The Remembrance of Chaos (PJO)

Chapter 12

Percy had imagined trying to escape the walled city of a powerful enemy by the gatehouse would be terrifying, stressful, and dangerous.

It was much worse.

When it turned to night, Artemis and Percy immediately made a beeline towards the front of the city. When they reached near the north entrance, Percy had discovered the wall was way bigger than he imagined it to be; it was hundreds of yards up, built with steady limestone and mortar. There were dozens of towers connecting wall segments. 

Percy did not know how big the city was, but now he knew; from the north entrance, he couldn't see the south wall. He did not know how it was possible to make such a big defense, but he had the sneaking suspicion it was built with End's powers.

"We're almost there," Artemis whispered, even though there was nobody around.

"How do you know?" Percy asked.

Artemis gave Percy a patronizing glance. "Listen closely."

Percy then started to listen. He could barely hear the sounds of shouting and metal clashing, as if there was a war going on right that moment.

Percy grew concerned. "Are they fighting off invaders?" All he needed was a foreign group attacking the city; the full army would be on the walls patrolling and defending. Not to mention, even if they got out of the city, the attackers would mistake them for some people living in End's city—or even soldiers.

Artemis looked at him curiously. "No. They're practicing."

Now it was Percy's turn to grow curious. "It sounds like they're fighting . . ."

"With each other." 

"How could you possibly know that?" People fighting—whether they were practicing with one another or fighting a war—sounded the same; the metallic clashing of swords, pained groans, the whinny of horses, and the shouts of commands. (There would probably be no pained groans and horses in a practice match; if they were, Percy was not close enough to hear them.)

"Some people are laughing," Artemis said in a tone that indicated it was obvious. "Can't you hear?"

Unfortunately, as much as he tried, he could not hear any laughter. "Why would I ask if I already could tell?" Percy asked. "If it wasn't obvious, I can't hear them." He said it in a playful tone showed he was not irritated, only teasing her.

Artemis rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Of course I knew that," She said. "What I'm asking, is are you deaf?"

"If I was deaf, we wouldn't be talking right now. But seriously, do you hear laughing?" 

The sound of fighting became louder the closer they came towards what was suspected as the portcullis. Artemis then went off the path they were following, instead opting to use the thick, dense underbrush at the side of the paths as cover. Percy followed Artemis. The delicate branches scratched against his skin, the green leaves brushing against his clothes, and the dead leaves from last year's autumn hidden by the foliage crunching under his feet.

In all truth, the road was quieter.

Not for Artemis, though: she was as sneaky as a panther, impossibly moving through the dense verdure silently. A bit after, the hidden leaves fortunately started to thin out, letting Percy also sneak behind Artemis.

More or less so.

"Yes, I wouldn't be joking about that," Artemis informed him in a hush and quiet tone. "Now, let's shut the chatter and get on with the escape."

Percy was not insulted by her curt response; instead, he was relieved. It was evidence that Artemis was fully concentrating on their escape, and would not waste any time talking. They would need all of their focus to escape—mainly Artemis', since she was the eternal hunter.

Soon, Percy could see the individual bricks that made the wall up clearly, and a bit later, the mortar that held the stones into place. This further proved Percy's theory to be right—the stones were too smooth and rectangle-ish, meaning they were not handmade, and had to be created with power. 

In other words, the wall was a waste of time and energy.

Who on Earth would attack End, the presumed sister of Chaos? She was terrifyingly powerful—and if someone did attack her, they would obviously be powerful, and the wall wouldn't be a challenge. It was like asking a human to stomp on a spider; it was easy, and it was no big deal.

Unless, of course, the wall was made to prevent prisoners form escaping, Percy thought. Like us.

Percy stopped observing the surroundings and instead started to focus on the mission. He could now hear the laughing Artemis was talking about. That meant the guards would be a bit distracted, giving them a bit more leeway on their plan, whatever it might be.

Percy suddenly realized that they did not have a plan, other than "escape through the gate." He could still talk to Artemis, but he figured it would ruin the "stealth" concept. Besides, they were very close to the exit of the city, and he did not want to distract Artemis. Furthermore, he knew Artemis had a plan: who doesn't make a plan while escaping?

Well, it's Artemis, Percy thought. So there's a 50-50 chance for both ways.

Artemis suddenly stopped, and Percy barely stopped himself from crashing into her. She was looking through the foliage, while also being hidden herself. Percy did the same thing, pushing two branches of a bush slightly apart, and peered through.

A little aways from them—not more than a few dozen feet—twelve soldiers were parrying and slashing with each other, practicing their combat. They also had the benefit of being ready to defend any sudden attacks, since they were warmed up. 

There were torches all around the gigantic gate, providing light to the guards. The gate itself was  at least a few hundred feet tall, and built with some kind of metal Percy had never seen before; it was black, and very shiny. He wondered why the gate was so big; would they be lugging a full castle tower  through it?

Even though it was an ungodly hour in the night, the gate was open.

That wasn't the thing that shocked Percy the most. At most, he would think there would be an additional twelve soldiers standing to attention, and patrolling around the big gate. 

Instead, there were over a hundred.

Just when my day was going so well, Percy thought. Oh wait, no, it hasn't.

The only good news was that they all had made a circle around the fighting guards, cheering and whooping out loud at the show, not watching their surroundings. But Percy had to admit, it wasn't a big show. As he watched, a guard tripped on his untied shoelace, eliciting a few groans when he fell on his face.

Ah, yes, Percy thought. I would be terrified to siege this city; even more so when the soldiers forget to tie their shoelaces. 

There was so much noise, Percy was surprised the neighborhoods around weren't waking up. They all could be very deep sleepers, or they were just used to it. 

Then, Artemis dashed out of the shrubbery, running to the gate as fast as she could, Percy following. They both were probably making lots of noise, but it was all drowned out by the rambunctious guards. Percy presumed that Artemis had a plan—a sneaker plan—that was better than just running towards the gate, but opted out of using it, since the guards were distracted.

They were fifty yards from the gate.

Thirty. They passed the circle of guards, and nobody shouted in alarm.

Twenty.

Ten. The opening in the wall almost took up Percy's whole vision.

Five—

"Hey!"

And there went their escape plan.