Bride of the Sea God

Chapter 3

A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!

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When Annabeth woke up, it was early morning and she was already floating in a small vessel that bobbed up and down in the waves. She coughed and pushed herself up, shaking off the last bits of paralysis.

As far as she could see, the dark blue sea stretched everywhere she looked. Not even a hint of the land where she came from was seen on the skyline, and what could be seen on the horizons were gathering clouds.

There was nothing else on the boat. It seemed the archon was intent on having her die out in the seas, unless the gods took pity on her.

Annabeth clutched her chiton.

"Oh, thank the gods!"

Tucked inside the folds was the fig she had not eaten from yesterday, and the dagger she had secretly stolen from the archon's waist when she had lunged at him. Fortunately, they had not decided to search her body. Unfortunately, she did not know where to go from here and how she was to survive this.

Aside from the poisoned broth she had unknowingly consumed late morning yesterday, Annabeth estimated she hadn't eaten anything since. She hurriedly ate the fig, grateful for the juice to at least wet her parched throat.

But what else to do in her predicament? Annabeth thought back to what her adoptive father had told her and the scrolls she read about the geography of the lands.

Pegai was an island village. Surrounding it were a few other islands, with several smaller ones further out to sea. If she was fortunate enough to come to one, she had a slim if grim chance of survival.

There was a light wind that was boosting the vessel along. She could be wrong, but it felt like the wind was getting stronger, perhaps due to a growing storm judging by the clouds that were rolling in behind her.

Floating alongside the vessel were some debris. Annabeth carefully leaned over and plucked what she could reach from the water. It was some pieces of driftwood tangled in seaweed. But Annabeth didn't dare eat the raw seaweed without some means to clean it. But the driftwood pieces themselves...

"That's it!"

Annabeth looked down at her chiton. Here in the open sea, the chiton offered some protection from the elements. The sun was not as harsh as it could be due to the clouds.

She took the dagger and began to cut off a large section of the chiton. No one else was here in the sea anyway, so it mattered not who saw her half-naked. And if they did see, well, that would at least mean she was being rescued.

A little while later, Annabeth had managed to wrangle some sort of sail and mast out of the piece of linen and driftwood. Catching the growing wind, the little boat picked up speed.

Annabeth glanced nervously at the growing clouds behind her.

"Come on, just a little faster..."

Despite the increasing speed, the storm seemed to catch up faster to the bobbing boat.

She sent a silent prayer to the gods in her mind, hoping that the sea gods would listen to her plea. She had lived a life trying to be a good person, even saving the village from a monster. Why was it her who was fated to be sent here? No good deed goes unpunished, indeed.

Annabeth cursed the archon, hoping that the amphisbaena would have many friends that would come back to Pegai. She regretted that she couldn't at least see the face of the archon when he discovered his beloved dagger was gone. He had always kept this dagger with him for as long as she remembered.