Chapter 159
Hiccups POV:
It's been a week since I dealt with the twins ownership of the and in that time not much has happened since there was still a lot of work to do. After the destruction of the claim stone the twins kept pestering me that it was still their island but I just told them that I had no idea what they were talking about. Soon as the defenders of the wing found out they went along with me pretending there was never a claim stone to begin with and took their belongings back while me and Toothless took the twins back to Berk. As expected they went straight to my father to complain but when they finished telling him what happened and about how he declared the island theirs I just claimed my father hasn't been to the edge in years. He caught on immediately and played along confusing the heck out of the twins before I lead them home claiming that I believed they needed some rest.
When they were back home their parents took them into their newly repaired home for some bed rest I went back to see my dad to thank him for going along with the plan. When he saw me, he laughed and told me he was impressed with me coming up with that plan and how he couldn't believe how they actually fell for the act. We both had a good laugh about it before I went to let Blanca know what happened and then returning to the edge to tend to the fireworms. When I got back I had Toothless fly me over to the rock island where they were led only to find Freya getting comfortable with the leader who I now knew not to be a fireworm queen but a king which is rare for their species. It wasn't that hard to figure out they wanted to be together and who was I to try and separate them when I knew the pain of being forced apart from the one you love. This led to me meeting with the fireworm king that tried to kill me when he first spotted me. Thankfully Freya cut him off to defend me shocking the king until she growled and roared a bit before she leaned down and nuzzled me making me chuckle. The king then approached me and sniffed me a bit before I backed up and held out my hand while turning away and soon enough I had trained the king who I gave the name 'Sunburn'. After that I had Freya lead him and his fireworms onto my ship before I took them all back to my island where Freya helped them settle into her nest.
Once that was taken cart of I got back to work on helping repair the village which is how I spent the rest of the week since there wasn't much else to do so other than that nothing else happened since I was so busy helping out where I could. I admit it was a lot of work but in the end, it was worth it considering it not only got Berk back on track and got people off my back about allowing them to stay on my island while their homes were being repaired or rebuilt.
Presently I was laying down on a cline by the pool in nothing but my eye patch and pants with short legs enjoying the sun shining down on me through the glass roof and enjoying one of the first days of peace I've been able to enjoy since we'd been so busy. Blanca was swimming in the pool wearing white top that wrapped around her chest while exposing her shoulders and stomach and a short white skirt that reached her knees with her thighs wrapped up in white wrappings. (AN: Picture what Katara from 'Avatar: the last airbender' wears when she goes swimming in the fire nation.) I watched as she gently swam across the surface with such grace as the water gently danced across her skin and smiled reminding myself of one of the reasons I first fell for her. It was then one of my serving automatons walked in holding a trey with two goblets of nectar walked in making me smile and sit up. The automaton placed the trey on the small table next to the cline making me smile at the automaton and give it a pat on the head before it turned around and made it's way out of the room.
I then heard a splash and turned to see Blanca climbing out of the water making me smile and grab a towel with my real hand before holding the towel out to her as she walked up to me. She smiled at me and took the towel while giving me a nod of thanks and began toweling off the water from the pool while I lifted my body up a bit more. I watched as Blanca walked over to the cline next to mine and picked up her white outer part of the and put on her sandals and then putting on her outer kimono. I took both drinks and threw my legs over the cline and stood up before offering Blanca the drink in my real hand which she gently took as I smiled at her. She raised an eyebrow before she asked.
"Why are you smiling at me like that?"
"I'm just enjoying the peace and quiet I'm finally able to enjoy some peace with you after weeks of work." She smiled.
"It's true, we haven't been able to spend that much time together with all the work that's had to be done on Berk."
"For what it's worth I know all the people of Berk are grateful for our help." She smiled at me as I held out my goblet.
"To the snake of my dreams helping heal the people of my home." She smiled and moved her goblet towards mine.
"And to the hero of my dreams helping rebuild the homes of those in need."
We clinked our goblets together before bringing them to our lips and took our drinks enjoying a moment of no worries and simply peace. Sadly, our time of peace was ended when a yellow terrible terror I recognized as the one my parents used to message me flew in through the door leading outside. It came to land on my cline staring up at us with its tongue hanging out as I took notice of the letter tied to its leg before I let out an annoyed sigh while putting my drink down and taking the message off the terrors leg. I turnrf back to Blanca and looked at the small frown on her beautiful face as I asked.
"I take it you also have the feeling that our time of peace is over." She just slowly nodded as I looked down at the rolled up scroll. "Well might as well see what's going on." I sat down on my cline while Blanca sat down on hers as I unrolled the scroll and went over it before looking up at Blanca. "Apparently some Greek guys have arrived on Berk with a message for me that is meant to be hand delivered to me and can't simply be sent to me via terror." She nodded.
"It must be important." I nodded.
"We'd better get dressed and head out since if there's one thing a Viking is not it's patient." She giggled before I offered her my arm.
"Shall we?" She wrapped her arm around mine and we made our way out of the poolroom.
Half-an-hour later
I was sitting in the great hall with Blanca on my left, my parents on my right with my father closest and Toothless standing behind me. Sitting across from me was a single Spartan warrior dressed as a captain with five others standing behind him and on the table on his right was his helmet and sword. I stared at him for a moment before I asked.
"What's this message that had to be delivered to me by hand?" He reached his side and pulled out a scroll and held it out to me.
"A summons from Leonidas, warrior king of Sparta." I nodded and took the scroll before looking over it and sighed while shaking my head and turning to Blanca.
"Leonidas called for a great meeting of leaders from all around Greece including the queen of the Amazons Hippolyta and wishes for me to be there as he wishes to discuss something with me and the other leaders."She nodded as my dad sighed.
"I take it you're off to Greece now?" I looked down and nodded.
"Looks like it since I can't say no to a king or an old friend." Blanca then put her hand on my shoulder.
"Either way you're not going without me." I turned to her. "I know how you worry but by the sounds of things it's only going to be a simple meeting of leaders and if things go bad I am more than capable of defending myself." She let out a small blast of her magic in my face, which did nothing more then send a few white ribbons flying around, and making it feel like I was hit with a gentle breeze making me smile.
"I pity any idiot who threatens you my dear." I turned back to the Spartan.
"We'll leave in the morning since for now I need some time to prepare." He nodded.
"If you leave tomorrow at dawn we should arrive back in Greece within a week." I smiled.
"You all travel on your own." He stared at me. "Don't worry about me and Blanca since we have our own way of travel and will arrive in Sparta before the day is over." He raised an eyebrow.
"And how could you travel so fast?" I held up my prosthetic.
"A little gift from the god Hermes to make travelling a little easier and faster for me." He smiled.
"I heard you'd received gifts from the gods for your heroic actions."
"You have no idea." With that said we went on with our day with my father offering the men food and a place to stay in the village for their stay and to restock their ship, which they were happy to accept while me and Blanca left to prepare.
Morning
Everything was set on the island with the snake guardians informed about what was happening, my dragons finding out I was leaving for a few days and everything in place to make sure there wouldn't be any trouble while we were away. I was also packed with a change of clothes and food in my spiderpack while my prosthetic was loaded with my god made weapons arsenal and my demon weapons in my spiderpack. I normally wouldn't bother bringing all these weapons but if there's one thing I'm sure about when it comes to Greece it's better to be prepared and considering all I've gone through there, who could blame me. Now Blanca and I were standing in front of my portal door with Toothless on my right with my hand on his head as we walked through the portal door. We looked around at the room and couldn't help but think about how much the place has changed from the single one room full of portal doors to what it is now. Now there were multiple doors with the name of the places I've been to up on golden plaques above them with each one leading to long hallways with various portal doors leading to the various places they were set up in those lands.
We walked into the room through the door and saw the various portal doors before my eyes landed on the one door that was different to all of the others right at the end of the hall. That was the door to the to underworld and remembered how lord Hades gave me access to the underworld whenever I liked for my services to him in reclaiming his branding iron and freeing Cerberus. I'd been meaning to visit the underworld and give Adal the chance to see Cerberus again since I could tell he really wanted to see her again but every time I think about going something comes up. I was brought out of my thoughts by Blanca asking.
"Hiccup, what's wrong?"
"I'm just thinking about a place I've been meaning to visit but keep getting pulled away by some big event popping up."
"Well maybe we could visit it after the gathering." I smiled at her.
"Hopefully down there, I won't have to deal with any crazed fangirls."
"Are they really that bad?"
"You have no idea." I then smiled and gently caressed her face. "When they find out about you being my wife then they might back off though I doubt it so they might try to convince me to leave you for them." She giggled and leaned into my hand.
"I'm not worried, I know you love me and besides I'm alright if you want to take another bride as long as you remember to treat us equally and I have to approve of her first." I smiled at her.
"As tempting as that is, for now I'd just like to enjoy having one wife for now and besides, those girls don't care about me as much as they care about my wealth and fame." I looked down sadly. "That's why I didn't marry before I met you." I smiled at her. "You were the first woman who loved me for me and not what I could do for you." She smiled.
"Hiccup, you were the one who helped me regain my memory and saved my people but above all else, you didn't care what I was and above all," She gently caressed my face. "you came back to me and promised that you wouldn't let anything to me." She gently caressed her thumb over my cheek. "I knew I loved you when you said this looking into my eye and that fire in your eye made me realize the love I felt for you was real and irreversible."
I smiled at her as we leaned in to share a kiss and when I felt her lips against mine I wished the moment could last forever but sadly Toothless crooned gaining our attention and ruining the moment making me glare at him but he just gave me a look. I rolled my eyes and lead them both to the door that opened to Sparta and made our way through so we could head to the palace to meet Leonidas and the other leaders. We walked through the door that I'd made in the side of a mountain overlooking the city of Sparta and smiled at the sight of the city before turning to Blanca to look at her reaction. She was staring at the city with wide eyes and smiled at her reaction before I placed my hand on her shoulder gaining her attention as I asked.
"Beautiful, isn't it Blanca?" She just nodded and continued to stare at the city. "Don't let its appearance fool you Blanca, it may be beautiful but that city is famous for breeding some of the most powerful and skilled warriors Greece has ever known." She looked at me. "Spartan boys begin their training to be warriors from the age of seven and are taught both combat and regular schooling but the things that are engraved into their minds from birth are never to show mercy, never show weakness, never surrender and that there is no greater honor than to die on the battlefield in service to Greece." I then turned to face the city. "Their training methods are effective but they are incredibly brutal with the children being beaten for failure in any type of training." She gasped.
"That's horrible." I nodded.
"I agree but it's their way of life and as Leonidas once told me it helps to toughen the children up so when wounded in battle they'll be able to endure the pain." Blanca just nodded but I could tell it bothered her. "Come on Blanca, the training methods may be brutal but this city still holds many wonders and beauty for us to enjoy." She nodded as I mounted Toothless and helped her onto him. "I'll show you." With that said we took off towards Sparta to meet Leonidas and enjoy some peace before the great gathering of kings.
Ten minutes later
We came to land in front of the palace of Leonidas before multiple guards ran out to greet us as I dismounted Toothless and helped Blanca off Toothless. They surrounded us and stood to attention before the leader walked up and said.
"Sir, we have orders from king Leonidas to escort you and your dragon to the throne room upon your arrival." I nodded but then he looked at Blanca. "The woman shall have to stay here though." I wrapped an arm around Blanca's waist and pulled her close.
"Where I go my wife goes with me." I heard them all gasp when I told them who Blanca was but they quickly recovered before their leader nodded.
"Very well sir."
He then turned around and lead us into the palace to meet with Leonidas but as we walked down the halls I watched as Blanca looked around at the different pieces of art being used to decorate the palace. I couldn't blame her though since I was the same way when I first entered a Greek palace as the artwork is rather impressive and beautiful. It was then we entered the throne room where Leonidas was sitting in his throne looking at the door as we entered before he smiled at me but frowned when he saw Blanca. His face then turned to me and said.
"Hiccup it is good to see you again after so long but who is the women in white with you?" I wrapped an arm around Blanca's waist.
"It's good to see you as well Leonidas and this young woman is my wife, Blanca." I could see his eyes widened as Blanca bowed to him and said.
"It is an honor to meet you king Leonidas, my husband has told me so much about you." He stared at her for a moment before much to my surprise he laughed and turned to me.
"So you finally found a woman who could capture your heart old friend." I smiled. "The guards were actually holding bets on if you'd ever get married and I believe you've just made one of my commanders very happy and rather wealthy."
"Because I got married?"
"Because you didn't just give into any of those fangirls of yours and marry one of them."
"How do you know Blanca wasn't one of my fangirls?"
"Because I can see the love for you in her eyes is different to the fake love those girls have for you." I smiled at him.
"And that's why I fell for her." He smiled at me before turning to Blanca.
"You may want to be careful when out in the city my dear, when word gets out that you are Hiccups wife more than a few of those girls will be most displeased and in some cases hostile towards you." Blanca smiled at him.
"Don't worry your majesty, I may look fragile but I am more than capable of handling myself." He raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so?" I chuckled gaining his attention.
"Trust me when I say my wife is no pampered princess who can't defend herself." He chuckled.
"I'd expect no other kind of woman would be able to capture your heart." I just smiled. "Well we clearly have a lot to catch up on but for now I believe it best that you both be taken to your room to settle down for your stay." I smiled.
"Thank you Leonidas."
"I will have to have more pillows moved to your bed as we didn't expect you to come with a guest." Blanca leaned into me as she said.
"That's alright," He raised an eyebrow. "I prefer to use my husbands chest as a pillow." He turned to me but I just shrugged and wrapped around her.
"It's true, she enjoys cuddling in bed." I pulled her closer. "And I enjoy holding her as I sleep with her head on my chest." He just smiled.
"Love truly is a beautiful thing." We just smiled at him before we were lead out of the room.
Six days later
It's been six days since we arrived in Greece and that time has been both wonderful and a major pain for different reasons, which are mostly the regular problems, I faced in Greece but also some new problems. I expected the knowledge that I was now happily married would make the fan girls back off but sadly I still had to deal with their constant flirting with their adoring looks except now it was way worse. They were constantly staring at me with longing when I was out shopping with Blanca and the second she walked away to examine something they'd swoop in telling me how good it was to see me and said they were hoping to talk to me a bit more in private. It wasn't anything I wasn't used to already from my past visits to Greece but now it was worse since they were trying harder now that I was married but the worst part is how some of them told me Blanca wasn't worthy of being my wife. When it came to those girls I had to resist the urge to strike them for insulting my Blanca but instead I'd just take a breath and tell her that Blanca was a sweet and kindhearted woman who I would not trade anything for and if they continued to insult her then they'd make me angry. Blanca would show up before they could do or say anything else though and this would drive the girls away since they didn't want to deal with my wife. I could tell Blanca knew what was happening but whenever I try to explain things to her she'd just smile, kiss my cheek and say she knew I would never leave her for some crazed fan girl and then we'd continue on our trip exploring the city.
Blanca didn't have it any easier though since so many of the nobles at first assumed she was a runaway slave and tried to have the guards arrest her. The guards would try but I'd cut them off informing them that Blanca's my wife and if they tried to harm her then I'd make sure they were reported straight to Leonidas who would see to their punishment. This got them to leave Blanca alone and after three days of this they stopped entirely and ignored the orders for Blanca to be arrested. Soon enough word spread among them about Blanca being with me but some believed that I was just claiming she was my wife to ward off the fan girls and she was really a slave. It was because of this that more than a few of them came up offering to buy Blanca from me for large sums of money or trade one of their slaves for her.
To say they disgusted me would be an understatement and this feeling was only made worse when some of the men said they understood why I chose her for a slave since she was a beauty and then licked their lips while looking Blanca up and down. In those cases I'd release the dragons claw, reveal the eye of the dragon and take them by the throat with my real hand while glaring into their eyes. I'd then tell them that Blanca was not a slave but truly was my wife and if they ever so much as looked at the wrong way I'd gut them like fish. This was often enough to get them to get them running but they often ran straight to Leonidas claiming I attacked them for no reason until he heard my side of the story at which point he just told the nobles to leave and that he was busy preparing for the coming guests. For putting the nobles in their place I was truly grateful to Leonidas and made that clear to him but he'd just smile and tell me how he'd had to deal with the same problems when he first married his wife.
Speaking of Leonidas, he'd been asking me about my adventures and that lead to me showing him my golden spider and demonstrating its power by showing him it's capabilities by showing him my adventure when I met Blanca. The look on his face when he saw what Blanca truly was is something that will always make me laugh but he could tell the love I have for her is real as is her love for me so he wouldn't try anything against her but warned me not to let others know as they may try to slay her claiming her to be a demon who's enslaved me. I thanked him for this and promised him that I would stand ready to help him in whatever reason he had for calling this meeting of leaders.
Speaking of the coming guests I'd learnt that they were leaders from all over Greece who were invited to meet with Leonidas for reasons he'd yet to tell me claiming I'd know when everyone was gathered. One of the people I was looking forward to seeing again is Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons who helped me and Leonidas defeat the titan Cronus when he rose to power once more. (AN: Chapter 103.) Sadly one of the other visitors was going to be king Diomedes who used to feed innocent people to his mares and destroy the villages of those who refused to send him sacrifices until I stole the mares and dealt with him. (AN: Chapter 29 guys) I'm guessing Leonidas could tell I didn't like him but he was one of the leaders in Greece and although his power was not great he still needed to come to this meeting as a leader of his own city.
Now after six days of waiting all the guests have arrived and we were all in the palaces ball room socializing with the visiting leaders and the nobles who had accompanied them to this palace. I was wearing my grootslang coat that had taken the form of formal Greek wear with a black sash hanging loosely from my right shoulder around my chest before circling under my left arm and meeting with the other end that was clipped with a round golden clip with the symbol of a nightfury on it. Blanca on the other hand was wearing a while silk dress known as a 'doric chiton' with a light blue sash that was almost white wrapping around her back and hanging off the front of her elbows.
Blanca has kept to my side through the entire party and after seeing the looks some of the men were giving her I couldn't blame her for being a little worried since the look the men were giving her were the looks of predators. I didn't like those looks at most but the one that made me want to break some bones was the ones Diomedes was giving her while he licked her lips. Whenever he looked at her I'd get in his line of sight and would give him a glare that would make him immediately turn away from me in fear. Now I was with Blanca with my real arm wrapped around her waist and in my prosthetic a golden goblet half full of nectar that I'd been sipping from time to time as we watched people socialize. It was then a voice from my side said.
"Now there's a face I haven't seen a while." I recognized that voice immediately and turned to see none other than Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons with a smile on her face.
"Hippolyta, it is good to see you again after so long." She just smiled at me before her attention turned to Blanca.
"And who might you be?" Blanca smiled at her as she bowed.
"My name is Blanca your majesty and I am Hiccups wife." Her eyes widened as Blanca stood back up.
"Did you say his wife?" Blanca just nodded.
"Yes I did." Hippolyta turned to me but I just smiled.
"She's telling the truth Hippolyta." I pulled Blanca closer to me. "Blanca is my wife and I love her." Hippolyta smiled at me.
"I was wondering when a woman would be able to capture your heart." I just smiled at her.
"So do you have any idea what this meeting is about?" She shook her head.
"I was hoping you might have the answer but judging from the question I'm guessing you don't." I shook my head.
"I guess we'll find out soon enough." She nodded before turning to Blanca.
"So tell me Blanca, what drew you to Hiccup to begin with?" Blanca smiled and leaned her head against my shoulder.
"It was his desire to help me even though he didn't know who I was and how he was so kind to those in need." She snuggled into my shoulder. "These were the first things that drew me to him and as we travelled together I discovered more about him and before I knew it I'd fallen in love with him." She smiled up at me. "And as time past I only fell deeper in love with him." I smiled down at her.
"The feeling is mutual my sweet serpent." She giggled while Hippolyta raised an eyebrow but I looked at her. "Don't ask and don't let her fragile appearance fool you as she is one of the most powerful fighters I've ever met." She gave me a look that screamed 'ARE YOU SERIOUS' but I just shrugged. "Appearances can be deceiving." She nodded before Blanca asked.
"If you don't mind your majesty, may I ask you a few questions about the culture of your people."
"Why do you wish to know about my peoples culture?"
"I just find the thought of an entire civilization living on an island with no men interests me." As soon as she finished speaking those last words they began chatting while I walked away knowing they'd be fine without me and I could go socialize with the other people.
4 hours later
The party was an interesting affair with everyone socializing and after I introduced Blanca to Hippolyta it allowed me a chance to talk to some of the men without wanting to hurt them since with Blanca they'd spend some time looking her up and down. It drove me nuts since when I was trying to discuss some serious things with them they'd pretend to be listening when they were really just looking my wife up and down. It drove me nuts so with her busy talking to Hippolyta I was actually able to discuss some business with the men but nothing serious since some of them were making me offers for my dragons and god made weapons. When I turned them down they kept pestering me until someone saved me by claiming they needed to discuss some things with me with most of them asking me to visit their kingdoms for one reason or another. I could see through them though and knew they wanted me to come for another reason but I didn't know why although I had the feeling they were all planning a way to get me to stay there for some reason. All of these people had one thing in common and that was that nobody knew Leonidas's reason for calling the leaders of so many of Greece's empires here.
Now I was lying in bed embracing my sleeping wife while I lay in bed shirtless while staring at the ceiling and wondering why Leonidas had called us all here. Before I left the ballroom he promised us all that tomorrow we'll all find out why he called this meeting of leaders and he assured us that his reason was for the good of Greece and all those who call this land home. It still bothered me though since I couldn't help but wonder what his plans were even though I knew he could be trusted which is something he proved when we took on Chronis and his forces together. I could also tell that, as a king Leonidas was the kind of man who put the safety of both his people and country above all else including his own life and that is what I admired most about him. Letting out one final sigh knowing wondering what Leonidas had planned wasn't going to do me any good so it best to just rest up for tomorrow so I could deal with whatever obstacles get in my way.
AN: And another chapter has been ended with questions that can only be answered in the next chapter but that one may take some time. The reason for this is I'm on holiday with my family meaning I don't have my usual amount of time to write and with the holidays so close I need to do some Christmas shopping so that takes up even more time. Anyway my point is that you'll just need to be patient and wait for the next chapter as I'll have it done and posted as soon as I can so don't rush me since that doesn't help in the least. Till next time have a nice day and stay safe.
