The Hydra

The next day, we were greeted by the light of the sun stabbing in through the slit in the wall that passed for a window. We rose from our slumber and groggily dressed ourselves in our clothing for the day, a few grumbles sounding from the Sara and Cleo. It seemed that the stone beds that we were given were not as comfortable as they would have liked.

With our armour strapped on and weapons buckled to our waists we departed from the room that we were given and explored the fortress. It was a veritable maze. There seemed to be no order to the layout of the building or symmetry in its construction. All the doors appeared the same, some opened to stone walls, there were no signs or markers to track our passings. And yet, it seemed that all of the guards and servants of the fortress knew exactly where they were going. If an attacker reached this far into the city, then it would be yet another defence for them to assail, trying to seize a maze from an unwelcoming host.

At last, I had thought that I had figured out the way to the great hall that the Lord of the fort had hosted us in the previous evening. However, when I turned the corner to the hallway that I thought the door was on, we were greeted with a dead end. I heard the sound of laughter and turned around, getting annoyed that the others would be laughing at me when none of them knew where to go either. However, their faces were unchanged.

Who’s laughing if it’s not them I thought to myself as my eyes darted past them into the empty corridor. The others were looking around now too, and the laughing started up again. It didn’t sound sinister, more like a child playing a game.

I noticed something then and saw that one of the bricks in the walls had been moved. At a closer inspection, two eyes were looking out at me, and I started backwards in shock. “What…” I murmured as the brick slid back in place. My eyes darted back to the others, “Did you see that?” I asked and saw them all looking back at where the hole had been.

“Yeah” Sara said and jumped at the sound of scraping. Our eyes turned to where a tall portrait of one of the previous caretakers of the fortress had stood on the wall. It was swung open and a young girl in rough spun servants garb was looking at us with a grin on her face.

“Well, don’t these defences just keep getting more formidable” Korin said as he looked at the girl who was about his height.

“Are you lost?” she asked, with a smirk on her face. She seemed satisfied that she knew something that the visitors to the fortress didn’t.

Cleo gave her a warm smile, “Yes we are” she looked back and shot Korin a stern look as she crouched down to the girl’s height. “Can you show us the way to the great hall”

The girl swung her head up and down in enthusiastic nods. “The table room, I’ll show you the way” she said as she took Cleo’s hand and closed the painting behind her, sealing off the myriad of passages that was sewn into the walls. Aladra inspected the painting as we followed the girl, but it seemed that she couldn’t open it, no matter how much she pried her fingers under the frame.

As she led us through the halls of the fortress, taking what seemed to me to be random turns, she spoked of childish things. Telling us of her frustrations with her mother, her favourite foods from the kitchens, the games that she plays with the guards, and how annoying a girl called Ruth could be. She barely let us get a word in edgewise as she took us through the halls and stopped at a door that seemed the same as all the others.

“Here you go” she said confidently as she pushed open the simple door to the great hall. Some of the other adventurers were sat around the table in their gear, one was examining a new sword made of fine steel, and others still were stood around the hall in discussions. The Lord Commandant was examining the replica of the city on the table, making adjustments, and examining sheets of parchment as he pushed forward figures that seemed to mark the defences.

He looked up as we entered before turning his focus back to the table, “Thank you Myra, run along now”. The girl gave him a wide smile before turning around and running down the hallway with a spring in her step. Without looking up, Horst reached out his arm and beckoned us to come to him.

We obliged and waited at the edge of the table next to him as he reached into a box of scrolls and pulled out a map, laying it flat on the table. “This is a map of the catacombs” he said and jabbed a finger down onto it.

He picked up a quill and crossed out a few of the paths that sprawled outwards, “These don’t go anywhere, they were just used for tombs at one point” he crossed out a few more pathways, “and these are flooded or collapsed” he continued crossing out the paths until there were very few remaining. “These are the two that lead out of the city, I think this one was once an attempt to connect Karatir to Alynthir” he said as he shook his head. “It only reached to Mollway lake, about an hours ride from here, and this one connects to a mine south of here” he looked around each of us at the table.

We were listening with concentration as he laid out the details of the catacombs. “Do we know what the monsters in there are?” Aladra asked him

He furrowed his brow, “We’re not entirely sure, none of the men that survived were experts when it came to monsters” he said and tapped the pathway that led south. “From their descriptions, we think that this one has a Hydra in it, and this one has perhaps four or five minotaur” he told us nodding his head. “I can’t promise the information is accurate but it’s the best we’ve got” he looked around at those of us who had volunteered, “So who wants which?” he asked.

“We’ll take the hydra” Aladra said before we could discuss it. I supposed it was probably the best option, there were not enough of us in our party to battle the minotaurs, and in these circumstances one opponent was better than many, even if it was a powerful monster. Still, it frustrated me that she didn’t discuss it with us first. Horst nodded his head as one of the other parties volunteered for the minotaur infested path.

Zarin looked across at me from the table and smirked, “We’ll go for the hydra as well, I think they’ll need all the help they can get” he said in his frustratingly noble accent.

My gut wrenched as he volunteered, and I realised that we would have to fight together, even traverse the catacombs together. I would essentially be at his mercy. By the way she pursed her lips, it seemed that Aladra realised the mistake she had made in volunteering first as well.

With the monsters decided upon we rose from the table and made our way for the door. I felt a hand slam down on my shoulder and tighten in a strong grip, I turned around and saw Zarin with a satisfied smile on his face. “No hard feelings, my goodman” he said, mischief glinting in his eyes. “I won’t hold any of your deeds against you whilst we fight the hydra, the important thing is that we help these people. Right?”

I looked at his face as he spoke, the way his lips twitched into a smile, the look in his eyes, the timbre of his voice, it all seemed so obvious to me that he was lying. I had to admit though, the words themselves sounded convincing, after all they were coming from nobility. Anyone listening would have no trouble believing them. “Right” I replied at last and turned to walk off.

His grip remained on my shoulder, stopping me from moving. I turned back around, and he gave me a wide smile, releasing me and patting my shoulder. “Go join your little friends now. And don’t worry, I’ll take care of Elsie” he said, sending a spout of fury through me.

I turned my back on him and went to the others who were waiting just outside the doorway. “What was that about?” Sara asked with concerned eyes.

I shook my head, “Let’s get to the catacombs and get this over with”

The guards escorted us through the city to the entrance of the catacombs. The citizens gave us curious glances as we walked in our armour with weapons at our sides, though they carried on with their business, ferrying baskets to markets and labourers carrying their tools to worksites.

The entrance to the catacombs was in an old, dusty temple. A relic of the city’s past, once devoted to the goddesses and now only to the rats and spiders that infested it. We were led down into the building’s basement where an open archway delving even deeper was carved with two hooded figures reaching out for one another.

“Right, here you go” the guard commander said as we stopped at the darkened archway. “The scouts that went through marked the path with crystals, the green ones take you to the hydra and the orange to the minotaur” he said, resting against the wall with his compatriots. “Try not to die”

They were hardly rousing words of encouragement, but we went down into the catacombs, nonetheless.

It was infuriating. Walking down the dark, cramped passageways with Zarin and his company. He insisted on making conversation with the group, making half baked attempts to flirt with Sara and Cleo, even with Aladra. We all made a point of ignoring him, bar Aladra who traced her fingers over her knives as she spoke in the most pleasant tone I had heard from her. Zarin didn’t bother her again after that.

It wouldn’t have been too bad if that was all I had to endure, but he also made a point of showing off Elsie in front of me. His group walked ahead of us and when we reached a collapsed statue that we had to clamber over, he slapped his hand against her rear. She didn’t say anything as she got over the crumbling stone, simply looked down at the ground and waited for the rest of her party, clutching at the bear tattooed onto her wrist. I gritted my teeth, images of Zarin being eaten by a hydra dancing through my mind.

We walked for nearly an hour; our path lit only by the green lights of the sporadic crystals that littered the ground. The slabs beneath our feet were slippery with moss and decades, if not centuries, of waste from the rats and other vermin that scurried through the darkness.

The hydra was heralded by the sound of roaring and primordial jaws sinking into flesh, its many heads fighting each other over a meal. We all stopped before we turned the corner into the cavernous chamber that it sat in.

“Has anyone fought a Hydra before?” Cleo asked, directing her question to Aladra.

She shook her head, as did the more experienced members of Zarin’s party. “No, I had a friend that fought one once though. She didn’t say anything that would help, just avoid getting eaten” Aladra answered in a quieter voice, gesturing for Cleo to lower her voice as well.

“Shouldn’t be too hard” Zarin said smugly, “I’ve got a lion spirit after all. I’m thinking we just cut off the heads, if they grow back…” he shrugged, “we cut them off again”

I tried to ignore his attitude again as he unsheathed his sword, the hilt encrusted with jewels, and flourished it in the air. “I think there might be a better plan than that” I said slowly, glaring at him.

He smirked and stretched his arms out, “If you want to be a coward, we can take care of it ourselves” he said, nodding to his party. They all unsheathed their weapons and followed him around the corner towards the hydra.

“Fool” Aladra muttered, shaking her head as she pulled out a set of daggers from the sheathes across her chest. “Let’s go before they get themselves killed”

I unsheathed my sword, thinking of my mother as I looked at the ebony hilt that she had carved. I nodded my head as the others did likewise and we ran around the corner towards the hydra.

The room that it was in was large, jagged rocks on the ceiling, broken where the hydra’s many heads must have smashed against it in the past. Scattered around the room were corpses, some of Karatir troops, half eaten with their insides now turned into outsides. Crystals lay where they must have dropped them, many spilling out of a large sack next to one of the corpses.

Across the room, near an opening that led to the rest of the catacombs were other corpses, inhuman corpses. Their tall bodies were heavily muscled, large orange eyes bulged from sockets in their heads, their backs were hunched and their mouths were filled with rows of gnarled teeth. “Are they…” I started to say before Aladra cut me off.

“Yep, Fomorians. Makes sense that they’d live somewhere like this, bad luck for them that they ran into a hydra” she said as she turned her gaze onto the battle that was beginning.

Two of Zarin’s party were healers and they were at the back of the room, with hands outstretched as they used their abilities. “Go join them, we’ll need all the help we can get” Aladra said, glancing back at Sara and Cleo. They nodded in agreement and went over to them.

“Go for the heads?” I asked Aladra as Korin came between us, hefting his axe.

She nodded her head, “Seems like a good place to start” she said and quickly disappeared as she ran forwards. We joined her in the run towards the monster, it’s jaws snapping at the others that were attacking it.

One of the men in heavy plate armour from Zarin’s party tried to bring a great-sword down on the neck of one of the heads. Before he could land the strike, however, another head slammed into him, knocking him backwards onto the ground and sending his blade clattering.

I readied a lightning bolt in my hand. It had become very powerful since I had first discovered it, all of my training and the ability I used in my sleep had paid off. I aimed it at one of the heads and shot the bolt into it.

It slammed into the neck, flinging the head backwards and slamming into the rock wall. The other heads let out roars of anguish and I thought I had killed that head. To my disappointment, the head moved again and looked at me, though a thick blue blood ran down it and it didn’t seem to be as quick as the others.

Being a dwarf, there were many things that Korin could do that humans couldn’t. he could sneak into small spaces, drink nearly anyone under the table, and take a punch and get straight back up. But, reaching the heads of a hydra that stretched upwards into the air, that was beyond even his undoubtedly impressive repertoire of abilities. Instead, whilst the monster was distracted by the numerous taller opponents that were coming for it, Korin moved around the back and sank his axe into one of the rear legs.

Another roar erupted from the hydra’s heads and one of them snaked around to try and snap at the dwarf. Fortunately he was too far back for it to reach him, and the only way it could manage to do so would be if it turned its back on the other blades that were coming for it. Because of this, it stomped its feet whilst the mouths continued to snap at the rest of us.

One of Zarin’s party, Nerrin I thought his name was, stepped backwards away from the fray and lowered his hood. I hadn’t seen him without his hood before and on his shaved pate were dozens of arcane symbols tattooed onto the flesh. I had heard about things like them from other adventurers at the temple of Soras, they were meant to enhance the magical abilities, making them more powerful and consuming less mana from the user.

Nerrin stretched his hands forth and focused as the ghostly form of a large knight manifested before him. The conjuring was about ten feet tall with its sword being at least the same length. The room shook as it stepped forwards and raised the phantom blade, bringing it down and slicing off one of the heads from the hydra before dispersing into mist itself.

The neck flailed around, blue blood spurting around the room. Ear splitting shrieks came from the other heads as they attacked with a renewed vigour. I stared at the open wound as the flesh began to regrow, slowly at first, and then it quickened. Emerging with a fresh head that attacked with the same ferocity as the others.

“How do we kill it?” I called out to anyone that was listening as I rolled away from the sharp teeth that flashed towards me.

Aladra’s hands dug into the flesh on the neck of the hydra, clawing it out like dirt under a trowel. She wore an expression of manic glee as she hurled away handfuls of flesh, her body drenched in the cerulean ichor. She continued savagely digging into the flesh with her bare hands until the monsters head went limp and sagged to the ground, most of its neck laying in a mound on the ground.

Before it could regrow like the other had, Aladra pulled out her daggers and jammed them into the wound. She thrusted them in so deep that only a sliver of the hilt could be seen. Nothing happened. The head didn’t regrow.

“Like that” she said a wide grin splitting her face as she jumped down onto the ground.

I nodded my head, as the others saw what she had done and began to try and mimic it, slamming blades and staffs into the wounds. The heads didn’t regrow, and we battled with the others as their rage grew tenfold for each head lost.

A mouth was coming for me again, I glanced to my side and saw another head coming from that direction. I couldn’t dodge. I couched down and used one of my abilities, growing a shield of stone around my body. I felt a pressure as the mouth tried to bite into me, almost as though I was being crushed under the rocks that coated my flesh. Instead of being squeezed to a pulp, I heard a snapping sound and the pressure subsided.

I glanced upwards, allowing the stones to fall away from me and saw the heads swirling through the air again. I looked down at the ground and saw a long white rock, it took me a moment before I realised that it was one of the hydra’s teeth.

I moved backwards and caught a glimpse of Zarin slashing his sword through the air. Sharp gusts of wind flew from his sword towards the hydra, slamming into it with the same **** and sharpness as though his steel had been colliding with the flesh and not the air. It wasn’t long before he managed to cut off the head by himself.

A volley of arrows flew over my shoulder and blasted into the wound that Zarin had created. I looked backwards and saw one of the healers, shouldering her bow before turning her focus to one of the party who had hit his head hard against the wall.

I dashed forwards to bring my sword down on one of the remaining heads, it slipped through the flesh and came out blue. The jaw snapped at me, forcing me to move backwards again, almost tripping over one of the decapitations.

There were only two heads remaining now and I moved forward once more, raising my sword for a heavy strike. One of the heads was starting to snake around but Zarin was there, he would be able to cut it off. I brought down my sword on the other target, but before it could meet the hydra’s neck I was flung backwards, and a splitting pain soared in my arm.

I screamed in pain; my body being jerked around and my sword clattering to the ground. I turned my head to look at what was happening, and my eyes widened at the sight.

The jaws of the hydra were clamped around my arm, its mouth inches away from my shoulder. Its jaw shifted and I roared in agony, the sharp teeth crushing my bone and churning through my flesh.

With great **** the head jerked away, separating my arm from the rest of my body. I stared at the gape in my body, blood pouring rapidly out onto the stone. There was so much blood. I opened my mouth to say something, my lips quavering at the sight of my tarnished body. I heard a scream.

I looked upwards, seeing the mouth opening as it came back down towards me. Tears welled in my eyes, Was this how it was going to end? By a monster in a dark cave?

The head flew away from the rest of the monster as Zarin stood there, sword in hand, he finished off the last two heads. Darkness was beginning to cloud the edges of my vision and I heard footsteps running towards me.

I was consumed by the blackness.