Mortal Power: A Percy Jackson Fanfiction

Chapter 11

I finger the handle of my dagger nervously, trying to keep a brave look on my face. I am lining up at the armoury to get some gear and attempting to stop thinking about the worst things that could happen during battle.

Aiden explained the rules of capture the flag to me, and though it's straight forward, the whole camp heard about my duel with Orca; therefore, they expect me to do well.

"Next!"

I step up and a guy, who seems to be around seventeen, looks me up and down. "Size six," he calls to his friend. "You got a weapon?" He asks me.

I nod and gesture at the sheath where my dagger is concealed. He looks quizzically at me. "You sure you don't want a sword? Those are usually back up weapons."

I raise an eyebrow. "I'm fine thanks."

He shrugs as his friend passes him a shield and a few pieces of armour. "Team?" The boy asks me.

"Blue." He hands me a helmet with a deep blue plume. "Good luck," he says.

I nod, too nervous to speak, and head to the edge of the forest.

I arrive at the tree line but notice no one familiar, so I begin inspecting my armour kit. It's all very confusing, all those different plates and hinges.

I hear a cackle behind me and turn to see Drake, his armour like mine yet correctly fashioned and the plume a blood red. I scowl. "What, should I have gone to Ancient Greek battle school or something?"

He chuckles and steps toward me. "Put this on first."

He helps me into my armour, showing me where to apply each thing. He finishes by lowering the helmet onto my head. "There, now you can be a soldier."

I snort. "Thanks. Now, I must stop fraternising with the enemy and join my team."

He smirks. "Whatever, Mystery Girl. Don't get that pretty face of yours hurt."

I scowl playfully at him. "Watch yourself, Smirk Face."

He laughs and joins the red team's huddle. I turn and stroll towards mine. 'Pretty face'? What is he playing at?

"There's our champion. Come here, we're discussing tactics." Archie gestures at me to come over to the blue huddle, where a map is held out between them. I peer at it; it's a map of the forest.

The group has a layer of indistinguishable babble hanging over it. "One at a time!" Yells Aiden. The group quietens.

"I think we should have the most people on defence."

"No, we should have more people in the front lines. Strike them down before they even think about our defence."

"We should just go wherever and work on our own."

I peer at the map closer, seeing our troops in my minds eye. "Why don't half of us fan out in pairs and hide in the outskirts of the forest while the others fight the reds, slowly dropping back towards our flag. Once they're in the middle we're free to ambush them."

The group is quiet for a few moments. Archie lets out a low whistle and grins. "Gee, can I have some of your brains? Athena kid, huh?"

I blush a little and Aiden clears his throat. "An excellent idea." He points some people out. "You lot, be the fake attackers. You five, stay by the flag in case a few get through. The rest of you, pair up and fan out like Audin said."

The blue team commences the preparations in a hustling mass, talking and organising. I'm put into a pair with a small, weedy kid, maybe twelve, with short blond hair and electric blue eyes. When he sees me he grinds his teeth and rams his helmet onto his head. "Great, I'm with the newbie."

I return with a scowl. "Great, I'm stuck with the obnoxious midget."

He sneers at me and then tromps off into the forest, leaving me to huff in frustration and follow him.

______

"Be quiet, they'll hear you from a mile away."

I ball my hands into fists. "Maybe if you didn't tell me to hide in a freaking bush I wouldn't be so loud."

He rolls his eyes. "It's the most logical thing to do. That bush is big enough to hide you. You're too wide to go behind the tree, but I'm small enough."

I scowl. "Look, wise guy, you did it on purpose, I'm not stu-"

"Sh! They're coming."

I reluctantly stop talking and peer through the leaves. I can see flashes of blue, red and bronze through the trees and can hear the clangs and shouts of fighting. I slide my dagger out of its sheath and grip it tightly.

"Okay," I murmur. "We need to wait until we're behind them since we're to the back-"

"I know," he sneers. "I'm not stupid either."

I sigh. "Look, no matter how much we dislike each other, we need to work as a team."

"Whatever."

We wait for another few minutes, the battle drawing closer. Soon my ears are booming with yells and clangs as the battle goes right past us.

This is perfect. They're fake dropping back convincingly enough.

Soon, the battle moves past us. The kid grips his sword. "Okay, let's start moving."

I begin to creep out of the bush, reducing the rustling as much as I can. When I've extracted myself, we creep through the trees. "So what's your name?" I ask him.

He sighs dramatically. "Matthew."

I nod. "Matthew. Okay."

I peel my eyes for any stragglers. All I see are other blues heading to the battle. "Wait," I say as my eyes spot movement. "There's someone here."

I spin just as the attack comes, jumping back just enough to miss the blade swinging at me.

Matthew and I back away from our attackers. "Well, well, well. I thought I had you there, Mystery Girl."

I smirk. "Too bad."

Drake raises an eyebrow. "I don't think that tiny excuse for a weapon can beat this," he says, gesturing to my dagger with his sword.

"You sure?" I say before flicking the hatch and pressing the concealed button. His eyes widen as my sword changes before him.

"Apparently not. Go!"

Without any other warning, both Drake and his companion attack. For a moment I'm worried about Matthew, but he seems to be holding up okay.

I deflect Drake's sword and parry, but he flicks it away before it can reach his neck. We continue on like this for a minute or so until I finally manage to perform a disarming manoeuvre. Pride flares inside me as his weapon drops to the ground and the tip of my sword hovers before his neck.

The flare dims a little when he just smirks. "Well done, but your friend isn't doing so well."

My eyes widen as I turn to look at the battle next to me; Matthew is on the ground, a sword swinging toward him, his own a few feet away.

The look in his eye is probably disappointment at being beaten, my mind says, but adrenaline conveys it into a look of fear. Everything seems so real and I panic. "Matthew!"

I put my sword out, not sure what I could achieve when I'm so far.

That's when a surge goes through me and lightening strikes the boy. He falls beside Matthew with a thud.

______

Thank you my crazy readers! I love it so much when you read and vote and comment. I think Mortal Power could reach 1k reads by the end of June :0

What happened to Drake's fighting partner? How will the camp react? And as always, who is Audin's parent? Comment your predictions, it's fun reading them ;)

Vote, comment and follow if you will,

K.C. Bailey