Greeks, Gods & Other Problems

Chapter Nineteen

She slipped into her cabin. It was deliciously cool and she stood there for a while: savouring it. Still warmer than England, but most definitely not as hot as it was outside. Although, if she was being honest, it wasn't hard for somrwhere to be hotter than Britain. She padded over to her bed and rummaged in the chest at it's foot. She replicated her pose the day before and turned the compass over in her hand. That's odd: she thought. Yesterday it'd been pointing the other way. She twisted it this way and that and yet it still wouldn't change. Stubborn - much like herself - it pointed in very much the same direction. Puzzled, she finally looked up and that's when she notice the large shadow blot out the sun that was streaming in through the window.

Without thinking she picked up the quiver of arrows she'd been practising with earlier and slung it across her back. In one fluid motion she was crouching - arrow in hand, quiver secure. Swiftly she examined the arrow she'd picked. It's tip gleamed at her darkly, it's feathers sleek and shiny. Eventually she glanced back up. She was startled by two red, hellish eyes.

It charged.

The hellhound was surprisingly fast, Artemis found as it ran towards her. It batted her to one side and she gashed her knee open on one of the bedposts. Blood streamed in thick rivulets down her leg. Yeah, great daughter of Poseidon she was. She narrowed her eyes at the creature which then began to stalk her the way a lion does a gazelle. Too late Artemis realised her mistake: you should never antagonise a wild beast. Without warning it leaped majestically into the air. Reflexes honed by Jon hours before, Artemis ducked and pointed the arrow above her head. The tip buried itself into the monster's shaggy underside and broke off the shaft.

"Avada Kedavra," Artemis mumbled, waving the useless bit of wood whilst slipping away from the hound before it could land on her. The monster was more wary now, its nose sniffed at the air, eyes watching her arm as she casually drew another arrow and twirled it around in her fingers. Unfortunately he wasn't severely injured, just dripping green gunk all over the bedsheets. The two of them glared at the other for what seemed an age, before - less gracefully than earlier - the hellhound stumbled off the bed and onto the wooden floorboards.

They began to circle each other. The pungent smell of blood was high in the air and Artemis wrinkled her nose in distaste, but she would not stand down. Not even when she began to succeed with destroying the cabin with her inability of putting one foot in front of the other. Goodbye canoe. Goodbye glass cups. Goodbye picture frames. The list went on and on. Still eye-contact was maintained. As they reached full circle the monster had begun to tire of the game and began to pace. He was blocking the way out. Artemis swore, with every step it was getting closer. Desperately she looked around the room for something to help her, careful not to let it out of sight.

Suddenly it leapt at her. Completely unprepared, she fell backwards. Sensing it's chance, it bounded straight at her... it struck wood. An oar was now clamped between it's monstrous canines, Artemis hung onto the oar at both ends. Using this as leverage she started to push the monster back. It put up a fight! Panting, Artemis finally had to tangle it up in the sodden bedsheets. Whilst it was distracted, she grabbed one of the spilt arrows off the floor where the quiver lay in ruins. The monster freed itself and, snarling, started towards her. Green, thick gunge sprayed her face and clothing as she repeatedly stabbed it in the eye. The monster howled in agony and thrashed about and she lost the arrow. Snatching at the oar still amongst those slobbering jaws she held it back. However her strength was waning, and the monster knew it too. Her lactic acid build up was tremendous and her arms felt terribly weak. Her best chance were the arrows. She peered over her shoulder and in that lapse of concentration the hound seized the upper hand.

Quite literally.

It snagged her right arm within its jaws, Artemis cried out in pain as it worked its teeth around it. She could hear bones crunching. Her blood spurted out from the jagged holes that had appeared. The scarlet liquid would have blinded the monster as it sprayed it in its ravaged eye. Gritting her teeth, scarcely contemplating her actions, she slipped under the hound so she was facing its underbelly. Hot, coppery rivers flowed freely from the beast's mouth, her arm was broken. That much she knew. Searching along the ground with her other hand, using her legs to hang on, she found what she was looking for. After some investigation she discovered the arrow head from before. With little hesitation, she plunged another arrow into the same wound. Talk about reopening the wound! It's reaction was immediate, the monster howled in agony as a pure, white pain shot up from its stomach. Artemis nearly fell off. The monster's mouth had been stabilising her. Hanging on with her legs, she pushed the arrow in further, her fingers slick with its lifeblood, the floor slick with her own as she was dragged and hurled as the hellhound staggered about.

Eventually it keeled over onto it's back, and lay there quivering. Shakily, Artemis crawled slowly aware that she should be using her good arm for support. Leaning against a fractured bedpost she waited for the monster to die. It didn't take long. It exploded fantastically into chunks of yellowing dust. The sunlight caught it and it sparkled spectacularly before falling to the floor with the grace of the beast it had once been: a worthy opponent.

Artemis sighed wearily, the adrenaline rush departing as quickly as it had arrived.

"How long until monsters are reborn?" She asked herself thoughtfully.

The sun suddenly disappeared.

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Told you I'd update soon. Hope you enjoyed, it's quite a long chapter - for my standards anyhow - and I hope I did it justice.

Vote, comment, share and I'll update as soon as I can. Sorry guys, I have exams.

:) x