For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.
"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Andie, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"
Andromeda seemed like she didn't want to, but Luke insisted.
This time there was no contest. The moment their swords connected, Luke hit Andromeda's hilt and sent his weapon flying and skidding across the floor.
After a long pause, somebody in the audience said, "Beginner's luck?"
Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised Andromeda with new interest. "Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Andie could do with a balanced sword…"
It was Friday, and dinner was in the midst of being finished. Jakob had to admit, had has enjoyed the last few days at Camp Half-Blood.
After the sparring lesson with the Hermes cabin, Jakob continued on hs routine each day, sometimes adding in something new to it. He continued the process of building his cabin with the Hephaestus and Athena children.
Outside of that, sometimes he sparred with Clarisse, which had them develop mutual respect from their time fighting each other. They weren't friends, it was simply respect.
Other times he talked with Andromeda or Silena or Katie or Annabeth. With Andromeda, it was about general life and he inquired about her life before camp, but she didn't reveal anything personal which he understood as he did the same. She did ask about the Norse Pantheon and he told her bits and pieces, but not everything.
With Silena he went Pegasus-riding, just talking to her. With Annabeth he talked about the languages he knew, told her a little bit about the Norse Gods, and they also discussed battle tactics after mentioning the Norse God of War, Týr. And with Katie it was just random stuff, either about camp or general life.
As dinner finished up, there was an air of excitement going around. It was time for capture the flag.
When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and they all stood at their tables.
Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening grey, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.
From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her siblings ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.
Jakob turned to Katie at table four. He asked if the teams were always Ares and Athena, but Katie said most of the time.
The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.
Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, and the best slots for activities-in order to win support.
Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite and Hephaestus. From what he'd seen, Dionysus' kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them.
Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive.
From Aphrodite, nobody didn't have to worry too much. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake, did their hair and gossiped. Hell, Silena was the only one Jakob saw right now that was actually ready. When she saw him, she winked. Jakob (thankfully) didn't blush, and waved in response.
Hephaestus' kids were rough looking, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day.
They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares' cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids he'd ever seen, though not as mean looking as Magni and Modi were.
Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.
"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"
He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, and ox hide shields coated in metal.
"Aren't you going to join, brother?" Mimir asked curiously as Jakob made no move to join in.
Jakob scoffed. "No. Do I really look like the type to participate in some foolish game?"
"...true. But it can't hurt." Mimir said.
"Answer's still no. I'll watch from the trees, get an aerial view of the game." Jakob said, crossing his arms.
"That's fair enough, I suppose." Mimir sighed.
Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"
Blue team cheered and shook their swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at them as they headed off towards the north.
Jakob walked off towards the woods and climbed a tree until he was close to the top and got comfortable, but paid close attention to the game about to begin.
'I feel ridiculous.' Andromeda thought in annoyance while standing by the creek with her helmet, big shield, and sword, which still seemed off-balance like every other sword she's tried.
The girl beginning to realize why she'd been put on border patrol alone and why Annabeth had specifically mentioned Clarisse and her spear. Though she didn't have time to think on it further as she heard the conch horn in the distance signaling the start of the game, an Apollo kid racing past her into enemy territory.
'I'll miss all the fun, as usual.' Andromeda thought sighing, while knowing there wasn't anything she could do about it.
Before she suddenly tensed at hearing a low canine growl coming from somewhere close by, making Andromeda look around warily. Raising her shield instinctively, getting the feeling that something was stalking her, something that wasn't a camper. Only for the growling to suddenly stop, feeling the presence was retreating, making Andromeda sigh.
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