[infra dignitatem]
December 1995
A blur of frosty fur darted behind an emerald bush, snagging the vision of the huntress in the tree-line. She watched the wolf with intent hazel eyes, pulling the taut bowstring back to her rosy cheek. It wouldn't escape her this time.
Lycaon's minions had been hounding the Hunters of Artemis for the past week. The king of the wolves had issued his familiars to make life hell for the girls and the goddess that led them, and his plan had worked. However, the Hunters had had enough of the werewolves' games.
The huntress released a single breath in concentration. It fogged up in the chilly alpine air, a cloud of clarity in what was the sharpest moment of her life. She could practically feel the wolf's intense gaze locked on hers across the snowy field. She pulled back the bowstring and—
"SERA!" A voice rattled the ice-covered leaves of the forest, loud enough to make Sera Brennan misfire her arrow into a bush opposite that of the wolf's. The creature darted out from its hiding spot, sprinting away from the Huntress.
Sera scowled and stood from where she knelt in the snow. She turned towards the voice, and found Eira, the Lieutenant of Artemis, stalking towards her. The slender girl approached with all the strength and all the intensity of a winter storm, and the sprays of snow billowing up in her wake only added to the image. For a girl born into an era where women were just beginning to emerge from society's 'prim and proper' expectations for them, Eira Constantine was everything but dainty.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Eira barked as she came to a stop. Each word was clipped like an icicle dropping to the ground.
"I was about to skewer one of Lycaon's minions." Sera answered, an edge in her voice. "Isn't that what we're all tasked with doing?"
"The rest of us are headed back to camp," Eira fixed Sera with a steely glare. "How long have you been tracking this wolf?"
Sera shifted her weight. What had really happened was she'd ditched a different mission to go hunting the wolf, but there was no way on Earth that she was about to tell her Lieutenant that. "Not that long." She mumbled.
"Don't lie," Eira commanded.
Sera bit her lip, but met the girl's eyes. "A few hours."
Eira's arctic irises widened. Suddenly, it felt like the snow had stopped its soft flurry in mid-air. The Lieutenant of Artemis' fists clenched at her side, and Sera marveled in equal parts awe and fear at the snowflakes that had frozen in mid-air. However, just as fast as Eira's rage had bested her, it melted away.
"Come with me," Eira seethed. "Lady Artemis will decide what to do with you."
Sera shut her eyes in a silent lament, but opened them again to trudge after Eira. She kept her head down, watching as she stepped where Eira stepped, before the elder girl used her power to sweep their footprints from existence.
--
While Lady Artemis was generally a kind and sensible leader, Sera had only spoken with her enough times to count on one hand. Most of the time, Sera and the others listened to the goddess issue a command, or when Lady Artemis was away, to Eira's orders. In short, Sera never wanted to invoke Lady Artemis' wrath, for myth and experience had shown that she could be colder than the dark side of the moon.
So as Eira escorted her without a word to the center of their crescent camp, Sera said her prayers. The large silver tent sat a few feet away, and Eira stood just to the side of its opening. She was a falcon, a timber wolf, a predator of the snow watching as a mere little hare approached its soon-to-be demise.
Sera bristled at that. She wasn't a hare. She was every bit as strong as Eira was. She had the heart of a timber wolf too. And so, Sera marched right into the silvery tent, pride her only weapon.
Artemis' tent was only slightly bigger than the tents the other Hunters used, but it was warmer. A blazing hearth sat in the center of the room, and throw blankets and rugs lined the floor and the furniture within the tent. A mahogany desk sat in the corner of the tent. And standing before the flickering amber flames of the firepit was Lady Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the moon.
"My Lady," Sera bowed her head in respect, before looking up at her superior in anticipation.
Lady Artemis always assumed the median age of her Hunters, in this case, a girl a few years younger than Sera. Even if Lady Artemis looked to be about fourteen, her yellow eyes had seen the turn of eras new and old. And right now, they were filled with contemplation of what to do with this enigma of a huntress.
"Come in, Sera," Lady Artemis spoke, waving a delicate hand.
Sera took a breath and shuffled forward. The sound of the tent shutting behind her only signaled Eira's entrance as well, and Sera fought a curse.
"Eira tells me that you've been skipping out of group missions," Artemis began, her voice as soft as snowfall. "Are you unhappy within the Hunters?"
Sera shook her head. "No, m'lady! I'm perfectly happy here. I'm happier than I've ever been."
Artemis pursed her lips. "Sera, I admire your strength, your rebellious streak. You love to see the world around you, and I can predict only great things for you later on in your life."
Sera knit her eyebrows together, her pride faltering. "M'lady?"
Artemis crossed to her desk, sitting down behind it. Sera moved forward to sit before her, and Eira stood at her commander's side.
"The Fates have predicted a rather puzzling future for you, Sera. Parts of it are blurry, but the Fates are hardly wrong." Artemis murmured, looking over Sera at the flames of the hearth.
"What have they predicted?" Sera asked, her voice small. Her past was insubstantial, making her decision to join the hunters hardly a decision at all. What could the Fates have predicted for her?
Artemis shook her head. "It's too blurry to determine now. However, some fates can be changed and right now, I plan to do something about this...lone wolf you're becoming."
Sera looked down at her lap, the crackling flames of the hearth echoing her heartbeat. She looked back up at Artemis with what she hoped was a look of compliance and determination. However, under the steely gaze of Eira, she could feel it beginning to chip away.
"Chiron has requested a small group of my Hunters to aid in defending Camp Half-Blood in Long Island," Artemis ran a finger over the gilded edge of the desk. "I'd like you to be one of the girls I select to go help him."
Sera felt a coil of ice circle her heart, frozen barbs beginning to puncture it. "W-what?"
"This does not mean I think any less of you, Sera. It's merely...a means to an end," Artemis gesticulated, waving around the room. "It'll only be for a few weeks, and then we will come pick you up."
Sera deflated. She cast a glance at Eira, who wore a smug little smirk on her face. That only made Sera feel worse.
"You, Daphne, Emily, and Grace will leave tomorrow morning," Artemis concluded. "May the Gods be with you."
With a heavy feeling in her heart, Sera got to her feet. She trudged out of the tent, Eira's icy gaze still taunting her even as she stepped out of the tent and a swirl of midnight snow blew over the tundra before her.
Sera tried her best to shake off the feeling of unease that had woven underneath her skin, but to no avail. She started towards her own tent, but veered to the center of the camp's crescent to the campfire. It still burned bright in the winter night, and Sera sighed as she felt its warm rays upon her sitting down before it.
Joining the Hunters had been enough of a wake-up call to Sera that it was the group she never wanted to leave. She finally felt as if she belonged somewhere, that her skills and odd knowledge could actually come in handy. She felt stronger, despite the immortality, but her inclination to be alone had gotten her in trouble.
What was she to Artemis now? A weaker link in the group? A rebellious girl who couldn't conform? Sera didn't want to make an enemy of the goddess who had welcomed her with open arms, given her a home and a sense of meaning again. But now...Sera just felt lousy.
As soon as the December sun rose tomorrow morning, Sera would be off with Daphne, Emily, and Grace to Camp Half-Blood. The four of them were relatively new campers; hardly a year had passed since each of their inductions. They would have to be the visiting dignitaries, representing the Hunters of Artemis, the immortal girls who traveled the world in search of a hunt and following the moon.
But right now, Sera shut her eyes and basked in the cool that was the bite of winter and the embrace of fire mixing on her skin. Right now, Sera could pretend nothing was wrong as she sat beneath the indigo sky, the diamond stars twinkling like a song told in space. Right now, Sera was home and that was all that mattered.
--
After spending nearly a year in the Hunters of Artemis, a year spent travelling and hunting, Camp Half-Blood was almost...well, a summer camp. The valley was enchanted with perpetual summer, it seemed. Even if the campers willed the valley's temperature, there was no one that hated the warm weather and vibrant colors. Frankly, Sera was no exception to that rule. Having grown up in Fort Lauderdale, summer was pretty much her only reality before the Hunters.
Sera had led her entourage of Hunters into Camp Half-Blood, and Chiron had given them a warm welcome. The centaur gave them a minor briefing of the situation before setting them loose to make themselves comfortable in Cabin Eight, the honorary cabin for Artemis. A war council would be held later that day, but until them, the girls were free to go, and please, have fun!
"This...is weird." Emily sniffed at Sera's side as they made their way from the baby blue Big House through Camp Half-Blood's trails. Everywhere they looked, demigods and nymphs and satyrs darted around them in streams of laughter and orange t-shirts.
Sera glanced beside her at the dark-skinned girl. Emily was the newest of the Hunters, but despite being raised in Alaska, had a fiery personality. The girl wrinkled her nose as a duo of boys wearing nothing but swim trunks and towels around their necks gave them a look.
Daphne leapt forward, prying herself between Emily and Sera. The blonde girl slung her arms around the other two, a valley girl at heart. "Oh, come on, Em. You've gotta admit the guys are kind of hot."
"Y'know sometimes I can entirely see your lineage to Aphrodite. This is one of those times." Emily teased, nudging the blonde girl with her elbow.
"As if!" Daphne exclaimed, but the grin she wore on her face defeated her. A lot of the Hunters were demigods, but Daphne had been a strange addition to their ranks. She was the daughter of the goddess of love, after all, and love was one thing that the Hunters swore off.
Sera tried to fight the rising smile on her face, but to no avail. She turned to face Grace, the fourth member of their quartet, but the dark-haired girl was the shadow she always was: silent and stealthy, which made for her being one of Eira's chosen spies.
"Grace, you alright?" Sera asked.
In all honesty, Grace rather unnerved most of the Hunters. She was a kind girl, but she seemed to be...not all there. Upon her birth, she had been blessed by Persephone, Queen of the Underworld, and was rumored to have the ability to detect life and death.
Grace lifted her gaze to meet Sera's, and felt a shiver go down her spine. Instantly, Sera was sucked into a stream of visions. She saw a boy running before her, a quiver of silver arrows, a baby boy with silver eyes, and the sound of the sea crashing upon the sand. Just as fast, it was over and Sera took a deep breath as Grace realized what she'd done.
"What...what did you show me?" Sera asked as Daphne and Emily darted ahead to Cabin Eight.
Grace only blinked her misty eyes. "The story of your life."
And with that, Grace trudged ahead, seeming to stick to the shadows looming on the outskirts of the trails.