Percy Jackson - Bane of Tartarus

Chapter 14

Percy's POV

"I'm sorry Damasen" I muttered as I fell to my knees and clutched my head in my hands. That drakon slithered so close to me that its head was practically touching my right shoulder, but I didn't care. It did nothing to hurt me, instead it was lying with its head beside me looking at remains of the friendly giant. It felt like two friends mourning for the third one. I touched the monster's head and gently rubbed it. It made a purring sound that made me smile.

"I know whatever I do, I can never make it up to you but if you want you can come with me when I am escaping this pit after I save Lady Artemis." I offered the beautiful drakon hoping it understood but once again the only reaction I got was a blank stare and a blink. I sighed and rested my head on its neck and settled for a nap.

I woke up after Gods know how long feeling slightly better than the last time. The wound on my chest had disappeared leaving behind only a dull pain, my head wasn't throbbing anymore and I felt good as I now had a 100ft long ally with hide tougher than my armor. I stood up and prepared myself to embark on my rescue mission.

"Stay here, I'll be back soon" I whispered to the snoring drakon and started walking towards the cave entrance I saw earlier. I walked a few feet before hearing a grumbling noise behind me. I turned back to see the drakon following me.

"Stay here. Don't come with me or you might get hurt or worse. Wait here I'll be back soon." I tried explaining to the drakon knowing full well nothing is gonna get through that thick skull. I took a few steps to see if it would follow me and as expected it did. I sighed in defeat and started walking, the drakon stomping behind me.

As I approached the cave entrance I hid behind a rock and took a peep. This time there was no titan guarding so that's a good sign but there was a small army of monsters though. Same old cyclops, hellhounds and empusa including Kelly but they have numbers, definitely more than a 100 monsters. No worries I have a big ass drakon. I should give it a name. I looked at the drakon who now was looking curiously at me.

"I am going to call you Achilles", the monster grunted at that, catching the attention of the army. Now you understand me! You have been blinking all day long and now when there is an army of monsters in front of us you make a sound. Great, just great.

"Nice work dummy! Come on now let's finish the job" I whispered to my pet and charged towards the army with an earthquake machine following me close. I started slashing, parrying and stabbing at the monsters all the while also ducking and rolling to avoid the attacks. It felt like meditation, letting out all the anger. My pet drakon wasn't far behind either. Clusters of monsters were being destroyed by its poison. Everything was going great until I caught a cyclops club on my left shoulder while trying to sidestep an attack from a hellhound. I was thrown more than 50 back and crashed into an empusa which turned into dust somehow. I lied there groaning, trying to catch my breath. It felt like I was under the weight of sky again. I tried to get up using my right hand but noticed the cyclops that hit me running towards me. I didn't have time to dodge and in no position to parry or attack. Before I could think of something a giant claw with massive sharp talons landed on the giant turning the giant into dust.

The claw belonged to Achilles the drakon. It was doing better than me but some cyclops had managed to climb on it. There were beating around the hide with their clubs to find a weak point I guess. I ran towards my pet and climbed on its back. The cyclops were too busy to notice me so I stabbed one in the back immediately turning it to dust. The second started turning towards me but was too slow and next thing I know its head was flying in the air and it crumpled to dust. 

Just as I was about to get off the drakon's back a hellhound lunged at me. I fell 10ft on the hard ground on my back with a hellhound biting my left leg and luckily my sword plunged in its neck. It turned into dust leaving behind a painful souvenir. I got up again and looked around to find my green drakon and a layer of golden dust on the ground. I staggered towards the cave as pain in my back and my left shoulder and thigh made it very difficult to walk. My clothes were in tatters, although not the best way to appear in front of a man-hating Goddess still I went ahead with my rescue plan as I forgot to bring a change of clothes.

I entered the cave. It was dark yet I could see a door on the other side which was about 20ft from where I was standing. I walked upto the door, knocked and waited. When there was no response I quickly opened the door to find an unconscious Artemis handcuffed to the wall. I ran up to her and used my sword to break the cuffs. She immediately fell into the pool of her own ichor. I summoned some water from within me and washed her face to wake her up which didn't work instantly. After washing her face a few time over a period of 10 minutes, her eyes fluttered open.