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

Chapter 60

There were six Chaos soldiers, shrouded in black, and armed with loaded crossbows. They were hiding behind the outer portion of the wall, but when I reached Omega, they jumped out, revealing themselves. I quickly spurred Charlotte in a different direction before they could fire. Omega did the same—but there was no time to coordinate. We both went in opposite directions. My hair flew in the morning wind, and after dozens of minutes of galloping at a breakneck pace, my sore body was starting to scream out in pain.

Unfortunately for Charlotte and me, we didn't know where to go in this city. So we had to waste precious seconds, turning all the way around until we were once again galloping behind Omega and Fauvel. 

And that's when the soldiers fired.

The sound of strings twanging and projectiles slicing through the air filled my ears. Unfortunately, unlike last time, the soldiers were to our side. Meaning Charlotte could do nothing as one of the bolts came flying at me—grazing the side of my neck before thudding into a tree. Before they could reload and fire again, we whipped around a corner.

For a moment, I was in shock, not able to feel the pain. I wondered if it was all a hallucination, that the crossbow bolt had come close enough to my neck that I thought it had injured me. 

Then I felt the pain. 

It was a dull, throbbing pain that pulsed with each beat of my heart. It was immediately layered with a sharp, burning sensation that made it hard to concentrate. It was poisoned.

Are you all right, Milord?" Charlotte asked worriedly as I suddenly drew a sharp intake of breath and clapped a hand over the wound. 

It's just a scratch, I lied, gritting my teeth. It was anything but a scratch—it was deep enough that blood sprung out easily, coating my hand.

 As Charlotte threw up dust with her fierce pace, I heard the all-to-familiar sound of pursuing horses. I spun around, only to find half a dozen mounted soldiers bearing down on us. Fortunately, all of them seemed to only have swords—and were waving them around, as though they could magically stab us from several yards behind.

Seriously? I groaned internally as I gripped the reins tighter, praying that I wouldn't get thrown off. We could never get a break. What was the point of trying to lose our pursuers? If we did, no doubt more Chaos soldiers would find us—and if we didn't, it wasn't as if they could harm us. Charlotte and Fauvel were faster than them.

Ahead, Omega turned a corner, immediately jumped off of Fauvel, rolled to absorb the impact, and scrambled to his feet in front of a wide and squat building—all in one smooth move. Fauvel galloped away without glancing back. Omega signaled me to do the same.

I told Charlotte, Follow Fauvel, and try to draw as much attention to yourself as possible, then attempted to do the same move Omega did. However, when I landed on the ground, I tripped over my shoelace before I could twist into a roll. Before I could face plant onto the hard stone road, though, Omega caught me.

Unfortunately for me, one of his hands gripped my neck—right where I was wounded. I winced in pain as one of his fingers stabbed deeper into the wound, exacerbating my agony.

Omega withdrew his hand, observed the blood on it, and simply said, "That's a problem." He snapped his fingers, and the pain immediately faded away, replaced with a numbing sensation.

"I can't heal it completely," he explained as I gingerly felt my neck, found the wound still there, and then recoiled when a shock of pain reminded me that my nerves were still fully functioning. "The best I could do was reverse half of the damage, remove the poison, clot your blood, and increase the healing speed. It'll still take a few hours to heal, though. Try to move your neck as little as possible."

I looked at him incredulously. "'The best you could do'? This is more than enough!" I took on a more teasing tone. "Though I've seen you completely heal a shattered arm in seconds. Don't tell me Chaos took some of your power?"

Omega bristled playfully at my jab, but before he could answer, the sound of horse hooves coming closer made us tense up. "Let's get out of the street," he told me, then ushered me into the building.

We entered what seemed to be the ground floor of an inn; the dining floor. Tables and chairs filled the wide room, while a long bar lined the far side, dim lanterns giving the full place a cozy vibe. 

But what surprised me the most was the number of people.

I had expected that, in such a dangerous time, most businesses would be closed—or have only a few people inside. Instead, this inn was packed with people. With a quick glance, there seemed to be no empty tables. The sound of our entrance was swallowed up by the amount of noise—everybody was speaking in murmurs, but the sheer amount of people talking made it seem much louder.

The aroma of various spices wafted through the air into my nose, making my mouth water. All the dishes looked good, and my stomach grumbled for food—but we weren't here to eat.

Omega closed the door and pressed his ear against it, listening to the various sounds outside.

The clamp of hooves came closer and closer, then suddenly stopped. It was immediately followed by several voices discussing what to do next. A few seconds later, footsteps sounded towards the door.

My heart squeezed. Apparently, Charlotte and Fauvel disappeared around the next bend before the soldiers could spot them. The plan had been for the guards to only get a glimpse of the horses so that they would think we were still on them. But we had miscalculated how far back the soldiers really were, essentially making the diversion useless.

The door handle lowered as a soldier grabbed it. Slowly, the door creaked open, as though the soldier suspected we were behind it and wanted its protection for as long as possible.

Omega tensed, his hand hovering over his sheathed sword.

Then, outside in the distance, came the sound of a horse whinnying. Charlotte.

The Chaos soldiers outside started yelling: "Forget searching the buildings!" "That's our target!" "Everybody get on your horses!"

I released a breath I didn't realize I was holding when the door handle returned to its original position as the soldier released his grip on it, and then slammed shut. I heard footsteps race towards the street, then replaced with the thunder of horse hooves until even those faded away. Thank you, Charlotte, I thought.

Omega relaxed. "We got away," he said, sounding shocked.

"You didn't think we would?"

"Well . . . not this smoothly. I expected something to go wrong. The Chaos soldiers made a big mistake."

I smiled, then gestured towards the bar. "Then in light of that mistake, why don't we eat?"