A Tale of Romans and Slaves | PJO/HOO

Chapter 73: Jason

I had spent over a year tracking him.

For the past five months, I had been leading my legion across Rome. He must've figured out I was coming for him, and let me find him.

And here he was.

I could see his army in the distance, spanning across the hillside. 130,000 men was what my advisors told me, and from what I could see, it wasn't a bad estimate. It outnumbered my 125,000 men. But I had the legion, so I'd say the odds were in my favor.

"I heard he has a wife," Reyna said from her horse beside me. We were at the front of the legion, leading it. "With a baby on the way."

I heard her question loud and clear. "We'll deal with her later."

I didn't want to leave Piper and my children behind. For all I knew, my son Leo had already taken his first steps, and my daughter Hylla had already said her first words. I didn't want to miss those moments, but a king must make sacrifices. I wondered if Reyna felt the same way.

My wife wasn't exactly... loving to our daughter. I don't know if I would be, if I were her. But she was trying. I had seen her, in her room with Rachel, holding Hylla. It seemed like Rachel and her were close, though I didn't know how they had gotten that way. Yet when I started planning to lead the legion to Percy, she had demanded to come with me. And here she was.

I wondered if I would go down in history books as weak, seeing as I was the first king in the history of Rome to bring his wife to a battle. I wondered if that would be a bad thing.

Half an hour later, I brought the legion to a halt. There was around half a mile of distance between his army and mine. I nodded to Reyna, and she rode out.

Percy got the memo, and rode out to meet her with one of his men. I was too far away to hear their conversation, which was short.

Reyna rode back to my side. "He refused to surrender."

"I didn't expect him too," I replied. "How did the conversation go?"

"I told him that if he surrendered, that we would spare all his men and no one would have to die," She replied. "He told me that he did not break off his chains because he wanted tighter ones, and that his men would rather die free than in our mines, amphitheaters, and kitchens."

"Poetic," I replied. She nodded.

Neither Percy or I moved for a few seconds. I surveyed his battle lines. He had his soldiers, and strangely, logs. I'd figure out what they did later.

I signaled my troops, and my cavalry moved out.

All 300 of them rode towards his army. I figured out what the logs were for when his men lit them on fire, waited for my cavalry to reach the base of the hill, and let them go.

They knocked the horses off their feet, and scared the ones they didn't. The horses ran off in different directions, few towards the legion. Then Percy's army charged.

I signaled my legion, and they advanced.

I wanted to fight, and I had a feeling Reyna did too. But we were not part of the legion. We were not Percy, who fought alongside his men. And so we watched.

It was a bloodbath. The Greeks managed to get through some of the legion's lines, but my men were ready for them. The Greeks had strange gadgets, such as Wooden balls tied to their ankles with rope that they used to knock down members of the legion. I wondered who had thought of that.

I felt useless watching, but I was too valuable to lose. I hadn't expected the Greeks to be so smart. I should've.

For a few minutes, the battle was even. I couldn't even tell who had the upper hand. But then it changed.

The Greeks had been smart, but they were all out of tricks. 

I could tell most of them had never been in a battle before, and they lost easily to my legion. They weren't giving up, but I already knew that we had won.

An hour later, it was over. The remaining men accepted defeat, and laid down their swords. There weren't many of them, a hundred and a half at best.

My men tied up their hands and forced them to their knees. I was surprised to see some woman among them, though there weren't many.

"Which one is he?" I asked Reyna.

She pointed to a black-haired boy who was covered in blood. "That one."

I got off my horse and walked over to him, crouching before him. He rose his head to look at me, fire in his eyes.

"I must say, Percy, I'm impressed," I smiled. "You fought well."

"And you didn't even fight at all," He spat at the ground before my feet. "Coward."

My smile melted, and I stood up. I faced my men, who were done tying up the Greeks.

"Tie these men together," I instructed them. "And go to their camp. Shove them into their own prison carts."

I turned to Percy, smiling. "And bring me his wife."

Percy shot to his feet, but my men grabbed him before he could reach me. He struggled, screaming at me. Reyna walked up to me.

"So that's what love looks like," She sighed.