Born of the Gods

Chapter Twelve- The Traitor

After getting our swords from the blacksmith we wandered around the city and tried not to spend all of our money. It came night and we'd asked the inn's hostess for another room. This time it had cost ten drachma. When we left it wasn't dark yet, and only a few hours after midnight. Muriel served us a quick breakfast and gave us something to eat on the trip.

We were finally nearing our home. It was about to be dark and I knew we would have little tine to prepare. The travel back had been an awkward one as no one really talked. The news that we were going to either fight, or run, for our lives didn't settle well in my stomach. I'd fought to live before, but never against trained and armed demigods. 

I walked up to the top off the hill where our camp was. There was a sense of both dread and relief. The relief from being home and the dread from what was going to happen soon.

"Are you all right?" Sophia asked.

"I should be fine," I told her. "How are we going to do this? Stuff the bags with leaves and hide them under the blankets?"

"Yeah, then we'll hide on the bottom of the hill until you see them enter the tent. You should be sitting on top of a tree with your bow," she said, then leaned in and whispered in my ear, "I'm going to show Zoei her spot then come back to you, Kalrin, and Tarik and discuss what we can do if Zoei really is leaking our plan to them."

I nodded and set to work on the plan. I quickly gathered leaves into the bags and set them under the blankets, just like we planned. They didn't look much like people sleeping, but it was near dark so it wouldn't matter anyway. I ran to the bottom of the hill. Sophia was showing Zoei where to hide. I went to where Tarik and Kalrin were standing. Tarik tried to hide his fear, but it was evident by the way he drummed his fingers on his sword.

Sophia approached and spoke, "So, just in case Zoei is really against us, we need to come up with something to go against them."

"Like what? We can't really do much else," Tarik said.

"I've been thinking," I whispered, "If they expect us to not be in the tents, they won't go in there right? They'll just come to where they think we're hiding, so maybe we hide in the tents or somewhere else and then take them out one by one in the darkness."

"Thats... actually a pretty good idea," Sophia said, and her eyes sparkled as she thought new ideas. "We could put the bags of leaves down the hill, where they'd be looking, then surprise them from in the trees," she suggested.

"Maybe, but you won't be ble reach them from the trees without a bow," I pointed out.

"But we have two bows. We only have four people, the other two could just climb high in the trees and hide," Sophia said with a new found excitement. Maybe there was hope afterall.

"Who will take the second bow?" I asked.

"I will," Kalrin said, "Tarik can stay with me and Sophia can be in the tree with Sarin."

"Okay, that'll work for me," I said and looked around, trying to decide where it might be most strategic to stay. I chose two trees, one at each side of the hill.

"I'll take that one," I said pointing, "And you go into that one. That way we'll have most of the area covered."

He nodded and jogged off, Tarik following. I motioned for Sophia to follow and began to climb my tree. When I finally sat down on a large limb I noticed something: the wind was blowing on my back. It seemed to be on my side. 

Sophia took a spot on a branch just above me and sat quietly.

"Won't your bow reveal us?" Sophia asked, "It probably puts out a lot of light."