The Golden Amulet (PJO, Sequel to The Silver Ring)

Chapter 41

"Stop!" I shouted towards Eon and the guards at the top of my lungs.

They all turned towards me in confusion. When Eon recognized it was me, I could see her eyes widen in surprise. She dashed past all of the distracted guards before they could react.

I cursed under my breath, then looked at Psi. "C'mon. We have to catch her."

He looked at me, bewildered. "How in Lord Chaos' name are we going to catch her? She sprinted out of here like a rabbit amped up on adrenaline."

I smiled and said, "I'm pretty sure horses are faster than rabbits." I then turned to Charlotte, and for Psi's benefit, said out loud, "You ready?"

I'm ready, she confirmed. Though I might need a minute to convince Aeschylus.

"You have a minute. Nothing more."

Charlotte and Psi followed me as I ran towards Aeschylus' stable and quickly opened it.

Sister, what do you need from me now? Aeschylus asked as he trotted out as gracefully as a horse could. It seemed as though, behind his annoyed tone, he was glad he could meet Charlotte again.

I need you to allow milord's companion to use you as . . . well, like a horse, Charlotte told him.

Aeschylus looked at Psi appraisingly. He's not the hated one?

He's not the hated one, Charlotte confirmed.

"Hold out your hand to Aeschylus," I told Psi quietly, trying not to disturb the horses' conversation.

"What?"

"Hold out your hand to the white horse," I corrected myself. "It'll make the process much easier."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes. Now do it."

Psi cautiously extended his hand. Aeschylus looked at it appraisingly for a moment before sniffing it tentatively. I suppose he's alright, he told Charlotte. But why can't I have milord?

He's Lady Void's champion, Charlotte said. My property.

Alright, Aeschylus said, slightly grumpy at how the situation turned out for him. Where are we going?

Charlotte turned towards me expectantly with Aeschylus copying her moves.

Again, for Psi's benefit, I spoke out loud. "If you see a Chaos soldier wearing gold armor, try to incapacitate them."

A hunt? Aeschylus said excitedly. Sister, why did you withhold this information from me?

Because I didn't know you liked such things. Two days ago you HATED manhunts—even though Lord Chaos doesn't even bring you on them.

They delved into a loud but wholesome argument. I tuned them out and turned to Psi. "They're ready. Get on the white horse."

Psi looked at them cautiously. "It looks like they're fighting. Are you sure?"

I reacted with surprise, not knowing how Psi could deduce that. "It's fine. We've wasted enough time."

"Alright." Psi cautiously mounted Aeschylus, who immediately stopped arguing when he realized what had happened. This was possible since every horse in the stable already had a saddle and reins so that any soldier could quickly get a horse without spending precious minutes getting their horse ready.

Ha! Charlotte exclaimed triumphantly. I win!

"I'm sorry," I told Aeschylus, who looked even grumpier for losing an argument with his younger sister. "But I couldn't let one of my own lose an argument because of me."

I mounted Charlotte in one smooth move, and we were ready to go. 

We immediately started, with Charlotte and I in the front, while Aeschylus and Psi followed us, albeit somewhat grumpily.

We rushed past the guards at the gate, who had, just minutes ago, had pushed down the shock that they let a Chaos soldier escape without a thorough search. They yelled at us to stop, but Psi and I yelled at them to move out of the way. But when they realized we were serious—about the time we were a few inches from them—they scattered like bowling pins.

Even though I knew that Charlotte and Aeschylus were the best and oldest horses in the universe, they were still surprisingly fast. The landscape was just a blur of green and brown and the wind was hitting me so hard that I had to squint to keep my eyes open.

Because of this speed, however, we quickly exited the Chaos bases' property and found ourselves in the forest.

"Where did she go?" I asked, looking everywhere through the greenery. I suddenly realized she could be anywhere, waiting to ambush us.

"There!" Psi exclaimed, pointing to the left.

I looked there, along with Charlotte and Aeschylus. A few dozen yards from us, the forest thinned out into a space that was only graced by the presence of spindly but tall trees. Sure enough, Eon was there. She had her back to us, concentrating on something we couldn't see.

Suddenly, as we were watching, a huge black portal appeared in front of her. Eon calmly walked into it without looking back. However, the portal stayed there.

I looked at Psi; it seemed as though we had the same idea.

We recklessly charged into the clearing Eon was in. But as we watched, the portal slowly shrank.

It was now or never.

Charlotte and Aeschylus doubled their speed, and we went through the portal with only inches to spare.

We found ourselves in a big, fortified city. It had a giant wall around it and was crawling with soldiers.

Void soldiers.

They hadn't noticed us yet, since we were they were focused on the outer portions of the city, and we were roughly in the center of it. There were plenty of merchants and civilians around, but they all hadn't seen us yet or they were staring at us in shock.

Eon was walking north, to a huge castle that even competed with Chaos' size. 

"This is Deeplige," I breathed out in wonder. "We made it!"

"Our main priority is getting Da—Omega out of here," Psi said, stumbling over his words. "We can worry about Rosaline lat—"

He was interrupted by the civilians closest to us clamoring for help. Apparently, they had recognized us as Chaos soldiers. They scattered away from us, as though we had a contagious disease.

Eon, who was calmly walking away from us, spun around towards the chaos. She looked confused as she took the scene in, but then her face turned to one of anger as she realized how we got there.

She began running at us at inhumane speed, looking like a blur.

Naturally, as human tendency demands when a dangerous enemy runs toward you, we went the other way as fast as we could. Since we were on horses that could run at unusual rates of speed too, we would be easily able to outrun her. Our confidence soared. We would be able to escape.

But that's when we went through a portal.

Apparently, Eon could make portals in any shape, size, and as far away as she needed them to go. This portal, specifically, stretched from one end of the road to the other, blocking us from going any further. But because of our momentum, it seemed as though we would go into it.

However, that didn't stop Charlotte and Aeschylus from trying. They dug their hooves into the ground making deep grooves in the gravel road, but in the end, because of our inertia, we went through.

The world twisted upside down and suddenly lighted itself in a mix of bland grey, bright white, and dark green.

We were on a snowy mountain top. Below us, we could see the green of the forest stretching as far as the eye could see, while cold winds buffeted us, making us shiver. The horses paced from side to side, trying to make themselves warmer.

Eon peeked her head through the portal, which was a small distance away from us. She was smiling devilishly. "You can't get into Deeplige that easily," she said. "Good luck surviving out here."

The next moment she was gone.