So, when we already arrived at our destination, I hug the ship pole, tightly. I didn't want to get eaten by those flesh-eating sheep, no matter how cute they are, they are vicious, like a piranha. And I still love my ass, didn't want to hand this sweet, sweet ass handed to Charon on a silver platter. I love sheep I do, they are adorable creature with cute sound, and they are meek creature. But, Polyhelmus changed my perception of them. His sheep are literally wolf in sheep clothing, a true wolf that disguise itself in sheep body. Because, there's no way that happened. Or maybe the guy who created those creature had a crazy idea of mixing sheep and wolf gene. And don't tell me, out there, there's a pack of wolf that ate grass!
So, after a few threat from Percy I reluctantly released my beloved pole and headed to the cliff. And it's the steepest cliff I have ever seen and there's no way I will climbed that thing only to get a reward of flesh-eating sheep. I only crossed my arm while stared at the cliff with stiff expression and Percy caught it as constipated expression, and he dared to ask me if I want to 'DO' that right now. I threw a threat plus a cursed towards him and I started to climb quickly, to avoid further humiliation. Annabeth climbed behind me and Percy is the last one to climb. My arm felt sore and my left shoulder started to ache, I stopped for a moment and made a mistake, I looked down.
I froze up instantly when I realize, I already high up and the ground looked so far away. I quickly snapped my head up to face the cliff and swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. Shakily I reached the rock above me and used it to haul my whole body, I made a mistake, my hand slipped from the rock and I almost fell. Well, my feet kinda stepped into Annabeth left hand, and she let out a rather sharp cry of pain and luckily, she found a new stepping stone beneath her, and that stepping stone is Percy face. And unluckily Percy had to taste Annabeth shoe and only god knew where that thing had stepped into.
Finally, I managed to reach the top of the cliff. I quickly scramble away from the edge and laid flat on my back. My arm and shoulder already screamed in pain, and I really wanted to fall asleep right away. Well, that's pretty easy considering there's tons of sheep here, just build a fence, told the sheep to jump over the fence, count how many of them managed to jump across and fell asleep almost instantly. Get it? Like it if you still do count the sheep thing if you having a hard time to sleep!
When all of us already arrived at the top and after Percy send his deathliest glare to Annabeth. We went spying on the sheep. Like, we spied the sheep, how pathetic is that? Usually people spy on some bad guy, or the head of a yakuza, something cool like that. Us? Spying on a flock of sheep. I know, I know, they are flesh-eating sheep, but come on. It did sound quite ridiculous. And I already done enough embarrassing things in my life. Spying on sheep just put my life from embarrassing to unbearable. Just don't let other campers hear this.
The Golden Fleece hang loosely on a very healthy looking tree and no one to guard it, except those flock of flesh eating sheep. Percy about to make a move towards it, but I pulled him down into the grass. I pointed at the base of the tree, Clarisse had been tied down there and she tried her best to wiggle out from her restraint.
"Then we save her" Percy whispered "And grabbed the fleece"
"Are you kidding me?" I glared at him "It's way too easy!"
"Come one, there's only sheep there" Percy hissed at me "What could they do? They eat grass, not meat"
Okay, buddy you just jinx it, I groaned mentally
I stiffened when a normal looking sheep decided to enter the flesh eating one and ate some grass without a single care, so the flesh eating one quickly stampede over the normal looking one, which let out a rather painful voice. Within a minute the flock dispersed and I could only saw bones and blood splattered all over the area which the normal one just standing. I covered my mouth, afraid that something will come out from there, either it sound or anything left inside my stomach. I glanced at Percy and Annabeth, their face paled considerably after witnessing the whole thing.
"Those are the flesh eating ones" I managed to speak in quiet tone "Don't go in there unless you wanted to be ended up in sheep stomach. Charon gonna laugh at your face eternally if you died that way" and I smirked smugly towards Percy
Annabeth gave me odd looks "Thank you for the 'insightful' advice air head" she said sarcastically.
I growled at her "Don't make me shove you into those flock Wise girl"
Percy who happened to be stuck between us, only face planted on the grass. Couldn't believe that he got stuck in these kind of situation again.
We froze instantly when we heard something big move. My eyes trailed to a big rock that already moved and saw the blind Cyclops made a way to the flesh eating sheep, and he acted all friendly towards it. Then he called out to someone and I saw Grover came out, in a wedding dress, like a real wedding dress. Is not pretty anymore, since it's torn in several places, and mud already covered half of it. I snorted and tried my best to contain my laughter, when Grover acted all feminine towards the blind Cyclops. Percy sharply nudged my ribs and I took a sharp breath because of it, I glanced pointedly at him, as he watched the scene unfold in front of him carefully. So, the Cyclops suddenly grabbed Clarisse and about to turn her into a meal for the wedding, that happened today. Grover tried to convince the Cyclops that eating Clarisse was a bad idea and could give him stomach ache from eating random demigod.
"That's a Styr you dimwit!" Clarisse yelled loudly.
I about to yell at Clarisse to shut up, but remembered that I could alert Polyhelmus and those flesh eating sheep. I only swallowed the harsh word that already on the tip of my tongue and watched Clarisse being dragged away along with Grover. When the boulder already closed the entrance to the Polyhelmus cave, we move quietly to the group of normal looking sheep. We had to get closed to the entrance, before it's too late for both of them.
"The sheep" I said quickly "We can used that to enter Polyhelmus cave"
"Uh, what?" Percy looked at me confuse.
"The normal looking one" I said again and racked my brain for some kind of explanation "I have a feeling that Polyhelmus will let that one enter his cave not the flesh eating one"
Annabeth gave me suspicious looks "That's sound so farfetched, you know"
I almost sighed in frustration, because I had to find some kind of reasonable explanation and not saying that I knew that because I read it.
"He obviously need the flesh eating one to stay outside his cave to guard it" I stated "And he still need to eat right, so I only assumed he eat the normal one. So, he need to protect the normal one, since it his food source in this island. And if he kept the normal one outside, who knows what will happened to it"
"How about my invisibility cap?" Annabeth asked.
"You can use that" I answered honestly "But, me and Percy still need to ride the sheep, since we didn't have one"
Annabeth and Percy looked at me, I could see they tried to process what just I said. Annabeth closed her eyes and crossed her arms, then she opened her eyes slowly and nodded at my reasoning.
"It make senses actually" Annabeth said "But, there's still a chance that Polyhemus won't let the sheep enter his cave"
"If that came then" I looked at the boulder "I will destroy it with my explosive arrow, and hope that the explosion won't make the cave collapse"
Percy look like he wanted to protest against it, but since he didn't have any better idea he pursed his lips and clenched his fist. Percy quickly picked a random sheep and crawl underneath it with disgust written all over his face. And I didn't blame him for it
I quickly crawled under a sheep and grabbed the fur, and I haul my body up, I snagged my feet into its back legs carefully and made sure that the sheep could walk properly with me under it. It smelt awful, like really awful, I only grimaced at this and tried my best to breath slowly, so the sheep wool didn't enter my nostril. I heard a loud sound, that sound like somebody moved a boulder and a loud sound that called the normal sheep.
The sheep began to move as I tried my best not to accidentally drop myself on the ground. I held my breath when Polyhelmus stood in front of my sheep, and hope that his nose is as bad as his sight, and even if it's not, just hope that the sheep scent could cover mine and Percy. Polyhelmus patted my sheep rather harshly and almost made me drop myself and usher it in. Next, he moved into a sheep, where's Percy at. Polyhelmus patted the sheep and talked to it quite long, I saw Percy already tired clinging into the sheep. By, some incredible luck Polyhelmus finally let the sheep in.
After Polyhelmus block the cave entrance again and moved into other place, me and Percy quickly drop ourselves into the hard ground, and Annabeth pulled her invisibility cap off her.
"I smell like a sheep" I said in monotone voice "I need a bath"
Annabeth snorted lightly as she helped me and Percy up. We quickly searched for Grover and Clarisse, and tried out best not to make any kind of loud sound. Since, we didn't want to alert the blind Cyclops, since his hearing probably pretty sharp. After searching for a few minutes, I found Grover and Clarisse in a room together. Grover slumped on the ground with depressed expression while Clarisse paced around the room, mumbling something under her breath.
"Grover!" Percy called his best friend quietly.
Grover head perked up and he smiled when he saw Percy. He quickly jumped from his seat and hug Percy tightly, Percy only chuckled as he patted Grover back. Clarisse mouth hang open when she saw me, stood there, looking healthy and not missing a limb. She quickly rushed towards me, slapped me hard, hit me in the chest repeatedly, then she hug me. Clarisse buried her face on my chest and I only patted her back awkwardly, not sure what should I do, nor what's wrong with her.
"I thought you were dead" she said in muffled voice "I saw Skyla took you away"
I stopped patting her back.
"I never saw you came back to the ocean again" she pulled herself and tears almost spilled from her eyes "Why you never called me or tell me that you are alive?!"
"Lot of stuff happens" I said "It just slipped my mind"
Clarisse snorted in annoyance "I felt stupid worrying about your safety" then she rolled her eyes "Geez, why am I doing this? This is so unlike me"
I swung my arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer "Nah, you loved me too much" I grinned at her.
Clarisse only clicked her tongue in annoyance as she pushed me "Shut up" she sighed and massaged her forehead "I have a feeling that being your friend is a bad idea"
Percy gave Clarisse understanding looks "I knew that feeling"
"Hey! A little respect would be nice. Since I saved both of your ass often!" I protested
"Uh, guys" Grover interrupted "I think, we should find a way out of here"
"Oh, almost forgot" I said and rubbed the back of my head sheepishly "And uh, don't forget the fleece"
Four of us nodded at each other before, sneakily headed to the front door. I raised my hand quietly and the group behind me stopped moving. I took a peek, and found that Polyhelmus stood near a big table with a lot of serving from sheep meat spread around it, and the Golden Fleece hung loosely on his shoulder. I turned around slowly and shook my head.
"It's bad" I whispered "Polyhelmus on that room and the fleece on his shoulder"
"What should we do?" Percy asked.
"Well, Annabeth maybe could take it" I said and looked at Annabeth "She has her invisibility cap"
"But, he might catch my scent" Annabeth said "Us demigod have a strong scent"
I looked over at Percy and Clarisse "Well, we can distract him. He wouldn't notice your scent if we also in the same room with you. Especially when Percy there, his scent basically overpowering ours"
Percy leaned closer to me and whispered "Aren't Hades also claimed you?"
I only nodded stiffly, I knew that seaweed brain, no need to tell me twice. Annabeth gave me knowing nod as she wore her cap and disappeared from our sight. I quickly stepped into the room and cleared my throat loudly. Behind me Clarisse and Percy, only gaped, clearly didn't expect that I will be that bold, Grover only blinked at my action.
"Hello" I said in cheerful tone.
Polyhelmus turned towards me, a plate still on his hand "Huh? Who are you?"
"Nobody important" I said and grinned at him "How's your eyes? Uh, I mean eye"
Polyhelmus instantly crushed the plate on his hand "Nobody!"
"Still, blind as fuck I see" I muttered and jumped to the side.
Polyhelmus growled in annoyance as he caught thin air "I'll eat you up nobody!"
"Don't eat him!" Clarisse decided to join "You will get stomachache if you eat him! He's bad news for your health, also you will get stupider if you eat him, since he got no nutrition on him, only air"
I heard a giggle, I turned to Percy who clamped his mouth with his hand, clearly tried his best to hold back a laughter. But, a few giggle and snorted managed to escape from his lips, I glared at him with annoyance while jumped to the side, to avoid the blind Cyclops hand. Polyhelmus hand hit the wall nearby and it made him angrier that before and he began to swing his hand around randomly.
"This is troublesome" I hissed under my breath as I avoided the Cyclops hand again.
I tapped my left bracelet and it turned into my celestial bronze sword, I still afraid of using the black one on front of Clarisse, afraid that she will knew my other parentage. I quickly made a quick dash towards the blind Cyclops and slashed his right arm. Polyhelmus bellowed in pain as he clutched his right arm, right at that moment I saw the Golden Fleece flew from his shoulder and hovering in the air.
"Annabeth has it" I whispered to myself as turned my sword back into a bracelet
As my weapon turned into bracelet, I quickly grabbed my pendant and within a minute a bow with quiver full of arrow appeared. I pushed the right combination for the explosive arrow and pulled an arrow after hearing a soft whirling noise. I aimed it at the boulder that cover our exit, then I shot the arrow.
"Fire in the hole!" I yelled and turned away from the boulder.
I quickly hit the button on my bow and heard a loud explosion came from behind me. I heard a ringing noise on my ear as I found myself laid flat on the ground. I shook my head and heard a distant voice calling my name, before I could react a hand pulled me up and Percy face came into my view. Bad idea, I guess I'm standing too close? Or the blast radius is too big for this small cave? And its a miracle that this cave didn't cave in as soon as my arrow exploded.
"Snap out of it!" Percy yelled "Come on! We gotta move!"
I shook my head once again and saw Percy handed me my bow. I quickly accepted it and ran to the outside. Only to find our exit had been blocked by the cannibalistic sheep, I groaned and slapped my forehead. Forgot about this, I totally forgot about the plan to maneuver our way through it. I glanced to the side and saw Annabeth already visible with the Fleece resting on her shoulder. Just realized that's lot of things changed during this scene, but in the end we managed to get the Fleece, so that part is not important anymore.
"Nobody!"
I turned back quickly only to find Polyhelmus already grabbed Annabeth and lifted her up from the ground. The Fleece slipped from Annabeth shoulder and fell into the ground, Clarisse quickly caught it and she glared at the Polyhelmus.
"I'll crush you" Polyhelmus said and tightened his grip on Annabeth.
Annabeth let out a chocking sound as she desperately tried to escapee from Polyhelmus deadly grip.
"Let her go!" Percy yelled as he activated his riptide and charged at the Cyclops.
I pulled my normal arrow and aimed it at Polyhelmus eye, I immediately let the arrow few and it struck right in the middle of Polyhelmus eye, and not too long after that Percy stabbed him in the feet. Polyhelmus let out a cry of pain while threw Annabeth into the direction of the flesh eating sheep.
"No!" I yelled as I tried to run to catch her.
But to my surprised another Cyclops managed to catch her before she could be the sheep next meal. And that Cyclops looked at us before he scowled when he saw Polyhelmus.
"Tyson!" Percy called his half-brother in relief "You're still alive?!"
"Father saved me" he said as he carried Annbeth carefully "And he sent me here to help you"
"Tyson" I yelled "Could you distract the sheep to the other side?"
Tyson quickly nodded his head and did it without asking anything. Looks like he understood that the sheep was different from a normal looking one.
"Guys, run" I ordered while took another arrow, this time an electric one "I'll distract him"
"No!" Percy said and grabbed my arm "I'm not leaving you behind! You coming with us!"
I gave him a soft smile "I'll catch up to you, promise"
Percy kept shook his head "Then, I'm staying with you" and he readied his sword.
I sighed "Percy, don't argue this time. This time I will come back, unscathed. I'm a son of Apollo remember. I can shoot this stupid Cyclops at any distance and won't miss"
Percy bit his lower lips "But.."
"Beat it Prissy" Clarisse said and grabbed Percy arm "I hate to say it but I trust Reiner, he will come back to us alive. Or I'll beat his ass on Hades realm"
"Thank you for the 'unique' motivation Clarisse" I said and rolled my eyes.
"Stop being sarcastic and do your job to distract him" Clarisse said as she began to drag Percy away from me.
Then I turned to face the blind Cyclops "Hey, Pea Brain!"
"Huh?" Polyhelmus stopped rubbing his eye.
"Catch me if you can!" I yelled and ran "Well, you can't. Because you are blind!"
Polyhelmus roared in anger "I'll eat you nobody!"
I turned and shot the arrow, which landed on Polyhelmus chest and I activated it. Polyhelmus roared in pain as electricity ran throughout his body. I quickly took another arrow the explosive one and aimed it at Polyhelmus eyes. Let's hope it can kill him, but then an image of Tyson flashed through my brain. And that moment made me hesitated which is a bad decision, Polyhelmus managed to grab me.
"Put me down!" I squirmed "Or I'll stab you in the eye again!"
"Hah! Stupid nobody!" Polyhelmus said "I'll eat you up before you could do it!"
But before he could opened his mouth, a fist connected to his cheek, sending him crashing into his own cave. And I got thrown away up in the air, but another arm caught me, saving me from crashing to my death.
"Nobody eat my friend!" I heard Tyson voice.
"Thanks man" I said and patted his arm.
"Grah! You traitor!" Polyhemus said while pushing himself up "You should help me up!"
"You are a bad guy!" Tyson said in loud voice "I'm not helping the bad guy!"
I gritted my teeth as I tried to find a way to hold Polyhelmus as we escaped this wretched island. Then my eyes landed on the cave, sure the boulder that blocked the entrance gone, but just one explosive arrow could made the ceiling collapse, thus blocking the entrance and the only exit.
"Tyson" I tapped his arm "Could you sent Polyhelmus into the cave?"
"Why?" Tyson tilted his head.
"I'll trapped him there. And make sure that he will never able to come out to cause trouble again" I said.
"Okay! I'll help Reiner, because you are my friend!" Tyson said as he walked towards Polyhelmus.
Then the two Cyclops began to fight, with fist. Tyson clearly had the upper hand because he's not blind and I'm helping him by got Polyhelmus annoyed by shot a normal arrow to his body and feet. Tyson punched him hard in the face and send Polyhelmus near the cave entrance, Polyhelmus cursed as he stood up again, only to get punch again in the face and got sent deeper in the cave.
"Tyson, move!" I said as I shot my explosive arrow at the cave ceiling.
Tyson ran towards me and picked me up from ground as I activated the explosion. A loud boom could be heard throughout the island and startled the flesh eating sheep. Tyson quickly jumped from the cliff and I clung to his arm, he landed safely on the soft sand and put me down on the sand.
"We make a good team Tyson" I said and raised my fist into him.
"You want to punch me?" Tyson asked innocently.
I blinked at his words and laugh "No, no" I said and softly took his right hand with my left one "Form a fist" I said and Tyson nodded "This is a fist bump" I said as I bumped my fist into his "A sign of friendship"
Tyson grinned proudly at me "You consider me as your friend?"
I laughed and patted his arm "Since the day one buddy. You are always be my friend, beside you fire proof, good at making stuff and huge" I explained "Who wouldn't be your friend?"
Tyson had tears started to form on the corner of his eye "Thank you Reiner"
"Anytime buddy" I said and sent him a friendly grin "Anytime"
