Invisible ― Jason Grace

iii. war games

CAMILLA WASN'T KNOWN for her combat skills. She could hold her own well enough, but she always relied more on speed and agility rather than brute strength and strategy. Which was why she liked being on the attacking side of war games more than being on the defensive—though that didn't mean she necessarily liked war games in general.

Once they got out of camp, the Fifth Cohort formed two lines behind their centurions, Dakota and Gwen. They marched north, skirting the edge of the city, and headed to the Field of Mars—the largest, flattest part of the valley. The grass was cropped short by all the unicorns, bulls, and homeless fauns that grazed there. The engineers had built a stone fortress with an iron portcullis, guard towers, scorpion ballistae, water cannons, and no doubt many other nasty surprises for the defenders to use. 

"They did a good job today," Hazel noted. "That's bad for us." 

"Wait," Percy said. "You're telling me that fortress was built today?"

Camilla smiled at his awe. "Legionnaires are trained to build. If we had to, we could break down the entire camp and rebuild it somewhere else. It might take a few days, but we could do it." 

"Let's not," Percy said. "So you attack a different fort every night?" 

"Not every night," Frank said. "We have different training exercises. Sometimes death ball—um, which is like paint-ball, except with... you know, poison and acid and fire balls. Sometimes we do chariots and gladiator competitions, sometimes war games." 

Hazel pointed at the fort. "Somewhere inside, the First and Second Cohorts are keeping their banners. Our job is to get inside and capture them without getting slaughtered. We do that, we win." 

"Easy-peasy," Camilla said. 

Percy's eyes lit up. "Like capture-the-flag. I think I like capture-the-flag." 

Frank laughed. "Yeah, well... it's a lot harder than it sounds. We have to get past those scorpions and water cannons on the walls, fight through the inside of the fortress, find the banners, and defeat the guards, all while protecting our own banners and troops from capture. And our cohort is in competition with the other two attacking cohorts. We sort of work together, but not really. The cohort that captures the banners gets all the glory." 

Percy stumbled, trying to keep time with the left-right marching rhythm. "So why are we practicing this, anyway?" Percy asked. "Do you guys spend a lot of time laying siege to fortified cities?" 

"Teamwork," Hazel said. "Quick thinking. Tactics. Battle skills. You'd be surprised what you can learn in the war games."

"Like who will stab you in the back," Frank said. 

"Especially that," Camilla agreed. 

They marched to the center of the Field of Mars and formed ranks. The Third and Fourth Cohorts assembled as far as possible from the Fifth. The centurions for the attacking side gathered for a conference. In the sky above, Reyna circled on Scipio, ready to play referee. 

Half a dozen giant eagles flew in formation behind her—prepared for ambulance airlift duty if necessary. The only person not participating in the game was Nico, who'd climbed an observation tower about a hundred yards from the fort and would be watching with binoculars. 

Frank checked Percy's armor, though there wasn't a need—every strap was correct, every piece of armor adjusted properly.

"You did it right," Frank said in amazement. "Percy, you must've done war games before." 

"I don't know. Maybe." 

The only thing that wasn't regulation was Percy's glowing bronze sword—not Imperial gold, and not a gladius. The blade was leaf-shaped, and the writing on the hilt was Greek. Just looking at it made Camilla feel a little uneasy.