Buried Treasure

Chapter Twenty Two

Annabeth
fell
And
fell
And
fell...

....Until she hit the ground of stone and gasped. The guard on the platform holding the sword which had sliced through her rope, faced off with the hangman. Each of his sword movements was not graceful, like a Kings guard, but fierce and sharp, like a pirate. Annabeth caught a glimpse of black hair under the guards hat. Somewhere during the fight, a pair of green eyes flashed. Percy.

Under the hanging post Annabeth was struggling to breath as the still tight noose was hugging her neck when she saw chaos break out in the ground. Men in hats and cloaks pushed through the crowd to them. Panic ceased her body when she felt one grab at her and the noose. The roped around her hands was cut and the noose was snipped off her neck allowing her to breath. She gasped and forced air into her lungs. "We can't loose our captain." Under the hat was Jason. Under all the hats and cloaks were the crew of the Argo ll and they had weapons, not afraid to fight. She had never been more happy to see her crew in her life.

Towns people had run in fear when the fighting had begun but the Kings guards charged at it. "I believe this is yours." Jason held out her dagger. With a quick grab and help up they ran into battle. Annabeth caught sight of her father running into the castle. Annabeth took off weaving through swords and arrows toward the king. Jason called after her but it was no use she was gone. Percy looks up and managed to catch a glimpse of Annabeth before she went inside. With a swift kick to the gut, Percy sent the hang man flying over the post. He took off after his captain.

Annabeth took the stairs two at a time chasing after her father who he escaped inside the castle. She knew where he would go. In her hand, her trusty dagger, already blood stained from the guards she had taken out at the door. She felt like she was flying at the speed she was going when she was slammed into the hard wall of the castle. She hit the wall with a bone breaking thud and crumple to the ground dropping her dagger. The guard stood over her, his sword raised to slice her in two. In one fluid arc the sword came down.

Annabeth must have closed her eyes because she didn't even see the other guard step in front of her. She only heard the clash of steel on steel. And very familiar voice say "that's not very nice" before Percy punched the guard hard in the face. Hard enough to send him stumbling back and collapse unconscious. Annabeth opened her eyes to see Percy, still in a guard uniform, holding out his hand to her. "Milady." He gave her one of his famous grins. Annabeth couldn't help but smile. "My hero." She got to her feet.

"You'll be needing more than that captain." He looks at her dagger and hands her the fallen guards sword. She takes it and looks at Percy. He gave her a knowing look. "Let's end this." They took off together down the halls to the throne room. Annabeth knew the king would never escape to his chambers but to the throne room. The amount of her father's pride was sickening. They stopped at the corner to see guards posted at the doors. 4 of them against two of us. Percy had slipped his hand into hers and gave it a final squeeze. This was it. No turning back now.

They attacked. Annabeth hated Killing unless it was absolutely necessary. Percy took the two on the left and Annabeth two on the right. She swung her blade and dagger left and right. She managed to stab one and slammed the others head against the wall. They both crumpled to the ground as did Percy's guards. They looked at the doors. "Together." Percy said. "Together." She agreed and they pushed open the doors.