Now, you may be wondering. What does Tatov-Avero mean? It's not actually accurate to the situation you see, because tatov means whale, not bull. But the word for bull in Halmaheran, Pelio, is shared with the word for Minotaur and sacrifice, so it's a bit weird to put with avero. Plus, we don't really have to worry about bulls in the ocean. So, whale make more sense.
Why was this relevant? Because I was not dealing with whales at the camp boarder, I was dealing with two life-sized, celestial bronze bulls. That breathed fire.
"This isn't good," Annabeth said as we paused to watch the battle raging on the hill.
The bulls were raging over the hill, breathing fire on the campers in full battle armor defending it. The campers were clearly losing, and were in desperate need of help, but I still faltered.
Annabeth was clearly noticing the same thing as me based on her expression.
"The bulls-" I hesitated.
"They're going through the barrier," Annabeth agreed grimly.
And they were, even as we watched one charged over the top of the hill to attack one of the campers.
That shouldn't have been possible. Even before Thalia's death there were magical protections on the camp that made it harder for them to enter, with Thalia's death it was all but impossible. So how were the bulls crossing the border?
"Boarder patrol to me!" shouted a familiar gruff voice.
What boarder patrol?
"Clarisse," Annabeth said. "Come on, we have to help."
I nodded. Though I wasn't really a fan of Clarisse, I wasn't about to let her get flambeed by the bulls.
I flicked the lid off my water skin and dropped my bags by Tyson.
"Stay here," I told him. "We can handle this."
"No!" Annabeth cried. "We need his help."
"He's just a kid Kyklopes!?"
"He's fire-proof. Percy do you know what those are up there?"
"Big metal bulls?"
She huffed, "I forget sometimes you know all kinds of things about the sea and basically nothing about land. Those are the Kolkhis bulls, made by Hephaestus Himself. We can't fight them without serious fire protection."
"Okay, but we don't have that so-"
"If I had Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000 we'd be fine, but since I don't we need the Kyklopes."
"His name is Tyson," I snapped.
"Fine, whatever, but we need his help."
I glanced at him, then back at the bulls. Tyson may have been fire-proof but he was a young Kyklopes. Could I really send him into battle?
"I can help," Tyson assured me.
I bit my lip, "Fine. But don't take any chances Tyson."
I pulled my charm and let my trident grow into my hand. "Let's go."
Annabeth led the way up the hill, me and Tyson behind her.
As we neared them I could see Clarisse getting her patrol into phalanx formation. It was a good idea… for flesh and bone beings. Against the bronze bull I wasn't sure the spears would do much.
Plus, there were only six campers in it, including Clarisse. The rest were either on the ground or on fire. That did not make a strong phalanx.
Annabeth split off, charging towards the closer bull that was aiming for a downed camper.
"Hey, air conditioner," she called. "Did you get that fire from Khione?"
The bull wheeled around to face her, pawed the ground, then charged. Flames blazing from it's mouth.
Well that was one way to do it.
Annabeth put on her hat as it got close and vanished. I hoped she got out of the way of the fire in time.
The bull stumbled around in confusion.
While that was going on, the campers above us got in a solid formation and the other bull was charging the line. It's speed was ridiculous considering it's size.
I flicked my wrist, summoning water from the water skin, and began to build it up. I couldn't really see the bull past the phalanx, but the white-hot flames were very visible.
"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered.
The other bull started to wheel around to charge at Clarisse from behind, so I veered off my charge and lashed out.
The water I'd been building up swept out, curling around the mouth of the boar. And promptly turned to vapor.
Okay those were hot.
The bull faltered, turning to face me as I sent a disc of water over it, freezing it and dropping it.
It snorted and breathed fire, only for the ice to melt and splash down onto the bull.
It didn't seem to do much, steam coming off the bull, but the bull seemed angry about it anyways. It shook it's head before charging at me.
Oops.
"Percy!" Tyson yelled, jumping in front of me and catching the bull as it ran into him.
He clutched it with a grunt, then raised his fist and punched it in the face.
"Bad cow!"
The bull stumbled with a grunt, flames spewing from it. I spun more ice out, draping it over the bull as quickly as I could.
It bellowed as the ice melted, drenching it in water. It staggered a few steps, trying to turn away from us, but Tyson punched it in the side and it hit the ground hard. There was a faint groaning noise as it's feet scrambled for purchase.
Tyson slammed into it once more and it went still.
I took a deep breath, curling the remaining water around me and pulling out more as I turned to the phalanx above.
It was broken, with several more campers on the ground and Clarisse using a new spear (probably from a fallen camper) and charging the bull.
I nodded to Tyson, "If you can knock that bull over, do it."
He nodded, "Okay, Percy."
We both started back up the hill as Clarisse thrust the spear into the chest of the bull.
It bellowed and lashed out with it's hooves, sending Clarisse flying. She hit the ground hard and didn't move.
The bull pawed the ground and started charging for her (slower than before) and I lashed out with the water, forming a thin barrier of ice.
I saw Annabeth heading towards Clarisse from the corner of my eye.
The bull swerved, snorting in confusion, and then I reached the top of the hill.
The bull swung to face face me, and I didn't have time to wonder at Tyson no longer being with me. I thrust forward with my trident, catching it in the neck, and it shook it's head, making me pull back.
I steadied, then pushed up, ready to flip over it's head and stab down. Only instead I tumbled to the ground.
Ow, what-
Oh.
I was on land, not in the water.
It snorted and opened it's mouth as I scrambled to my feet.
Annabeth shouted from somewhere behind me, "Tyson, help him!"
I raised water in a shield.
"Can't—get—through!"
Flames started to spew from it's chest, where Clarisse's spear was, before the bulls mouth start glowing.
"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"
I threw myself back, the shield in place, as thunder shook the hillside.
"Percy needs help!"
Tyson was in front of me again as the flames finally roared. It was a swirling red, white, and blue tornado of flames, swirling around him till all I could see was his silhouette.
It was uncomfortably hot, and I stumbled back.
Even as a Kyklopes, I had a hard time believing anyone could survive that.
Then the flames faded, and Tyson stood there, completely unharmed.
The bull stopped, tilting it's head with a confused snort.
"Bad cow!" Tyson balled up his fists and punched it in the face.
There was only a crater where it's snout was before, more flames spouting from it's ears. Tyson punched it again, crumpling the face entirely.
"Down!" he yelled while slamming his hands down on it's head.
The bull crashed to the ground, the legs splayed out around it. It made one last groan before it's head hit the ground and it went still.
Annabeth ran over to me with ambrosia in hand. Clarisse slowly following her. Annabeth must've been checking on her.
"Are you alright, Percy?"
"Yeah, I'm okay."
Tyson hovered next to me nervously, looking between us.
"I could've handled that," Clarisse grumbled, but she was holding her chest gingerly.
I slumped, the adrenaline fading away. "Yeah, well, I thought I'd lend a hand anyways. You slowed it down for sure."
She scowled but reached over and wrenched her spears out of the bull.
"Stupid bulls, stupid barrier, stupid fire. Prissy, put out the fire on the hill. Might as well be good for something."
I let out a sigh but nodded, "Sure, Clarisse."
"Clarisse," Annabeth said. "You've got wounded campers."
Clarisse paused in her glare to glance at the other campers.
Annabeth seemed to have been helping them out of the way of the fight, so no one was really worse off than from when we arrived, but they were still injured.
"I'll be back," she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.
"Are you sure you're alright Percy?" Annabeth said, turning to me. "You aren't even scorched- how?"
I shrugged, checking myself over. I was warm from the heat of the fire, but apparently uninjured.
"He did not get burned," Tyson said with a nod. "I caught the fire."
I shot him a grin, "Thanks Tyson."
He beamed.
"Still- that close to that level of fire? You should be at least a little scorched. That's…" she shook her head. "Well, I'm glad you're alright. Let's put out these fires. We need to take- take Tyson down to Khiron."
I frowned at that but pulled more water out to put out the fires. We moved slowly over the hill, starting on the outside and moving in. We were at the top of the hill again when Clarisse returned.
"Jackson, are you done yet? We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House and let Tantalus know what's happened."
I blinked, "Tantalus?"
"The activities director."
I stared baffled, "Khiron is the activities director. And Argus is head of security- where is he?"
Clarisse made a sour face. "Argus got fired and Khiron… well…"
"He's been here for thousands of years!?" I said in disbelief. I didn't like the guy but- "He can't just be gone. What happened?"
"That happened," Clarisse snapped.
She pointed to Thalia's tree.
Everyone knew the story behind the tree, Thalia's sacrifice and how she'd given her life for her friends to make it to the camp safely. Her death and Zeus' actions led to her spirit strengthening the boarders of the camp so that no monster could enter if not invited.
The oak tree had stood there since, strong and tall and healthy.
But my heart sank as I studied it now. The once green leaves were yellow and there was a pile of dead ones surrounding the base of the tree.
In the center of the trunk, a meter from the ground, was a small round puncture mark, oozing green sap.
I understood now why the boarders were failing, how the bulls had pushed through. Thalia's tree was dying.
It had been poisoned.