"One on one," I challenged Luke. "What are you afraid of?"
Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order.
Before he could say anything, Agrius, the bear-man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse. It was the first pure-black pegasus I'd ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. The pegasus mare bucked and whinnied. I could understand her thoughts. She was calling Agrius and Luke some names so bad Chiron would've washed her muzzle out with saddle soap.
"Sir!" Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. "Your steed is ready!"
Luke kept his eyes on me.
"I told you last summer, Annabeth," he said. "You can't bait me into a fight."
"And you keep avoiding one," I noticed. "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"
Luke glanced at his men, and he saw I'd trapped him. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought me, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse. For my part, the best I could hope for was to distract him, giving my friends a chance to escape. If anybody could think of a plan to get them out of there, Percy could. On the downside, I knew how good Luke was at sword-fighting.
"I'll kill you quickly," he decided, and raised his weapon. Backbiter was a foot longer than my own sword. Its blade glinted with an evil gray-and-gold light where the human steel had been
melded with celestial bronze. I could almost feel the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing magnets bound together. I didn't know how the blade had been made, but I sensed a tragedy. Someone had died in the process. Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield.
He grinned at me wickedly.
"Luke," Percy said, "at least give her a shield."
"Sorry, Percy," he said. "You bring your own equipment to this party."
The shield was a problem. Fighting two-handed with just a sword gives you more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield gives you better defense and versatility. There are more moves, more options, more ways to kill. I thought back to Chiron, who'd told me to stay at camp no matter what, and learn to fight. Now I was going to pay for not listening to him.
Luke lunged and almost killed me on the first try. His sword went under my arm, slashing through my shirt and grazing my ribs.
I jumped back, then counterattacked with Riptide, but Luke slammed my blade away with his shield.
"My, Annabeth," Luke chided. "You're out of practice."
He came at me again with a swipe to the head. I parried, returned with a thrust. He sidestepped easily.
The cut on my ribs stung. My heart was racing. When Luke lunged again, I jumped backward into the swimming pool and felt a surge of strength. I spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, and blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke's face.
The force of the water knocked him down, spluttering and blinded. But before I could strike, he rolled aside and was on his feet again.
I attacked and sliced off the edge of his shield, but that didn't even faze him. He dropped to a crouch and jabbed at my legs. Suddenly my thigh was on fire, with a pain so intense I collapsed. My jeans were ripped above the knee. I was hurt. I didn't know how badly. Luke hacked downward and I rolled behind a deck chair. I tried to stand, but my leg wouldn't take the weight.
"Aaaaannabeth!" Grover bleated.
I rolled again as Luke's sword slashed the deck chair in half, metal pipes and all.
YOU ARE READING
Annabeth Chase and the Sea of Monsters
FantasíaAnnabeth Chase is still dealing with being a Half-Blood, but she has more pressing issues. Her and her friends have to figure how to save the camp and Grover and there's only one way to do that. The question is can she do it?
