I Defeat Sons of Ares

306 6 0
                                    

I unsheathed Stewart's sword and held it. It was a little heavy but when I grasped the handle, it felt good. Leo saw my eagerness to swing and offered to teach me some basic moves. The moves were at first slow motion but then sped up once I got the hang of things.

"Now it's time to take on the master," he said with a smile.

"You're the master? I thought you're a son of the god of fire and forges?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't say anything about fighting. Since you're a pretty Aphrodite girl, I'm surprised you even are interested in this."

"Alright," I readied my blade, "enough chit chat."

He reached into his tool belt and brought out...a hammer? I gave him a skeptical look and he just shrugged, grinning. I swung the first attack and was greeted by a searing hot wave of fire. Flames covered Leo's body, he was literally on fire. The fire was so hot I couldn't come five feet in front of him without being burned. He advanced upon me, pushing me toward the wall.

"Give up yet?" he asked.

My back was against the wall, and he was coming closer. I looked up and saw a rope barely out of jumps reach. I have to try, otherwise I'd be roasted I thought. The air around me got hotter and oxygen was being burnt out by the flames, it became hard to breathe. With a giant leap, I managed to reach the rope and swing over Leo. My leg was licked by one of the flames but other than that, I managed to take Leo by surprise and point a sword at his chest.

Leo started laughing, "okay, I guess you win."

I sheathed Stewart's sword, "I can't believe I did that."

"I can't believe I was beat by a girl of Aphrodite."

"So it's true, us Aphrodite campers aren't made for blades."

"Except for you, that makes you a pretty special gal," Leo patted my shoulder, "if you can get a well-balanced sword, I'm sure even Percy could have trouble with you."

I shrugged, and started to walk but I grunted and leaned all my weight on my left leg. The burn throbbed and pain shot up my leg whenever I tried to put weight on it. Leo saw my distress and helped me over to the infirmary.

Stewart was on his way out when we came in, his wound not even bothering him. I was sat down in the grass and Stewart poured some nectar on the burn. It stung like a thousand knives stabbing at first but went away quickly and the burn started to disappear with fresh flesh. I still was getting over how quick this stuff heals. I was helped up by Stewart and Leo and I walked, without a limp, to lunch.


************************************************************************************


I stood with Annabeth in the armory, adjusting our armor for a game of capture the flag. Annabeth had briefly gone over the rules to the game and I was quite nervous since the rules included, 'no maiming or killing' and such. My burn was fully healed and Stewart's cut was nearly gone, but I was disappointed when I heard we were on opposite teams.

Poseidon, Athena, Aphrodite, and Hermes cabins were on the blue team and the red team consisted of the Ares, Hephaestus, Apollo, Demeter and Dionysus cabins. The two teams met outside the forest, where I was told monsters hid. While my team was hiding the flag, Annabeth and the rest of the Athena cabin planned out a brilliant strategy and I was a big player in it.

She told me that I had to go alone while a group of soldiers attack where the red flag is located. It would be hard for them to notice me in the midst of everything else and I could just take the flag and walk across the river. Percy would be their main focus and he would lead the attacking group while the best archers from the group hid in the trees and attack from above.

The signal for the game to begin came and I ran off to the river that creates the borders. Growls and breaking sticks broke the silence of the fog and chills were sent up my spine. I made it to the river, waded across and stepped onto the red team's territory. As I trudged through the forest, there was an unconformable silence. I unsheathed my sword and continued on. My new sword was still not perfectly balanced, but it was better than Stewart's.

The sound of clashing blades became audible and as I walked closer, it got louder. There was the group, just as planned, attacking the red team. The fighting was so fierce that it seemed not one half-blood noticed me, which I knew was too good to be true. I caught sight of the flag; when I was about ten yards from it, trouble came.

Four Ares campers including Mark jumped in front of me.

"Hey guys, it's that new girl of Aphrodite," one of them said.

"Yeah, just get some water and that'll deal with her," a second one added.

"No boys, can't you see, this is the one Valdez warned us about," Mark reminded.

"I'm sure even this girl is still just a pretty face," another chuckled.

I lunged towards one of them and he countered easily, "You probably shouldn't have done that," he mumbled.

Another charged toward me while I was occupied with one; I tumbled to the side and the Ares camper froze in mid swing, almost decapitating his half-brother. While they were getting out of their shock, I heaved all my weight into it and smacked him with the butt of my blade. One down, three to go. While I was fighting two swords, Mark was walking up behind me. An arrow whizzed by my ear and hit the dirt near me; the distraction caused me to be knocked to the ground by one of the Ares campers' shields. My helmet fell off from the hard impact and my vision was dazed for a second.

They were about to smack me out but I rolled over, grabbed the arrow, stuck it into Mark's thigh and pulled it out. He fell to the ground in agony and his two companions charged at me. I used Mark's shield and managed to find an opening in their fighting technique. When the opening revealed itself again, I planted the arrow in one's shoulder and cut the other's calf while tripping him. Chiron galloped up in time to see me walk across the border with the read team's flag and the game was won.

Daughter of Aphrodite(a demigod story)Where stories live. Discover now