The Children of Water

Battling

Chapter 10- The Children of Water

The wall shot skyward. The rocks grew and stretched until they were solid and stood over 20 feet high. Ronny hit the rocks and bounced to the ground. Surprised and alarmed, Ronny sat on the ground. Nico scrambled to stand.

Behind Nico he turned to see Max and Jaimie pass out in sinc. Fear pulsed through him. Nico wouldn't let Ronny die. He unsheathed his sword and got in a stance. Silence was the only companion he had besides his quivering suicidal friend Ronny. Nothing happened.

Nico was about to sheath his weapon when a bellow rang out from inside the house. Nico swung his head towards the sound. Tiredness swept over Nico. His knees threatened to give. Ronny was still paralyzed on the ground.

Like a brick Nico fell to the ground. His vision going in and out. He felt like all of his energy was being stolen, slowly sucked out of his body.

"Ahh!" Nico yelled in pain. With his eyes tightly shut he didn't see Mother Frourá who was on the porch. Her eyes burned entirely red and a gun the size of mount Vernon was clamped between two giant fists. As she came closer she grew taller and thicker. Muscles wrapped and grew around her visible flesh. She let loose a howl.

"Guard," Ronny said. Nico's pain dimmed as he felt the grass dying around him as his bracelet struggled to give him strength. He realized that Ronny had translated her name. Frourá meant Guard in Greek. She was the mother of Guards. That mother was guarding this prison. Vision returned to Nico as he gathered enough strength to pick himself up. He did this just in time to get eye to belly of mother Frourá. She bent over and slammed him in the side with her meaty hand, sending him flying across the yard. Nico landed in a pile of skin and bones. He moaned in denial of the new bruises that were claiming patches of skin all over his body.

"Why do you want to leave?" Asked Mother Frourá with a forced tone. Her voice sounded broken like she wasn't sure how to speak. When Ronny didn't answer she repeated the question with more hate and force.

"I want to got out of this prison!" Ronny yelled.

"WRONG ASWER!" She yelled in hatred. She aimed the gigantic gun at Ronny's head.

"No-" Nico croaked.

The gun heated up, getting ready to fire. Then suddenly a black winged animal dive bombed Mother Frourá. Two other creatures of the same kind followed over the wall.

One after the other, hooves bashed in Mother Frourá's face. Nico's heart rose. He worked to peal himself off the ground to see Lily riding on Blackjack flanked by his two buddies. Mother Frourá dropped her weapon and fell back onto the ground. They landed on the ground behind mother FrourLá. Lily thrust her blade at the monster woman. Pride rose in Nico's chest. But Mother Frourá had other ideas. She jumped up and faced Lily. Even on a horse Lily was dwarfed by the size of the monstrous guard. Lily pointed her sword at her.

Mother Frourá laughed, a deep throaty sound. She threw her gun away, it disappeared into mist. Then she raised empty hands.

Silence as mother Frourá smiled evily. Lily frowned unsure what to do. She spared a glance at Nico. A smile crept onto her face giving Nico a burst of joy. Putting her eyes back onto the target the soon saw what the monster had been smiling about.

Two twin spouts of water rose into the sky and stretched across the house. The came, shining in the sunlight, towards Mother Frourá's out stretched hands. Nico and Lily's eyes widened. With a quick flick of her wrists Lily made the water spouts turn to rain just as they were to meet her hands. Nico was sprinkled with the rain drops. Mother Frourá raised her eye brows.

"Well aren't you full of surprises?" Mother Frourá said in astonishment. "But so am I!" The ground broke open. Nico fell back to the ground, his head pounding. Skeleton warriors came from the cracks. The Pegasusi were spooked by this and the two other Pegasus ran. It was all Lily could do to keep Blackjack from bucking her off. The skeleton warriors climbed out and began attacking Lily.

Wielding her blade she fended off many of the armed skeletons. With her voice she called the water to action. Hands made from the droplets of water grabbed on to the ankles and feet of the skeletons keeping them from moving. But more and more continued to pour out of the crack. Every time she cut one down there would be another to replace it.

Nico was holding onto consciousness like a childhood stuffed animal. He pried his eyes open to see Lily being overwhelmed by the skeletons. They had her backed up to the porch. She swung her blade crazily to try and keep the enemy at bay but it was little to no use. Before his eyes the skeletons knocked her blade from her hand and carried her writhing form off Blackjack, whom whinnied in protest, to Mother Frourá. They held her above the ground.

"Let me go!" Lily protested. But to no avail. Mother Frourá looked down onto her small form.

"The other one who was promised to me! I didn't know it was you who that boy of Hades let go! The other daughter of Poseidon!" Mother Frourá cooed in delight. Lily struggled.

"What do you mean 'other'?" Lily asked. She chuckled.

"Your sister and brother have been in my care since their birth," she explained. Nico gaped as his eyes flicked to the motionless bodies near the porch. Then his brain clicked. No wonder Max looked familiar, she shared some of the shape as Lily and of course the black hair that was the same for all of Poseidon's children. There were more of them? "Now, you get to join them!" Mother Frourá said her face full of joy.

"No," Nico tried to say, only it came out as a whisper.

"Drop her!" She commanded the skeletons. They were just about to release her when a sword sprouted through Mother Frourá's chest. "AH!" She screamed as she stared down at the blade. The blade tip glowed slightly, it had to have been Silver Torrent. Sure enough Ronny held the hilt of Silver Torrent that he must have retrieved when no one was looking.

With a tug Ronny pulled the blade from Mother Frourá's back and she turned into a lovely pile of dust. The wall began to crumble and the cabin was swallowed into the ground. Then the skeletons crawled back into the crack depositing Lily onto the ground. The crack disappeared leaving three sprawled demigods on the green field that had random rocks scattered here and there.

Ronny held Silver Torrent tightly in his grip as he stared at Lily.

"I thought that we were gonna die," Ronny said. Lily kneeled in front of him.

"I know, I did too," she said.

"I want to go home," Ronny told her.

"I do too," Lily told him.

"Can we leave now?"

"Now, I think we can leave," Lily said with s sigh of relief.

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