Blaze of Glory - a PJO fanfiction

11. The Fleece

I watched as Annabeth lured the cyclops down the hill, and it was only a couple of minutes before anything went downhill. Yay! New record. I looked closely and saw that Polyphemus had his hand wrapped around air. I immediately got down from the ledge, sprinting into the cave and finding Percy, Clarisse, and Grover.

"Hey guys," I said, breathing heavily. "We might have a problem." Just then, a great boom sounded outside, echoed by a scream that was almost certainly Annabeth's.

"I got Nobody!" Polyphemus shouted from outside the cave. We ran to the entrance of the cave, peeking out from behind the rock. The cyclops shook Annabeth, and her Yankees cap fluttered to the ground. He held her upside down by her legs.

"Hah!" the Cyclops said. "Nasty invisible girl! Already got feisty one for wife. Means you gotta be grilled with mango chutney!" I turned to Percy.

"Can't he just make mutton jerky or something?" I asked him. He glared at me incredulously, but didn't say anything.

Annabeth was struggling, but she looked dazed. She had an open cut on her forehead, and her eyes were glazed over.

'I'll rush him," I heard Percy whisper to Clarisse. "Our ship is around the back of the island. You, Krys, and Grover — "

"No way," we all said simultaneously. Clarisse had armed herself with a rams-horn spear from the Cyclops's cave. Grover had found a sheep's thigh bone, which was honestly kind of ironic, and he was gripping it like a club, ready to attack.

"We'll take him together," Clarisse growled. I sighed.

"I guess I'll help too," I said. "But don't think that if I'm made to choose I won't save my own skin before I help you."

"Yea," Grover said. "I'm helping too." He blinked, like he couldn't believe he had agreed with me or Clarisse

"All right," Percy said. "Attack plan Macedonia."

We all nodded. I had taken the same classes as them at camp. I had to remember to write all of their attack plans down once I got back to the Princess Andromeda. The plan was that Grover and Clarisse would sneak around either side and attack the Cyclops from the flanks while Percy held his attention in the front and I would go and get Annabeth and the fleece. I was mostly irrelevant to the plan, seeing as if they failed then I would probably die anyways, but I was glad to not have to face the cyclops head on.

"Hey, Ugly!" I heard Percy shout. That was the signal. I began creeping along the rock ledges on the side of the cave, getting out of Polyphemus' cone of vision. As I was climbing back onto solid ground, I heard the cyclops bellow, and Annabeth was dropped headfirst onto the rocks beside him, where she lay still.

I rushed to her as soon as the monster's back was turned. I slung her arm over my shoulder, hoisting her up, and beginning my walk towards the rope bridge. After a minute Grover joined me in carrying Annabeth, and we were making our way across the rope bridge. We had just made it to the other side and were setting Annabeth down when the bridge started to shake.

"Krys!" Percy shouted from the bridge. "Cut the ropes!" My eyes widened, but I pulled my backpack off, grabbing my daggers. I started to saw at the ropes. One of them snapped, and Percy and Clarisse dove for it, Percy cutting the other rope with his sword. I let out a sigh of relief as the reached solid ground, before my vision went white.

I flew through the air, landing on the grass, the entire left side of my body lit up in pain from where Polyphemus had swatted me aside. Quite literally, as anything that hurt was glowing as if I was a glowstick that had been snapped. I made an attempt to stand up, but my left leg gave out, and I fell to the ground, paralyzed in pain. I managed to turn over, siding my backpack off my shoulders. I rummaged in it on the ground, squinting my eyes to find what I was looking for.