Disclaimer- I do not own any of the characters they all belong to Rick Riordan and Greek Mythology

I woke from sleep to the alarm being sounded. From the position of the sun kissing the horizon I'd guess it was early morning meaning I had probably had three to five hours sleep maximum. I was slightly tired and drowsy but that quickly vanished when I saw the battle raging around me. My eyes widened and I quickly stood knocking an arrow and drawing the bowstring tight, searching for a target. I was glad I slept in my parka rather than changing as I watched as arrow after arrow fly out of the trees. These were not friendly arrows though, oh no. These arrows were the arrows Orion had used large, black and poisonous so anything hit died instantly. This was a great asset when they were firing from our side, however in the other direction not so much.

Hunter after hunter was falling before they were awakened by the alarm Phoebe was sounding. I watched in shock, sadness and fear as many of my friends like Jade and Atlanta, many of my sisters in arms fell without even knowing of the fight. This angered me. Knowing I was once again being reckless but not standing the thought of any more hunters falling without even knowing of the enemy I called out.

"Hunters to Arms!" my cry echoed throughout the camp and many of the still sleeping hunters quickly woke and took one look and the situation and like me rose to firing stance, shaking off any drowsiness. Phoebe looked at me in shock before smiling at me and trading in the hunting horn for her bow. "Hunters, cover each other and lets show our broth-no, Orion, why no one challenges the hunters of Artemis. For Artemis!" I called out, my voice wavering on his name.

"For Artemis!" my sisters echoed as we formed a circle with the younger less experienced campers in the middle and the old campers on the outside.

We all kept our bows drawn aiming them ahead at the forest surrounding us. "Orion show yourself and thy should above hiding in the trees," I challenged. We were answered with a volley of arrows shot from the trees which we quickly returned with our own before a number of werewolves burst forth. Some of my sisters engaged them in close combat but none of us really train in close combat, relying on our archery and sneak attacks rather than full on assaults. That plan normally works well, not this time, the werewolves are too close to shoot and if they weren't we couldn't get a clear shot. I watch in despair as more of my sisters fall. They fall from wounds inflicted by a werewolves claws, or kill themselves when they are bit by one, choosing death over being condemned to be a monster. Other are shot down by the constant volleys of arrows being shot from the shadows of the trees by, I assume, Orion but there seems to be too many arrows for one person.

The battle has progressed terribly, it is more in Orion's favour than ever. We have lost close to half our sisters and we are losing hope. I have one final idea but it is stupid and reckless and much like what a male would do, however I have no other option. I turned to the huntress next to me, Amelia, and told her to cover me. When she asked what I was doing I replied with "something that can either end this fight with no more casualties or end my life," before slinging my bow over my shoulder and running towards the trees and the direction of the arrows.

I sped through the maze of nature as many obstructions and obstacles such as trees, roots and hedges block my path. I listen closely for any rustling or thuds of footsteps, or even twangs of bowstrings being released. I eventually find a noise and follow it to it source. I see Orion standing just behind the tree line watching the carnage with a mad glint in his eyes and laughing as he fires arrow after arrow. I knock and arrow, going for a sneak attack over close combat, I still need to improve my skills with a knife. I look down the shaft of the arrow and take a deep breath preparing myself for what I was a about to do. I then let the arrow fly and it finds its mark. I quickly knock another arrow and let it fly as well but this time I am not so lucky. "What is this? A little girl has come to challenge me with her little annoying arrows like flies and her companions dropping like them." He insults, sending shivers up and down my spine at how menacing and evil he sounds, so different from when I first met him.

"Well, thou is the one hiding in the trees like a scared animal shooting thines arrows rather than facing us like a brave, honourable warrior," I retort back, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

"Well, well a feisty one, how fun. I can't wait to crush your spirit and bring you back to Earth. You see I wouldn't be calling anyone a coward when they are winning." He purrs reminding that this is not my brother Orion, this is the crazed Orion who wants to kill everything.

"Yes, you are winning but not for, stop stalling with you words and face me," I say, drawing my hunting knives. He smiles a sinister, crazy smile and puts away his bow and arrow, trading it for his spear.

We face off in the clearing and my final thought before we lock in combat is, so much for a sneak attack, then I pounce trying to catch unaware but I am unsuccessful. Orion parries my hunting knife with his spear and throws me backwards with a good push, "Nice try little girl, but you can't win," he calls again.

"Does thee know what Orion, I have no more remorse about this, Thou is no longer that kind, respectful giant thee once was. Thy is now the same as every other male on this planet, a selfish, no good, pig," I yell at him, tears in my eyes at his betrayal.

He just laughs and our weapons meet again, my knife to his spear. We mostly evenly match as what he gains in size, he lacks in speed and I am vice versa. We both use a bow normally, which is lucky because if his preferred weapon was a spear I would be dead, I am struggling as it is now.

Our deadly dance continues, each of us occasionally landing or taking hits but none fatal until he gets a lucky shot with his spear and I am swatted aside by the shaft. I slam into a tree and all the air leaves my lungs as I slump to the ground. I await my fate that I cannot avoid but I do not close my eyes and await the final blow. No, I stare defiantly up at Orion as he lifts his spear above his head ready to deliver the final blow. Just before the spear begins its decent silver arrows sprout from Orion's side and he turns around distracted. I take his distraction to scramble away and back to camp until I hear what he says. "Well, Well, a little goddess decided to join the game?" he taunts.

"Yes, Orion, now leave my huntress alone," Demanded the voice of my saviour, Artemis. I peeked around the large body of Orion and caught Artemis eye. She saw me and with a subtle hand movement she gave me the message to shoot Orion. So quietly and quickly, as Artemis kept Orion's attention I drew my bow and let the arrow fly. It finds it mark in Orion's back. Unfortunately, it does not kill him so he whistles to the werewolves, obviously telling them to retreat before he turns and disappears in foliage. I go to follow him but Artemis lays a hand on my shoulder and says, "Don't follow him Zoe, we need to get you patched up."

That's when I notice the pain, obviously the aftermath of an adrenaline rush from the fight. It feels as if I could have a couple of bruised ribs and I have lots of cuts over my body. Figuring there was no point following Orion I turn and walk back to camp, Artemis at my side.

As we enter I look around and see similar carnage to when Orion went on a rage the first time. The only difference is there are many more casualties because this time he had help and used tactics rather than mindless fighting. Artemis led me to a medical tent where our two daughters of Apollo, Emma and Lucy were rushing around patching everyone up with the occasional help of another uninjured hunter. I guess I should explain, we are all trained in first aid, but being daughters of Apollo these two are generally the medical team rather than fighters. Artemis leads me to a bed and Lucy immediately comes over. "Check her for bruised or broken ribs, and blood loss, and anything else, she went one on one with Orion and as you can tell it didn't go entirely as planned," Artemis says, Lucy nods and smiles at me, "What are we going to do with you Zoe, running off to Orion?" She says, laughter evident in her tone. I just smile. As Lucy examines me I see Phoebe in a deep discussion with Artemis and they keep looking at me but before I can worry about it too much Lucy gives me her verdict. Your pretty good, a couple of scrapes and bruises her and there and one bruise rib but other than that nothing extremely serious or life threatening so just don't do too much exercise for about a week to a fortnight and I'll check on you every now and again. Other than that, you're free to go."

I express my thanks before going to my tent that I share with Phoebe.

As I walk through camp Artemis once again comes up to me and strikes up a conversation. "I hear you took initiative during the fight and organised everyone before we lost too many, " she started.

"I guess, I just didn't want anyone else dying before they even knew there was a battle," I replied, wondering where this was going.

"You know I had a chat to Phoebe," Artemis went on, this got me worried, "And she just wanted to congratulate you on your field promotion. She has seen fit that you should become lieutenant after how you handled today." It took a few seconds for that to sink in, I was lieutenant, I was lieutenant!

"Really, milady?" I asked, incredulous.

"yes Zoe," she chuckled, "I will make it official at dinner but for now go rest." I walked the rest of the way to my tent in shock, I was now the second in command, and leader when Artemis was away. Wow!

Dinner came around quickly and Artemis called for attention. "Girls, I have an announcement," she called out over the chatter, which quickly died down. "I would like to congratulate you all on a victory today and tell you that you all did well despite the casualties but most importantly, congratulations to Zoe Nightshade who received a field promotion and is now Lieutenant of the hunt." The cheers were deafening, Artemis beckoned me up to the front and as I walked forwards I received many congratulations. Once I reached the front Artemis continued, "Zoe has been promoted because of her display of leadership and initiative on the battlefield today. She lessened the number of casualties by; firstly waking everyone before the battle progressed too far, then going off to challenge Orion on her own to try and end the battle quicker." Once again there was much cheering and I stood there smiling as I looked down at my sisters as proud of them as they were of me. The rest of dinner was a blur of conversations and congratulations, both for me and given by me and before I knew it I was in my bed and floating into a deep slumber, hoping that we wouldn't be disturbed by Orion for a while.

Hey everyone,

So this chapter is pretty long for me, about 2000 words, so I hope you find it interesting and that I don't just ramble. Happy late Easter, I was going to update on Easter but I was up the coast because why not, so I spent all of Easter on the beach 😄. Give me any constructive criticism and hopefully the next chapter comes before the end of the holidays I'll start it right now.

-Ella