Sun kissed - Apollo.

50: The Party Ponies Invade.

"One on one," Percy challenged Luke. "What are you afraid of ?"

Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order.

Before he could saying anything, Agrius, the bear-man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse. It was the first pure-black pegasus I'd ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. The pegasus mare bucked and whinnied. I could understand her thoughts. She was calling Agrius and Luke some names so bad Chiron would've washed her muzzle out with saddle soap.

"Sir!" Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. "Your steed is ready!"

Luke kept his eyes on us.

"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 my brother had trapped him. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought me, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse. For our part, the best I could hope for was to distract him, giving my 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," he 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. I could almost feel the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing magnets bound together. I didn't know how the blade had been made, but I sensed a tragedy. Someone had died in the process. Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield.

He grinned at me wickedly.

"Luke," Annabeth said, "at least give him a shield."

"Sorry, Annabeth," he said. "You bring your own equipment to this party."

The shield was a 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. I thought back to Chiron, who'd told us to stay at camp no matter what, and learn to fight. Now Percy was going to pay for not listening to him.

Luke lunged and almost killed my brother on the first try. His sword went under his arm, slashing through his shirt and grazing his ribs.

Percy jumped back, then counterattacked with Riptide, but Luke slammed Percy's blade away with his shield.

"My, Percy," Luke chided. "You're out of practice."

He came at my brother again with a swipe to the head. He parried, returned with a thrust. Luke sidestepped easily.

The cut on his ribs must stung. My heart was racing. When Luke lunged again, Percy jumped backward into the swimming pool and must have felt a surge of strength. He spun underwater, creating a funnel cloud, and blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke's face.

The force of the water knocked him down, spluttering and blinded. But before Percy could strike, he rolled aside and was on his feet again.

He attacked and sliced off the edge of his shield, but that didn't even faze him. He dropped to a crouch and jabbed at my brother's legs. Suddenly his thigh must be on fire, with a pain so intense my brother collapsed. His jeans were ripped above the knee. He was hurt. I didn't know how badly. Luke hacked downward and my brother rolled behind a deck chair. He tried to stand, but his leg wouldn't take the weight.

I felt i had to do something but my brother had called a one on one. This wouldn't end well. I really wanted to do something for my brother, shield him or blow water at Luke. Something to help him.