All Rights belong to Rick Riordan
Chapter 25
I Play the Matador
(Percy)
To our collective surprise, we arrived back at the hunt's camp to find it in a state of commotion. Several of the hunter's tents were overturned and seemingly trampled and there were numerous arrows sticking out of the ground surrounded by patches of golden dust. Judging by the simple amount of golden monster dust blowing around, there had to have been a fair few of them that had attacked rather than a single larger one.
Almost immediately I found myself looking towards Diana who seemed as confused as I was by the scene in front of us, she looked towards me and shrugged. As if to suggest she hadn't felt or been told anything out of the ordinary. Even so the sudden appearance of a large pair of bronze knives in her hand suggested that she was still on edge regardless. Likewise, I held the pen form of Riptide in my hand, ready to pop the cap off if necessary.
"Well, this sure does looks promising, do you always arrive home to find the place trashed?" Suzie said looking around the devastated scene.
"Generally no, although I do know none of the hunters have died at least, other than that I don't know what happened here." Diana stated before focusing on some movement to her left. That was to say looking towards where I now, turning right I noticed the hunters had all gathered together seemingly around the large golden figure of Nemea.
"Why don't we go over there and find out what the hades has happened? Surely, Thalia would have messaged us if this had been that important." I said questioningly. As much as the other girl could be a pain, she did seem to take her duties seriously. Diana nodded her head in agreement and so the four of us set out towards the group. Diana leading the way with the two unarmed recruits in the middle and me bringing up the rear.
As we crossed the distance, I noticed that most of hunters still had their weapons in hand and pointed towards Nemea, however I quickly realised none were actually aimed at the Nemean Lioness but rather something underneath her.
"Thalia, I want a report now! What the hell happened while we were gone?" Diana demanded startling her spiky haired Lieutenant who had been facing away from us.
"What huh? Lady Diana, when did you get back? Who are the new girls?" She said totally confused looking from the goddess' Roman form, to the twins behind her and finally to me bringing up the rear.
"That can wait Thalia, what happened here and why wasn't I told immediately? I would have sent Perseus back immediately." Diana snapped back angrily. Even only knowing her for a few days properly, I knew she wasn't so much angry as worried about their safety. She could ill afford to lose any more hunter's, the last thing she wanted was to take two steps forward with recruiting the twins and then lose anything she could have gained in this attack.
"It was Just after you left, a small group of monsters attacked the camp. Mostly about thirty Empousai and a few, maybe a dozen Telkhines, small fry in the grand scheme of things. But the biggest most notable threat is now also Nemea's current pillow, that is if you can make out its identity." She said pointing at a brown patch of fur struggling under the lioness's chest with one muscled arm flailing angrily.
"Thals is that what I think it is?" I asked her excitedly.
"Yeah, Bull brain is back again, unfortunately for him though, this time he ran into something that was a lot bigger than he was." Thalia said confirming my suspicion as I was practically becoming giddy at what was in front of me.
Now of course the Minotaur was no basically of no threat to me whatsoever by this point. I mean I could literally freeze him in time and leave him there after all. But Minos's pet had left an impression on me all those years ago and unfortunately for him, it was not a good one.
"And what about the state of the camp, how did they even get inside and trash it." Diana asked a lot calmer putting her knives away and waving her arm towards the overturned tents.
"Originally, they tried to attack in a unit, shielded telkhines protecting Empousai archers. Unfortunately, the moment they saw Nemea they broke ranks and panicked in any direction that was away from her and us, which just happened to be the camp before they were all slain, everything looks fixable at least."
"So, are any of you hunters still doubting the effectiveness of having a monster as a guard?" I joked patting Nemea on her side earning a purr from the lioness and some muffled grunts from her cushion.
"Percy. Mrs. O'Leary was bad enough, Nemea takes it up to eleven. Do you just attract the weird and wonderful?" Thalia asked running her hand through her spiky hair.
"No Thals it just finds me. Now why exactly is the Minotaur still alive?" I asked looking at my pinned nemesis resisting the urge to stomp on his visible arm... for the moment.
"We were waiting for you to get back Seaweed Brain, I just have a feeling he really misses you. Unfortunately, he just happened to pick the wrong time to visit, so I thought he should stick around for a while. Also, I would be lying if I said I didn't want to watch a rematch between the pair of you. I was a tree the first time and I was elsewhere in Manhattan for the second." She explained with a grin.
"I knocked him out in Tartarus too but Annabeth got to kill him then." I added for the record.
"See, so what do you think best four out of seven?" She suggested.
"Wait, wait why are you so happy? That is the Minotaur over there and you are not even bothered, what if he gets out?" Amy asked confused looking between me and Thalia.
"Because even if he did, he wouldn't get very far, the minute he took a step he would either be shot, impaled or crushed." Diana said simply to the newbie.
"I killed that thing when I was twelve and had no idea what was happening or weapon and ended up killing him with his own horn. He is much more afraid of me than you should be of it. Bullhead here was only ever a threat in the Labyrinth because it was so dark you didn't know where you were or what it was. In the open ground like this, he is all bark and no bite." I said simply with a grin.
"Wait when you were twelve, how did you manage that he looks massive?" Amy said eyeing up the visible parts of the Minotaur.
"Enough Perseus, just kill the thing already we haven't got all day. The faster it is killed, the faster we can get the introduction done properly." Diana stated almost as if bored of this scene.
"Yes Milady." I said walking around the figure in front of me, the other hunters all backing up away to a relatively safe distance bows still in hand even Tania looked excited to see this. Then again, her father was Ares she probably couldn't resist the lure of a fight.
Nearby I spied the Minotaur's axe on the floor and saw it was the same type as our previous two fights. I wondered to myself did he buy them in bulk or something because the first one was definitely broken into pieces. He had died two out of the last three times by his own weapon and the third was upon his own horn. They were more of a threat to him than to others. I scooped the weapon up casually feeling the weight of the weapon before closing the remaining distance to the front of the lioness.
"Good girl, I will get you a deer when this is done but now you need to let me play with your new toy." I said playfully and the lioness regarded me with matching golden eyes. However, she remained unmoving apart from a playful poke at the struggling figure beneath her.
"Fine two deer." I guessed with a sigh; my own pet was extorting me for additional treats.
I guess the lioness accepted the proposition as she suddenly sprang off her victim who roared in pain and indignation, before walking alongside Diana and laying down beside the goddess, eyes watching. The twins almost instinctively had both backed away to the far side of the goddess in fear of the colossal monster that was suddenly near them.
"Hello idiot, remember me?" I shouted at the slowly rising figure in front of me who turned towards the source of the noise.
The Minotaur looked confused. Evidently, he was confused by my physical change and scent no longer being pure demigod but gradually his poor eyesight made out my identity until he focused on one detail; the weapon I currently held and he roared in rage.
"What this? Tell you what idiot. I will give this back to you if you agree to be civil and not a dick. You try to attack and my little friends turn you into a beef steak pin cushion, Ok." I stated cheerfully and knew even in his small brain he had to understand that, before the Minotaur nodded his massive head.
"Good, then catch." I said as I tossed the weapon casually to him and he caught it by the haft in an almost practised manner.
"Tell you what Clarabel, you defeat me this time, and you can go. No consequences, Lady Diana and her hunters will let you leave. I swear on the Styx but only if he we have a proper battle, no one else involved, all weapons and tactics are legit." I announced to the backdrop of thunder overhead.
The Minotaur didn't really have a choice, it was the only chance he had of getting out of here alive after all. Especially now the goddess and I were back. Once again it simply nodded and readied the weapon and faced towards me.
(Diana)
When I asked Percy to kill the damned monster, I didn't expect him to challenge the thing to a duel and then he swears on the Styx to make us stay out of it. I was going to greatly enjoy training with him after this farce was done, he wasn't.
I watched as the monster cautiously accepted the offer and readied itself and I turned back to Percy. What I saw shocked me as one by one he dropped his weapons on the floor until all except Maelstrom's concealed form was in a pile at his side, before he turned to the surprised monster and raised his hands.
"Let's go back to the good old days meathead." Percy said casually as I rolled my eyes, why was he showing off? It was obviously true he was far more physically capable than he was five years ago, he was now almost as large as the monster in front of him.
"Is he being serious? Why would he fight it unarmed?" Amy asked panicked looking around the other hunters.
"Because Seaweed Brain over there is an idiot. Still, I wouldn't worry too much, he did this all before." Thalia said calmly.
Turning back towards the combatants, I could see the Minotaur was looking a lot less unsettled to see Percy now he was unarmed.
'Oh, poor Asterios, if only you knew the truth.' I thought to myself almost pitying the poor creature for what was about to happen.
Suddenly he bellowed a roar and charged towards the guardian, who remained unmoving.
Finally, when he was only about two meters away, he began to take a great swing of his axe. As if to cleave him in two from shoulder to hip, but the blade met nothing as finally Percy moved at the last second and ducked under the blow.
(Percy)
Unlike the first time I fought him, this time I was calm and collected. I knew how he would act and that was why I made him feel at least slight confident of victory by fighting unarmed for the most part. I couldn't exactly explain taking off my watch without explaining why to the onlooker and that was one weapon they certainly were not seeing anytime soon.
As I dodged the first blow I simply stepped to the side and viciously kicked out at his right knee with the sole of my foot. I heard the sickening sound of it popping as the heavy booted blow dislocated the limb followed by the sound of a pained roar and the thud as he hit the floor digging a trough using his face.
After a few seconds I casually turned around to find it struggling to rise now using the battle-axe as a cane, his leg bent at an unnatural thirty-degree angle inwards. Unmoving we watched as he reached down with his free hand and snapped it back into position with another roar of pain. That amusing blew some of the accumulated grass out of his mouth from where he had face planted.
"I see that you like the taste of grass, are you really just a cow on two legs?" I taunted cheerfully, only to be met with looks of hatred and silence. Before he charged again.
This time he used the weapon one-handed hoping to catch me with the other if I moved. However, all I did was raise an arm to catch the weakened blow before kicking with my left boot in a straight thrust into his stomach and throwing him on his back, where he lay for a few seconds gasping for air. Before once again he struggled to his feet. I had to give him points for determination, even if he was getting his ass kicked.
"Tell you what, I will stop kicking you, is that alright?" I joked raising my arms in a bring it pose, flicking my fingers inwards. The monster barely made out the gesture but understood the general principle of the idea and once again repeating his first technique of a two-handed swing. I guess he was a firm believer in if at first you don't succeed, try, try again it seemed.
This time however I simply ran towards him, before baseball sliding between his legs narrowly due to my bulk. Grabbing his ankles on the way past, aided by my actual unnatural weight it was an easy matter of using our opposite impetus to pull him down, so that he was face first on the ground again.
However, this time as he struggled to rise, I grabbed his left ankle in both hands and pulled right with all my strength and was rewarded by the sound of the joint snapping and a muffled bellow of pain. Wasting no time, I repeated the process on the other leg but in the other direction. When I was done both his feet now faced inwards and backwards.
The monster was now in such pain he didn't seem to want to try and stand or do anything but bellow which was fine if he wanted to surrender. Unfortunately for him, this bout was to the death, as if he would have given me mercy if he had won. Now if this was anything else I was fighting I would end this now.
Instead I simply hopped onto his back heavily before stomping my way up his spine before standing behind his head with my feet straddling it and my left shin across his neck as I reached down and grabbed the familiar black and white horns and began to pull.
The Minotaur began to struggle grabbing hold of my reachable ankle but unable to do anything as his axe was out of grasp. My leg and half a tonne of imperial gold was holding him face down in the dirt after all. Eventually with a final tug I ripped the appendages off and stepped back while kicking him on his back. Noticing the two now bloody severed horn bases and the pained expression on his face.
"What is the matter cattle boy missing these? Why don't you walk over here and take them back?" I called shaking the horns in both hands playfully, but once again it simply returned to watching me stoically.
"Boo your no fun anymore. Remember when you used to be a challenge for me because I don't?" Once again, no form of response or movement, nothing. He clearly didn't even care anymore which was kind of sad. I had mentally and physically beaten my oldest nemesis and didn't know what to now as I regarded the wounded monster. Questioning if I should carry on this one-sided fight or just kill him now.
"Perseus enough, just end this you have won already, now you are just gloating." Diana called from the side-lines making the decision for me.
"Yes, Milady just finishing up now." I called back cheerfully shooting her a grin as I tossed the two severed horns to the sides.
"Unfortunately for you the boss is right. Now here is a good suggestion, the next time you regenerate stay the fuck away from me and well everyone else. Go hang around a field with the other cows in the prairie because if I do see you again. I will keep making this more painful for you and believe me I am only just getting started, be grateful they are here." I proclaimed nodding towards the hunters so only it could hear me, slowly changing my tone from cheerful joking to sinister threats. No not threats, promises.
I walked over towards the head of the monster who regarded me coldly from his vantage point on the floor before he suddenly swung the axe at my ankles with his left arm. Evidently, he had somehow retrieved the weapon while my back was turned and I was facing the goddess. I manipulated time a little slowing the blade down and giving me a chance to jump over the swing as it passed where my ankle had been. Before landing on the beast's wrist and crushing the bones in it under both feet.
"That was a nice try but still not good enough." I said grabbing the now fallen weapon out of his now disabled and open hand. Turning around and straightening up with the weapon held above my head, perfectly in line with his throat.
"Better luck next time, best five out of nine perhaps." I said happily as the blade descended and struck dirt below. The cleanly severed head rolled a few feet away before it dissolved along with the rest.
"So Thals how was that then? Thought I would try a mixture of techniques." I called to my cousin, who was now amongst the rest of the hunters looking on in awe even Tania seemed impressed.
"You are one cold hearted bastard Percy; really though did you have to break half its body?" She asked approaching the site of our fight.
"No." I said simply smiling.
"Well, I am glad you did, because that was awesome." She said grabbing me in a hug.
"Perseus next time don't make a spectacle of it; last I checked you were Greek not Roman. The arena went out of style a millennia ago." Diana stated disapprovingly albeit happily judging by the smile on her face.
"Yes, Milady definitely Greek, speaking of Greek shouldn't you be back to Artemis now we are back." I asked curiously and was surprised none of the hunters had called her out on it yet. She reluctantly nodded before changing back into her Greek form that was now slightly different from normal, by that I mean she looked slightly older than before but not by much. Must be the effect of gaining two older aged hunters I supposed.
"Anyway, now that debacle has been taken care off. Girls, please meet your new sisters. Amy, daughter of Aphrodite and Suzie, daughter of Venus." She said indicating the corresponding twin; however, all the hunters were now focusing solely on Suzie. For her part she was now looking uncomfortable to be stared at by everyone.
"Milady she is Roman?" Morganna asked coldly.
"I have had Roman Huntresses before back during the time of the Republic, this was after Greece fell but I stopped recruiting them after the rise of the emperors. Those few that I took before did not last long strangely, so after they had all died. I chose to stick with Greeks from that point onwards. None of you except Atlanta were around then. She and the other older ones were forbidden from bringing up the subject afterwards. Much like how the matter of the two camps was also closely guarded until recently. Now put aside your prejudice and introduce yourselves girls." The goddess explained firmly and I listened as they all introduced themselves one by one after Thalia.
"Suzie one thing, address me towards others as Lady Artemis as it will avoid confusion for the most part. Although if it is just the pair of us then it is fine." She said turning towards the Roman demigod.
"Yes Lady Artemis." The Roman girl said bowing.
"Good, now Thalia I want the camp rebuilt and a new tent erected for the twins. Don't worry too much about the finer points, we will be moving tomorrow anyway. Then I want you to prepare everything else to be moved. When you are done, I want you and Tania to issue the twins with their gear and weapons." Artemis explained to both the Hunters and my surprise before she turned around towards me.
"Perseus you are to follow me; you and I have some training to do so bring your bow." She ordered and the others simply bowed and went to Thalia for instructions while I retrieved the pile of weapons and followed the goddess after summoning the bow as we headed deeper into the forest. I was well aware of the lioness following behind but there was little I could do until we were out of sight range.
Eventually we passed the area where my tent was and crossed the stream bed so though we could feel the hunter's presence we remained obscured from prying eyes.
"Now Perseus would you like to pay your pet, you did break her play toy after all, which wasn't very nice." Artemis said sweetly turning back to me. I was now being stared at from both sides silver eyes on one and gold on the other.
"Fine Nemea here you go Takeaway Venison." I said to the Lioness focusing on summoning a very confused deer which appeared in a flash of golden light in front of me and the lioness. Nemea merely swatted it to the floor beneath a giant paw before once again looking at me expectant. Evidently, she was holding me to my word as I summoned another. The second deer likewise appeared suddenly saw its compatriot stuck in place and attempted to bolt for it.
Before it could move the lioness suddenly leapt forward and grabbed its entire head horns and all within its jaws and shook viciously snapping its neck before the entire head came off and its body fell from her mouth limply. The trapped deer likewise was now also dead due to the weight applied to its spine when Nemea darted forward. Finally, looking away from me the lioness simply spat out the second deer's head and curled around her kills and began to messily rip them apart.
"Now that she is happy, may we begin Milady." I said brushing my hands.
"First things first put down that damned bow, I only said to bring it as a cover story. I would rather not get shot again today; you will learn archery that I promise but with a normal bow to begin with." Artemis explained and I felt annoyed, just why did I have to learn to shoot?
"But why? I don't need a bow, what is wrong with spears and swords? Hades, even throwing knives I can use. I can use normal weapons too you know." I protested at the unfazed goddess who was merely watching my tantrum with her arms crossed and tapping her foot on the floor, seemingly waiting for me to finish.
"You are the Titan of the Hunt and I will see you have the skills of a hunter. For thousands of years a hunter's primary weapon has been a bow. Why do you think that was your spoil from my uncle when you defeated him and took on the domain. If after a while you cannot use a normal bow then and only then will you revert to using a spear. Here take this." Artemis explained clearly annoyed before conjuring a silver bow. Physically at least it was identical to my other bow but without any imbued magic. Next, she summoned for me a matching silver quiver.
"I really don't get any say in this, do I?" I pouted and was met with the look.
"No."
"Fine but if I kill someone this is your fault, I warned you." I told her before laying down my various arms except the compacted ones, I was even still holding the Minotaur's axe. That thing was going on a wall when I got back to Orthrys for sure. You know when you are overprepared, when you can lay down enough weapons to outfit a legion and still be carrying half a dozen more in concealment. I slung the quiver over my shoulder so it was by my left hip before taking the procured bow in my right hand.
"Now Perseus if you would kindly, please take aim at the rock fifty meters in front of you and then when you feel happy, release the arrow." Artemis said from concealment behind a tree to my rear, where she probably hoped it was safe.
Following her instruction, I slowly took an arrow from the quiver and placed it to the bowstring and began to draw the string back, until the tension began to cause the wood to creak before I released. The good news at least was I fired in the right general direction as signalled by the sigh of relief from behind me, lowering the bow to my side I turned around to see the goddess suddenly go wide eyed.
However, my attention was brought back to my front when I was suddenly slapped around the face by a pissed off dryad that seemingly had emerged from a nearby tree trunk. For several seconds she stood there glaring at me before she forced the arrow into my hand with a huff. Turning around she stomped her way back to her tree which was now sporting a rather hefty hole in the bark.
"Well, the good news is no one died or was seriously wounded this time. The bad news is I think we may have to avoid this park for a while until she calms down." Artemis said sadly stepping out of cover.
"Look I told you before, I cannot fire a bow without hitting something, the problem is they are never the target I actually aim for." I said in exasperation.
"Fine then, even if I have to take you to a Salt Lake in middle of Death Valley to teach you without you injuring someone accidentally. If that is what it takes, I will do it." Artemis pledged as I let me shoulders fall and sighed.
"Can't you just admit somethings were not meant to be and leave it at that?" I said in hope only to once again receive the look as she walked over.
"Just because we may not fire anymore arrows today, doesn't mean I can't teach you the correct stance. Now straighten your legs." The goddess ordered kicking my ankle to make me move it and I already knew it was going to be a long afternoon.
(Artemis)
Just teaching Percy how to hold the bow properly and from what stance to fire from, was a mission in itself. He seemed determined to lock every limb when he needed to remain relaxed. Dear gods it took almost twenty minutes for him to get comfortable with the correct feet position for even a beginner. He was having this much trouble and this would only be firing whilst remaining still, with no current interference or threat to speak of.
Admittedly part of the problem was I could not see from his perspective and what perhaps looked right to me was miles off for him.
"Look Lady Artemis this is stupid. You keep telling me one thing but whatever you are telling me sight on from down there is not right for me to see properly." He protested.
"What do you mean down here, Perseus?" I said in annoyance looking up at him with a frown as he gulped.
"Well I mean you are a lot smaller than m—" Percy immediately shut up when I assumed my full godly height and was now suddenly looking down at him for a change.
"Now little man, who is the small one? You know you really are small for a Titan, only Prometheus is as scrawny as you." I called down playfully, earning a pout.
"Very funny but how is that going to help now we have the opposite problem. And besides I think people may notice if a twelve-foot-tall school girl starts stomping around national parks, unless you want more bigfoot rumours." He called up to me and I had to agree this was not really helping at all, other than making him feel small and shrinking his ego a bit. As such I reverted size back to normal. The problem was I was only five foot four as Artemis normally, which meant I could not easily reach his upper body to correct any mistakes in the posture.
Not without a ladder or box anyway.
"Milady why don't you just change aspect, Diana is taller, isn't she? It would be a lot easier than for you to keep reaching up or pulling me down." Percy suggested and I had to agree it might make things easier, even if it hurt my ego somewhat to leave this up to her. Especially considering everything that was going on with her.
(Percy)
Once the light around her faded revealing the now familiar form of the goddess's Roman aspect, she immediately set to work adjusting my position again. Though any hope of her being a softer teacher went out the window as she proceeded to correct my mistakes with simple gestures. Such as another kick to the ankle to make me move my foot or a punch to the shoulder so that I straightened up.
"You don't have to be so vicious; you can just tell me what to do you know." I suggested feigning injury.
"I spent twenty minutes getting you to straighten your feet up and you forget in the moment I turn around. Clearly you don't remember verbal instructions, so I have to try alternate means. Now stop bending your wrist!" She snapped and I quickly complied, evidently she was becoming agitated with her lack of progress.
After another ten painful minutes of prodding and poking she was finally happy with the way I was standing. And stepped back so she was directly behind me.
"Good now hopefully if you can hold that position and remember it you may stand a chance. Stop bending backwards when you have the bow primed, here look." She said and suddenly I felt her behind me pushing against me from behind with her right arm running along the length of mine and her left reaching up towards my shoulder blade. Too say I was feeling embarrassed about our current position would be an understatement and that was without knowing her breast were brushing up against the base of my wings and her head leaning on the base of my neck.
"Err. Lady Diana are you sure?" I stammered out nervously becoming increasingly more conscientious about our positioning.
"Perseus shut up and focus. Now hurry up and fire while you are in the correct position." She ordered from behind me and I did as I was told.
I watched in fascination as the arrow actually headed towards the rock before falling just short, though it eventually skipped off a rock and clipped across the ground before stopping at the base of the actual target. Sure, it was far from perfect but I couldn't believe it I actually hit it at all. I was so elated that before I knew what I was doing I turned around and grabbed the goddess in a hug.
(Diana)
To say I was surprised when he actually hit it was an understatement. True he released the string to slowly and it affected the power of the shot but otherwise it was fairly accurate.
However, that surprise was nothing compared to that which followed when he turned around and grabbed me in a bear hug and started swinging me around saying "I actually hit it." repeatedly.
"Percy, will you put me down you idiot." I protested weakly wailing against his chest with my arms that were now pinned in front of me. It took him several seconds to notice what he was doing before he suddenly lost the colour in his face again and he placed me back on the floor.
"Well done idiot you finally managed to hit something, next time you will try and do it without my help." I said flustered, my hair was now all down my face and a mess. Fortunately, it hid most of the traces of the blush I currently suspected I had; he had actually hugged me even if it was in celebration.
"Yes Diana." He said after thinking a little and his colour returned a bit.
"What no Lady or Milady this time, did you get scared?" I joked, aiming to break the ice and move past what had happened for both our sakes.
"No, it is just that you called me Percy and not Perseus so I called you Diana." He explained more confidently, damn him out of all that, he focuses on that one word.
"I most certainly did not Perseus, I swear." I said folding my arms and turning my head away from him.
"Yeah, you did and that is why you won't swear on the Styx isn't it?" He said cockily as I ground my teeth. How is it he can go from scared to death to suddenly confident. He would be an awful poker player.
"Oh, shut up Perseus. Fine it slipped out one time, are you happy?"
"Not until you stop calling me Perseus, it is Percy, P-E-R-C-Y. Simple."
"I know how to spell Perseus, I was around when this language was invented and unlike Zoe, I actually learned the variations." I said remembering the struggle my old Lieutenant had with comprehending the constantly changing language, Latin barely changed in almost two thousand years. English changed almost yearly and even between countries. It's original countries the UK as it was spelled things differently to how it was here in America. For some reason Americans liked to drop letters they deemed unnecessary and had a fondness for Z over S.
"How about a compromise, I will stop addressing you as Lady or any other titles and you call me Percy, at least when it is just us. You can maintain the professionalism in front of the hunters and I get to stop hearing my full name, especially as I now know what it means. How would you feel walking around and essentially introducing yourself as The Destroyer, Phoebe Artemis?" He said smugly and the full name of my counterpart caught me by surprise.
"How do you even know than forename Perseus?" I demanded; it was common knowledge that Perseus for all his strengths was not exactly the sharpest sword in the armoury (that was strapped to his wrist).
It was one of the most amusing and/or annoying things to watch on his adventures as he either straight butchered people's actual names or just made-up new ones for them. For example, I could probably tell him that the Minotaur was actually called Asterios. But in Percy's weird world he would now be Clarabel the cow.
"Your mum told me during a conversation, your grandma is really happy with it too. You should use it more often." He said with a grin as I groaned knowing I was caught in a proverbial checkmate. It was easy to forget this idiot had spent almost the last year living near my mother and grand-mother, both of whom were not exactly quiet with telling what they knew.
"Fine you win for now Pers-Percy. But only when it is just us two during training or on recruitment trips. Back in camp with the hunters it is Perseus OK." I said through gritted teeth.
"Perfectly Diana." He said still grinning. That smile was starting to become addictive for me to look at and I had to keep averting my eyes, so I didn't obviously stare at his face.
"That is enough for today, you are to remain on standby tonight, whilst Nemea guards. Although I now know that she certainly is effective at the task but I am still not taking chances. I expect you to still make periodic checks of the camp. As for your training tomorrow, we will focus on developing the stealth aspect of hunting. Of course, dependant on what time we actually finish moving camp. I will look for a suitable destination over the course of tonight." I told him.
"Ok Diana anything else? Do you want my reports in the morning like Thalia or at a normal time of morning like ten AM unless there actually was trouble?" He asked curiously and unknowingly left himself open for a small measure of revenge.
"I want the reports alongside Thalia's at five-thirty AM sharp, outside my tent." I explained earning a groan and a slump of the shoulders.
"Also, I want you to keep that bow on you at all times from now on whilst you are not off duty. I want you to get used to the feel of having to carry it, no changing its form with magic. Now let's go, today has been a long interesting day and one I would rather not be repeated tomorrow. So, let's get out of here and leave our friend the Sycamore in peace. I am fairly certain she hasn't breathed out since you fired that first shot." I joked causing him to turn and look at the injured trunk guiltily.