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𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐁𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 , 𝐋𝐔𝐊𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐍
—
episode six ; i go down with the ship
—
"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 percy had ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. the pegasus mare bucked and whined.
"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," percy noticed. "scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"
luke glanced at his men, and he saw percy'd trapped him. if he backed down now, he would look weak. if he'd 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 could. on the downside, percy knew how good luke was at sword-fighting.
"i'll kill you quickly," luke 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. percy 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 a round leather-and-bronze shield.
he grinned at percy wickedly.
"luke," beatrice said, stepping forward cautiously, "at least give him a shield."
"sorry, beatrice," he said. "you bring your own equipment to this party."
the shield was the 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.
