Chapter 326

It's been two weeks since Brutus came to try and kill Caesarion, the only son of Caesar and Cleopatra who was also the first heir to Caesars estate and fortune and despite it not being long, things had been very busy. Most of Berks boatmen and carpenters had been busy disassembling the ships that were destroyed during the battle, salvaging the usable parts for new buildings, repairs and ships of our own. Three days after they left though, Xiu woke up and remembered what happened before she locked herself up in her room in fear but as anyone could guess, a door was no match for me. When I found her though, I was heartbroken to find her hiding under the covers of her bed, shaking like a leaf and looking completely lost and it only got worse when she curled up as I sat down.

For ten minutes I sat there in silence with my daughter to see if she would say anything to me but when she said nothing, I asked her if she was afraid of being a snake guardian. When I got no reply, I told her that it was nothing to be afraid of and all she needed to do was practice and train to master her new abilities since it wasn't anything to fear. I still got no reply before I held the bundle of blankets that was my daughter and told her that no matter what form she took she would always be my little Xiu, and I'd always love her, and I knew the family felt the same and that we were all worried about her. That got her to come out of her covers and confess that it wasn't her powers that scared her, what scared her is how she just reacted when those men attacked them and how she didn't even realize what she was doing until it was over. She saw the way she caused those Romans to go flying before she passed out and didn't even realize she'd been the one to do it until she realized it was her tail that had done it. What truly scared her is the risk that she'd do it again but not to her enemies but the ones she loved like me, her mothers, her siblings or any of the other island residents. After that I just held her and told her that the way she reacted was only natural before showing an illusion from when me and Blanca were first travelling together, and she sliced that rattlesnake into pieces. I promised her that we were going to train her and make sure she knew how to use her powers so she could control them and keep them from hurting her loved ones.

Now she knows how to switch between her two forms but is still getting the hang of using her tail, moving around with it and just being flexible without hurting herself so she spends most of her day with the other snake guardians, training under her mother and Aunt Verta. It was during this time she was able to unlock her magic which was also impressive but unlike her mother's magic, which looked like white ribbons, her magic took the form of crimson red flames which didn't burn anything. With them she could make things float, blast enemies back, cut through things when she flattened her hand and covered it in the magic, stab her enemies when she made it take a cone shape and set fire to things obviously and Blanca claimed her power will grow more powerful as she masters it. Still, we were all surprised when we saw it took the form of fire instead of ribbon like whisps like her mother and aunts, which when my mother saw, claimed she got from me since I have the soul of a dragon with its fire burning within me. All in all, my daughter had the makings of a fine snake guardian and an incredible warrior if she kept up her training and seeing how hard she worked, I couldn't help but feel a great deal of pride.

She wasn't the only one who had been busy as each of my kids had kept up their training and were doing well but they all still had their hobbies with Brant taking up a new project. This project was rebuilding his family's ship, which his Uncle Bronk had brought to the island thinking it would be a nice souvenir for the kids to remember their parents and all the good times they had on it. I couldn't help but think there was more to it than he was letting on with how determined he was to repair the ship despite it basically being just the skeleton of an old ship with pieces still stuck on and rotting away so I talked to Chara about it. She revealed that their Blood father would often take Brant out fishing on the ship to get him out of the forge and the village to just enjoy some peace and quiet while they bonded so he probably just wanted to keep the memories alive. I could understand that and approve of it but what I do not approve of is how he'd been working so hard after training when he should be taking a break and enjoying some down time. I tried ordering him to take a break, but it never worked nor did Chara try to talk him into taking a break since he just said he didn't want the memories he had of his father to die. After that we brought in the last resort in the form of Twilight and Robyne, with Twilight practically dragging him away using her mouth with her teeth retracted and Robyne getting him to take walks with her and taking her out on dates.

On a lighter note, Amira has officially accepted me and my wives as her new father and mothers and my kids as her siblings while also keeping up with herstudies under the 'd also been trying to talk to me about taking her to the more exotic lands where we could find poisonousspiders, plants and the possibility of gathering some venomous fishlike thelionfishthat could have its quills would take some time before I felt she was skilled enough to handle thosethings,but I had been taking her on trips into the ocean with Tephraand had her observe my automatons harvesting the plants for thehealers'medicines.I was impressed with how hard she was studying since the healers kept telling me how she'd make an excellent healer one day andGothiwasactually thinkingof taking her on as an official apprentice.

Now I was sitting at the edge of the Griffins Roost and enjoying the peace of the winds blowing into my faceas the flock ruled byPlutarachflew around the mountain or lounged around their nests preening or taking care of their young. I took a breath as I smiled and enjoyed the sound of the griffins flapping their wings whilePlutarachwalkedup and lay down next to me before I began stroking his feathers.I smiled at himas Isaid.

"You know my friend, I get so wrapped up in my adventures and the world of dragons, I sometimes forget about the grace and beauty of the other flying creatures that call my island home." He looked at me and glared. "Yeah, Iknow,and I am sorrybut don't think I've forgotten how hard you and the others work to help keep the island safe and the two statues which are also two of the most devastating weapons I've everseen." He nodded before my wedding ring glowed and I held it out to form an illusion of Blanca in the palm of my hand before she said.

"Hiccup, you have a message waiting for youin the mouth ofyour messenger cat."I nodded.

"Alright Blanca, I'll come and get it now."

She nodded before ending the message and brought my fingers to my lips and let out a whistle which was met with a loud roar echoing from around the mountain. I smiled and stood up before givingPlutarachone last strokeand then jumping off the ledge and free fell for a few seconds before a familiar black mass flew beneath me, catching me in the process.I smiled down at the head of the blackmass,which was my main riding dragon and best friend, Toothless as I said.

"Let's go see what this latest message is."He growled and nodded before we tookoff backto the house.

8hours later

In the hours since I gotthe news of the letter, I had read the letter and learnt it was from QueenUbertawho had begged usto come to her aid as Derek and Odette had gone for the summerto helppeople across the kingdom leaving their daughter Alise in the care of both her and thoughyesterday,Roberts had taken her out of the castle and away from princess camp to give her atrip on aship to go throughpirateboot camp and fearedshe'd be lost at sea before being picked up by a pirate ship and become one, spending her days plundering and pillaging, returning with a peg leg while holding a burning torch in a hook wanted her granddaughter back immediately and knew how my ship could find anythingfast andeasily, she begged usto come and rescue her granddaughter from the life of, as she put it, a violent seadog who'd spend her days fighting on the poop reading this, I sighed, knowing it would be best if I went and helped find her since her granddaughtermight really be in big troublesince the sea could be dangerous and knowing Rogers, he'd get carried awayand besides it would give my family a good vacation.

This is why I was nowon my ship with Toothless after dropping my family, including Twilight and Havard, off at Swan Lakesince I'm not sure what we'd be dealing with and I wanted them to enjoy some down time, especially with Astrid being in her condition. Before we left though, I met the scullions,including their leader, Cutter, who Zephyr took a near instant liking to after discovering he'd been designing some complex traps.I didn't get the chance to speak or get to know them though since Toothless and I were immediately set upon byUbertawho begged us to hurry off to find her granddaughter before she got picked up by any pirates on the ocean. I understood she was worried about her granddaughter and that my family would be fine sowitha quick goodbye to my familywe took offto the dock and then took out myshipin search of Rogers and Alise.

Now we were closing in on an island where my crystal map and mystic compass told me that I could find them but since I saw no ship, I assumed they were shipwrecked. I turned to Toothless and asked.

"Think this is a nice quiet and deserted island where Rogers and Alise are just quietly waiting at a camp for someone to come rescue them?" He gave me a look that clearly said, 'Are you serious'. "Yeah, we're never that lucky on our adventures." He growled and nodded as we came to the island and docked our ship before I pulled it back into my arm and summoned my Bastet warriors since they were expert trackers. "Search the island for an elderly man and a young girl and if you find them report it immediately."

They all nodded before taking off into the woods while Toothless and I took to the skies to do a quick sweep of the beaches from the air hoping to find something. Fortunately finding something was easy since we found two kids making a raft in the distance and I steered Toothless down just as I heard them talking about heading back with the boy wanting to stay since his parents don't want him. I figured when he said this it would be a good time to come down and talk to them, so we glided down and landed a few feet from them making them jump back in shock and fear before I held up my hands and said.

"Easy there now, we're not here to hurt the two of you." I dismounted Toothless. "I'm looking for Lord Rogers and Princess Alise." The young girl who I saw had short brown hair with a slight braid in it stepped forward.

"I'm Alise." I smiled.

"Well, we're glad you're alright since your grandmother's worried sick about you."

"She is?" I nodded while Toothless warbled in annoyance.

"She kept going on about how you were going to become a pirate and would return home with a hook hand and peg leg."Both Toothless and I rolled our eyes at the memory."Anyway, what are you doing on this island.

"Me and lord Rogers got caught in a storm that shipwrecked us here."I nodded."By any chance are you Hiccup Haddock and that thing next to you your dragon, Toothless?"The young man who had dark brown hair stared in shock.

"You think that thing is a dragon?"I decided to answer both their questions.

"I am HiccupHaddock,and this is my dragon Toothless but for now we need to know if either of you know ifSirRogers washed up on the island as well."It was then my Bastet warriors rushed from the woods making the kids back away, but I turned to them.

"Don't worry, they work for me."I then turned back to my warriors."Did you find lord Rogers?"A voice from beside us answered.

"Theydid!"We all turned to the source of the voice and I immediately pulled out mystar swordat the sight of chubby scullion wearing spectacles, glowing dark almost purple blue and floating in the air before my senses caught up with me and I recognized him as Scully, a scullion who helped stop the forbidden arts and lost his life, doing so but was given a statue in his honor and this was confirmed when Alise cried.

"SCULLY!"

"In the flesh figuratively speaking of course."He shook his head."Anyway, Lord Rogers and Jean bob are in big trouble."I raised an eyebrow.

"What's happened to them?"

"They're about to become a main course."I raised an eyebrow just ashe pointed to a stream of smoke coming from within the forest before Lucas said.

"Oh no, the bogs got him."I turned to the kids.

"Although I'd like to know more about these things you calledbogs,I can tell that they're not the type of creatures we want to eat with."He nodded before I released my ship shocking the kids and ghost before I turned to the kids and Speed."You three are to stay on my shipuntil we get back with Rogers and Jean Bob."They just stared at me."I know, a ship coming out of nowhere is a bigshock,but I'll explain everything later."I then turned to my Bastet warriors."Get the kids and the tortoise onto the ship and guard them until I get back."

They picked up the kids and boarded the ship while I mounted Toothless, despite Lucas complainingbefore we took off towards where the smoke was coming fromwhile I sent my ship back into the water since I did not want these Bog things able to board the ship. When wereached the area where the smoke was coming from my eyeswidened in fear when I sawLordRogersin his underwearand Jean Bobtied to a long branch and roasting over a firewith some weird creatures dancing around them and singing while one slathered some sort of sauce on describe thesecreatures,I would say theylooked likehumanoid lizard men with a snapping turtle like face withdonkey-likeears and their spines growing out from their backsresembling coral.

I stopped examining them knowing I needed to workfast,or Rogers and Jean Bob would be their meal and with that thought, I focused on the flames and made them grow from the sides before flying out of the pit and circling the pit, making the bogs back up in fear while I extinguished the remaining flames in the pit. Toothless and I swooped down and landed next to the pit with a smile as I quickly dismountedToothless andsaid.

"Sorry to interrupt dinner preparations but this meal has to go."Sir Rogers stared at me in shock before he laughed.

"Hiccup, you have no idea how good it is to see you."I released my prosthetics dagger and began cutting the vines.

"Say that after Iget you back to QueenUberta."I cut the last vine freeing them both before I threw Sir Rogers his clothes."Now come on, you can get dressed when we're back on my ship."He nodded before we mounted Toothless."Let's get out of here." We took off into the sky as the Bogs cried in anger and one yelled.

"THE PINK BELLIES ARE GETTING AWAY, AFTER THEM!"I ignored them and kept flying towards the beach where my ship was parked untilJean Bob cried out.

"Hiccup,I hate to tell youthis,butthose things are nowairborne."I raised an eyebrow and turned back to see they were airborne and following us on thick, stiffboards made fromleaves thathad tubes between them and spraying some sort of pink gas.

"Don't worry, I've picked up a few new things since I last visited."I released my Long Wang dragon scales and had them fly around us as they grew."These'll take care of them."I then sent them all flying back at themin a storm and ignored the cries of pain behind us."Let's speed it up bud."

He growled and nodded before I opened histail,and we took offat full speed while I called my scales back to my coat figuring that the bogs were dealt with and thanks to the speed we were at the beach in seconds. We landed on the deck where Alise, Lucas and Speed were waiting for usand as soon as we landed, they rushed to us, asking if we were alright. I smiled at them and nodded while helping Lord Rogers off Toothless and giving him back his clothes but before we could set off, I sensed something coming from above and my blade scarf acted up, slashing a few hardened starfish that came from above.I turned to where they camefrom,and my eyes widened seeing there were stillmultiplebogs coming at us from above and throwing starfish at us like shuriken. I turned toLord Rogersand ordered.

"Geteveryonebelowcoverwhile I deal with the bogs."

He nodded as I signaled Toothless to fire at will before he launched a plasma blastat one of the bogs, hitting its board of one and sending it falling into the water while Lord Rogers got the kids beneath the roof at the back of the deck.I ducked beneath more star fish and launched out my blue flame chain links at two of them making them roar in fearuntil the links struck their boards, filling them with holes and turning them to ash in seconds, sending the bogs falling into the water.I then saw one flying towards the back where Lord Rogers was hiding with the kids and growled, releasing my snake whip and quickly swung it at the bog, catching it around the waist before pulling it back and bringing the bog with it. I threw him off the ship before bringing my whip back to me and putting it back in my prostheticas Toothless blasted another three off their was then five of them jumped from their boards and landed on the deck in front of us with the one in the middle who had dark brown spines growled andsaid.

"The only thing worse than eating and running is running before you're eaten!"He extended long sharp claws before the others did the same and began walking towardsus,but I smirked.

"You just sealed your own defeat."

They stared at me as I released my Nemean Liongauntletswhich were loaded with white crystals before I slammed them together, releasing an earsplitting roar that sent them all flying off my ship while the others that were still in the air fell to off their boards thanks to the roar making them shake.I looked around the air for any more bogs and smiled when I saw no more bogs and willed my ship to set sail, leaving the islandto grow more distant every second and with it, the bogs chances of catching us. I smiled as I turned to Toothless and rubbed his head as I said.

"Well compared to how our adventures normally are, I'd say this was pretty easy to deal within comparison."He growled and shrugged as he gave a nod before we turned to those still hiding at the back behind the fire."It's alright, the bogs are gone and we're on the way back to the mainland now."They came out before Lord Rogers straightened his coat and said.

"Right then, incredible work as always Hiccup." I rolled my eyes at his formal talk. "So how long shall it be before we reach the mainland?"

"If I use my ships portal abilities, a few seconds." I could tell he was nervous when I said this.

"Why don't we take it nice and slow, give the children a chance to learn a bit of astrology before getting a good night's rest after the craziness of the day and then we can arrive tomorrow fresh from goodnights sleep and ready to face the day." I turned to Toothless who looked at me with the same expression, asking if he really thought we'd believe what he said before we turned back to him.

"Lord Rogers, I have a great deal of respect for you, so I ask that you forgive me for being blunt, but you're trying to hide things from the wrong person." He stuttered making me chuckle. "You can't run from the queen's wrath forever." He sighed and looked down.

"True but it was worth a shot." We shrugged before I noticed Lucas looking down at the waters with a look of annoyance and knew it would be best if I tried to see what was up with him before things got bad, so I walked up to him and asked.

"Something wrong Lucas?"

"The bogs saw me so I can't live there anymore." I nodded.

"I don't suppose you can tell me why you were living there in the first place." He sighed.

"My parents didn't want me anymore, so I ran away."

"And what makes you think you parents didn't want you?"

"They were going to send me to an orphanage." Hearing this I could understand his belief that his parents didn't want him but as a parent myself I knew there had to be more to it.

"Lucas, was your family wealthy in any way?" He shook his head.

"No, we were poor and lived in a carriage which we would take to places where we thought my father could find work, but people never gave him a chance for one reason or another." I nodded and kneeled down to eye level.

"Lucas, I can't speak for your parents' actions but as a parent myself I know that there are times when tough decisions have to be made for the good of your child and I think maybe your parents were thinking of giving you up so you'd have a chance at a better life than they could offer." He just growled.

"But I want to stay with them."

"And I'm sure they wanted that as well." I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Listen Lucas, I know you were scared but running away is never the answer which is why when we get back, we're going to find your parents and talk to them." He looked away. "I also know the prince and princess so they might be able to help your father find some honest work in the kingdom and maybe a place for your family to settle down." He looked up at me.

"Do you really think my parents want me?"

"Since I haven't met your parents, I can't say but we will find them and talk about this and if you run away again than I'll simply track you down and bring you back by force which is something I'd rather not do so please don't make me." He nodded before I left to keep navigating my ship back to the kingdom.

2 hours later

It's been two hours since I talked to Lucas about his parents and his reason for running away and since then we'd been able to dock but not a second later Queen Uberta came down on us, hugging Alise and telling her how worried she was, thanking Toothless and I for our help and yelling her head off at Lord Rogers for trying to turn her granddaughter into a pirate. Toothless and I then had to go after Lucas, who did try to make a run for it but barely made it out of the village before we scooped him up and this time, I put him in my shadow until we could find his parents. Fortunately, Scully knew where they were and as luck would have it they were with Derek and Odette, so we were all able to reunite with Alise, being glad to see her adoptive parents again while Lucas was hesitant to even be seen by his after I let him out of my shadow. I had to keep playing my calming flute to ensure he didn't panic and run away as his parents spoke with him before they confirmed my suspicions of why they were planning to take him to an orphanage. After they made up Derek and Odette agreed to help them find permanent work and a place to settle down and start a new life where they wouldn't have to beg for donations or scrounge around the forest for food. After that, we all went back to the palace to rest for a bit with Lucas and his parents, joining us for the evening, where I was able to introduce them all to my family along with introducing the royals to the new members who'd joined the family since our last visit, before we all sat down to dinner. Now I was in bed with my wives and staring up at the ceiling while allowing myself to slowly drift off to sleep so I could face whatever challenges tomorrow brings.

2 weeks later

It's been two weeks since we arrived in the kingdom and since then things have been pretty much as I wanted with Brant mostly taking it easy and sticking to a short training regime with his siblings before taking some time off from work to relax. The kids had certainly also taken a liking to Alise and Lucas, treating them like siblings and having them join in their games when they were out in the garden.

Brant, when he wasn't training, would always race with the other kids, sometimes with one of his younger siblings on his back, take flights on Twilight and just have fun with everyone. Chara on the other hand preferred to stick to the trees, doing her acrobatics for entertainment for both her and the people who watched her do it with such grace and it also made her the all-time winner of their hide and seek. Egil also dropped his cold exterior to have a bit of fun with the others and it was rather adorable how he would use his boots to make ice patches for them to all skate on and crush icicles into snow for them to throw at each other. Amina on the other hand spent a lot of time in the library, checking out the books on various plants and poisons with Lord Rogers keeping her company and teaching her all he knew, which was something he was all too happy to do since he loved having another child to teach.

Hunter had been spending a bit of time with Derek comparing hunting and tracking strategies along with going out into the forest to test out the tracking tactics he'd learnt from him. Xiu had spent a lot of time in the garden playing tag with the other kids and her guardian form which allowed her to easily climb up trees' unseen and travel through the woods at the same speed as Chara. Zephyr as expected spent most of her free time with the scullions who were teaching her all they knew about traps and the various ways to set them up which was not good for most of us since the servants, royals and others would often end up falling into them and I knew it was not going to be easy at home with all she was learning. Ajmal was still too young to play their games with them, so he played with his toys by his mother's when I was out with Toothless while the twins remained in strollers that were lent to us for our trip, so the twins didn't have to spend their entire trip inside the nursery.

As for Lucas and his parents, Derek and Odette had set them up with a piece of land that had a nice little cottage, and they could use the land to grow what they wanted. What they ended up growing were flowers known as tulips that they could sell at the market and thanks to Hadasa and my mystic pan pipes, their first harvest was ready in three days. This help was a one-time thing though to help them get started and so they could begin making a name for themselves at the marketplace and the tulips sold surprisingly well with them being able to sell their entire first harvest in two days and for a good profit as well. They had the makings of a fine business which would grow and help them to continue to support both themselves and the kingdom in many ways besides the money they make like the beauty their fields had.

Presently, my family and I were all sat down at the dinner table with the royals including Lord Rogers, as we all enjoyed a dinner prepared with much time and care to say goodbye since we'd be leaving tomorrow. Derek had just finished telling us what happened to the cave where the Forbidden Arts had been waiting, and I was glad to hear it was now sealed since it would be best for everyone if nobody accidentally stumbled inside that place. Call me overly cautious but I did not want to risk anyone accidentally reviving the Forbidden Arts in any way since magic like that should never have been unleashed upon the world to begin with. I shrugged and went back to my meal; just grateful I wouldn't need to deal with that evil in the future and for once I got a vacation that didn't involve someone trying to take over the world.

Cave of Forbidden Arts

A cloaked figure walked up to the sealed cave entrance, their features hidden by their cloak before they held out a hand covered by a black leather glove and a purple glow covered the rocks blocking the cave. A moment later they crumbled into dust before the figure walked into the cave as if they knew exactly where they were going and didn't stop until they were looking down at the very pit the Forbidden Arts had come from and sent back into. The figure held their hand out over the pit before the palm of their gloved hand glowed purple once more before a black smoke with glowing red cracks floated up and formed a ball in the figures hand. This smoke was none other than the Forbidden Arts before it asked.

"What is this?" Then as if noticing the figure it cried out. "NO, NO PLEASE NO!" The Forbidden Arts tried to flee but could not leave the figures hand. "PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE!" Before it could try to flee a purple glow surrounded it before disappearing to reveal a crystal ball with the smoke. "NO, HAVE MERCY AND SEND ME BACK FROM WHENCE I CAME!"

The figure didn't reply as the ball shrunk down the size of the palm holding it before the figure hid it in his cloak, silencing the Forbidden Arts cries and then disappearing into the darkness of the night.

AN: And another chapter is done and yeah, I know it's not that exciting, but I felt a chapter that was a little calmer while giving you all a taste of a hidden foe who will only be fully revealed much, much later as in near the end of the story. I just want to confirm that this doesn't mean the story is going to end soon as there's still a lot to come including new kids and new lovers who at most will become wives but who knows, we'll just need to see where the story goes. Anyway, I'll try to make the next chapter a bit more exciting and we'll see what me and my allies can come up with next so be patient and review kindly please as I do enjoy reading the reviews. Fair warning though, next week I'll be on holiday for a while so the next chapter may take a while longer so please be patient and have a nice day.