The Missing Gods

Chapter 13 - We Almost Get Killed Again

If I had one thought before battling a fish-goat-man, it would be that the fishtail might slow him down, but this guy must have spent three thousand years with it, because he cut through the misty air like he weighed nothing. His horns came glaringly fast toward my face as Annabeth knocked them away with her knife and I avoided getting trampled by his hooves.

I was starting to remember his story in bits and pieces, but I was too busy trying not to be gored to death or slapped in the face with a table-length fishtail to focus.

"Hey Fishy!" I yelled as he turned toward Annabeth, who was quickly recovering from a nasty cloven-shaped bruise on her face.

"My name is Aegipan!" He roared, twisting his convoluted body in order to charge at me instead.

"Did you say Eggpan?" I taunted back, bracing myself as he shot toward me. As his horns neared me, I inhaled a short quick breath before throwing my hands up and grabbing his horns, plunging myself into the air. I soared over him, his momentum shooting me farther than I expected, and landed on top of his fishtail, desperately clinging on for dear life as my sword shot out of my grasp.

I've tried holding on to a fish before, even an eel, but this was an 800 pound scaly, slimy fishtail that smelled like I'd be taking showers for months to get the stench off. Aegipan clearly didn't approve of me saddling up on his behind because he started bucking so hard I felt like I was a professional bull rider.

Through the blur of movement and trying to keep my brain from being shaken into mush, I gripped tighter, which probably wasn't the smartest idea, because after one hard jolt, my mouth closed with a snap and I started tasting blood. Aegipan was doing his best impression of the sea during a storm, spitting and roaring and cursing at me while bucking violently, threatening to pitch me off with every movement.

Through the haze I realized Annabeth was still fighting him, trying to avoid being beaten by his hooves and gored by his horns. I heard a sharp howl as Annabeth got a good swipe of her knife in, which I used as an opportunity to right myself on Aegipan's fish-butt. With a clear view of Annabeth, I mimed a throwing action, pointing at her knife. It took a few tries, since she was more focused on not letting the fish-goat kill her, but she finally got the point and dove to the side as she threw her knife as high as possible. Aegipan charged for her at the same moment, ending up catching nothing but air, but he dove under Annabeth's knife, which I caught just in time.

All my muscles were starting to scream from holding on to the fish, so I quickly jabbed the knife as hard as I could into the fleshy part of the fish, earning a deep howl from Aegipan.

He dissolved quickly, the dust mingling with the already blinding wind. I recovered Annabeth's knife and did a double take after I caught a glimpse of something shiny. I reached down and picked up the most beautiful fish scale I'd ever seen, shifting it to and fro as it caught the light, transforming the surface into holographic rainbows. Annabeth's knife must have dislodged it from Aegipan. I pocketed it quickly, taking a mental note to look at it again later when I had more time.

I looked around for Annabeth, calling out her name softly when the mist shifted and rendered me blind. She responded quietly from my left, so I set off, hands in front of my face, feeling for her. I tripped over her completely several seconds later and realized she was lying down, nursing a deep bruise on her side.

"Are you okay?" I asked dumbly, gently caressing Annabeth's shoulder as her breathing slowly lightened and she pulled herself up into a cross legged position.

She nodded and continued massaging her side. "Felt like getting hit by a truck," she muttered. I grimaced and thought back on what Aegipan had said, trying to piece together what little facts he gave us and what knowledge I had from Chiron's teachings.

"Aegipan was a hero, wasn't he?" I pondered aloud, trying to recollect the full story as my adrenaline calmed.

"According to the story," Annabeth said, her grey eyes darkening. "He's related to Pan, but more like a distant cousin. His name means all-goat and all-storm."

"He was under Typhon in the original Titan war, right?" I asked. "But he betrayed them and saved the gods."

Annabeth sighed. "After that first battle against Typhon, he helped Zeus by stealing back his severed sinews from Typhon, which allowed Zeus to regain his strength and win against Typhon."

"So he was a hero," I said. "I guess Zeus didn't trust him though, so he must've banished him into the stars to live as a constellation." Seemed like a pretty sweet deal to me, but I didn't say that to Annabeth.

"They said it was his reward for his service to the gods," Annabeth said sadly. "But it seems like it was more like a prison." She lifted up her shirt to reveal that the bruise on her side was fading already. "Imagine being watched for centuries by the gods after you helped them regain their power. Seems like their usual manipulation."

Her last statement made me remember something Aegipan had mentioned. "Wait, what was it that you said earlier? 'Do you know who guided us here?'" I asked. "And Aegipan said you already knew?"

Annabeth looked sadly into my eyes. "Don't you know, Percy? Hera only appears to us when she needs something, or has us mixed up in her plans."