Page 8 of Poseidon's Trident
“I like long range weapons that I can modify to whatever I want them to do,” Kira says as she grabs a bow from the weapons wall.
Dax creeps up next to us and watches Kira. She pulls the seemingly innocent bow from the quiver it’s in. It’s strange that the actual bow is in there and there are no arrows. Dax cocks his head to the side as well.
“You put that where the arrows go. Where are the arrows?” he asks.
“There are no arrows. Not really anyway.” Kira sets the quiver aside and steps next to me.
It’s just like any other bow until Kira presses a button and an arrow nocks perfectly into place. It just appeared almost out of thin air.
“Wow,” Dax says, taking a step toward Kira. “Where did it come from?”
“This bow has endless arrows. It’s a combination of magic and machinery. The arrow comes out of a compartment here,” she says, showing him the thin line in the gold.
“You made this?” Dax asks, awe in his tone.
I glance at Raven who has a grin on her face and we back away from the two of them. Maybe all it’s going to take for them to get together is some cool magic and weapons after all.
“Bethany,” a familiar voice calls out to me.
I turn to find the centaur Chiron stamping toward me with a smile.
“Chiron, I told you to call me Beth.” I shake my head but greet him with a fist over my heart as always.
“I call warriors by their given names, Bethany.” Chiron stamps his hoof. “It’s time to train.”
I glance at Raven and she shrugs. “Can you train me too?”
Raven has been wanting to train with Chiron since we came back from Sparta and the centaur agreed to train me but has never asked before today.
“You are a talented warrior as well, Raven. It would be my honor.” Chiron plants a fist over his heart and bows his head to her.
Raven repeats the gesture and once formalities are over, the drill sergeant comes out of the ancient centaur. He starts us off with a run which no instructor at the academy has ever made us do at the beginning of a training session. We pass Thaddeus as we run and the sky opens up and pelts our skin.
The rest of the students all run for the dorms but Chiron stops us at the end of our run.
“You made good time. Let’s start with burpees.” He glances up at the sky as if disgusted by the word and a giggle escapes.
“Burpees?” Raven groans. “It’s pouring out here. We’re going to be covered in mud.”
“You need to train against the elements. There will be times that battles happen in the rain. Your enemy won’t stop because they are getting wet,” Chiron bellows.
We are both sweating by the end of the burpees and my training uniform is caked in mud. I’m not even sure how burpees will help train us to fight monsters but I don’t argue with Chiron. He was a great trainer of heroes a millennia ago. Things haven’t changed much in the way we fight, except the names we call certain exercises.
“Raven, you will fight with Thaddeus; Bethany, you’re with me,” Chiron barks.
I turn to find Thaddeus standing with us, being trained by Chiron, and can’t help but wonder why Jayden isn’t with us. Thad wasn’t even on the mission when we found Chiron lost and confused, walking down a highway to Chicago. Jayden should be here, not Thad, and my irritation only grows with the sea demigod.
Thad glances at me like he wants to argue but shrugs and turns to Raven. She has a smirk on her face as she calls her ax from the ether. She loves that ax.
“Call your weapon, Bethany,” Chiron commands.
I’m fucking drenched and know better than to call my electricity when I’m wet so I pull my sword from the ether. The whip is more effective with magic arcing through it and I will never make the same mistake I made with the Minotaur again.
I face off with Chiron, falling into a fighting stance. The millennia-old centaur flips his sword in the air before bringing it down in an arc over my head. I thrust my sword up and the metal clangs together.
“Good block but it was a little slow.” Chiron grins. “Again.”
He swings out at me and I quickly block him again. We do this until my arms feel like lead. I’m breathing heavy and muddy and wet as the rain pelts my skin.
