Chapter 16: Headstrong

The next morning, when they woke, Adriana found that Davos hadn’t followed his own advice. He staggered to the firepit where she waited, with bloodshot eyes and a clear desire for the pain to end.

“MORNING!” Adriana called out brightly to him once he was three feet away.

Davos recoiled with a pitiful whimper. “You’re a small, petty, cruel child,” he said.

Adriana held up a wineskin. Davos snatched it and took a drink. Not much, just enough to take the edge off before he switched to guzzling water. Eventually he pulled away, gasping for air as he asked, “Nevermind. You are as beautiful as you are kind. Anything to eat?”

“After last night? Plenty. Snopos saw how much you were drinking and prepared you some bacon, eggs, and this sauce he makes from tomatoes and peppers he swears will set you right.”

The dog-faced man took his cue and served up a heaping plate for Davos. “Eat up, Hero,” Snopos said, barking out laughter.

Breakfast passed by quickly. Now that they were almost ready to get into a good fight, excitement flooded Adriana. The entire morning had been spent with Snopos and Alicia, though the girl had to help Marano with something before they left. She didn’t seem to have any family of her own, which made her perfect as a guide. The logic made sense, but Adriana still didn’t care for it.

“I’ll be fine,” said Alicia, after both Adriana and Davos reiterated that she needed to stay behind them and be prepared to run. “I like to play in the swamp. You two got the monster, so I should be safe, right?”

Davos shook his head. “If there was anyone else willing, we’d take them. Seriously, stay behind us, we’ll move slowly, and if the monster shows up you run and leave us behind. Understand?”

“Yeah, okay,” said Alicia, though it was obvious she didn’t mean it.

“I guess that’s it then,” said Adriana. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m ready.” She patted the quiver of javelins on her back, as well as her sword at her belt. Really though, she intended on playing around with her new powers. The last few monsters had been dealt with well enough, but now she had a better grasp on things.

“Gimme a few,” said Davos as he drank just a little more wine. “We’ll be gone within the hour, I promise.”

Two hours later, they departed. The well-worn trail west didn’t take longer than half an hour to reach the treeline of the swamp. The change from rocky, rough land to soft mud and water happened gradually, step by step as they passed a bent-over cypress and the sun faded from view. Adriana’s hair and hands remained alight, but she could feel the connection with the sun diminished just a little.

The deeper they went, the colder, wetter, and darker it became. Soon they were calf-deep in cloudy brown water, and the buzzing and chirps of stinging bugs surrounded them. Adriana looked around wildly, trying to spot the monster but there were few open lines of sight to be found.

“You play in this shit?” she demanded of Alicia, who was thigh deep in the murk. “The monsters are bad enough, but the bugs…” Adriana slapped her neck.

Alicia shrugged. “What else is there to do? There’s snakes in here. I like snakes!”

That made one of them. Adriana stifled a shudder and was about to snark at her when Davos spoke up. “Are we getting close?”

“Almost.” Alicia looked around, suddenly serious. “We’re almost in its hunting grounds. There should be a cave coming up, and I think it sleeps in there.”

“That so?” Adriana eyed the nearest tall tree. “Hold on.”

She splashed over as fast as she could and jumped. She clung to the tree and pulled herself up by knot and branch until she was at the canopy. The highest branch swayed under her weight, but she kept a hand on the top of the tree as she stretched. Down in the southwest, the swamp was interrupted by a small hill. If there was going to be a cave, it would be there.

“This way,” she said when she slipped back down. “And stay behind us. If the water gets deeper, then it’ll be hard for you to run when trouble finds us.”

Alicia nodded and got behind them. Davos gave Adriana the nod of approval and took point. His fleetness wasn’t useless here, but it could be strained. He couldn’t quite Lighten himself to the point of running on water like some could, and Gusts wouldn’t be particularly helpful if the creature was big. He had good senses and a head on him. If he wanted to bait the monster to give Adriana a chance to get a good shot in, she’d trust him.

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The stink hit them before anything else. Sickeningly sweet rot, decay, and the natural funk of the swamp made her gag, but they were on the right track. The water lightened and the ground firmed as they reached the outside of the hill. There was a fifty foot clearing before the cave, littered with partially decomposed skeletons.

“We’re here,” Alicia announced nervously. She poked her head past Adriana and saw the remains of what had been friends and loved ones. “Gods protect us.”

“You got it,” said Adriana. She looked to Davos, who nodded. She went into the center of the clearing and gathered up Smoldersap in her hand. Once there was enough, she flung a flaming glob of it at the cave entrance. It landed and spread, burning on the ground. It was half her plan. The other half involved throwing her head back and screaming out a wordless challenge like a savage. Her throat stung, but damn was it satisfying.

“Great job,” Davos called from behind her. “Maybe try a mating call next.”

From the cave came a violent hiss. The creature emerged from the cave heads first. Three of them, just like promised, each like a massive sea serpent. It was a dark, mossy green, with black and yellow spots along its necks. Then its body emerged, like a great slug with four squat, powerful legs. The heads stretched up and sniffed around, until its slitted eyes caught sight of Adriana. Then it was out of the cave, and she saw how huge it was.

“Adriana?” Davos said again, suddenly serious. “I remember what this is. This is above our abilities, and we should leave. Now.”

“What is it?” Adriana asked as she drew her sword. The creature’s impossibly long necks quivered, like it was about to strike. “And why should I be worried?”

“That’s a hydra, and -- “

The creature struck, as fast as a snake. The middle head snapped forward, and Adriana barely had the time to jump back and smack it with her sword. The blade bounced off its scales without leaving more than a knick. It retracted just as fast, and then the other heads struck. She parried the next one, and ducked the next. She rolled backwards as it advanced slowly.

The next roll had her on her back and looking up. The heads hissed again in anticipation. But rather than strike, they gathered. The entire body swelled up as the hydra inhaled. A second later, it released a dark green cloud of the worst smelling gas Adriana had ever encountered.

Her eyes watered and the first few wracking coughs ripped their way from her body before she even registered she couldn’t breath. The hydra took another couple of plodding steps closer, but she couldn’t get away. She couldn’t move. Not while the noxious fumes rolled over her. She heard, as if from far away, the sound of Alicia and Davos coughing as well.

The hydra’s heads dipped back, and the middle one shuddered. She knew what was coming before it struck again, but Davos threw himself in the way and Gusted as hard as he could. The gas rolled back towards the hydra, and the head was blown off course and hit the ground at the last second. Davos hacked and coughed but still grabbed Adriana by the shoulders and dragged her back.

“I t-t-told you this was beyond us,” he managed to say between coughs.

Adriana gasped for air and managed to suck in one good breath. She got to her feet and threw Alicia behind her. The child had a tougher time than either of them, and was frozen. She gathered more Smoldersap in her hand and flung it at the center of the creature’s body. It was a small splash. She didn’t have time to cook it and make it burn more, but the sudden searing pain served as a good distraction. Two heads thrashed violently while the third, the one on Adriana’s right, dipped down to gnaw at its own body.

“Let’s get out of here,” Davos repeated.

“We can do this,” Adriana insisted. She ran forward and jumped. She brought the sword crashing down on the spot where the skull met the neck. The blade bit through flesh and only paused before her heightened strength carried it through bone as well. The head tumbled to the ground while the other two heads screeched in pain.

She fell back, laughing triumphantly, but Davos groaned. “You idiot, you just made it worse!”

“How? Look, it’s…Oh.” Adriana’s stomach dropped.

The serpentine neck writhed in the air. The stump bled foul smelling green blood, but it also appeared to be splitting down the center. The hydra’s body bulged and convulsed before a lump passed up through the neck, all the way to the stump. Two more heads emerged, growing fast.

“They’re special creatures created by the Maw,” Davos said with a sigh. “You cut off a head, two more grow in its place, and it gets hungrier and bigger in time.”

“What the hell is it doing here?” Adriana demanded as the creature recovered.

“How should I know? The Maw’s been active everywhere, I guess. We need to leave, now.” Davos turned and ran.

Adriana growled, but joined him. If he was that insistent, then he wouldn’t help her. There weren’t many things Davos outright feared, so she decided to take this one seriously. A few seconds later she realized it was just the two of them. “Davos, wait. Alicia!”

He stopped with a messy splash and turned around. Alicia had been where they left her, frozen in fear. The hydra came up, its four heads waving around hypnotically. The middle head poised to strike again.

“Alicia!” Adriana screamed.

The monstrous head came down and swallowed the little girl whole.