Son of the Rivers (Wattys 2015 Entry)

Ch.11 Oaths

“Why did you not show yourself Perseus?” Artemis questioned me. I flinched slightly before replying, “Perseus was a hero and he is no more. Please call me Raze,” I said stiffly. She gazed at me questioningly, but Runa was the one to answer, “We needed a name to go by so people don’t know our real identities and Raze wanted to have a new life, so he chose a name that went along with a prophecy that foretold the destruction he could cause. He believes it is a fitting name and once you have seen him in battle, you would agree,” she explained. “And for you?” the goddess of the hunt questioned.

“Well this boy,” she threw a playful glare at Raze, “He wanted me to have a name as well so he didn’t feel out of place, and for some reason thought a name beginning with R would be good. I will not lie, I do enjoy the name though,”

“I have so many questions and so little time!” Artemis said exasperatedly, throwing her arms up.

I just smiled and touched her forehead, he eyes rolled back into her head as I imbued her with my memories of our time training.

I looked at her collapsed form on the ground and then glanced at my companion as if nothing were wrong, “Shall we take her back to camp?”

“I believe so,” replied Runa,

Then a thought hit me.

“But you’re carrying her,” I mutter childishly.

“Why? Afraid of one single goddess,” she teased me.

“No, more like afraid of her hunters,”

She had to agree to that.

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“What did you do to Artemis?” yelled my cousin. I smiled under my hood even if she couldn’t see it. “Answer me!” she shouted as the rest of the hunters also drew their bows.

“Relax,” Runa said soothingly, “she is fine, she is only experiencing our point of view of the past several years, she will recover soon,” she said while handing Artemis’ limp thirteen year old form to three hunters. They took her and placed her on a wooded chair.

Thalia turned her attention back to me.

“How do we know we can trust you?” she asked suspiciously.

“Have we given you any reason to doubt us?” I asked innocently.

She just narrowed her eyes at me.

“Hey! We could be the most honorable people you ever met or we could even be people you know or knew in real life,” I tried to defend myself.

Obviously, it wasn’t working very well with all the glares thrown at me.

Thankfully, Artemis began to stir. Runa looked at me and I gave her a nod.

She knelt at Artemis’ side and she held her hand as she slowly awoke, her silver eyes blinking rapidly.

“Is it true?” she asked holding Runa’s arm tightly as if she were a phantom.

“Yes milady,” Runa spoke softly.

The hunters were completely shell-shocked at the turn of events.

Of course, I couldn’t resist.

“Okay hunters,” I said, clapping my hands together loudly, “This is a private moment, please go pack your bags, we are leaving,”

“How dare you order the hunt around boy!” hissed a girl I recognized as Phoebe.

“I said please?”