The next morning, Alteira was not so sanguine. Hercules strode briskly along, enjoying the fine morning sunshine, while Alteira staggered behind him, desperately shading her eyes from the light. Hercules glanced back, a wicked gleam coming into his eye.
"What's the matter, Alteira?" he asked sweetly. "Is your back hurting? Would you like to stop and eat something? It might make you feel better."
She favored him with a nasty, albeit weak, glare. "Very funny. I think that ale they gave us yesterday was drugged."
"You mean the ale they gave you. I was too busy lifting things to drink any. Besides, you get what your money buys, and those ales were free."
"All right, all right. Would you just stop talking so loudly?"
"I should have realized you were so soused when you tried to take on that crowd."
Alteira looked at him sharply. "Are we back to that again? Why are you so comfortable with the idea that you -- and only you -- can hold your own against several assailants? You're so typical!"
"Typical of what?" Hercules inquired. He was beginning to enjoy needling her. "'Self-proclaimed heroes'? Sons of Zeus?"
"Men! You're all arrogant, dismissive, untrustworthy --"
Hercules lost his grin. "Hey, wait a minute. Just because Ethrone was a --"
"Pig."
"-- doesn't mean the rest of us are. I'm sorry that he betrayed you, but --"
"Don't feel sorry for me! I've learned my lesson, and the gods will walk the earth before I trust another one of you again!"
"All I'm saying is that --" Hercules tried.
Alteira stopped and sniffed the air. "What is that awful stink?"
Hercules followed her lead, then pointed to the smoke from a nearby cottage. "Mmmmm. Smells like someone's cooking lunch. Maybe they'd be willing to share -- let's go see. I'm starved."
Alteira reluctantly followed him as he headed for the house. "That's another thing about you men. You're always hungry!"
Hercules walked towards the small house, Alteira lagging several yards behind him. He drew breath to call out to the people inside, but before he could, a small boy cannoned into his legs from behind a tree, yelling. "Daddy! Daddy!"
Hercules froze for a moment, remembering things past, then very gently bent down and pulled the boy loose. "Hi there. Who are you?" he asked softly.
The little boy looked at him, his face clouded with confusion. A woman rushed from the house, her face flushed. "Stamor! Sta -- Oh."
The little boy stared gravely at his mother. "It's not Daddy."
She drew him to her side and looked up at Hercules, flustered. "I'm sorry. He thought you were my husband. You're about the same size and Pyrro must have--"
Hercules smiled down at the child. "No need to apologize. I'm flattered. Is your husband due back from a journey?"
The woman's face fell. "I'm beginning to fear he won't ever return."
"Typical man," Alteira muttered, sotto voce, from behind Hercules.
He ignored her. "Has he been gone long?"
The woman's lips trembled. "Almost two days. He went with a party of men from the village. Isn't that where you're from?"
"Not exactly. We're travelers and smelled your cooking. We hoped we might--"
"But if it's too much trouble --" Alteira offered quickly, her stomach still unsettled.
"No, of course not," the woman said, forcing a smile. "You're very welcome. Please come in."
Hercules stood his ground. "Thank you, but I don't understand why you're so worried about your husband. If he's only been gone two days --"
"He wasn't on a trip to market. The men were trying to kill the monster that's been preying upon the shepherds in the hills."
Hercules' ears pricked up at the mention of "monster". "When did they expect to be back?"
The woman tried hard not to lose her composure, but she could not hide her fear. "By nightfall. Two days ago."
"Hmm. Maybe I'd better visit the hills," Hercules mused.
She stared at him. "But why should you risk your life? This isn't your problem!"
"He does this all the time," Alteira said resignedly. "Believe me."
"But what can you hope to accomplish alone?" she demanded of Hercules.
Alteira glared at her. "Ahem."
That got her an apologetic glance, but the woman quickly returned her gaze to Hercules. "Excuse me. But there are only two of you. The men of the village numbered eight! And they haven't been heard from since. Why, I don't even know your name."
Alteira opened her mouth to answer, but then thought better of it. Hercules smothered a smile, then replied. "I'm Hercules," he confessed, a bit embarrassed.
The woman's face went slack with astonishment, then she turned to Alteira for confirmation. "Not --"
"It's him," Alteira nodded.
"I'd heard the stories, of course, but I never dreamed -- ! Hercules, thank the gods that you've come! Please, save my husband! Hurry! Take that road and follow it to the right. It will end in the foothills. Bring my Stamor back to me!"
"I'll do my best," Hercules promised, accepting the loss of his meal with good grace.
"Please, hurry!"
Hercules turned to Alteira, but she forestalled his speech with a raised finger. "Don't you dare try to tell me to wait here!"
"I wasn't about to!" Hercules protested. "I just wanted to apologize for the delay. I know you're eager to get to Loradon."
Alteira glanced down at Pyrro and waved goodbye to him. He shyly waved back. "Hercules," she replied softly, "even to me, the Eye of Apollo is just a stone. This is a human being we're talking about."
They followed the trail to the opening of a very dark cave; a fetid odor wafted out as they paused cautiously before entering. "Here goes," Hercules took a deep breath and stepped inside, fighting through the cobwebs.
Alteira was at his back, peering around warily. "I wish we had some swords. My hand-to-hand combat skills aren't going to be very useful against a monster."
"You could wait here -- keep a lookout."
"Don't be insulting! I wouldn't leave you to face this thing alone and unarmed," she retorted indignantly.
"I do have a few attributes you don't," he pointed out.
"Don't act so superior. A little strength doesn't mean very much against a monster."
"I've also a lot more experience in this sort of thing than you do."
"Show-off." She peered nervously into the dark shadows. "What -- what kind of monster do you suppose it is?"
Hercules moved forward. "Oh, it could be almost anything. A hydra, basilisk, minotaur..."
Alteira yelped and jumped backwards. Hercules spun, ready for anything. "What? What is it?"
She had already overcome her momentary surprise and moved towards one of the walls. A dimly moving form could be seen within a shadow. "There was something over -- Oh for -- Never mind."
Much to Hercules' alarm, she knelt down. He hurried over, remonstrating. "Be careful! Sometimes monsters can disguise themselves! What are you looking at?"
Alteira picked up a large, furry spider -- the size of a small cat. "Do you suppose this could be what's spooking the villagers? Look at it. It's almost cute."
Hercules was distinctly unimpressed with the spider's cuteness. "I doubt it. ...Unless they're poisonous."
She hastily dropped the creature and backed away. "Well, what kind of monster are we dealing with? Here we are, practically on its dinner plate and it hasn't bothered to show up! Are you sure that woman wasn't just trying to get rid of us? Maybe she was lying."
"The little boy too? Besides, why should she want us to leave?" Hercules scoffed, still alertly investigating the cave.
She regarded him with amusement. "If I were scrimping and saving to clothe and feed my family, and I had just spent the morning laboring over a hot oven, I wouldn't be too eager to feed some enormous stranger who shows up at my doorstep at lunchtime."
Hercules turned away huffily. "Well, I don't agree. She seemed very pleased when we arrived."
"You just can't believe that anyone wouldn't swoon over the thought of playing host to the mighty Hercules," Alteira teased.
Hercules decided to take the lofty approach and ignored her, tugging at the hanging cobwebs in order to clear a path into the next cave. "There's something hanging inside the next chamber. Wait here. I'll be right back."
Hercules exited the chamber, leaving behind a bored Alteira. She scanned the room with a disinterested gaze for a moment, then froze, staring in horror at the huge spider which had just swung noiselessly into view from the ceiling of a passageway.
Her paralyzed vocal cords couldn't manage much more than a croak. "Her -- Hercules!"
The spider instantly targeted to the sound of her voice, and it shot out a mass of silk which only Alteira's upthrown arms kept from engulfing her face. The silk hardened instantly, binding her wrists together, and the spider swiftly yanked at the other end of the cord.
Alteira was jerked off her feet, but instantly she reoriented, putting her feet between herself and the spider's mouth. She kicked out at the nearest legs, but the spider delicately danced away, shifting its weight among its other seven appendages and shooting out more silk. Alteira tried to escape but only succeeded in welding her right leg to the silken mess that had trapped her arms. The spider began to draw her up to the ceiling.
When she felt her weight beginning to leave the floor, Alteira's voice returned. "Hercules!!"
Hercules was in the next cavern, quizzically examining several cocoon-like objects hanging from silken ropes when he heard Alteira's scream. He bolted for the connecting passageway and arrived to find Alteira dangling from the ceiling, gamely trying to fend off the giant spider with her one free leg. Meanwhile it tried to get close enough to bite her without having its fangs knocked out by her kicks.
Taking in the scene with a single glance, Hercules dove into the room and yanked at the spider's nearest leg. The spider was dragged off-balance, not unlike what it had earlier done to Alteira, but quickly regained its footing. Discontinuing its attacks on Alteira, it zeroed in on Hercules and tried to bite him.
Hercules countered the chomp with a solid punch to the spider's equivalent of a jaw, and the arachnid was knocked backwards, dazed. Alteira alternately yelled encouragement at Hercules and abuse at the spider. Hercules followed up his advantage by trying to grapple the spider into a bearhug, but it frustrated his efforts with its numerous legs. Then he seized one leg close to where it joined the spider's thorax, pivoted on his heel, and threw the spider over his shoulder with a mighty flip. It landed atop a stalagmite and was impaled.
Hercules slowly walked over to where Alteira hung. He paused, leaning one arm against the cave wall, and tried to catch his breath. "That was great!" Alteira exclaimed, for once vocal in her praise of Hercules. "I couldn't believe it when that big hairy thing came sailing over your shoulder. It must weigh over a thousand pounds!"
"Thanks. I'm glad you noticed," Hercules panted.
"All right, all right. I'll admit it. I was wrong. Your strength does come in handy when fighting monsters."
"Does that mean you'll stop making smart remarks about my talents?" Hercules inquired, making no moves to free her.
She finally caught on. "Ha, ha. Very funny. Okay, Hercules. You can let me down now."
"Gee, I wish I could, Alteira," Hercules replied, enjoying every second of this, "but I'm just worn out from that battle. Maybe if I were a little stronger, I could --"
"What do you want -- an atonement offering to your father? Get me down from here. All the blood is rushing to my head."
"That's okay. There's plenty of empty space there," he grinned.
"Oh, you're just really enjoying this, aren't you? Very heroic, Hercules, tormenting a poor helpless --"
Hercules snorted in derision, and Alteira couldn't help but laugh. "Come on. I did a pretty good job of keeping a lookout," she reminded him.
"Any better and you would have been inside him, looking out." Hercules broke the silk cord that was holding her and lowered her gently to the ground. Then he began work to free her, struggling to break the mass of silken fibers around her ankle. After a few moments, he wrenched her ankle free with a grunt of effort, and the instant he did so, she kicked him powerfully in the chest, knocking him back several feet.
Hercules fetched up against the far wall, outraged, but before he could yell, he realized that Alteira had turned around and was scrambling towards the far wall. Between them, right where he had been a moment ago, was a spider leg, attached to another spider even more massive than the first. Attracted by Alteira's movement, it pursued her into the second cave.
"Oh, no. Not again," Hercules groaned. He levered himself up and gave chase.
Oblivious to the hanging objects in the second chamber, Alteira desperately struggled to avoid the spider's grasp, although she was handicapped by her still-tethered wrists. She dodged and ducked as the spider sought to seize her with the venom-tipped claws at the ends of its legs. By then Hercules was on the scene, and he again yanked on one of the legs, trying to distract the spider from Alteira. This spider appeared a little smarter than the first, however, because instead of being knocked awry, it merely used two of its legs to snatch Hercules off the ground. Robbed of his leverage, he fumbled for a grip.
The spider ignored Hercules' struggles and, bringing up a third leg, smacked him across the head. Hercules was staggered by the blow, and his struggles flagged for a moment. The spider pressed its advantage by grasping his shirt and flinging him against the far wall. He hit hard and crumpled to the ground. The spider scuttled towards him, bringing its jaws close for a bite.
Alteira, meanwhile, had been frantically searching for some kind of weapon. Almost by accident, she stumbled across an old sword, half hidden in the detritus of the cavern floor. She snatched it up and ran towards the spider just as it closed in on Hercules. Using a sweeping two-handed stroke, she hacked off the spider's leg nearest her, and the monster keened in pain, an eerie, unearthly sound. Much to her horror, it then leapt into the air, coming down scant inches from her.
She backed away. Drawing the spider away from the recovering Hercules, she parried its lunges with the blunted sword, but it was quickly able to back her against a wall. As she batted at its jaws with increasing panic, Hercules shinnied up one of the silken ropes hanging from the ceiling, swung over, and dropped onto the monster's back. The spider was momentarily confused, and Hercules took advantage of its bewilderment to lace his arms around the spider's thorax and begin to squeeze.
Almost immediately the spider tried to scrape Hercules off its back by tugging at him with its legs, but the angle was wrong. Then it leapt straight up, crushing Hercules between its body and the ceiling of the cave.
Backed against the far wall, watching in concern, Alteira called, "Hercules, I think you're winning!"
"It -- oof! -- doesn't feel -- ow! -- that way!" Hercules shouted back between slams against the rough ceiling.
The spider's jumps were weakening, but so was Hercules. An idea struck Alteira, and she gripped her rusty sword with new determination. Then, as soon as the spider had again jumped up, she dove directly underneath it and turned over, holding the sword straight up.
On its next landing, the spider fell upon the sword and its abdomen instantly exploded, spewing disgusting ichor all over Alteira. Its struggles immediately grew much weaker, and it abandoned its efforts to smash Hercules against the ceiling. Instead, it staggered around the cave while Hercules continued to crush its middle. At last, the thorax exoskeleton broke with an audible snap, and the spider collapsed.
Hercules slowly rose from the corpse, utterly exhausted, and went to help Alteira, trying to wipe goo off her face. "Are you all right?"
"I think so. Do you suppose there are any more of them?" She looked around nervously.
"I'd rather not stay long enough to find out."
"I have no argument with that plan!" Alteira exclaimed with heartfelt sincerity. "Hey, where are you going? The exit is the other way."
Hercules walked over to the hanging structures and examined them more closely. "Don't spiders often save their prey for a later meal?"
"Those are about the right size for a man!" Understanding dawned, and Alteira hurried over to the cocoon nearest her and tore at the outer covering.
"Hercules! You're right! I can feel him underneath! There are people inside these -- Ugh!" She managed to rip the top off, only to discover a half-rotting corpse grinning back at her. She spun away, trying not to be sick.
"Come over here! I can feel movement inside these."
He ripped one cocoon apart and caught the young man who pitched out of it.
Alteira hurried to help. "Is he --"
"He's breathing. Look, there on his arm -- it looks like the spider bit him. It probably injected some kind of venom that knocks out its prey."
Alteira took the man from Hercules and tried to revive him while Hercules opened the other pods. Soon they were assisting a half-dozen men from the cave. The men were pale and ill-appearing, but all moved under their own power.
Soon, back at the cottage, their little friend hugged of the rescued men's legs, while his mother embraced Stamor, tears running down her face. Hercules and Alteira watched happily.
"Oh, thank you, Hercules! Thank you!"
"That's all right. It was nothing," Hercules responded with an embarrassed shrug.
Leaving the family to their reunion, Alteira and Hercules made their exit. After one last backwards glance, Alteira eyed Hercules.
"What?" he asked defensively, sure Alteira was going to say something snide.
She nodded towards the family with a genuinely admiring smile. "I think I understand why you choose the life of a wandering hero, Hercules. The rewards may not be in gold, but this is even better."
TBC...