In love with the sun

I spy with my little eye something... red!

“You shall go to the mid-west,

And save the red cows that are truly blessed.

Their owner’s cruelty shall be his demise,

Do not be fooled by all his sides.

A death shall end this first task,

If you are smart you need not ask,

One tool shall always kill this beast,

And if you win than you shall feast.”

“Good bye Liza, be safe, and remember your prophecy. Good luck.”

He kissed my cheek, took one long look at me, hopped in the sun, and was off. I was alone in some state in the southwest with a charm bracelet, money, 3 water bottles and a bag of goldfish. I had some good chances alright.

I headed off towards the smell of horse poop and hoped for the best. I knew that there were a lot of ranches in the southwest and I wasn’t sure how to look for this one unless I saw a cherry red cow.

After walking for what felt like ages, but was probably an hour, sweating a ton, grumbling under my breath every time I tripped, trying not to drink too much and seeing ranch after ranch without red cows, I was feeling pretty down. How was I supposed to find this ranch?

While contemplating my thoughts over this I ran into a post, and nearly screamed. In front of me were tons of horses, and one had its sharp teeth right in front of my face. It was obvious these were monsters and that I needed to leave.

Hello granddaughter of Poseidon, daughter of Athena and Apollo’s Savior. I would like to eat you, but the fates do not permit it. The red cows are over there, but beware of our owner.

I was shocked until I remembered that Poseidon made horses. Thanks. I walked away to get to the sacred cows, glad to be away from the horse corral filled with poop.

I walked up to the cows and silently prayed to any God or Goddess that would listen that they would stay quiet. I don’t think I want to meet the six sided owner, even though I didn’t quite know what six sided meant. The lock on the cage seemed easy enough to cut off with a simple knife. I looked at my bracelet, grabbed the knife, and went to work. I was as quiet as I could be.

Of course the cows mooed; I mean not a few at a time like they would if I wasn’t there, but they all mooed at once, and out came running a guy in a cowboy hat and overalls. I went to hide.

“Little miss, I saw ya. Come out and tell me why you were tryin’ to cut the lock. Those there cows belong to the God Apollo, and you better not be harmin’ them or else the master’ll be afta ya.”

“Sir, I’m on a quest from Apollo to set them free. Please don’t tell your boss.”

“Oh little miss, he already knows someone’s here. Just leave and nothing bad’ll happen,” he said, adding damn demigods under his breath.

I couldn’t leave! I needed to do this quest for Apollo. I’ll walk away and come back….

“And don’t walk away and come back. He’ll know. Leave or I’ll be forced to fight you,” he said, ruining my poorly thought out plan.

“Then I’ll fight you. You seem like an okay opponent,” I said, not even thinking of leaving

“Ha, like you could beat me! You win you can set the cows free, I win you come with me. No going away. If you leave now, I won’t have ta fight ya.”

“I’ll fight you! You get to use whatever weapon you have on you, deal?”

“Deal. I can easily beat a little girl with nothing but a knife,” he said, pulling out his sword.

I sat there bored, beating back his sword with my knife the way Annabeth taught me. Then I let him look like he was winning. But it felt wrong, so I made it look like I was fixing my bracelet and took off a charm.

“Girls, they’re always caring about their jewelry. It’s what’s gonna get you killed.”

Next thing he knew my bow was out, I had knocked an arrow and had it and inch from his neck.

“What did you say about beating a little girl with nothing but a knife? Does it look like I have nothing but a knife? Do you really think that I can’t beat you with my jewelry?” I said ready to strike.

But suddenly there was a voice, a voice of a man that wasn’t there before.