Jace Irons: The Shard of Chaos

Chapter Eight: I Make a New Friend

I woke up the next day exhausted. I had stayed up late last night working on my arm. It was hell and a half having to work exclusively using my left hand, but I finished what I needed to. I woke up at the sound of the breakfast bell and rolled out of bed slowly.

"Damn, dude. You get any sleep at all last night?" asked an amused Jake Mason.

"Nope," I answered. "But I'm all good." I said, grinning.

"Alright," he chuckled. Jace was a good guy. He was from North Carolina, came from a long line of mechanics, so he knew machines better than just about anyone, and he was super friendly, making him the natural choice for head camper should anything happen to Beckendorf.

It was a new week, meaning we had a new activity schedule, and after dinner today, all cabins would be playing Capture the Flag instead of having combat training. That's where I could reveal my new invention. We just went about our activities for the day, and before I knew it, it was dinnertime, and capture the flag would start. It was a simple enough game, the cabins would combine to form two teams, red and blue, we would go in the woods and play a good ol' game of capture the flag, only with swords and shields. Magical items were allowed, and there would be no jails, only the wounded lying on the ground. Chiron and some of the resident satyrs would serve as battlefield medics. Finally. It was time to see if my new arm held up to the test.

Tonight it was the Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and Apollo cabins, the red team versus the Hermes, Athena, Poseidon, and Dionysus cabins, the blue team. We all grabbed our gear and jogged out to the woods. We armored up and took positions. The Apollo kids hung towards the back of the woods, by our flag. They were archers, so they would cover our team's advance and defend our flag if need be. The Ares kids paced up and down at the starting line, raring to charge the other team head-on. My cabin stayed just behind them, checking our weapons and armor. I gotta say, my siblings had some pretty sweet inventions. Beckendorf's armor was enchanted to blend in with his surroundings, like an invisibility suit. Sure, the armor didn't cover his whole body, but it would still be pretty hard to see him coming. Jake sparked up his sword and shield, which were instantly engulfed in flames, making him a very dangerous opponent. Sarah had made special gloves which allowed her to hurl greek fire at the opposing team without getting burned, even Rod had small rocket packs strapped to his ankles, allowing him to jump twelve feet in the air if both his feet left the ground. I exhaled. It was time to see if my own invention held up to the test.

"Hey, Irons. Where's your sword?" asked Dominic.

"Don't worry about it," I grinned.

We all waited quietly for the order to attack. The silence drove me crazy.

Suddenly, the sound of a horn rang through the air. The game had started. We charged forward over the dividing line, the Apollo campers shooting a volley of arrows over our heads. We were met by an equally large force of Athena and Hermes campers.

One Hermes camper and I seemed to charge straight towards one another. We slowed when we reached each other just enough to start fighting. He threw numerous swings and thrusts my way. He was fast, but all of his blows glanced harmlessly off of my shield. We broke, and he reeled back, preparing a new series of strikes.

It was time for me to reveal my new invention. I flicked my wrist, and my sword blade shot out of my arm and hit his sword, swinging it in an arc away from us. With his blade pointed away now, I moved in, and hit him square in the face with my shield. The blow knocked him down. His nose was bleeding. He tried to swing his sword at me again, lying on his back, but I swung my arm, swatting his sword out of his hand. He tried to get up, but I pushed him back down with my shield. He stayed down this time.