The twelve labors of a Hiccup

9:The Belt of Hippolyte

Hiccups POV:

It has been ten days since I set sail with Jason and the crew of the Argo and things have been anything but boring for me. During the day I'd help row on the Argo as other members of the crew of fifty told stories of their exploits in the past while I listened with interest learning some things and coming up with ideas that could come in handy in the future. My ship was hooked onto the back of the Argo using grappling hooks allowing us to pull it but unknown to the rest of the crew, Scaulder was underneath the Argo helping pull it along. At night I would return to my ship by making a small bridge using the grappling hooks to hold up the wooden planks All of the members of the crew had one thing in common and that was we were all considered heroes which is why we were selected for this trip by Jason. I admit I did enjoy spending time with most of the crew since they all had tales to tell and most of them didn't let the heroics go to their heads. Over the past few days things were peaceful though we did hit what in my opinion was a rough patch five days ago when we docked on the island of Lemnos after ten days of sailing. On the island, all the women had killed their husbands after what they said was a curse that had been afflicted on them by the goddess Aphrodite, because she was

not properly worshipped.

The tale goes that the women had neglected their worship of Aphrodite, and as a punishment the goddess made the women so foul in stench that their husbands could not bear to be near them. The men then took Concubines from the Tracian mainland opposite, and the spurned women, angry at Aphrodite, killed all the male inhabitants while they slept. After ten days of learning about the culture of the woman I decided we needed to continue our travels but, unfortunately it took me two days to convince the others since they were 'enjoying' the company of the woman. There were more than a few of those woman who tried to convince me to enjoy their company but I turned them down since I just wasn't ready for that sort of thing yet and to be honest I was disgusted with the other Argonauts since we were meant to be on a quest for a treasure not a journey of enjoyment. While they enjoyed the company of the woman of the island I enjoyed the company of the books the islands small library had to offer but I was hardly able to get any peace there since the woman who took care of the library took interest in me and would often appear to talk to me about the library and where I could find the books I wanted before asking me questions about myself. They would also cuddle up to me when I was reading on the benches and push my arm into their more feminine parts. The real challenge was the other Argonauts since even after four days of me telling them we needed to go they still wouldn't listen. It took me throwing a goblet of nectar into Jasons face and yelling at him for an hour to get through to him so we could leave.

Right now after five days of sailing we had docked on the island of Doliones which was ruled by king Cyzicus who has been nothing but kind to us since we arrived. We were however running low on supplies which is what lead us to where we were presently. We were docked in the land beyond Doliones's Bear Mountain. I was standing in front of the ships in my battle armour with some of the other Argonauts while the others were out searching for supplies. I looked at the small field that came after the forest as my thought about something King Cyzicus tried to tell Jason before I showed up. It looked as if he was trying to warn him about something that may be living on this side of the island but I wasn't sure what. It was for this reason I kept my bow with an arrow at the ready should we be attacked. His attempted warning kept ringing in my head as the heat of the sun came down on me as I felt the warmth occasionally leak through my armour until I heard what sounded like something large flying in the air.

I looked up and saw a large boulder flying towards the beach where we were docked. I turned to the other four Argonauts who were guarding the ship with me and Yelled.

"TAKE COVER!"

They all looked up at the boulder coming at us and scattered. As soon as that boulder landed on the beach three more came flying at us. We each dodged them but one barely missed me by three feet. It was at that moment the trees at the edge of the field began to shake before much to my shock around twenty giants with six arms and were tall as a Viking hut came charging out wearing leather lowing cloths. It was at this point I began to regret sending Scaulder away to go catch himself some food while sending Toothless with him. Seeing the giants getting closer I immediately prepared to my bow and got ready to fire a hydras blood arrow. When one was close enough I let the arrow fly from my bow and to the giant who held a log in each his two top hands. It planted itself in his left shoulder but he kept charging although I could see he was slowing down before he fell to his knees and dropped to the ground dead ten feet away from the ships but his death didn't stop the rest of his kind who were charging at us. Fortunately the other Argonauts on guard duty had followed my example and were firing their own arrows at the oncoming giants which slowed them down a little but not completely. I took out another arrow and fired it at another charging giant which held a pair of roughly made stone axes in his two upper hands. The arrow struck him in the chest before he took three more steps and collapsed to the ground.

It was as I was preparing another arrow that one of the giants reached us and grabbed me which forced me to drop my bow with the arrow. He had a tight grip on me but I was able to free one of my arms and pull out one of my daggers. When he was raising me to his head I stabbed the dagger into the top of his hand making him let go of me as he screamed in pain. He lifted his hand up to his face most likely to see what had caused him such pain but I was still holding onto his hand with one hand and had my sword drawn to finish him off. I plunged my sword into his throat before I pulled it out as he fell to his knees and made a grab for his throat as I jumped onto his shoulder and slid down his back. As soon as I hit the ground another was coming at me from the front with a boulder held over his head. This gave me an idea on how to take him down using the boulder to do it. I took out four speed stinger injecting throwing knives, two in each hand and threw them into the giants two top arms. The giant screamed in pain as his arms slowly froze up from the venom as he dropped the boulder on his head crushing it. I then made a run back for my bow and arrows as another boulder came flying at me. I dropped down and slid across the sand barely avoid the large boulder that could've crushed me as I grabbed my bow and the arrow I dropped before taking aim and nailing the giant who threw the boulder in the stomach as he was readying to throw another one. I had killed five of the twenty while the others were slowly able to take down seven together leaving eight of the giants remaining but the giants were getting angrier and far more aggressive in their attacks.

They were now attacking us by throwing or rolling boulders, logs, up rooted trees and their giant weapons at us. It gave us a lot more to dodge and made it more difficult for us to fire arrows at them which allowed some to get closer to us. One was able to grab one of the archers who was trying to nail the giant in the face but couldn't reach his quiver so I ran at the giants leg with my sword drawn and stabbed it deep into the giants leg making him scream in pain and drop to his knee before he let go of the archer giving the other Argonauts a chance to fire arrows at the giant who didn't last long after. Another one came charging at us so I took my bow and fired another hydras blood arrow and hit him straight in the centre of his chest before he slowly collapsed and slid down in front of us. This left six of the giants left to deal with and fortunately Jason and the others had chosen that time to return and attack the remaining giants from behind. I smiled as a few of the Argonauts charged at one of the giants stabbing their spears into his back and piercing his heart killing him. The others faced a similar fate but it was as the last one fell to the ground a loud roar echoed through the forest. It was then that another giant came charging out of the forest but unlike the others this one looked plain monstrous. Its mouth was drenched blood while on its head was covered by a metal helmet which had six holes in the front and a rams skull with one broken horn on top, it also had a necklace which dangled a helmet and two human skulls on its chest, on its left leg was a square shield, on its bottom right arm was another shield while in its bottom left arm was a giant spear, in its middle right arm was a bronze sword and above its head being held by both top arms was a large boulder. (AN: Go to and search Ryan Barger. You should find it there.) It charged right at us tossing the rock it held at me and a small group of others making us scatter before it kept charging. I took my sword and a sword that one of the other Argonauts dropped in their haste to avoid being crushed and ran straight at the giant. It took notice of me and roared as it charged right at me and swung its spear to try and hit me. I jumped over the spear and stabbed both swords into its legs making it roar in pain and drop its spear. Unfortunately it also seemed to make it angrier as it swung its sword at me. I barrel rolled out of the way of the incoming blade and ended up right next to the spear before I noticed the giant was about to lunge at me. Thinking quick I picked up the spear with both hands and using all the strength I could I lifted the front part of it so the head was facing towards the giant who wound up impaling himself on the spear through the stomach. As soon as the spear was imbedded deep in the stomach I let go of the spear and ducked out of the way of the large giant collapsed to the side. I looked around the battlefield and saw no giant left and the Argonauts were all staring at me before they all burst into cheers chanting.

"HERACLES! HERACLES!" I shrugged before turning to the spear in the giants stomach and figured it would make a good souvenir from this battle after I washed the blood off it.

Three days later

I was bowing my head as I watched the body of King Cyzicus was taken away to a tomb as I felt nothing but guilt consume me since it was Jason who killed him. Shortly after we fought off the giants the other Argonauts helped me remove the spear and wash it off in the ocean before loading it up onto my ship. Along with the giants sword as an extra memento of the battle as the Argonauts who were guarding the ships with me told the others how I took down most of the attacking giants. Jason knew we wouldn't be safe on Bear mountain so he had us leave immediately saying we could hopefully talk the Dolionians for supplies. Unfortunately when we arrived back it was nightfall and dark the Dolionians thought they were Pelasgian army who constantly harassed them. In the dark we thought they were raiders so we fought back until the sun rose and we could see who we were fighting. In the battle Jason killed King Cyzicus minutes before day light and I knew it would haunt him till the day he died. The Dolionians held no ill will towards us as we were just defending ourselves but still I felt so guilty for what happened to the man who showed us nothing but kindness. I felt it only right I donate something to the kings tomb and gave them the bronze sword of the giant which now and forever will hang in the tomb of King Cyzicus, a great man and great king. May he rest in peace.

4 days later

I was now on my own ship just looking down at the floor thinking about what had happened two days ago. My oar had broken so we docked on a nearby island to make a new one. I was sent out along with another member who was a squire by the name of Hylas to make an oar from the woods. Hylas was good guy who had heard about what I had done and asked me to train him which I was happy to do in our free time. While I was at work making a new oar, Hylas went to fetch water but he never came back. After he was gone for a while I got worried and went looking for him with my friend Polyphemus and the sword I gave him to train with in case there was trouble. We searched for hours until we came upon a spring with the water bottle he went to fill up. I yelled for him but got nothing until I looked into the water and didn't see my reflection but Hylas who just smiled and told me to go as he had found love with the nymphs of the spring before he vanished into the water. I just looked down before I took out the sword he trained with and stabbed it into the ground before saying.

"Goodbye my friend. May you have found happiness."

Before I left knowing there was nothing I could do for him now. Unfortunately the other Argonauts heard from the gods that it was time for me to leave the expedition as I was needed elsewhere but before we parted ways they gave me a shield to symbolize that I would always be one of them.

Right now I needed more supplies so I was going to dock on an island which I noticed had a dock where I could hopefully buy some more supplies to return to Athens. I admit I considered returning to Berk but there was just something holding me back as if it were telling me my work wasn't done yet. Like there was a small voice behind me telling me that more adventures awaited me in Greece. It was a bit annoying and also strange especially after the Argonauts told me the gods had plans for me. As my mind kept going through my memories and thoughts of this feeling to stay I heard Scaulder give a roar from the upper deck meaning we were close to an island he had spotted. I walked up to the top deck and saw a large island in the distance with a large forest covering most of it so it might not be inhabited but I figured it best we do a lap around to try and find a dock.

After a quick search around the island we were able to find a large stone dock with a few ships that were meant for fishing from what I could tell. I had Scaulder dive underneath the water and pull us in to the dock where a large group of armed woman were watching me as I docked. I let my gang plank down as a woman in golden armour with a bronze skirt, leather belt across her chest which held a sword and on her head rested a golden crown. Most of the woman had weapons pointed at me as the one with the crown who I assume was their queen approached me and said.

"I am Hippolyte. Queen of the Amazons who inhabit this island. Who are you and what brings you to our island?" I bowed to the queen.

"My name is Heracles and I merely came to your island in the hopes of restocking my ship for my journey back to Athens." She nodded.

"I have heard of you before Heracles. You have performed many great feats such as slaying the Nemean lion, The Lernean Hydra and much more. However should you wish for supplies from our city you must heed a request from me."

"I would be honoured your highness but what is this request?" She drew her sword.

"Meet me on field of battle as I wish to see the skills of the man who has slain so many beasts that others have failed to defeat." I nodded.

"I'll need another sword since all of mine excrete a paralyzing venom." She nodded before one of the Amazons in the crowd tossed me a sword. I caught it before I was lead off the dock.

We walked through the city which was very impressive to a grassy field which overlooked the ocean and had many Amazons training with either weapons or hand to hand. When they saw us they all stopped what they were doing to watch us as we made our way to the centre of the field. When we reached the centre she pulled out her sword before asking.

"The rules are simple. The fight ends when either one of us receives a cut from the opponent, is unable to fight or yields. Are you ready Heracles?" I held up my hand.

"Just one moment please. I have to remove my armour or it won't be a truly fair fight."

I then took off my armour including the lions pelt before I picked up the sword I was given before giving the nod to show I was ready. As soon as I nodded she charged at me and swung her sword at my torso as I tuck and rolled to the left before I quickly stood up and blocked another blow of her sword. I slid her sword to the ground before I took my own swing at her torso which she blocked with her own sword as she quickly took a swing at my legs which I simply jumped over before took another swing at her torso making her step back to avoid. I then ducked as she took a swing at my head before I quickly swept my leg making her fall over. Before she could recover I had my sword at her throat before asking.

"Do you yield?" She looked at me before smiling.

"I yield Heracles." I pulled the sword away before I held out my hand to help her up. She took it as I pulled her up as she smiled at me.

"You truly are an incredible warrior Heracles. You may have the supplies but I insist you stay at least three days since some of my warriors will want to put themselves against you. You will be given your own room in the city for your stay."

"I accept but there is livestock on my ship I need to take care of."

"You are welcome to take care of them and allow them to graze in out fields however I insist you take refuge in a house our city has." I nodded in acceptance before I was led away.

Three days later

I was once again on the docks of the city with Queen Hippolyte standing in front of me as my ship floated in the water behind me. I smiled at Hippolyte and said.

"I cannot thankyou enough for the hospitality your people have shown me your majesty and I will forever be grateful."

"Think nothing of it Heracles. You were able to show my warriors a true challenge on the training field and that is something that has not happened in a long time." She then took off her belt and held it out. "You have bested my greatest warriors Heracles. You have earned this and deserve it far more than I do Heracles."

I looked at the belt in shock since I was told this was a belt that was given to her by the Greek god of war Aries to show she was the best warrior of the Amazons. I looked up at her and asked.

"Are you sure? This was a gift from Aries. The god of war!"

"This was given to me because I was the finest warrior on the island and I had never been defeated until you came. This belt should be with you." I nodded before I accepted the belt before turning to board my ship but as I was in the middle of the gang plank one of Hippolyte's guards said.

"Heracles before you go I just want you to know should you return my previous offer still stands." I blushed before boarding my ship faster and leaving the island.

As I sailed away from the island I remembered everything that had happened in the time I was there. After I defeated Hippolyte some of the amazons literally lined up to go up against me. I beat them all but a few came close to beating me and at some points I wish they did beat me since if they did I might have not gained so much attention. When they saw how fine I was at combat more came forward to try their skills against mine so no time to really relax. I was able to learn a bit about their customs like how they go out once a year to enjoy the company of men and only keep the female infants while sending the boys back to their fathers. There was one Amazon who really made me uncomfortable though and she was the guard who made me want to leave quickly. She made her offer the night after I defeated her in battle and the offer was to share a bed with her and give her a child and in return I would receive a few nights of pleasure and should she have a daughter I would be allowed to be a part of her life whenever I come to the island. Sufficed to say I turned her down immediately telling her I wasn't that type of guy and when I did have a child it would be with my wife who I have yet to choose. She understood but that didn't stop her from teasing me a bit whenever she saw me. I admit I did enjoy the fighting skills of the amazons but now I was looking forward to getting back to Athens.

Fourteen days later

I was now once again in Athens making my way to the forge to see Aetes and how things have been going since I left with the Argonauts. When I arrived Aetes was stretching outside before he spotted me and smiled and walked up to me. He looked at me and said.

"Well if it isn't the travelling hero. How was your trip?" I smiled at him.

"Let's get inside and I'll tell you everything Aetes." We walked into the forge and each took a seat.

"So what souvenirs did this adventure give you?" I shrugged.

"Well I brought back a giant spear from my battle with a six armed giant, a shield from the Argonauts from when I left them, to show me I would always be one of them and a belt from the queen of the Amazons to show I defeated her in battle." He just looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"What have you been up to on this trip." I chuckled before I told him what I've been doing.

AN: Hey guys I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and a special thankyou to all that have voted on the island idea. Now there's going to be a new poll concerning the Orthros and for those who do not know what an Orthros was then it was a two headed dog that belonged Geryon the three torso giant. Please vote.