Chapter 25: Punishment
"YOU. *Crack!* TWO. *Crack!* HAVE. *Crack!* BEEN *Crack!* *Crack!* NOTHING BUT *Crack!* *Crack!* *Crack!* TROUBLE!"
To say that Circe was furious would have been an understatement. She was LIVID. After the fiasco in the bathroom, where the feline duo had instantly been forcibly tamed by her dominating mind power, the witch had proceeded to put on a white bathrobe and yelled at the two to get out of her sight and wait in the corridor. After tidying up and putting on a dark black dress, the witch had come on out with clenched fists and a look of murder, eyes glowing.
The lion and panther were now fastened down to the floor in chains, legs forcibly spread out flat against the ground. The restraints prevented them from moving at all, so all they could do was lay helplessly and hold back tears of pain while the witch between them alternated in hitting both of them with a smooth, yet sharp stick of bamboo. However, while Toothless was gritting his teeth and letting out a snarl each time Circe hit him, Hiccup was whimpering, yelping each time the witch chose to hit him next. Which unfortunately, she chose more often than she did Toothless.
For several minutes, there was no sound besides the cracking of the bamboo over the felines' backs. The stick Circe had used was now covered in specks of blood, having been hitting the two so hard that it broke the fur-covered flesh. There was brown and black fur spread all over the floor, along with various spots of exposed flesh on the panther and lion's back. Both Hiccup and Toothless looked at one another, flinching each time Circe hit one of them.
*Crack!* *Crack!* *Crack!* *Crack!*
"So... I guess you're angry, huh?"
Circe froze mid-strike. She whirled around toward the direction the deep voice had come from, her blue eyes shining demonically.
"WHO'S THERE?!" she shouted, angry that someone had entered her island and caught her at the worst of times. The lion cub and panther meanwhile, took several deep breaths, fighting back the pain as they took advantage of whatever distraction was holding Circe's attention. Both of them looked at one another, misery present in their gazes. The place they were in was humiliating enough on its own, but what really set it was that neither of them could protect the other, even while they were being tortured. For a moment, they tuned out the witch from around them, focusing on just extending their paws as far as they could. It took a lot of effort, considering that the chains Circe had wrapped around them prevented movement, but both paws did manage to touch each other, giving both a sense of comfort.
"Temper, Temper..." said the voice again. Now that the duo was actually listening, they could tell that it was a distinctly male voice. It was deep and somewhat raspy.
"I won't say it again..." Circe growled, her eyes beginning to glow. "Show yourself to me, or I will tell my pets to find you and rip you to pieces." With a wave of her arm, the chains holding Hiccup and Toothless unlocked themselves, lifting themselves off of the felines and retracting into the floor like snakes. Surprised, both lion and panther attempted to raise themselves to their feet, but collapsed back to the floor in pain.
"Are you certain of that?" The voice asked mockingly. A laugh resounded throughout the room.
"For the last time, show yourself!" Circe yelled. In response, the doors to the room opened, making the witch whirl around to face it, hands clenched into fists and keeping the bamboo rod close to her.
To her surprise, the only thing that was there in front of the door was... a raven.
"Oh... It's only you Hades." Circe sighed, relaxing her stance. She then glared at the black bird, who simply continued to look at her. Hiccup and Toothless however, didn't know whether to be confused that the witch was talking to a bird like it would actually say something. And what did she mean by Hades? Was she referring to the god of the underworld?
"Oh come now my niece. Is that any way to greet your uncle?" The raven asked, its beak opening and closing as it talked. At this, the felines' mouths dropped open in surprise.
"What are you doing here, Uncle?" Circe asked impatiently, crossing her arms in irritation while maintaining her glare on the raven. "As you can see, I am very busy punishing these two idiots..." Circe pointed her bamboo stick at the two felines, who both looked at her angrily. They would have jumped at her had it not been for their aching bodies.
The raven jumped forward a couple of feet, stopping right in front of Hiccup. It turned its head to the side, observing the brown lion cub with an eye that had a smoky, purple haze of smoke within its iris. The weak and tired cub looked back at the bird uncomfortably, feeling as though the eye was piercing his very soul. Then the raven shook its head back and forth, making 'tsking' noises with its tongue.
"I came here to see how you were handling the oh-so-famed heroes of the dragon and Viking war." He stated. "It seems that you are doing very well now, but tell me, what did they do that required punishment?"
"They interrupted my weekly bath." Circe answered, crossing her arms and glaring at the two hatefully. Hiccup and Toothless returned it, albeit less extreme than last time due to their pain. "I wouldn't be surprised if Hiccup here was trying to sneak a peek at me."
At this, the raven began laughing. "Must still be retaining some of his human hormones, is he not?"
Circe gave a disturbed look at the raven. "Please uncle, do not go there. I've already had a very long day and I could do without you giving me nauseated thoughts." at this, the bird giggled. Then, turning away from Hiccup, began to walk towards Toothless, who growled weakly in trying to appear intimidating, only to end up wincing as the pain in his back flared with a vengeance.
"Oh hush Night Fury." Hades admonished. He puffed out his chest and crossed his wings in a weirdly anthropomorphic gesture. "You brought yourself into this by hanging around with the boy. And you forfeited any care I might have had for you if not for the fact that you, along with the lion here, killed my precious pet on dragon island."
Hiccup flicked in ear in confusion. Did he mean the Red Death? But apparently, the bird was done talking to them already, as it turned away and, with a flap of its wings, flew up and landed on Circe's shoulder.
So, my niece, putting these two aside, how are things with that daughter of yours?" He asked. Almost immediately after he said this, the sorceress froze, then gave a furious gaze at the raven on her shoulder. A wind seemed to pass through the room, while the witch's long black hair flared up behind her. But the most scary part about her at the moment was her blazing blue eyes. Rather than just appearing like a pair of glowing orbs in her skull, they seemed to now be smoking down onto her face, like there was literally a fire burning behind her eyes.
"She. Is. Not. My. Daughter." Circe growled dangerously. From the tone of her voice, it sounded as if she wanted to grab the raven on her shoulder and murder him for even asking such a thing. The bird seemed taken aback at first, flying off of her and maintaining a steady position in the air.
"She is a mistake that should never have been born from my womb!" the witch stomped her foot down on the tile floor hard, cracking the stone beneath her foot. Hiccup, who had been listening intently, narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth angrily. Toothless, meanwhile, was staring at the witch with both anger and fear. From the way this human was acting, it was like seeing a monster contained within the body of a human woman.
The raven flapped his wings to remain steady in the air. He stared at the deranged-looking and enraged Circe dispassionately, like this was something he had seen many times before.
"But she was your mistake nonetheless." He stated simply.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Circe screamed, raising the stick of bamboo, which burst into flames in her grip. The raven's eyes widened in surprise before turning tail and flying through the open doors. But even with his speed, he couldn't outfly the flaming spear that the raging sorceress through at him. It flew through the air and into the hallway where Hades was flying, maintaining a straight-path as it came toward the underworld ruler. A loud *Poomf!* sounded as the flaming spear struck the bird, along with strained squawk as the raven exploded into a cloud of thick, watery smoke. The smoke fell to the ground, leaving purplish black mist on the floor that slowly dissipated until nothing was left.
For a few seconds, there was complete silence in the room where the lion, the witch, and the panther were, broken only by Circe's heavy breathing as she calmed down from her rage. The two felines were staring at her in awe and fear. They were so shocked that they didn't even notice that their backs had healed from the punishment given to them earlier.
Circe however, was too busy looking down the hallway where she had thrown the makeshift spear. The weapon had traveled the entire length of the hallway and imbedded itself within the walls, where it continued to burn. The witch then swiftly turned her head to the two felines, who had both been backing away slowly. After seeing what the sorceress was truly capable of, the duo was hesitant to even be in the same room as Circe.
"You two get out of my sight!" she exclaimed in a stern voice. It was clear that it wasn't an option. Without hesitation, the lion and the panther bolted from the room, running across the brightly lit corridor as it was still the middle of the afternoon.
As soon as the two were gone, Circe collapsed to the floor and hissed as she brought up her hand. The skin on her palm was burnt and flaked, showing second and third-degree burns. The witch held back tears as the stinging pain became both unbearable and excruciating.
"That idiot..." she muttered. "Mentioning that girl in my presence." Reaching into her chest, the witch brought out the vial that held the potion meant for her victims. Using her mouth to pop the cork out, the sorceress then proceeded to pour the contents of the vial onto her hand.
"But then again, that mistake does have her uses..." she said to herself, watching as her hand began to morph before her eyes. The witches flawless skin began to grow smooth, yet thick hair that slowly covered the back of her arm. By the time it reached her hand, the nails on the end grew into long, sharp claws. Turning her hand over, the witch watched unemotionally as her palm healed, stitching itself together as it gained mass and muscle.
"I wonder if she had anything to do with the incident this morning?" Circe asked herself, thinking about it for a moment before letting out a vicious giggle.
"Like it matters. She's stuck being the bitch that she rightfully is, and I do have to admit, she makes a very good servant." Circe thought smugly while her eyes remained fixed on her arm, which had now mutated into a thick monster of a hand. It was larger than before, and was covered with brown fur on the back while the palm had tan fur underneath. The nails had formed into long, sharp claws, glistening in the light of the sun that streamed through the openings that were on the walls of her home.
"If only I could rend her neck with this, then I wouldn't be plagued by a child of man."
At this, the sorceress suddenly grew a worried look on her face. She had a tendency to talk to herself a lot due to the lack of people on her island, but after several hundred years of isolation, it was something she had gotten used to.
Looking back at her devolved hand, then witch clenched it into a fist, sighing irritably. She picked up the vial again, this time pouring more of the potion on it. The bottle was once again empty, but by the time she had gotten the cork back on, it had magically refilled. She stuffed it back in between her chest, while her beastly hand and arm began to grow smaller, losing the thick hair along with the claws becoming duller and less lethal.
Eventually, Circe's hand went back to being a regular female one; smooth, small, flawless, and topped with perfect fingernails.
"But if I kill her, then I'll lose my only protection against the three demigods that are just as powerful as I am." Circe thought fearfully, turning on her heel and walking out of the room.
"Those damn Furies."