Forgotten prophecy

Chapter 8

"Come on." Percy muttered after Mr. D dismissed Ryker. "Let's go to the armory. I might not be able to go with you, but I can still help you out."

Ryker followed mutely behind him with Jason and Piper following after him. Silver was still perched on his shoulder, enjoying the looks of astonishment that people were sending him. A quest, eh? The owl said contentedly. This sounds like fun.

No one asked you, bird. Ryker snarled. He winced when Silver nipped at his ear. Stop doing that!

No. Silver began to clean the feathers of his wing.

Percy led them to a large shack that had various weapons lined up on racks and stands outside of it. Various pieces of armor were strewn about on the ground, several had claw marks or dents in them. "You will need at least some kind of weapon." Jason told him. "Do you have any in particular that you want?"

"Where's my bow?" Ryker inquired, picking up a long leaf-bladed sword and immediately putting it back down. It felt wrong. "That would be my preference."

"Yeah... about that..." Piper winced and pouted. "I tried to pick it up after you disappeared but it crumbled away into nothing."

"I sort of figured that would happen." Ryker shrugged. He smiled at her to show that he wasn't upset in the least. Now that he was no longer a Guardian of the Forest he was fairly certain that the bow would have crumbled away even if he had been the one to pick it up. "I'll need one of yours then."

"We don't have any that are as big as the one you had." Percy said, disappearing within the shack. He reappeared a few moments later with a bow in each hand. He offered one to Ryker who gingerly accepted the weapon. He tested the draw weight and shook his head. He handed it back to Percy and tested the second one, shaking his head again. "These are the strongest bows we have." Percy remarked.

"They don't have enough draw weight." Ryker said disappointedly. "Besides, they're also kind of small."

"They're only small to someone who uses a bow as big as the one you had." Jason told him. "Do you just want to take one just to have one?"

"I wouldn't use it." Ryker said frankly. "It would only get me hurt if I tried to use a weapon I couldn't trust."

"Well, we can at least get you a sword." Percy disappeared inside the weapons room again, but this time Ryker followed him inside. "What kind of fighter are you? Do you prefer slashing or stabbing? And what kind of reach do you like?"

"These." Ryker said quietly, reaching forward and pulling two gloves off of the shelf. They were made out of some material that he couldn't identify and at the fingertips were several long blades of the same metal that all the weapons were made of. Some light brown metal. He pulled them on and immediately knew that he had chosen correctly. The clawed gloves felt like a natural extension of his arm.

Percy pursed his lips but he shrugged. "I guess to each their own." He said. "You would be the first to use them though. You have to get really close."

"From one extreme to another." Ryker murmured, pulling off the gloves and putting them in one of the pockets on his cargo pants. "From shooting them from far away to ripping them apart right in front of them."

"Here, take this too then." Percy pulled a dark leather duster off of a shelf and offered it to Ryker. "That coat is pretty much unbreakable. It will protect you from all poisons and venoms and it will give you a good amount of defense against any monster's claws or fangs."

And it will keep your talons from digging into my skin over and over again. Ryker muttered to Silver as he swung the coat on. "Thanks." He told Percy sincerely.