Chapter 260
Hiccups POV:
It's been ten days since we decided to leave the city for a simple ride through the country side using my carriage pulled by Shāndǐng and a day after discussing it I returned to the island to pick up Shāndǐng so we could get going. A day later we couldn't be out of the city faster if we were on the backs of dragons, but who could blame us since some of the nobles had tried a last minute attempt to get to us. After that we'd been able to relax a bit with things been pretty quiet and all of us just being able to enjoy the countryside with me doing most of the driving while my family sat in the carriage, watching the countryside going by. We had made a few stops along the way in the evenings since the dragons don't like being cooped up for so long in either my shadow or the carriage but we only went out for flights in the evening. When we stopped during the day, I'd use it as an opportunity for the kids to practice a bit of their training and enjoy a little practice of my own since I couldn't allow my skills to get rusty after I worked so hard to get them.
Now it was early afternoon and we were on the outskirts of a forest where we had stopped to enjoy a simple picnic lunch under the warmth of the sun. I smiled as I took a bite out of my bread and looked around at my family enjoying their own meals but then my eyes landed on the forest and I couldn't help but think back to what we were told about it from a traveller on we met on the road a few miles back. They'd nicknamed it the 'Spiders Web' due to an old abandoned gold mine that was now home to a large collection of spiders that called it home and also because they say if you went in deep enough off the forests trail, you would disappear and later your bones are found in a cocoon with spiders crawling over it. I didn't put too much thought into it though since forests like these were often the source of scary stories to keep kids from wondering off the path and stay close to their parents. As for the disappearances that had happened over the years, it was mostly likely bandits who had made the woods their home since the dense trees made it easy to hide for ambushes. It was then our quiet little lunch was brought to an end when a rough and masculine voice from behind us asked.
"Well what do we have here?" We all turned to see a large shirtless man with no hair, a short beard, holding a club with a group of similarly dressed men with each of them armed. "A small little picnic with three beauties, some small kids who would make fine slaves, a carriage and horse that looks like they'll fetch a good price and only a single man to protect all this." I sighed and shook my head in annoyance. "Save yourself some pain lad and just surrender now and maybe we'll kill you before we enjoy your women." I stood up and glared at them.
"I'm guessing you're the bandits that call this forest home." The leader chuckled.
"We're just a small part of the group who keep an eye out for trouble on the edge of the forest." I nodded.
"Well you're entire group has a large bounty on them with the more members brought in, the higher the reward." I released my boomerang and filled it up with knockout gas. "So in other words, dealing with you lot I can clean up some scum off the streets making the land a little safer and also make a ton of money in doing so." I shrugged. "I don't see the down side." They all laughed as the leader walked forward.
"So you really think you can beat us?"
"I don't think, I know."
As soon as the words left my mouth I threw my boomerang over his head and at his friends before letting the gas fly, covering them in a thick cloud of it making them all cough with a few stumbling out and then collapsing. While the leader looked on in shock, as I quickly had my shadow wolf move into the man's shadow before he turned back to Hiccup as the cloud cleared to reveal all his men unconscious. I mouthed the word 'run' to the man which he was all too happy to do, dropping his weapon in the process as I turned to my family and said.
"Don't worry, I had my shadow wolf hide in his shadow so I can keep an eye on him if his comrades try anything later and knowing how these guys work, they will try something." They nodded before Brant asked.
"Mind if I help deal with a few of them when they attack dad." I turned to him. "I've been hoping to get some real training done outside of the training mirror and besides" He pulled his spear off his back. "I've been wanting to try out my spear against some real opponents." I smiled at him but got a glare from my wives.
"Alright son, you can do it if they attack but you'll be staying close to me if it happens." He nodded. "For now though, I'll gather up the men while you all clean up since we're going to need to make it to the village on the other side of the forest by nightfall." They all nodded and while they cleaned up, I pulled the unconscious men into my shadow where they would remain until we could hand them over to the guards.
Nightfall
It's been hours since me and my family first encountered the bandits who called the woods their home and since then we'd been able to make it through the forest with only two bandit groups of five attacking and quickly dealt with. In between the attacks, I kept an eye on the bandit I let go through the eyes of my shadow wolf who I sent into his shadow and I did not like what I saw. Their camp had enough men to form a large legion of a roman army and their leader didn't look any friendlier with him being my father's size, wearing a metal chest plate with a large spider on it and a great sword in his hand while his head was shaved. He wasn't happy to hear about what happened to his men but had told the man that it didn't matter since there were still enough men under his command to do his plan tonight. Turns out he intends to do a full raid on the village tonight under the cover of darkness, killing all the men while taking all the women for entertainment while the children would be sold as slaves and burning the village to the ground once they'd looted all the foods and valuables.
After hearing this I'd informed the village guards while handing over the bandits we captured and introduced myself to them which caused a big crowd the second I told them I was the hero Heracles. As anyone could expect, people began begging me to save them from the bandit attack and offered multiple things in return but I turned down their offers of reward and simply agreed to handle the bandits but would need time to prepare and to keep the people inside for now. After that I began setting up a defensive plan in which I'd be standing between the forest and the village and deal with as many of the bandits as I could. While I slowed them down, the village guards had been set up at the front the village along with all the men who were able to fight to protect their home. My wives on the other hand were at the front of this line to deal with any bandits who made it past me while Chara was on top of the houses with my ninja who were there to keep her safe as she used her speed stinger venom covered kunai to deal with any bandits who made it in. Flying above against the night sky were both Toothless and Shāndǐng ready to help deal with foes from above and standing right at the front with the village guards was none other than Brant, ready to get some real fighting experience with Maelstrom at his side.
I stood there calmly breathing with my lion gauntlets ready while my eyes were on the forest, waiting for the bandits to make their appearance. It was then the sound of feet marching quietly came from the forest and I took a breath, seeing the bandits marching towards the city, all armed and ready for a fight. At the front was their leader who was wielding a large sword and smirking at the sight of me before he snapped his fingers, signalling five men armed with swords to come at me. They charged at me as I sighed and walked towards them and the second they were within range with their weapons held high, I swung my right gauntlet at their heads, knocking them all out with a single blow. This made all the other bandits stop and stare in shock while the village guards cheered in amazement but their joy was short lived as the bandits quickly got over their shock and charged across the small field to attack both me and the village. I saw the village guards prepare for battle as did Brant and his mother's while Chara readied her kunai and I smiled knowing that together, the bandits didn't stand a chance.
20 minutes later
The battle had started twenty minutes ago and in that time, I'd been able to take down most of their men with many of them using their comrades attack on me as a distraction to charge at the village. Brant was originally their first target since he was clearly younger than any of the men and was clearly still a kid so they figured they could probably catch him as a hostage. They quickly learned how wrong they were when he was able to beat the first five as if they were nothing using the blade of his weapons to paralyze them with a single cut. Of course the ones who made it to the front with the guards were dealt with by my wives before the guards reached them and they were few since my wives made quick work of any bandit that they saw. Blanca would use her magic in her strikes to throw the men back, avoiding her snake form since it'd cause panic, Astrid would use her combat skills and the claws from her wrist bands to deal with them while Hadasa would use her plant powers to trip her foes and then deliver a swift kick to their stomachs to knock them out.
Despite all this, there were a few that were able to make it past the guards but they never made it far as they'd be stopped by a kunai to the leg, compliments of my sweet little Chara. When some realised where they were coming from though, a small group of fifteen charged up onto the roof and were greeted by my ninja who were quick to throw them off the roof and onto a few of their friends who were fighting with the guards. Two however were able to get past my ninja and attack Chara and I have to say, I cannot remember the last time I was so proud of her than when she used her close-range kunai skills to duel them and small yet quick form to beat them with a quick cut to their legs.
Now we were cleaning up the remaining bandits who weren't putting up much of a fight since the majority of them had begun to flee only to be cut off by my dragons letting out blasts in front of them, throwing them back unconscious or on the brink of it. It was then I turned around and smiled at the front lines of the guards marching forward to begin collecting the unconscious bandits and restraining them. I sighed and began doing the same, using the bolas from my prosthetic arm and the bandages from my bandage bands since I couldn't use my spiderpack as that would no doubt raise some alarms for the people who saw me. It was at that moment as I finished tying up another bandit that I heard a whimper of fear and looked up to see the bandit I had allowed to escape with my shadow wolf in his own shadow. I smiled at him and slowly walked towards him as I said.
"I was hoping to see you again, I wanted to thank you for helping me find out about this entire raid."
"What are you talking about?"
"You see when I let you go, I had a friend of mine enter your shadow in order to allow me to see what you and your group were up to and now I'd like him back." As soon as the words left my mouth, my shadow wolf formed out of the bandits shadow, scaring the daylights out of him as it returned to my own. "I saw through the eyes of that wolf where your base is and watched your leader reveal his entire plan for the attack so I was able to come up with a counter attack and prepare the village for what was to come." He just quivered in fear before turning around and running making me sigh in annoyance. "Why do they always try to run?" I collapsed my gauntlets and sent the shadow wolf after the fleeing man who was caught in ten seconds with a paralyzing bite from my wolf who then returned to my shadow. "And that takes care of that." It was then I heard a growl followed by the sound of rushed footsteps and looked towards the sound only to see the leader, trying to make a run for the forest making me sigh and shake my head. "MAELSTROM!" My orthros ran up to my side. "Sick em'!" Maelstrom immediately charged after the leader and had him pinned to the ground in under a minute making me smileas I walked up to them. "Keep guard over him for now and if he tries to make a run for it, sink your fangs into his legs." Maelstrom growled and nodded his heads while the leader looked up in fear. "Now time to finish up the clean-up." I then got back to work on gathering and restraining the remaining unconscious bandits so the guards could take them away.
Morning
Morning had come and with it, had come the guards from the big city to come and collect the bandits who were captured last night and now me and my family were watching the captured men being marched away in shackles. In my hand was a large bag of gold drachmas for the bounty their leader had on his head with one extra drachma for every bandit we captured. I originally wanted to give the drachmas to the villagers but they turned me down claiming that if it weren't for me, the bandits would've caught them by surprise last night and they'd be dead or worse. It was then I felt a tug on my coat and looked down to see Chara looking up at me with curiosity in her eyes as she asked.
"What's going to happen to those men daddy?"
"They'll most likely be spending the rest of their days working as labour prisoners so they'll be slaves." Chara looked down.
"Like how me and Brant were going to be if you didn't save us?" I frowned and kneeled down.
"It's not like that Chara, you were forcefully taken from your home by bad people while these people chose to be bad like the men who took your birth parents away." I took a breath. "These men, they chose to deal with the world by attacking it but we're the part of the world that fight back against them." She tilted her head.
"I don't get it?" I chuckled and patted her head.
"You will when you're older but for now let's discuss how you performed during the raid." She smiled and asked hopefully.
"Did I do good daddy?" I smiled at her.
"Sweetie, I cannot remember a time I'd been more proud of you then when you took down those bandits using only your close combat skills, shows you have the making of a fine warrior, just like me and your brother." She smiled up at me. "Now come on, let's go get some breakfast." She smiled and I lead her back to the village with the intention of getting some breakfast before enjoying our day in the village since they wanted to throw a party in my families honour to thank us for saving them but as we made our way back into the village I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching us.
Nobodies POV:
In the forest a figure lurked in the shadows staring at the father and daughter using dark purple eyes but the figures eyes had formed a glare at Hiccup Haddock. The owner of these eyes was none other than a large black and red spider resembling a black with a red hourglass marking on its underbelly, with four fangs a black body, red head and legs. This was none other than Arachne, the mortal weaver who grew arrogant and claimed herself to be better than the goddess Athena which lead to her paying the price of becoming a spider. (AN: Picture Arachne from Class of the Titans.) The reason Arachne was watching this event is due to the immense anger she felt towards Hiccup for not only ruining her plans to fulfill her dreams while also corrupting such an innocent child with his ideas of how the world worked.
The dream Arachne wished to fulfil was her dream of being a mother and having a child, a daughter preferably to teach how to weave tapestries as she did when she was still human. Her plan to achieve this dream was to allow the bandits to raid the village and during all the chaos, she'd sneak into the village and take a young child from all the chaos. Once she had the child she would use the power she was able to steal from Athena to ensure the child didn't leave her in fear so she could raise the child as her own. Now all those plans had been destroyed by the hero Heracles who she knew to really be named Hiccup Haddock, who was also a champion of the gods which made him her enemy as he serves the ones who turned her into this monster all those years ago. Now to make matters worse for her, she was forced to watch as that mortal turned a young girl into a trained killer when the child in her opinion should only be focused on playing and enjoying her youth while also learning to be a good wife. It was then that Arachne figured out a way to salvage her plan while also punishing the gods through their servant and saving a child from a life that they will later regret but she first needed to wait for the right moment to strike.
Nightfall
Night had fallen over the small village that had spent over three hours celebrating their victory over the bandits that had plagued their forests for so long. Now Hiccup was enjoying a drink of the villages finest nectar while telling some of the local children the tale of how he defeated the hydra when it was said to be impossible to kill. Hiccup honestly didn't mind telling the children his tales since it got him an excuse to get away from not just the children's greatful parents who were showering him with gratitude but also some nobles who came to town when they heard he was there. His family didn't have it any easier as the nobles began sucking up to them as soon as they found out who they were and it was more difficult as they couldn't escape them without being rude to the villagers who were throwing them this party.
All this along with the entire party had been too much for poor little Chara who had been pushed aside by some girls who wanted to talk to her older brother. It was because of this she was making her way back to the carriage on the outskirts of the village after letting her mother's know and although they wanted to escort her, the people kept cutting them off on their way to talk with them. It was because of this she asked if she could return home herself which her mothers were all reluctant to allow since there were a few unsavoury types in the crowd but then she reminded them of how she handled the bandits. This was enough to get the girls to back off but they were still worried and who could blame them since despite her skills she was still a little girl and this was something a group of men intended to use to their advantage.
This brings us to now with Chara walking towards the carriage at a normal pace while humming an old Norse toon her mother used to sing to her when she was scared. She didn't notice a group of six men in the shadows following her but these men didn't notice what was lurking in the bushes they were hiding by. It was as they pulled out their clubs to knock Chara out did the creature in the bushes make its move and the peace of the night was brought to an end by the men letting out short screams of horror. This alerted Chara to their presence and she immediately turned towards the screams, kunai in both hands and her stance showing her opponent she was ready for a fight. What she saw though was a group of men tied up in what looked like a thick web with a large spider standing over them and Chara looked in horror at the site of the beast who looked at her with its large purple eyes. She then jumped back in surprise when the spider said.
"They were planning to attack you."
"Who are you?"
"I am Arachne, the weaver of the gods."
"My daddy told me about you, he said you made Athena angry and she turned you into a spider."
"Indeed, and for angering her she stole all of my dreams from me but now I have a chance to at least fulfil one of them." Arachne walked towards Chara who kept her weapons at the ready. "My dream of having a child and you're going to help me achieve it little one." Arachne slowly began approaching Chara who kept her weapons ready.
"What do you mean?" Arachne giggled.
"You'll know soon sweet child, once you've been taken care of." Chara raised an eyebrow but before she could ask what she meant, Arachne sprayed a green gas from her mouth at Chara making Chara's body freeze up and drop with her kunai hitting the ground. "Now let's get you ready for the journey to your new home." She the cocooned Chara who just lay limp as Arachne did so. "Now don't worry little one, I will free you when we get back to my home." Chara's eyes closed before Arachne covered them and then finished completely cocooning the child and then placing Chara on her back while making her way towards the forest, ignoring the restrained bandits who were struggling to try and break free of the webs.
3 hours later
Hiccups POV:
The party was finally over and for that, I was happy since I'd had to deal with a lot of nobles wanting me to train their guards, guard their children, meet their daughters and multiple other tasks that were all complete headaches. Now though, it was over and while my wives were dealing with a few remaining nobles I was able to sneak away from them all in the hopes that I'd at least be able to kiss Chara goodnight. I made my way towards the carriage but the second it came into sight my blood ran cold at the sight of a small group of men who were tied up in what looked like spider webs. From my past experiences with spider like creatures I knew this meant trouble and rushed to the carriage, opening the door while startling Maelstrom who was sleeping in the middle of the main room. I ran past him to Chara's room and opened the door and found the bed untouched before running to look at the other rooms, hoping my daughter was in one of them but all were empty. I rushed out of the carriage and up to the bandits while exposing the eye of the dragon before ripping the web off the mouth of one of the men and demanded.
"Where is my daughter?"
"We don't know where she is, we just saw what took her." I grabbed him by the neck.
"Start talking!"
"It was a giant spider, claiming her name was Arachne but we didn't hear why she took your daughter."
"Did she hurt her?"
"No, from what we could tell she just paralyzed your child with some sort of gas from her mouth before cocooning her and then taking her away."
"Where did she take her?"
"Into the forest, that's all we know I swear." I growled before shoving him away before I heard the familiar voice of Astrid came from behind me asking.
"Hiccup, what's going on?" I quickly turned to her along with my other wives and Brant.
"Chara's been kidnapped!" They all gasped but Blanca quickly recovered and asked.
"Are you sure?" I nodded before Hadasa asked.
"Any ideas on who did it?"
"From what these men told me, it was Arachne." Brant asked.
"The mortal who was turned into a spider by Athena?" I nodded before Blanca asked.
"Who is Arachne?"
I then told the tale of how Arachne was once a weaver and the very act of her weaving was said to be sheer magic and a sight to behold to the point that it's said that nymphs from the forests left their frolicking to gather around her to watch her weave. They were said to be so moved by her skills that they remarked that she must have been trained by none other than Goddess Athena, the goddess of weaving. Unfortunately she became arrogant about her incredible skills and was annoyed at being regarded as a pupil of Athena since she thought she was better. She began bragging about her skills, proclaiming herself to be far more superior to even Athena and to claim you're better than a god is not a smart thing to do.
When the goddess of weaving heard of Arachne's bold claims, she was upset, but nonetheless decided to give the young woman a chance to regret her folly. Disguised as an old woman, Athena appeared before Arachne and warned her of the consequences of provoking the wrath of the gods, but Arachne was not a bit remorseful and challenged Athena to a contest, declaring that if she lost, she would accept any punishment that Athena would decide for her not knowing the old woman was Athena. That was the time Athena revealed her true form and accepted the challenge but Arachne had faith in her skills and refused to back down.
The stage was set for a battle in which a god and a mortal would put their artistic skills against each other to decide who the better artist was. It's said that the nymphs who had come to watch Arachne weave shrank back, horrified at Arachne's audacity, but Arachne was unshakable and stood her ground against the goddess. The contest began, Athena at her loom and Arachne at hers, each working with threads of gold and a splendid array of colours to decide who would outdo the other in this ultimate trial. It's said that the contest was a feast for the eye to all those who were able to witness the creation of such art work.
Athena created a tapestry that was covered with scenes from the history of the gods more glorious events that showed them in a positive light for all to see. She portrayed Zeus at the centre of the Olympic pantheon as well as her own contest with Poseidon and her victory, which ultimately made the people of Athens name their city after her. At the corner of her tapestry, she artfully depicted humans who had dared to defy the gods and who had been punished without a trace of mercy. Arachne on the other hand did the opposite, she deliberately chose scenes that depicted the infidelities and amours of the gods. She vividly portrayed Zeus and his string of indiscretions and featured another twenty scenes of the various misdemeanours of the mighty gods, including Poseidon, Apollo, Dionysus and others.
It was obvious that she chose this subject to make a mockery of the supreme deities of the Olympus, but even Athena had to admit that her work was brilliant and flawless. This, however, was nowhere near enough to calm Athena down who was furious with Arachne's humiliating portrayal of the gods. In a blind rage, Athena destroyed in anger Arachne's tapestry and loom. Athena then transformed Arachne into a spider, proclaiming that Arachne and all her descendants would henceforth hang forever from threads and be skilful weavers. This was to both punish her and serve as a reminder to other foolish mortals, who would dare to question the supremacy of the gods that there are consequence to their actions.
After that I brought out my jaguar mask and turned it into its kitsune form to show me exactly what happened using its abilities and I couldn't help but want to rush through it when I saw Arachne cocoon Chara. The second it ended I let my family know what happened and spend half an hour explaining to them that it better for me to go on my own with just Toothless since if there were more of us, it might get more dangerous for Chara who could get hurt. After that, Toothless was in my shadow and I took off into the shadows of the forest with my kitsune mask allowing me to follow the path Arachne had taken, I just prayed to every god I knew that she was safe and that Arachne hadn't harmed her.
AN: And that brings an end to this chapter and yeah, it's a cliffhanger but I need to save some stuff for the next chapter in which we discover what Arachne intends to do to Chara. Anyway, you're probably wondering how I got this chapter out so much earlier than the last one and the answer is my relatives arrived so more hands to help out around the house so more free time for me. Still though, things are still pretty crazy around here so the next chapter may still take a bit of time so please be patient with me. In the meantime, let's answer some questions.
Guest:
You can find the Ancient One in chapter 217
Rpglady76:
Not sure if he'll be going to the Nemean games
No he's not going to revisit the hydra's corpse as that was taken away by the gods since that is not something you want laying around and there will be no eggs since in addition to the beast being male, those things are uncontrollable so Hiccup wouldn't be able to tame it.
He might run into Chiron at a later time but we'll see
And with that, I bid you all a good day or night wherever you are and wishing you all a happy holiday.