Disclaimer: I do not own either PJO or TES.
Sorry for lack of updates my work has me scheduled everyday for the past few weeks and I have a hard time to be able to just sit and write. This chapter is shorter than I wanted but the massive gap in updates made me feel like I had to get something out there.
Njal turned to the group of children he was with and sized each one up to get a sense of how to explain what was going to happen next. Katie, while upset seemed to be more disappointed that she could not fight the Minotaur than Sally disappearing. Annabeth was busy trying to console Percy, who in turn was looking as one might expect given that he just witnessed his mother be kidnapped. Though Njal got the impression that Percy believed his mother to be dead. He knew better though, after all Hades was not the only one who could use shadows. That and had she been killed there would have been a body, not golden dust. Turning to a despaired Percy, Njal gave him consolation the only way he knew how. Bluntly.
"Calm yourself Percy, your mother still lives she has simply been taken. Though the entity that took her may be living on borrowed time." Njal spoke transforming from 'father mode' into 'seasoned warrior who has seen everything mode'. The latter of which was formulating on how to break into Hades' domain and reclaim Sally….without having to kill too many things. After all he figured he would be questioned enough after destroying Hades, which was now high on the priority list. Maybe use Azura's Star to imprison his soul for eternity after destroying him with the Staff of Magnus and his new Thu'um that he was working on.
Straag Vozah Joor, turn infinite mortal.
Njal had created it out of his need to be prepared for most situations, this one was for if a god tried to attack him. The need came up after his fight with Miraak on Apothrica and Hermaeus Mora had decided to claim him as his champion and he had promptly declined. So with the thought that the Daedric Prince might come after him he made this shout. He had figured if it worked on dragons with a little rearranging it could affect Olympians or Daedra. And Hades had just volunteered to be the test subject in Njal's mind. His thoughts of revenge though were put on hold when he heard something approaching from over the hill. The scents were that of Grover and…..a centaur. Njal turned his head and looked over the hill nearby as he saw Grover and a centaur begin descending down the hill. He turned towards the kids as he saw Katie attempt to break Percy out of his stupor with a punch. One that was apparently stronger than it looked because it knocked out Percy.
"Oops!" Katie said as she gained a sheepish look. Maybe she put a little too much into that.
"Oops? You knock him out and all you have to say is oops?" Annabeth scolded her younger sister.
"Well if you had done a better job of calming him down maybe I wouldn't have to punch him!" Katie yelled back in retort. The two sisters began fighting with one another about who was in the wrong here as Grover and the centaur came up to them.
"What is going on here?" The Centaur asked as he looked at the developing scene. He had the look that Njal would describe as 'teacherly'.
"A simple matter of a vacation gone slightly….awry." Njal spoke after thinking of the proper euphemism to use. The Centaur and Grover both gave him looks as Grover went to go besides the unconscious Percy.
"A vacation gone awry? Never heard a monster attacking a group of demigods be called that before, though neither have I seen the mortal parent of a demigod physically beat down a monster either. Especially the Minotaur." The Centaur spoke with a tone that indicated suspicion and confusion.
"What can I say, I am a man of many, many talents." Njal replied in a very 'I know something you don't manner'.
"Really now?" Was the horse-man's response with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh yes, as a matter of fact it would probably be more beneficial to you if I said the list of things I can't do. Save you some time that way." Njal answered in a language that, to everyone but the centaur, sounded like a series of neighs.
"...You speak centaurian?" The now very wided eyed Centaur asked. There were so few non centaurs that spoke that language that he could count them on one hand.
"I do. The name is Njal, Njal Stormcrown." Njal replied as he extended his hand.
"Chiron. Though we might want to continue this talk somewhere more comfortable for the young ones." The now named centaur spoke, shaking Njal's hand and motioning to the group of children that were lifting up Percy. Njal nodded as Chiron lead them into the camp and pointed Annabeth and Katie to the medical cabin to drop Percy off. Grover went with them as Njal and Chiron walked into what Njal assumed was the main building of the camp. Once inside Njal spotted Dionysious siping some diet coke as he looked up to see who entered.
"Oh joy it's you." The Wine God drawled.
"Well up yours to pal." Njal replied flipping the god the bird. Chiron's eyes immediately went wide as he looked over to Dionysious. Only to see him brush that off and continue drinking his soda.
"So, aside from upsetting father even more today than you already do, which is an outstanding feat I must say, why are you here?" The god asked. Njal took a seat at the nearby table and summoned forth some mead, taking a swig from the horn it arrived in.
"We were vacationing with a family friend and one thing lead to another and I might have to…...well best not to ask." Njal bluntly said. The god looked up and raised an eyebrow.
"Why?" He asked in actual interest
"Lots of things are going to die." Njal answered. Dionysious stared at the Nord for a few seconds before returning to his soda. Chiron let out a cough making his presence re-known.
"Yes?" Njal asked him. Moving his attention towards the centaur.
"I believe we were having a talk about you knowing my kinds language." Chiron told him. For the next few hours Njal and Chiron talked about how he had learned the language, and many others for different mythical races when he was exploring his world. Then the conversation diverged into a talk about magic and its uses. Chiron had an interest as the magic of Mundus was greatly different than that of here and so he sought to learn about it. Particularly the nature magic, controlling the forests and summoning forth nature spirits.
"So you can summon spirits of the forests?" Chiron asked, taking a sip of coffee from a mug he had gotten during their talk.
"Aye. Though I do not use them for combat as I have many better options. But they are good for learning from, if you can understand them." Njal educated the centaur. Chiron hummed as he looked at the clock.
"Ah I do believe young Perseus should be awake by now. Shall we visit him?" Chiron asked as he motioned for the door. Njal downed the rest of his mead and exited the building. The sun was just coming up and the campers were beginning to start the day. Njal got some looks as he walked next to Chiron, coming up to the centaurs shoulders. They then soon came up to the infirmary and walked in. Annabeth and Katie were both sleeping on two of the spare beds with Percy on his own.
"Aww how cute." Njal said with a smile. He then summoned up lightning in his hand and formed it into a whip. With a loud crack thunder echoed all throughout the room as each sleeping person let out a scream and jumped from their beds. Annabeth and Katie had grabbed objects to use as weapons while Percy sat on the floor.
"Oh good you guys are up." Njal acted like he was not the one to wake them as he looked at his daughters, both threatening him with their makeshift weapons.
"Now girls if you want to even hurt me you are going to need the equivalent of a .44 Magnum or higher. Otherwise it just tickles." He joked as Annabeth and Katie lowered their objects. He then looked at Percy who was rising to his feet looking around. A few moments later he appeared to remember last night as his eyes went wide and he then became saddened. Not wanting to deal with an emotional 12 year old boy (He had two daughters to deal with thank you very much) Njal did what any responsible adult does when faced with having to explain that someone's mother was kidnapped by the Lord of the Underworld and that the Greek myths he read about in school are true. Brush it off onto someone else.
"Hey Chiron why don't you give Percy a tour of the camp? I have to talk with my children real fast." Njal quickly threw the centaur under the bus as he grabbed Katie and Annabeth and ran outside. After getting a safe distance away from the building he set both of them down. Annabeth looked like she was about to go into a scolding mode while Katie was giving him the mother of all ten year old girl death stares.
"Oh don't give me those looks." Njal said to his daughters with a blank expression. Both only then increased their respective glares.
"Hey if you are going to be mad at least be mad about me leaving you here." Njal told them. Both girls immediately went wide eyes as both wanted an explanation.
"What do you mean you are leaving us here?" Annabeth nearly yelled out.
"I mean exactly that. I am going to go retrieve Mrs. Jackson, which requires going to the Underworld and more than likely fighting off multiple hordes of its guardians. As a result I can not leave you two alone, and neither of you are even remotely ready for this journey. And as such you will be staying here, with Percy, and receiving more than the weeks worth of martial training I gave you." Njal explained to his daughters. Now while most would say storming into a god's domain and attempting to steal someone from there would be suicide, Njal considered it another Tuesday. After all he did fight a dragon god that ate worlds in the mortal plane and then follow it into the afterlife where he promptly killed it. And in another case he went into a realm where people's souls were kept, retrieved his from there, killed and then befriended its undead dragon guardian all in about an hour. So excuse him for not being all torn up about this decision. Though leaving Katie and Annabeth here would be upsetting.
"...I-I….just please be safe." Annabeth whispered as she hugged her dad as Katie joined her. She did not know how capable her dad was when he actually tried but she hoped it would be enough to succeed in the quest he was going out on. Njal let out a slight laugh as he thought about his childrens worry. He then crouched down and looked at both of them.
"Hey if anything does happen to me I want you to know I have a good bit of tricks up my sleeves. This one will be a kicker if I need it though." Njal said as he then whispered three words.
"Daal Diil Nahl."