Chapter 318
Hiccups POV:
It's been eight days since I defeated Madhimaran and those eight days had been spent explaining to the people he captured what happened, dealing with fans and traders who wanted to do business with me, escorting the people back to their home city and worst of all, putting up with the sultan of the city that was attacked. Now if he just wanted to buy Toothless or my dragons from me, I'd be able to deal with him since I'd normally just have to point out the dangers of having a dragon and how Toothless and I were bonded, but this sultan wasn't after Toothless or the dragons. This sultan was actually after me and my family for different reasons, none of which were reasons either me or my family liked since it meant we'd have to give up the lives we live and enjoy.
The reason is he'd heard many tales of me and my adventures with Toothless along with the many battles we'd faced so he wanted to make one of his generals and personal guard with the offer of high pay, a place in the palace, a high position and more. Blanca, he saw as a perfect servant girl and companion to tend to his wives since in addition to being gentle and beautiful, he knew she could fight well so she could protect them. Astrid would receive a similar position, but she'd simply be a guard to the wives and a messenger who could use her acrobatics to do deliver things quickly. Hadasa would serve in the gardens ensuring their beauty while also occasionally being sent out to the farmlands to ensure a good harvest for the city. Chiaki would serve as the caretaker to his young children since he'd stumbled upon her when she was playing with my little ones using her tails for them to snuggle. Brant and Egil would serve as his sons' personal bodyguards while Chara would be one of his top city spies and Hunter with the help of Havard would hunt down bandits for him. As for my little ones, it was easy to tell he wanted them raised under him and his generals along with his own infant children so they could be raised to be loyal to him and make good husbands and wives for their children.
Long story short, I turned him down immediately since I was never going to allow my family to be turned into servants who were also going to be used as some type of livestock. Sadly, the sultan didn't take no for an answer from any of us the first time so for a week we had to deal with his offers which became bigger and better each time, but none of us were swayed. We were all grateful when it finally came time to take everyone back to their city, but we knew it'd take multiple trips, even with my ships large size. On the way to the city I had to make a couple of stops to drop off traders at their camps and keep doing an act of focusing to control the ship so people won't bother me with questions or attempts to make offers to buy it from me. Whenever we landed though, the traders would swarm me, so I moved to the room that overlooked the deck where everyone was just to get some peace and quiet with my family. It took twenty trips but now everyone was back in their city, starting with the sultan and his family along with their entire palace guard and half the city guard in case the city had been discovered empty by bandit groups who'd use the abandonment to raid it.
Now with them all back home in their own city, we were faced with the problem of the giant shark skeleton still resting outside the city which made things more complicated since we didn't know if it still contained magic. For now, though, it had been a long day at the other city, making sure everything was back to normal, dealing with the sultan and rounding up a couple of thieves on the streets. I was now walking into the bedroom and hopped right into bed and fell asleep near instantly since dealing with not only that annoying sultan but numerous traders who were hoping to either buy or use my ship, was exhausting. Seriously, I didn't even wait for my wives to come to bed and just passed out the moment my head hit the pillow and entered the realm of slumber.
A few seconds after I closed my eyes, the darkness cleared, and I found myself standing in front of ab all too familiar oasis right before the familiar white stone pathway to a familiar platform. I took a breath knowing Allah had summoned me. Taking a breath, I made my way across the waters until I was once again standing on top of the platform, before the tablet with the symbol of Allah on it rose from the hole. I bowed to the tablet and said.
"Lord Allah, I am honored to once again be to be called into your presence."
"It is good to see you again Hiccup, but I wish you needed not be called here because you were forced to deal with a mistake caused by me and my fellow gods." I raised an eyebrow.
"How was my latest fight your fault?"
"When you first defeated Madhimaran, we all assumed he would perish, and his soul would be imprisoned in the underworld as no soul can leave."
"But since Madhimaran was still alive, he was able to hold onto his magic and with it he was able to take control of that shark creature and escape the underworld and attack."
"Indeed, but now with him defeated me and the other gods have placed him in a prison before throwing it into a pit from which there is no return." I could hear the fear in his voice. "It is a pit that we gods dare not enter ourselves as it was originally created as a prison should one of us ever threaten the world so neither mortal nor god may leave it." I nodded.
"I can understand why you fear it then, but I need to know, should I be worried about the corpse of that shark corpse that Madhimaran fused with since if it has essence of the creatures he devoured, and any magic left in it then it could mean trouble?"
"I understand your concern Hiccup as it is valid since I have sensed magic within the bones though it is weak."
"So, what can be done about the corpse?" The water rippled and two palm sized opal shaped pieces of crystal floated out with one holding a white shark and the other a white scorpion.
"Take these crystals into the center of the skeleton and they shall absorb the bones and the magic they contain into them and repurpose them and allowing them a new purpose." I raised an eyebrow. "Give the shark to your ship and the scorpion to your own and the magic within them shall fuse together to grant new them new abilities." I nodded and allowed the two crystals to fall into the palm of my hand, but I couldn't help but wonder what my ship and scorpion could do after they've been enhanced. "Along with enhancements to your ways of transports, as an apology for my mistake I give you this gift." The water rippled once more, and another crystal floated out with this one being a flat yellow disk. "Place this upon the tent you use when you travel to new lands and which you carry upon the back of your traveling and like your scorpion and ship it shall be enhanced." I nodded before the water rippled and a wooden flute floated out and into my hand, allowing me to see it was a two-pipe flute with the pipes coming out a wooden cobra's mouth which had a black head and brown and black stripes going down with small red eyes. "This snake charmers' flute is able to charm any snake, but it also has another ability I'm sure you shall find quite useful in future attacks on enemy camps bases." I nodded wondering what this ability is and if it'd work on snake guardians. "Now your next gift." The water rippled and a desert sand yellow feather flowed out and floated over to me. "This feather is the enchanted feather of a roc bird and shall grant you a new ability that shall serve you well." I nodded in thanks.
"I look forward to seeing what abilities it shall grant me."
"Now I have one last gift for you." The water rippled again before a fist sized ball made of purple diamond that looked to have stars floating around inside it. "This final gift is for the safety of both you, your loved ones and many more of this world I gift you this." The ball floated into my hand, and I couldn't help but wonder what it was for. "Hiccup, although you may not be aware of this, both I and many other gods have sent our servants to explore your island and your home and during this time, they have seen what you call your vault which is filled with treasures, your room full of artifacts and the various items you use to decorate your home and island." I nodded. "What you don't realize is that many of those items have what you mortals call, dark magic flowing within them." I gasped since if I'd known this, I would have taken the items holding the magic and destroyed them, but why didn't I notice it. "I know right now you are wondering why you never noticed them and the answer is each of these items you possess fall into either one of two categories with the dark magic either being dormant until a certain time or slowly growing until it can be used to cause harm to those around it." I nodded knowing that if this thing could help ensure I can get rid of some dark artifacts out of the reach of those who would use them for evil or those who didn't know what they were messing with, but there was something I needed to know first.
"I truly do appreciate this and all the other gifts you have chosen to bestow upon me lord Allah, but may I ask how this gift will help?"
"This crystal must first be placed into your prosthetic and it shall grant you a new form for your prosthetic and with it you shall be able to contain the artifacts imbued with dark magic and once they are contained you may take them to that vault in your volcano where you store the items you wisely take from your defeated enemies which are too powerful to be left in the world." I nodded. "I do hope that before you leave these lands, you shall take it for a test run across the land as the deserts hold many artifacts imbued with dark magic that have been forgotten to time but will no doubt cause much pain in the future if left alone and it would be of great service if they were taken from my lands with their taint." I nodded and bowed.
"I will do my best to find as many as I can on this trip and on future visits to both thank you and ensure the safety of the people of this land, lord Allah."
"That is all I ask champion, and I look forward to seeing how well you use these gifts in the future and with that said, I return you to your world."
There was a bright flash, and I opened my eyes to find myself back in my bedroom with my wives all sleeping around me and my new gifts sitting on the side table as the morning suns light shone into our room through the window. I let out a sigh knowing these next few days were going to be interesting, mastering my new gifts and checking out what my gears latest enhancements could do. I'd also be spending a lot of time in the desert, not just using my new traveling scorpion but seeing if there were any artifacts imbued with dark magic, I could take home and lock up before they get the chance to fall into the wrong hands like lord Allah requested. I took a breath and gently pushed Blanca off my chest and used my ninja stealth skills to get out of bed without disturbing my wives before getting dressed, grabbing my new gifts and heading out to face the day.
5 days later
It's been five days since I met with Allah who explained to me what happened to Madhimaran granted me a way to deal with the shark's corpse which would also allow me to enhance my scorpion and ship along with the other gifts. First thing I did in the morning though was go and take care of the sharks remains since it was pretty annoying for the guards and my ninja to constantly be guarding it. I just walked into the center of the skeleton, between the ribs and brought out the gems before holding them up and the bones turned to dust right before my eyes and they flowed into the gems. When they were done pulling the sharks remains in, the scorpions crystal had become yellow while the shark had become dark grey making me wonder what they could do.
I'd first added the crystal to the ship since I wanted to know what it could do since I figure out how my ship could be enhanced since I didn't think it could get any more powerful. At first there didn't seem to be anything new with my ship until I looked at the bottom of the hull and saw large doors built into the side of its lower parts. I took a quick trip to the ocean to check out what they did, and I was not the least bit disappointed with the new abilities my ship had since it would help me in my bounty hunting missions and future naval battles. The ability my ship gained is the ability to release up to fourteen of its own skeleton sharks with silver bones and bodies beneath the bones like the ones that attacked the city, but now they were under my control and could only move through water. They could also now smash through ships as if they were nothing and when working together, they could create whirlpools by swimming in circles together to pull ships down. This would be helpful in naval battles since there would be times when my automatons wouldn't be enough, and I only use my tidal class dragons as a last resort since I didn't want to put them in danger since if they were killed, unlike the sharks they couldn't reform in the ship.
My traveling scorpion was a similar story since it had gained a similar ability to my ship except instead of sharks it released smaller scorpions from its legs that were the size of my father. These scorpions were made of pure black stone with glowing yellow eyes and had bars on their backs that looked like ribs to form some sort of cage and with good reason. These scorpions can open those rib-like bars and throw people into them before closing the bars again, leaving the victim trapped inside which is when the scorpion would return to my travelling scorpion and return to its place in the leg. This is when the floor the victim is trapped against would open up and they'd be thrown into a cell within my scorpions' body so it would save me some time when it comes to hunting down bandits who were fleeing. Along with this they also had the ability to dive underground and move at high speeds while also having claws that could easily shatter rocks and a stinger with a poison that could paralyze victims for six hours or kill them in under a minute and like the sharks, they reform if destroyed.
Unlike my ship though, my traveling scorpion had gained more than just its own small minions and had gained some new abilities of its own which were all quite impressive. For starters my scorpion had grown by half its original size which also increased the size of the storage area, dragon pens which could now hold nine regular sized dragons and also enlarged the cells while also creating two extras cells. In addition to this, the gold lining on the scorpion could now either thin a bit making the scorpion nearly completely black or expand making it seem like a golden scorpion, making it easier to hid in the sands both day and night. Defense wise besides the new smaller scorpions, the tail could now launch its stinger out of the slot like arrows, rapidly firing them at enemies at speeds which make it easy for them to pierce stone while also covered in poison that either kills or paralyzes. As for their size, they could be the size of a dart to the size of an arrow depending on what I wanted to do to the targets that I was having it aim for. In addition to all this, it could now form a see-through dome over the back, just big enough for me to stand in with my tent being lowered slightly, so I could remain outside my tent and watch the sand shift as it travelled with me being able to see through the sand above and in front so I'd know what was going on.
Speaking of my tent, it had gone through a massive change both outside and inside to the point that I didn't even recognize it on the outside or inside. When I first brought out my tent it was still folded up before I brought out the crystal and placed it on top of the tent which then glowed and then faded leaving my tent, a nice desert sand yellow. When I unfolded it, the tent had become desert sand yellow tent with a circle shaped base with six flat ends sticking out like a star type of shape and single point roof sticking out of the top and still fit perfectly on the back of my scorpion. The inside however was entirely different with a smooth wooden floor covering the entire bottom of it and shockingly enough, in the center was the pole holding the roof up and spiraling around it was a staircase to another level. On the main floor though each of the rooms were put in the parts that were sticking out with a curtain that could close and open to serve as the door.
First there was a kitchen with a table lining the wall, a firepit in the middle with a metal pole over it to hold pots or skewered food over the flames, cupboards built into the sides of the tables holding various cooking things such as plates, knives, forks bowels and more, some baskets and hooks on the walls to hold herbs and food, a metal chest that was cold inside so I could store meat in it, a bottomless basin built into the right corner for washing dishes and supplying fresh water since when I pulled a small lever next to it, the water would drain and be refilled with clean water. I could see myself and my wives preparing plenty of meals for all of us in this kitchen whenever we travel the harsh desert like in Arabia, Persia, Egypt or other deserts in the world.
Following the kitchen is a dining room which is on the right which consists of a table in the center of the room that could seat up to twelve people with oil lamps hanging from the ceiling. The table was nice with the top being rubbed smooth and looking as if it'd been carved entirely out of a single piece of wood with the chairs being made from the same wood but with yellow pillows built into the seats and back rests. It would make for a comfortable meal with whoever was sat down at it and I was looking forward to using it with my family on our travels.
After the dining room is surprisingly a comfortable lounge area which was modelled after an Arabian styled lounge mixed with a bit of Greek style with some clines, against the walls, pillows littering the floors, drapes hanging from the ceiling with a small firepit in the middle of the carpet covered floor and against the back wall was a bookshelf. So, a comfortable spot for me to just be able to kick back and relax while enjoying a little down time whether I'm traveling or camping out for the night.
Next up was a room that was obviously the bathroom with a large white marble tub built into the back with three steps leading up to it with two statues of women both dressed as belly dancers, holding vases which poured water into the tub with the style of the artwork being Greek. Against the right wall were two statues of female djinn with one holding a golden tray that had folded towels sitting on the tray and the free statue would make the towels float up and fold themselves when they're placed on its outstretched arms and then float back to their original place. Opposite to them was a marble table with a bason in the middle of it with a fish on either side of it spraying water into the bason, filling it.
The room that comes after the bathroom was a guest room with four beds with two on each side, a bookcase at the far end, side tables on either side of each bed with one between each of the four beds having an Arabian oil lamp sitting on it. The beds had yellow blankets with white pillows and were soft as could be meaning that the ones laying in them would have no problems falling asleep. The guest bedroom wasn't the only bedroom since there was also the main bedroom which was nicer than the last main bedroom with a circle shaped bed that was big enough to fit me, my wives, my kids and still have room to spare with a golden cover and white pillows and gold framing. There was also a golden statue of an Akudiablo acting as the headboard with its wings spread out around the back of the bed as if it was guarding the bed. Against the left wall was a four doored cupboard for my belongings with the two on either end holding shelves while the two in the middle having one large space with a single black stone statue of me in the middle to hold all my equipment. On the wall opposite to it was a long table with a basin like the one I had in the bathroom with this one possessing a golden goblet next to it in case I got thirsty.
As for the floor that the stairs lead to, it was a small circle shaped room with a cushioned seat with red material cover lining the entire seat with curtains that could be lifted to reveal windows beneath showing outside. These windows could be used as spyglasses and show close ups of various spots so bandits would have a harder time hiding from me when I'm travelling the desert. All in all, I knew that using my tent and travelling the deserts on my scorpion were going to be a lot more comfortable thanks to these enhancements.
Following the enhancements to the way I travel comes the gifts I was given, starting with the snake pipe I received, and I had to say it brought new meaning to snake charming since it didn't just calm snakes, but also controlled, summoned and created them. I'd play it and cobras would slither out of whatever hole or soft land like sand and then attack whoever I made them target but the thing about the snakes I summoned is they weren't like the ones in nature. These snakes were created by magic and any thin thing like sticks, pieces of bark, stones, vines, long leaves and more with each having a nasty bite that was filled with a venom which didn't kill but numbed the entire body so the victim wouldn't be able to move. In addition to their venom, they had strong muscles that could were as strong as a boa constrictor and an anaconda combined so they had no trouble wrapping enemies up and crushing their bones. When I stop playing the pipes though, the snakes return to what they originally were as if they were never snakes to begin with which would help when it came to messing with my foes when I'm trying to remain hidden. As for its effect on actual snakes, I could easily control them to make them do whatever I wanted and when they're free they flee from me in fear. When it came to my snake guardians though, it just succeeded in giving them a headache which annoyed them and nothing more which was good since I didn't like the thought of controlling them.
Following that is the enchanted roc feather which I had taken to wearing alongside the eagle feather in my hair beneath the beads I'd gotten from the Indians when I took the name Soaring Eagle. It took a while for me to figure out what the feathers magic would allow me to do and although it took some practice, I knew its powers would be useful in the future. The ability is it allows me to form a small sand twister around my body that was so fast and powerful, it made it seem like the twister was my body and while active, I could do all sorts of things. For starters, I could disguise myself as a sand twister while attacking my foes from within by throwing my ranged weapons from within and if I hold out one of my close combat weapons like my sword, it will spin around with the wind as if the twister was an extension of my body. I could also control the direction the wind takes and how powerful it is which means I could either pull things in or throw and push things using the twister so I could quickly pull in things when doing raids on bandit camps and wanted to swipe their weapons before attacking.
Then the final thing I used was the crystal that was meant to give my prosthetic a new form and help me find and gather dark magic artifacts. When I first inserted it into my prosthetic to say the pain, I had to endure was bad would like saying Gobber needed a quick bath after going three months without a single dip in water, but its new form was worth it. The new form it took looked like a normal arm in form but it was light purple with golden lines circling the muscles with stars littering the arm. It was easy to tell this was to make the arm look less noticeable, especially after I learned its second form which was the one used to deal with the dark magic artifacts. When it fully activated it would change so the hand from the fingers to the upper arm looked to be made of some sort of purple stone that resembled the night sky while between the knuckles and the fingers joints of the palm looked to be made of copper making them look like fingerless glove and surrounding the edges of the fingers and wrist were rings. At the wrist section of the arm was a silver mist that surrounded a wrist sized purple orb while the arm parts after the strange ball joint was an arm guard, made of the same copper as the fingerless glove shape with a large orb in the middle of it and going up to the elbow with another silver mist section that had a larger ball joint. Going past the golden ring that lay next to it and traveling pass it I saw an entire shoulder pad made of copper in the same shape as the arm band pointing downward. (AN: Both images will be on pinterest page soon)
Once it had taken full form, it didn't take long for me to find out one of its capabilities since it turns out that there was a large number of artifacts imbued with dark magic in the palace. I learnt this when the ring in the center of the palm glowed bright and when I tapped it, it floated out and formed a map of the palace in the ring which showed me where I am and where the dark magic artifacts were. Toothless and I quickly went to where the entrance of the room was meant to be which was surprisingly in Aamin's room, but we didn't find anything until my mystic bells began ringing exposing a booby-trapped hidden door. The room was covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs so it was easy to tell this room belonged to Madhimaran when he'd taken Aamin's place as the prince. It didn't take a long to find an artifact imbued with dark magic which is when I discovered some of the other abilities of the prosthetic which would help when handling the artifacts.
First artifact I picked up was a small black statue of a cobra, coiled around a clear gem which had black sand spinning around it and when I picked it up, my prosthetic got to work, containing it. The rings that had been floating around my wrist and fingers floated off as the sculpture lifted up before the rings began spinning around in opposite directions so fast that it was hard to see them, but created a sphere with the sculpture in the middle. The ball would then glow and shrink down to the size of my palm before shining brightly to form a large sun stone with the statue within the middle and then fell into the palm of my prosthetics hand and then pulling it into the palm with just the top half sticking out before a dark purple tablet floated over my palm. On this tablet was the name of the statue which in this case was 'the cobra of the black sand', and explained how it's able to come to life circle around victims, spreading black sand beneath them. The sand would then pull the victims in and drain them of their life force, leaving the victim as nothing but a skeleton while the snake would become more powerful and then able to drain more victims until the one commanding it called it off. Following that I was able to pull the orb into my prosthetic arm for safe keeping and then do the same for the other dark artifacts I found in the room and there were a few with different forms of dark magic for various things that would cause trouble if they fall into wrong hands. As for the books filled with various rituals, spells, enchantments and more forms of dark magic, I piled them all up outside the city and had Toothless set them on fire, destroying any chance of the knowledge in them falling into the wrong hands.
After that was dealt with, I'd taken off on my new scorpion to do some bandit hunting and took down some pretty bad guys with some having some dark magic artifacts, but they didn't even know the artifacts had magic which was good since some of them were pretty powerful. On my hunts, I'd also been pulled aside thanks to my prosthetic detecting some artifacts with dark magic in the area and ended up digging up not only a couple of dark magic artifacts but also various treasures which had been buried with them. Still with every artifact I collected, the more greatful I was to Lord Allah since a lot of the artifacts I dug up could be as dangerous as the red death when their magic awakens and although, from the tablet with their information my prosthetic gave me, told me that the times the magic would awaken would be long after I'd left the world, it was good to know they'd never fall into the wrong hands, especially after I put them in my volcano vault with the weapons and items I'd taken from my defeated enemies.
Now though I was on the trail of another dark artifact and by how my prosthetic was acting it was either close to awakening or very dangerous so I needed to get to it fast. This is why I was once again in another city despite how much I preferred to stay clear of them since most of the sultans always did their best to convince me of great opportunities, they could give me if I moved to their city or buy my dragons and services from me. Still though, it was a good opportunity for my kids to experience a new city with its own bazaar which would offer new items that they might be interested in. Fortunately for me, the sultan of this city understood how serious things were and agreed to help me in any way he could which was good since it turns out the artifact was in his treasury and he wanted to keep his people safe from dark magic above all else.
Presently I was in the palace treasury with Toothless at my side while my family were exploring the city since I knew they'd be more than capable of defending themselves if the need arose. My prosthetic had already taken its full form meaning the artifact was near and most likely right in front of me on the shelf of various statues, figurines, chests, jewel encrusted items and more. I held my prosthetic out towards the shelf and began moving across the shelf to see if it could pick up anything and at first there was nothing but then I felt a strong yank towards a blue gem with a black center and lined with a golden serpent and I knew it was the artifact. I took it into the palm of my prosthetic and allowed the rings to contain it in the gem and smiled as the tablet formed before I took a look as I said.
"Now let's see what's so dangerous about this artifact." Toothless growled and nodded, making me smile at him before turning back to the tablet and gasped. "It's a good thing we found this thing." Toothless tilted his head. "This thing was made to drain the life force of all those within two hundred miles so it can open up a gate to the underworld releasing demons that would have no bodies of their own so they would take the bodies of the living for and transform them into demonic beings while feasting on their victims' souls." Toothless leaned his head back in horror making me nod in agreement. "Fortunately, this thing wasn't meant to awaken for another four hundred years and no it never will." I pulled the gem into my prosthetic and shattered. "Now with that done, we can let the sultan know things are good and go meet up with the family."
He growled and nodded before we took off to the throne room where we knew the sultan was waiting for news about what we'd found and fortunately, getting to the throne room didn't take long. We were greeted by the guards who opened the doors for us before we walked in to find some dancers performing for the sultan sitting in his throne while guards lined the wall. We walked down the desert yellow carpet, passing the dancers who made way for us before I reached the throne and bowed to the sultan who smiled at me as he said.
"Hiccup, I trust you have found the artifact you were after?" I nodded.
"Indeed, I found the dark magic contained in a blue gem with a black center which had a golden serpent around it." The sultan nodded in understanding.
"Yes, that gem was taken from a sorcerer my ancestor captured and sentenced for meddling in dark magic figuring it needed to be locked up and away from the outside world." I nodded.
"Your ancestor did the right thing since that jewel was very dark magic."
"Hiccup, I hope you will forgive my curiosity but what would it do and what will you do with it and the other artifacts you've found?"
"It would have drained every living creature for miles before opening up a gate to the underworld, releasing demonic beings with no bodies of their own which would then take over human bodies, turning them into monsters while devouring the souls within." Everyone stopped to stare at me but I just shrugged. "Yeah, it was a pretty dark piece of magic and by far one of the most dangerous I've found so far." The sultan nodded.
"Well either way, I am glad you were able to get to it before it fell into the wrong hands." I smiled and nodded.
"And I would like to thank you for allowing me to access your vault to deal with the artifact." He simply smiled and nodded.
"You have done much good for my land and the gods who protect our lands so when you requested aid in protecting my own city from dark magic, how could I turn you down." I nodded.
"Well, I am greatful, but now I have to meet up with my family in the bazaar." He nodded.
"My city has attracted some of the finest traders in all of Arabia so I have no doubt that at least one of them shall have something that shall catch your interest." I chuckled.
"Maybe your highness." It was then one of the servants who as nearby stepped forward.
"If I may sire, I think of something in the bazaar that might interest our honored guest." I turned to the servant as did the sultan gestured for him to go on while I gave a nod to the servant. "Recently, the noble you had sentenced to death for making deals with bandits and arranging for traders to be attacked, while all his assets have been seized and his personal belongings are to be sold off." I gestured for him to go on. "This noble had put together quite the collection of numerous treasures from jewels to rare books so you might find something that might strike your interest." I nodded.
"Where are his belongings being sold?"
"At an auction being held for nobles in what was his home." I nodded.
"Give me the location and the time and I'll be there." He smiled and gave me both the place and time before I thanked him and left to meet up with my family.
5 hours later
It was now late afternoon and I was now in a large mansions showroom, sitting on a large cushion at a table with my wives, watching as various items were auctioned off to the multiple nobles who were also in the room while my kids had been sent back to the palace where we normally stay so they wouldn't be bothered. When we first got here though, I was pulled aside and asked by the ones who were running the auction to do a check up on the items being auctioned off and check for any items with dark magic within them since they'd heard what I'd been doing. Turns out it was the right choice since there were three items that could be dangerous if they fell into the wrong hands, but nothing as bad as summoning demons. After that, I was taken to where the auction was being held and where my family was waiting with multiple nobles with a few flirting with my wives but they backed off once they were told who they were married to. Some were friendly though and just greeted them respectively and occasionally requested a meeting with me to discuss possible business opportunities.
Now though, the auction was finishing off with the last of the items and I was greatful since outside of the occasional book or statue, there's not been anything that's caught my eye, except for some of the outfits the noble had his female servants wear for his own enjoyment. When I saw those outfits, I couldn't help but picture my wives in them which got me a playful swat from Astrid who immediately recognized the look on my face, since it was the same look, I got when I saw them in bed ready to give me a good time. I was brought out of my thoughts when the head of the auction said.
"AND NOW FOR OUR FINAL ITEM TO BE SOLD THIS EVENING!" A few armed men walked out, leading a small child who looked to be around eight years old wearing orange clothes most noble children wore, but despite the calm look on her face, I could tell she was terrified by the look in her eyes. "THE ONLY DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED NOBLE WHO WAS RECENTLY BEEN SENTANCED TO SLAVERY, AMINA." My eyes widened realizing they were auctioning of a child for what her father did. "NOW IF YOU ALL REMEMBER WHAT HER MOTHER WAS LIKE, SHE IS GUARENTEED TO GROW INTO A BEAUTY AND SHE HAS BEEN WELL TAUGHT SO SHE MAY BE OF USE IN BUSINESS IN THE FUTURE!" The bid began and before I even realized it, my hand was up before another hand went up to outbid me, but when I turned to my wives, they each gave a nod to keep it up so I did and began bidding a few more times until the auction head cried out. "AND SOLD TO THE HERO OF ARABIA, HICCUP HADDOCK!" There was a small applause. "AND WITH THE LAST ITEM SOLD, THE AUCTION HAS COME TO AN END!" Everyone stood up and began to leave as the guards brought Amina over to me with her looking down before one of the guards shoved her over to me, making her stumble but I caught her and glared at the guard who just walked away as I turned to look down at Amina.
"Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to you from now on." She didn't look up and allowed me to lead here out of the room and although I planned for us to return to the city where our kids were using my portal door, I figured travelling by scorpion would give Amina the chance to calm down and give us a chance to get to know her while helping her get to know us a bit.
1 hour later
We were all in my tent, on the back of my scorpion which was taking us back to the city and while Amina was in the guest room, my wives and I were in the lounge area talking. My wives admitted that they were surprised that I'd placed my bid for the Amina, but confessed that if I didn't bid then they would have since they could easily see the fear in her eyes and the looks those nobles were giving her. Now though, we now had another child to deal with and we're not even sure if she'd want to stay with us or had family left who we could hand her over to. I'm honestly not sure what we should do with her since we have plenty of kids as it is, but still we had plenty of rooms in our house we can turn into her room and although it would take some time, changing into a whole new type of land with many of them being the complete opposite of the Arabian desert. All I know is, if she chose to stay with us, it'd be a challenge we'd all need to take on together as a family once more like when Egil and Hunter first joined our growing family but for now we needed to figure out how to deal with the situation.
6 days later
It's been six days since I bought Amina at the auction and since then we've introduced her to the rest of the family and spent some time getting to know her but none of us were happy with what we'd found out. Turns out the seven years of her life have been lonely ones since it turns out her father wasn't much of a father who would barely spare her a glance on a good day since he was always too busy making more money, spending time with women, working on his plans and enjoying life's pleasures. She'd mostly been raised by the servants since her mother died shortly after she was born and she didn't have any friends since her father wasn't liked by other nobles who kept their kids away from him and her since they feared he'd use them in some way using the friendship. The only good thing about this is that when her father was arrested, it didn't leave much of an impression on her since she rarely saw him at all. Along with this she didn't have any other family members and the other nobles didn't want anything to do with her while the servants who cared for her had their own families to take care of. It was because of this we offered her a place on the island which she accepted almost immediately after being told by so many traders of the wonders my island held. My kids, wives and I had been spending a lot of time with her to make her feel more comfortable around us and although she was hesitant at first, she eventually bonded and began to open up to us, but it'd be a while before she saw us as more than acquaintances. Still though, it'd we'd get along well soon since relationships did take time to cultivate and form, especially when it comes to kids who've had tough times.
Now though, we were saying our good byes to our friends in Arabia and getting ready to go home to return to our normal lives which for me meant, bounty hunting, dragon riding, training, spending time with my family and of course chiefing. I embraced the Sultan one last time before pulling away with him keeping his hands on my shoulders as he said.
"Hiccup, I love you like a son but the next time you come for a visit, let's try have a visit without you needing to go and deal with some sort of dark force threatening the world and just focus on some bandit hunting." I smiled and nodded.
"Your majesty, when it comes to my life, I've learnt that when I pray for a peaceful visit the universe laughs at me." He chuckled and nodded before I lead my family through the portal door and back to our normal lives.
AN: And another chapter has been brought to an end and with it comes a new child and an announcement to tell you all I'm on holiday now and will be having many relatives over including my grandfather who tends to wonder and with my dad's shoulder injury, house work is going to be a bigger part of my schedule than ever before. This of course means very little writing time and for those of you wondering how bad it is, it's taken me two hours to write this 'Authors Note' since I kept getting interrupted when writing it. Anyway, as some of you may have noticed the majority of gifts were enhancements and the reason for this is after so many gifts been given to Hiccup, the gift idea barrel has been running dry and we had to scrape the bottom of the barrel just to get the two ideas for the flute and feather so sorry. Because of this, if you have any new gift ideas then please let me know what they are and which culture can gift them and I will see if they fit in. Till next time, have a nice day and if I don't post before, than merry Christmas.