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

Chapter 70

The dozens of soldiers on the sides didn't do anything to block our path as the soldiers behind us chased us towards the western gate. It seemed like they were only there to make sure we couldn't go anywhere else but straight—and if we did, they would eliminate us.

Every time we passed an alley filled with Chaos soldiers, Charlotte gave a small whinny of paranoia and chanted, This is bad this is bad this is bad.

The seventh time Charlotte did this I cut in, unable to handle it anymore. What're YOU worried about? You're immortal!

Charlotte glared at me the best she could. And yet you hate to be stabbed with weapons too.

Well, yeah, I said in an obvious tone. I'll die. You won't.

Charlotte considered this. I could tell she knew I was right, but just like me, she wasn't going to back down easily. Consider my muttering as your subconscious, she said, then proceeded to keep on chanting.

I sighed in disbelief, then tried my best to tune her out. I focused on the gate.

The gate itself was open, and the open forest tempted me to run away from the city, but I couldn't. There was no shot Chaos would let me back in, effectively making him win.

And there, on top of the wall, Jessica and Psi had looked back at the sunset, apparently confident in their soldiers' abilities. But Chaos wasn't.

He was looking directly at me as Charlotte and I approached closer, as though he didn't trust even his own elite force to repel me.

This one action filled me with confidence, though it was tinged with fear and doubt. Doubt that I wouldn't live up to his expectations—there was literally an army surrounding me—and fear that Chaos would be prepared for everything I could do.

The soldiers swarming down the wall were about three-quarters down. Within fifteen seconds, they would be on the ground floor, and I'd definitely be trapped then. 

But with this negative thought, an idea started forming in my mind.

Can you get to the wall before the soldiers intercept us? I asked Charlotte.

What are you planning to do? she interrogated me. All your other plans were crap. 

Don't worry. If all goes well, you'll be galloping out of danger.

What about you?

I avoided the question. So: can you?

Charlotte fell quiet, studying the distance from us to the wall, the amount of time we had before the soldiers reached their destination and their armaments. She finally said, I should be able to—

Great! I exclaimed. Now, can you be steady enough so I can stand on your back?

Well, that was what I was going to say. But as I did, Charlotte increased her speed to four times the fastest I'd experienced. The soldiers to our sides turned into blurs. The wind nearly toppled me over, and my mouth clamped shut as I tightly gripped the reins. The soldiers behind us quickly fell back, surprised by the speed.

Charlotte's speed was terrifying enough, but that alone wouldn't get me out of the situation. Fortunately, even at her crazy pace, she was more or less smooth in her gallop.

As the wind rushed by us, I slowly freed my right hand from the reins, making sure my left hand could deal with steadying me. I then carefully lifted my feet from the stirrups so that I was kneeling on Charlotte's back while she was going Mach 1.

As terrifying as this was, I still wasn't done.

This is stupid, but I've got to try. In one fluid move, I pushed with my legs and hand, hoisting myself up into a standing position, then grabbed the reins with my other hand. 

I had one moment to revel that I was standing atop a galloping horse before I heard an angry shout.

I whirled around and gasped out loud. One of the Chaos soldiers stationed on top of the roof had decided to jump off and attack me. He now was plummeting towards me with his sword gleaming in the light.

Without thinking, I lifted Riptide and blocked. The soldier had an incredulous look on his face, as though he didn't think that was possible. 

Unfortunately, instead of falling to the ground like I hope he would, it turned out that he'd calculated his jump so that he would fall right on Charlotte. A moment later, I found him right behind me.

Now, I was balancing on top of a surprised moving horse while my blade was locked with another soldier—without having my hands on the reins to balance myself.

But even if I didn't want to, I had to get him off Charlotte by any means necessary. It would ruin my plan, and if it did, Chaos would win.

Charlotte's speed got us closer to the gate faster, but that meant I had less time to deal with the soldier. I caught a glimpse of the gate, which was only a dozen seconds in front of us.

The soldier attacked, this time kicking at me with his foot. I reacted by letting go of my sword with one hand and grabbing his leg before it could hit me. 

However, before I could take advantage of his imbalance, with both hands, the soldier pressed down on our sword lock. Naturally, two hands beat one and our swords got dangerously close to my face. To save myself, I was forced to drop his foot and push back with both hands. We were back in a draw.

This time, I decided to make the first move. I feinted a kick to his groin, and as he made a move to block it with his foot, I suddenly put more pressure on his sword, pushing him off Charlotte.

At least, that was what I wanted to do.

But as I pushed the soldier, Charlotte stumbled on a rock. She quickly recovered, but the obstacle threw both the soldier and me off balance. I suddenly found myself lying on my back on top of Charlotte—and a second later the soldier lunged at me, his sword gleaming.

I quickly brought up Riptide, blocking the strike as I kicked out with my legs. The soldier's eyes widened in shock as they collided with his chest, knocking his breath out. He floated in the air for a few moments as my legs supported him before I realized I was still alive and kicked him to the side, off Charlotte.

"That was a very stupid move!" I yelled at him as he screamed in fright before colliding with another unfortunate Chaos soldier that had peeked his head out of his assigned alley. 

Er . . . boss, Charlotte put in awkwardly. I know you're happy and all of that . . . 

What's going on? I asked, turning around. My eyes widened in surprise.

We were at the gate, close enough to see that Chaos, from his vantage point, was glaring at me. Psi and Jessica were peeking over the ledge with neutral expressions. 

Meanwhile, the armada of guards had reached the bottom. They quickly swarmed us, blocking all our exits as Charlotte galloped closer.