Race Against Time - Percy Jackson

Chapter Six

-Chapter Six-

Percy dashed towards the general direction of Rome, panic slowly starting to rise in his chest. Yorath looked confused and ran beside him, a look of pure unbridled confusion showing on his face.

"Why does this always have to happen?!" Percy screamed in his mind. All they had to do was wait for the next time jump. But here they were, heading towards the now on fire Rome. They could just sit back and ignore the fire. They could simply go back to the clearing and wait for all of this to fizz out. But alas, Percy just couldn't bear himself to stand idly by. The pillars of smoke reached to the sky as if it was a daunting creature that pulsated power.

"Paradox wait up!" Yorath called out, making Percy stop his sprint. Yorath panted, his forehead beaded with sweat.

"You still haven't told me what's happening," Yorath stated in between pants. Percy merely shook his head and pointed at the towers of smoke that came from Rome.

"Yeah, I know Rome is on fire." Yorath waved his arm dismissively.

"But you don't think that those bandits, or outlaws whatever the name is did this?" Yorath questioned, raising his eyebrow.

"That's the most probable. Bandits or not, we still need to go. We might not be able to extinguish the fire by now, but we at least need to try and save as many people as we can." Percy commanded. Yorath gave a slight nod and stretched out his hand.

"Lead the way brother."

The two darted off to Rome, finally entering the city. Percy instantly saw the Roman guards trying their best to fend off the invaders. Although the Romans were holding on, the numbers of the attackers were simply too numerous.

"What the-" Yorath blurted out.

"Where the hell did they all come from?!" Yorath said incredulously, a look of pure confusion on his face.

"This looks like a full-scale invasion, this isn't the number of people I'd imagine would be in a bandit camp or something," Yorath observed. Percy gave a nod of agreement.

"Maybe that wasn't a camp, an outpost for a country maybe?" Percy suggested.

"Perhaps. How the hell are we supposed to rescue people though. That army is going a thousand strong!" Yorath estimated with wide eyes. Percy nodded, a look of concentration on his face. The army was pretty sizable, there was no way they could take all of them at once.

"They don't seem that coordinated, unlike the Romans," Percy noted, looking at the bandits who seemed to be ravaging the nearby houses like barbarians.

"They don't use strategic formations like phalanxes, we can probably take down a few groups at a time since they seem so separated," Percy suggested.

"Will that work?" Yorath asked with a raised eyebrow. Percy shrugged, not sure if it will work or not.

"Dunno, have any other ideas?" Percy questioned. Yorath shook his head.

"Nope. We're going with your plan." He concluded. Percy gave a small smile and instantly dove into the action. The two went in headfirst, diving into a squad of ten or so bandits. The two brothers moved like a well-oiled machine, giving blow after blow to the small squadron. The bandits were so dazed from the two that they didn't even have time to react. The sudden aggression from what the bandits thought and what looked to be regular civilians, gave them quite a shock, rooting them in place.