Percy considered the competition the most exciting thing he had ever been to. He was completely fascinated with the expert swordsmanship. He was always quick to tend to Lieutenant Castellan, putting on his armor, having plenty of water around for him to drink. Castellan was doing great. He hadn't lost a match yet. Watching the other soldiers fight was always interesting, but he was really rooting for Castellan, as was the majority of everyone else. The last battle was between Castellan and a soldier that only went by *Pitys. Pitys hadn't lost a battle yet either. It was going to be a very interesting match.

Castellan and Pitys didn't waste much time as soon as the flag dropped. Their weapons clanged forcefully. Castellan's sword glanced off of Pitys' spear as she twirled it and jabbed at him. Castellan had several close calls, but recovered each time. He would swing his sword and just when Percy thought he had the soldier, Pitys' massive shield would glance the sword harmlessly away. It went back and forth like this for sometime. Percy was beginning to think that it would end in a draw. Both soldiers were tiring. Percy watched in anticipation when Pitys clashed recklessly against Castellan, then trapped his sword with the shield and twisted the sword out of Castellan's hand. The match ended with a spear tip at Castellan's neck.

The arena clapped loudly. More so from Zeus's soldiers than from Athens's. Castellan shook hands with Pitys, as Pitys was declared the winner. He walked over to where Percy was.

"Wow, that was so close, I thought you had him." Percy couldn't help but gush.

Castellan shrugged and pushed past Percy as he headed out of the arena. Percy kept his mouth shut after that. Evidently he was upset by the loss. Percy spent the rest of the day getting to the chores he missed during the competition. It was close to dinner time when soldiers of Zeus came into the soldiers barracks.

"We will give you one chance right now. Return High King Zeus's property and no one will get hurt."

Everyone looked at each other questioningly. When no one responded, the soldiers shoved them roughly against the wall, and began ransacking through their belongings. Percy struggled against the soldier that held him, but all he could do was watch helplessly as the soldiers upturned mattresses, dumped out trunks and threw the belongings across the room. When they found nothing, they let them go and left to go to the next barrack. Percy looked helplessly at their once clean barrack, then went outside to watch them ransack the rest of the soldiers encampment. Castellan along with the other lieutenants and superiors were encouraging the Athenian soldiers to stand down. Then one thought went through his mind. Tyson.

Percy ran to the forges. If the soldiers treated Tyson the way they had treated Percy, well, Percy didn't want to think about it. He ran past the rows of forges that looked ransacked as well, fear building in him. Percy skidded to a stop in front of the forge Tyson usually occupied.

"Tyson," Percy shouted. "Tyson!" No answer.

Percy about faced and ran to the forges barracks. It wasn't far. The soldiers looked like they were just getting started. Percy spotted Tyson rocking back and forth, clinging to some kind of metal.

"Tyson!" Percy ran up to him.

"Percy! What's going on? I'm scared."

"It's okay, they did the same thing to our barracks. They're looking for something of Zeus's."

"That's High King Zeus, to you Athenian." A voice snarled behind him.

Percy turned and saw a large burly man with his sword drawn at him.

"Leave them alone, they're just kids. They don't have anything you're looking for." Master Beckendorf hollered. Percy backed toward Tyson, prepared to protect him. He just wished he had his own sword.

"Just kids, huh? What's he got in his hand, then?" He motioned to Tyson. Percy balled his fists. The soldier motioned for two others to come over. Percy swung and caught one on the nose. He kicked the other one in the knee, knocking him to the ground. But the big burly soldier grabbed him from behind and lifted him from the ground. Percy flailed his legs wildly and tried to throw his head back to no avail. "Hoho, we got a wild one here. Get him." He nodded to Tyson.

Tyson cowered with his metal as the two soldiers approached him, one with a bloody nose and the other with a limp. "Leave him alone. You don't understand." Percy screamed. They went to grab at Tyson when he suddenly lashed out with the rod and smacked the bloody nosed one on the arm and the other in the ribs. By this time six other soldiers had come to help and had pinned Tyson to the ground. "Tyson." Percy called. "Leave him alone." They pried the metal lump from his hand and showed it to the big burly soldier.

"Hmmm, keep searching. And take these two and throw them in the dungeons Queen Athena has so obligingly let us use." He laughed as though this were some inside joke. Percy was roughly handed to two other soldiers who kept a tight grip on him. He could hear Tyson behind him crying softly. As they left he could hear on soldier complaining that his arm was broken, while the other thought he had broken ribs. They were roughly marched through the encampment. Castellan and the boys from his barracks watched helplessly as Percy and Tyson was shoved past them.

They headed toward a part of the palace he had never seen before and led down several steps with thick iron gates placed every level or so. When it seemed that they had finally reached the bottom he and Tyson were literally thrown into a cell and the door swung firmly shut and locked.

Nice going, Percy. Not only did you manage to mess up your new life in matter of months, but you dragged Tyson into it too, Percy berated himself. Tyson was still crying. "Hey, big guy. It's going to be okay. We're falsely imprisoned. We'll get out."

"But everyone knows that Zeus never releases prisoners. It's all my fault." He sobbed.

"No. No, don't say that. I'll get us out of here." Percy looked around, "Somehow."

*Fun Fact: Pitys was a Nymph who turned into a pine tree. (wink, wink, nod, nod)