Warriors of Wisdom

Chapter Twenty

The Hunters of Artemis coming to crash our party? I wasn't surprised. When you've been a demigod as long as I have, you learn to always expect something strange to happen.
   
We didn't have time to catch up with Amelie. We still had a battle to fight. And win.
   
The monsters regathered their senses after a few moments. The Hunters were ready to go into battle. They charged in with us, and we also regathered our senses and went back to fighting. The procedure was pretty much the same, but this time we had several immortal huntresses by our side. It brought up our numbers and our chances of winning a little more, which made me glad.
   
I was definitely very shocked when Amelie showed up. Hayden, Alex and I had all thought she was dead. I even thought about her when we passed Elysium, thinking she'd be there. But now she was here, helping us defeat the monsters. Was she able to help because she got out of Elysium to help us? Or was she actually alive and survived the empusae? I didn't have time to think deeper into this. I cut off the head of a dracanae. I stabbed a Cyclops in the stomach. Then I heard something behind me, someone groaning. I whipped my head around and saw Asher starting to get up.
   
"No," I told him. "You are in no condition to fight. Rest."
   
But he just looked up at me with his intelligent gray eyes that were just like mine. "Let me do this. And if I die trying, at least it won't be in vain." I wanted to argue that it would be in vain because our whole quest was to find Asher and bring him back to Camp Half Blood, but he stood up and brandished his sword. "Go. Help your friends. I'll defend myself." I didn't want to leave him alone, but I rushed to the midst of the fight. It looked like the monsters were starting to get outnumbered. I noticed some of the monsters starting to reform, but Veronica just kicked away the remains and scattered them. Then one of the Hunters, possibly a daughter of Zeus, created a breeze and blew the dust into the River Styx. They were almost gone. Even the Laistrygonian was nowhere in sight. That was until I noticed that we had one enemy left: a giant that was almost as tall as Hades' palace. And he was heading toward Asher.
   
"You won't win that easily, half-bloods," he announced. "You have come here for nothing." He was now only a few feet away from Asher, who was now standing up on his own two feet. We all tried to rush toward him, but we were stopped by an invisible wall.
   
"What the heck is this?" Amelie questioned.
   
I was also confused at why there was an invisible wall, until an explanation came to me. "His mistress," I stated. "She's making sure we don't stop him. We can't do anything." I was very disappointed to say this. I didn't want to just stand here as I watched Asher try to fend off the giant.
   
"Puny demigod," the giant said. "I am Tityos, son of Elara and Zeus. I was slain by those wretched twins: Artemis and Apollo," Hayden looked uncomfortable at the mention of his dad. "And now I want revenge. Are any of their children here, so I can slaughter them?" I was afraid he'd turn around and find Hayden, until Veronica put her beanie on his head, and he turned invisible. Then I thought he'd notice the Hunters, until Cecilia used the Mist to cover the rest of us. "Never mind, I see none. Instead, I shall kill you."
   
"Don't!" he yelled. "You don't want to kill me, and here's why-"
   
"Your wits won't help you out of this, son of Athena," Tityos stated. "Any last words before you die?" I could only hope that Asher was thinking of a plan, and thankfully, he was. When Tityos wasn't paying attention, Asher swung his sword and managed to cut the giant's heel, but the sword got stuck in the heel. Tityos fell to the ground, apparently hurt. I didn't think that a cut like that would hurt a giant that much, but apparently it did.
   
He turned to us and smiled, obviously proud that he had injured the giant. We all clapped, but we were cut off when Asher's eyes widened and he stopped breathing for a moment. He fell to the ground and rolled over. There was a lot of blood coming out of his back. The giant Tityos stood up, Asher's sword in between his thumb and index finger, Asher's blood coating his own sword.
   
Tityos smiled evilly. "Until we meet again, half-bloods." And then he vanished into thin air. I tried again to run to Asher, and this time it worked. Loads of blood was now leaking from where Tityos stabbed him. I tried to get him to sit up, but he just winced and laid back down.
   
"Cecilia!" I yelled. Everyone had gathered around Asher by now, and Hayden was no longer invisible. "Can you heal him?"