Revenge of the Duchess

Chapter 46

A/N: I own nothing. Enjoy!

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"Faster!" Percy cried out to the soldiers behind him riding on their horses.

There was still a few miles of road to the Cuoran royal castle. There was one smoke plume in the horizon. Through the spy network, Percy had received word that the aristocratic faction had planted bombs throughout the castle to cause more chaos. The information resulted in the Black Knight Order and the royal knights working closely together to locate as many of these planted bombs as possible. Unfortunately, it seemed that they had still missed one, possibly more. They were lucky there weren't more. The grey fumes looked like they came from the southernly portion of the castle, in a wing that was largely for treasure holding. Thankfully, that portion of the castle wasn't important. Treasures could be replaced, but human lives couldn't.

And so, Percy was anxious. He couldn't help but keep glancing towards the direction of his mansion. There was a fork in the road just half a mile up ahead. He could easily swerve onto the left path that led back to his house.

He gnashed his teeth. Never in his day had he thought he would have to make the terrible decision between duty and family. He swore that once this was over, he was going to tear apart every one who was a part of this rebellion.

"Third battalion, take the fork to the left. First battalion, we'll take the right fork," Percy called out.

It was the best he could do in the situation. The left fork would take his third battalion to the back of the castle, but it would have them swing by his mansion first.

Hold on, Annabeth, Percy thought. They were coming.

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Jason had raised his sword to block a mercenary's swing when he felt a huge wash of magic overcome him. The spell was like an oily voice, trying to permeate through his mind. His hand hesitated. Time seemed to slow down, though Jason struggled to fight against the fascination magic. It was as if his arms were suddenly weighted down by lead and would no longer respond to his bidding.

"No!" A female voice cried out.

The voice was raw in its desperation, fear and apprehension apparent in every tone. But there was something rich in the voice, washing away the foggy magic created in Jason's mind.

And not a moment too soon. Jason just managed to twist away from the enemy sword, though not fast enough before the sword collided with his armor plated shoulder instead of his neck. Ignoring the pain, Jason let the impact of the sword carry him towards the ground where he quickly rolled away before the enemy could take another hit. Jason leapt to his feet, still clutching his sword in a defensive position.

He had been so concentrated on the soldier he had been fighting, who apparently looked like the mercenaries' leader, that he had missed the Colchis princess sneaking towards him. Jason steeled his mind and dulled the pain in his body. He had almost fallen for the Colchis princess' magic trickery again. Had it not been for the shrill cry of another woman, he had no doubt that he would suffer more than a bruised shoulder.

But who had called out to him so powerfully that he was able to overcome Princess Medea's fascination magic? Jason's heartrate plummeted as he spotted Princess Piper in the royal hall with a horrified look on her face.

How? Jason had thought she would be safe, far away from the fighting. Piper was surrounded by other royal knights who were fighting to keep enemy soldiers at bay. He could see past the enemy soldier's shoulder that Princess Medea had also discovered Piper.