Wanted: The Dark Kingdom (Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

Chapter 47 - The March

Wanted – The Dark Kingdom

Chapter 47 – The March

A Wind from the North blows,

Bringing with it those who lie below.

With them, spreads the infection,

To what may be the darkest connection.

A crown forged from the tears of good and bad,

Will choose the king whose army stands.

The light leads and the dark follows,

To the first jewel of the girl who borrowed.

Then, the dark leads and the light follows,

To the second jewel of a man's true horror.

A king shall be crowned where the first king stepped,

Putting an end to their world's unrest.

~

Instead of heading back straight to the castle, Percy decided to stop and look through the camp in front of the castle, to assess the preparations for battle.

He knew Erebus could begin his march against him any second. He had some scouts stationed at several spots in the island, ready to race back to alert him in case Erebus began his move. Therefore, he needed his people to be ready.

The camp, now a war camp technically, was booming with activity. The sounds of metal clanking against metal, swords and daggers being sharpened and the shouts coming from where demigods trained in the open field rang all around him. Demigods zipped back and forth from cabins or tents, some carrying medical supplies, unused medical supplies, to stock up the several infirmaries stationed around the camp. Others hauled armor and all kinds of weapons around, making sure each demigod had armor and several weapons ready to use.

At the entrance of the camp, where Percy stood, long walls made of steel were being raised from the ground, with demigods working in groups pulling at the ropes attached to the hooks on the walls. It had been Colin's idea, to prop up metal walls around the side of the camp that didn't have the castle in its back. The children of Hephaestus, the dark demigod children of Hephaestus, had left Olympus and gone back to the island a good while ago to begin building these walls. According to Colin, they had fashioned these walls to open small holes in them at the demigods' commands, to shoot out arrows or spears. Percy had initially protested against the idea, telling him he had plans to lead the enemy army into the castle as he had other ideas in store, that Mya was working on. But Colin had explained that these walls weren't to keep out the enemy demigods, but to take down as many monsters as possible, to lessen their numbers.

The monsters were an issue that worried Percy greatly. Jason and the rest of the demigods with him weren't much of a challenge. But the monsters were. The dark demigods had been stuck on this island for centuries. Which meant they hadn't fought monsters in centuries. They were out of practice.

Percy stood for a while at the camp's entrance, observing the very last of the walls being raised up. The camp was so busy that no one noticed him, until Colin, who spent most of his time monitoring and leading the army's preparation found him.