Book Three: The Heir and The Champions

An Artemis Interlude

Monday, December 19th, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, Artemis

The moon hung beautifully in the sky above the world as it lit the forest below in its soft silver glow, Artemis' head was turned skyward to watch the twinkling stars of the heavens shine coldly upon the earth with an air of detachment about her. If one were to ask any but her hunters and her brother, they would describe her much like the moon and stars, cold, distant, and detached from the world at large only obsessed with her hunts. While true to some degree, it was not the whole truth, while cold, she could still feel the warmth from every one of her hunters that were both daughters and sisters to her, while distant, she was the only one of her kin that interacted with mortals regularly, while detached, she was one of the only one of her kin that would go out of her way to help the children crying out to be saved.

But they were correct on the last part, she was obsessed with her hunts, but with her main domain being that of one of the most ancient and powerful in the Domain of Hunt, it was hard not to be.

"Load," Artemis speaks into the cold air, her breath rising like smoke in the moonlight, she hears the strings of bows being pulled taught, the oiled click of a rifle sounding out soon after, Artemis finally looks away from the moon and sets her eyes on a small game trail below the ledge her and a handful of her hunters had taken up position on, her domain of the forest stretch for miles around them giving cover to her hunters on the ground, ready and waiting to spring their trap, "Hold," she says, waiting for her prey.

Artemis hears them before she sees them, their footsteps pounding against the ground, crunching leaves, and snapping twigs as they move through the woods without skill, their ragged breaths giving away their positions just as much as their untrained movements do. They finally move into the line of sight that was granted by the clearing in the canopy of trees, soaked in the light of the waning moon. There are two of them, a young boy not even in his teenage years dressed in a dirty white shirt and torn cargo pants holding a bronze short sword, an empty quiver sat on his back, and a bow slung over his shoulders, the boy's blonde hair was caked to his face with sweat and dirt and his blue eyes wild and scared. The other was a girl that looked to be no older than ten, her long brown hair and deep dark eyes reflected the moonlight, she wore an oversized jacket that the boy had obviously given to her to protect her from the stinging cold air on this winter night.

"Hold," Artemis says once more, the bait was now set and the trap for her prey was ready to spring, she could feel the anticipation in her hunters, each and every one of them hungry for the kill that was soon to come.

The small girl that was being led by the hand of the boy falls to the ground with a scream, "Elly!" The boy yells, concern sharp in his voice, "Elly, come on you have to get up," he says, tugging at the girl's hand trying to get her to stand as he stopped, his head looking between the deep woods and the girl.

"I-I can't," the girl, Elly says, her voice thick with fear and bone-deep exhaustion, "I'm too tired, I-I-I can't," the young girl admits, choking back sobs. The boy's sword dips for a second as he looks at the young girl sadly before he sighs and closes his eyes, tilting his head back and sending out a prayer before kneeling beside her.

"It's okay, Elly," the boy says softly, before pulling the young maiden to her feet, "But I need you to keep going, okay? Just follow the path," he says with a smile.

"W-what are you going to do, Jason?" Elly asks, fear in her voice.

"I'm going to hold them off just long enough for you to get away, okay?" he tells her with a smile as blinding as the sun, "Then I'll come to find you okay, you just need to keep going, can you do that for me?" the boy asks, and Artemis knew the boy was lying. He would stay and fight, killing as many as he could and buying the younger girl as much time as he could, hoping the monsters were too busy eating him to go after the girl when he fell. Emerald eyes flash in Artemis' mind, thinking of another boy with the same selfless protective nature, and she smiles softly as she hears the young boy's prayer to the gods to protect Elly.