Son of a Hunter

15

And so the great lieutenant of the Hunters volunteers to undertake this quest to help me kill some mythological critters. I feel so blessed, Leon thought to himself. Thalia was getting her gear prepped for the journey, so she would have what she needed to make sure everything was taken care of and the hunters would be alright in her absence. But she probably need not have worried, as the Aphrodite children seemed to have adopted a policy of avoidance at all costs when it comes to the hunters.

The group would leave within a few days. Leon already had the service of Thalia, and so the group toughie was recruited. Leon prepped his gear, making sure his bowstring was tight and he had plenty of arrows. He was told that he would have to take plenty of nectar ambrosia to help with any beast-inflicted injuries, or simple boo-boos. Leon wondered who would be next to recruit and was helped in that decision by a certain Stoll brother. Connor Stoll walked up to him one day as he was practicing in the arena, improving on his skills with his long hunting knives. Leon still was not the best with a sword, and had already dismissed them as too cumbersome for his taste. As he was making a jab at a dummy, Connor made the mistake of trying to step next to him, and as Leon was pulling his right hand knife out of the dummy, he elbowed Connor.

"Hey Leon, I want to, OOF!"

Leon stopped knifing the dummy and turned his attention to the gutted-by-elbow Connor, who luckily had the mind to have his armor on in the arena. And so he was only slightly doubled over. Leon put his hand on his back.

"Crap...Connor, you all right?"

"Yeah man, don't worry. Accident I know. Listen, I want to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"I heard that you need some companions to give you a little help with your "test". If you don't already have as much as you need, then I would like to help you out."

Leon gave him a small grin in gratitude, but could not resist a question.

"Why do you want to come? Don't you do everything with your brother?"

Connor nodded.

"You see, Travis has got a bad stomach flu. The Apollo guys say that he is going to be under the weather for about a week. He is well taken care of, but I don't want to really be alone at camp while he is lying in the infirmary. And since I am the son of the god of thieves, you might have some use for me."

He said that last line with a mischievous grin. Leon studied him for a moment, then made his decision. It was obvious...

"Sure man. We could use the skills of someone like you. Nick us a couple bucks from time to time?"

"You got it bro!"

He stepped away for a moment. He started to walk away when Leon casually slipped his hand inside his pocket. And what would someone know, but his wallet that he stashed any cash he had was missing...

"HEY!" He called after Connor.

Connor turned, grinning and holding his wallet.

"When I said a son of the god of thieves could be useful, I meant it."

So now he had a tough, punk daughter of Zeus and a wild, fun loving thief. So who else would be joining a crazy hunting expedition? Leon was eating a late lunch at the Artemis table, alone. The Hunters always tried to eat before the rest of the campers, feeling uncomfortable in the crowd that had a significantly higher male population. As Leon ate, he wondered just what made the Hunters and Artemis so repulsed by the opposite gender. He thought back to all the history of his mother that he knew from stories. But he could not find out just why Artemis would hate men. Could it be that she was the patron of young maidens, and that made a natural hatred of men? He did not think that would be the case. Is there a patron of young men, Leon thought. Was there a male god who was like Artemis, only dismissing females as the weaker gender? So many questions, so little life to ask them.