A Tale of Romans and Slaves | PJO/HOO

Chapter 60: Jason

•8 months later•

"He's attacked again, your majesty."

I furrowed my eyebrows as I stared at the map.

"But that doesn't make any sense," I stated. "Lord Phorcys' manor is farther away from the Capitol than Lady Khione's. Why would he move farther away from the Capitol?"

"Maybe the palace isn't his destination, your majesty," My advisor said.

"Then what is?" I wondered out loud.

"Wherever it is, its residents better watch out," My advisor warned. "With the attack on Lord Phorcys, he could've gained up to 600 men, totalling his army at a grand total of 100,000."

"Including or not including women?" I asked.

"Not including," My advisor said. "Percy is starting to become a major threat, your majesty. What action should we take?"

I instinctively turned my head to the right, where Reyna usually stood, wanting her input. But Reyna was bedridden, and not there.

"Send a warning to all the lords in the area," I instructed, tracing the names of the manors in a 100-mile radius of Lord Phorcys' manor. Lord Hercules, Lord Trition, Lord Hades. Hopefully, they got the message in time.

My advisor nodded and rushed out, presumably to write the letters.

I slumped back in my chair. What was I going to do about the slave rebellion? It had far passed a nuisance and was now a threat to the empire.

Most importantly, they had Thalia. I didn't even want to think about what they were doing to her. I could only pray that she was okay.

I couldn't just send the legion out. We didn't have a set location for the constantly moving army, and that would leave us vulnerable to attack. The smaller legions wouldn't be powerful enough to stop them.

I had no choice but to wait for them to come to us. But from the looks of it, they weren't going to.

Then I remembered something: Castor had said that Percy had asked his father something. Perhaps there was something Percy wanted, and perhaps Dionysus had sold it to some lord, or given it away.

That's when it clicked in my mind.

Before she was kidnapped, Thalia had sent me a few notes. I rushed to my room to find them.

Reyna was lying on my bed, and Piper was sitting on one of my more comfortable chairs. Rachel was gently rocking her baby, Clove, in another chair.

"Someone looks exited," Piper joked, her hand on her massive stomach. Like Reyna, she was due any day now.

"I think I've figured something out," I told her, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.

I pulled open my drawer, and found the notes Thalia had given me. I skimmed down to the sentences I was looking for.

And my handmaiden, Annabeth, is absolutely wonderful. She's in love with some boy, name starts with P. Very intelligent.

And on the second one:

Oh, Jason it's horrible! Lord Dionysus has sold Annabeth to Lord Hades! She was the best handmaiden I've ever had, and it is so unfair that she's getting sold.

Lord Hades.

That's it, I realized, that's his target.

I rushed out to find my advisor, because the warning to Lord Hades had just gotten a lot more serious.