The Shadow Archer Twins

After she had come into the cabin crying, I had really felt bad for Katie. Well, I tried to feel bad for her, but, in all honesty, I couldn’t. Not to sound like a dad but I never like it when guys start developing relationships with Katie. It’s not that I don’t like any of them, it’s just that most of the time, I know that they are the type of guys who would hurt Katie and leave her, and then not lose a single minute of sleep. And I can’t have that happen. Besides, the stuff they signed us up for was way too cool to ruin be being sad about a crush.

Monster-fighting class, rock-climbing, hand-to-hand combat lessons, and of course, archery. From the first lesson, I think I knew, and so did Chiron, that I had something special. Not to brag, but something just felt so natural about it. In no time I was hitting the bulls-eye with ease, from almost any range. The Hephaestus Cabin had made me a carbon fiber bow with a string made out of strands of celestial bronze that were thin enough to give the bowstring tension like a normal wire. And with a quiver of celestial bronze-tipped arrows, I felt unstoppable.

Katie had become really good as well, but her heart didn’t seem in it as much. But, when Chiron gave my lessons over to the rest of my cabin, and started to teach Katie about field medicine and magic, she was eager to know everything. Chiron said that she was the quickest learner he had ever worked with, and that she showed as much potential as any medic he had ever taught. She was happy, which made me happy. I didn’t have to worry about anything or anyone hurting us anymore. Well, except for the Romans.

The satyr, Grover, and the Oracle, Rachel, had held a meeting with the praetor Reyna and their augur, Octavian earlier in the day. It had looked like an intense discussion, and a couple of the scouts at the border had spotted a Pegasus that wasn’t from camp flying east, just after the meeting. Apparently, two of the Campers who had gone on a quest overseas had fallen into Tartarus and were looking for a way out. But, I decided to let other people worry about their story. I needed to focus on archery.

After about a week of training, I had peaked. I had learned everything there was to learn about archery, and how to do anything that I could ever need or want to do with a bow and arrow. I felt like I had just finished a 1,000 page book; satisfied and content.

After pulling my last ten arrows out of the target, Chiron pulled me aside and said,

“You are one of the more interesting pupils I’ve worked with in a long time, Otis.”

I winced when he called me by my real first name. “Please, Chiron. I’d prefer it if you’d call me Tox. Otis is a name I had in the past.”

“This is why I find you interesting,” Chiron said, “You are a basket of contradictions. You are eager to learn, yet do not realize the skill that you are learning. You reject your past, and yet you never talk of a future.”

He paused, and, after seeing my look of absolute confusion, he chuckled, “I am rambling. What I mean to ask you is this: Do you want to fully embrace your path to becoming an archer?”

Understanding dawning, I said, “Yes. Yes I do. I believe that it is my calling.”

It sounded cheesy, but I believed the words that I had said. archery was the only thing in the world that came naturally to me. It felt beautiful, like an art form. Albeit a grotesque art form: beautiful and horrible at the same time.

“Then you must realize that to be an archer requires you to be able to look down your arrow and see a living being. To see either a monster, or an enemy demigod, or some creature, who has accepted the fact that they value their life more than they value yours. This is the price of being a soldier.”

His words hit me like a ten-ton 18-wheeler. “Are you saying we are going to have to start killing them soon, Chiron? Is the war starting?”

“Precisely, my boy,” He said, “Now you are thinking about the future. As much as I regret to say this, the Romans are bound to get restless, especially with that politician Octavian at the ‘wheel of their war train,’ as they say.”

He said the word ‘politician’ as if it were a biting insult.

“Even though I just told you to accept the act of killing, and not be afraid to do that deed, I don’t want to make you think that a bloody rampage is needed.”

He drew an arrow from his quiver in a slow, deliberate way. Murmuring his words with the rhythm of his bow and arrow, he said,

“Sometimes, all that is needed,” He drew the bowstring back, “is one well placed shot.” He released the arrow, and it flew straight, but it missed the bulls-eye. It flew way low, and hit one of the support beams of the tripod, which held up the target. The arrow punched through the wood beam, causing the target and tripod to topple over.

We both chuckled, and I said, “Good shot. And, you make a very convincing point. But wouldn’t it be a bit dumb to shoot for the lowest part of the Roman chain of command?”

Realizing the slight error in his demonstration, the centaur replied, “You get the message. What I’m trying to say is that if one life can be sacrificed to save both camps, that life would be well served, would it not?”

Nodding my head slowly, I said, “So who do you think serves that purpose?”

“The politician,” He said, “Octavian’s a sneaky one, a distant relative of yours, actually. Descendant of Apollo, not a full demigod, and apparently, he has powers over prophecy. But, he is not a warrior. If a person, stealthy enough, mind you, could use the shadows of trees to conceal a firing position, they could easily take him out from inside the safe borders of Camp.”

My heart started to beat faster, as I said, “Chiron, you’re talking about assassination here! I thought we preferred open combat or no combat!”

“I know that this might trouble you, Tox, but this is part of war. It would save lives.”

“Save lives,” I echoed softly. Thinking to myself, I said goodbye to Chiron and started to walk back to my cabin to wash up before lunch. I was thinking about how I would be free for the afternoon when I realized something. I turned around and called to Chiron,

“Hey! You called me Tox!”

“Yes I did, my boy!” He replied, “It’s a good nickname!”

I smiled. I then turned to walk the rest of the way back to my cabin when I glanced over the hill and saw the Roman camp once more. I thought again about how I would have the whole afternoon free, and what Chiron had said about being stealthy, and using shadows. I thought about my leather jacket, and thought that it would be a great idea to climb one of the massive pine trees on Half-Blood Hill, and see what I could see. I would be scouting an assassination after lunch.

Notes

So this chapter's shorter, and there will hopefully be more of them and at a quicker pace. If anyone thinks that the pace I was at was okay, I will go back to that pace. For now, I will be posting two shorter chapters a day instead of one longer one. This means more work for me, but that's okay, because I love writing these. Enjoy!