers, many of whom were too weak to resist, and had cleaned their wounds before bandaging them. A dead brother was one thing. But for them to actually take a wounded and collapsed boy and treat the grievous wounds he had suffered in the past hour, made Jason pause.
He reached up and felt the bandage on his head. And the one around his trap muscles. And his left arm...
"That one girl did yours."
Lance! Jason walked over to him, seeing him bandaged along his chest, which was bare to the world. He grinned at him with his characteristic grin. His sandy blond hair was filthy, and his green eyes were glazed over. But the son of Aphrodite grinned up at him like it was just another outing.
"I am glad you made it out, pretty boy." Jason said with a grin.
"I'm glad you made it, oh great fearless leader."
"What do you mean though...my bandages.."
"That lieutenant of theirs, Thalia. She was the one who picked your hide up and fixed you up. Maybe you should thank her...though I wouldn't get too close...they bite you know..."
"Yeah, I think I will. And I won't extend my hand for them to bite."
"Good."
Lance went back to staring into his fire. Jason looked around for that familiar black haired, blue-eyed, daughter of Zeus. What he was going to say was evading him. He really was not sure how to go about it. He had fought her with a passion before, made it his personal aim to kill her during the war. They had bee the arch-rivals in that conflict, the respective leaders of their groups, and seemed to be the only ones able to stand up to each other. Well, he had beaten her by her own admission during the final battle, but he had a thought ever since that she had done so only to try and negotiate an end to it all.
He saw the huntresses mostly gathered in one place, after all the fallen brothers were finally collected. They laid in a row in the middle of the last stand area, side by side, with their sword and bow at their feet. Jason took a moment to bow his head toward them, and then slowly began to walk toward the huntresses. They were situated at the other end of the area, opposite the gathering of wounded brothers, and were exchanging glances. Jason was expecting warlike death glares to be flashing, but after the treatment of the wounded brothers and the careful placing of their dead, the brothers were glancing at the hunters with...strange uncertainty. The huntresses were glancing back with strange looks of their own, but Jason did not see the same type of aggression that he thought he would.
He came closer and closer. Several of the huntresses saw him making for them, and as he came closer and closer, they were obviously getting more and more uncomfortable. He came closer and several of them placed their hands on their swords. Jason grinned inside, though he did not grin externally. He was finding it fun to scare them. He got really close, and then several of them stood up to take a defensive position in front of their leader.
Jason chuckled.
"So you huntresses are scared enough of a wounded boy to try and fight him with your swords and armor? Well, I guess I made an impression last time..."
They glared at him with what seemed like the same fury a cat would glare at a offending mouse. Jason grinned and braced for an attack, but only heard a chuckle coming from behind the guards. A girl stood up behind them, and gently pushed them aside. Thalia Grace stood in front of him, and Jason opened his mouth to say something. But then he had a better idea.
"Why don't we...well, take this elsewhere?"
"And why would you want to do that?" Thalia asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because I don't want to say this while the rest of your girlfriends all are staring at me like they are going to want to run me through right here and now."
Thalia chuckled again.
"Boy, if they wanted to kill you all, they would have done it while you were half-dead in that little fort you made. Come on then..."
She walked away from her huntresses. One ran forward and grabbed her arm.
"Thalia...do you really want to be alone with...him?" she asked. She looked vaguely familiar, and then he remembered. It was that huntress they had captured during the war. Thalia nodded.
"I'll be alright Lisa. I'm armed and he's not. I have my armor on, and he does not. And plus he's not exactly in shape for a fight. This shouldn't be long."
Lisa slowly nodded, though she glared at Jason, who only grinned at her. He found he was loving to rile these little girls up. It was...satisfying. He then followed Thalia through the woods for a short distance, when she stopped and turned around.
He knew what he should say. Honor bound him to say it, even though it would be painful to say it to someone he spent so long hating and had fought so hard against. But honor answered an act of mercy, and so he was bound by natural law to do it. But he could not force his mouth to open, simply to regard her with his gaze, hoping to overpower hers. She answered the challenge, and a short staring match ensured. But she broke it when she gazed around at the devastation wreaked on the woods from the battle.
"Well...seems you guys made a hell of a stand..."
A huntress was complimenting them too. Damn, this truly was an alternate dimension.
"I'm glad your impressed..."
Thalia was looking around at the destruction idly for a few more seconds, as if she was not wanting to look him directly in the eye. Jason, to his guilt, was doing the same thing.
"Lady Artemis said she was called her. She wouldn't tell us what though..."
What?
"We passed by some people running away in the distance. Couldn't stop and see what was the issue though..."
"You saw the refugees!"
Thalia was taken back at his sudden change of tone. She jerked her gaze back to him and looked shocked to hear him suddenly burst out with such a tone. Jason needed to know. He needed to know what their fate was, for he and the brothers had suffered so much for them...and many had died for them.
"The what?"
"The refugees! You saw them!"
"I guess you could call them that. Refugees from what?"
"Are they safe?"
Thalia looked at him in confusion, but answered fluently.
"Yeah, they didn't seem to be in any trouble that we could see. They seemed to be running toward a town that we passed by running over here."
Jason closed his eyes for a moment, and then bowed his head. He thanked the fates that their sacrifice had not been in vain. The refugees were safe. The town they had directed them toward was not too far off. They would be alright. Especially now that they would not be pursued by anyone. Thalia noticed his reaction to the news and took a step back. She tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"What were they running from?" she asked.
"We had sent them off. We told them we would buy them as much time as we could..."
"So you were...protecting them?"
Jason slowly nodded. Thalia tilted her head a little more and stared at him as if she were contemplating something she knew that was now being challenged. She pursed her lips for a moment.
"Never thought I would see you people risk your lives for anyone else.."
Jason's head shot up and his eyes were flaring in anger. She was going to say something like that to them after what they had just gone through? Thalia seemed to realize what she said and chuckled.
"Easy there, boy. I wasn't serious."
"You damn well had better not be..."
"Take it easy! I wasn't serious Jason. Geez, you boys need to learn to control your emotions..."
Jason growled and walked oiff several feet. Thalia stayed where she was and looked at him with her electric blue eyes, almost as if she were still trying to discern what it was she was seeing. This boy seemed nothing like the brutal monsters he had seemed just months prior. Or maybe he never was a brutal monster in the first place. She had seen him care for his brothers like they were his family. The passionate way he had thrown himself in front of Nemesis and attacked her was proof of that. And what the brothers had done now, for these people that she had spotted making their way toward the town they passed...
"Jason," she called. He slowly turned to face her.
"What was the issue with those people? Why did you all take a stand against that whole army of mortals, with the firepower they had?"
Jason looked at the ground, and then looked at her.
"Because huntress...it was the right thing to do. It was the honorable thing to do..."
Thalia needed no more information then that. But she was not done with her quest for information.
"How many died?" she asked.
"You people brought the bodies in. How many were there?" Jason countered, though his voice was soft, as if he was lost in thought about something that saddened him to a great extreme. Thalia knew that look all to well. It was the look of a leader after a great battle, thinking of those that were lost, and believing that he had been responsible for their death.
Jason turned his back to her, and his shoulders slumped. He was not crying, but he was mourning alright, and mourning deeply.
"We don't know how many of you were here when this fight began. Do you know how many of your brothers have been killed?"
She had said brothers. She had not said males, or boys. She had referred to them by their title. Jason did not know why he noticed that, but sometimes, the little things were what counted the most. He raised his head slightly from it';s drooped position, and stared off into the woods, where the fight had first begun at the initial line.
"Ten...the report I got was ten..."
Thalia nodded. She herself had seen the evidence of the battle, even if she had missed it's carnage. The woods around them were a mess, with small craters all around, almost as if they had been hit by explosives. Bullet casings were seen everywhere, and Thalia could swear that she saw the occasional spot of blood. Jason was bandaged in three places, his lower neck, his left arm, and his head. They all, every single one of the survivors, had suffered pretty bad wounds. And even now, they still had fighting spirit in them. That was something Thalia could admire, no matter who was standing before her.
She walked over to the shaking Jason, and tenderly reached out her hand, placing it on his shoulder. Jason did not react much, but allowed her to place it there. This was not her enemy, not anymore. Jason was someone who may have been misguided about gender issues, but he was loyal. Loyal in the extreme to his brotherhood. She remembered Zoe Nightshade, and noticed that Jason was sharing those exact same characteristics.
Jason slowly turned and regarded her for a moment. Then he took a deep breathe and began to say what his honor now demanded.
"Thalia...thanks."
"What now?" she asked. She had not expected it.
"For helping us. I don't think our medics were in shape themselves to do what you...hunters have done for us right now. I'm not even sure if they're still alive. And our dead...thank you for being gentle with them."
Thalia nodded.
"Why did you do it though, if I may ask?"
Thalia looked him straight in the eye.
"Because it was the right thing to do..."
-0-
Orion's ten was darker than usual. The fire that was started had died down, and the black night was seemingly even blacker than usual. Orion did noit take notice of it, did not take notice that the sky was seeming to reflect his emotions right now. He was barely even able to take notice of the goddess sitting on his bed, her hands in her lap, and weapons lying next to her. She was following his pacing, but she said nothing. Orion would need some time to think, to feel the losses he had endured. She might be able to help him with the rest. She intended to help him with the rest.
Emotion raged out of Orion like a supernova. She felt a huge twinge of sympathy for him, as she herself had gone through this as well, when many of her hunters were killed defending Manhattan. But the huntresses had not faced a foe like what the brotherhood had faced here. The brothers had made a stand against an army of mortals, but mortals armed with modern weaponry and firepower. And they had been vastly outnumbered. This was a stand for the ages, even if no one else knew of it.
Artemis watched him continue to pace. Finally, she decided she had had enough of his silence.
"Orion, please sit with me."
Orion looked at her with a loving gaze, but the love in it was hampered by the pain of his loss. Many of his finest brothers had died today. Boys he had known for years. Boys he considered his own sons. He sighed and looked away.
"My love, if I sit down, I will never be able to stand again. This pain in me is just too much. I must occupy it with something, or it will overcome me."
"You will overcome nothing by pacing Orion. Sit next to me, and just allow it to run it's course."
Orion stopped and closed his eyes, swallowing. Then he slowly sat down next to Artemis, who snuggled closer to him, and took one of his battle scarred hands in her own. It was huge in her twelve year old hand.
"Orion, why did you make such a stand?"
"I didn't..."
Artemis did not understand. She cocked her head as she looked at him.
"What do you mean you didn't? Is this not your brotherhood?"
"Yes..."
"Then why did you choose to fight?"
"I didn't choose to."
"Then who did?"
"They did...they all did..." he waved his hand out, indicating his brothers who were all awoken now, and huddled around several fires in the night's cold air, each of them staring into it, probably fighting their own battles within themselves. Artemis saw what he meant, and nodded slowly.
"You brothers...they chose this?"
"Yes Artemis. They all decided to fight that army of monsters. They may have been mortals, but they were far worse than anything from Tartarus. I have seen what they did...and it is enough to make even Lord Hades stomach ill."
Artemis nodded. She had seen the refugees running toward the local towns. But her concentration had been on saving her love and his group from the army she saw attacking them.
"And so each of them took a vow. I could not stop them. I couldn't. They all wished to stand and fight, and to give those poor souls time to reach safety. And so we fought. By the gods, I have never seen my brothers fight like they did...we were trying to take as many of those beasts down with us as we could...before we were all killed ourselves.
"You intended to die?" Artemis asked, alarmed.
Orion opened his mouth and struggled to get words out.
"I did not see us attaining victory. It was impossible. That was why we fought a running fight all the way down here, to that little log fort you see. We were intending to fight them to our last, right in this spot..."
"And you did not think that I would come?" Artemis asked, her voice soft. Orion looked at her for a moment, and then looked into the center of the dying fire.
"I felt you might. But I could not shake the feeling...that I had hurt you too badly to be forgiven. And so your revenge...our deaths...you would simply leave to those mortals."
Artemis scooted on the bed until she was facing Orion directly, without having to turn her head. She watched him look into the flames of the fire, not seeing her at all. His mind was still playing the images of his brothers fighting for their loves, and dying one by one.
"Orion, you made the connection. You felt me there. And I made sure you knew that I was coming...didn't I?" she talked to him as if she were scolding a child. But it did not bother her, as Orion, technically, was far younger than her. And when one acted like a child, one was treated like a child. And Orion, at least to her, was acting rather child-like.
"Yes...you did..."
"Then why would you doubt that I would not come when you needed me most?"
"I simply...I simply did not know for sure..."
Orion, when I say I am going to do something, I keep my word. And do you honestly believe that I would have allowed you to come to harm?"
Orion slowly shook his head. His emotions had begun to annoy her. She could understand him being upset over the loss of his brothers, but this was one step too far. Before she could scold further, Orion turned to her slowly, and looked into her eyes.
"You are right Artemis. I should not have doubted you...I do not know what to say. We would have been wiped out completely if you had not arrived and aided us. I would say thank you...but it seems so little for so much..."
Artemis flashed in a bright light for a moment, and then reappeared in her more adult form, the form Orion was more familiar with. She did not break his gaze as she slowly took his hand in hers.
"Then do not say anything...Orion."
There was no further need for talk, nothing else needed to be verbally said. They looked into each others eyes as their faces slowly came closer, and then Artemis's lips slowly brushed Orion's, a kiss that was all too familiar, and one that she had sorely missed. They broke apart for a moment, and then Artemis smiled.
"Your welcome..."
Their lips came together again, and the night did not seem so dark...
Suddenly, Orion and Artemis heard the tent flap open, and they instantly broke apart. A young boy walked slowly into the tent, a young girl peeking out from behind him. Garret saw Orion sitting there, and his mouth broke into a grin.
"Orion!" he rushed inside, and grabbed Orion's waist in a hug. Orion laughed and wrapped an arm around the happy boy, Elizabeth skipping inside as well. Garret had dug his head into Orion's lap, and Orion agve him several reassuring stroked across his back. Then he forced Garret to brake away, so he may see the young boy's face.
"I heard you tried to return to the fight?" Orion asked.
Garret slowly nodded, as though he was thinking he had made the wrong call.
"Garret, that was very rash...and to be honest, I have never, ever..."
Garret was cringing.
"...seen that much bravery in someone so young."
Garret had to take that in for a second. But when he saw Orion's grin slowly breaking out, he laughed and was practically jumping for joy. Elizabeth walked behind him and they both looked up at Orion with smiles from ear to ear.
"And just who would these two be?"
Garret finally noticed the strange woman sitting next to Orion. He was taken back by the sight of her, and couldn't form an answer very quickly.
"I...uh...U uh...I'm..."
Orion laughed, for the first time in a while.
"Do you remember the story about the hunter and the goddess?" Orion asked.
They nodded, their eyes darting back and forth between Orion and Artemis.
"Well...there she is..."
Garret's jaw practically hit the ground at that statement. He slowly turned and regarded Artemis with just a little more awe, and took a step back. Elizabeth was not as taken back, but she maintained a distance between her and Artemis. Artemis saw this and simply chuckled.
"What stories have you told them, Orion?" she asked. Orion chuckled as well.
"Just the ones I need to get them satisfied, my lady."
-0-
The brothers were formed up in two rows, standing ram-rod straight, or as much as some could do in the state they were in. The formation seemed so small now, as those that were no in it were lying on the ten pyres built within the final stand area. Jason stood before the formation, and turned to face his brothers. The huntresses stood a certain distance away, and made neither sound nor movement during the ceremony.
"What these brothers did will never be forgotten. What they stood against, cruelty, abuse, and slavery, will always be remembered. Their stand here will be for the ages, even if only us here know of it. But that is enough, for if even one brother here remembers them, then no matter where they may be...they have become immortal."
Jason then did an about-face and Orion walked up, and performed the last gesture given to a fallen brother. He placed his palm upon the forehead of the boy, and then bowed his head, the only time he would bow to a brother. He lit the wood beneath each pyre as he finished, and then walked back to in front of Jason, a little to the side.
"Find peace brothers." he called out. The brothers remained silent throughout the entire burning, the smoke being seen as the symbol of their soul passing into the beyond. The huntresses did nothing, seeing the sacredness of the ceremony, at least to the brotherhood.
After the last of the embers were blowing in the wind, Orion turned to Jason.
"Jason break camp. We are leaving."
"Yes, sir..."
-Two Weeks Later-
Three firgures moved through the woods, toward a strange hill in the distance. Two of the figures were that of children, both of them practically skipping in happiness. THe third was much more controlled, obviously quite a bit older older. The figures stopped at a nearby hill, from which the hill that symbolized their destination was within sight.
"I can't believe that we're demi-gods!" Garret cried happily. He and Elizabeth had been practically dancing around Jason's heels as he led them toward the only real haven for demi-gods. Artemis had gone ahead and placed the call to Chiron, as Orion was not sure that the campers or their counselor would be happy to see him in a message.
"I can't believe it either!" Elizabeth said. Jason smiled at their happiness, as he knew this had to be the best option for them. Garret was too young to join the brotherhood, and Elizabeth needed time with her brother. They stopped their antics and then looked sadly at Jason.
"Are you sure that you cannot stay here?" Garret asked.
Jason slowly shook his head.
"My place is with my brothers Garret. But I will keep in touch, as long as you are willing to keep in touch with me."
"Always!"
Jason chuckled. There was shout in the distance, and several people in orange T-shirts were seen at the hill in the distance, waving toward them. Garret saw them and waved back.
"You should go now Garret. Your place is here, with your sister."
Garret looked at Jason and tears welled up in his eyes. He ran over and grabbed Jason in a tight hug. Jason wrapped his arms around the young boy, and allowed him one last moment of comfort, before he found comfort with his sister and other like himself.
"Do you know the special abilities of Hephaestus?" Jason asked. Garret looked up at him with wet eyes and shook his head. Artemis had found out their ancestry just before she left. And then revealed just why they had made that necklace for Lord Orion...
"Hephaestus is the god of blacksmiths, a builder. He builds and invents things. So do you know what I want you to do?"
Garret shook his head.
"I want you to take your sister, and I want you to build you and her a better future. Can you do that for me?"
Garret nodded. Jason stepped back, smiling at him.
"We are never far away Garret. In your darkest hour, should you and your sister ever have the need...all you ned to do is send the call."
Garret nodded, and Jason gestured his head toward the camp entrance.
"Go now, my friend."
Garret slowly turned back and walked with Elizabeth to the hill. There were two people in Orange T-shirts standing there and they shook their little hands.
"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!"
The kids nodded, and turned back toward the hill they had been on. But Jason was gone...
Jason watched them from the protection of the trees, and smiled as Garret and Elizabeth stepped past the camp's border. He remembered the weak young boy that Garret had been, and the advancements that he mad while with the brotherhood. He knew that whatever Garret chose to do, he would excel. He was simply of that kind of caliber
After you have passed through the fire...there is nothing else that can burn you...
Fin
Well, it has been a real pleasure writing this. I was not really sure about what to go with it, but eventually this story just came together in my mind and so this is what happened. I hope you all have enjoyed it.
Goodbye...
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WAIT! I'M NOT DONE YET!
You really want it? Well, then I guess I have not choice then...
To Be continued...
Coming soon...
Brotherhood Of The Hunt: Until the Light Dies