Second Chances

Chapter 11 - Wasteland

(Thalia's P.O.V.)

Percy was rushing out of our tent at an ungodly early morning hour, the Knights on guard duty as Cassidy and Adara both burst in with crimson pasted faces and labored breaths. Adara was the first to break the girls worried expressions first. "Is something the matter? I've never seen Percy so... flustered." She asked me, causing a simple nod yes to her before I explained.

"I'm not sure if you've heard or not... but our guards reported that Chang has left camp alone, heading west and fully packed." Both of their flushed faces turned from the crimson shade of moments earlier to a pale facade. I knew what they wanted to ask but I was also curious as to the feeling that Cassidy was a Hunter now. "Neither of you would have any idea as to how that happened, would you?"

They both shook their heads no in unison. "Did he really leave?" Cassidy started in first. I nodded at her sympathetically but she just huffed in frustration at the sentiments. "He's such a useless jerk." She blurted out before apologizing profusely, to which I just smiled and noticed how her blush crept back across her cute face.

"So I take you that you've joined the Hunt now?" I asked while hoping to seem as friendly as possible for having a rather irritating start to the morning, though it was nothing that any girl was responsible for. Cassidy nodded at my question and I just smiled politely to her. "Why don't you go and talk to Elyssa in the Hunters tents." I said before turning my attention to Adara, but we were all interrupted by a cry from outside the tents. "The Trojans are attacking!"

(Reed's P.O.V.)

"The Trojans are attacking!" Came the cry one of the sentries stand watch at our camp borders. I quickly tried to check what time it was and noticed that the sun hadn't properly ever crested the horizon yet. Damn, those jerks are attacking before dawn. I cursed to myself at the terrible timing of the situation as I hurriedly got dressed and rushed frantically from the tent. The sight that was presented before me nearly floored me onto the rough grass beneath me.

The Mysian and Pelagsian spearman were all combined together and being led by the remants of the Ciconians, with Euphemus at the command. "By the gods... we might need a miracle to escape this." I cursed to myself lightly, as the gates of Troy opened up further to reveal even more soldiers piling out from within. Taking their places on their lowest wall ledge were the Idaeans led by that blasted Pandarus, but that wasn't all. The Lycian cavalry had also trotted out their full force of roughly 2,000 soldiers as well, and they had brought the Phyrgian cavalry as well.

I caught a guard running by and asked for what the believed enemy numbers were suspect to be. He trembled slightly as he mentally paled while attempting to make a full count. "Sir... we believe the enemy has at least 5,000 men coming our way..." I gulped back my hesitation and told him to immediately rouse all of the Knights without delay. Before he completely turned around ran to carry out his orders, he looked at me sadly. "Sir.. Lord Percy said that Lieutenant Chang has fled the camp, as of just early this morning."

Great, can it get any worse now. I cursed mentally but didn't break my focus as I had the guard finish his task. I headed towards the command tent to hopefully bump into Percy, Fumio or somebody else who would have a better idea to handle this unpleasant situation. It took me a few moments to reach the command tent and I was shocked at what I found there. Percy had the majority of the combined officers and lead campers, not quite in full battle armor, but still at the ready. While it wasn't quite nearly up to the standards of our captain, I was thorooughly impressed that he could react quickly enough to gather so much of the forces already.

"Alright everybody, we will use a similar formation as yesterday. The Hunters will take the western plains and the Rangers will take the eastern borders. The demigods will be lead by Nico along with his skeleton forces, and you will maintain the gaps and flanks as best possible. The Knights will be with me, bracing the middle of our forces for the bulk of the spearmen." Everyone nodded solemnly as we all headed towards the battlefield, this was going to be a long day.

(Elyssa's P.O.V.)

The Knights marched onto the field first, flying a sea green banner amidst their black armor and usual black flags. Thalia had us perched on a small ledge overlooking a good spot of the battle, giving us an optimal place to snipe the enemy with a barrage of arrows. My blood felt like it was going to boil over in antiicipation, as the Knights came within short range of the Trojan spearmen. Both forces were sizing each other up and from atop our perch it was sorely obvious that we were devastatingly outnumbered, even here with all our combined forces. Then, I saw from the far corner of the eastern edge what I thought was an arrow being fired, but soon realized it had been multiple arrows.

"Lady Thalia, look at the east." Sure enough, a hail of arrow had been fired from the Knight's Rangers, unleashing an arching black cloud that quickly descended on the incoming horde with an eerie grace. Their targets were the Phrygian cavalry ranks and I was a bit awed by the skill of the boys. Percy and the Knights charged into the throng of the enemy, which caused a terrible clanging of steel and metal that resounded through my head painfully. Thalia gave the signal and we let fly our arrows next, aiming from the regroup cavalry units, striking them with deadly effects.

I had plenty of time for the moment to watch the c*****e, as we readied our bows and awaited the next volley. Percy had the Knights tangled up nastily with the combined spearmen, while Nico had the skeletons and the demigods holding back the cavalries from being able to properly flank into the Knights. Over the next hour or so we loosened quite a few volleys worth of arrows, effectively crippling the Trojan cavalry for the time being. Our attention was finally drawn to the gates opening for the first time since that early morning, and the Trojans seemed to be trading out their cavalry for quite few infantry.

(Third Person P.O.V.)

The gates creaked open once more as the Lycian cavalry pulled back within safety, leaving the remaining Phyrgian cavalry still on the plains though. They were swapped out with the remaining Maeonian soldiers, who didn't nearly have such a demanding number but would gain a better advantage against the archers. It took a few moments of regrouping and falling back for the Trojans to adjust and begin to reengage the young heroes.

The Knight Elites bucked back against the new surge of reinforcements and the endless wave of spears and swords. As if simultaneously on cue, Thalia and Fumio both had their archers charge towards the rear of the Trojan battalions. The ranged demigod units, which were being led by Annabeth, took up the vacated ranged cover of the Hunters and Rangers. The Maeonians quickly crumbled beneath the power of the lethal cooperation of the archers, which saw their two commanders drop dead in the fray. The Lieutenant, Mesthles, was slain by Seiji and the Captain, Antiphus, was defeated by Tristen of the Hunters.

The Trojans were losing ground against the strength of the demigod forces, Percy and Nico both dishing out countless death to the crimson tide of enemies. Nico's stygian sword came crashing down on the Pelasgian lieutenant, Pylaeus, as sweat dripped in gobbed amounts from the son of Hades. The Elites of the Knights showed just how powerful they were, even with a new commander, as they played a beautiful dance of c*****e upon the Trojan front lines.

A sword swung blindly over Percy's head and he wasted no time in capitalizing on the opening, slaying Hipponous of the Pelasgians. It was just shortly after that Pedasus, Aesepus, and Ennomous of the Mysians were dispatched by Reed, Leon and Ciaran of the Knights. The battle was starting to drag onto into the late afternoon now, the Trojans being pushed back closer to the walls and putting the demigods within range of Pandarus and the Idaeans.

Pandarus saw his best opening and nocked an arrow that whizzed over the plains, aiming for the middle of the Knights. Thalia froze slightly as she watched the arrow zip overhead them and appear to head straight for Percy and Nico. In what seemed to be the last possible moment, a black arrow struck Pandarus' arrow directly from the side and derailed it from it's intended target. This however didn't disuade the Trojans from their target, as Euphemus hurled his long spear at the arrows intend course, nailing Percy in the right shoulder and knocking him to the ground with a loud thud.

Thalia roared in rage at the events, and from seeing Percy fall in the midst of combat. She quickly unleashed an arrow that struck Euphemus right in the neck, dropping him instantly onto the cool earth. The gate of Troy once again swung up, this time with much more haste as before as the Idaeans gave a relentless barrage of cover for the retreating armies. The Knights and demigods began collecting their dead and wounded, making their own path back to their encampment, carrying an unconscious Percy to the infirmary with many others.

(Thalia's P.O.V.)

The sun would be setting in just a short while and the plains were turning into their stained blood color as the light started to pale. I rushed through the crowd and past the many injured to the far corner of the infirmary tent, over to where Percy was being attended. "It sure does help being a god now.." He smiled as the golden ichor seeped from his right shoulder. "Our healers say that he'll be all good to go before nightfall, others won't be as lucky I'm afrraid though." I whipped around to see Fumio standing there all stoic like.

"Sometimes, you can forget that he's not a mortal anymore. A scare is still a scare, right?" I forced a smile as Percy munched on some ambrosia lightly, listening to Fumio and myself discuss the state of the camp. "So how bad are the casualties exactly?" I asked Fumio with a stern look as Nico walked up behind us to add to the reports. Not exactly a place I would the meeting for how bad the day went and Percy must have noticed that as he sat up out of the bed. "We shouldn't discuss this here, moral is shaky enough." We all nodded in agreement as I helped Percy into the command tent.

It was just the four of us, as Fumio started in first. "We've dealt many crippling blows to the Trojan forces, but we still have yet to encroach on their real ranks yet. We also suffered a good share of casualties from the Knights. We lost another young officer as well, Martyn Paolino." Percy sighed and looked at Nico next. "Uh, well... the Knights absorbed the most damage honestly today. Zack Emerson and Reggie Flanagan, both of Apollo were killed. As was Garret Holford of Dionysus, and Dwayne Lambert of Ares."

Percy nodded sadly as I gently rubbed his injured shoulder and squeezed his hand softly. "Go ahead and get the shrouds prepared for tonight. We can't let ourselves be continuously caught off guard like this, we might have fared better today than before, but this isn't a pace in our favor." Nico and Fumio both left the tent, allowing me to have Percy to myself for the first time today since being so violently awoken for war.

"Let's turn in for the night." I whispered to him softly, kissing his cheek and pulling him out of the tent. We nearly collided with Adara, who had a flustered look on her face as if something were wrong. "Oh.. Thalia, can we talk please?" She looked very worried by something as I nodded and she followed us into our tent.

"What is it that you need, Adara?" I looked at her with curiosity as the young girl fumbled around with the edge of her shirt. "I had a dream yesterday..." She said with a pained expression, making me glance at Percy for a moment with dread. "I dreamed that.. that Tajima was alive.. I think."

I sat back onto the bed in shock, my head dropping into my hands as I tugged at my hair in thought. "That's not really good news." I told the girl as I tried to form the best way to word the bad news. "If Tajima is alive, then that means the Trojans are indeed working for someone, and this whole war here could be just a big distraction." I stated flatly, hating hearing the words as they came out.

Percy rested his hand on my shoulder, smiling at Adara as he reassured the both of us. "Even if this is a big decoy, and things might get worse... we won't lose. Not here or to anyone else. Oh, and it's probably best not to mention this to anybody else." He kept smiling at Adara until she had finally left with a more relaxed look about her. He looked at me kindly, placing a gentle kiss on my lips. "Even if we do have more perils to brave, we will always do it together."

(Mystery Girl P.O.V.)

The sun was finally setting as I noticed the approaching form of a teenage boy. Usually, my family's farm wasn't used to visitors and it was rarely ones that travelled to us on foot. I couldn't help but gasp slightly at how tired and dead looking the boy appeared, and felt a small twinge of pain for his plight. He had dark brown hair and odd golden colored eyes, even despite the dirt and scrapes along his skin he was strikingly handsome.

"Where am I?" He asked in a half broken voice, through cracked and bleeding lips. "Western Idaho." I replied with a bit of a smirk, this was turning out to be an interesting day for me after all. "Do you have a name? Why are you on foot? You look like you've been through hell, do you want to rest for a little bit? Oh, where are my manners.. my name is Kyrene Bingham, pleasure to meet you." I giggled slightly as I tried to hide the adventure this could bring me.

"Ky...rene... pleasure." The boy said as if the words hurt him. "My name is... Chang."