Chapter 7: Over the hill
Luke Ford was still awake, he slept little these days. There was so much going on these days. The wedding was probably the most mind wrecking thing. Maria wanted it to be perfect like every bride. Of course the wedding planning wasn't always nice. Maria wasn't the quiet type, when something wasn't going her way you would know it. Luke didn't mind though, he knew that on the day itself it would be great. The troubles existed, everyone knew that. He wasn't even a week away from the wedding itself and he still believed asking Maria to marry him was the best decision he ever made. He'd never think any differently. Now he wasn't thinking about that though, there was a weapon that required his attention. It was something he had been working on for quite a while even though it wasn't all that special, or at least not if you offered it a single glance. It was a shield which was made of celestial bronze and was very tough. Before everyone went to sleep he bashed it with a hammer just to see what would happen. The shield didn't even have a dent in it. It wasn't a small shield but it didn't cover much more than his torso. Of course it wasn't just for cover. The edged of the weapon weren't blunt but were as sharp as any sword, making it a weapon as well as a shield. Given what had been happening lately he needed it.
"Done." He said to himself as he finished attaching the leather strap at the back. He was quite proud of his work and he had reason to be. It was a very well crafted weapon. He knew he was going to need it very soon.
"Luke." Someone spoke from the other side of the forge. It was dark and Luke couldn't see who it was but he recognized the voice. Colin Price stood there dressed in Greek battle armour and a double bladed spear in his right hand. Colin had gotten that weapon from his mother, the goddess Nike. She was the goddess of victory meaning you really didn't want to play Colin at any sport or card game. "They're here." Colin said.
"Already?" It was pretty early by normal standards but the last few times this happened it happened later. Luke was still wearing his battle armour which wasn't like the standard ones at all. His body armour was bronze plated with chain mail underneath which you could see at the joints. On the chest was a golden emblem of a burning hammer, the symbol of Hephaestus. His right arm was fully armoured while on his left arm he wore the shield he only just finished. The shoulder on the right was pointing upwards like a thick spike and that style went down the arm until the gauntlet which ended in a sharp and deadly bronze extension making it possible for him to kill monsters with a single punch. He had never actually worn the armour into battle but he had trained while wearing it. Given he had made the entire thing himself he was extremely proud as it defended him well and he kept pretty much all his mobility. And on a side note, he looked awesome. "Who's there?" Luke asked.
"Max is already up there. Gone past the border as well. Then there's Alex and Hectar." When Luke heard those names he sighed. He expected it from Max and the truth was, Max could handle it. But Alex and Hectar playing heroes again even though he had to save their asses at least five times when this happened last time. "There are others coming but I'm not exactly sure who they are." Colin said to Luke.
"Do we really need so many?" Luke asked. He wanted to use as few people as possible. It wasn't going to be safe like the training. And in training they used real swords. So many demigods had never seen the real deal. He worried less about Colin and Max and maybe even less about Alex and Hectar because they had been in major battles. Alex and Hectar acted like fools but they could hold their own in a fight. Together with Lucio Fortis, the late son of Hypnos, they defeated an army of drones. He knew Max could fight given he spent a long time trying to beat him and in the end no one came out a winner and Colin was good with his spear.
"There's a lot of them about...are you sure we shouldn't...?" Colin was cut off by Luke. He didn't want to hear what Colin had to say. He had heard it before and he was sick of it.
"We don't need him." Luke walked towards Colin and passed him. There was no time to waste, there was a small army of Dracanae trying to lay siege on camp. Someone had to go and stop it.
Luke made his way up the hill and saw Max standing in the distance. Luke could see the silhouette of the chain hanging from his arm, the scar left from the fight with Phthonos. Luke had been trying to fix it or at least make it more bearable. He had failed. He had succeeded in making it a weapon he could use pretty well. He could even change the last few feet of the chain if he wished but Luke couldn't remove it. He doubted anyone could. But that didn't matter now, there was a battle to be fought. Luke noticed that Max was in simple clothing, not even thick clothing. He was wearing ripped jeans and a T-shirt. Hectar and Alex were sitting not far away from them thumb wrestling like real tough guys.
"What no armour?" Luke asked. He didn't think it was a smart decision. If he got hit he wouldn't have any defence. Of course they were used to that but even now that he had the chance to wear some protection he chose not to.
"Hell no, armour is for pussies." Max said with a cheeky smile. Luke looked down at the thick breastplate of his armour. He looked back at Max with his eyebrows raised. "I didn't mean you of course." Max said sarcastically.
"Since when do you have a sense of humour?" Luke asked. In the main time Colin had caught up with Luke. He hadn't been rushing and took a moment to talk to his girlfriend. Colin didn't want her to fight much like Luke didn't want Maria to fight. Of course Maria had no idea Luke was here. She was sound asleep or so Luke thought.
"Since when are you the grumpy one?" Max replied with the same smile on his face. Luke chuckled and decided they should cut the joke, there was stuff going on. They needed to focus but given they were all ADHD teenagers that was hard to do sometimes.
"So how many are there around?" Luke said hoping to get an image of how the fight was going to be. Of course he'd need more than just numbers to make some kind of guess of how this battle would go. For a son of Hephaestus he was quite strategical but if they wanted a good strategy they would need a child of Athena around. Of course strategy wasn't really required. These monsters came in numbers but without a leader they weren't the most strategic monsters around. Actually there weren't many strategic monsters around which was definitely a good thing.
"About fifteen of them." The voice of Maria Wilson sounded serious, it didn't sound like that often but she was always serious when it came to serious matters. Luke turned to his girlfriend in surprise. He didn't want her to be there. She wasn't alone, there was another girl or woman. It was Galia Viktor, daughter of Apollo. She was carrying a bow and had a quiver filled with arrows on her back. The quiver was connected to the leather armour she was wearing. Luke recognized it very well, he had to repair a few of the leather straps on the lower back about a month ago. Leather armour needed more maintenance than a bronze or steel one. It wore down easier. Maria was also wearing armour but unlike her boyfriend her armour was simple bronze and covered her torso. She was a sword with a thick blade and a easy to handle hilt with at the end a golden heart. Like Colin's spear it was a weapon given to her by her mother.
"What are you doing here?" Luke asked. Until a second ago he believed she was sound asleep but here she was. He knew he shouldn't have expected differently.
"Did you really think I was going to be sleeping while you're fighting monsters? Our wedding is Saturday and I can't have you dying before that now can I?" Everyone was pretty sure that they'd be fine. After all they had seen worse days. They just had to be careful and they would come out of this unscathed. Of course the fear still burned within Luke. He couldn't lose Maria, it would kill him. So all he could do was keep her safe the best he could.
"In that case...everyone ready?" Luke asked the others. Everyone nodded and followed Luke over the hill. As soon as Luke, Max and Colin passed the border three Dracanae jumped from the bushes. Luke raised his shield blocking the attack from the Dracanae while Max dodge and Colin knocked away the enemy with his own spear. Luke used his sword to break the monster's spear leaving it defenceless. With his new shield he slid across the monsters throat making it disintegrate into dust. Max had rolled to the side and stabbed the monster with his sword killing it with ease while Colin had a short clash with the monster before he got it with the bottom blade of his spear. 'So far so good.' Luke thought to himself. More Dracanae appeared from further down the hill. Galia jumped forward with her bow and arrow in hand. She aimed for less than a second and released the arrow making it jump forward at incredible speed. The arrow hit the monster right between the eyes turning it into dust. She got another arrow out of her quiver and repeated the process killing two more monsters before they got too close. Galia moved backwards while Luke and Colin moved forward intercepting the enemy. Another Dracanae attacked Luke. The monster tried to impale his chest but Luke dodged quickly and pushed Tyche into the monsters stomach. Colin took down his opponent with just as much ease by stabbing the monster in the leg (or snake trunk where the things leg was supposed to be) with his bottom blade and finishing it in one fluid motion. He had been using that weapon for a while now and he had definitely mastered it. On the flanks of the small group of demigods Dracanae appeared. Hectar and Alex intercepted three of them while Maria and Galia had two attackers. Galia flung the bow around her back and pulled out two daggers. She knew that if she only trained with her bow she would be defeated in close combat so she always kept her daggers close by. She wished she didn't have to though. She didn't like the violence but she knew that she had to defend camp, especially the younger campers. She was one of the oldest demigods at camp half-blood and she felt a responsibility to those who had been around shorter than she had. Defending that meant killing these things. Putting it like that made it a lot easier. The Dracanae that attacked her carried a scimitar giving the the advantage with reach but not with precision. The monster tried to cut her down but her speed kept her alive. She closed in on the monster and struck it with the daggers killing it. Hectar and Alex had taken one of the Dracanae down by using a pincer manoeuvre. Alex kept the monster busy while Hectar went round and killed it but now that they were both taking care of their own Dracanae they were having a bit more trouble. Alex blocked the attacks the Dracanae threw at him but getting his own attack in was tough. Hectar was constantly attacking the monster anyway he could but the monster had no trouble blocking. From out of no where a sharp edged chain wrapped around the monsters neck and with one pull it got decapitated and disintegrated. Maximus had helped out from afar. The chain was helpful that was for sure. Alex slipped up in the exact same moment. His sword got caught in a bush making it impossible to block, all he could do was get out of his way and leave his weapon behind. He got out of the way but how long would he last without his sword? He needed to think of something quickly. That's when Hectar jumped the monster and pushed his sword into the back of the monster. Alex nodded to his friend as the joined Luke and Colin on the front line. Maria was blocking and striking trying to get the advantage. Her sword connected with that of the Dracanae's. She gained the edge when she grabbed the monsters wrist and pushed it up. With her sword she cut off the monsters hand and grabbed its sword. Slashing down Maria killed her opponent with its own weapon.
Luke pushed down killing ever monster in his way. He blocked with his shield and used the sharp edge to finish the monster while with Tyche he decapitated and enemy. Colin, Hectar and Alex were doing the best they could to take down as many Dracanae as they could. With the three of them working together they did pretty well. Maria and Galia were still watching the flanks taking down any monster that would threaten them from the back. Maximus supported anyone who needed some help by using his chain. There were only seven of them but they were a force to be reckoned with. That's when things took a bad turn. As Maria struck down another Dracanae a giant one appeared. It wasn't as big as an actual giant or a cyclops but it was pretty huge for a Dracanae. Luke tried to charge it but the monster just pushed him aside and knocked him into a tree. Galia shot an arrow at it but the thing just ignored the pain and pressed on going for an attack on Maximus. He threw his chain towards the thing and caught its arm. The end of the chain were extremely sharp and it must have hurt the monster terribly but it reeled him in as if it was nothing. Alex and Hecar were the first to do some damage. Both of them brought their sword down on one of the two snake trunks that replaced the Dracanae's legs. The thing screamed and turned around sweeping Alex and Hectar away with one wave of its arm. Galia shot another arrow this time in the monsters shoulder. It tried to lunge forward to attack Galia but the sword kept it in place. Luke had recovered and charged the monster. He cut upwards with his sword leaving a pretty bad cut but unlike the others he was in the monsters reach. It hit towards him with its arm and even with his shield the force was incredible. He fell backwards onto the ground when he saw something leap towards the monster. Collin had taken the high ground and now jumped on top of the monster. It tried to get him off but he held on tightly until he brought his spear down. The monster let out one last scream before disintegrating. Luke got up off the ground and looked around. Everyone seemed alive. He saw everyone standing up which was a good thing.
"Everyone all right?" Luke yelled out. Some nodded, others used words. Either way everyone was fine which was weight off Luke's shoulders. He undid the leather straps of his shield and dropped it. His left arm felt weak and heavy from raising the shield and taking in so much impact. He still had to get used to the shield but it had been proven that it was a good weapon. It had saved his life more than once in the fight. Luke looked around what the others were doing. Maria and Colin were both sitting down resting while Max retracted his chain and Galia collected her arrows. Alex and Hectar had already gotten back to their thumb wresting. Luke raised himself to his feet and walked over to Colin. "Awesome work there mate." Luke said.
"Thanks, I did my part." Colin said to Luke while getting up himself. "Want to head back to camp?" Luke nodded. Everyone got up and started making their way back. Everyone was ready to get some sleep after this. Luke, Max and Colin had been in every fight against the Dracanae. They attacked for the first time about two months ago with about two or three of them. That wasn't that rare but it kept happening and they kept coming in greater numbers. Now they attacked pretty much every night. Of course they couldn't do much damage as they couldn't go beyond the border but they made the woods very dangerous. Any lone demigod that wondered out there wouldn't come back. It was a horrible siege and no matter how many they killed more always came. Camp was under siege while I was playing house in Los Angeles. Just great.