Tales of Camp Half Blood

Tale 16; Broken Spears and Broken Pride

Clarisse had plenty of time to stew in her anger until Friday. It certainly helped that everyone around camp had heard of the bathroom incident and was not so subtly making fun of her and her sisters for it behind their backs. At breakfast yesterday she'd heard Michael Yew make some snide comment to one of his sisters about how the toilet water must have tasted. Clarisse would have knocked him out then and there if his older brother hadn't stepped in and told her to back off.

She would have knocked Lee Fletcher on his ass as well if Karina hadn't come up and reminded her that Chiron was watching and he would not hesitate to ban her from the capture the flag game if she instigated a fight in the dining pavilion.

The only respite she got from her simmering anger during the week leading up to Friday was during wrestling where she got to knock Prissy to the ground half a dozen times. He certainly wasn't talking all mighty and proud like he had after the bathroom incident when she knocked him to his ass on the arena floor.

It was the only thing that held her anger in check until finally Friday evening was here and it was time for capture the flag. She led her siblings into the dining pavilion, holding their flag proudly amid loud cheers.

Their odds were very promising this week. Athena kids might have the two biggest cabins, but Ares had everyone else. And no Hermes or Apollo kid would be a match for Clarisse or any of her siblings. Of their allies, Castor and Pollux could be at least counted on to do what they were told. When it came to the Aphrodite kids, Silena forced all her siblings to participate, but only her, Lacy, Howie, and Indira could be counted on to attempt to do anything during the match. Hephaestus kids were tough as nails as well, but there was only four of them playing, with the fifth member of their cabin currently in the infirmary with a broken arm.

There was also Kath. Katherine decided to go for Hephaestus 5th member which was nice actually.

Overall, the match would certainly be carried by her and her siblings, but what else was new. She managed to catch sight of the newbie and her face screwed up in annoyance, only a little longer, she promised herself. Then she could finally get her revenge on that pompous asshole.

"Heroes!" Chiron called, gathering everyone's attention to the front of the dining pavilion as he explained the rules. Since it was the first capture the flag of the summer session, he also spread out a bunch of extra weapons and shields on the table so that any of the new kids that hadn't managed to get their own weapons yet could pick something out. Clarisse secured her red horse plume helmet and twirled her spear in one hand. Luke thrust an absurdly large shield in the new kid's hand as if he wanted the guy to get pulverized. It was so impractical and big that she doubted he'd even be able to jog while carrying it, much less hold it in one hand so he could use a weapon.

Once the newbies all had their gear Clarisse let out a loud battle cry and led her team to their side of the forest- throwing in a few choice words for Annabeth and her stuck up siblings as they passed.

They walked deep into the woods in their section, hiding the flag in a cluster of rocks near the edge of their territory. She turned to survey her team, they were definitely going to lean into brawn. There was no need for an in-depth strategy if they guarded their flag with enough people that none of the Athena team would be able to break through. But they also had to have a group trying to get the flag from the other team, and her cabin's own little revenge plan for Percy.

"Beckendorf," she decided, addressing the Hephaestus head counselor, "you and your siblings and Katherine guard the flag along with Melina and Jesper," her two eldest siblings other than Karina, them paired with the Hephaestus kids and there would be no way one of those scrawny Apollo or Hermes kids could stand a chance.