Chapter 2 Tale of The Fallen

In the conflicted area - Northern forest.

Wolf howls altered the singing of birds, the peacefulness of noon. They detected her, soon they would start hunting for her. Artemis dashed between the two oak trees, slide under a side-branch. The dead fallen leaves rustled underneath her feet. She knew she was giving herself away if she made too much sound, but in their territory, even a bee could be detectable.

The border line was too far ahead and perhaps she could never reach it. Patches of sunlight that escaped the thick canopy danced upon her small shoulders as Artemis sprinted for her dear life.

Then they came.

From both sides of her, between the trunks and bushes Artemis could perceive them. Two wolves, larger than an ordinary and faster than horses were on the pursuit for her. The game began between a prey and a predator. She knew she couldn't outrun them, in fact, non living being had ever escaped from the hunt of werewolves. But she still had hope.

Artemis appreciated her training and running because now they were saving her life. The wolves closed in their distance and sandwiched her. Their lethal teeth snared at her face. They made a lethal leap, the two wolves sprang at her from the sides. As quick as lightning, Artemis crutched to the ground and embraced the dirt as the wolves slammed onto each other. They fell off to the ground, their groans filled the air as they stumbled to make their stance while shaking their head furiously to strip off the disorientation. Artemis took the opportunity and sprinted before them.

But it wasn't long before they caught up with her. Artemis knew her luck had run out when now she felt tension in the bushes before her. She was surrounded.

The boundary line was just about a mile away and she couldn't reach it. She could only teleport out of the area once she had crossed the line. The Werewolves not only powerful, but their knowledge and magic were more advanced than the gods or any other entities on Earth. The gods could only blockage teleportation in a small area like the city of Olympus. But the werewolves could blockage teleportation in all of their territory. This was critical to gods since they relied mostly on teleportation.

They appeared before and behind her as Artemis drew out her weapon. She wouldn't go down without a fight. They snared their teeth, their sharp fangs glinted with poison. Artemis had experienced a werewolf bite before, and its poison can take an immortal down in a matter of minutes. She must be careful and avoid fighting head on with them. Their only weakness she had gained from many fights for the last few months was their tails. Their front was brutal, but their blind spot was behind, especially their tail. However, that was easy to say when fighting solo with a Werewolf. Of course that tactic was useless with a pack on wolves since they knew how to protect the other blind spots. Unfortunately, that was the situation Artemis got herself into.

They approached her slowly,  With each heart beat, their paws drew closer her death.

At the moment she wasn't afraid that she had to die. But she was worry about her idiotic boyfriend. Yeah, how crazy and stupid of her. She regretted the decision she made that night to let him walk out of her tent. She should've stopped him or at least come with him. What would she do when he returned from Chaos knows where and learn that she was killed by his people? Artemis didn't dare to imagine. Percy was honest and despite being stupid, he was the kindest person she had seen. Even though the temper of werewolves embarked deep in him, but no matter how others treated him, at the end, he still complied and loyal to that person. She loved him because of his generosity and honesty. He always put others before him and often it was his fatal flow. She knew he still loved his people. If he found out she was killed by his blood. That would be a nightmare that hunt him forever.

She couldn't let this tore him apart. She loved him so much that she was afraid to see him hurt. No matter what, she had to live through the fight.

The werewolves leaned back in their legs, ready for their famous leaps that would tear your neck to ribbons. Just when Artemis was about to lung at them for a upper hand charge, a battle horn ranged through the sky and sent the birds rushing from their nests.

Artemis and the wolves stopped their motions as if Khione had touched one of their nerve cells. Then from the sky, the white wings spread with hope as the sunlight glittered upon their feathers. The Pegasi, the Pegasi had arrived.

Annabeth led the frontal charge as she hurled down with her white Pegasus. The wolves snarled at the sight of Artemis's reinforcement. The hunters shot arrows after arrows down at them as wolves back away. Sensing the situation was disadvantageous for them, the other wolves reluctant to attack and until Artemis shot an arrow that injured one of them, they retreated into the forest.

The horses galloped towards Artemis, Annabeth jumped down from her mount and ran towards her.

"Milady!" She was pale with fear. "Are you ok? Did you get any bites!?"

"I'm ok Annabeth" Artemis smiled at her as her shoulders fell in relief. A Pegasus approached the goddess and nudged at her side. She brushed its white mane and whispered.

"Thank you my saviour"

"We should get out of here before their reinforcement come." Annabeth mounted again as she spoke from her horse. "I'm sure they haven't given up yet."

"You're right" Artemis nodded and she leaped onto her white horse.

With a powerful neigh came from the Pegasi. They took off to the air leaving behind the werewolves that now had returned with reinforcement to pursuit them.

They returned to camp with their strength spent. It was a long flight and despite Annabeth insist for her to teleport home first, Artemis still chose to accompany Annabeth on horse back the rest of the way. She couldn't let anyone out of her sight and protection anymore, certainly not in those days.

Thalia was the first to run forth and tackled the goddess into a hug. She squeezed tight.

"We were so worry about you" She said. "If Zoë didn't stop me, I would have set out to help."

"Zoë did the right thing by following me order Thals" Artemis said. "It's not the place where anyone can just infiltrate and leave. I barely got out alive."

"Did you find him Milady?" Thalia asked with a hopeful look. In her eyes, Artemis could see that Thalia knew the answer by just glancing around. In fact, all the hunters would have expected this. This was the fiftieth time she set out to find him, and also her fiftieth failure.

Artemis looked at Annabeth whom returned with a sad face. They already talked about this during the fight.

"Unfortunately no Thals." Artemis sighed and finally answered to ease the anxious looks of the hunters.

Thalia lowered her eyelids and the hunters lowered their heads. They had come to form a bond with him and they loved him like their brothers. Though they didn't know about Artemis and Percy relationship, Artemis was confident they would eventually accept it. After all the hard work Percy had given in here to gain their trust and now he just forsook it and disappeared.

"It's alright Milady" Thalia tried to smile. "He'll return eventually. After all he's left this camp many times. I'm sure will teach him the harshest lesson once he return here."

"Well that's encouraging Thals" Artemis smiled at her.

They returned to their normal routine that day. The dinner of course came again from Thalia cooking. It's been along time since Artemis tasted it and Thalia didn't improve one bit. She missed his cook and his stupid grin. The pavilion was silence with out his presence. Zoë had been walking harder ever since the war started. The had to keep order in camp in Artemis absence and responded to requests of the gods. If things go wrong, and Artemis meant terribly wrong to herself. Then Zoë would be a suitable leader after Artemis.

Night returned and the camp grew even more silent. They hadn't had camp fire night for a long time and they forgot the singing and laughter in it. Her bed was cold that Artemis felt as if herself sleeping on the floor. The blanket normally she felt so small in his presence was now so big as if it could cover a Titan. She held onto his shirt, trying to embrace his warmth and cried to sleep.

She remembered how they used to sneak out of the forest for hunting. It was just an excuse to have some private time since Percy was terrible at shooting. The only thing he good at was his agility and stamina. She remembered how she used to laid between his arms under the beech trees. She remembered the feeling of his fingers brushing through her hair and how he delicately placed a wild flower upon her silver head. She remembered those perfectly still and now she was dwelling in it. This fantasy she thought she could live under forever, the perfect moment when they shared their peacefulness. But reality struck in and disturbed the scenery.

"Milady! Milady" someone detonated her name from outside.

It was still early she could feel it. The atmosphere of the room was still dry and cold. At the moment, she just wanted to dive back into the blanket and return to where she was in that dream. But she knew it was urgent.

The flap was set open and Zoë appeared into her vision. She had a concern look on her face and that just drove the sleepiness away from Artemis's eyes.

"What is it Zoë" She asked.

"It's the council" She informed her. "Your father just summoned you"

They marched through the forest disheartening. Order was sent for them for a battle, the battle they knew would never win. The werewolf territory had expanded to Kansas and now Zeus wanted to take back that state and many other in the West. They already lost New Rome, and now Camp Half Blood and Olympus were the only two key defences left of the gods.

The werewolves strike was a surprise. They poured down from Alaska like a sudden gust of wind. The battle of The Field Of Mars was a disaster. The gods lost so many troops that they forsook Rome and left it for the demigods to defend themselves. Many of the Roman gods were perished that day, and many died slowly from their lethal bites. Camp Half Blood did send troops over to rescue the Romans, but thing didn't come as they expected it to be. Fortunately the werewolves at the time released the prisoners, so most of the demigods were spared.

Ever since then, they had been trying to reclaim the West and Rome. But they continued to lose territories left and right until half of the North America was in the enemy territory. More Olympian Warriors were summoned to Olympus course, and more immortals died each day. This discouraged the troops that they lost the will to fight. If they could, they would've left America after the last battle at Kansas and settle down in Europe. But her father, Zeus still had hope and believed they could still reclaim this country if they kept pushing.

This time Artemis was appointed a secret mission to ambush the enemy while Paecus led the many army to the front line. Her mission seemed easy as to ambush and protect their flank, yet it was the most dangerous mission. The reason they had been losing was because werewolves never fought in open fields. They accepted casualty in the battle of Field of Mars because they wanted to take Rome as their first objective. Ever since then, most battle happened in the forest where werewolves were master at ambush and sneak attack. They tried hard to draw the wolves out, but most of the time, the gods ended up in their own traps.

The werewolves were not just powerful in strength and advanced in magic. They also had the masterful generals. There were rumours their generals were the seven princes of the North that represent each Clan. They were masterful in strategies and plans. Even though the gods had Athena and Paecus, but two brilliant brains wouldn't win seven.

The hunters settled on the trees, camouflaged by their green cloak and covered the the halls of leaves. Yet Artemis knew, once an arrow was shot, their hidings would become useless. Their first volley must count.

They sat in silence in the branches anxiously. The wolves could appear from anywhere and even with the sharp-eyes of the hunters, it'd be a challenge to detect them.

As sudden as a gust of wind, the battle horns rung the air of Kansas and vibrated its fields. Far and far away, they could here the roar of battle and the charges. Artemis closed her eyes and silently prayed to any superior beings to reduce the casualties they had to take today. She didn't care if Kansas was in the enemy control, in fact, she didn't care if America was taken by werewolves. She just didn't want more people close to her to die anymore. This war was pointless and perhaps endless.

Then she heard movement in the bushes below and Zoë notched her arrow. Artemis gave a sign to halt her. They had to wait until more to come. They couldn't waste the first volley because it was also their last. They perceived more movement in the bushes and slowly, red eyes appeared in the shadow of the wood.

They approached slowly, deliberately and their movement was smooth like butter. The leader was a grey wolf, it immediately struck her of how similar he looked from Lucien. Perhaps they were in the same Clan. More appeared behind and they approached slowly to the trees where the hunters were hiding. Their planks were carefully guarded as they moved under the shadowy trees.

Their muscles flexed on their shoulders, their fur was a silk and that oily movement always fascinated Artemis. She was gladly they was fighting in day light, because at night, the werewolves are more dangerous. In daylight, they appeared like normal wolves but in gigantic sizes like tigers. But once the sun is gone and the world is merged in darkness, where the stars sprinkled in the skyline, they make their true form. Artemis had seen it from Percy. At night, the wolf would turn into beast, half man half wolf and lethal claws and teeth. Artemis remembered the terror of the battle of Texas. The full moon was shinning and the immortal blood was spilling.

They came closer, a single sweat rolled down her cheek as she slowly raised her bow. Te hunters followed her lead. They had to cause as much casualties as possible from this volley. She didn't want to kill all of them, she just hoped it would cause them to break from the fight. But werewolves were stubborn like her and they would fight to the bitter end.

The leader came just under the tree Artemis was hiding. She pulled back her arrow and it made a creak on her bow that vibrated the air. The wolf leader rose to attention as its ears peaked upwards, searching for sound. It sniffed and just had time to stare directly at Artemis face before her arrow was set loose.

A painful whine came from the leader as the silver arrow struck its side. Silver was not what killed the werewolves, they just stripped away their strength until the point where normal weapons could kill them. With a thug, the grey wolf was dead. The other just had a split second to realise what was happening and came to their position and started barking, their canine teeth snared with poisons. The volley was released and the frontline of werewolves crumbled by the accuracy of the hunters. The planks stood their ground while the centre felt in dread. More arrows were shot and the wolves this time took cover behind the trunks or trying to dodge them. They couldn't reach the hunters and they fired arrow after arrow. The situation seemed to be in favour for Artemis until a spear hurled towards them. It split the wind, penetrated the hall of leaves and pierced through one of Artemis hunter's shoulder. A scream came from the poor girl as the spear knocked her down from the tree. Other hunters were just recovering from their shocks until more spear was thrown.

"Away from the trees! Away from the trees" Artemis barked order in horror as two more hunters were struck down by spears.

Them climbed down the the bullet zone of the enemy. Right when they finally set their foot on the ground, Zoë shouted through the whistling of flying spears.

"Milady look!"

From the bushes, a formation of metals appeared. The front was led by wolves that was clad with armours of silver and white. They were so heavily protected that Artemis's arrows bounced harmlessly on it. Right behind the formation was a shield walls maned by werewolves now had transformed back to man forms. They protected the javelin unit which was now throwing spear after spear after the hunters.

As the formation approached, Artemis saw the dead wolves laying on the ground just suddenly busted into fairy dust. A realisation struck her. The dead wolves were fakes. They clamoured her with magic with fake wolves to draw out her hiding, and stupidly enough, Artemis dived directly into their traps. Now the real wolves had appeared and there was no way the hunters could beat their formation.

"Retreat!" Artemis shouted. "It's a trap! Retreat!"

They took heavy casualties as javelin chased at their back. The dashed through the woods, taking the trees as cover from enemy javelins while trying to run for their life.

Suddenly, the sky rumbled and Artemis heard a cheer afar following a tremendous howls and a battle horn. A beacon was shot to the sky and Artemis felt with dread. Paecus was lost in the frontline and now he ordered a full retreat. Artemis knew this battle was a failure and now she had led her own hunters to their deaths. Their technology was more advanced than the gods as well as their magic. No matter how brave the god soldiers were, the werewolves were more fierce. And powerful. A great slaughter they took that day and many perished. Artemis tried to save as many hunters as possible. The only strange thing was the javelins didn't hit their fatal spots. Most of the wound was around the shoulder as if the werewolves purposely aimed for it. That was fortunately though for Artemis as they tried to carried the wounded off the battlefield. Yet, it was slowing them down.

Then she heard metal clashing behind her and Artemis turned back to horror.

Thalia was supporting Zoë, who already had a javelin pierced through her thigh. The wolf scouts which weren't clad in armours were able to catch up with them and now Thalia was fighting in melee to defend Zoë.

"Thalia run!" Zoë insisted her. "Leave them to me! Run!"

"Heck yeah I would" Thalia scowled and she gave out another battle cry. The crashed onto their formation, flipping her dagger left and right injuring many werewolves around her.

Artemis at the moment couldn't let them die. Even though Thalia was an experienced fighter, Artemis knew she was no match for a pack of werewolves. Looking back now and she noticed most of the hunters had escaped. Taking out her dagger, the silver gleaming under the sun and she charged towards the enemy to rescue her hunters.

She slide under the belly of a wolf, flipping herself over two and shot down an enemy while she was still the air. She made herself behind Thalia back and protected her.

"Milady, what are you doing?!" Thalia exclaimed as she blocked an attack of a wolf with her bow.

"Preventing you from being ripped into ribbons of course" Artemis reply and she kicked a wolf at its side, pushing it away.

"Leave us Milady!" Thalia told her. "Take Zoë with you. The hunters need you more than me."

"No Thals. I'm not gonna anymore die. Not you or Zoë."

They fought for long, managed to injure a few wolves but Artemis knew it wasn't enough. Zoë even managed to take out her bow and they were surrounded. Enemy attempts to lung at them was relentless and they failed left and right. But Artemis and the others were already exhausted. Thalia had run out of ammo and even Zoë had to fight in melee with her injured leg.

Artemis was desperate and they couldn't continue on forever. But she couldn't let the others die with her. She had already lost Percy. She didn't want to lose anymore people that she loved. Her hunters had to live. And so she decided to make a suicidal attempt, but at least it could give Thalia and Zoë an opportunity to escape.

"Thalia support Zoë now!" Artemis ordered. "We're gonna go for an escape. As soon as I breach their surroundings, you guys must take a run immediately understood!?"

"What about you Milday!?" Zoë managed to take a glance at her.

"I will be right behind don't worry"

Thalia ran over and let Zoë resting on her shoulder as she supported her. Artemis concentrated on any strength and power she had left, then sent down all of it to her palm. She shot out a silver ball of energy directly at the wall of werewolves. Of course the shot was to slowly to hit any enemy, but it was able to mobilise them out of the way and created a gap in their formation.

"Go now!" Artemis yelled.

Thalia and Zoë made a run for their lives and Artemis waited anxiously for them. The werewolves were closing in but Artemis immediately released her arrows at them to allow the gap to remain open. The hunters made it out of the kill zone and now they turned back to have Artemis no were to be seen except in the circle of the enemy.

"Milady no!" Zoë screamed and tried to run back and Thalia immediately restrained her.

"Get away from here!" Artemis yelled through the roaring of the wolves. "Don't ever look back! Just run!"

Tears streaming down their cheeks but they knew that was the choice Artemis must take. So they turned their heads and started to run, even though in their mind, they would never want to abandon their own goddess. But Artemis mind was set and the hunters knew it more than anyone else their mistress stubbornness. They wouldn't let her sacrifice be in vain.

Artemis fought on despite her bow was broken, her quiver was emptied. She had to stay back and keep the wolves occupied. Even if they all escaped, they would eventually get chased down by the wolves. Artemis strength was spent and yet she still held tight on her dagger. She made a clear circle around at as the wolves were anxious and furious at the circumference. They wanted to lung in and snap her head off, yet her swinging blade made it hard for them. The armoured wolves closed in at her, but Artemis found a weak spot under their throat and hurled her silver blade. It stuck the wolf down immediately and it laid dead at her feet. Its body didn't bust this time so Artemis was assured her kill was real. The wolves back away when they saw their first casualty. Two more attempted to charge in simultaneously and Artemis made a countercharge at one wolf and knocked its teeth flying with the butt of her dagger, then lunged back that the other and buried her knife at its side. Three died by her blade and she was exhausted at the point. Her hands were shaking and her legs felt like straws. She managed to keep her balance and stance to hide her weakness. She continued to fight on and injured a few more wolves before they brought in weapons.

The moment they brought in the pikes, Artemis knew her fight was over. The sharp deadly tips pointed at her in all directions like the marks of minutes on a clock.

"Drop your weapon goddess" a human form werewolf demanded her. "Your fight is over."

Artemis glanced around. A few wolves snared their teeth as they barked at her. This is it. Three thousand eight hundred fifty nine years, four months and five days has come to an end. The still didn't find him and now she had to lay upon the battlefield. The battlefield she never wanted to come. At least her hunters got out alive, at least no more people that she loved had to die today. She threw the dagger on the ground and held her hands high. Immediately, she forced her to her knees and seized her hands behind her back.

"You put up a fight your comrades goddess" the captain glanced down at her with a look of acknowledgement. "But unfortunately, heroes always meet deaths"

He swung his sword, the blade glittered of diamond and silver under the setting sun as it spray upon her face a lament of her death. She held her head high and ready to embrace the sweat execution from her enemy, the race of a boy she loved.

But a sudden horn came from no where and all movements stopped. Artemis opened her eyes only to see the werewolf faces had turned nervous.

"Make way for the general! The general is approaching!" An order rand throughout the enemy line. They hastily formed an entrance on the circle that surrounded her. Then more werewolves came in through the entrance. The looks and armours on these werewolves indicated they were higher rank officers and suddenly she caught something familiar.

That black messy raven hair appeared out of the formation. That blue-green eyes distinctive from other wolves and that perfect feature she could never forget. Shock embraced Artemis and tears streaming down her cheeks. Her lips trembled and only came out one word between her gasp.

"Percy..."