ENTRAPPED ₂

27

PERCY AND MADELEINE BOTH GOT BORROWED ARMOR THAT WAS A LITTLE TOO BIG FOR EACH OF THEM, BUT IT WOULD DO. Madeleine slipped her armor on like a second skin, strapping it instinctively. If she thought about it, she would fumble; but if she shut her brain off, her fingers moved without prompt.

She helped Percy strap the back of his in place, and he, hers. He seemed to know exactly how to do his armor, too, which was interesting. Maybe he and Madeleine were both just incredibly talented.

Once they got out of camp, the Fifth Cohort formed two lines between their centurions, Dakota and the girl he had been talking to earlier. Her name was Gwen, and she had pale skin, blue eyes rimmed with bags, and reddish-brown hair pulled up into a bun. Madeleine liked her immediately, and was tempted to ask why she wasn't first in command instead of an intoxicated loser.

They marched north, skirting the edge of the city and heading to a field. The grass was cropped short, the earth pitted with explosion craters and trenches. At the north end of the field stood a stone fortress with an iron portcullis, guard towers, scorpion ballistae, and water cannons. Madeleine was already assessing it, itching for her knives.

"They did a good job today," Hazel noted. "That's bad for us."

"Wait," Percy said. "You're telling me that fortress was built today?"

Hazel grinned. "Legionnaires are trained to build. If we had to, we could break down the entire camp and rebuild it somewhere else. Take maybe three or four days, but we could do it."

"Let's not," Percy decided. "So you attack a different fort every night?"

"Not every night," Frank said. "We have different training exercises. Sometimes deathball―um, which is like paintball, except with... you know, poison and acid and fire balls. Sometimes we do chariots and gladiator competitions, sometimes war games."

"Sounds thrilling," Madeleine said.

Hazel pointed at the fort. "Somewhere inside, the First and Second Cohorts are keeping their banners. Our job is to get inside and capture them without getting slaughtered. We do that, we win."

"Like capture-the-flag," Percy said. He looked at Madeleine, his eyes gleaming. "I think I like capture-the-flag."

"I think I could beat your ass in capture-the-flag," Madeleine told him. "You're an awful runner."

Percy ran a hand through her hair. She scowled at him and began to re-braid it. He stuck his tongue out.

Frank laughed. "Yeah, well... it's harder than it sounds. We have to get past those scorpions and water cannons on the walls, fight through the inside of the fortress, find the banners, and defeat the guards, all while protecting our own banners and troops from capture. And our cohort is in competition with the other two attacking cohorts. We sort of work together, but not really. The cohort that captures the banners gets all the glory."

Percy stumbled, trying to keep time with the left-right marching rhythm. Madeleine sympathized. Her calves were starting to hurt: a bad sign, because her calves never hurt.

"So why are we practicing this, anyway?" Percy asked. "Do you guys spend a lot of time laying siege to fortified cities?"

"Teamwork," Hazel said. "Quick thinking. Tactics. Battle skills. You'd be surprised what you can learn in the war games."

"Like who will stab you in the back," Frank said.

"Especially that," Hazel agreed.

They marched to the center of the field and formed ranks. The Third and Fourth Cohorts assembled as far as possible from the Fifth. The centurions for the attacking side gathered for a conference. In the sky above them, Reyna circled on her pegasus, ready to play referee. Half a dozen giant eagles flew in formation behind her. The only person not participating in the game was Nico di Angelo, who had climbed an observation tower about a hundred yards from the fort and would be watching with binoculars.