Percy Jackson - Bane of Tartarus

Chapter 13

Percy's POV

I open my eyes to see a dungeon around me. I immediately looked around to find a good news and a few bad news. Good news was that I found Artemis and the bad news were that she was unconscious and in celestial bronze handcuffs, the torturing devices present and the puddle of ichor around her feet indicated that she had been tortured severely, there is only one exit which is probably guarded heavily guessing by the constant monster grunts and the lastly the most important of all, I cannot move which makes me think that I am dreaming and unconscious. I think that's a good news, atleast I am alive, but how? I was in between a drakon and two empusa unless Damasen rescued me after I fell unconscious. There was a sound just outside the door and then the door opened to reveal a tall shadowy figure. Before I could see who it was the dream started fading and last I heard was a voice saying 'honey I'm home!'

My eyes shot open. I saw a hut and recognized that it was Damasen's. I was lying on the makeshift bed. I tried sitting up but fell back down. Everything hurts was the only thought in my brain. Most of the pain was concentrated on my chest except the constant hammering in my head. I tilted my head to my left to see my bag lying on the floor. I crawled to it and took an ambrosia cube followed by a few sips of nectar. I felt the pain subsiding a little and my chest wound began to heal.

This time I sat up successfully and looked around to find everything the same as when we left but no Damasen. I started walking towards the door with riptide in my hand, ready to be uncapped any second. As I approached the door a familiar smell of fresh pine and ginger filled the air, although I walked out the door prepared the view still scared the Hades out of me. There was a 100 feet long monster with green and yellow hide coiled just outside the door snoring such that no one could go in and out of the hut without waking it up. It was the same Maeonian drakon that should have killed me. As far as monsters go it was the easily the most beautiful of them, even Annabeth agreed, but it's beauty serves only one purpose, to distract the victim from the impending doom. As to why I am not dead, I guess I was being saved for later. I could try to fight it but I remember very clearly that even Bob didn't want to fight it and he was a Titan. I had only one choice, I can try to sneak past it through the little gap just beneath its jaw as it is clear that Damasen lost his fight to Tartarus and isn't here to kill the monster, so sneaking it is. Just then a thought hit me, the last time I saw the red giant he was riding this drakon. There was nothing stopping the monster to eat me in the marsh or in the hut so could it be that Damasen somehow survived? It could be possible but right now I am not ready to take chances not until I free Artemis. Once that's done then I'll see if I can't find the friendly giant. Wow, I am beginning to think that this fresh Tartarus air has done wonders for my brain.

I went inside took my bag slung it over my shoulders and walked out the door once again, Riptide still in my hand. The gap wasn't wide enough to crawl through it with a bag on my back so I put the bag in front of me and started crawling through the gap. It was pretty easy as I crawled almost half the way, the bag still in front of me. Suddenly it got even easier as I felt like the gap somehow widened a lot and something was breathing on me. Wait a minute, something was breathing on me. I carefully raised my head to find a pair of reptilian eyes looking at me intently. Its eyes had the same color as mine just creepier. I quickly sprang into action. I wasn't going to die without trying I thought uncapping my sword.

"You wanna fight, let's fight!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. In response the drakon moved away and lowered its head, still not attacking. It confirmed my suspicion that Damasen was alive and it was following his order. I decided to do something crazy not that there have been any shortage of that, I capped my sword put it in my pocket and approached the drakon with my hands raised above my head. The drakon also started approaching me cautiously and stopped just about a feet away from my face. We had a staring contest for about half a minute, only sounds I could hear were my heartbeats and my breaths. After that the monster blinked and pushed towards me a broken pile of weapons which I recognized as the weapons belonging to the empusa that attacked me in the marsh. The weapons were broken at weird angles suggesting that they met something they couldn't cut through.

"Did you save me?" I asked the monster looking in its eyes. All it did was blink, well that's not convincing.

"Where is Damasen?" It got me a reaction from it as it began stomping towards the back of the hut. I followed it there. I found it looking at a small pile of drakon bone and hide but on looking carefully I couldn't help but shed a tear as the bone was shaped to be a lance, Damasen's lance and the hide resembled the jerkin he was wearing last I saw him. This was all that's left of him, I left him to die.    

Hey guys, I have started a new story. It's a PercyxCalypso pairing because I couldn't find any good stories on the pair. Check it out if you wish, 'The last love of Calypso'.