Annabeth Chase and the Battle of the Labyrinth

Chapter 45 - Grover's screams are horrible

The whole camp was assembled in the clearing below Zeus' Fist, dressed in full Greek armour and bristling with weapons. Ares cabin, as the physically strongest group of warriors, were formed up as a phalanx in the centre of the clearing, Clarisse parading before them with Maimer in hand. Between them and the entrance to the Labyrinth was a massive variety of traps, from razor wire to pits of Greek fire. Seeing that the campers of Hephaestus cabin were crawling over them, making them bigger and stronger, it wasn't hard to guess who was responsible for their creation. Surrounding it all was a row of archers from both the Hermes and Apollo cabins, some of them even in the trees, all with bows ready and eyes fixed on the entrance. Around them stood a ragtag group of dryads and satyrs, most of them clutching cudgels and wooden shields. Even the Aphrodite cabin were trying to make themselves useful by tightening armour, polishing swords and offering to comb everyone's helmet plumes. 

I spotted a familiar grey tent set up at the edge of the clearing, a banner with an owl on it flying proudly above it. Argus standing as a guard outside of it nodded to me as I left Chiron and Percy and hurried to it. The command tent was full of my siblings when I burst into it, all fully dressed for battle and their arms full of orders and plans. Malcom looked up at me from the centre of all the chaos, his eyes betraying his relief at my appearance. 

"Fill me in," I said after giving him a quick hug. 

One of my other siblings quickly handed me a sword, which I strapped to my belt as I listened to Malcom. 

"No godly assistance, not even Mr D," he began, which I suspected. Gods weren't meant to intervene in demigod battles. It wouldn't do to have any favouritism. "No backup at all that we're aware of. It's just us against them."

I nodded. I'd doubted that we'd suddenly been able to recruit more in the week or so I'd been away. "And our defences?"

"The traps that we've placed at the entrance should slow them down, as well as the archers surrounding the kill zone. Our main force is the Ares cabin. We plan to use them to pin the force so the rest of us can flank them while the archers try to narrow their numbers down. Cabins like us and Hephaestus are being held in reserve, ready to be sent forward to fill any holes that emerge."

I nodded again. It was as solid a plan as we were going to get. There wasn't anything I would have done differently. 

"We hold them here, or we die as heroes," I declared, raising my voice so all my siblings could hear me. "For Athena!"

A cheer rose up around me as my siblings punched their fists in the air. I felt a swell of pride as I gazed around at how determined and fearless my siblings were; how willing they were to fight for our mother. I couldn't ask for better friends. 

A trembling put a stop to our cheering as the ground below us began to shake, papers falling off the tables onto the ground and even the tent shaking. 

I rushed outside just as Zeus's Fist exploded and a dozen Laistrygonians burst out of the Labyrinth. The battle had begun. 

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Immediately, everything went wrong, as usual. The giants were armed with car doors as shields and tree trunks with rusted spikes, but also wore thick armour with not many chinks available for our archers. They started launching volleys at them, but most of the arrows either bounced off the armour or got stuck in it. Only a few managed to find gaps and succeeded in evaporating the giants. 

Even as Clarisse screamed "Lock shields!" one of the giants slammed its club into the phalanx and sent the whole cabin flying. 

"Fire!" Beckendorf bellowed. The catapults were loosed and the boulders launched. One was deflected by a car door shield, but another hit a giant right in the chest, bowling him over. Recovering Ares warriors quickly began to attack the disorientated giants. Tyson charged one of them, managed to rip its shield away and began beating the giant with it.