Daughter of shadow (Pjo fan fiction)

The Snake and the Eagle

All I remember were his eyes. Usually they were bright blue, but that day they were red and puffy from the endless streams of tears down his cheeks. I don't remember the drive, or when he handed me over. I never saw him again. They said it was for my safety. I didn't know for sure. It was never explained to me why. I never questioned it. That was how it was. 

We hunted and slept and roamed the forests and meadows of the continent. It was a seemingly endless and simple life, never exactly thrilling, but never dull. I don't remember much, just the flowers and the soapy smell of the mahogany brown hair of Artemis, my care giver. She raised me until I was five, along with Zoe and the other hunters. I became close with Zoe and Phoebe. They taught me how to shoot a target, they taught me how to skin and gut a deer, they taught me what was poisonous and what wasn't, but they said not to bother checking before I ate them, just when I gave them to other people. That had always confused me. How come I could eat the berries and they couldn't? When I received my first bow from Artemis for my fourth birthday I was so happy. It was such a dark brown it was almost black, with golden brass embellishments and a grip carved perfectly for my small hands. 

Occasionally a soft voice would appear in my head when I couldn't sleep, and tell me stories and sing me lullabies until I fell to sleep. When I asked Artemis or Zoe they would go pale and stiff and just tell me it had been my imagination, something that was caused by my mortal part. I was clever enough to be able to tell that they were trying to keep a secret, but I didn't figure out what it was until the day it arrived. That was the day it all changed. 

I remember I had curled up by the fire in the early morning before the others woke up. I couldn't sleep so I watched the sun rise out of the sea over the clifftops. Dew soaked my cream tunic and beige leggings, beginning to evaporate in the early heat of the rising sun. The glowing embers of last nights fire warmed my back against the cold sea breeze as the soft voice of the stories and lullabies filled my head again, speaking with a fear I had yet to figure out. "Be safe, my child. Do not listen to the two, follow the hunt to where you will be safe and stay away from the snake and the eagle." I looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from, but no one was there. The voice circled my thoughts as I repeated what they had said out loud to myself. "The snake and the eagle?" I frowned. 

There was a stirring from the tent to my left and the wolves that circled the camp began to settle down and rest, retiring from the nightly guard duty. Zoe's silver circlet emerged from the tent, and she walked over in the silent, graceful way that all of the huntresses did. She sat down beside me and said, "What art thee thinking about, Lady Liane?" I shifted closer to her and said, "I heard the voice again." Her hands clenched and she said, in a tone that would never give away her stress, "And what did the voice in thy head say this time?" I thought for a moment and said, "It was strange. This time it sounded worried. It didn't sing or tell a story. It said , 'Be safe, my child. Do not listen to the two, follow the hunt to where you will be safe and stay away from the snake and the eagle." 

I looked up at Zoe curiously and saw her eyes widen in a type of panic I had never seen in her before. She stood up quickly and shouted, "Lady Artemis, hunters, I fear we have been discovered!" She paused to allow the weary huntresses out of their tents and Artemis came over with concern in her eyes. "What has happened, lieutenant?" Artemis asked. Zoe said worriedly, "The voice in Liane's head, M'Lady. I said to be safe and follow the hunt. She said to stay away from the snake and the eagle." There was a collective gasp and Artemis looked visibly shocked, but shook herself out of it and said, "Pack up. We go east to the camp. Now." Everyone hurridly packed the camp away as Phoebe said to me, "We are going to take you to a wonderful place where you can learn and have fun, alright?" I nodded numbly, confused about what was happening, as any five year old would be. 

In a matter of minutes the camp was nothing more than an empty clearing, showing no traces of the hive of activity it had been last night. We walked silently in rows of three, Zoe and Phoebe on either side of me, Artemis in the front and the other six hunters behind. The pines grew thinner, the forest floor more flat and bare and the sunlight breaking through the canopy in places. I gradually began to feel weaker and more and more tired. Then we stepped off the bed of pine needles and out onto a harder black path with white line painted on it. Zoe told me it was called a road. 

I cant remember how long we were walking, but I remember that when Artemis said we only had one more mile to go, a large bird with a white feathered head and golden brown feathered body cawed and a midnight black snake appeared out of the undergrowth along the side of the road. Stay away from the snake and the eagle. I recalled the words with horror and sprinted as the group broke into a run, the hunters behind us all reaching for their bows and began firing at the bird and the snake as the raced alongside us. I wasn't sure why a bird and a snake were so bad, I just knew that the voice didn't like it, so neither did I. It had beady eyes that were electric blue and I could have sworn they were staring straight at me. When I glanced sideways at the snake on the grass it's blazing red eyes stared at me, as if it was challenging me to do something. All I thought was, I'm five, how come the snake and eagle both want me?  Suddenly the snake lurched forwards and  its yellow fangs sunk deep into my arm. I screamed and shoved an arrow  into the tip of its tail, causing it to fall off and curl up on the road behind us. The veins around the bite filled with black blood, replacing the stream of red oozing down my arm, dyed by the snakes poison. We sprinted as the eagle swooped closer and closer. I spotted a hill with a sign at the top saying, 'Camp Halfblood' Artemis turned to me and said, "Liane, once you get over that hill there are people there to help you. The eagle and the snake cant get to you there. "You must run quickly, do you understand!" I nodded and she gave me a quick hug and said, "Now go!" 

I turned and sprinted for the hill, not looking back until I reached the crest of the hill slightly out of breath and peered over my shoulder at the scene below. The snake had slithered off into the bushes but the eagle was being persistent in its attack. Phoebe spotted me watching and motioned for me to run, so I nodded and turned to face the valley.

What I saw shocked me. The valley was maybe a mile long and a mile across, but the half furthest from me was taken up by forests and ridges and gorges along with a network of crystal blue streams. At the top of the valley was a building that looked like a large farmhouse, built with dark wood and pale yellow sandstone. Surrounding the building were seven or eight circular strawberry fields, each bordered with a hedge of lush green bushes. A gravel path led through the fields, which opened up into a circle of gravel with ten more paths leading out of it like a ten point star. A lake took up half of the bottom tip of the valley, which narrowed into a short estuary and then opened up into the long island sound. In the areas that the forest and strawberry fields didn't take up were dotted with marble buildings. One looked like a shrunken down Parthenon. What stood out was a large fire pit in the centre of the valley, surrounded by twelve buildings. People the size of ants walked around the site, going about their day, unaware of me watching them.

The voice in my head spoke again, saying, "Get to the forest, my daughter, and then seek help for the bite."

Suddenly, the heavy, tired feeling that had shrouded me since we had left the forest, combined with the effects of the poison became too much, and I sunk to my knees on the grass. All I can remember from that point onwards is black, the feeling of rolling down the hill and incoherent shouting coming from what seemed like every direction.

A/N - I am so excited I am finally publishing this! I have been working on it for ages so I hope you enjoy it! Sorry if there are any mistakes, just tell me!