Rise of House Neptune

A Praetor's Respect

Chapter 15

Arriving before his Praetor and best friend on a hellhound wasn't exactly the dramatic entrance he was looking for. When Mrs. O'Leary brought him to the top of Pikes Peak. It was easily 40 degrees colder than what he left behind in Salt Lake City, and the air was clearly much thinner. A long bridge stood towards the peak of the mountain, and there he saw a fire burning nearby, and had his new hellhound friend guided him over there. Needless to say Mark, and Bianca were on their feet ready to fight at a seconds notice before they realized their wayward son of Neptune had returned.

The explanations were long and drawn out, and Mrs. O'Leary didn't stick around to listen to them. With a loud eruption of a bark the hellhound licked Percy's face again, and took off into the shadows. The explanations for the hellhound alone took quite some time, but eventually they all came to an understanding over some of the events that had occured at the Great Salt Lake. A simple note was left behind in what looked like Percy's handwriting was in his room when they came looking for him in the morning. Bianca claimed it certainly matched his writing, but certainly not his style to run off in the middle of such a dangerous quest. The note had told them to wait for him at the top of Pikes Peak, and they had only been here for a few hours when he arrived.

Bianca, who was dressed in a black parka coat with SPQR on the front, looked quite comfortable in the climate. Mark was similarly dressed, and compared to Percy who was in jeans and a short sleeve shirt they looked quite comfortable. Bianca asked, "Gods Percy we knew something had happened, but where did you go? What did you do?"

Percy sighed, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Lady Juno kidnapped me out of my room in the middle of the night, and had me go on a task for her on the Great Salt Lake. Let's just say without your dad I would've been skewered by a Spartan that was over five thousand years old."

A long silence followed his words when Mark finally said, "I'm gonna need you to run that by me again with a lot more detail."

Percy rolled his eyes and laughed, "Well come on it looks like we have quite a bridge to hike up, and I will tell you guys all about it along the way."

And he did. Percy told them about Menalaus and his partial immortality. He told them about the words they had exchanged, and that he was responsible for possibly dozens of legionnaire deaths. By the time Percy was done Mark looked furious, "We sent an expedition to Salt Lake City years ago looking for a former legionnaire who had gone missing in the area. I sent three out, and none of them ever returned. That...that fucking GRACEUS!"

Bianca and Percy both stuttered over the rage of the usually calm and collected Praetor. Mark stewed the news over in silence for a few minutes as they continued to climb the bridge to Aelous' brilliant purple flashing palace in the sky. When they reached the top Mark put a hand on Percy's shoulders, "When we get back to Camp I am going to give you the Phalerae. This is an injustice to our history that has been righted. The Legion will be in its debt to you Percy."

Percy stared in shock at the man, but Bianca was the one to ask, "What is that? A Phalerae?"

Mark looked towards Bianca with a smile, "An award I have not had a reason to give in my time as Praetor. It's a gold disk that Percy can put next to one of his laurels from winning the War Games. I know he has at least half a dozen of those, but this is different. I don't think anyone that wasn't an officer has ever received such a recognition award in sometime. He deserved it last year when he stopped War breaking out on Olympus, but this is the defeat of an ancient enemy. Lady Juno did the right thing separating you from us to end that threat. You are unharmed, and we have lost virtually no time. We must take this as a victory."