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

Chapter 68

But it was too late: I had to try something or I was dead.

As Charlotte galloped closer toward the soldiers, I uncapped Riptide. It glimmered in the sunset, as though it knew what it was going to do—and was ready.

Unlike me, I thought, but tightened my grip on my sword.

Within seconds, we'd made it to the first soldier. His sword glinted in the light as he brought it down on me.

At this point, I realized something fatal: sword fighting on a horse wasn't the same as sword fighting on the ground. 

Truth be told, it was pretty obvious—my feet weren't touching the ground, and I was balancing with the help of a saddle and stirrups. But my body was on overdrive, trying to keep me alive, and wasn't going to spend precious seconds questioning my decisions. 

I had no experience whatsoever dealing with swords on horses. Meanwhile, as it turned out, the soldiers were masters of fighting on horses. 

So when I blocked the sword, I found myself clutching at the reins with one hand, trying to stay on Charlotte. My arms burned and my back hurt, but I had no choice but to deflect the soldiers' other attacks.

Fortunately, within moments we were past him: fighting the soldier made him forget was were trying to escape.

Unfortunately, we quickly reached the second soldier.

I saw the sword only a moment before it was going to slice into me. In fact, the only reason I saw the sword was thanks to Charlotte, who neighed to warn me; the sword fight had distracted me too.

My natural instincts kicked in. There wasn't enough time to raise Riptide and counter the stroke. My body went limp, and I fell flat on Charlotte's back without toppling off her. 

As I hit Charlotte's back, the soldier's sword went over my head with a swish. It was so close to my face that it completely sheared my bangs off, saving me the time of going to a barber once I was done with all of this dangerous questing.  His eyes widened in surprise and the arrogant smirk disappeared off his face, as though he didn't think I could dodge it in time. 

The soldier whipped his sword back towards me, but it was too late—I had passed him.

As Charlotte galloped onward, I turned to face the second soldier, with a smirk on my face. "In your face, sucker!"

The soldier snarled and pulled at his reins, urging his horse to pursue me. He was so irritated that he didn't see the first soldier galloping full tilt forwards.

But the first soldier did see—and tried to stop his horse by tugging at the reins—but it was too late. 

His horse did its best, dragging its hooves onto the ground and significantly slowing, but skidded onward.

When the second soldier's horse stepped into the center of the road, the first horse broadsided him. Even though they were clutching the reins, the riders were ejected from their saddles with the impact. Both tumbled to the ground in a heap, their swords flying away as they yelped in pain.

I couldn't stop myself from bursting into laughter. "Hah! In your face, suckers!"

And then the third soldier attacked.

The whoosh of a sword slicing through the air reached my ears. I spun around and gasped in fear.

The blade of a dagger glinted in the sun as it flew toward me. At the same time, the third soldier swung his sword at me.

He had thrown it in a perfect way; If I blocked it, the sword would behead me, and if I blocked the sword, the dagger would impale me in the heart. If I tried the same trick I did with the second soldier, I figured he'd probably be ready for it and flick his sword down to stab me.

So I had to try something else.

I gathered my remaining energy, which wasn't a lot; I was running on adrenaline. My feet tensed in the stirrups. In one fluid move, I quickly launched myself out of the saddle and into the air as far as I could go—which was surprisingly pretty far, as my adrenaline helped me achieve superhuman strength. My legs burned with the exertion, but that didn't stop me from flipping in the air, just a few feet above the weapons. In fact, the distance was so small that I felt my feet make contact with the side of the blade before I hugged them into my chest. 

The dagger thudded into the stone wall as the soldier's sword swung through empty air. 

I hung there in the air for a moment, as though even the wind gods were shocked that my stunt worked—and then I plunged downwards. 

Oops, I thought, my stomach feeling weightless as I fell. I hadn't thought this far ahead. To be fair, I didn't have that much time to think about it; I'd just planned out how to escape the near-death situation—but didn't think of the outcomes. If I landed incorrectly, I would probably sprain something, and the soldiers would immediately capture me.

Fortunately, Charlotte seemed to know what was happening. She dodged to the side, then galloped past the third soldier, and halted to a stop right beneath me. It was so fast that I didn't know what was happening until I was back in the saddle, with my feet planted directly in the stirrups.

I turned around, and like a child, jeered at the soldier. "You guys suck! What, does Chaos not have the money to recruit decent soldiers?"

Before the soldier could say anything—or even do anything, Charlotte skidded to a stop so fast that, in my compromising position, I was flung off. 

Fortunately, I had looped the reins over my arm. It caught me, jarring me to a stop before I hit the ground so hard that it felt as though my arm was about to tear off. Through the haze of agony, I found myself clinging onto Charlotte's side like a low-budget Spiderman. But I managed to fight through the pain and climb up onto the saddle again. I looked up at why Charlotte had stopped, and my jaw dropped open in shock.

Omega was blocking our path, mounted on Fauvel. And if the two sharp blades in his hands meant anything, he was looking for blood.

My blood.