Percy Jackson's Greek Gods (Percy Jackson and the Olympians companion #5.5) - Rick Riordan Page 0,113

them to custom-make my weapons. But you can grant me a bunch of followers: ocean nymphs, river nymphs, wood nymphs—what the heck, how about mortal girls, too? Any girls who want to join me can become my followers, as long as they remain maidens like me. They should probably make the decision when they’re about nine years old, before they get interested in boys, because after that, they’ll be all distracted and of no use to me. I think we can start with about eighty followers, okay? We’ll see how it goes. They can hunt with me, clean my kills, take care of my hunting dogs. Oh, that reminds me! I want hunting dogs.”

She took a deep breath. “I also want the right to hunt any dangerous animals anywhere in the world. I want all mountains to be sacred to me, because that’s where I’ll spend most of my time, out in the wilderness. As far as cities…I don’t know. Just pick any old city to be my special place. I’ll only visit towns when the women need my help with childbirth, or when the little kids need a protector.” She smiled up at Zeus with her big silvery eyes. “And…yeah, I think that’s it.”

Zeus blinked, momentarily stunned.

Then he burst out laughing. “You’re my daughter, all right! You think big!” He kissed Artemis’s forehead and set her on her feet. “You know, when I have children like you, it’s totally worth dealing with Hera’s wrath. I’ll give you everything you asked for, my sweet. Not only that, I’ll give you lots of cities. I have a feeling you’re going to be very popular!”

Zeus was right. Artemis was worshipped by all kinds of people: pregnant women, little kids, parents, young maidens who wanted protection from gross guys, and of course anyone who hunted, which back then were a lot of folks. Guy or girl, if you hunted, Artemis was on your side—as long as you didn’t trash up the wilderness, and you actually used what you killed. But she was also the goddess of wild animals, so if you went crazy and killed too many animals for no good reason, Artemis would have a few things to say to you.

After talking with Zeus, Artemis went to see the Cyclopes, who were working at one of Hephaestus’s forges on the island of Lipara. She got them to make her a special silver hunting bow and a quiver full of enchanted gold and silver arrows.

Then she went to visit Pan, the satyr god of the wild. She adopted his best wild dogs for her hunting pack. Some were black and white, some were reddish, some had spots like Dalmatians; but they were all fierce. They ran faster than the wind, and each one was strong enough to pull down a full-grown lion. Imagine what they could do as a pack.

Next, Artemis assembled her group of followers. It wasn’t hard. A lot of nymphs and mortal girls liked the idea of living free in the wilderness, never having to worry about getting married. Maybe you’re thinking: Oh, but I want to get married someday! Yeah, but back then, most girls didn’t get to pick who they married. Your dad just said, Hey, go marry that guy. He offered me the biggest dowry. It didn’t matter if the dude was fat, old, ugly, and smelled like month-old cheese. You had no choice but to marry him.

Artemis’s followers never had to deal with that. They also never had to look over their shoulders, wondering if some lovesick god was going to ambush them. Artemis’s hunters were off-limits. Anybody who tried to kidnap them, or even flirt with them, would find himself on the wrong side of Artemis’s silver bow.

Usually Artemis only took about twenty followers hunting with her at a time. You can’t exactly sneak up on your prey with eighty girls. The rest of her followers would either hunt in different groups or stay back at camp and butcher the kills, or cure the leather, or make campfires…or whatever nature-type people do when they’re camping. I’m from Manhattan. I don’t know these things.

Early on, Artemis realized she would be traveling long distances and moving quickly—sometimes more quickly than even a goddess could move on foot. She decided it would be a good idea to get a chariot. She just wasn’t sure what type of animals should pull it. Horses were Poseidon’s thing. Besides, they were domesticated. Artemis wanted something wild and fast.

Then one day she