The Pirate of Greece

Chapter XX (Percy)

Percy cursed as he ducked yet another wayward arrow as he sprinted beside Annabeth, not daring to slow down. The hoard of enemies were slowly advancing on them, appearing from every niche and crack the town had to offer. He didn't know how though, considering the General and himself were faster than the lot and weren't weighed down by extra armour and shields. But no matter where they turned, some malicious soldier freak was ready and waiting for them with a weapon drawn. 

"Where in Tartarus are they coming from?" he yelled, his breath coming out in pants, as they dodged a net sailing down on them from a nearby rooftop. It didn't help matters when they had to shout to be heard by one another.

"I don't know!" Annabeth responded as she cut the ropes tying back a set of barrels as they ran past. Percy glanced behind them for a second to see three pursuers dodge the weak barrier, one failing and falling. If there weren't any more trying to catch them from above, he would've stopped to laugh. But frankly, two teams of four were using the house's rooftops as jumping pads on either side, surrounding Percy and Annabeth from entering the side streets and shaking them off. 

"We need cover," Annabeth yelled, her face red with exhaustion and her hair in a wild mess. He assumed he appeared very much the same. What worried him more was the fact that they couldn't keep up this pace for long. Eventually they were going to get too tired, enough so that the next arrow or net that came hurtling towards them wouldn't be avoidable.

He looked around, almost frantically, in search of a secure position. Maybe a place where they could seal up the entrances and exits quick enough for Annabeth to think up a plan. Unfortunately nothing presented itself. The only good thing was that the two of them were running in the direction of the town's outskirts, which meant the houses started becoming thinner and further away, forcing the pursuers to ditch the rooftops and join their brethren on the ground. 

"Skatá!"

Percy nearly baulked at Annabeth's strong word choice. He attempted to find what she was directing her curse at, and fell upon the problem rather quickly. The street opened up to a wide dirt path cutting across a large, open field dotted with wheat crops and rocks. Behind it, a large expanse of trees acted as the frontier to a forest. Percy's hopes grew at that, the shelter would make an excellent hiding place to shake off the Titan Legion. But it diminished somewhat when he realised that they'd have to get there first. 

"The forest!" he shouted, jumping over a small food cart, "use it as cover!"

"We'll get knocked down before we made it halfway!" Annabeth protested. 

"We don't have any other options!"

She grunted and turned so that they were heading towards the forest, their feet hitting the start of the dirt track. In a final attempt to rid themselves of the enemies, Annabeth increased her speed, Percy barely finding enough energy to keep up. 

By now a rain of arrows and throwing spears were targeted at their backs, many missing them by only a fraction of a centimetre.

"I thought they wanted us alive!" Percy protested. 

"When aimed right, a spear or arrow won't kill you," Annabeth panted, "but it'll sure slow you down!"

"That's nice to know!" 

Thankfully, Annabeth was wrong in saying they wouldn't make it halfway. The border of the forest was only a few meters ahead before anything bad happened. Right when Percy was starting to feel optimistic about the situation, something had to come and pierce his hopes.

They reached the very edge of the clearing when he heard the arrow whistling behind him, so close that he knew he wouldn't get out of the way in time. It happened in a split second. He waited for the impact, cringing in anticipation, but he didn't feel the slicing of cold metal. What he heard and felt was Annabeth's shout and solid shoulder shove to his side, making him fall and go tumbling from the momentum of his sprinting.