Storm Rising

Chapter 41

Austin's POV

The campers aren't enough. We are too weak, too small, too few to defeat this great enemy. I recognize several familiar monsters, hellhounds, dracaena, empusae, but the rest of the monsters are unfamiliar. About 1/2 of the army is these strange creatures, while another fourth is the greek monsters.

Towards the back of the army, the final quarter of the army looks to be near humanoid. This includes a strange assortment of soldiers in perfect uniform and other beings who are very powerful. So far back that we can't see them, a powerful aura is radiating off of Order's descendants, I suppose.

Order's white flag snaps in the wind. A grey spiral over a peaked tower (same one as in ch 40 or 39) shows that it is not a flag of surrender but a flag of war.

The moisture in the air next to us shimmers and Percy and Bianca appear, armor already on. Bianca's armor feels old, like it was made along time ago, while Percy's seems fairly new with it's bright blue color and designs on the front and back.

"Did we miss the party?" Percy asked.

"No, it's just about begin," Frank says dryly.

Percy's POV

It was coming. We all knew it. War is inevitable, as Mars once said. But that never means we have to like it, just accept it.

Reyna and Amphitrite ride up over the hill, my mom on her polar bear, Kryo, Reyna on her pegasus. Scipio, Reyna's peanut butter colored pegasus had died during the giant war, but Triton had presented her with a new pegasus for their one dating anniversary. In honor of Scipio, Jiffy was the name of her new mount.

"What's the condition of the approaching army?" Reyna asks as she reins Jiffy in, pulling the light brown pegasus in a circle. Jiffy moves nervously, sensing the tension in the air.

Frank does a quick sweep of the scene before us with his eyes. Using a combination of his powers from Aether and natural abilities as far as a child of war, he gets the numbers. "There are about 1000 total soldiers and monsters, 500 Order monsters. Also, there are about 250 greek monsters and another 250 soldiers. I sense at least five direct primordial descendants of Order."

"What about the state of the total camps' army?" Reyna asks, turning to Rose and Tony who just rode up. Rose is on her black and white zebra, a suitable mount for a small girl of her size. Her armor is not on yet, but her staff and scythe are at her side, along with that insane I'm going to crush you painfully glint in her eyes. Tony rides on a pegasus he is training, as he can't exactly ride his pet, a Snowy Owl named Xue.

"Able bodied greeks and romans make up about 500 soldiers. Throw in Squad 409 and you have a total of 700 soldiers. The camp has about 15 minor gods and goddess, but lots of ancient laws restrict them. The older citizens living in the city have been joined by the nature spirits and satyrs to protect the city," Tony explains.

"Lupa and her wolves are scouting around the borders, ready to give help to any weakened spots in the defence," Rose adds. "Several teams of cyclopes and Hephaestus campers have catapults ready. There are a handful of battlefield medics on eagles to help the wounded."

Reyna bites her lip and tries not to show her fears. "Not enough," She mutters quietly. Then louder she asks. "What of the Olympian gods?"

Tony gulps a little. "They sent a message to Chiron this morning saying that ancient laws restricted them from participating."

"Damnare," Reyna begins to curse in a mixture of Latin and Spanish, her home language from Puerto Rico. "Stupid ancient laws, couldn't they ignore them for once?" She turns around. We need to get the army up here."