the forbidden part 2 a not so meek flame

chapter 2 burning tracks

HENRY'S POV

The entire camp was in a frenzy, every single soldier and citizens were running around searching for the one responsible, but whoever he was. He was long gone, I looked at the small group of Amazons lead by their queens herself. She stood strong and defiant in the face of this threat. I on the other hand wondered why the temple of Vesta out of all the temples here? Maybe because she probably wasn't going to retaliate like another deity would? "So what do we do?" Shawn asked next to me "I have no idea" was all I could say. "We could look around inside the temple for clues he offered shrugging his shoulders. Agreeing that nothing could be a bad idea in this situation we walked inside the temple where multiple women were huddled around a blazing fire whispering amongst themselves. I loudly cleared my troat to catch their attention. They all turned to me and then turned to the seemingly oldest woman in the room. She wore a red shawl her greying hair peeking out of it. "What is it that you want as you can see we're busy" she said sternly.

"We know and we're sorry, but the Preators asked us to investigate the one responsible and we thought that there could be a clue around here" I politely replied. The woman calmed down a bit, but she looked afraid. "We are not sure" she admited "Vesta has yet to respond to our prayers or to this affront."

"Ok then can you tell us exactly what happened here?" She nodded wringing her hands "we were taking care of the heart and proceeding to the sacrifices when it happened." I asked what happened as she seemed to hesitate telling more. "A boy in a hood stepped out of the flames. He was bleeding, but his blood didn't evaporate when it hit the flames as if it burned hotter than the fire around him. He didn't say anything he just thrusted his left hand forward and the sacred flames somehow obeyed him. After writing that message he dissapeared. That's all I know, now excuse me we need to care for the flames." With that she and the other Vestal Virgins went back to work.

As we left the temple I said "so we still have nothing except the fact that he's injured." Shawn looked me like I was an idiot, but mellowed down a second later. "I keep forgeting you're still new to this." He huffed "controling a sacred flame like that is the equivalent plucking a lightning bolt thrown by Zeus and using for yourself only  for fire deities. Those flames pack some serious power. If the hearth at camp was ever to be destroyed, the entire land surrounding it would become dead and unhabitable for the next few centuries. You don't just control that without either being an extremly powerful wizard or being related to a powerful deity. I honestly don't think even my brother Leo could do something like that. So let's try to be careful." I blinked in surprise Shawn was far from what I could qualify as careful, and I had heard about the impressive abilities of Leo Valdez. Right now I wasn't sure if I was in over my head or not. So I decided to wait and see, the Amazons were obviously never going to give away their queen and if the Romans even implied it as an option it would degenerate into a brand new Amazonomachy.

The last thing this place needs is another war. If I don't find the one responsible then this whole situation would snowball into something very dangerous. "Wait" I stopped walking in realisation "if he was still injured then that means he doesn't have any access to ambrosia or nectar so."

"It means he'll need to find mortal medicine in order to survive." Shawn finished for me. "And assuming it's a pretty nasty wound then he'll probably go to the nearest pharmacy to steal from."

"I'll go get a map" Shawn stated before running off, leaving me in the dust. Even after being on a few quests already I still had trouble knowing what my role is supposed to be. Shawn was getting the map and Jay well he's Jay enough said, but me? I really don't know what my role is yet. All i've been really good for so far is being a distraction for the ennemy or coming up with a half baked plan. I walked to the armory tent and asked for a sword. I was immediatly handed an imperial gold gladius. I didn't really know how to use one, but it's always good to have options when you're imminent demise shows it's face. A few minutes later I met my friends near the border. "Ready to go?" I nodded at Shawn and we marched back towards the city. Once we got close enough Shawn gave us each a map with hospitals and pharmacies circled out. "Break" I quietly told the other two demigods. I spent almost an entire hour searching all the emplacements without finding anything. Maybe I wasn't on the right track like I thought I was. He's probably already fixed and well hidden, waiting for the next moment to strike. I passed a pet shop and looked throught the window. I always wanted a pet, but mom never wanted me to have one. She didn't want hair on her art or cats kneading their claws on her priceless furniture.