Arachnophobia – Part Seven – Iolaus' Trouble
This chapter is dedicated to Terreis. Thanks a lot! For reviewing, I'll let you borrow Iolaus for the weekend. (Heh heh)
DISCLAIMER: As usual, I only own Lauriela and the monster... (Iolaus visits though.)Last Time – The Robbers, and a Beautiful Face:
'With that, the blonde took off running as fast as he could towards the magistrate's building.'
'Five, four, three, two...' the demigod thought.
At 'one', Hercules turned around to see Iolaus opening the door to the magistrate's office.
"Excuse me for as moment, will you?" he asked to Norcominius.
The matchstick thin old man nodded, and the demigod went over to his friend.
"Where in Tartarus were you?" he demanded in a whisper.
"I walked Lauriela home,"
"Lauriela? That girl we walked home?"
Iolaus nodded, "She was so scared," he said, mostly thinking to himself.
"Of what? The bandits aren't coming back anytime soon."
The hunter looked up, slightly startled at having his thoughts 'read'.
"Huh? Oh, I'll tell you about it later. Let's get this over with quick."
Hercules nodded and walked back over to the old man sitting at the high, wooden desk.
"Norcominius, this is my friend Iolaus. Iolaus, this is Norcominius," the demigod introduced them as the performed a warrior's handshake.
"Now, because the bandits kept coming and stealing food, I HAD to raise the prices of produce...."
A few hours later, everything was straightened out, prices were set, and slowly, the village would settle back to normal.
"Well, that took long enough," yawned Iolaus, stretching his arms across his chest.
"Yeah, but you weren't there all day though," the taller man replied.
"I apologized for that!"
"I know, but I was just stating the obvious."
The pair walked down the road in silence for a while, until Hercules spoke.
"What was Lauriela so afraid of? You said you'd say when we got outta there," said the demigod, "What did she tell you?"
Iolaus thought for a moment, remembering her skittish movements and the terror that never really left her brilliant emerald eyes.
"Freck said she hadn't really spoken since her parents died, so she didn't say anything," he reflected, "She'll laugh or smile, but that's about all."
"That's kind of strange..." the demigod stated.
"Yeah, that's what I thought," replied the blonde, then he remembered something. "Oh! Freck said he was working on an antidote for the monster's venom."
"That's great. But we're not gonna need it, are we?" Hercules emphasized his words by leaning towards his friend and raising an eyebrow. "Because we're not going to be taking any unnecessary chances, are we?"
Iolaus grinned guiltily, knowing what the taller man was thinking, "No, mommy. I'll be a good boy and stay outta trouble." For further enjoyment, Iolaus stuck his thumb in his mouth and starting sucking at it like a child.
Hercules chuckled, earning an amused smile from his friend as they continued to walk through the street.
The pair walked along silently, taking in the sights and sounds of arguing.
"What?!" someone exclaimed, "Five Dinars for a fish?! It's ain't even that big!"
"You already talked me down from seven! I ain't goin' any lower than that!" someone else yelled back.
Iolaus suddenly fell face-first into the dirt, clutching his ankle. Hercules was kneeling right next to him, with concern etched into his features, almost immediately.
"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.
The hunter looked around for what had tripped him.
A block of wood? No. Not a block of wood, a wooden duck, on a wheels with a string to pull it around.
"Iolaus?" said Hercules, bringing the blonde back to his pain, "Are you okay?"
"Ow!" yelped the blonde, when the demigod tried to take his friend's boot off. "Herc! Leave it alone! I'll be fine, I just twisted it."
Iolaus leaned forward and grabbed the toy. Then he tried to stand, but had to suppress another groan as pain lanced through his leg.
A young girl that looked about four years old came running up to the shorter blonde man. Her gently curled red hair caught the sun, sending a graceful, glowing halo around her head.
"Mister, can I have my toy please?" she asked sweetly.
"You shouldn't leave things out like that, little lady," said Iolaus, smiling against his discomfort as he handed the toy back, "People could trip and get hurt."
Hercules could tell his friend was hurting far more than he was letting on. After twenty-odd years of travel with each other, they knew each other better than anything. Therefore, Hercules could tell if Iolaus was in any sort of pain.
The little girl nodded and smiled brightly, took her toy and ran off to play. As soon as she was gone, Iolaus let out a low groan. Hercules took the hunter by his elbow.
"C'mon, if you hurt yourself, you need to get off that foot."
Face taut and white with pain, Iolaus allowed himself to be led back to the tavern/inn.
They walked into the tavern and up to Iolaus' room. He was walking a little easier, but Hercules still supported most of the hunter's weight, despite his protesting.
"Herc, I said I was fine! It's just twisted. It'll be fine in the morning."
"Even so. You outta stay off your feet. If we're gonna defeat the monster, you need to heal."
The demigod helped his friend sit on the bed and pull his boot off. The ankle was already swollen to twice its size and was turning black and blue, much to their dismay.
Iolaus caught the worried look on his friend's face and nudged him in the shoulder.
"Don't worry about it. It'll be fine in the morning."
"Either way, I think we should wrap it."
"Sure, why not?" the hunter replied, sounding bored.
It's not like his ankle wasn't sore anymore. In fact, it hurt like hell when he moved it, but it wasn't like it was broken or anything. Iolaus may as well let Hercules continue fretting over him until he thought he was comfortable. He may as well let the demigod get it out of his system, no matter how crazy it drove the hunter.
"Uh, okay," the demigod was a bit troubled by Iolaus' lack of fight. He was expecting an argument, but whatever made this easier was probably better.
Iolaus leaned back on the pillows while he watched his friend go about the room, looking for something to bind his ankle.
TO BE CONTINUED...
NEXT CHAPTER – Mother Hen