Percy froze, ripping his mind from the arrows he had been crafting. He heard the snap of a branch that sounded too human to be just any ordinary animal. He had been so high strung for the past week, and his heart seemed to permanently pound in his chest with fear.
He slowly rose from where he had been half-crouched on the ground, switching the knife he had been using to his left hand, as he slowly reached for the pen in his pocket. Nothing moved, not even the wind whistled in his ears. The Earth was still, and Percy knew enough to recognize that as a bad omen.
Then, the whistle of an arrow pierced the air. Percy sprung forward into a roll to avoid it. As soon as he hit the ground in his somersault, he heard the twang of more arrows being drawn and fired. He scrambled to his feet, uncapping his pen with one hand as he swung in a downward arc, backing away from the archers. His sword sliced through one arrow, then two, three, from the right side, the left side.
Ignoring the temptation to squeeze his eyes shut, Percy pulled hard into his gut. He wanted to feel the hunters. By feeling their blood, he could make out where they stood. Arrows continued to rain down on him, and he had to push himself to his limit to deflect them as he tried to focus. He cursed loudly as an arrowhead grazed his left arm, ripping out a chunk of skin, blood immediately pooling and running down the side of his bicep. The pain stinged, but he had to ignore it as he kept deflecting arrows as fast as he could. He inhaled sharply as he finally felt them. There were about a dozen surrounding him in a semi-circle formation, with a couple shooting high from the trees.
Percy squeezed his left hand into a fist, pulling hard in his gut. He knew there was a small river nearby, and water immediately swirled around his feet as he called on his powers. He had kept close to the river as he kept traveling, feeling some comfort near his father's domain. It had most likely made him easier to track, yet he couldn't find it in him to care. He was fighting a losing battle, he knew, but he would be damned if he went down without a fight.
He used the water to deflect more arrows as they started to surround him, his sword arm starting to ache under the strain. He darted forward, stretching his hand towards the trees and bushes that the arrows were coming from, desperate to at least knock down a few of his attackers. He couldn't hear much, his hearing subdued by the sound of the rushing water, but he was semi-confident that his water had made contact with at least a few hunters, as he could feel a few of them go tumbling to the ground.
With his focus shifted, an arrow slipped through his defenses and pierced him in the shoulder. He cried out in pain, but quickly reached up with his other hand to snap the shank of the arrow close to his skin, and tossed it to the side.
His gut screamed at him to turn around, turn around, turn AROUND, and he narrowly managed to block the strike of a dagger as he whirled to face behind him. Silver eyes narrowed at him as he slid the blade of her dagger off his sword. Seemingly impatient with this fight, Artemis herself had decided to go on the offensive.
She jumped at him, a flurry of strikes attacked him, almost too quick to see. Percy could barely keep up as he blocked them, slowly taking steps backward. The water that pooled as his feet was the only thing keeping him upright, the energy flowing through his veins. Percy knew that his near-decade of experience was no match for a goddess. An Olympian goddess. At least the arrows had stopped.
Artemis nicked his sword hand with his dagger, drawing blood. Instead of the water immediately sealing the cut, it continued to bleed. If he allowed himself to heal, his skin would stretch itself over the arrowhead still buried in his shoulder. He grimaced as he feinted left, his shoulder rippling in agonizing pain.
The goddess spotted the trick, and lashed her foot out, sweeping his leg out from under him. Percy hit the ground hard, pushing the arrowhead deeper into muscle. He hissed as he tried to roll to his feet, but Artemis' hunters had emerged from their cover, grabbing him tight. He was kicked over onto his stomach, and his arms wrenched behind his back as they were tied together with thick rope.
"Perseus Jackson," Artemis started. "You are under orders of capture by Olympus, under the premise of treason."
Perseus has simply snarled as the hunters manhandled him, seemingly giving extra care to jostle his wound as much as possible. The rope rubbed his wrists until they burned, and he was pulled to his feet. One of the hunters pushed the tip of a spear into his back, "Walk," she ordered, malice intertwined with her voice.
Percy briefly thought of resisting, but as the spear tip dug deeper into his back, he reluctantly marched forward, trying to ignore the pain of his screaming shoulder and aching muscles.
The only sound was crunching leaves underfoot, with the occasional twig snap. The forest seemed to sense the goddess and her army's presence, and there wasn't even a bug in sight. The air was thick with tension, and Percy could practically feel the hatred rolling off the hunters in waves. He couldn't tell if it was because of him specifically, or just the fact that he was a man.
After walking what felt like miles, the sight of a camp came into Percy's views. Silver tents were pitched in a circle, surrounding an unlit campfire. There was a slightly bigger tent at one side, which Percy could guess was Artemis' tent. A dozen wolves lazed around the campsite, but perked up at the sight of their owners.
As they neared, one pure black wolf broke the ranks and bounded towards them at full speed. The wolf didn't slow as it neared him, weaving in between the hunters in front of Percy. He jumped at Percy, knocking him to the ground with an oof.
"Alexios," he laughed as the wolf slobbered on his face, licking up and down his cheek. The torture of his shoulder seemed to disappear to a faint buzz, as he took in the sight of his loyal companion. Percy heard murmurs from the hunters, but he didn't pay it any attention. He focused on his beautiful wolf who seemed content on not moving from atop his chest. Well, Artemis' wolf, he thought sadly.
Artemis let out a piercing whistle, and the wolf straightened his back, rigid, waiting for his next command. "Back, Phantom," she ordered sternly. Percy watched as the wolf pulled his lips back, showing his teeth. After a brief second, as a result of what Percy can only imagine was Artemis' fiercest glare, the wolf slid off of his chest and returned to the other wolves, with his ears pinned back and tail down.
Two hunters next to him leaned down to grab his arms again, and hauled him to his feet. "Take him to my tent," Artemis said briefly, before disappearing. The other hunters dispersed, except for the two leading him, and the one behind him that resumed pushing a speartip into his back.
The hunters marched him to the large tent, and unceremoniously shoved him inside. One of the hunters remained to tie him to a sturdy pole just inside the tent, before they all disappeared.
Percy slumped backwards against the pole, splaying his legs out in front of him. His shoulder still burned with fire, but at this point, he didn't even care anymore. He was going to die tonight, and he's accepted it. An infected wound is the least of his worries.
He's supposed this is what he wished for, after all, before any of this started. When he moped around Camp Half-Blood, feeling angry, lost, and confused. None of his feelings have changed since then, funnily enough. He is still a broken hero, fit for a non-hero ending.
Percy shivered as blood continued to drip down his back, his head feeling woozy. Too much blood loss, it seemed, but he couldn't tell. He shut his eyes as he heard someone slowly approaching the tent he was in.
He remained still as he heard the rustling of the tent's fabric, and the sound of boots against the dirt. "Here to kill me?" He drawled.
"Not quite," Came the reply that caused Percy's eyes to fly open in shock.
In front of him was not Artemis, as he assumed. Instead, it was a hunter with a silver circlet resting atop her head. The lieutenant. Thalia Grace.
a/n: soooo i was gonna have thalia be a character that actually does something - but i couldn't figure it out and it wasn't that important so i just removed her scene. i know it seems so dramatic that she shows up but she isn't really in the next chapters. sorry that it seems a bit weird. only 2 chapters left!