The Adventures of Thalia and Reyna: A Hunters of Artemis Tale

Chapter 4

Reyna’s P.O.V

     Sky transformed into a bird of prey with golden-brown feathers to search ahead.  It didn’t seem freakish, just a natural thing she did everyday.  According to Sky, the portal let out just outside Lansing, Michigan's capital.  
   
“Alright Mia, whenever you’re ready,” Thalia said.  Reyna was confused.  Shouldn’t they get a map or something?  They had to find a small town, and they could be miles away from it.    

Mia just nodded at her lieutenant, and lifted a beaded cord from around her neck, her compass hanging from the end.  It was as big as the palm of her hand, like one of those old fashioned watches on a chain.  She started to walk toward a nearby road and the other girls followed her.  

“Umm, Thalia?  What’s going on?  Are we getting a bearing?”  Reyna asked, her greyhounds trailing behind her.  The wolves ran ahead of Mia.  

“Mia’s compass is magical!”  Sky raised her arms in exaggeration.  

“You mean like in Pirates of the Carribean?”  

“What’s Pirates of the Carribean?”  

Thalia put an arm around her.  “No Reyna.  Mia’s compass points to the other hunters.  We need Lani to navigate and know where we are, but if we ever get separated from each other, Mia’s compass will tell where the other hunter’s are.” 

“Why just the other hunters?  Is it a spell?”

“No, the compass points to someone you care for.  Someone you need to find.  Not a place, just people.  It actually depends on the person who is holding it.  It will point to whoever you think of at that moment, as long as they are in the world of the living.”

Reyna shuddered at that last bit.  “We should get something to drive in,”  she said.  “It could be a long walk, looks like we are heading east.”  

Thalia smirked and her eyes lit up with mischief.  Lani frowned at her.  “Not again Thalia.  We can’t.  Don’t you remember what happened last time?”

“Last time?”  Reyna inquired.  If it was possible, Thalia’s smirk grew wider, and Lani looked like she was trying to prevent her from bungee jumping off of a mountain.  Sky and Daria started to jump up and down excitedly while Mia just rolled her eyes with a small smile on her face.  

“Sorry Lani,”  Thalia patted Lani on the back.  “Don’t worry, you can ride with me!”  Lani's face paled and she smacked herself on the forehead.  

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Whenever the hunters came to visit the camps, it had never occurred to Reyna that they would be the type of women to go to a roadside restaurant and steal three motorcycles.  Apparently Thalia is full of surprises.  

Long story short, she was currently riding a black Harley with a very smiley Daria sitting behind her.  Mia led the way, her face concentrated on her compass while Sky drove.  The two of them didn’t seem like the type of people who would get along, but Mia didn’t seem bothered at all by Sky’s enthusiasm or terrible motorcycling skills.  Poor Lani clung to Thalia for dear life while Thalia blared “Born Free” by Kid Rock over her radio.  

Somehow their wolf companions followed them.  They were running through the trees.  When she questioned Thalia, she just said, "They're immortal too."  So she just went with it.  

They rode the M-69 highway through Flint, to Imlay City.  Then Mia turned them into M-53 where they rode all the way up to Bad-Axe.  They passed  many small towns, and big green trees.  In some places, farmland spread through wide open fields, with white-tailed deer grazing just through the treeline.  Thank the Gods, the drive with traffic only took them about three hours.  If only they could just poof themselves anywhere they wanted like other immortals, but Reyna figured even some immortals had limits to their abilities.  Besides, if they did that, they couldn’t appreciate the journey.   

The girls parked the motorcycles on the side of the road to make it easier for their owners to locate them.  

“We are getting close,” Mia said.  “They should be just through those trees.”  Mia led them past a gas station and into a dense forest.  Maple trees hid the sun’s light in their canopies, and shadows danced on the forest floor.  

“It’s really quiet in here.  Do you hear any birds?”  Thalia looked nervous, and Sky’s eyes searched around in different directions.  Daria had her hand on her sword hilt.  The wolves, who had followed them from Lansing, flattened their ears.  They started to whine and ran ahead of the group.  Reyna’s greyhounds stayed by her side.  

“Luna, wait!  Where are you going?”  Thalia and the girls ran after the wolves and into a small hollow.  Reyna gasped.  Something awful had happened here.  The other hunters were definitely here, but they were gone now.  

Silver tents were ripped apart.  Arrows were stuck in the rickety maples, and broken bows littered the hollow.  A few hunting falcons and timber wolves lay dead on the ground, their feathers and fur scattered.  The earth was torn with claw marks and footprints, and specks of blood dotted the soil.  A battle had occurred here, and a deadly one at that.  

No one spoke, for they all feared the very worst.  Mia picked up a broken arrow and looked at it solemnly in her palm.  Daria had tears in her eyes.  She crouched down and picked up a broken bow and held it against her forehead.  Their wolves circled the dead wolves on the ground, whining and nuzzling them with their snouts.  

Reyna grabbed Thalia’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly.  She nodded at her gratefully and straightened her back.  

“Alright girls.  I know this is hard, but we have to figure this out.  Mia, look for any clues you can find about who they may have been fighting.  Daria and Reyna, I want you to bury the wolves and falcons, give them a proper farewell.  Sky, search the perimeter.  Lani, you and I will search for anyone that may be left behind.  It’s going to be okay.”  Thalia held out her arms and the girls gave her a group hug.  Reyna smiled.  The hunters call each other sisters and that’s exactly how they act.  

Reyna and Daria found some shovels in the main camp’s supply tent and buried the wolves and falcons.  They marked the graves with stones, and placed wildflowers on the dirt.  Reyna noticed Daria start to carve something on a nearby tree, but she couldn’t make out what it meant.  Mia walked into the hollow with something in her hand.  

“Lycaon,” she said grimly.  She held a huge canine tooth in her hand that was way too big to be from one of the hunter’s timber wolves.  Reyna’s blood went cold.  Lycaon was the first werewolf, turned into one by Zeus.  He called himself king of the wolves.  The hunter’s and Reyna had fought him before in the war with Gaea.  He had also worked for Artemis’s current greatest enemy, Orion, who had killed many of her hunters.  Lycaon had not been seen since the fight in Portugal, when he had been injured with a silver knife by Nico Di-Angelo.  

Lycaon hated The Hunters of Artemis because they always thwarted his plans.  Somehow, he must have survived and was out for revenge.  

“We have to tell Thalia!”  Reyna started to run to go find her lieutenant, but Thalia and Lani stumbled into the hollow, each carrying the ends of a tarp that had probably been a tent once.  

“We have a hunter down!  Someone go try to find the healing tent and get some supplies!”  Thalia ordered.  Daria and Mia split off into different directions to look for the tent.  Reyna peered into the tarp to see a very injured girl.  She wore the normal silver camo of a hunter.  Her curly, light brown hair was in a ponytail.  She was bleeding badly on her side.  It looked as though she was bitten by something.  Something big.