Perseus the Hunter

Chapter 8

Kynigós kept his distance but decided not to be as hidden as before, now that they knew he was there. However, no one seemed to have found him yet. From his place in the treetops, he was able to watch over the camp as they went along with their day to day lives. He saw the head campers have their meeting after his reveal, still undecided as Dionysus was excluded from the meeting and was unable to speak about the gods' plan. He watched the training practices in the arena and winced at their technique and style, internally laughing when someone was unable to block an obvious hit. He watched in horror at the elder campers and their inability to teach the younger campers properly. If he could, he would have walked in and taken over their teachings. Just looking at the place made him relive his past, and when he remembered his past it reawakened memories of his torture and trials that his patrons didn't know about.

He looked away from the camp and sat down on his branch. He picked one of his throwing knives out of his belt and started playing with the blade. Watching it as he threw it up and caught it. A loud bang from inside the camp alerted him as he caught the blade and slipped it back in his belt. Standing up to see what was happening, hoping to see a camper had fallen off the wall. What he saw, however, made him sink a little inside from fear. Hestia was stood in the middle of Camp in her teenage form, clothed in her black battle attire and brandishing her flaming sword. Her hair was tied in a french plait and she had blood on her arms.

"KYNIGÓS!" She screamed, the campers were looking at her with shock and fear, the younger ones were cowering behind the others.

He rolled his eyes and vapour travelled in front of her. She wasn't shocked by his antics and instead her arm flew out and grabbed his clothing.

"You have been ignoring me!" Kynigós waited patiently for her rant to end. "I have had to do all of this by. my. self! Do you know how annoying it is?" He raised an eyebrow at her until he noticed some golden blood showing through her top. She was becoming weaker with every second but, she was too outraged to feel it.

Hestia

His voice took her off guard, it was so full of patience and worry. This sudden relief of emotions made her realise she was bleeding.

What on earth did you think you were doing? You know if it's bad you call me.

"Kynigós" her voice was weak and she suddenly dropped her sword and sunk into him. He could hear the Apollo campers rushing toward them with medical kits. He flew his hand out to stop them from coming any closer. They didn't listen. Rolling his eyes he closed them and concentrated.

STOP! His voice echoed through all of their heads with so much authority it made all of them freeze and some of them faint. The use of so many minds was draining and he stumbled but recovered quickly and knelt on the ground holding Hestia up with one arm and propping her on his other knee. With his free hand, he pulled up her t-shirt carefully, the golden ichor transferring onto his fingers. He saw a long gash along her stomach and placed his hand over the top, resting it slightly on her. Focusing his energy into her he managed to make his hand glow golden and start to heal her wound.

No one moved out of fear of the cloaked stranger. The Apollo campers stood in awe at his healing powers, even on a goddess. The ichor stopped flowing through his fingers and the wound closed up. It took so much of his energy he stayed knelt down with her across his knee. He couldn't even come to take his hand off her stomach as he tried to make his energy rejuvenate faster. Coming to the realisation it wasn't happening quick enough he moved his hand to his belt and pulled out a small round flask. Holding his head down he moved his mask and swallowed some of the liquid before replacing it. Dropping the empty flask on the floor and feeling his body reawaken. His energy levels skyrocketed and he watched as Hestia woke up.

She moved her head to the side and saw the flask, instantly knowing what it was. Her face moved into a frown once again. She lifted an arm and slapped him hard across the face. He didn't move but there was a crunching sound that made the campers wince. Her hand was broken. She was so shocked and started to look at him in a different way. Not noticing the glance he moved his hand to her's and held it as he healed her once again.

Sorry, I should have told you about that. She still didn't move her glance from his face, looking at him with so much pity and worry. He finally glanced at her and saw the look. His shoulders moved as he sighed.

"What happened?"

I think I should be asking that? How in Tartarus did this happen?

She looked to the side slightly out of shame, "I may or may not have gone after a mortal gang or something." She saw his eyes as they glared at her. "What?"

Are they all dead?

"Um..." She saw the look in his eye as he stood them both up. "No! No Kynigós! No. Leave them alone." He looked back at her.

They hurt you. His voice held a finality that she knew couldn't be persuaded. He let go of her waist and turned with clenched fists, covering himself in flames as he left.

"No!" Hestia leapt forward and landed on the floor where he once stood. She balled a fist and slammed it on the ground, making small cracks form. "Kynigós! Get back here! Now!" She slammed her fist down again making the cracks larger.

The campers that were still conscious followed Chiron over to the weeping goddess. She finally slumped onto the floor, picking up Kynigós's empty flask and clenching it tightly in her hand. He knows he shouldn't use this stuff, bad magic went into making it and bad consequences are the reward. She thought back to how she broke her hand on his face, that was new, or was it? They lost contact with him for a few months last year, anything could have happened to him.

This mental rant drained her and she came back to the present, looking at all the campers surrounding her. All wanting their questions answered. She sighed, This was going to be a long night.