The Queen's Champion

Mystery Man

Thalia turned to see monsters begin getting picked off by black arrows as soon as they came within ten feet of the hunters. She looked to her right to see a man firing arrows at speeds and accuracy that rivaled even the best hunters. The monster army finally seemed to notice the man and a sent a wave of monsters toward him.

Instead of defending himself the man strapped his bow to his back. He calmly pulled out two golden hunting knives and when the monsters were ten feet away from him, the blades lit on fire.

Thalia and the hunters watched in awe while they continued to fire arrows as the man charged into the monster ranks. They were stunned at the speed and grace at which the man fought. His technique was flawless as he sliced from monster to monster, wasting less than a second before moving to the next monster. The hunters began to think he was a god who had come to their aide.

After decapitating the last Empousa, the man sheathed his knives and turned to the small number of monsters who still fought the hunters. He lit his hands on fire before sending two massive fireballs into the center of the monsters. The few that survived were quickly picked off by the silver arrows of the hunters.

As the final monster dissolved, the hunters turned their bows toward the man who dropped to a knee bowing. He knew what was coming. A flash of silver appeared in front of him and the goddess Artemis stood with her hunting knives out. She was surprised to see the man already bowing.

"Who are you?" She yelled at him.

The man kept his head down, "I will tell you but it is not for your hunter's ears." He said respectfully.

Artemis narrowed her eyes, "And why is that?"

The man kept his head down but extended his arm for the goddess to see. "I seek the company of Lady Diana for this conversation and your hunters may not understand where I come from." He said in a respectful tone.

Artemis was surprised. She looked at his arm and saw the SPQR tattoo along with the bars for each year of service. She only saw one bar which was odd for such an old demigod. But what shocked her most was that instead of one symbol of his godly parent, he had two. And they were the symbols of the two least likely goddesses to have a demigod other than herself. The symbols of Vesta and Juno were clearly tattooed on his arm.

"Why do you have the symbols of Juno and Vesta tattooed on your arm?" She asked suspiciously.

The man sighed, "They are my patrons. I have not spoken to my father in many years." He said in a sad tone.

Artemis wanted to question him more about it but decided to wait until later.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

"I was bringing a young maiden to your camp when I saw the monsters ambush your hunters. The girl is hidden in the branches of a tree in the woods one hundred yards to my left. I told her to wait until the monsters were gone and for me to come get her." He answered calmly.

"Show me your face!" Artemis demanded, realizing this was probably the man she had failed to locate.

He looked up at her with brown eyes and brown hair.

"You're the man who has been rescuing demigods while avoiding the gods. How dare you enter my hunter's camp without my permission?" Artemis hissed in outrage.

The man looked directly into the goddess' silver eyes, "I meant no disrespect Lady Artemis. I simply wished to provide the girls with a home they would feel safe in. Their lives were not good when I found them. I did not want to bring them to Camp Half Blood as they would not be comfortable around male demigods."