Percy Jackson - The First Being

Chapter Eight

The sound of plates and forks clashing surrounded the dining pavilion. Chatter about what was to come was the focus of conversation among the children and adults. Making bets on who was going to win and having secret alliances. Talk about what traps were going to be used and if they would even work. Talk about how the new guy beat Luke during sword training. The harpies came around and took away everyones dishes.

The pavilion fell silent. "Heroes, please arm yourselves!" The centaur said as weapons and armor appeared on all of the tables. Cheers echoed all over the valley as the kids prepared for the fight they had been waiting for.

*Percy Pov*

"What am I supposed to do again." I asked Luke who was putting a chestplate on. "Okay, Athena cabin and Ares cabin are the leaders of each team. They made alliances with other cabins to fight with them in capture the flag."

"But like a super messed up version of capture the flag. With pointy things instead of the casual shoulder check." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah basically. As far as the teams, the Athena cabin had been trading privileges to win support, so they have the Apollo and Hermes cabins. And of course they have you. The Ares cabin has all the rest of them."

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.

Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor. "Heros you know the rules of the game." He said, looking at a few campers. "The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic."

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.

I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my equipment. "Hey."

She kept marching, ignoring me.

"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?" Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something.

"Just watch for Clarisse's spear," she said. "Especially you. You don't want that thing touching you. Otherwise, don't worry."

"Is there a plan or something?"

She rolled her eyes and turned so she was facing me. "Of course. Athena always has a plan. Just do your job and we'll take the banner from Ares."

"What exactly am I supposed to be doing. Do I have a job or something?"

She finally looked at me, "Luke didn't give you a job?"

"Umm, no? Was he supposed to?" I said shaking my head.

"No it's fine. You could be on border patrol. Just stand by the creek and keep the reds out." She jogged away from me into the woods. I followed everyone into the woods, following the creek deep into the woods.

There was no one around me. I was only surrounded by the silence of the forest.

In the distance, a conch shell sounded resulting in war cries throughout the woods. Followed by the sound of swords clashing and shields hitting shields. It's been about ten minutes since the conch horn sounded and I've seen nobody. The only sound was the running creek.