Death and Madness|| Nico di Angelo

The battle of the labyrinth

I mean I'd never been in fights before, and this was a full-scale battle. The first thing I saw were a dozen Laistrygonian giants erupting from the ground, yelling so loudly my ears felt like bursting. They carried shields made from flattened cars, and clubs that were tree trunks with rusty spikes bristling at the end. One of the giants bellowed at the Ares phalanx, smashed it sideways with his club, and the entire cabin was thrown aside, a dozen warriors tossed to the wind like rag dolls.

"Fire!" Beckendorf yelled. The catapults swung into action. Two boulders hurtled toward the giants. One deflected off a car shield with hardly a dent, but the other caught a Laistrygonian in the chest, and the giant went down. Apollo's archers fired a volley, dozens of arrows sticking in the thick armor of the giants like porcupine quills. Several found chinks in armor, and some of the giants vaporized at the touch of celestial bronze.

But just when it looked like the Laistrygonians were about to get overwhelmed, the next wave surged out of the maze: thirty, maybe forty dracaenae in full battle armor, wielding spears and nets. They dispersed in all directions. Some hit the traps the Hephaestus cabin had laid. One got struck on the spikes and became an easy target for archers. Another triggered a trip wire, and pots of Greek fire exploded into green flames, engulfing several of the snake women. But many more kept coming. Argus and Athena's warriors rushed forward to meet them. I saw Annabeth draw a sword and engage one of them. Nearby, Tyson was riding a giant. Somehow he'd managed to climb onto the giant's back and was hitting him on the head with a bronze shield—BONG! BONG! BONG!

Chiron calmly aimed arrow after arrow, taking down a monster with every shot. But more enemies just kept climbing out of the maze. Finally a hellhound—not Mrs. O'Leary—leaped out of the tunnel and barreled straight toward the satyrs.

"GO!" Nico yelled at me, he had his sword drawn too. 

I took out my daggers and raced across the battle field. 

Vines erupted from the ground and wrapped themselves around the hell hound. I tried not to think about Mrs O' Leary as a few children of Apollo fired arrows at the hell hound, disintegrating it. 

Next I turned to see a dracaenae about to stab Percy. I used my dagger to disarm her and stab her in the eye. It was a gruesome sight, but at least Percy was safe. He gave me a small thumbs up and he raced off. 

As I raced across the battlefield, I saw horrible things. An enemy half-blood was fighting with either Castor or Pollux, but it wasn't much of a contest. The enemy stabbed him in the arm then clubbed him over the head with the butt of his sword, and Dionysus's son went down.

Fear numbed me from inside out. This wasn't happening. This was a dream. My throat began to close up. But I refused to go into a panic attack. My rage was too much, I yelled as I changed direction. My vision was blurred with my tears, but I didn't fucking care. 

I charged after the demigod. Rage blinding me to the point that I didn't realise what I was doing until someone pulled me away. The demigod that I had been after lay there on the grass. His face bloody and his nose probably broken. 

If you would ask me afterward what I had done, I would probably not even remember it. But I would remember the joy as I punched him repeatedly in his face, my daggers abandoned by my side. 

Good, hopefully he'll get trampled by a giant.

I thought. He deserved it, he deserved it after what he had done. I wanted worse for him, but I focused on the battle again.

It wasn't fair. I didn't even know if it was Castor or Pollux. It wasn't fair because whoever it was, was only seventeen. It wasn't fair that the battle was still raging around us. One of my brothers was dead and the monsters still weren't.

The roaring in my ears was too loud to hear any pleading from the monsters that came after me. Dracaenae after dracaenae came after me and one by one they all crumpled to the ground- dead, or dying. 

I took out one of my daggers from the body of a monsters just as a hell hound let on top of me. I couldn't think straight, and that's when I though I would die. But a second later the hell hound exploded into yellow dust and standing beside me was Nico. 

He extended an arm and I pulled myself up. He wiped some blood off my cheek and gave me a hard, long look. 

"Don't die"

"I'm starting to think I want to" 

"Don't die" He repeated, "For me"

"Okay then death boy" I tried for a smirk, but only ended up with my lips twitching. "Let's go kill some monsters"

Not that far away we saw Annabeth and Percy fighting against Kampe. The monster had its forelegs on their chests, holding them down. Hundreds of snakes slithered right above Percy, hissing like laughter. Kampê raised her green-tinged swords. 

And I knew we were too far away to help. 

Then, behind us, something howled. A wall of darkness slammed into Kampê, sending the monster sideways. And Mrs. O'Leary was standing over Percy and Annabeth, snarling and snapping at Kampê.

"Good girl!" said a familiar voice. Daedalus was fighting his way out of the Labyrinth, slashing down enemies left and right as he made his way toward us. Next to him was someone else—a giant, much taller than the Laistrygonians, with a hundred rippling arms, each holding a huge chunk of rock.

"Briares!" Tyson cried in wonder. I guess he was on our side.

"Hail, little brother!" Briares bellowed. "Stand firm!"

And as Mrs. O'Leary leaped out of the way, the Hundred-Handed One launched a volley of boulders at Kampê. The rocks seemed to enlarge as they left Briares's hands. There were so many, it looked like half the earth had learned to fly.

BOOOOOM!

Where Kampê had stood a moment before was a mountain of boulders, almost as tall as Zeus's Fist. The only sign that the monster had ever existed were two green sword points sticking through the cracks.

A cheer went up from the campers, but our enemies weren't done yet. One of the dracaenae yelled, "Ssssslay them! Kill them all or Kronossss will flay you alive!"

Apparently, that threat was more terrifying than we were. The giants surged forward in a last desperate attempt. One surprised Chiron with a glancing blow to the back legs, and he stumbled and fell. Six giants cried in glee and rushed forward.

Then it happened. Grover opened his mouth, and the most horrible sound I'd ever heard came out. It was like a brass trumpet magnified a thousand times—the sound of pure fear.

As one, the forces of Kronos dropped their weapons and ran for their lives. The giants trampled the dracaenae trying to get into the Labyrinth first. Telekhines and hellhounds and enemy half-bloods scrambled after them. The tunnel rumbled shut, and the battle was over. The clearing was quiet except for the fires burning in the woods, and the cries of the wounded.