The Altered Seven

Crossing the Golden Sword

Piper's heart did jumping jacks while Chrysaor walked back and forth, inspecting them like prized cattle. A dozen of his dolphin-man warriors stayed in a ring around us, spears leveled at Piper's chest, while dozens more ransacked the ship, banging and crashing around belowdecks. One carried a box of ambrosia up the stairs. Another carried an armful of ballista bolts and a crate of Greek fire.

"Careful with that!" Annabeth warned. "It'll blow up both our ships."

"Ha!" Chrysaor said. "We know all about Greek fire, girl. Don't worry. We've been looting and pillaging ships on the Mare Nostrum for eons."

"Your accent sounds familiar," Annabeth murmured before her eyes widened. "Medusa."

"Medusa is your mom?" Piper asked. "Dude, that sucks for you."

"You are as arrogant as your mother," Chrysaor said. "But, yes Piper McLean, Poseidon was my father. Medusa was my mother. After Medusa was changed into a monster by that so-called goddess of wisdom..." The golden mask turned on Annabeth. "That would be your mother I believe...Medusa's two children were trapped inside her, unable to be born. When the original Perseus cut off Medusa's head-"

"Two children sprang out," Annabeth remembered. "Pegasus and you."

"But if you're Medusa's kid," Piper said, "why haven't I ever heard of you?"

Chrysaor sighed in exasperation. "When your brother is Pegasus, you get used to being forgotten. Oh, look, a winged horse! Does anyone care about me? No!" He raised the tip of his blade to Piper's eyes. "But don't underestimate me. My name means the Golden Sword for a reason."

"Imperial gold?" Piper guessed.

"Bah! Enchanted gold, yes. Later on, the Romans called it Imperial gold, but I was the first to ever wield such a blade. I should have been the most famous hero of all time! Since the legend-tellers decided to ignore me, I became a villain instead. I resolved to put my heritage to use. As the son of Medusa, I would inspire terror. As the son of Poseidon, I would rule the seas!"

"You became a pirate," Annabeth summed up.

Chrysaor spread his arms, which was fine with Piper since it got the sword point away from her eyes.

"The best pirate," Chrysaor said. "I've sailed these waters for centuries, waylaying any demigods foolish enough to explore the Mare Nostrum. This is my territory now. And all you have is mine."

"I'm afraid your days of pirating are over," said a voice behind Chrysaor.

The pirate whirled, swinging his sword, but it clanged off Killian's sword. Killian kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back. Annabeth and Piper threw themselves to the deck as Chrysaor sailed over them, crashing into his dolphin crew.

Before they could get up, Chrysaor was there, pointing his sword at Piper's neck.

"Move again and your friends die!" Chrysaor roared. Unfortunately for him, that was when the rest of the crew showed up.

Aelin and Ajax rushed up the stairs. Aelin took one look at Chrysaor before summoning her bow and shooting his blade from his hand. Dolphin men swarmed her but were pushed back by Ajax, who wielded his spear with the finesse of a master.

Lilly appeared from below deck, her hands dripping with poison and acid. She jumped over one dolphin man who had charged her and he was met with a gold blade as Jason came up behind Lilly.

Annabeth whirled around with her dagger out but paled as a dozen dolphin warriors stalked towards her. Before they could react, a volley of silver arrows rained down, cutting down three of them quickly while the rest tried to take cover.