~ Saved From Death… By Death? ~

LYKOS

As if being turned into a pup wasn't bad enough, now he is useless and forced to be transported inside a backpack. In his normal state of being, Lykos would have already been charging back to meet their pursuers and attack. He could have distracted them long enough for the others to escape. Instead, he's jostled about, struggling to keep his head out of the pack's flap and watch their backs as they run. The girls still have Percy stretched out between them, and with their combined strength, they are actually moving very quickly…

But it still may not be quick enough.

"Keep going!" Saphira snaps. "They're right on our tails!"

Lykos feels his nerves becoming increasingly strung out as he hears their pursuers closing in. The wind is sweeping their scents towards the quest party, and what he picks out makes him realize just how much danger they're in.

Hellhound, harpy, laistrygonian, dracaena. From the strength of each stench, he can estimate how many of each there are. It seems the hellhounds and dracaena make up most of the group. Their smells are the strongest. There is likely only a couple of the giants, and few of the harpies.

The last one surprises him. Harpies are not typically known to ally themselves with other monsters this way. They're more pests than a threat, but in a force like this…

"We need to find a place where we can hold them off, nullify their numbers!" Annabeth shouts.

"No such place exists around here!" Saphira retorts.

Damn it! Their situation is really not looking good.

"You need to leave me! I told you, I can hold them off and you'll move much faster without me!" Percy growls.

"We are not abandoning you!" Annabeth snaps at him. She looks at Chloe. "How long would it take you to get his leg into working condition?"

Chloe grimaces as they hurtle over a small log, still running. "I can set him up with a brace in minutes. He'll still need proper examination when we get the chance, but it should hold up enough to let him run and fight. The problem is, we don't have minutes."

Annabeth growls and casts a glance behind them, looking like she's thinking hard and fast.

"What if I buy us a couple minutes? We set him down now and you get to work while I draw them off," she finally says.

Chloe looks to Saphira who shakes her head. "No. You are too important to risk losing. I'll do it."

If Lykos could yell at her, he would.

"Saph, you're the leader! You are no less impor-" Chloe tries to protest.

"And as the leader of this quest, I am now declaring it as an order!" Saphira interrupts. "I will draw their attention for as long as I can. Get Perseus' leg fixed up and if I'm not back by then, keep heading west. I will find you when I can."

Lykos squirms and thrashes inside the backpack, even going so far as to pitifully whine in his attempt to dissuade her, but she's not having it.

"Set him down here!"

The girls hastily place Percy down on the ground, and from there it's a blur of activity. Chloe rips open her pack and gets right to work on his leg. Annabeth waits on her to provide assistance. Saphira slings her pack off, with Lykos still in it, and lays it by the two blondes.

"I'll be right back," the titaness growls, unsheathing her silver hunting knives and turning on her heel to face the direction they had been running from.

Lykos can only watch in despair as his closest friend races away from him, disappearing into the woods. Gods damn it! Why does she always have to take everything on herself?! He knows she is a deadly combatant, but her alone against what seems like more than a dozen monsters? It's a stupid risk! He has to get after her… if only he wasn't trapped in this stupid pup form inside this cursed backpack!

"It's a sprain, not a fracture," Chloe mutters as her hands fly in setting the brace around Percy's leg while Annabeth holds it up. "You'll be able to fight on it for now, but we need to find a new ride the first chance we get so you can let it rest."

Percy grumbles. "So long as I can move on my own, I'll be fine."

Chloe finishes the brace and shoves all her remaining supplies back into her pack. She slings it on her shoulder and snatches up Saphira's pack as well.

"Let's move!" she says as Annabeth pulls Percy to his feet. The brace holds true to Chloe's word. He does not fall.

Before any of them can take a single step, the night is filled with the cries of monsters. The pained yelps of hellhounds and the startled shrieks of harpies. Saphira must have struck them already.

One look at Chloe's face tells Lykos she's reached the same conclusion, and the same reluctance to simply leave their friend behind. Lykos prays that Chloe will go back for her.

Please go back. Please go back.

His heart soars when he sees the healer prepare her bow for battle.

"I'm going back for her!"

Yes!

"You two take Lykos and keep running west!"

No!

Lykos growls in protest as Chloe passes him off to Annabeth, but neither of them pay him any mind. Without another word, Chloe turns and sprints in the direction Saphira had gone. Meanwhile, Annabeth slings him in the backpack around her shoulder and pulls Percy onto his feet.

"Move it!" the blonde yells.

Thankfully, Chloe's work serves them well as Percy is able to keep up with her with no help, though he does stumble now and again. Even so, the demigod couple hurry through the woods, apparently intent on following the hunters' instructions to a T. All Lykos can do is stare longingly behind them as he bounces around in the backpack with every stride. He knows it's foolish of him to think he can be of any use in his current state of being, but this is supposed to be his job! His sworn duty! No matter what form he may be in, if he had his way, he would seek to fulfill that duty no matter the cost.

His only comfort is hearing the shrieks of monsters behind them. No longer are they aggressive war cries, but screams of fear and death. That must mean that Saphira and Chloe are dealing with them well enough, but sooner or later, the enemies' numbers will carry them forward.

The running seems endless, but soon enough, the couple's stamina shows signs of being spent. Lykos can feel them slowing down, and he can hear the heaviness of their breaths growing with every second. It must have been almost ten minutes of the pair trying to keep up a full-on sprint, but they have neither Lykos' wolfish endurance nor Artemis' blessings of speed and stamina. Finally, Annabeth and Percy come to a halt and collapse, gasping for breath, hunched over on their knees.

"I think… we should… wait a minute…" Percy rasps, heaving between his words. "Wait for… Saph and Chloe!"

Annabeth struggles to get upright on her knees, panting just as hard. "Okay… just… for a minute!"

Both teens are drenched with sweat, despite the chilly air. Lykos would have felt more sorry for them, if he wasn't so preoccupied with fretting over the girls.

Where are they?

The seconds tick by agonizingly slow. Just when Lykos has a mind to break out of the backpack and go running back, he hears soft but rapid footfalls coming towards them from the direction they came. He emits a warning growl to alert the couple, and they are quick to heed him.

"Something's coming!" Annabeth hisses as she and Percy grasp their swords at the ready.

Relief floods over Lykos in waves when he catches a glimpse of silver through the woods, and from the shadows, Saphira and Chloe emerge. Both girls are panting, but they seem to be much more energized than the demigod couple. Their clothes are torn in a few areas. There is no mistaking that they had been fighting for their lives.

"You're okay!" Percy exclaims, sounding just as relieved as Lykos feels.

"For now. We killed many, but there are still more coming. We can't stay here for long," Saphira says. She eyes the sea child. "You can run?"

"Yeah. Chloe worked her magic," he says.

"Thank me later. Saph's right. We can't stay put. We need to find a way to get out of here fast," the healer declares.

"What else is chasing us?" Annabeth inquires.

"Just dracaena and laestrygonians now," Saphira says. "We killed the hounds since they can track us the best, but the giants are packing those flaming metal balls that they like to throw."

As if on cue, the cry of a laestrygonian pierces the night. Well, less cry, more like a string of curses in Ancient Greek.

"They're regrouping. We have a few minutes at best to make the most of it," Saphira says.

Annabeth flips open one of their maps, scanning it with her stormy gray orbs with a hard set focus.

"Some of the roads lead to the farms. Maybe we can lose them in the fields."

"Better than being in the open," Percy agrees.

Another roar echoes, this one easily recognized as none other than the Minotaur.

"Oh, come on! Both eyes and his nose are out of commission and he's still coming?!" Chloe groans in disbelief.

"He'll be slowed down, but with all those reinforcements, it won't matter. Move!" Saphira orders.

Once again, they are on the run. Without the girls having to carry Percy between them, they are covering much more ground. Even despite his injured leg, he is managing to keep up thanks to Chloe's brace supporting his leg. The gang runs and runs and runs, hurtling through the woods until finally, they burst from the trees into the open. A vast stretch of corn is before them, and without a second's hesitation, they charge in.

"Stay close! Don't get separated!" Saphira hisses as they bolt through the tall stalks of corn. Lykos can no longer see anything but these crops all around them… but that means the enemy can't see them either.

Not from the ground anyway.

"Nasty children! Nasty children! In the corn, in the corn!"

The squawks of harpies draw Lykos' eyes to the night sky. Several of the small winged demons flap about above them, screeching and circling, calling to their allies in the distance.

"Here, here!"

"Over here!'

Saphira growls, but they never stop running. "Chloe, silence them!"

"On it, boss!"

The healer fits an arrow to her bowstring and aims skyward. Even while running and aiming up, her skill with her bow proves to remain true, as her shot strikes one of the harpies straight the chest with a startled caw, before it plummets down into the corn. Shot after shot, she drops the winged demons until none remain in the air, but they have done their work. The roars and bellows behind them are growing louder. The monsters have heeded their flying allies' cries.

Suddenly, there is a whistle that rips through the air, and not a second after, is it followed by a small explosion of fire and earth only a few meters to their left. Chloe yelps while Saphira curses.

"Vlakas!"

Another explosion, this time to their right. Then another, behind them. Lykos ducks down inside the backpack for a moment to take shelter from the spray of debris, then pops his head back out in time to see another bombardment slam into the ground behind them. It's one of those burning metal balls, thrown by the laestrygonians. They must be closer than he thought if they're able to hurl them like this.

The gang suddenly finds themselves out of the corn field, in an open patch of grass. Just ahead of them, is a wooden barn, tall and broad. One look between them, and the gang dashes for it. They throw open the doors and pour inside. No livestock inside, only hay and various tools and equipment for farming. A second story loft is above them. Chains hang down from the ceilings.

"Barricade it!" Saphira shouts. Percy quickly slams the wooden beam in place behind them, locking the doors. If there was even a remote possibility that it would hold, Lykos would have been comforted.

"Prepare yourselves!" the Hesperide growls.

They form up. Percy is the first in the formation, his sword and shield brandished and raised. He kneels while Annabeth takes his left side with her sword held ready. Chloe stands to his left, kneeling as well with three arrows nocked and aimed, while Saphira stands behind him, straight up and with her own bow loaded and prepared to fire over his head.

They stare at the door, and they wait.

The bellows and shrieks of the monsters draw closer, and closer. Lykos can see the green illumination of Greek fire between the seams of the structure's wooden planks, likely from torches. He can hear the hisses of dracaena and the whoops of the giants. There are many.

Then, they go silent. Lykos may not have been doing any of the running himself, but his heart is pounding nonetheless, so hard that he is sure the others can hear it.

But beyond that, all he hears is their ragged, shaken breaths.

For only a few more seconds.

FWOOOM!

The barn doors burst inward, shattering instantly from the force of the enemy breaking their way inside; a squad of the snake women, armed with swords and javelins, baring their teeth and forked tongues as they slither inside. Three go down amd burst into sand immediately, courtesy of Chloe's perfect triple shot. Another joins her sisters in the return to Tartarus via Saphira's arrow. Two more are dropped before they even close the gap.

"Haa!" Percy yells, taking the brunt of two javelin jabs on his shield. He pushes back, slashing Riptide through the shafts and snapping them in half. Annabeth lunges forward and hacks a dracaena's head clean off, before falling back behind her boyfriend's shield. Saphira and Chloe fire arrow after arrow over the couple's heads and to the flanks, taking out any serpentine woman who tries to skirt around them. Percy and Annabeth clearly try their best to keep the enemy focused on them, but there are too many, and it isn't long before the hunters are forced to engage in melee combat.

Knives drawn, Saphira and Chloe join the demigod couple in the fray. Lykos can barely even track what's happening, still attached to Saphira's back inside the pack. The world is a blur as she spins, stabs, and slashes through the dracaena.

Together, the gang manages to cut down a good number of them, but that's when the reinforcements burst inside. Four laestrygonians, having ditched their artillery for large, spiked clubs, stomp their way into the barn.

"You little bastards are dead now!" One of them hollers with glee, raising his club.

"Look out!" Chloe cries just before she and Annabeth dip out of the way of the smashing club. Two of the dracaena aren't as fast, and they literally explode under the force of the smash.

Meanwhile, Saphira is busy with another pair of dracaena, seemingly too busy to notice another one of the giants advancing on her, but Lykos.

Mustering all the strength he can into his voice, he barks, hoping she'll hear him over the chaos. Despite his best effort, it's still little more than a pup's yelp, but it does the trick. Saphira throws a quick glance over her shoulder and, with a short gasp, ducks under the giant's swing. The serpent soldiers she had just been fighting are sent sprawling through the air. The giant swings again, missing the huntress again and taking out another unlucky dracaena.

Lykos is almost dizzy from all the lurching and swaying, but to his credit, manages to retain his focus. He may not be able to fight, but he can still give Saphira warnings about incoming strikes. At least something is good about being attached to her back. The laestrygonian attacking her kills another two of his own comrades with his wild swings, but there are others to replace them.

"Saph, the chains!" Annabeth shouts over the chaos of battle.

Both Lykos and the huntress glance up at the chains dangling from the ceiling. Lykos doesn't understand what the strategist wants them to do, but apparently Saphira does.

Ducking between the giant's legs, she scurries away from him and straight up a ladder leading into the loft, but she doesn't go all the way. Instead, she springs off about halfway up, catching one of the chains and landing on the laestrygonian's back.

"Hey, get off- hrk!"

His angry protest is cut off by the chain lashed around his throat, before Saphira hops off his back. Landing behind him, she takes her knife and slashes it through his Achilles tendons. The giant cries out, dropping to his knees, only for the chain to tighten itself by his weight. The giant retches and sputters, swaying around and flailing his arms wildly. He catches one of his fellow giants in the face with a backhanded swing, causing him to stumble backward and topple right onto a pitchfork that was leaning upright against a fence.

"Good call! What else do you have in mind?!" Saphira shouts, regrouping with the others.

"Uh! That was all I had!" Annabeth replies, ducking a javelin jab and stabbing the dracaena in the chest.

Back in formation, Saphira, Chloe, Percy, and Annabeth stand back to back. All four of them are panting hard. The girls' hair are wild and disheveled. Chloe bears a small cut on her cheek. Annabeth's left arm has a nasty gash near the wrist and a bruise on her cheek. Percy has a slice down the back, but it doesn't look deep. Saphira bleeds from a small cut on her hip, probably grazed by a sword.

The two remaining laestrygonians are on either side of the gang, supported by what seems to be still two dozen dracaena. Fluttering overhead alerts Lykos to the arrival of another flock of harpies; five of them, landing in the rafters or clinging to the chains.

They're sorely outnumbered.

The enemy levels their weapons at them, but they hesitate.

"What are you waiting for? Come on!" Saphira snaps, pointing one of her knives at the monsters.

"I would actually rather they continue hesitating on trying to kill us," Chloe mumbles.

"Do you not know death when it'ssss before you, brat of Artemissss?" one of the serpent women speaks.

All is quiet, save for the chitters and hisses of her brethren, and the heaving breaths of the quest party. The silence is only for a few moments though, before somebody answers… and it's not one of them.

"I know it very well, and you're about to know it too."

All heads turn towards the back of the barn, the darkest part where the light of the enemy's torches do not reach, the part where the shadows are thickest… and where they continue to thicken.

Suddenly, Lykos feels a cold chill in the air. Not like any cold he has felt before, not the welcome iciness of snow or northern winds, but an unnatural, ominous cold. The torchlight seems to bend away from the darkness, the shadows seeming to pull and pool to create a wall of lightless void. The monsters turn their attention and their weapons to the darkness as it begins to mold, and Lykos makes out the vague shape of a person.

He can tell they are a male; thin, by their silhouette, and he is able to tell more features as the figure steps forth from the shadows. Whoever it is, he is young, by his voice. He is dressed in a thick jacket and jeans, with black boots to match and. His black hair is scraggly, and his skin is a pale, ghostly complexion. His eyes look slightly sunken, with black orbs that bear just a hint of madness to them.

The monsters hiss and growl, but when the boy draws his weapon, they all back up nervously. Lykos' eyes widen in awe and curiosity at the blade of Stygian iron, as black as the darkness from which he came.

The boy looks around the barn, with an angry, but confident glare.

"The only one here who is dealing in death tonight, is me," he declares.

At that moment, the ground begins to quake. Hay flutters from the loft, the chains rattle overhead, and the very earth shifts and shudders. All around the barn, patches of earth burst upward. Skeletal hands punch their way from below, clawing and grasping to escape. Lykos pins his ears back as the dead clamber into the world of the living. There must be at least forty of them. Warriors of bone, armed with various weapons of various eras, from swords and spears, to muskets and assault rifles.

"Send these monsters to the Pit!" the boy commands, roaring his order to the undead soldiers he had called forth.

The barn once again explodes into chaos, but this time, it's welcomed. None of Lykos' companions even move a muscle as the skeletal warriors attack and slaughter the monsters. Blades clash and slice. Firearms burst. Monsters disintegrate left and right, while others best a hasty retreat.

In a matter of seconds, it's over.

The skeletons then look towards the gang, but make no move against them. Instead they form ranks, assembling in two rows before their master to allow him free access. Lykos can feel Saphira tense up at his approach, but Percy and Annabeth on the other hand, seem far too eager to meet their rescuer.

"Dude! That entrance was pretty badass!" Percy exclaims.

"How did you even find us?" Annabeth demands.

The boy gives them a crooked smile and sheathes his weapon. "You know, most people say 'thank you' when they get saved from imminent doom."

At the sight of the couple's friendliness, Saphira lowers her knives.

"Who is this?" She asks with a frown. The boy turns to her with a more serious expression now, as he extends a hand to her.

"I am Nico Di Angelo, and I have a lot I need to discuss with you."