Second Chances

Chapter 14 - Reinforcements

(Jace's P.O.V.)

"Argh! You stupid hag!" Kat screamed from one of the back corridors.

"Now, I'm sure she doesn't really mean that. Do you? You're only frustrated, isn't that right?" Brian tried to mediate much to the amusment of the majority of the court present.

Brock was trying to not laugh, which was causing somewhat of a rippling effect among a few others.

"Did she just call me a hag?" Theia's eyes seemed to be catching fire as he glared at Hana with a bugged out sort of expression.

"Well, you're both a bit on edge lately.." Hana was unsucessfully trying to negotiate Theia's mood back to earth when Kat fired a new insult of rage.

"Stay out of this, you creepy cat-lady."

Hana stood there in shocked amazement at the flared outburst aimed at her attempt of assistance.

"I'll show you cat-lady! I'll make it so you're a permanent widow, with cats as the only company for eternity!"

The small group in the meeting room consisted of Theia, Kat, Hana, Brock, Brian, Artyom and myself. All three girls were in a heated discussion over the latest mission Theia had devised. Poor Brian looked absolutely stunned as he braced against the wall.

"Permanent... widow..." were all he could seem to stumble out from his lips.

"Oh really, the death will only hurt for a moment." Theia said with a eerily disarming grin, that both screamed sadistic and seductress.

"Why do I have to be punished for her bad mouth?"

Brian's mouth clamped back shut as Kat shot him an equally murderous glare.

"Pick a side, you idget!" Kat shrieked the poor tan skinned behemoth, causing him to visibly sigh and throw up both hands as if giving up.

"Kathryn, please. Enough."

Brian stepped in front of the girl, his partner, trying to hold back either side from killng one another.

"Only because I like you, and you're a bit useful, I won't throw anybody from the mountain cliffs today." Theia gave a slight wink to Brian as she said this, causing Kat to stomp her foot in frustration at the statement and squeak out a stiffled yell, as Brian clamped a hand over her mouth in time.

"Alright then... here is how things are going to work." Theia was cut off as Brian yelped, holding a bloody hand from around the thumb.

"You freakin' bit me!" Brian's curses were cut off by Hana who gently gripped Kat by the shoulders.

"You really should stop, this has gone far enough between both of you." Hana was trying to settle down the entire situation as Brock made a small gesture of help.

"As amusing as this all really is, we can't waste to much time trying to kill each other."

Hana kept Kat near the far side of the room with Artyom and myself, as Theia just smirked proudly and delivered the message that was so important and was causing such a fuss.

"Brian, you need to lead a small group to go claim our prize. The group has already been decided upon as well. Artyom, Jace and Sam will accompany you."

This caused a final scream of horror from Kat, no doubt what the inital fight had been about.

"You aren't going to let him head out without me!"

Theia laughed like an evil queen with a diabolical plan being set in motion.

"Are you jealous that you have to take a back seat? Too bad, you don't fit into the plans for this and much as it pains me to watch you burn in such a rage.. well, it makes me so happy."

Everyone in the room looked back and forth between the two girls, waiting to see who would strike next.

"Honestly, I don't like you. I so wish I could just strangle you and be done with it but since I can't, this is the next best alternative. I can't understand what he sees in you, so this is my way of giving you time apart." Theia pronounced smugly to Kat before scanning the room for any objections.

Kat turned to walk out of the room, briefly stopping to address Brian before he prepared to leave.

"Just humour her. I'll be here waiting for you when you get back."

Brian tried to walk to catch up with Kat, but she shrugged him off and kept going. Most the others slowly trickled back to their own sections, but Hana and Brian stayed behind with Theia.

I went and got my gear together and after a couple minutes of preparing heading back through the winding corridors. I stopped as I happened to overhear Kat, Cassie and Brian all quietly arguing.

"I try to stay calm, I really do, but she just really upsets me. She's nothing but a shiny, blithering idget." Kat said as I rested against the wall to listen in.

"Please, can you promise me that you'll try and behave until I get back?"

Brian's voice sounded slightly cracked and strained as Cassie piped in her advice.

"Maybe I can help keeping you company so you don't get overly lonely or anything. Artyom is leaving too, so maybe us spending extra time together will help with the worrying some."

The room seemed overly silent for a few moments, causing me to peak around the wall to see Artyom whispering to Cassie in the back corner and Brian planting a kiss on Kat's forehead.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure we get back before you know it."

Kat started to laugh at the remark, as she added her own.

"Worry? Me? You only screw up every single effing plan you get your hands on. Nope, I'm not worried at all."

They both laughed as I heard them starting down my direction, making me quickly have to duck down the next corridor and literally run into Sam.

"There you are," Artyom called as he grinned at the both of us, sprawled out on the floor from out collision.

"It's no time to be lying around, we've got work to do."

I got up and dusted myself off as the four of us walked and talked.

"The idea is simple enough, we just introduce ourselves with the proper parentage," Brian announced as if it were the easiest task in the world.

"Artyom is a son of Apollo; Sam is a daughter of Demeter; Jace is a son of Hermes."

There was a simple thought that crossed my mind that I couldn't hold back.

"Brian, what of your parent?" He just c****d his head slightly and smiled. "Don't worry 'bout that triffle, I've got it covered."

He paused as we reached the palace gates.

"It seems our rides have arrived, what impeccable timing."

He motioned for us to follow, but Artyom caught my sleeve first.

"You better start coming up with a backup plan. Kronos knows this'll go horribly wrong."

(Thalia's P.O.V.)

There was no early morning attack with the rising sun today, as I creaked out of bed and glanced at the exhausted Percy next to me. He looked so peaceful but he was taking a physical and emotional buildup lately and I knew that an extra rest would benefit him.

After getting dressed I stepped outside into the crisp northern air, enjoying the taste and smell that I was so used to from mornings on the hunt. I trudged over to the meeting tent where I was greeted by Tyson, Nico, Chiron, Fumio, Reed, Annabeth and Clarisse.

"Wow, seems we got a full party today." I said with a smile as everyone seemed in the best moods since we had arrived, not that I could blame them.

Ever since we reached Troy, nothing has really gone in our favor and last night was a such a pleasant and tide-turning surprise.

"This is what we're still up against." Fumio started in once all the pleasantries had been dealt with. "Besides the Trojans, we still have to face the Dardans which are led by Aeneas. Aside from them, the only real threat left is the Lycians and their cavalry. They are hopefully licking their wounds from our reinforcements arriving and I think now would be the best time to make a real attack on the city."

His tactical knowledge was very good, which just made me glare from across the table at him. I didn't hate him at all, but this was a more of a rivalry than anything else with Fumio.

Annabeth had a slight alteration to the plan that she wanted to point out.

"I think it would be best to show them our brute force. The undead, cyclopes, centaurs and satyrs should be our main attacking force."

Chiron just nodded as she kept going on with her idea.

"They are much fresher and I think it would serve much better for the Trojans to see how imposing they can be. They've surely gotten used to how the Knights and ourselves fight by now. Mixing it up would be in our benefit."

I knew how much pressure and stress had been on the Knights since before we even arrived and if they were are exhausted as Percy, then they truly needed a slight pause.

"I will lend archery support with the Hunters, along with the demigods." I looked directly at Fumio and Reed before adding. "You need to rest the Knights, we can't keep pooling everything we have into such large attacks. We are still sorely outnumbered here, something I know Percy would think through."

We finally all agreed on the tactics and formations as Percy stumbled half-asleep into the command tent. This caused a few snickers, both from his still bedtime appearance and the horrible mess he looked.

"Percy, you should get back to sleep and rest." I grabbed his shoulders, making him look at me with bleary eyes.

"There is more fighting to do." He slurred out through cracked and bloodied lips.

I apologized to the makeshift council and swatted Percy on the butt, ushering him back out of the tent.

"I'm putting you back to bed, whether you like it or not." I scolded him in a playful tone as I kept prodding his backside to get him going in the path I needed.

As he hesitated to walk back into our tent, I gave him a gentle zap of electricity to shoot him to the bed in a rush.

"I'm going, I'm going." He pleaded at me, rubbing his lower back vainly as he crawled back into bed.

"I don't wanna hear that you were up and about until at least lunchtime." I warned him as I walked out, heading to gather the Hunters.

(Cassidy's P.O.V.)

Thalia was having us, the Hunters, hold back along with the majority of the demigod campers for archery support. Tyson was leading the cyclopes and skeleton forces alongside Chiron with the centaurs. This was the most numbers we had since arriving and our current group was lacking the full force of the Knights and the more warlike cabins, such as Ares. We had all taken our positions and quietly awaited for any sign of life from within Troy, which proved to end up being quite a boring wait.

After waiting for what seemed to take all day but was close to a few hours at most, our poured a small contingent of Trojan forces. The Pelasgians came out first, followed by the Lycians and the Idaeans. It wasn't a very large force but they were highly skilled and we had barely inflicted real harm to those forces still. The two armies began to clash in their usual violent dance but the tide of battle was easily on our side from the start.

I stood amazed at the ease with which the cyclopes and centaurs decimated the remaining Pelasgians and battered away on the formidable Lycian cavalry. We were once again driving back the Trojan horde with relative ease. At a slow and methodical pace, much to Chiron's liking, our army pushed the Trojans back closer to their walls. The losses kept piling up against them as the sun toiled higher into the sky and began it's luminous desent into the dusk.

It was at this moment, the Trojans pervceived darkest hour in our brief battles that a horn blasted from both the north and east. I saw Thalia slightly pale as she silently cursed to herself.

"Brace yourselves, Hunters, the reinforcements are coming."

I knew from her statement who it was, recalling on my memories of the Iliad. The Trojan reinforcements had to be the Aethiopians and the Thracians, two very large sized armies by themselves.

The two assaulting waves comprised what had to be around 10,000 soldiers as the smashed our forces like the waves breaking against the shore. Initially the skeletons took the brunt of the first wave, but this was quickly followed as some centaurs and cyclopes took the second wave and buckled.

Having spent the majority of the day waiting and then fighting, a very large batch of fresh troops was enough to drive back our forces at a rather quick pace. With the amount of men that could be thrown at our army in seemingly endless attack waves, Tyson and his brothers were driven further away from the walls of Troy with each passing moment.

"Demigods, incoming!" Thalia shouted towards Tyson and Nico, who both glance back in time to see four ragged looking teens approaching from the west.

Nico had rushed over to where we were, the demigods with him trailing behind by a small distance, as he asked as he got near.

"Is it just me, or is there a storm following them."

We all were staring at the intruders and the dark gray clouds that seemed to be following them, and by all I mean us and the armies of Troy. There was a red headed girl and two boys both with darker colored hair, though one seemed to have hair more reddish in color than the other. Then I saw the much larger boy behind the three with his arms stretched out wide as if he were holding something back.

"Is he.. is he holding back the clouds?" Nico said in a mixture of amazement and confusion.

Chiron had clopped up nearby Nico and Thalia, watching the foursome intently. The girl was carrying a spear, while the pale boy had a bow with an arrow ready to fire and the other boy in front had a dagger leisurely held in his right hand.

My attention was drawn suddenly to the boy in back as he swung his arms foward, making his hands meet together in a thunderous clapping sound. Moments later a tremendous gust of wind swept over the plains and threatened to sweep many of us off our feet.

"Archers.. fire!" Pandarus screeched after the silencing calm that followed the odd wind trick the newcomers imployed.

I watched as a large volley of arrows started to descend on the four, but once again the big one in the back clapped his hands together and a blast of wind hit the volley, dropping the arrows harmlessly into the earth.

"Di immortales." Thalia cursed rather loudly as we just stared in a bit of shock, watching the group walk into the enemy fray.

The boy with the dagger appeared to catch fire as he viciously sliced through the Trojan allies, carving a path of melted bodies. The male archer started firing off countless arrows, dropping the enemy like helpless flies. He had a skill and precision that would put some of our best Hunters to the test. The girl was next and she used her spear like a beautiful dance of death, wasting little movement as she dispatched her opponents with never more than two blows. The wind clapping boy had finally drawn a japanses style sword, a Kodashi, if memory served me correctly. He effortlessly cut his way through dozens of soldiers, each of the four were incredibly impressive and terrifying at the same time.

"Prepare the first volley!" It was Lieutenant Han calling from the far side of our forces.

His announcement snapped the majority of our gawking army back to reality, back to our battle.

"Hunters, prepare to fire." Thalia snapped with a new burning desire to end the struggle with the former dead.

"Fall back! Return inside the walls!" Pandarus began calling out orders as the army of Troy began a full scale retreat at the newest swing in the battle's tide, which was starting to play out like a seesaw struggle.

Before Pandarus could make his own escape back to the high walled safety of Troy an arrow nicked his shoulder, causing him to scowl at the pale archer. This was all the opportunity Thalia needed though, as the distraction allowed her to imbed her arrow right into Pandarus's head. He fell to the ground limply, which started a panic of the men around him and more hasty retreat from the Trojans.

(Percy's P.O.V.)

I was a bit of a stressful afternoon, having to watch from the hilltop of our camp at the ongoing skirmishes on the plains stretched out in front of me. I had gone back to await the others in our command tent, after seeing the Trojans turn tail upon Pandarus's death. Thalia, Tyson and the others finally arrived at the tent, bringing with them a small group of new arrivals.

Thalia went over brief introductions of the three newcomers to everyone present. Jace, the pale boy with dark brown hair and proclaimed son of Hermes. Artyom, the auburn haired boy and proclaimed son of Apollo. Sam, the only girl who had red hair and was a good half a foot shorter than both boys, who was a proclaimed son of Demeter.

Chiron looked uncomfortable as the three introduced themselves as the teens finished introducing themselves, and he asked a puzzling question to them in turn.

"If I'm not mistaken, there was a much larger and older boy with you. What happened to your companion?"

The three seemed slightly nervous at the inquiry but the one called Jace smiled sheepishly and answered.

"He doesn't like big groups or introductions, so he went to go walk to the river and think. He's not very fond of war or battle much."

Chiron nodded in understanding but didn't completely seem to buy the story, though he didn't voice any further concerns. I took this opportunity to congratulate everyone.

"In light of the additional forces the Trojans gained, we still managed to deal a heavy blow once again to them. The loss of Pandarus is a great victory and bring us one step closer to their defeat, sooner rather than later.”

I paused slightly, glancing around the room at the new trio before continuing.

“I also appreciate you're help a great deal and I'm sure everyone here would agree that we would love to have your further support in the battles to come. Nico can show you to tents where you can stay at for the time being.”

This gesture earned me a hateful glare from my younger cousin, but I shrugged it off as our group started to disperse.

Chiron called for Thalia and myself to hang back after everyone else had cleared out, the two of them sharing troubled glances.

“What's up you two? Is something the matter?”

Chiron cleared his throat and spoke very softly as I felt Thalia's hand slip into mine lightly. “Yes, there actually is, Percy. I'm fairly confident that the group leader, the one absent from our little meeting, is the son of a Titan.”

I could feel the blood draining out of my face as I froze like a statue.

“Do you mean, as in Demititan?” I asked, fearing what the answer would be.

Thalia made me turn and look into her eyes, as she slightly gulped before forcing a smile.

“Chiron thinks that all four of them might be Demititans. There is no way to confirm it yet but the way Artyom and the other, who they said was called Brian fight, it's almost certain those two are Demititans.”

I wasn't exactly sure if this news would be good or bad for us in the long run. I mean, Zoe and Calypso both were children of Titans and they weren't evil or anything. I still sighed as Chiron ushered Thalia and me to get some rest, it was getting pretty late by now after all. With those discomforting thoughts, we both agreed and ended the rather nerve racking day.