Page 158 of Ares' Shield
The scaly asshole lunges for me again and would have just gutted me if the blade didn’t bounce right off the armor Hephaestus gave us.
Thank you, Hephaestus.
I grin, spinning around and lashing out with my sword in a wide arc and taking the thing’s head. It tumbles to the ground but doesn’t turn to ash. What?
What the hell is that thing? It’s not a typical monster because it didn’t turn to ash.
I scan the forest for any sign of what caused the inferno that nearly incinerated us. “Fuck, everything in Greek history had to breath fire, didn’t it?”
The real Chimera, not Hephaestus’ automaton, advances on me with a roar and spews flames. I roll out of the way of the flames and hop up, only to have to dodge a sword aimed for my head.
That was an Athena boy who I don’t really know. Well, shit. Maybe I should start learning people’s names at the academy. “Draven, a little help.”
“Your friends can’t help you, Bethany. You should have come when we called because now your death will be agonizing.” The boy chuckles as a shot of Draven’s power hits him in the head.
The boy falls to his knees and blinks up at me in horror. “They tried to make me kill you, didn’t they?”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re not the first and won’t be the last.” I spin away from him and back to face the Chimera.
Flames race to me but I’m shoved out of the way before they can hit me. Jayden screams as the magical fire washes over him. Another scream joins his and it takes a second with the shock to realize it’s mine. Shadows leap from my skin to cover Jayden.
The forest darkens as dark clouds crawl across the sky, lightning strikes the Chimera, and another scream of pain fills the air until the Chimera bursts into ash.
“Adrian, I need Adrian. Now,” I scream, dropping to my knees next to Jayden. “It’s going to be okay. I have the burn cream and Adrian’s going to fix you.”
I brush the blond hair back on his forehead. His arm is black from the burns of the magical fire, but just as Hephaestus said, the flames didn’t reach anything vital on his torso. It truly is amazing armor.
“Beth, watch out,” Jayden shouts and moves to get up, but I spin and gasp.
“I took your head. What are we dealing with here? Lizard zombies?” I slash out with my sword just in time to block his blade and jump to my feet, standing over Jayden and protecting him until Adrian can heal him.
Adrian jogs over, bow in hand, shooting at any enemies that come our way. “I think that’s a dragon warrior, Beth. They can’t be killed until they’ve completed their task.”
“Well, fuck. These are the guys Jason planted from dragon teeth? Who the hell is behind this?” I parry the swing from the dragon guy thing.
“It has to be someone powerful.” Adrian drops to his knees next to Jayden and green magic glows between them.
Adrian will be able to fix him. He’s not going to die. I killed the fucking Chimera for the second time. We can do this. I chant the words in my head as I spin on the dragon asshole.
“Beth, behind you,” Jayden shouts as shadows leap to my back, shielding me from whatever is there.
I swing my sword in a wide arc, taking the dragon warrior’s head for the second time, but now at least I know he’s not going to stay dead. His task has to be to kill me and I’m going to need to find a way to destroy it first.
I turn to the shadows and find an Apollo student hacking at my shield. Fuck. What is Draven doing? He’s sure taking his time.
“Draven,” I shout over the clang of swords and bellows of fury.
“I’m working on it.”
“You need to go faster,” I growl.
A presence at my back draws my attention just as Greyson’s large gray wolf lunges at the dragon warrior. His brass knuckles with claws shred the chest of the dragon warrior.
“Thanks, Greyson,” I say. “You look bigger.”
Has he gotten bigger? That is a very bad sign. It’s a problem for a different day though. I swing for the third time, taking the dragon warrior’s head, and spin as someone gasps behind me.
“Can you still fight?” I ask the Apollo boy.
