Hey everyone,

I'd like to announce that although some myths contradict with others, I may need to change the order in which historical myths took place to be able to fit the characters I want into the story.

Although the setting is ancient Greece, I will make the characters talk in English and informally, as if they were regular boys/men or girls/women in the modern world. It makes writing this a little bit easier, and the characters more relaxed than if they talked formally all the time.

I would like all of you avid readers to vote for the poll. That's right, there is a poll up on my profile page regarding this story. It is regarding pairings. I have figured out a couple of ways that Percy might be able to pair up with someone fairly soon through this story, even if getting to know them is a little short. It will be a quick process in terms of the chapters as I jump from the end of the Argonautica right into the Trojan War if you as the readers choose a girl that is available in the ancient times. If the modern girls are chosen, then it will be a different story. Either way, vote vote vote! Vote, vote, vote!

Just a note about copying and pasting author's notes...in the past, I have had readers who did not read the author's notes until later chapters. I just want to keep reminding. If you have already seen the author's notes, you can just skip them and go straight to reading the story. Thank you.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719

Chapter 10

The Great Escape

Percy was thrilled and excited, yet anxious at the same time.

He knew that killing the Colchian drakon would not be an easy thing to do, a feat that very few would be able to accomplish. But he was fairly confident with Atalanta and Theseus at his side. They could always retreat if it was too much for them to handle. That would have just made Jason have distracted the Colchians for nothing, but at least Jason would get to steal the Fleece with the sorceress Medea.

Jason had told them all about the young woman, even the promise he made to make her his wife. That had made Percy paranoid immediately, several dreams he'd had pointing out clearly that promises were dangerous. Sure, he'd made Jason promise for them to be a team, but that had no side effects. Jason did not swear to the River Styx.

Either way, stealing the Golden Fleece would be a dangerous task. From his natural wild instincts, he knew that Aeëtes was not going to hand over the Fleece, tasks completed or not. Everyone underestimated heroes. Atalanta was correct in one regard. If someone has the will to do something, it will likely end up in their favor.

Percy did have his doubts, though. What if the drakon killed one of them (him, Theseus, or Atalanta)? What if the Colchians heard the noise that the drakon was making, even with Jason distracting them with the events he was doing?

Percy prayed to Poseidon, Ares, Hephaestus, Hera, Athena and Tyche for the best of luck in the battle with the drakon. He hoped the three gods that helped him with Anaklusmos would hear him out along with the two patrons of this quest and the goddess of luck and fortune. He hoped that they would grant him lucky breaks to survive. He hoped he had the strength to be able to help in killing the Colchian drakon. This was what he had trained for, years of training. He was even good enough with a bow and arrow to shoot accurately, though each arrow needed time to be aimed before firing.

His heart beat in his chest erratically, the nervousness he felt making his heart rate go up. His breaths seemed to get shallower, his lungs feeling like they were not getting enough air. He felt nauseous as well, feeling like he was about to puke.

Battle jitters, a voice spoke in his mind. Everyone gets them, except for me. But don't worry, kid. You'll do just fine. One free pass; ever kill something that is in my sacred lands again and I slaughter you.

"Ares," Percy muttered. "Thank you."

The god didn't reply, but he had a feeling that the war god got his message.

Then Percy went under the deck to the armory to grab his armor. He walked past murmuring and worried Argonauts, all of them talking about how Jason had met with the sorceress Medea and gained her help. Most thought she was helping him, but one person (who Percy didn't know) had put doubt into everyone's minds that she could be conspiring against Jason. Percy was quite easy in trusting others, so he trusted that Medea was actually helping Jason rather than plotting against him.

Idas also thought that gaining the help of a woman was unheroic. Percy wished he could murder that sexist man, but he figured it wouldn't settle peacefully with the group that he would just murder someone in cold blood like that.

Percy stepped into the armory and searched around for a suitable set of armor. He found a shiny, bronze breastplate in the mess of disorganized armor. He also found a helmet that looked pretty cool and put it on his head. There were eye holes and a space where the soldier could speak out of. Other than that, the bronze covered every other part of the head. Percy figured he would look cool with it.

Then he remembered that he would also need to use his arrows before he went in with Anaklusmos. Sadly sighing, he put the helmet back. He decided that he would keep the breastplate though.

Then he went over to the corner that Argus had resupplied and stocked up as they traveled to different kingdoms. It was the corner with the few bows and hundreds of arrows. The only ones who used those were Atalanta and Percy, so the arrows lasted quite a long time. It was mainly because they only used arrows to hunt for food, and those arrows could be reused until they became too blunt.

He took off his breastplate and took twenty arrows. He put them in a quiver, and slung it over his back. He put his breastplate back on and grabbed a bow. He slung it over his back, the string over the armor on his chest.

Then he took the hair clip and put it in his hair. He hoped it didn't accidentally elongate in his hair. That would be very costly to his life.

He was set to attack the Colchian drakon.

Percy walked up to the helm of the ship where Jason and Periclymenus were speaking. He caught them talking about the Colchian drakon.

"All right, Periclymenus?" Jason said. "You get what I am talking about, any news about how Percy, Theseus and Atalanta are doing."

"What are you talking about?" Percy intruded.

The two men turned to him. Periclymenus smiled. "Jason wants me to be an eagle to fly in between watching him and you with the Colchian drakon. Apparently, he needs to know if you guys fail or succeed."

The other man nodded. "Yes. If you fail, I need to know so I can tell Medea when the time comes. If you succeed, sneak back to the ship and we will sail away at night, in the darkness. Last night, after I came back from the tryst with Medea, I went to sleep and had a dream. Athena said that it was Hera's idea to use Medea, but Athena would also make other plan happen at the same time. That idea of you sneaking around, give that thanks to Athena."

"But wouldn't she know that we had a good chance of dying?" Percy asked.

"She probably knows, but is willing to take the risk," Jason said reluctantly. "I think she will be helping you guys defeat the drakon."

"You are not certain, though," he pointed out.

"Unfortunately, I am not," the son of Aeson said.

"Well, at least we can ask for Periclymenus' help if things get too dire," Percy grinned.

Both other men nodded before the time came for Jason to do his tasks. All of the Argonauts were to go and watch him, bringing swords on their belts and a few shields to gain the attention of the Colchian army.

Percy, Atalanta and Theseus were grateful that the sacred grove of Ares was at the same elevation if not lower than the plains that Jason needed to do his tasks. That way, they could be more elusive from the guards.

The three wished Jason good luck as the Argonauts departed. Percy, Theseus and Atalanta sneaked around the coastline until they could see the drakon and the grove of trees. There was no one to interrupt them there. They could hear the cheers and shouts coming from further up the path to the palace. Percy assumed that most of the citizens of Colchis went to the Plain of Mars to see how Jason fared in the challenge given to him.

"How are we supposed to take the drakon out?" Percy asked the other two. "Just pound at it until it's too weak to fight anymore? That would make a Hades lot of noise."

The drakon roared, its loneliness causing it to roar once in a while, seemingly waiting for a friend to arrive. None would ever come. Percy thought that it would be a little harder to kill the drakon, since they had to keep quiet. But apparently the drakon liked roaring.

As Theseus, Atalanta and Percy crouched at a safe distance from the grove trying to think of a way to kill the drakon, the beast roared a few more times, making the ground seem to shudder.

"There isn't much we can do," Theseus concluded. "We have to kill it. I think it would be best to just kill the drakon head on."

Atalanta pursed her lips before agreeing with the son of Aegeus. "You're right. Just kill it. It will be tough any way we approach it, so we might as well hit it straight on."

They both turned to Percy expecting him to agree with them. They were right. Percy didn't know any other option of how they could kill the drakon. They could distract it from one side, but in the end, its goal was to protect the Golden Fleece. There was no way they could lure the drakon out from its place near the oak tree.

He looked up in the sky and saw an eagle circling around both events. He wondered what the people of Colchis thought, an eagle soaring overhead. Could they think it was a sign of Zeus? Either way, whatever they were thinking was wrong. It was just a shape shifting grandson of Poseidon.

"Let's go," Percy nodded. And the trio burst into action.

Atalanta fired the first shot as Theseus sneaked to the left side of the drakon. Percy fired an arrow right after Atalanta before running to the right side of the drakon.

Atalanta's first arrow impaled itself right in the drakon's nose making it looked like a horned beast. The drakon roared in pain before growling with malice at the daughter of Iasus. The drakon did not dare to move an inch, protect the Fleece, but now it was fully aware of the seventeen-year-old girl shooting arrows at it.

Theseus attacked from its left side, stabbing his sword into the beast's torso. It roared again, but this time swatted at Theseus, sending him crashing into the trees. Percy nocked an arrow, took aim and let the string go. The string snapped back and the arrow propelled forward. He took another arrow and fired it just like he hand the first and second. He was standing at a different angle so the beast now had to avoid arrows coming at it from two different spots.

An ear-piercing screech was heard from the eagle soaring overhead, a sound that was as loud if not louder than the drakon roaring. Percy got the message the Periclymenus was saying, though. Keep the drakon quiet.

Percy found that having Periclymenus soar overhead was a good thing, an eye on both events that were happening. He could hear the roar of the crowd echoing in the open air. Hopefully Jason was doing his task correctly.

Periclymenus continued screeching, seemingly to drown out the sounds of the drakon receiving multiple wounds. There were arrows sprouting from all over the drakon, some just barely lodged in the scaly skin of the beast, some sticking right into the meat and muscle below the skin. It was bleeding a greenish blood that looked like poison.

If there was a green ichor that no one had told Percy about, he was going to wring someone's neck.

"Go, Percy!" Atalanta shouted. "Theseus can't handle it alone. I'll continue wearing it down."

She was right. Theseus had taken a couple of hits from the drakon, all of them sending him flying either into solid dirt or healthy trees. The son of Aegeus had to be a little bit worn out. He had managed to get a couple of good hits on the drakon, though, the first in its torso, the next in its leg.

The Colchian drakon finally figured out that Atalanta was a sharpshooter, so it finally decided to show its power. Acid flew out of the beast's mouth at Atalanta. The girl had to dodge as it landed on the grass where she had been standing before. The previous healthy, green grass turned yellow and shriveled up before dying and burning up.

Theseus growled and stepped in with his sword, attempting to stab right through the drakon's heart, but the creature was too quick. With lightning-quick speed, its tail whipped around and sent Theseus tumbling down towards the ocean without stopping.

Percy turned around to run after the son of Aegeus, but Atalanta shouted, "Distract the drakon! I'll get Theseus!"

Periclymenus screeched, not as annoying as before, but more like a warning.

"A warning," Percy muttered as he dodged some acid.

He kept his bow, which he still had not put away, and pulled an arrow out of his quiver. He nocked it and pulled back. He carefully took aim, aiming for the drakon's eye. He nearly flinched when acid was sent hurling at him, but he knew he needed to get this shot in to weaken it.

The acid was took quick and Percy had to drop his bow. The acid had landed all over the bow and the ground. The only thing was that some of his got onto his hand. It took all of his willpower not to scream. He grimaced in a lot of pain, though. He tried wiping the poison off, but it had done its damage, Percy's left hand scarred.

Tears sprung to Percy's eyes, at first because of the pain, but it quickly morphed into anger. He looked down to where Atalanta was trying to help Theseus up, the son of Aegeus struggling, his face grimaced in pain. Theseus clutched his chest, as if the pain was in his heart. Then Percy remembered that there were bones along the torso. If a bone a broken and punctured his lungs or heart...

More anger settled in. He glared at the drakon menacingly and put his bow away. His left hand stung badly, but he tried ignoring the pain. He pulled out Anaklusmos and had a staring contest with the drakon. All of the weariness and exhaustion that Percy had endured over the long quest would not be for nothing, to retreat in the end. It didn't matter if Jason had a backup plan. Percy would try, try again and again and again until he either succeeded or died.

The drakon could have fatally wounded Theseus and it definitely burned his hand. Then with all of the rage, anxiety, exhaustion and every other feeling he had inside of him at that moment, he charged screaming bloody murder right in tune with Periclymenus' loud eagle cries.

Everything turned into slow-motion, a loud roar from the crowd of Colchians turned into one elongated yell. The acid that the drakon spit seemed to move at Percy at half the speed. He didn't know whether Kronos had suddenly come back alive or if it was just the adrenaline rushing through his body, but he seemed to see everything that was coming.

He ducked as the spit flew over him, and just as it passed over his head, time returned to normal and Percy instinctively did a somersault. He had leaped over the sweeping tail of the Colchian drakon and landed within the distance of the beast's claws. The drakon never stood a chance against the furious son of Poseidon.

Quicker than the drakon had knocked Theseus toward the ocean, Percy had cut off the arms of the drakon. Surprised at the sudden burst of strength, the Colchian drakon backed up a little. That only gave Percy the chance to cut off the monster's legs. The drakon howled in pain. Percy didn't stop to give a speech to the slowly dying drakon. His eyes glowing a venomous green, he took Anaklusmos in both hands and smashed in the drakon's face as if using a giant club. He crushed the drakon's face until it wasn't recognizable anymore.

The drakon dissolved with a wail and a hiss.

Still with anger, he reached up and grabbed the Golden Fleece and summoned a huge wave to sweep over Atalanta and Theseus. They would be washed into the water where they would be healed by Poseidon; Percy demanded that the god help him now and swore on the River Styx that he would repay the sea god in the future.

He was tired, but he wasn't done yet. He had to transport the Golden Fleece back to the Argo. He heard the clashing of metal and the commands of soldiers, but he ran. He didn't care about anything that stood in his way. He was getting back to the Argo no matter what.

On his way back, he saw maybe three patrol guards, all of them on their own. When they tried stopping him by killing him, he saw no fit to where he had to give them mercy. If they would kill him, he would kill them back. They were all dead before they knew what really hit them.

When he got back to the Argo, he threw the Golden Fleece up on the deck, which was hard since the Fleece was solid gold and weighed a lot. Then he jumped into the ocean to find Theseus and Atalanta. He swam over to them, his strength still waning even in the water. There were blotchy spots in his vision, but he found Atalanta and Theseus inside an air bubble floating at the bottom of the Phasis river. They were being pushed upstream, toward the Argo.

Percy brought them out of the water and took them back to the Argo.

As they were running back, Theseus said, "Percy...you saved my life. The water seemed to heal me. I felt as though I were dying internally, like my ribs had poked a hole in my lungs. It was hard to breathe and everything hurt."

"You are half the son of Poseidon, and I prayed to him to save you," Percy said, his breaths becoming extremely ragged. His vision was still blotchy. "It was nothing, Theseus."

"Percy," Atalanta said with awe. "How did you... I have never seen anybody—"

"With such power?" he finished. "Like you said, Have a strong will and you will have a good chance of accomplishing your goal. At least, you said something like that."

"That was very, very dangerous what you did," Theseus said, his tone wary. "You could have exhausted yourself out."

"You cannot learn without being tested, Theseus," Percy replied. "That is how you survive life."

They reached the ship and prepared the ship for its departure. Soon, a group of men, with a woman being carried in the lead man's arms appeared. They ran at the ship, a large, ferocious tiger protecting them.

Not far behind the large group of men was a large unit of soldiers running after them, hundreds of them following the fugitives as they tried making their escape. Gritting his teeth and still catching his breath, Percy summoned whirlpools of water at the bow and stern of the Argo and sent the liquid hurling at the Colchian soldiers. They were pushed back by the sudden burst of water. It was enough to get the Argo on its way.

As soon as the last Argonaut was on board, Percy summoned another wave to send the Argo skittering across the Phasis river and into the Euxine Sea.

"Percy, by the gods," Jason cried as they shot out into open sea. "What the Hades happened? You look like you're dead! We managed to complete the task and Aeëtes went back to his palace, but we saw the wave and the army charged us!"

"Long story," muttered the son of Poseidon. He felt a little dizzy now and clutched his head.

"It is a long story, Jason. Get some rest, Percy," Theseus said. "You need it."

Grimacing, he shook his head. "Can't. Upcoming battle... Ships coming... I can feel it... Crossbows..."

"Ship ahead!" Periclymenus yelled from the bow. "It's a Colchian one. More and more are getting ready to set sail!"

"Crossbow," Percy said.

Jason finally realized what he meant. He turned to Medea. "Stay safe. Get out of the way of firing range. Use spells if you can." He turned to the rest of the Argonauts. "We don't need the speed yet! Two people get on the port-side crossbows, two people get on the starboard-side crossbows. Two people help load all four crossbows. Starboard side first. That's where the ships are coming from."

"Aye!"

Six people hopped up from their seats. They followed Jason's exact command.

"I trust that you know our capture can lead to our deaths, so do not fool around with those weapons," the son of Aeson reminded the crew. "You may take aim on your own."

"Yes, sir!" the six men who stepped up said.

Percy, still hunched over the gunwale, watched as both crossbows on the starboard side launched two giant javelins at the approaching Colchian ship. The ship didn't know what hit them. The crossbows were shot fairly well. The forward crossbow managed to create mass panic on deck as it smashed into the side of the gunwales, killing two rowers and sending splinters flying. The aft crossbow's javelin then smashed into the hull of the galley, creating a giant hole in the side where water spilled in and sank the ship.

"Help move the boat faster!" Jason ordered the inactive port-side crossbowmen.

With an extra push, the Argo sailed further and further away from Colchis with what they had come for in their hands, the Colchian fleet disappearing behind them, at least for a little while.

Their path back led them to a river called Ister. Ancaeus said that this path would be elusive to the Colchian, who would expect them to go back through the Symplegades. Unfortunately, the Colchians were a little smarter than they thought.

A fleet of ships led by Medea's brother Apsyrtus had followed them through the Ister until they reached the other side, the Sea of Kronos.

Percy did eventually rest, taking a long rest after they began sailing through the Ister. He still woke up and practiced his powers, but the couple of weeks they had spent sailing through the Ister river was mainly composed of regaining his strength. He would stand alone at the bow and breathe in quietly, sort of like a way to calm himself down.

When the Colchian fleet eventually found them, Percy planned to sink every single one of those ships. Medea and Jason had other plans. Percy could tell something had gone awry when Jason and Medea acted like they were both in love.

A plan of Aphrodite, nonetheless, I will play along, Percy thought.

Medea lured Apsyrtus onto the Argo with promises of riches and rewards instead of allowing herself to be taken back to Colchis to get a punishment from her father. Then, when he was on the ship, Jason came and brutally murdered the man. There was no need for that, as the ships could have just been sunken, but Medea and Jason both felt like that was needed. Then Jason routed the rest of the Colchian fleet.

But Percy heard the talk from the rest of the Argonauts. Despite almost getting captured by the Colchians, Jason, Medea and the Colchians wasn't the major talk of the crew. It was Percy and his powers, the son of Poseidon growing very strong for a mere twelve-year-old.

As he stood at the bow of the Argo, the Sea of Kronos rippling around the ship, he looked down at himself. Percy had crazy powers, the boy knew that. He was becoming strong quickly, seemingly too quickly. Just a year and a half ago, he could barely control water. Just a year ago, he could only begin to solidify water. Now... now Percy felt dangerous. He had gotten used to the weariness that his powers gave him. He was always tired now. But something he knew at that moment that he did not know when he believed he could not control water was the reason he was able to learn quickly.

He couldn't just control water... water was a part of him, the water was always inside him.

That was also why his left hand wasn't burned with poison anymore. His hand had healed.

Hey everyone,

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

I apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above and if any historical facts are actually wrong. I have spent my time looking through different websites, and even a couple of books, but the story that will continue may have incorrect historical info. Still, I believe it just adds to the effect.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719