Percy Jackson and The Fire Prince

Chapter 1: Percy and Zuko

When Percy came to, he was hanging off the back of an animal. He wondered if it was another strange mixture of two normal animals, like ones from the ocean. He cracked open one eye and found himself staring down at the golden seas of a desert. Was this thing a camel?

His whole body twitched and he groaned, lifting an arm to try and push himself up. Were those feathers? He tried to shift again, but felt a hand press down on his back.

"Stay still."

He froze, every muscle in his body screaming danger danger danger . . . Danger? When the man made no move to harm him, Percy spoke lowly. "Where am I?"

The man paused for a few moments, and Percy found himself slowly relaxing. His hand was still on the demigod's back and it felt really warm. Despite the heat of the desert, it was soothing.

"We're currently arriving at one of the smaller farming towns in the Earth Kingdom's desert area."

Now that Percy could hear his voice a little clearer, the man sounded more like a boy. He couldn't be any older than Percy himself.

"The Earth Kingdom?" he asked, "Is that even a place?"

He tried to turn and look up at his captor(?) but felt whatever they were riding on stop suddenly, and the hand disappeared from his back as the guy dismounted.

Percy sighed and took a moment to gather his thoughts. He was in a weird place that was apparently named after the woman he was just finished beating up and he was with some guy who spoke less than Nico.

He rolled himself over and looked up just in time to see an egg hit the back of somebody's head. Percy wrinkled his brow as he took in the odd, Chinese-inspired clothing. A group of men squatted beside a building beside the one whose head was now covered in egg. They stood and confronted a dude with a large burn scar on the side of his face. He frowned--three on one didn't seem fair. He tried to wiggle his way off but froze when he heard a voice.

"Stop moving." Percy's head whipped to the side and he tilted precariously as he realized what he was sitting on.

"A bird? Wait--you talk?" he asked, getting a weird look from the man behind the counter. He grinned awkwardly and the shopkeep rolled his eyes, turning back to the fight with something like sadness in his eyes.

"You hear?" the ostrich sniffed back, flicking its head to the side. Percy noticed the bird seemed a bit miffed that he could hear him; that was weird--animals were usually overjoyed when someone could hear their voice. Except for Arion, that guy had a potty mouth. "And I'm not an ostrich," it scoffed (if an ostrich could scoff), "I'm an Ostrich-Horse."

Percy's eyebrow quirked and he groaned, running a hand through his hair, "I'm going crazy."

After having his supplies stolen, the boy with the scar walked over to him and gave him an odd look. He guessed he was probably sitting the wrong way. Was the Ostrich's head supposed to be in the back or the front of him?

He said, "You're awake." Scarface looked like he wanted to say something else, but a young boy appeared and interrupted whatever thought had been about to go through his mind. Percy looked up and sighed when the boy started talking with his . . . he still didn't know what to call this guy. Travel-buddy?

Apparently, Percy's travel-buddy had helped the kid out by allowing those guards to rough him up. As thanks, the boy brought the travelers back to his home and they met his family. From what Percy could gather, there was a war going on, and these people were suffering the brunt of it.