¹Royal Cries.

006.

ROYAL CRIES
━━ chapter six

━━ IT WAS FORTUNATE that Percy had made friends with fast-flying pegasi.

               Percy did his best taxicab whistle, and within a few minutes, three dark shapes circled out of the sky. They looked like hawks at first, but once they descended, Elisa could make out the long galloping legs of pegasi. She could recognize Blackjack, but the other two were nameless to her—maybe Porkpie and Guido.

               Blackjack neighed loudly as he landed in a trot. He was leading the other two pegasi.

               "Thanks for coming," Percy told him. "Hey, why do pegasi gallop as they fly, anyway?"

               Blackjack shook his head in an annoyed fashion, whining loudly.

               Percy looked amused. He waved Annabeth and Elisa over. "We need to get to the Williamsburg Bridge," he told the pegasus.

               Blackjack lowered his neck, an invitation for Percy to get on. Annabeth got on the back of the pure white pegasus—Porkpie, maybe—and the spotted pegasus was left for Elisa.

               On the way to the bridge, a heavy knot was forming in the pit of Elisa's stomach. She had seen battles before, and had fought in them too, but she didn't realize how scared she was to be in one again. It was like she could feel her blood pumping faster, the adrenaline coursing through her.

               She saw the battle before they were close enough to make out individual fighters. It was well after midnight now, but the bridge blazed with light. Cars were burning. Arcs of fire streamed in both directions as flaming arrows and spears sailed through the air.

               She, Percy, and Annabeth came in for a low pass, and Elisa saw the Apollo campers retreating. They would hide behind cars and snipe at the approaching army, setting off explosive arrows and dropping caltrops in the road, building fiery barricades wherever they could, and dragging sleeping drivers out of their cars to get them out of harm's way. But the enemy kept advancing. An entire phalanx of dracaenae marched in the lead, their shields locked together, spear tips bristling over the top. An occasional arrow would connect with their snaky trunks, or a neck, or a chink in their armor, and the unlucky snake woman would disintegrate, but most of the Apollo arrows glanced harmlessly off their shield wall. About a hundred more monsters marched behind them.

               Hellhounds leaped ahead of the line from time to time. Most were destroyed with arrows, but one got hold of an Apollo camper and dragged him away. Elisa didn't see what happened to him next, and she didn't want to know.

               "There!" Annabeth called from the back of her pegasus.

               Sure enough, in the middle of the invading legion was the Minotaur himself. From the waist down, he wore standard Greek battle gear—a kilt-like apron of leather and metal flaps, bronze greaves covering his legs, and tightly wrapped leather sandals. His top was all bull—hair and hide and muscle, leading to a head so large he should've toppled over just from the weight of his horns.

               A double-bladed axe was strapped to his back, but he was too impatient to use it. As soon as he saw Percy circling overhead ( or he smelled the boy, more likely, since his eyesight was bad ), he bellowed and picked up a white limousine.

               "Blackjack, dive!" the son of Poseidon yelled.

               They were at least a hundred feet up, but the limo came sailing towards them, flipping fender over fender like a two-ton boomerang. Annabeth and Porkpie swerved madly to the left, Elisa and Guido swerved to the right, and Blackjack tucked in his wings and plunged. The limo sailed past Elisa's left, a mirror nearly catching the tip of her ear. It cleared the suspension lines of the bridge and fell towards the East River.