Artemis

Heed the Goddess of Fire

"Alania!"
      Alania looks at me and asks, "Yes, my lady?" I tell her to get the huntresses and tell them they are going on a hunt. I will not be going with them because I have a matter in Olympus to attend to.
     Alania bows her head and says, "Yes Artemis." I nod at her then use my powers to appear in the throne room.
When I arrive, I am met by Hestia attending the fires and greet her. She smiles her all knowing smile and says, "Zeus is waiting for you atop his throne my lady." I nod and walk into the throne room with my head held high.
Zeus says right when I enter the room, "Daughter. I have something you must do."
      Rolling my eyes without him seeing and struggle out, "What do I need to hunt down for you now father?"
        He says to me, using his annoying authority voice, "I need you to hunt down a giant that has been terrorizing a country called Sweden. He has been burning villages, towns, eating people, killing people for sport, and killing the peaceful centaurs and satyrs that live there. Go slay the giant, my daughter, and bring your huntresses with you. Go now, so mortals will be saved and satyrs along with the centaurs will be spared."
I accept and bow to him. On my way back to the mortal realm, I pass by the hearths to say farewell to Hestia. "Farewell my dear Hestia, and may you stay safe and happy attending these fires of Olympus."
        She looks at me gravely and says, "Be very careful with this hunt Artemis, for it could be your last. Tread lightly, for if you do not, your huntresses will fall into great despair and depression. You must be careful for the sakes of you huntresses and us here in Olympus. Do not underestimate this Giant. Heed my warnings."
       "I am careful on all of my hunts, Hestia. For you know this better than any other God or Goddess. Why the warning on this particular hunt?"
        She shakes her head, "I cannot say, my dear friend, just heed my warning. Now go. Do not anger your father, and do not keep your huntresses waiting."
         I smile and disappear from Olympus, the last thing I see being Hestia tending the fires with tears in her beautiful fire eyes.
I push my powers out into the world to find my huntresses and find them in Sweden. I am very surprised, as they are supposed to be hunting a rogue Chimera located in Northern Ireland.
        Landing in the camp silently, I notify Alania of my presence. She comes out of her tent, and leads me to my tent. When we are in the tent, I put out a spell that makes the tent soundproof.
Turning to Alania I say, "I thought you were supposed to be in Northern Ireland by now, but I see you are in Sweden. Why is that?"
        She frowns, "Calipia had a dream where Hestia told her to notify the huntresses that we are to head to Sweden and Artemis will tell us more when she arrives. Was that incorrect, my lady?"
         I sigh and say to her, "Not at all Alania, I was just worried you girls had somehow gotten captured and were in danger. We are supposed to be here, Hestia is correct, we are here to hunt down a Giant that is terrorizing mortals. Quite badly, I may add. Let the huntresses sleep, and we will head out at dawn to begin our hunt of this Giant." She nods, bows, and walks out of my tent to her own.
I sigh and run my fingers through my short hair. It is in a pixie cut right now to keep it out of my way during a hunt or battle.
       I repeat Hestia's warning in my mind, and think it over. I know that if she is tearful over this hunt, I should take this hunt as serious as I can, and so should my huntresses. I go to sleep thinking of the possible things she could have seen to make her warn me so gravely.
At dawn I have already packed my tent into my pack and wait for my huntresses to finish their breakfast. As soon as they are finished, Calipia walks over to me and says, "Are we going to be alright Artemis? Hestia looked frightened of this hunt. She had tears in her eyes, and her hair was a wild mess whilst she told me of this hunt. She warned me that if us huntresses do not watch out extra carefully of you, and help you as much as we can, us and Olympus will fall into a great despair. Apollo will not be able to take the sun across the sky, Poseidon will not be able to tend to his kingdom and oceans, Zeus will send endless, deadly storms to the mortal realm, and every God and Goddess will be affected. Why is this hunt so dangerous Artemis?"
        I see she has tears in her beautiful green eyes, and I wipe them away as they fall down her dark cheeks. "Do not fret my child, for we will succeed as we always do. We shall slay this Giant for its crimes against the mortals, centaurs, and satyrs. Nothing will happen to me, my child." She still has tears streaming down her cheeks and landing on her dark arms.
I hold her in an embrace and let go as the other girls come to us, ready to depart.
        Calipia is the youngest out of all of my huntresses, joining when she was ten years old. She is now only three hundred years old, but still in the body of a ten year old, as she is immortal. I feel the most protective of her, and the rest of the huntresses also do. I was angry at first at Apollo giving her the gift of the Gods and Goddesses being able to go freely into her dreams. Now, I have accepted this, and it has helped us quite a few times.
I turn to my huntresses and tell them of our hunt. None of them are surprised or frightened, because only Alania, Calipia, and I know of Hestia's warning. Calipia and I being the only ones seeing her as she said it. I am frightened for my huntresses, Olympus, and myself. If what Hestia says is true, and I have no reason to believe it is not true, if we are not careful, something could happen to me and my huntresses and all of Olympus will fall into despair. I shake myself off and lead my girls into the forest to find this Giant.
After tracking for two days, we find where the Giant is staying and wait for it to become dark out. I speak into my huntresses' minds and say, "We are going to wait for it to become dark and have Alania and Zacharia scout out the perimeter. When they get back, we will come up with a strategy. Understood?" They all nod their heads, and I nod, satisfied with their answers.
I lay against a tree and Calipia walks over to me. I open my arms, and she cuddles into my arms. "What if this hunt goes wrong, Artemis? What will us and Olympus do without you?"
       I shake my head and give her a small smile. "This hunt will go well, my child. Nothing will happen to me. I will be fine, you will be fine, the girls will be fine, and Olympus will be fine. Understand?" She nods, letting a tear slip onto her cheeks, and I wipe it away. I hold her in my arms, and she falls asleep.
Alania and Zacharia arrive back to the camp and we all gather in a group. Alania says to us, through our link, "There is only one Giant. He is thirteen feet tall, and looks to weigh around five hundred pounds."
         My eyebrows shoot up in surprise, "That is both short and light for a Giant. He must only be quite young to be that small. Where are his parents? They are rarely far away from their child at this stage. Did you see any others?"
         Zacharia shakes her head and states, "We did not see any other Giants, nor any glamours as we scouted the perimeter. It is highly unusual, but perhaps his parents are dead, or maybe he is a runt and was abandoned?"
          I nod but say, "We still must be very cautious and think that his parents are nearby or right under our bows. Our strategy should be to surprise attack him whilst he is asleep, for he is at his weakest at that time. Everyone get your bows and arrows ready. You are dismissed." All my huntresses nod and get their equipment ready.
At 03:00 the Giant appears to be asleep, so we head towards the cave with Alania and Zacharia at the head of the formation. They lead us to the mouth of the cave, and we look in to find him snoring. I link to everyone, "We will attack in ten seconds. Be prepared." They all nod and knock arrows onto their bows. After ten, extremely tense seconds, we leap into the cave shooting arrows at the sleeping Giant.
None of our arrows hit the Giant, and he wakes up. I look into his eyes, and see they are deep ocean blue. My own eyes widen and I scream at my huntresses through our link to run. Run out of this cave, and get to safety right now. Without looking back, I feel my huntresses retreat from the cave, and I am left alone with the Giant.
        He smirks at me and says, "So we meet again, Artemis. Why must our meetings be like this?"
       I sneer at him, "What are you doing out of Tartarus, Porphyrion?"
       He rolls his eyes at me and says, "The bonds Hermes put on me could only hold me for so long Artemis, you knew that. You prepared for that. Have you Gods and Goddesses lagged off? Hmmmmm, my dear Artemis?"
         I growl deeply at him, "I will put you back into Tartarus where you belong, and this time, there will be no escaping."
       He laughs, a deep guttural laugh, "You have to free yourself first, my dear Artemis."
        My eyes widen, realizing my mistake, and try to teleport out of the cave. Of course, Porphyrion put a spell against that on the cave. He snaps his fingers, and the last thing I see is him picking me up and getting ready to swallow me whole.

AN: Picture above is Artemis's hair

Picture of Calipia. Remember that she is younger though, and she has a darker skin tone.