The Lion Boy

The Lion Boy Part 8

Percy POV

- One Month Later -

I ran, I ran as fast as my legs would go. The Lions were ahead and Annabeth, Luke, Thalia, and Grover were behind me. I slowed and circled back around. 

"Faster." I urged, and grabbed Annabeth's hand. Grover was pulling along Thalia and Luke. Those goat lets could go fast. The growling from the trees intensified. Six pairs of crimson eyes gleamed dangerously in the night. Annabeth stumbled over a stray root. Her knee met the ground, and a loud CRACK echoed through the forest. She clenched her fists.

"Annie, please tell me you can run." I pleaded, knowing the answer already. She shook her head, fighting back a scream. 

"Dynatos, Axi!" I yelled. Axi came, and I got Annabeth on his back, it was painful, but better than being eaten by hellhounds. Grover and Luke were nearing the borders, they would make it, as would Annabeth. Axi took off, carrying Annabeth to safety. Shadows jumped towards Thalia and I, who had crept back to me to help me. The snarling beasts neared us. I drew Riptide, and Thalia readied her spear, the tip crackling with electricity. I had no water, but torches burned somewhere inside the camp. I drew on that, and felt the power of the hearth give me strength. Fear choked the air. 

The beast leapt at me, and its teeth bit my arm, cutting deep. I lit my arm on fire, and flame raced up the hellhound's mouth, turning it to golden dust. Five to go. I might be hurt, seriously at that, but Thalia and I could do this. 

Then the ground cracked, and at least a dozen more joined the five. I felt a pressure in the back of my mind, Dynatos trying to tell me something.

'Percy, leave Thalia. Come to Camp. - Dynatos ' I shook my head.

'I can't just leave her, Dynatos, I know you feel obligated to protect me with Rhea, but you can't this time. Take her, I'll deal with them. - Percy' I felt him resist, then give in. He raced towards us, and dragged Thalia off, her trying desperately to get back to me. Dynatos would be thoroughly crispy by the time he got her into camp. I took my stance, sword in hand.

"You want a fight?" I asked, baiting the monsters. They jumped at me, all of them in one wild surge. I swung my sword in a wide arc, killing the first seven, but more flooded in from the earth. I backed up to the border, so close to safety, but if I ran the creatures would run into camp, gods knows how many deaths I would be responsible for. I looked up at the sky, and prayed for rain. Fire might revive me, but water would save me. Clouds gathered overhead. I charged into the wolf like monsters, claws cut me. Teeth bit me. Rank breath filled the air around me. As I cut down more, no more came. I suppose Hades figured what remained would be enough to kill me. I stabbed the second to the end through the chest and decapitated the very last. I fell to the ground, I could feel the life draining out of me. Like a cruel irony, as I lay there rain began to fall, soft and steady. No matter, not even Apollo could save me now. I closed my eyes and waited for death. As I slipped away I felt something fuzzy wrap around me, like a blanket. I gave in blissfully, my last memory that of restless waves lapping at the sand. 

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Third Person POV

Far away, two immortals watched their champion fight a losing battle. Their normal gentle souls filled with rage. Their minds began working to do something, anything, to save the child. Water. Water was key. As the boy gave into death, they began to spin a complex spell, a spell that would rescue him.

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A/N: *cackles evilly as she runs off into the sunset*