Eternal Abyss - Waterfire Saga - Book 5

Chapter 14 - Hydra

 The waters were deadly silent. Not a ripple to be made. Astrid waited, dagger in hand, beside two other dragons -- Girta and Aquilis -- to attack. There were a pack of other dragons ready to attack, as well, but Hydrac had chosen these two to make sure she didn't escape. They had described the Beast as a multi-headed monster that devoured everything in its path without mercy. Despite their multiple attempts to kill it, it never worked and came back just as strong as before.
BOOM. BOOM.

Astrid stiffened as she heard large footsteps approaching. This thing must be heavy enough to walk. Girta snarled, flicking her claws out. The outline of an enormous figure came into view, a silhouette moving against the murky water. She could indeed see its wormlike heads protruding from the massive, scaly body. It reminded her of a creature she'd heard of before, but she couldn't quite put her finger around it.

"Here it comes," Astrid hissed. "Get to your places." The two dragons reluctantly moved away from her, into their planned spots. She knew they still thought she was going to run away, but Astrid was true to her word. She would defeat this Beast.

Taking a deep breath, Astrid swam up boldly to the monster. Its heads lunged hungrily for her before she could speak. She swerved out of the way, ducking under its snapping jaws and out of reach.

"What do you want, little mer?" They said. Their whispers echoed throughout the dark waters.

"I - I am a lost hunter," she said. "I was chasing a Spotted Ondalinian Squid, but it was extremely fast. But I was so close, so I followed it for a very long distance before I caught it. I shouldn't have. Now, I am lost, and I want to go home. Please, Great Beast, show me the way back."

The heads looked at each other. Then, one spoke, "Do you happen to still have that Squid, little huntress?"

Astrid smiled to herself. This was going as planned. The Beast had a weakness for food, and one of it's favorites happened to be a fast-swimming squid -- the fastest one alive -- the Spotted Ondalinian Squid. As a child, Astrid had once dreamed to catch this, but she never could. It was an extremely rare delicacy, even for royalty. Thankfully, catching prey was this dragon tribe's specialty.

Astrid swam into the den, where the giant squid had been placed.

"Would you like to eat it in here?" Astrid asked. "It is rather hard to take out myself."

The Beast's heads laughed. "Oh, the poor little huntress, too weak to carry her own prey."

They were making fun of her, but still they came to the cave to eat. Soon, she could see their five heads peek in, sniffing the squid. Their eyes gleamed with hunger.

"Please, eat away," Astrid said. "Consider this my offering to the Greatest Beast in the waters."

The Beast looked amused. "Is that so?" One said with a chuckle.

"Really," another laughed. "Do you take us for a fool?"

Astrid's face paled. "What do you mean? It's just a regular squid."

One of the faces lowered it face to hers, it's burning yellow gaze meeting her own. Its disgusting breath filled her nostrils, and Astrid nearly choked.

"Oh, little huntress, you have made a terrible mistake. Do you really think we cannot smell the dragon scent on you? Or the poison coating on the squid's skin?" The Beast smiled a toothy grin when Astrid didn't respond. "Someone's going to --"

The Beast was cut off when Girta and Aquilis leaped out of their hiding spots to attack.

"Filthy monster!" roared Girta. Her claws raked across one of the Beast's heads, making him roar. Aquilis stealthily dodged several Beast bites, then lunged in and bit the Beast's side. The other dragons began to emerge, flinging themselves on top of the Beast in a frenzy. One of the heads attacked Astrid, but just in time, she unsheathed her gleaming arced sword and cleanly cut off the Beast's head. Astrid gasped, surprised, and stumbled back. She stared at the disgusting, bloody, stump, wondering why she was so squeamish. She'd killed hundreds of animals in Ondalina. And it was for sport. This was about life and death.

Turning away, Astrid glanced at the dragons, who were feverishly working to kill the Beast. Another head swung at her, laughing madly.

"The little huntress doesn't even know what she's up against," it screeched gleefully.

"I know I'm up against an ugly monster who helped my enemy take the throne!" Astrid cried, swinging her sword. The head dodged.

"So you're the Admiral's daughter, who killed her own father --"

"Shut up!" Roared Astrid. "Lies."

Just then another terrible screech sounded. Astrid looked over her shoulder to see that the head she'd just cut off was growing back. And that another long neck was sprouting out beside it, stretching into another head.

A hydra. No wonder Astrid had recognized the abomination. She'd only ever heard of it in stories, a terrifying monster who grew back two heads every time one was cut off. It was a creation of Morsa, designed to help the evil goddess take the throne from Neria. But after Morsa was defeated, Neria banished the creature to the depths of a trench, or something like that.

Astrid cursed, quickly whipping her head back to the head attacking her. But one second was all it needed. The head smacked her. Hard. Astrid grunted as she hit the ground. She saw that the dragons weren't faring much better. Several of them screeched as they were thrown back. Others fought with vigor and viciousness, but it wasn't enough. Just making scratches and scars wasn't going to be enough to defeat the Hydra. Astrid's gaze wandered over to the cave, where the poisoned squid lay. Astrid swam over to it. They had found one of the most poisonous corals in all of Ondalina -- the same one that killed her father. After gathering some of its juice, they slathered it on the squid. Astrid had also taken an extra vial of it for safekeeping.

Just a bit of poison should be enough to kill it. Astrid yanked off one of the squid's smaller tentacles and carried it outside.

"Hey ugly!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

Several of the Hydra's heads turned to look at her.

She took her moment and darted as close as she could to them. She jabbed her dagger into the nearest one's cheek, drawing blood.

The Hydra howled in agony, and Astrid shoved the squid tentacle down it's throat. The Hydra's eyes bulged as it choked, coughing, trying to spit it out.

"Take that," Sneered Astrid as she slowly watched the rest of the heads start to feel the poison's effect. The dragons kept their distance, watching as each of them, head by head, died and slumped to the seafloor.

The dragons let out cheers and whoops as they celebrated over the victory of their long time enemy. And Astrid smiled faintly, because now she had a shot at returning home.