Capture the Flag, Camp Half-Blood We all stood gathered in around Chiron, who was announcing the rules for the fifth time. I was zoning in and out, looking around for the best base for our team. “— maiming or killing is prohibited. When I sound the conch horn, the game will begin. Be off!” Chiron finished. I waved my team forward, leading them along the side of the creek. I held up a hand, signaling them to stop. I listened, and from the sounds of hundreds of leaves crunching under everyone’s feet, I could tell that the blue team was heading due west. I looked back at my team, finding the Apollo cabin. I spotted Daniel and Kara in the back; they were some very skilled scouts. “You two,” I told them, snapping them to attention. “I need Daniel up here, in this tree, and Kara, down here, behind this rock. I need tripwires between those two trees. Do you have your bows?” I asked them. In response they lifted their solid gold bows, the light blinding me momentarily. “Good,” I nodded. “Use as many sonic arrows as you can; cause as big a diversion as possible.” They nodded and set off, but not before I added, “Wait 20 seconds after the conch horn sounds, repeat every 2 seconds!” The nodded again, then hid. I continued on, until we finally found a perfect tree to do the job. I sent Reid, Son of Zeus, to the top, where he placed the flag and gave me a thumbs-up. I looked over at Styles, Ariadne’s husband, and asked, “Do you mind helping with defenses up there?” “Not at all” He kissed Ariadne and started climbing the tree as well, and above, the wind picked up. I turned to Ariadne. “Can you morph into the water again?” She smiled, looking over her shoulder at Percy, who still looked a little mad that he couldn’t do that, and snapped her fingers, and became a sphere of water that joined the creek. A few yards down, she appeared from the lake, waved, and morphed into the creek again. I tried to console Percy, so I said, “Percy, I need you to lead the Hephaestus and Athena campers to get the flag.” Percy stood straighter, uncapped his sword, and set off, leading the cabins after him. I turned to the remainder of my team, about forty campers in all. I divided them in half, and then stationed one half in a perfect circle about twenty yards from the tree, hidden behind rock or in trees. I kept the last twenty campers with me; we would be the backup squad for Percy. Some of these campers included Eric, Alex, Ethan, Jacob (Son of Athena), Michael, and Clair. Victoria was with Percy leading the Athena cabin. When I had the last of my team assembled, the conch horn sounded. We waited… 10 seconds… 15 seconds… and finally, at 20 seconds, marked by the loud sounds of sonic arrows, we charged. The battle was mayhem. Yes, we did have some of the biggest cabins on our team, but there were very few of them. Almost all the children of the minor gods had sided with the blue team, which was headed by the Ares cabin (not surprisingly). Almost as soon as we had crossed the boundary line, I sensed something was wrong. I was right, because a few minutes later we were ambushed by some Nemesis campers who were hidden in the bushes. I thought we were going to have to fight our way out until Ariadne appeared from the creek and caused a tidal wave to flood over the enemy. “Thanks, Ariadne!” I called before continuing on our path. Almost twenty feet later, we were attacked yet again by some Ares campers. Before I could even raise my sword, Alex and Ethan raised their hands, causing a wall of obsidian to erupt from the ground, shooting the Ares campers into the air and causing them to land in a nearby tree. We kept up the pace, and got almost to the flag before we released something was wrong. There was no sound coming from the woods, even when one of us tripped and fell. This must have been the work of the demigods of Hecate. I tried to disband the magic with my powers, but the magic must have been really powerful, because I couldn’t stop it. I shouted for my team to stop, before I realized that they couldn’t hear me, so I held up a hand. They stopped, and I cupped a hand to my ear, telling them non-verbally about the spell. We backed up about forty feet until we could hear our feet once again crackling against the leaves. “Why did you have us back up?” Eric asked. Jacob answered the question before I could. “If they placed one layer of magic there, it’s a very good possibility that there’s another one farther on.” He said, and I agreed. We turned left and walked for a few more yards, and then went back on our original path, to find it uncensored by magic. We ran deeper and deeper into the forest until the sun was almost completely blocked out the sun. Finally we saw the other team’s flag, in a tree like ours, about 10 feet in the air. The only bad side: The only way to get there would be to get past the two teams fighting. Percy and his team were fighting what looked like all the minor god’s children, which were actually holding their own quiet well. It was complete mayhem. I yelled to my team, “How are we going to get to the flag?” Alex yelled something back, but I couldn’t hear her over the sounds of battle. Whatever she had said, it didn’t matter, because the battle shifted and moved toward us. We were immediately sucked into the battle, and as I disarmed yet another kid, I had a sudden realization that made me almost slap myself on the head. I concentrated, and the flag flew from the tree and into my hand. I slammed the flat of my sword into a camper’s helmet, causing him to collapse to the ground. I yelled, “Let’s go!” and started fighting my way out of the battle. I ran into Percy, who was currently taking on six attackers at once. He grinned and nodded toward our base, telling me to go on. Michael was in a rage, and when I saw his broken bow on the ground, I understood why. He had unsheathed his sword and was taking on the biggest guy there, and he was winning, too. Eric was in were-bear form, bowling over as many enemy campers as he could. Clair was currently tapping the others on the forehead, causing them to fall asleep instantly. Finally, after sweeping one guy’s feet out from under him, I broke free of the battle. I ran, using my powers to propel me across the ground faster. I could see the creek ahead; I was almost there! I jumped over the creek, looking to my left to see Ariadne sending a tidal wave toward the Ares cabin, and as I turned my head back, I was too late to stop the collision with the Ares camper with our flag in his hand. We crashed into one another, sending us flying backward. I shook my head, trying to stop the stars from swimming before my eyes. When my vision cleared, I saw the Ares camper getting to his feet. I stood up, stuck the flag in my pocket, and drew my sword. The Ares camper did the same, an angry glint in his eyes. Our swords collided; causing sparks to erupt from the two. I feigned a strike toward his head, but he was expecting that, catching the sword hilt and twisting, instead of fighting against his swing, I went with the momentum, causing him to lose his balance. I kicked him in the back, making him lose his breath and fall to the ground. I ran toward the edge of the creek, but the Ares kid grabbed my ankles, sending me into the creek. We kept trying to get to the edge of the creek, but every time we did, one of us would stop the other. Finally, it was Percy that saved me. He caused my half of the creek to rise and propel me over the creek edge, causing the flag to turn gray, but have the symbol of a trident painted on it. Cheers and groans echoed around the forest, and Chiron blew the conch horn, signaling the end of the game. - Odysseus Sorry this wasn’t my best work, guys, I am seriously tired. Also, if you want, I could consider a writing contest!
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 22:21:45 +0000
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