Fear of Erebus

Escaping Darkness: Part II

Previously
There was a sharp scrape against the floor, and then a quite whoosh of the air- like a heave object had been thrown- as Jackson sailed overhead. An ugly snap followed as his head made contact with the metal bars that separated the prisons. By the dimness of the light, I could see his body sag slightly, and that familiar copper smell drifted to my nose.

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"You forget, boy," I couldn't restrain myself, I had to be the one who triumphs. "I don't need rescuing." I saw him struggle to brace himself on his forearms and I struck forward and kicked him onto his back. A faint whine, followed by a breathless snicker emitted from the body.

"Lady Artemis," he wheezed out and the smell of copper only seemed to grow stronger. Hestidently, I crouched down next to him and gripped his rough jaw in my hand. Faintly, I could feel his facial muscles move and I knew he was trying to smile but there was too much blood coming from his head, and multiple bones were broken. He was weak, and that meant we had a chance. But somehow, I knew he would come after us because he was a stubborn and stupid and he will never quit, and in that brief moment, I pitied him for it.

However, at the end of the day, it was him or us and I had to get the Oracle and the Roman out of here. We had to get home.

"Is he dead?" Rachel's shaky voice crept from just beyond where Jackson lay, only a row of rusty bars as separation. I looked down at the boy, lying unconscious as a pool of blood exuded from his head.

"No but we need to go. Now." I made for the door where Jackson had foolishly left the keys, and quickly opened Rachel's cell. Emerging into the light, I could see the extent of Erebus' horrors that lay riddled along the young girl's body. Severely malnourished, her clothes hung loose and limp from her thin and pale frame. Her hands were raw and her lips were cut, and the dark bags under her eyes told me of her sleep deprivation. What was once a vibrant red hair, had now faded, and had withdrawn to become a tangled and drooping nest upon her head.

"Octavian's worse." She said dryly as she gripped tightly at the bars for support.

"Here, let me." I barely whispered as I eased her to her jittery feet. She seemed to welcome my help, and I didn't complain when I felt her arm hang like a loose weight around my shoulders. Nor did I say anything when she leaned heavily on me, as another brutal cough eclipsed her body.

Once the coughing had ceased, and her legs had stopped shaking. And after she had assured me and reassured me that she was fine, I finally went to the last cell in the row; the one that housed the wimp of a Roman. The door scrapped across the floor and the hinges creaked, but from where I stood, I couldn't see anything. There was no sound and certainly no body. And a part of me hoped that the boy had already been disposed of.

"Here." Rachel held out one of the Greek torches in her limp grip and I took it grudgingly. Warily, I walked further into his cell and found him crouched closely to the back wall, unmoving. Rachel was right, he was worse and I doubted we would get very far if we had to drag his dead hide all the way back to America. I nudged him slightly with the toe of my boot and he only crammed himself further into a despicable ball.

"Do you think we could just leave him here?" I asked Rachel who stood frayed against the doorframe.

She let out half a laugh. "And risk another civil war between the camps?" I could hear her breathe in deeply through her nose, as I glared down at the my brother's legacy who was now the sole woe upon on all my problems. "Octavian may be an asshole but if you leave him here, then the Romans will accuse the Gods of favouritism." I sighed- life was never easy. Carelessly, I grabbed the boy's elbow and dragged him towards the exit.

"Ready?" I gave Rachel a cautious look and she only tightened her jaw and nodded, one of her hands suspiciously latched to her side. "Three, two, one." And with a huge effort, especially from her part, the two of us managed to heft Octavian's lax body up, so he was balance between our shoulders. "Let's go." I grunted out, the torch burning hot in my hand as we ascended the stairwell.

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The upper cavern was very different from what I remembered. It was lighter and fresher and there was fortunately an opening at the end with welcomed sight of the outside world looming in. But I didn't like the skittish feeling that settled within me. Erebus had been here. Everywhere.  He could have killed me, suffocated my energy and snapped my immortality like a toothpick... but he didn't, and now he was gone. Something was most definitely not right.

"What do we do now?" Rachel panted as we reached the mouth of the cave, and glared uncertainly down at the abrupt descent below. I gritted my teeth, yeah, what do we do now? There was clearly no distinct safe way to get down and so I took this opportunity to mentally curse the Fates and their oh-so special Ancient Laws, and leaving me powerless. Stupid Fates! "Lady Artemis?"

"Huh?" I looked over the Augur's head at Rachel's pleading face.

"Percy isn't evil, right?" I gave the girl an annoyed look. You would think it was kind of obvious now.

I huffed and yanked the roman towards my right, along a very narrow ridge that jutted from the cliff-face, forcing the Oracle to follow. "Let's just go."

"I just can't believe it." she muttered to herself as we slowly shuffled along the edge, our backs pressed closely to the rocky wall and at least half my foot tip dangerously over the side. "Is this really a good idea?" The redhead abruptly asked, curiously looking down at the ground far below.

Of course it wasn't a good idea! But it was the only idea. 

I glared at her over the Augur's head, "Look, unless you have a better idea, please don't hesitate to share! Otherwise keep quite 'cause this is our only way out and I need to concentrate!" Octavian groaned at that.

He head lolled a bit, followed by a grunt. My eyes widen comedically and I looked to Rachel who wore a similar expression. "He's not waking up, is he?" Please, for the life me, don't wake up! The stupid mortal boy is going to freak out if he wakes up to find us delicately balanced on the fringe of a mountain.

"Whe- where are... We?" He slurred, and I immediately shoved my shoulder into his chest to keep him pressed against the rock and prevent him from dragging all three of us over the edge. "T-the dar...dark-ness..." He grumbled something else and I gave Rachel a pleading look as she steadied the other side of his body.

"Octavian?" She asked soothingly. He mumbled again but managed to lift his head lazily in the Oracle's direction. It seemed to take him a moment for his eyes to adjust, blinking harshly against the whiteness of the sky, before he suddenly retracted his head back with surprise at how close he was to his Greek counterpart.

"What do you want, graecus?!" The boy practically hissed, and I rolled my eyes. I wanted to clear my throat, to prevent them from the impending bickering that will surely follow, but there was a huge gust of winter wind that hit squarely at us. The mortals screamed in agony at the burning snow, and I gritted my teeth, the flakes of ice were like sharp needles against my face and I had to brace myself, eyes closed, against the mountain.

It just kept coming, the frost, the ice, the cold, and the wind. Howling hungrily at out ears until it swallowed the screams and everything seemed blank with white noise.

There was tug at my arm but I couldn't open my eyes. Subconsciously, I could feel a weight dropping next to me and I reached out to try and stop them, but then another weight dropped and I knew that I was left alone on the mountain. I cursed the Fates one final time, my eyes fastened shut and then I jumped down into the cloudy white abyss below.