Ariadne and the Tales of Heroes

Disclaimers

This story is of my own creation based on historical events or mysterious happenings here on Earth.

Tags: Swearing, Fondling, Violence, Blood, Graphic, Execution, Drama, Love, Sex, Intercourse, Lactation, Pregnant, Breast Feeding, History, Myth, Gods, Religious

Disclaimer: This story is a collection of stories dealing with erotic fiction, mythological stories, and historical events. This story is historical fiction or close to accurate with what-ifs with historical events serving as a backdrop. Careful attention to detail on historical accounts was made and liberties were used to ensure story flow. No intention is made by the writer to devalue religious or mythological views that some may hold sacred. With that being said reader discretion is advised.

Disclaimer 2: This story is meant for adults (age 18 or over) since it deals with adult oriented themes including violence, sex, and war.

Special Thanks to my Patreon supporters:

Jordy, Frank Nordhaus, Quintin Martin, and Nightsound for their generous donations

And of course, the other patron supporters for allowing me to write and supporting the universe that I write. :)

By CMed

Copyright 2019

Prologue

What if we live in a world that the deities exist?

What if we live in a world where myths were real?

What if we live in a world knowing that the folklores were true?

What if we live in a world in that the fairy tales were real?

What if we live in a world where history and myth intersect?

What do you believe?...

Chapter 1: September 12^th, 1918

"Incoming!"

Private Toha Smith ducked his head behind the dirt entrenchment as a heavy 6 inch round fired from German artillery less than a mile away flew with steady speed near his position. Machine gun rounds were wising past his head. Toha had little to do but duck his head or risk losing it. The Germans were putting up strong resistance. He held onto his rifle tightly. There was not much he could do.

The private that warned Toha grabbed his M1917 Browning machine gun and started to return fire. A small squad of German soldiers charged at him, Toha, and the other men. It was in the middle of the day.

The artillery round smashed into the dirt and exploded not more than 30 feet away. The mud flung from the ground and flew into the trench that Toha was hiding in. Adrenaline flowed from his body. A small piece of debris smacked against Toha's helmet as it landed in the ground.

It was the War to End All Wars or as it became called the Great War. The day was September 12^th, 1918, when the American Expeditionary Force led the assault in Saint Mihiel, a commune in Northeast France. This three day conflict would mark the first time the United States Army launched an offensive attack on the Germans. The French and United States forces were allied together.

Toha finally mustered the courage as he looked up above the dirt with his Springfield rifle. He had five rounds to fire into the enemy as he stood up above the trench to look ahead of him. He could see the German soldiers getting close to hitting him.

A heavy artillery round fired from a French Artillery piece struck the exact center of the German squad. Five men lay dead between the Allied and Central trenches. Toha's head was fully poking out as he looked ahead of him. He could see more of the Germans closing in.

Toha took aim with his rifle directing it at the rushing German soldier. In about less than a minute, he would be on top of him. He found his mark and pulled the trigger. A powerful round struck the enemy soldier in the heart as he fell to the ground.

"Good shot!" yelled the machine gunner. He continued to fire heavy weapons fire downrange. "Seems some of the Indian blood flows in you still."

Toha pulled the bolt handle up and back, ejecting the spent casing onto the dirt and resetting the bolt back, loading another round into the rifle. He aimed at the next soldier and pulled the trigger. The shot missed as an enemy round struck the dirt a mere foot away from his head. He was forced to duck his head behind cover as he loaded the next round into his rifle.

Toha Smith was a volunteer from the Native American Pima Tribe. This small group of Native American Indians was forced off their land and forced to live in desert-like conditions in Arizona. A large group of the Choctaw Indians had volunteered and used their language as code talkers during the war. Their own language used by their tribe served as the perfect coded words to pass along to friendly soldiers. As long as the Germans never captured one of the Choctaw, there was little to no way the enemy could break their language. Other Native Americans, such as Toha, served as scouts advancing ahead of the group or fighting in the sidelines. It was the most dangerous thing for the Native Americans ever to do. Most were alone, having to fight against an enemy that outnumbered them or gunned them down before they ever made progress. Native Americans like Toha usually had little problem doing such missions as they proved as a way to prove themselves to the tribes at home.

The machine gunner continued to fire at the advancing soldiers. Three of the Germans were shot down. An Allied SPAD S.XIII fighter aircraft flew overhead of him and past the German trenches going after an enemy Albatros D.V. The crude construction of the plane had proven to be pivotal during the warfront as they could easily fight and destroy enemy aircraft that threatened to bomb allied Trenches. Toha had little time to worry about the fight in the air.

Toha looked around him in the trenches. Four other Native American soldiers with him were firing away at the enemy soldiers. He took another deep breath as he stood back up and stuck his head above the trenches looking for the next target to shoot. There were none to shoot. All the German soldiers were dead as the heavy machine gunner stopped shooting. He took the time in the calm of the storm to have his assistant reset a new belt into the machine gun. The gun was extremely hot from the constant firing.

"Where is the tank battalion?" yelled one of the soldiers. They were supposed to be here five minutes ago.

Before Toha could add his two cents into the conversation, a heavy artillery round fired from one of their position behind them flew into the vast distance.

The squad leader that was looking through his binoculars was looking at the location of the allied artillery. A smile was on his face.

"Looks like our artillery is laying waste to them," said the squad leader.

Toha was taking a look at the battlefield. The ground between them looked like a wasteland of death. Dead bodies or ones near their death, lined the countryside. The grass was reduced to dirt and mud. Crater marks from artillery and bombs littered the area. Trees shattered and shaken from the continuous fire from artillery marked the landscape. Toha was used to these images, but those that have never seen it before would think the land was turned upside down. He felt remorse seeing the pretty countryside get destroyed. It reminded him of home when water was diverted from the reservation to fuel the ever-growing population of the White Men around the Pima.

He looked at the other soldiers as they relaxed from the shooting. All the soldiers were dressed in the same similar U.S. uniform. The uniform-like Toha was wearing was the brown wool dress coat, wool service breeches, trousers, leather boots, belt, long sleeve shirt, and helmet. The allied artillery was still firing their shots towards the enemy entrenchments. The enemy artillery was firing less and less as allied artillery was laying waste to them. He looked at the soldiers as they closed their eyes and began to hum music of songs from their land and culture.

"They hum beautifully," he thought to himself. "The humming and singing during the shooting would keep us from going mad."

Native Americans were brave when the war started. Over 10,000 Native Americans volunteered to join the war to help the United States. They were not citizens and could just as easily decide not to be involved in the war at all. Some of the tribes even went as far as declaring war on Germany. This was to show them that they were just a part of the war as every other nation out there desired.

The shelling died down dramatically. Allied artillery was still firing off and on, but it was apparent that the enemy formation was being pushed back or wiped out. Toha was breathing a sigh of relief.

Toha went and removed the magazine of his rifle to insert new rounds from his belt. He reinserted the magazine back into the gun. He sat the butt of the rifle into the dirt floor below him. He then closed his eyes as he hummed along with the fellow soldiers around him. He slipped his hand into his shirt and felt the necklace he wore underneath and pulled it out to look at it.

The necklace he wore depicted a small plate that showed a circular pathway that would slowly and eventually lead to the center. A silhouette of the man representing the Elder Brother or guide would begin at the edge of the maze to work his way to the center.

"The I'itoi is the cornerstone to our people," he said quietly to himself as he gripped the necklace tightly. "Ancestors, Akmiel O'odham people, my parents, watch over us in our darkest days."

"New orders," a new voice rang out. "We need to scout the location ahead of us as the Tanks are closing in to give us support. Toha, it is your time to scout ahead."

Toha was unnerved. He stuffed the necklace under his shirt again. He breathed hard, knowing he was going into a dangerous area.

The radioman looked at Toha as he added, "You will head East, North East of us. If you encounter resistance, you will take this signal gun and fire it in the air. It will let us know where the enemy is located.

He nodded his head as he took the single-shot signal gun. He lifted his rifle as he took deep breaths.

"We wish you luck brave warrior," said one of the soldiers.

Toha took a look. He almost stopped noticing that the artillery was still firing. One Krupp 3 Inch artillery piece from the German entrenchment was constantly firing at another allied position, but it was again firing in the extreme distance. Allied artillery was getting close to hitting it.

One of the soldiers looked over the trenches and could see that the last artillery piece in the area was taken down. A shell landed directly on top of it, showering wood, metal, and blood from the gunner.

"That is the last one; most of the opposition in the area is out. Go Toha, Go!"

Toha jogged to the ladder and began to climb up the top of the dirt. With one last leap, he planted his foot at the edge of the trench he was hiding behind. He was in a clear, sniping range. The heavy machine gunner had his hand on the handle, ready to fire on anything that would try to fire at him.

It was dead quiet except the distant sounds of artillery bombardment. The artillery behind him stopped firing to allow Toha clear access to the area without being accidentally shot.

"Toha, take this! It had five rounds loaded. Use it well!" yelled one of the men below him.

He looked down and saw what was thrown at him from the trench below. It was a Winchester Model 1912 shotgun made into a Trench Gun configuration due to the smaller barrel that also had a bayonet attached to it.

"Thank you!" he yelled as he turned around and looked at the distance leading North East. He could see nothing but smoke rising from the trenches. Shattered debris from the destroyed artillery littered the area.

Toha ran. He was in a broad open field now. "The enemy did not have enough time to even put up barbed wire," he noted. "That will probably mean that there might not even be mines."

He ran past a broken tree reduced to a chipped wooden pole. The mud and grass caked on his boots. Overhead the daylight shined brightly. Each footstep took him closer to the enemy trench. He was planning on jumping in and lay waste to any opposition that the trench gun was designed to take out.

He was halfway down to reaching the other trench. He noticed a German soldier popped his gun from it and aimed down as Toha. While the German soldier made his aim towards the incoming soldier, he saw that he was also being aimed at. One of the Native American soldiers had fired at him but missed. The German ducked his head back down.

"He will be the first to shoot when I jump into the trench," he thought to himself with his adrenaline pumping.

He was three-quarters of the way there. He had to leap over two bodies that were shot down. He swore he heard one of them speak up as he jumped over. He would let the others deal with them when they came across.

With one leap, he jumped into the most Northern part of the trench. The perfectly ninety-degree designed channels highlighted German engineering at the time as the trench was designed to help limit explosions in it if an artillery shell struck.

As soon as he jumped in, he scanned" the area and saw none alive so far. He saw nothing but bodies. His shotgun was trained at the bodies.

"Hilf Mir bitte" said a downed German soldier. Toha understood a little bit of German that he knew that the words meant, "Help me please." The soldier lay on his stomach with shrapnel that struck the lower portion of his body.

Using his foot, he shifted the body right side up and aimed down at the soldier. He was conscious enough to look back at Toha.

"Vielen Dank," he said as his eyes remained open and went still. He stopped breathing. Toha had little he could do.

"The trenches were nothing but a grave for the soldiers," he quietly said to himself. "The artillery was instrumental. We all but had to wait for the guns to wipe out the enemy."

Artillery amounted to 58% of the casualties in World War 1. 41% of the victims were afflicted from small arms. For Toha, the man he gunned down earlier was the second man he ever shot down.

He continued to scan but saw only a 90 degree turn to the left ahead of him. There was nothing else but bodies, mud, and dirt. He looked for a ladder or area that he could poke his head from. He saw it; it was a ladder near the turn.

As he stepped over the body, a German soldier ran around the lip of the turn, and he aimed his shotgun at him. He pointed his rifle at him.

"Ich gebe auf...I give up," the German said. He lowered his rifle, and Toha nodded to him. He began to lower his shotgun but ready to pull it back up if the man was lying. The German dropped his rifle to the dirt.

"I...hope this...war ends...soon," the German spoke to him.

*******

Using his mirror as a communication device, Toha signaled the others that he secured the northern area of the trenches. The rest of the squad went and stormed the midsection of the channels and encountered little to no resistance. It was a small victory for the team. One of the Native Americans shook Toha's hand for his bravery. He was relieved that there was no more killing for the day.

Toha would spend the rest of the day helping move the dead bodies out of the trenches. The squad would rest in the very trenches they tried to wipe out earlier. The German soldier was bound so that when reinforcements arrived, he would be taken as a Prisoner of War. P.O.Ws were well treated by the United States. While it was true that propaganda promoted the idea that to surrender would mean harsh treatment, some German's didn't buy it at all, and when faced with surrender, they simply went ahead and did it. Some nations mistreated their own soldiers so badly like Italy in the mid-days of the War that Italians would throw down their weapons at the enemy and thank them for taking them into custody. The Italians would ultimately have to revaluate their system in how they treated their soldiers.

The Germans were slowly starving out, and even by this time, it was better to go ahead and give up with the coming storm. While it was true that the United States did not contribute too much to the war at the time as the army was small and inexperienced, their factories and navy were virtually untouched and served as a valuable resource in the war effort. The Ottoman Empire was already ready to fracture apart. The Austro Hungarians were barely holding up against Italy, and the other nations were pelting it to death. This left the Germans having to take on France, Britain, the United States, and other countries that piled on it in a combined struggle. By this time in the war, the German navy outright refused to go and fight in the war as it merely meant suicide going against the more powerful British navy. The British were blockading the ports, and the Kaiser was considering surrender.

For Toha, he only knew so much during this time. He only had to look at each day that was passing. He learned that the soldier he shot earlier that was running towards him survived and was taken to a hospital to be treated. This was some good news as the prior one that he shot earlier at the beginning of his military career did not survive.

He lay in his rack as he looked at a fellow Native American soldier. His name was John Shikoba. Shikoba slept in his rack as well. The poorly lit room led to the outside into the trench as night time crept in.

"So let me ask you, Toha. I am trying to get a chance to meet everyone here since I just got assigned to the squad. What does your name mean?"

Toha shifted his body to look at Shikoba across the room. There was another soldier in the racks not far from them, but he simply just listened. Only a simple lantern lit the room.

"My name is Toha Smith. It simply means 'white' in our language. I belonged to a family where my father was a White Man, and my mother was an original native."

"Were you happy with your family? Were you happy that your father was a White Man?"

Toha nodded, "My father treated me well. He was trying to teach me various things in religions in hoping that I would embrace Christianity. He respected my space in trying to embrace both my Native American side and his side. Both of my parents died a couple of years ago. I cannot say their names anymore as it would dishonor them."

"I am sorry. My name is Shikoba, or 'Feather' in the Choctaw language. I had an adopted name John to go along with my name."

Toha went and saw a rat walk by in the room. It began to walk out of the room into the night outside.

"What do you plan on doing after the war?" Shikoba asked.

"I want to have a family and become a father."

"Do you have someone waiting for you back at home?"

Toha shook his head "No, I don't. I wish I did."

"I am sure somebody will show up."

"Are you one of the code talkers?"

Shikoba nodded, "Yes. The Choctaw are valued right now for their language in this war. Ironic, isn't it? Our own language is a weapon against the enemy."

Toha never really thought of it as he asked, "How were you able to adapt to some of the new words we have been exposed to such as aircraft or tanks were example?"

"We had to make up the words as we went along. Sometimes we would use the word 'turtle' in our language to refer to 'Tank' but add other things to it to make sense just to give an example. Let me ask you though, why do you fight?"

"Since I was born outside of the reservation, I was born a citizen in the United States. I realized though that not everyone was born a citizen. My mother was not treated as a citizen. When this war broke out, I joined up to ensure that we all become citizens. I admit that I was also curious when the war broke out to join up and volunteer. Beats being in the reservation anyway."

Shikoba nodded, "I joined to prove that I am a warrior. I have yet to kill one in combat."