I'm back. I know. I took forever. But I experienced an extreme case of writer's block. I knew he had to build the armor, but I didn't know what he was supposed to do. So I waited for inspiration. And I found it. Oh, ah, I'm not actually Rick Riordan, and I don't actually, ahem… well, I don't own any of his stuff… sorry. Well, maybe this'll make it up to you. The Fourth Story!

The Fourth Story

~or~

We're Off to Fight the Romans

This one starts the week after I was claimed. One week, to the day. I was just getting out of bed. "Nick, get up! Breakfast is almost ready!" a horn blows in the distance, and I get shoved out of my bed, landing on the floor with a thud and a groan. I slowly climbed to my feet, and threw on yesterday's t-shirt and cargo shorts. Erica wrinkled her nose in disgust, and the Athena cabin marched out to war. Or breakfast; whichever came first. After landing in my seat, and pouring some coffee into a fire as an offering to Athena, I started to groggily smash food into my mouth.

During the chatter and noise of the camp eating, a shout came from the hill. I looked up, as did Erica, and over the top of the hill a red colored horsehair plume rises. Then another, and another, and… a whole line of red plumes came marching over the hill. What followed them was worse. A full line of Roman warriors, marching in stiff lockstep, making the earth tremble even there at the dining pavilion, emerged from the woods across the hill.

Their faces were covered by bronze helmets, and huge tower shields were held steady in front of them. As they neared, my fellow campers scrambled, trying to escape or fetch their gear. Behind the Roman line, a fire raged, swallowing the Earth. And tied to poles were our guards. And on the center pole was Eloi…

I jerked awake, yelling a wordless rage. The cabin woke instantly, scrambling up and falling out of bed, drawing weapons. I sat bolt upright, slowly breathing in and out, face red and body tensed. "Nick, what the hell, man?" several people muttered at me, giving me poisonous looks, before slipping back into their beds. Erica stayed awake, glaring at me. I shook my head, and wandered outside, trying to clear my mind. Nick, you have been given a vision. You alone know what is to come. You must face this threat, or the camp will be destroyed. The camp will soon be under siege, and the campers trapped inside will be helpless. You must escape, Nick.

Nothing like your mom speaking inside your head to clear your mind.

But I felt that she was right. Don't ask me how, but I knew that the fancy wall that the Hephaestus cabin had built around the Big House would kill us. That was supposed to be our acropolis, our last resort defense, but if Athena was right, and she usually was, then it would be our undoing. Man, I just love happy thoughts like those! I had maybe a week to get as many people as I could out with me. I also had to get Chiron and the other Head counselors to believe me. I couldn't do anything right now though, so I took a nap.

The next morning, I ran off to find Chiron. I explained to him what had happened, and to my surprise he nodded. "I had a vision very similar to yours, Nick. I too believe that an attack is imminent. But what I'm not sure about is why, and who." I stared at him. "Um, Chiron? Look, I mean, the Romans are our enemies, right? They hate us and want us dead. Plus, my vision said it would be them." He smiled, looking at a painting of Percy and Annabeth Jackson at their wedding. "Nick, I've had a little bit of experience with visions. Symbols and hidden meanings are endless, and double meanings and fallacies are common as well," he said. "Chiron?" "yes Nick?" "What does fallacy mean?"

He snorted at me, which was funny because he's a horse. "Fake, Nick. False, untrue, a lie, in essence." I nodded. "So it's not the Romans? Could that have been a symbol for some enemy? Just any enemy at all?" Chiron nodded, snapping his fingers and pointing at me. "Exactly Nick. But one thing IS clear— we need a council of war. And I think you should sit in on this one."

Thirty minutes later, all the head counselors sat around a ping-pong table, snacking on quesadilla chip dip and discussing my sanity. "Nick knows what he's doing. If he and Chiron both say we're going to be attacked, I believe it." Garrett and Quinton both spoke up for me, while Erica, Kate of Aphrodite, and Sari (SAH-ree) of Nemesis spoke against me.

I really felt the home team love coming from Erica.

Eventually though, it was decided that I would head out to see our resident Oracle, a scrawny girl named Eve. As I neared her cave, however, I heard moaning from within. I hesitated, and then dashed in, dagger drawn. Eve was on the floor, desperately trying to keep blood inside of her by pressing cloth to her side. I sheathed my dagger and immediately applied pressure to the wound, letting eve rest and conserve her strength. Through her tears and gasps of pain, I learned that something had snuck into her cave and sliced her open during the night. I tried to stay positive for her, but I knew what a mortal wound was. Eve was going to die, and I had just met her.

Suddenly, she went rigid. She grabbed my shoulders, sitting up in the process, making her wound worse. Or it would have, if the wound had still been there. Smooth skin now covered where a hideous cut had been, moments ago. Green mist poured from her mouth, nose, and ears.

You will escape our doom, to find your own,

You will seek the key in a place unknown.

Ghosts and wolves, and bows abound,

Far underneath the frozen ground.

Yours and hers and his as well,

Off to search as our enemy swells.

She fell backward, unconscious. I picked her up, and carried her down to the Big House, inside the acropolis walls. I related the story of what happened, as well as the words of what could only be a prophecy. Chiron sighed, looking at Willie take care of Eve in the med bay. "Apollo chooses his oracles carefully, and becomes upset when one is hurt. Whoever would do this is either powerful enough to not have to fear his wrath, or crazy enough to not care. As you can see, however, Apollo takes good care of his oracles." Eve was sitting up, but then fell back against the bed, holding a hand to her head.

I nodded, still trying to make sense of the prophecy. 'Yours and hers and his as well' had to refer to who would go with me. So me, a girl, and a guy. The counselors immediately began debating who should go. "Obviously Garrett should. If this is going to save us from a siege, then someone needs to be able to sneak." But Garrett shook his head. "No. It shouldn't be any head counselor. We'll all be needed for leadership during the siege." Erica agreed, and it was left up to me to pick who I wanted. I went through the camp, trying to find who I wanted. At last I found Darius, son of Zeus. He was causing a gale to fling dummies at the Apollo kids, who were trying to shoot them. He was laughing his head off, his dark skin glinting in the morning sun. When I asked him, he immediately accepted. "Yeah Nick. For sure! I've been looking for a quest for a long time!" he laughed as a straw dummy ran into an Apollo kid. "Right. Look, Darius, if you're going with me, then you should know that the camp is going to be attacked soon. The quest is to escape before that happens, and then save them. We won't be here to help fight during the siege." His mouth opened slightly, and his dreadlocks stood on end (which is quite a sight, for those of you who've never seen it before) as tendrils of electricity ran over his body. He slowly took on a more serious face, and nodded tightly. He turned and began getting ready to leave without another word, leaving the dummies to fall to the ground.

Now for the girl. I was afraid to ask Eloi, because I wasn't sure how well we could work together if I was going to be constantly trying to protect her. On the other hand, the image of her strung up on a pole was flashing through my mind. Leave her. She will be a distraction, one that you cannot afford. I nodded to my internal momma voice, and thought through my options. Mallory was the one that kept coming to mind. Mallory Taylor is a girl that stands about 5' even, and weighs maybe 90 pounds, sopping wet. She's the daughter of Ares. She's also the most loyal person alive.

At the sword fighting arena, Mallory was fighting her older brother, Andy. He stands about 6 foot 7, and weighs in at maybe 300 pounds. "Of course I'm going! How could I not?! Yeah I'm gonna miss out on some crazy awesome action, but the camp is what matters. If this is the way to save the camp, I'm in." and with that, she tackled Andy, swinging around his neck by her legs, and throwing him to the ground. From there, she pummeled his head with her club till he went limp. She stood, dusted herself off, and exchanged her club for a needle thin dagger, beckoning for the next opponent to come at her.

Mallory's training fights are rather… intense.

I spent the next week building my armor. I sure as hell wasn't leaving those scales around for the enemy to find. Almost as soon as I had finished it, the alarm bells began ringing, and shouts and clashes of swords rang out. I gathered my stuff, grabbed my bag, and sprinted out to our rendezvous point. Darius was already there, and Mallory and Quinton appeared out of the shadows. Quinton nodded to me, and disappeared. I looked at Darius. Darius looked at Mallory. Mallory looked at me. We all nodded simultaneously, and took off running.

Yeah, shut it. I know the prophecy sucks. But other than that, I think I NAILED IT. But that's just my opinion. What's yours? How'd I do? Or, in other, harsher words, FREAKING GIVE ME A REVIEW. Or don't I guess, if you want more suckish prophecies. It's up to you.

Always,

Daedalus