Here's the third chapter then, a bit of an action chapter to make up for the last filler chapter, and we get formally introduce to a favourite character of mine.
I don't own anything, apart from the new ideas. Enjoy
Perseus stood very still, not panicking, not spinning round, and just standing oh so very still. Whoever the man was, he clearly had very few morals since he was willing to use the girl as bait. The point on his neck shifted slightly, moving away from the skin, "Turn around." The voice was deep, with a gruff, harsh undertone.
"I said TURN AROUND." Still moving slowly to make sure that he didn't provoke a reaction, Perseus spun on one heel, bringing him face to face with the point of the sword. "Who are you, what are you doing here?"
"Perseus, of Normandy, and my purpose in this cave is to slay the serpent, the same as your mission I would assume. Might I have the pleasure of knowing your name?" The man grunted, hefting the thick broadsword onto his shoulder. He looked like he had been ripped out of the tales of Vikings, broad chested with arms about the same width as one of Perseus' legs. A thick, dirty, chainmail hauberk hung down to his knees, covered in a formerly green surcoat, and belted with rope. Unfortunately for Perseus his sword seemed to be in pristine condition, without a nick in the blade of a spot of rust. The face was Viking like also, covered in hair so that Perseus could barely see his mouth move when he answered.
"Sir Frederic Chase, and yes, I too am in this cave to slay the beast."
"Might I ask, why are you using the girl as bait, when you have clearly found the lair of the beast?" The man laughed at that.
"Well it's going to be much easier for me to kill the snake if it is distracted by eating the girl. That will save me a lot of trouble." Perseus was not entirely surprised, though it did sadden him the contempt many nobles showed for others lives. Loosening his sword in its sheath, Perseus shook his head at the brute.
"I'm afraid I cannot allow that to happen."
"I don't really see that you have much of a choice in the matter. I'm the one with the sword in my hand after all." Perseus smirked at that, inwardly laughing at how unaware the man was. Catching the knight by surprise, Perseus lashed out with a sharp kick to his stomach, sending him tumbling back several steps. This gave Perseus enough time to swing his shield off his shoulder and draw his sword in one fluid movement. Bellowing in rage, the warrior managed to heft his bulk off the ground, bringing his sword up with him. Almost like a bull, the man snorted angrily, trying to clear his head, before charging. The broadsword came across in a massive diagonal arc, Perseus quickly braced himself, raising his shield to block the blow. As soon as it impacted, Perseus was almost spun round, and his left arm burst out in protest. Why the hell did I try and block that, Perseus thought as he quickly rolled away from the follow up, He's got the advantage of size and blade weight, of course I'm not going to be able to stop it. Perseus had roll again as another swing came down at him. This time Perseus swung his legs out as he rolled, scissoring the mans legs out from underneath him. Perseus used the opportunity to scramble to his feet. The huge broad sword came down again, and Perseus nudged the blade to the side with his own, before slipping into the arc. Despite being considerably less bulky than the knight, Perseus was able to knock him off balance with his shield, before delivering three quick slashes, one to the mans' arm, one to his chest, and the final one to his leg. Each time he struck, the sword tore through the poor quality armour, leaving bleeding wounds in its wake and sending the warrior to the floor. Despite the pain, Frederick stood again, gaining his balance and setting his sword. This time Perseus attacked first, feinting a strike to his face before flicking the blade down low and slicing through his calf. Once more Frederic hit the ground, and once more he rose. Surprised, Perseus backed away, giving the warrior space to prepare. Impressed by the mans' determination to win, Perseus raised his sword in a salute, to which the warrior nodded in return. Neither charged this time, both cautiously edging towards each other. Frederic swung first, a low slice to the legs, which Perseus managed to leap over, before returning with lung at his chest. The Knight parried sharply, before spinning and hacking at Perseus' shield arm. Pushing upwards with his shield, Perseus ducked underneath the sword, managing to get behind his opponent. Taking his chance, Perseus rushed forward and placed his sword around the neck of the brute.
"Yield." Perseus gasped out,
"No," the warrior began to try pushing Perseus backwards, but Perseus simply pressed the edge of the sword harder into his neck. "Fine I yield." At this Perseus pulled away from the man, and walked over to the girl.
Picking up his knife from where he had dropped it, Perseus quickly sliced the ropes holding her and removed her gag. Suddenly he tensed,
"When I move, I need you to get yourself into a safe area, perhaps the storage room, and stay there, understand?" He whispered hurriedly,
"Why?" the girl asked nervously,
"Because, daughter of Athena," At this her eyes widened almost comically, "Python is staring at us from the tunnel entrance." In a louder voice, though still calm, Perseus called over his shoulder. "Frederick, you might want to move away from the entrance, for safety issues" The big man became quickly alert, not daring to look around but taking a few steps away. Realising what was happening, Python suddenly began to hiss, the noise sounding more like a roar in the enclosed space. The crunching of rocks filled the air as the huge serpent slithered into the forge.
Perseus turned, as did Frederic, and readied himself for battle, switching his sword for one of his spears. One thing Perseus never understood was why the ancient storytellers felt the need to make Python into a dragon, it was more terrifying as it was. Over 40 feet long, and more disappearing into the tunnel, the enormous serpent was built like a king cobra. Faster than either of them was prepared for, the monster reared up, getting into a striking position, flaring out its hood.
"Sssoo, the mortalss have found my lair have they, how very… unfortunate that is" The snake seemed somehow to be, smiling at them. "Pleassse my friendssss, allow me to invite you to dinner" Perseus frowned, witty banter with a snake was not something he had prepared for,
"What's the main course?" Immediately he felt like slapping himself, that was not a smart comeback.
"Why, you of coursse." The snake hissed, before opening its mouth to strike. Faster than he could register the snake slammed forward, and Perseus' battle instincts kicked in. Flipping backwards, he saw Python slam into the ground, and jabbed quickly with his spear, but the snake tipped its head slickly so that the spear simply bounced off the scales. Keeping his gaze on the beast, Perseus saw Frederic approaching from the side. It was only then that Perseus noticed something that chilled his blood; Frederic's sword was only mortal steel, not celestial bronze. Sure enough, when the knight swung his broad sword down on the trunk of the snake, the metal simply swept through, clanging into the floor as if the serpent did not exist. Cursing, Perseus rolled to the side to avoid a burning ball of venom, before hurling his spear towards Frederic, "Here, use this, but you'll have to find the chinks in its scales, aim for underneath!" Frederic nodded, grateful for the weapon, before he started jabbing at the beast, testing it and dodging its writhing coils. Perseus leapt backwards once more, fumbling with his second spear, tripping over a loose rock the general fell backwards, rolling as more venom came flying towards him, the liquid hit the ground and splashed, a small droplet landing on his neck. The pain was astonishing, such a small wound, yet it burned worse than any sword cut. He was only saved when Frederic managed to score a blow, the spear scratching a long deep wound in the belly of the beast. Hissing madly the beast spun to face Frederic, rearing up once more for a strike. Perseus knew there was little hope of the knight avoiding the blow, as his size cost him the manoeuvrability that had kept Perseus alive. Stretching out his senses, Perseus forced his mind to recognise the water molecules in the air, usually to small to notice. Drawing upon his energy, Perseus fought to condense the water into physical form. Slowly, slivers of liquid appeared in the air. Just then Python struck, lunging down a Frederic. Reacting beyond conscious thought, Perseus flung the water towards the serpent, forming links and chains to hold the beast down. Grabbing his last spear, Perseus leapt from his position, dashing towards the creature. Summoning all his speed and strength, Perseus jammed his spear into the eye of the beast, hoping to penetrate its brain. But to no avail, as he struck the eye the beast convulsed massively, wrenching itself free of the chains of water. Golden ichor poured out of beast eye and it writhed around in pain, flailing its hooded head as it retreated into the tunnel. Perseus made to follow it, to finish off his work but had to lunge back as the beast continued to spit venom.
Knowing he could not give chase until the beast had left the tunnel, Perseus quickly turned to check on the others in the room. The girl was clearly still in the storage chamber as she was nowhere to be seen. Frederic, on the other hand, was unfortunately easy to see, as he was slumped on the ground, leaning heavily on the wall of the forge. Perseus quickly dashed over, surprisingly concerned. "Did the snake get you anywhere? Did you touch the venom?" At that, Perseus suddenly remembered his own acid burn on his neck and gasped as his pain sensors started firing powerfully. Frederic chuckled slightly, before weakly responding.
"It was not the snake that out me here, but the wounds from our duel." Perseus jolted as he remembered they had been fighting each other, what seemed like hours before. It was a miracle the man had been able to stand, let alone fight and survive Python.
"My friend, your courage does you great service. Allow me a second to collect my pack and I shall wrap these wounds." So saying, Perseus walked over to his pack, which had been swept against the wall in the conflict. Carrying it over to Frederic, he quickly opened it, pulling out his helmet and jamming it onto his head. He then reached further into his pack and found the bandages. Observing that the two leg wounds were doing the most damage, Perseus set to binding those first.
"Sir Frederic you confuse me. You use a girl as bait for a serpent, to make your fight easier, which gives the impression of an ignoble man, which you speech earlier did little to allay. However in our battle, and the battle against Python, you displayed both courage and intellect, seldom seen in those who do not care for human life. Why is this." Frederic winced as Perseus tugged sharply at one of the bindings.
"In truth Perseus, I did not wish to use the girl as bait, you see, she is my daughter. However, with Athena being a goddess, I could not marry her, and yet I needed a wife to continue on my line. I did marry, a beautiful and lovely woman, yet because Annabeth, my daughter, was not her child she hated her. This was not helped by the fact that, being a Demigod she attracted monsters to our home, putting my two youngest children, twin boys, at risk. So indeed my wife issued me an ultimatum- get rid of Annabeth, of she would expose the scandal of her birth, being illegitimate, and leave with the two twins. I could not bear to lose my boys so I had to lose Annabeth." Perseus looked at the man, pity evident on his face.
"You were faced with an impossible choice, and no blame can be apportioned to you. Stay and explain this to your daughter, and tell her that after this, if she wishes, I can take her to a new family, the hunters of Artemis." Frederic couldn't stop himself from smiling.
"You would do that? You could do that?" Perseus simply nodded at the man, before walking towards the tunnel entrance and glancing up the passageway. The entrance was clear, meaning the snake had moved into the forest. Perseus looked back at Frederic,
"Give that spear to your daughter, she'll need a weapon that can kill monsters if she's going to survive. And with that, he stepped into the tunnel. Shield in front and spear at the ready, prowling forward at a cautious pace.
As soon as Perseus exited the earthen corridor, several things became obvious. Firstly, the snake was no longer near the entrance, the golden trail leading off into the beaten down track. The second thing was that blackjack clearly had the same penchant for following instructions as he had, as the Pegasus almost tackled him to the ground in relief.
"Hey lord, you're alive! The big snake came out and I thought that maybe, somehow, you lost. I mean, pretty stupid of me huh, we never lose." Perseus smiled at the horse,
"I'm afraid I missed the part where you were involved, and didn't I tell you to head back to Poseidon?" Blackjack whinnied, before prancing nervously.
"Yeah well, I thought you might need some air support."
"In a cave…"
"Well you came out of the cave didn't you?" Blackjack defended himself, "And now that you're out of the cave, we can go hunt down that crazy reptile." Perseus sighed, conceding the point, though inwardly he was glad. Fighting the beast from the air was going to make it harder for Python to hit them, and if he tried lunging, then he would be exposed.
"Ok, lets go hunt some snake!" Jumping onto Blackjack, the Pegasus let out a loud neigh before rearing onto his hind legs, turning and galloping down the trail as pulled away from the ground.
"Always one for the dramatic aren't you?"
"Lord, if you looked as fine as me, you would be too." Perseus just laughed, keeping his eyes tight to the ground, searching for the snake. Despite having fought the thing in the chamber, even he was not prepared for the true size and majesty of the King Cobra. Longer than was conceivable, the snake had clearly not been entirely in the tunnel either, indeed Perseus wondered how it could even fit into the forge. Blackjack swept in closer the beast enabling Perseus to call out to it.
"PYTHON, YOU HAVE TORMENTED THIS LAND FOR LONG ENOUGH. BEFORE THIS DAY IS DONE, YOU SHALL LIE SLAIN." The serpent seemed to stare at Perseus for a while before breaking out into a sick sort of laughter.
"You think I will fall to you? I am Python; I was guard to the oracle of Delphi. I tormented the Titaness Leto at the behest of Hera. Only at the hand of the god Apollo did I finally meet my end. And yet I am back, immortality is sweet. Hundreds of hero's have tried to best me, you think you shall triumph, your arrogance betrays your father, son of Poseidon"
"You think your boastful claims will deter me. I am the Greek General, leader of the armies of Normandy. I am son of Poseidon, Earthshaker and Stormbringer. I am the bane of Monsters, and the leader of Men. Be you immortal or not, monster, today you fall, I swear it on the Styx." The snake somehow managed to look uneasy as thunder rumbled in the sky.
Perseus nudged Blackjack with his heels, and the horse dived down at the beast, as they approached, Perseus jabbed at the serpents' eye, hoping to blind it, but as they were moving, so was the Serpent. Over and over Perseus and Blackjack swept in, always unable to blind the beast, but at points scoring wounds into the underbelly of the beast. Python spat acid at the pair, and Blackjack had to roll in mid air to avoid it, again Perseus jabbed, but this time the spear entered the mouth of the great beast, snapping its jaw closed, the serpent broke the spear in half, but not before it was able to lodge itself the roof of its mouth. Screeching in pain, the snake used its head as a cudgel, battering Blackjacks side. Blackjack let out a whinny as he careered towards the ground, his left wing bent at an impossible angle. Just before they hit the ground, Perseus managed to make a small cushion of water. While this stopped either of them from breaking any bones, it did not make the landing comfortable. Perseus bounced along the ground, the dirt digging and scratching at his armour. Blackjack, however, was out of the fight. "Get yourself to safety my friend, I'll take care of this overgrown worm."
Taking a small dagger from behind his back, scabbard and all, Perseus pulled the sheath off the dagger, and immediately found himself holding a very familiar sword. Anaklusmos. His father had given him the sword a long time ago, when he arrived at Chiron's hero academy. Traditionally Greek in style, the sword felt like it was made for him, but at the same time not. While comfortable and easy to wield, it didn't quite handle the same as his mortal sword, the one he made himself. Nevertheless it was a fine sword.
Perseus charged, running straight at the snake that towered ten feet above him. He rolled, to the left and to the right, dodging the globules of venom the serpent spat. The Serpent struck at him, and he jumped up, using its head as a springboard. Spinning in the air, Perseus drove the blade downwards, managing to find purchase in the scales. The snake reared and bucked, slamming itself into the ground to try and dislodge him, but Perseus held tight, gripping onto the sword with all his strength. Gradually pulling himself upwards, Perseus used the momentum of the snake to jam his sword in further. Rearing back up, the snake shuddered. Taking the opportunity presented by the moment of stillness, Perseus swung round the head of the serpent, resting his feet on the contours of its lower jaw, and slammed one of his knives into the snakes last working eye. The snake tried one last time to dislodge Perseus, this time throwing itself backwards to crush him into the ground. Perseus cursed, jumping off the snake at the last minute, and rolling to break the fall. Prepared to dodge any attack the snake might try, Perseus turned rapidly, to find the snake slowly dissolving into fine golden powder. Perseus tried to spot what had killed it; his knife hadn't been long enough to do anything but destroy the eye. Seeing what had caused the serpents death, Perseus had to sit down and laugh. In its agony and desperation to dislodge him, the snake had forgotten one vital thing. It had forgotten there was a sword lodged into the back of its skull, and by throwing itself backwards it had driven the sword into its brain. Python had basically committed suicide. Lying back to catch his breath, Perseus heard voices approaching as the world began to dim; suddenly they appeared in his narrowing vision, a young girl with blonde hair in princess curls, and a familiar bearded face.
"Did you see that, he's one of us, he must be."
"Silence Annabeth, he needs aid. Get his pack."
Again reviews would be appreciated, Thanks for reading.