LoSP Side Stories Ch.12: The Metal Dragon (Patreon)

Spirals of dark smoke rose to the sky, the yells of campers rising with the wind. An alarm blared as Chiron galloped out of the big house, staring at the gleaming bronze dragon perched atop the Apollo cabin. A stream of fire shot in the air, washing onto the roof of the Ares cabin as they rushed out of their door, their eyes widening as they saw the dragon.

“What the Hades? GET ME A FUCKING CANNON!” Clarisse bellowed. “ARCHERS! DISTRACT IT!”

A few teenagers with quivers slung behind their backs, rushed from the archery class and released a volley of arrows only for them to splinter against the celestial bronze. The dragon turned, its tail screeching off the top of the Hephaestus cabin’s roof loud enough that it stung Clarisse’s ears.

The dragon’s ruby eyes turned to the archers as an arrow splintered atop its head.

“MOVE YOUR ASSES!”

The Apollo cabin scrambled as the dragon unleashed a searing column of flames toward them and flapped its wings.

“Get it on the ground!” Malcolm brandished his bow. “Beckendorf, where is its kill switch?”

“It doesn’t have one.” Beckendorf aimed a wide-mouth gun and pressed the trigger, a bronze net, cracking with tendrils of electricity shooting from it. 

The bronze dragon flapped its wings and darted across the pavilion, the net slipping off the dome-shaped roof of the Apollo cabin.

“AFTER IT!” Clarisse sprinted, her spear springing in her hand. “FOR ARES!”

She hurled her spear, which soared through the air and hit the dragon’s neck, bouncing off it, leaving a thin gash in the bronze. The dragon dropped a few feet, its talons grating over the roof of the Dionysus cabin. Its eyes dimmed momentarily before it flapped its wings again, flying over to the lava wall.

“Switch the lava on.” Malcolm watched a shield soar past the dragon’s face. “Don’t throw your shields, you idiots!”

Arrows flew at it and the dragon flapped its wings unleashing another stream of fire at a pair of Apollo archers, who ducked behind a ledge.

“Get the cannon! To me, Ares cabin!” Clarisse scooped up her spear, glaring at the Hephaestus cabin. “Beckendorf, I am skewering you after this if this was yours.”

The boy gulped and looked toward his brothers and sisters who were pale.

“Beckendorf, now might be a really good time to bring out some explosives.” Malcolm ran up to him

“Nyassa is already preparing them.” He winced. “It’ll take some time to get something powerful enough ready if we want to blast it to pieces.”

“How much time?”

“Optimistically? Five minutes. Realistically, closer to ten.”

Malcolm swore. “We’ll be dead till then. We can’t get near the dragon without becoming a pile of ash and we can’t hurt it with arrows. It’ll roast us alive one by one. Or eat us.”

“There’s someone it can’t roast.” Katie pointed at a figure sprinting across the camp. “And he’s here.”

“Oh, thank the gods,” Beckendorf murmured.

The prongs of the trident gleamed in the sunlight as the figure leaped high, straight into a column of blistering flames, and smashed into the dragon, sending it off the wall and crashing onto the ground. One of its wings fell off, clanking next to it as Percy landed and rolled on the ground. 

The dragon regained his footing and reared his head toward the Ares cabin. Percy clenched a fist, a gust of flame balling up in front of the dragon’s mouth as it spewed from its mouth. A moment later, it burst, sending the machine stumbling.

The dragon snarled and lashed out with its remaining wing, the bronze ringing against the shields. Clarisse thrust her spear, tearing a gash in it and the dragon’s roar rattled through the camp, its tail smashing into a line of shields, sending several campers sprawling to the ground.

Percy spun the trident, and a wave of water shot from it toward the dragon, splashing against its bronze scales, trying to crawl in through the gash at its neck. It roared, blowing a gust of flames at Percy before leaping over the campers and running toward the forest.

Sparks of electricity flew from its neck, its wing flapping erratically.

“It’s fleeing,” Katie said. “We can’t let it go into the forest. One gust of flames and—”

Percy and Clarisse weren’t listening as they dashed after it.

“Beckendorf, we need a plan B if they can’t stop it,” Malcolm said. “Something to find the dragon and then disarm it.”

“We don’t have enough time,” Beckendorf grunted. “But we have been making surveillance drones and we have an old water cannon to stop a forest fire.”

“Get the drones up. We have Percy for the fire.”

Across the field, Percy ran up to the dragon, and slammed his shoulder into its body, sending it stumbling. Clarisse leaped, her spear sinking into the dragon’s back.

The bronze dragon spun around, spewing flames straight at Percy, who stood still, the flames washing over him harmlessly. He felt a thrill shoot through his body, and energy flooded him. The trident turned to his sword, and he swung it.

A metal head thudded to the ground, the glow in the ruby eyes dimming. Clarisse stumbled off the dragon and wrenched her spear out, shrugging the wires off it.

“Beckendorf?” Malcolm said as Clarisse turned to the boy, her eyes murderous. “Run, buddy.”

He didn’t need telling twice.

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AND… DONE! Hope you all liked the story! 

So, yeah, it was short and sweet, but what'd you expect? A metal dragon against Percy and Clarisse was no match.

A huge thanks to Mughil and Zaby for betaing this story!

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Stay Happy! Stay Safe! Keep Smiling! Keep Reading!

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