Ch. 11
"Did you think I was Artemis?"
Heracles just stared at the young man, unsure of what to even say.
Apollo just kept an eyebrow raised before Heracles dropped to a knee in front of the god, figuring this was the safest thing to do in the presence of an Olympian.
"My lord, I'm sorry. I just," he wasn't even sure how to talk to a god, he'd never met one before. "Why have you come here, Lord Apollo?"
Apollo smiled at the kneeling demigod and gestured all around them.
"You two are the most entertaining thing since my battle with Python on Delos! And this one," he pointed to the unconscious Perseus on the ground, "what is he, like ten? Have you seen his skill with a bow?" Apollo laughed at himself, "Of course you have, you taught him. But I can't let him lose an arm, he could be the greatest archer since I blessed this world with my existence!"
Heracles ignored the god's self praise and picked out the one useful thing mentioned, "You can help him?"
Apollo shot him a look of disbelief, "Uh, I am Apollo."
Apparently that was explanation enough.
Apollo knelt by Perseus and pulled a small flask from out of nowhere and poured its contents all over Perseus' arm. The son of Poseidon writhed a little but Apollo held him down with a hand to his shoulder.
"Hydra poison," the god just shook his head sadly, "such a dangerous substance. Hera truly must hate you two to create a monster like this."
Heracles' scowled at his words. He knew in his heart Hera was behind his labors but to hear Apollo confirm it caused anger and bitterness to consume his thoughts.
"I don't know if I can heal his arm completely," Apollo said as he looked at extent of the wound, "but I will do what I can. Even my powers are limited once the poison has seeped into the body."
Apollo rubbed his hands together making them glow a brilliant golden color before holding them over his arm and began chanting softly. Perseus' arm was engulfed in a golden aura as Apollo chanted. He continued for an unknown amount of time but when he stopped, Heracles could see the weariness in the god's expression.
"I have done what I can for him. It may not be the most attractive part of his body but he won't lose the arm." Apollo began covering the arm in white clothe he conjured out of nothing until the injury was covered in bandages. "Make sure he keeps this on for the entire journey back to King Eurystheus. By then, it will be as healed as its going to be."
Heracles bowed his head to the god, "Thank you, Lord Apollo."
Apollo stood back up, "A mortal healer would have cut off the arm," he shook his head, "butchers."
Heracles looked down at Perseus and frowned at the grimace still covering his face.
"He is a brave child," Apollo commented. "You should appreciate his loyalty to you."
Heracles kept his eyes on his young companion, many thoughts passing through his mind. "I do, my lord." He paused for a second then decided to ask what he truly wanted to know.
Apollo just waited. He knew what Heracles wanted to ask. He was curious if the demigod would find the backbone to actually ask it.
"Why do the gods favor Perseus and not I? Have I not honored the gods enough?"
Apollo frowned at his mortal half brother.
"Have we not shown you favor, son of Zeus?"
Heracles mentally scolded himself for the way his words sounded.
"It's not that, my lord. It's just," he stopped to carefully word his next question. "Perseus was visited by his father, was even gifted with a divine gift from Poseidon. And now, you descend from Olympus to heal him, but my father has never acknowledged my existence. I just don't understand why Perseus' faith is rewarded while mine goes unnoticed."
Apollo gave him a disapproving stare making the larger man shrink back.
"You are as blind as you are foolish." Apollo pointed at Perseus and his voice level raised a little, "That child is your father favoring you. Do you think being with you is a reward for him? He is a child helping you complete tasks to earn your redemption. If Zeus brazenly favored you, it would invite Hera's true wrath upon you. Instead, he sends you a companion to help in tasks that should be your burden and your burden alone!"
Apollo's anger grew at the impertinence of Heracles and the demigod tried to take a step away from him.
The immortal controlled his temper and looked at him more calmly, "Perhaps you should consider the blessings you have received before being envious of those bestowed on a mere child." He pointed to the spot where the hydra's carcass lay dissolving until only a scaly hide remained. "Here's some divine favor for you," Apollo said looking at the poison pooled on the ground around the hide. "You can use Hera's creation in your favor, an arrow dipped in hydra poison would be far more lethal than a little celestial bronze."
With that little piece of advice, Apollo's body dissolved into the sunlight and Heracles' audience with the sun god was over.
Well that went poorly, Heracles thought to himself as he picked up the scaly hide of the monster. He also couldn't deny the truth to the words either. He knelt down as carefully dipped a dozen of his arrows in the rancid poison before stuffing them back in his quiver.
He stared at the spot Apollo vanished from for a while before Perseus' muffled groans broke him from his contemplation of the god's words. He walked over and knelt down beside Perseus, taking great care to not touch his arm and scooped the small demigod up in his arms. Heracles cradled him like an infant in his arms, which is close to what he looked like in the huge man's arms, and began carrying him back through the forest.
"Rest easy, my friend. Never again will I allow envy to divide us, even in my thoughts. Sleep well, my brother."
-X-
Heracles had been somewhat vague on the details; which Perseus found utterly infuriating. Perseus had wanted to demand answers about their visit from Apollo but something about Heracles' demeanor kept him from showing his frustration. The son of Zeus had tried to carry him all the way back to Tiryns. It took Perseus throwing a hard elbow into his gut to get down from the huge man's arms. After that, at least, Heracles was resigned to the fact that Perseus was going to be walking himself back to the king's palace.
His arm was injured, not his legs for Zeus' sake! Perseus thought exasperated. He appreciated the concern but just because he was wounded, he did not want to be pampered. He could take care of himself, and intended to do just that. Not to mention, it was strange to see Heracles act like a mother towards him... Weird on sooo many levels.
When they finally arrived at the king's palace, they were surprised to be greeted by the king's herald, rather than the king himself.
Heracles dropped the scaly skin of the hydra at the feet of the herald and held out his hands, waiting for his next task.
After examining the hide for a moment, the herald pulled out a scroll and unfurled it dramatically.
"By word of the High King Eurystheus," Perseus glanced behind the herald and narrowed his eyes when he saw a pair of eyes peering out at the them from the entrance of the palace.
"Where's the king?" He interrupted the servant before he could continue.
The herald froze for a moment and seemed to consider the question before a slight sneer crept onto his face as he looked at the son of Poseidon.
"King Eurystheus is away completing other tasks required of the High King. He does not need to be here to..."
"Uh," Perseus interrupted again, "I'm pretty sure he's right over there." He pointed at entrance of the palace.
The herald's eyes went a little wide and he dared a glance behind him where he could clearly see the king watching their encounter while trying to not be seen.
"That is not the king," he began...
"He's wearing a crown." Perseus said simply.
The herald's face turned a funny shade of red, "Be silent child! My lord shall go where he pleases. If he wishes me to deliver your next task, then that is how it shall be!"
Perseus just leaned to the side and waved at the king who immediately shrunk back deeper into the palace and out of sight.
Heracles had watched the encounter in silence but was straining to keep his amusement from showing. His body shook slightly with the restrained laughter at his brazen little friend and the furious herald.
"Yes, my lord!" Perseus bowed exaggeratedly to the herald and waited for him to continue. After controlling his frustration, the king's messenger returned his attention to the scroll.
"Yes, well, as I was saying," he sent at glare at the boy. "You have proven yourself capable to killing but the next labor shall test your skills as a hunter. For the third quest, High King Eurystheus requires the Hind of Ceryneia! Capture and return the hind to the High King to complete your third trial!"
Perseus wasn't sure why the herald looked so smug. Capturing a deer seemed like a piece of cake after the last two labors. But when he saw Heracles' pale white face, he realized his first impressions were obviously premature.
"Go forth and complete this test and your next shall be waiting." The herald said in a condescending tone as he furled the scroll back up and retreated back to the palace.
Rather than say anything, Heracles just turned and started towards their hut to gather supplies. Perseus followed closely behind but waited until they were inside before asking.
"Why do you look troubled? Surely capturing a stag is easier than our previous two tasks."
Heracles stopped what he was doing and let his shoulders slump a bit, "The Hind of Ceryneia is not just a stag. It is an immortal stag and faster than a speeding arrow. On top of that, it is the companion to the goddess Artemis herself."
"Oh," Perseus said as he felt the wind go out of his sails. "Well, that's going to be harder."
Heracles rolled his eyes at the obvious statement.
"The creature has golden horns and hooves made of bronze. Catching it will be difficult enough but even if we do capture it, we will surely face the wrath of the goddess."
Perseus rummaged through his sparse belongings though he knew he already had everything useful he owned on him.
"What if we just ask Artemis to let us borrow the stag?"
This time, Heracles let loose his laughter, even if it was devoid of amusement. When he saw Perseus frowning, he controlled himself.
"The goddess of the moon does not show favor towards males. It might be easier to ask Hera herself to aide us in this task."
"So, what?" Perseus asked, "are we giving up before we even start?"
"No," Heracles said firmly. "This was a task given by the Oracle of Delphi. We will capture the creature and worry about the goddess' wrath afterwards."
Satisfied with that answer, Perseus sat down on his small bed and played with the bandages still covering his arm.
"I can take these off now, right? It doesn't hurt much, I think it's fine."
Heracles stopped packing up supplies and turned to meet the son of Poseidon's eyes.
"Apollo said it needed to stay on until we were here. If you want to take off the bandages, go ahead."
Perseus was about to start unwrapping the dressing when he saw Heracles' uneasy expression.
"What?"
Heracles frowned, "Apollo said he did what he could but that even his powers had limits."
That sent as uneasy chill down the young demigod's spine. More carefully this time, he slowly began to unwrap the cloth from his arm. By the time he reached his elbow, he knew this was bad.
"Oh, my friend." Heracles said with guilt as Perseus' arm became visible. "I'm so sorry."
Perseus didn't say anything until the arm was completely unwrapped. Once it was, he gingerly moved it around and felt a small bit of relief to find it mostly painless. At least his arm was still serviceable.
Looking at it was difficult though.
At his shoulder, his arm was tanned and strong like the rest of his body. But at the bicep, it the skin turned a sickly pale white color. It look like someone had cut the arm off a long dead corpse and used it to fill in the missing skin. His muscles appeared to be healthy and were actually quite visible through the damaged skin.
He experimentally touched the skin and felt his stomach turn a little at the texture. It was like a mixture of tree bark and bloody deer pelt. Needless to say, it was not his best feature.
Without a word, he got up and rummaged through some of Heracles' things until he came out with a leather vambrace that was way too big for his small arm. He grabbed a dagger and cut a chunk right out of both sides in the middle. He slid his arm in and moved it so the holes lined up with his elbow. He flexed his arm experimentally and found decent mobility.
The piece of armor was so big on him that while it only covered Heracles' forearm, it actually covered most of his arm and covered up the injury quite well.
"How's that look?" He asked, not looking up at Heracles.
The bigger man put a hand on his shoulder, "It looks fine, my boy. I'll craft you one more suited for your body that covers the whole arm. But I think it actually suits you pretty well."
Perseus let a small smile creep onto his face as he continued flexing the arm. He actually agreed, it did look pretty good on him.
"Let's stop at the shrine to Apollo before we leave. I'd like to give thanks for him saving my arm."
Heracles smiled at this and led the young demigod out of the hut by the shoulder, "I think Apollo will appreciate that. Let's go and then we can start this quest. I think this one is going to take a while."
Line Break
A while?
When Heracles had said this would take a while, he hadn't specified what a while entailed.
Perseus thought a while meant a few fortnights. Maybe a little longer.
Apparently Heracles' definition of a while had been very different than Perseus'.
Finding the stag had been easier than Perseus had imagined. Within days of their arrival in Ceryneia, they had spotted the stag. It's glinting gold horns had made it rather easy to locate.
Capturing it, well that was something else entirely.
There was no exaggeration to the creature's speed. It moved with a speed and grace that they'd never seen before. Whenever they would close in on it, it would bolt at impossible speeds and be out of sight before they'd even realized they had lost it.
Sometimes, it seemed like the blasted stag would toy with them on purpose. They would track it for days and wait until it would sleep. They would get agonizingly close only for it to wake right as they made to grab it and leap clear over one of them and bolt out of sight within seconds.
And that's how it had been for almost a year.
A year of tracking and chasing. A year of plans being foiled constantly. A year of traps being set and those traps being bested by a dam animal!
To say the two heroes were at their wits end would be an understatement. They'd bickered at times, sometimes separating for days at a time to let cooler heads prevail.
In that entire year, the only thing they'd accomplished was Heracles had stayed true to his word and crafted Perseus an immaculate vambrace for his deformed arm. It was made of leather and started at his
wrist and went up close to the pit of his arm. It was custom built for his small frame and provided perfect flexibility to the point that the piece of armor became like a part of Perseus' body.
But while he appreciated the gesture, Perseus would have gladly worn that hastily made version he'd made in their hut so long ago if they could have finished their third trial or even made any kind of progress in that regard.
They'd tried to pray to the goddess but like Heracles expected, their prayers were met with silence.
So they'd been forced to continue on without any help.
Their current chase had led them to separate and herd the stag into a valley. They'd used flaming arrows to funnel the animal into a valley thick with trees. In the center of the valley, a large river cut the area in half. The river was high from recent rains and the current too fast even for this divine creature.
As they closed in at the edge of the woods on each side, Heracles held a golden net in his hands, preparing for the inevitable escape attempt. The only difference this time was that the only way out was straight through them; a ten foot aisle between trees. The edges of the forest on both sides were engulfed in flames, making those routes impassable.
Heracles caught Perseus' eyes and pointed ahead where the stag was at the river's edge. Heracles pointed to the large dead tree hanging over the river, it leaning right over the animal. Perseus knew what he wanted and pulled another arrow from his quiver. He set it ablaze and took aim for the closest branch to the hind.
He waited for Heracles' command as the son of Zeus placed himself right in the middle of the hinds only path of escape.
Heracles gave him a nod and Perseus loosed the arrow.
It hit the branch, which was more dead than he'd anticipated. The branch caught fire and broke off from the tree, falling right at the hind.
It saw the branch and sprinted straight at them, its speed so fast it was hard to even follow.
Heracles prepared as it closed in on him. He waited until it was so close that all he could see was a blur of golden horns. He threw his net just as the stag made to leap over him. He thought he'd missed again when he felt the air blow through his hair when it flew right over him. But when he turned to watch it speed away, his heart leap when he spotted the golden net tangled in a mess of bronze hooves.
"YES!" He bellowed and ran towards his prize. Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt his stomach drop as the animal regained its feet. The net was still caught on its back legs but it was almost free.
"No!" He ran as fast as he could but already knew it would be free before he got there. He tried to dive at it but he wasn't fast enough. The hind broke free of the net and made to jump away just as Heracles crashed into the empty golden net.
He felt a massive wave of disappointment when he hit the empty ground until he heard an animal whimper a few feet ahead of him. He looked up and paled when he saw an arrow sticking out of the back thigh of the hind. He turned and found a wide eyed Perseus still holding his bow in the shooting position.
"I...I... I was trying to scare it," Perseus said frantically. "It jumped right into the arrow's path."
Heracles felt his own panic grow as the stag went lame. It lay down, crying out in pain. Heracles could almost hear it in the animal's cries. It was crying out for its mistress.
Without thinking, Heracles ran at Perseus and grabbed him by the shoulders, "Run! Meet me in Tiryns. I will bring the hind back but you need to get out of here right now!"
Perseus was too frozen to move and Heracles knew they didn't have time for this. He shoved Perseus with all his might, sending him flying back into a part of the woods not ablaze and then ran to the stag. He ripped the arrow out and hurled it away from him. He scooped up the animal in his arms and ran. He ran as fast as he could, having no plan other than to get as far away from Perseus as he could. He would run all the way back to Tiryns if he had to. But in his heart, he knew he'd never get there.
And he was right.
He barely made it out of the forest when he felt himself hit with a force unlike anything he'd ever felt before. He landed on his back, still cradling the injured animal in his arms like it was his lifeline.
He looked up and knew he'd seen his last day on this earth.
Standing over him was a breathtakingly beautiful woman with cold silver eyes glaring daggers at him. He saw Apollo behind her, trying to calm the beautiful goddess down before she obliterated him. Heracles climbed to his feet still holding the hind and stepped forward to meet his end at the hands of the goddess Artemis.
A.N: Okay, I have a couple things I'm gonna address here when it comes to this story and my others.
I'm not updating anything else until I finish this. And I have a sequel and 2 mini stories planned out that will be going with this. So you don't need to ask, that's just how it is. I will finish my others but not until this, the sequel and the two mini fics are done. I'm sorry if you want the others but this is just how it is.
In this story, gods/goddesses will make several appearances. This isn't Percy Jackson and the Olympians. This is a mixture of the myths and the fandom that is my own creation. So PJO rules don't apply. Read the myths, gods and goddesses show up all the time and help/harm however they see fit. That's how this will be. So please, don't try to school me on the "ancient laws"... Rick Riordan made those up and he isn't writing this, I am. I'm going to use a number of his characters but how I want to, so please, just deal with it. This is fan fiction and I make the rules.
Thank you for the support for this story. I really want this to be by far my best yet so I just want to thank everyone for all the support for it. You guys are the best readers out there. Thank you.