¹𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐄𝐋 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑 ━ 𝗽. 𝗷𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀𝗼𝗻

036

⋆ ˚｡⋆ʚ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐈𝐗 ɞ⋆ ˚｡⋆
─── ❛ family issues ❜ ───

"ONE ON ONE," PERCY challenged luke. "what are you afraid of ?"

luke curled his lip. the soldiers who were about to kill them 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 isabella had ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. the pegasus mare bucked and whinnied.

"sir!" agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. "your steed is ready!"

luke kept his eyes on percy.

"i told you last summer, percy," he said. "you can't bait me into a fight."

"and you keep avoiding one," he noticed. "scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"

luke glanced at his men, and he saw percy had trapped him. if he backed down now, he would look weak. if he fought him, he'd lose valuable time chasing after clarisse. for percy's part, the best he could hope for was to distract him, giving his friends a chance to escape. if anybody could think of a plan to get them out of there, annabeth and isabella could. on the downside, he knew how good luke was at swordfighting.

"i'll kill you quickly," he decided, and raised his weapon. backbiter was a foot longer than percy's own sword. its blade glinted with an evil gray-and-gold light where the human steel had been melded with celestial bronze. percy could almost feel the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing magnets bound together. he didn't know how the blade had been made, but he 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 him wickedly.

"luke," isabella said, "at least give him a shield."

"sorry, isabella," 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. percy thought back to chiron, who'd told him to stay at camp no matter what, and learn to fight. now he was going to pay for not listening to him.

luke lunged and almost killed him on the first try. his sword went under percy's arm, slashing through his shirt and grazing his ribs.

he jumped back, then counterattacked with riptide, but luke slammed his blade away with his shield.

"my, percy," luke chided. "you're out of practice."

he came at him again with a swipe to the head. percy parried, returned with a thrust. he sidestepped easily.

the cut on his ribs stung. percy's heart was racing. when luke lunged again, he jumped backward into the swimming pool and felt a surge of strength. percy 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 he could strike, luke rolled aside and was on his feet again.