The Ambassador of Athena

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked Nico when I climbed over the fence.
“No, I am not. But it was your idea.” He pointed out. “The silver bull should be right behind the hill, at least that was what the shepherd, Menoetes, told me.”
I sighed and thought about how I could let it come so far.
We have taken a train from the Tartarus line to a station called “Fields of Remorse”. Nico explained to me that everyone who wasn’t that good or against the gods and understood their mistake after they passed on was sent here to work for Hades as a lumberjack, a plumber or a shepherd. The fields of remorse were better that the fields of punishment, but working for eternity as the guy who unclogs Hades’ toilets doesn’t sound that good to me.
Nico assured me that the spirit of Johanna followed us since I could not turn around to check myself.
Menoetes was a demon, don’t ask me how he ended up in Hades service, I’ve never heard about him before. But he was really nice, told me where to find the bull for the sacrifice, gave me a silver dagger and a red sheet and sent me off.
And now I was standing here at the top of the hill like an ancient Greek torero and looked down on the herd of cattle.
“So, you don’t have to kill the bull, just get a bit of blood from him. A cup should be enough.”
“Sounds easy.” I mumbled and walked towards the cows. They looked normal, but the one with the horns had a sliver shimmer. This must be the bull I had to get my blood from.
And the worst thing was: It has noticed me and charged.
I felt reminded of the last time I fought a bull, but this time I had a red sheet with me.

I will cut the really embarrassing part short by just telling you that the bull charged and I jumped, over and over again. The whole game was about which one of us would get tired first. I got a few bad dents in my breastplate and earned a few bruises that would let me look like a rainbow the next few weeks, but I could nick the skin of the bull a few times.
Finally the Bull and I had a standoff again, both of us breathing heavily. I felt a strange connection to him since we fought for that long, so I felt a bit sorry when his legs collapsed and he fell to one side.
Maybe it was my exhaustion or the feeling of victory that made me let down my guard, but when I walked up to the bull it happened:
He threw his head around and one of his horns hit my calf.
The pain was horrible. I slashed downwards with my dagger and cut the horn. I knew enough about injuries that you never pull out something from a wound, so I let it in and collapsed next to the bull. I was close to passing out when Nico came running down the hill and knocking the bull out with the hilt of his sword. He examined my leg while I tried not to pass out.
“Your fibula is broken; I fear one of the arteries is injured too. We have to leave the horn in your leg, or you will bleed out within minutes.”
“How do you… know?” I asked him weakly while he looked through my backpack.
“I study Medicine at the University of New Rome, second year now.” He explained while unpacking the first aid kit I had with me “I plan on becoming a surgeon later.”
He gave me a shot of painkillers right in my leg and splinted my calf. After a few minutes the pain calmed down to a throb and I was able to stand up, with the help of a makeshift crutch from a branch of a tree that grew nearby.
“Now you have to get the blood.” Nico told me and handed me an empty plastic bottle.
I pierced a vein at the neck of the bull and caught the red liquid, but not without getting a lot of the stuff on my tunic and my armour. After the bottle was full I stopped the bleeding with a pink Hello Kitty Band-Aid and turned back to Nico.
He has already dug a hole close to the fence where the ghost waited. I avoided looking directly at it when I knelt down next to the boy and moaned when pain shot through my leg.
“Let’s hope this works out the way I want it to.” I whispered and started the ritual.
“Oh Lord Hades, accept my sacrifice to fulfil the ancient rites to set this soul free from the chains of the underworld and let it walk on the surface again.”
I poured the blood into the pit and hoped for the best.
“Let this soul be mortal again and give it a chance to serve in the will of the gods again.”
The soul floated forward and leaned over the pit. Something like an arm extended and scooped up some of the blood.
This was nasty, but the ghost drank from the blood. Immediately it looked more solid, more lively.
I caught myself and looked in the other direction.
“Great, this worked. Now all we have to do is get back to the surface.”
Nico stood up and brushed dust off his jeans.
I leaned on my crutch and pulled myself up.
“But how? I don’t expect you have a fast lane ticket somewhere in your pocket.”
He cracked a smile and grabbed the ghost with one hand. The other one was stretched out towards me.
“Better: We’ll shadow-travel.”

Notes

Sorry it took me a while to finish this chapter, but I had to read BoO first.
I will adapt my story to the book so it fit's, so if you haven't finished it yet you better not read on since the last few chapters will be post-BoO.
Enjoy reading ;D