The Shadow Archer Twins

It all started during the meeting. One of the officers kept fidgeting with his ear, as if he had something in it. He also didn’t talk throughout the entire session, just sitting there, touching his ear.

After the meeting was closed, all of the officers exited though the back flap of the tent, turning left for the farm road, and on to Camp Jupiter’s war tents. But, Ear Touch turned right. Not wanting to make a scene, I said, lying,

“All clear, Tox. Every Roman has left the campgrounds. Tox, we successfully got the officers, with a little charmspeak, to agree to a peace treaty. All we have to do is draft one and hope war doesn’t break out before we get the signatures.”

After that, I picked up my sword and walked briskly out of the tent, walking straight. If the Roman was waiting to see if I was following him, I couldn’t turn right yet. I pretended to tie my shoe, glancing slowly to my right, and there he was. He had climbed up to the lowest branch of a pine tree that was situated between the two tents. He had a pair of binoculars out, and was staring intently towards the Big House, talking to himself. No, talking to an earpiece. He had broadcasted the entire meeting!

No, I thought, He couldn’t have. He didn’t know about the Hecate kids, soundproofing the tents.

As if on cue, the Roman slammed his binoculars against the pine and started whispering in an angry tone, as if he was realizing that he hadn’t noticed why his earpiece had never worked during the meeting. I smiled. Athena always had a plan.

Then, I realized that I was still pretending to tie my shoe, and I got up slowly as the Roman went back to his binoculars. He was still facing away from me, and I decided to scare him out of his perch and restrain him. His shield and spear were propped against the tree, and he only had his sword on him. I drew my sword silently, and started creeping towards him.

When I was about three feet away from the tree, I stopped to really get a look at the Roman and I made my mistake. I saw, around his neck, a pendant, made out of solid, compacted dirt, that had a Greek letter gamma on it, the symbol of the letter ‘G’.

Oh my Gods, I thought, as realization crept into me, G for Gaea. And Sofia was talking about how she recognized one of the Romans from when she was running from the manticore. This guy is a spy against everyone, not just against Camp Half-Blood!

I hadn’t noticed a huge tree branch that was sitting in my path, dry, and ready to be snapped. My foot landed on it, breaking it in half loudly. Faster than I thought possible, the Roman jumped from the tree, and while in the air, slipped his arm into his shield, grabbing his spear in his right hand as he landed. He thrust his spear at me so fast that I only had time to deflect it.

Great, I thought, He’s the best fighter they have, and I only have my sword.

He pushed his shield towards me, crashing the huge wooden wall into my ribs. I felt one or two crack, and I gasped from the pain, all of the air being knocked out of my lungs. I flew onto the ground, and lay sprawling, at the hands of the Roman. He smiled evilly as he raised his spear, and, just as he was about to bring it down, I grabbed it and snapped the wooden part of the shaft at an angle, taking away the iron tip, but leaving a wooden spear, like a shank.

“No!” The Roman shouted in frustration.

He pressed me harder as I got up, still wheezing from the pain. I started to run, but I could only get as far as the edge of the tents. I broke past the tents into open campground. I thought I was free, until I turned around, and saw the Roman right behind me. I only had time to blink once before he shoved the remaining part of his spear into my abs. I could feel the blood pour out as he drew his short sword and started pressing me. The pain in my stomach made it hard to breath and see, my vision becoming blurry. I could barely defend myself as he pressed forward. After a couple of strikes, my arm began to tire. He whacked my hand, cutting my thumb pretty badly as my sword flew from my hand. I couldn’t take the pain anymore. I fell to my knees, at the mercy of the Roman.

This is it, I thought, No more me.

Quick as thought, he reached across his body with his sword arm in a slashing movement, and brought the blade across my neck. The blade sliced through an inch of my neck, but then stopped. The Roman removed his blade, and put both of his hands to his neck. A bronze arrow had materialized from his Adam’s apple, and he was bleeding profusely from the wound. He made a soft, sickening choking sound as he fell to his left, landing on his shield. Blood was pouring from the wounds in my neck and stomach, but all I could do was watch as the Roman kid, no older than I, died in front of me. Then, I started to pass out, the pain too great to bare.

The last thing that I thought was, ­I hope Katie and Izzy forgive me.

And then the world faded to black. In my unconscious state, I had a nightmare of Kai’s B&B, hearing myself say, ‘I need you’ to Katie, over and over again. I realized that that would be my eternal punishment in Tartarus. Reliving my mistake for eternity.

Notes

I will post one more chapter tonight, just to wrap up this whole situation. Enjoy! And comment (maybe) if you like it, I promise it'll make me smile.