Banished

11

Artemis PoV

I woke up late in the morning with a hint of warmth lingering in the spot beside me on the bed.

The thick fur blanket seemed to have been pulled up to cover my chest, and I noticed a slip of paper on the small table next to my bed.

It was a note from Percy. The note explained that he had been called back to Olympus for a meeting early in the morning and he hadn't wanted to wake me. It also said that breakfast was in my fridge and he would make it up to me later.

I smiled softly and went to the bathroom to prepare for the day.

Once I was done in the bathroom, I checked the fridge to find a full meal with eggs, bacon, vegetables, sausage, and toast. Best of all, it was hot.

I didn't understand how it was hot if it had been in the fridge, but I was in no way complaining.

After finishing up my breakfast, I noticed a movement outside of my tent.

Coming to the realization that I hadn't moved my camp in a few days and there could very well be monsters preparing to attack me, I grabbed my bow, quiver, and dagger.

When I was in the city, I bought better weapons. I had to keep the arrowheads because I couldn't just go in and purchase monster-slaying arrows from a mortal store.

I pressed a small button on the zipper as stepped out of the tent and pocketed the cube it had folded into.

There was a loud roar from behind me and I pulled out my dagger as I turned to face the source of the noise.

Of course, with my luck, the monster who had found me just so happened to be the Nemean Lion.

Fantastic.

With my bag secured over my shoulders, I sprinted to the nearest tree and scaled it faster than I had in a long time.

I felt a burning sensation in my arm and found that there was a deep gash along with it. I pulled a bandage out of my bag and wrapped it around my arm as a temporary fix.

Apparently, while I scaled the tree to avoid the lion, I sliced my arm open on a particularly sharp branch.

Being mortal sucked. I sheathed my dagger, pulled out my bow, and grabbed a celestial bronze tipped
arrow from my quiver.

My plan was to wait until it roared so I could puncture its throat.

When the monster did roar, the sound was louder and more powerful than I remembered.

It startled me and made the trees shake. Birds flew away and I almost fell out of the tree.

Blood had begun to seep through the bandage on my arm and I broke into a cold sweat.

The monster began to open its mouth again, and this time I was ready.

I nocked the arrow, pulled it taut, and aimed dead centre of where its mouth would open.

When the nearly invincible lion let out another mighty roar, I released the arrow.

The lion choked and stumbled for a few moments before it hit the ground, dead.

It dissolved into yellow dust and left its indestructible coat shimmering on the ground.

Slowly and much more painfully, I made my way to the ground.

I walked over to where the monster had died and picked up the coat with my good arm, stuffing it in my bag.

At this point, my bandage was almost completely soaked through and I was almost certain monsters and other such predators could smell my blood.

I unsheathed my dagger to have it at the ready in case a monster attacked while I was moving my camp.

I made it another three and a half miles before I became completely disoriented.

Fumbling, I grabbed the small cube in my pocket and threw it to the ground.

I felt myself begin to collapse but never hit the ground.