The Labours of Alcides

The Ceryneian Hind

For the first time, Alcides wasn't given a mission that involved getting rid of a pest: instead, Shiva ordered him to catch a hind,which is what modern humans know as a doe. A deer. A female deer. This creature lived, as you might have guessed, in Ceryneia. Even the crows were surprised with the task, as the creature was harmless, but they decided to keep their beaks quiet when they took a glare at their boss.

Tho, between is, this was because it had been the All Father's idea, as Shiva was still suffering the consequences of his wife's rage over the lion's fate, and had forgotten to look for task to assign to the young hero. Who can blame him? The beautiful Durga invented the famous technique of sending your husband to the couch, with the support of Parvati and Kali, so the Hindus chief had to share his pet tiger's favorite sleeping spot. Unfortunately for him, the tiger was angry about his fellow feline's death, so Shiva had to use sleep in the floor...let's go back to our hero.

Alcides had already imagined that it wouldn't been an easy task, but never expected that going after the doe would take so long...or that it wouldn't look like a doe in the first place, with her big golden horns that usually only males had (of course, not golden ), her huge size...compared to the average deer, as this one was the size of a grown bull, and her silver hooves. Maybe he was able to help a person or two along the way, but it was frustrating not to be able to finish his task.

One day, something unusual happened, as Alcides got the visit from one of his future adoptive brothers.

"Hello, Hercules!" Said a pink haired god. Now, if you haven't seen lord Apollo, there's something that you should know: along with Shiva, he is one of the most handsome gods. I haven't described lord Shiva as just thinking of being held by his four huge arms makes me blush..so it's better to avoid describing the beautiful lord Apolo.

The crows chose to stay quiet, as they imagined why the god was there and had to pretend otherwise in case Alcides asked them about the topic later on.

"Hello, lord Apollo...and sorry, but my name is Alcides "he had reasons, just like any other theban, yo try to be as careful as possible when speaking to that god in particular. Just by recalling the story of queen Niobe was enough...I might tell you about to some day, but let's focus on this one "it's nice to see you again"

"Oh right, how silly of me" the god smiled, tho of course, don't forget one thing: Apollo is a god who can, through prophecies, can catch glimpses of the future. Perhaps he had seen a bit of the boy's destiny...or at least for the next few years. "It's nice to see you too, Alcides. It has been a while " perhaps a second for god, but Apolo had his reasons to appear

"The hind has been a lot harder to track than I expected " admitted the red headed youth, tho he was a bit surprised of the crows' silence. Specially considering they were sacred to Apollo.

"Of course it is, she's sacred to my dear twin "yes, that was his reason

"Lady Artemis?" Gods, he couldn't slay it...

"Yes, and she loves the hind quite a lot " and he would hate to see his sister cry "Shiva didn't know that detail, as it seems that lord Odin forgot to tell him about it, so he allowed me to come and tell you. So you know, don't kill it ! Believe me, Artemis would get very sad...and I hate to see her like that " the god simply left

"Ah kid, maybe you should take off the traps " suggested one of the crows, and they were certain they would get in trouble later.

Great, he had been trying to hunt it for half a year, and now that he couldn't even kill it, that would be worse. There were gods that you definitely shouldn't make angry, and the stories his people told had the twins as a dangerous duo. But again, a story for another day.

Alcides has to come up with a new plan, something that would let her live. Good thing that none of his traps had worked or else he'd send the poor thing flying away. Once again, the hero chose to use his best trick: finding a water source. Curiously, from the few things he'd been able to see , the doe would drink and make an effort not to cross bodies of water.

"What a word creature " said one of the very normal talking crows, whose companion was an eight legged horse.

Alcides has an idea. A risky and perhaps fatal idea: he had to bring the doe alive, tho not intact. That was cruel, he knew it, but otherwise it would take forever to finish the hunt. The hero searched for a deep river, which wouldn't be the doe's favorite place for sure. Once again, the grabbed his bow and arrows, and waited.

"But he shouldn't kill it "mumbled the white crow.

"I don't think he's going to do it " mumbled the black crow.

The doe arrived to have a drink. As she was a sacred animal, she was smart; having sensed Apollo's presence, it knew that her mistress' brother had told the mortal that it couldn't hurt her, meaning she could slow down and do whatever she pleased, as if in any case, she would easily out run the hero. Had the doe would be able to smirk, it would, knowing that, if she had too, she could easily cross the water despite her dislike for it. She wouldn't even bother going back on the same way she came in, that's how smug she felt.

She was wrong: Alcides pointed to one of her legs and shot an arrow. The doe squealed in pain and couldn't run, giving the hero the perfect chance to capture her. He just hoped that Artemis wouldnt be angry once he saw her...

As he carried the doe, a lot of curious humans would go and ask Alcides about it. Some had heard of his other tasks (tho pretty exaggerated versions at that) and wanted to know why would he capture such a harmless creature. As such, even if they wrote down first hand what the hero said. They came up the idea that the creature was dangerous, destroying crops and acting territorial, as a regular doe would do, to explain so. The task's nature made this easy, even adding a small confrontation between Alcides and the twin archers just in case.