Chapter 46 Lyssa
Lyssa
The longboat’s not like the Alastor—the response is sluggish and unfamiliar—but I push my will into it as best I can, and try to stay steady in the face of the scene below.
My stomach is in knots, though. Up close, the Hydra is even more massive than it looked before. The heads weave and snap at each other, a forest of necks all moving independently.
“There!” Len points. “That one, see? The horns are longer!”
I guide the boat higher, trying to get a better angle. Beside me, Alexios has gone very still.
“You all right?” I ask.
“Perfectly fine,” he says. “And I appreciate your concern.”
Despite everything, I almost smile. He’s lying. He’s as terrified as Len and I are.
A flash of movement catches my eye, and another longboat, this one narrower, with sails like those on a Typhoon, soars past us. Theseus is at the helm, Psyche beside him with her bow drawn.
“Shit,” I breathe. “They must have gone back for their own longboat.”
“The half giant saw us by the boulders just now too,” Alexios says. “They won’t be far behind us.”
I push more will into the boat, and we surge forward. “This is going to get messy,” I mutter.
“Captain!” Len’s voice is shrill. “Look out!”
A serpent head swings toward us, jaws gaping. I wrench the boat to the side and we spiral away, Alexios cursing beside me as he nearly slides off the bench. The head turns its attention to Theseus’s boat and Psyche fires an arrow that bounces harmlessly off its scales.
“Which head, Len?” I yell over the wind and the monster’s screeching.
“The one at the back! It’s barely moving!”
I nod and angle the boat toward the back of the writhing mass. The head Len indicated is indeed more still than the others, its movements more deliberate and calculated compared to the feral snapping of the others.
“That’s our target,” I say. “Get ready. This is going to be—”
A roar below interrupts me. A longboat shoots upward, and I watch in shock as the half giant Eryx steers it dangerously close to two snapping heads, and Theseus’s boat powers in the same direction.
Just as I think they’re going to collide, a third Hydra head appears from below, faster than I’m able to register, and closes its jaws directly around Theseus’s boat.
“No!” Hedone’s scream echoes across the swamp as the wooden vessel snaps clear in two, and both Theseus and Psyche are flung through the air.
I don’t think. I just react.
“Hold on!” I shout, and aim the boat downward.
“What are you doing?” Alexios yells.
“Saving them!”
We plummet through the writhing necks, teeth flashing on either side. Len begins to yell unintelligibly, but I ignore him, my eyes focused on the falling figures framed against the burning swamp below.
The flames grow hotter as we race downward, but I hold my nerve, willing the little boat to move faster. Just a few feet from the flames, I pass their falling bodies and spin the boat sharply.
There’s a thud as they land hard against the wood in the bottom of the boat, and Len squeals as he’s bounced off his bench and onto the hull with them.
“Hold on,” I yell as a Hydra head swoops after us and I speed in the opposite direction with a lurch.
“Thank you,” Theseus gasps behind me.
A sickening crunch accompanies another lurch. I spin around and come face to face with yellowing teeth as tall as I am. A huge jaw has bitten through the back of the boat. Theseus and Psyche scramble toward Alexios, Len, and me, away from the teeth.
I refocus my concentration and the boat rockets forward. I watch as the head rears back, eyes flashing, and then darts toward us again. We’re only just out of reach when its jaws clamp shut, closing on thin air.
A jeering smile takes over my face.
“Ha!” I yell before I can stop myself. Rage-fueled confidence powers through me.
“Captain! Captain, that’s the head!” I realize Len is shouting at me. “The one that just tried to eat us, that’s the head!”
I slow the broken boat and will it toward the ground, well out of reach of the Hydra.
“Everyone, out!” I yell, and turn to the disheveled Theseus and Psyche. They’re both still on the bottom of the boat, gripping the wooden bench that’s left and looking dazed. “Out!” I yell again.
The boat hasn’t stopped, but it’s slowed, and we’re not far off the ground. Len salutes, grabs the side of the boat, and vaults over the edge. Theseus gets to his feet quickly, pulling Psyche up with him.
“Consider me in your debt, Captain Lyssa,” he says, and follows Len out of the boat. Psyche nods at me as she goes after him.
As soon as they’re clear, I steer the boat back around to face the Hydra head. It snaps at me as I hover just out of reach, its fat tentacles writhing a few feet above the fiery swamp, the flickering light reflecting off its dark metal scales.
“Gods, I hope that satyr is right,” I mutter, and fly the longboat straight at the monster.
“Lyssa, my love,” Alexios says, a hint of alarm in his voice, “what’s the plan?”
“Get close enough to jump onto its neck.”
“That sounds rather a lot more like suicide than a plan.”
“It will be if you can’t keep up.” I veer sharply upward as a black tongue darts out toward us. I try not to hold my breath as the boat shoots over the top of the horned head, missing the slimy tongue by inches.
I am not the girl who runs anymore.
Rage pours through me and my muscles ache with tension.
I grip the wood hard and concentrate, almost completely reversing direction and dropping sharply. The boat plummets and my red hair flies up around my face. I count to three and halt the boat in its tracks.
The Hydra has tried to spin around to get me, but my maneuver was too tight. I’m right behind it and it can’t see me.
“When I get close, jump for the neck!” I shout to Alexios.
“Zeus’s balls, you’re actually going to get us killed.”
The head moves around slowly, the tentacles probing the air, looking for us. I creep along behind it, anticipation building almost unbearably. I’m only a few feet behind the huge horns framing its long head.
I climb onto the bench, Alexios moving with me.
“Three… Two…”
There’s a roar above us, and the Hydra’s head snaps back suddenly as it looks toward the sky. I barely have time to register the largest horn as it impales the side of the longboat.
There’s a sickly hiss, and the Hydra spins its head. The boat is thrown from side to side, the shining horn stuck through the splintered wood.
I throw my arms around the bench as I slip, scrabbling to keep hold. Alexios crashes into me, wrapping his arms around me as we both cling to the bench.
“Don’t let go!” he shouts in my ear.
My mind whirls as we’re thrashed about. If I let go for a second I’ll be thrown to the fiery swamp below, and no amount of inhuman strength will save me from that.
There’s a roar, then a loud clang and the beast stops moving. The boat creaks and swings sharply, now dangling vertically from the horn.
I scrabble up the bench seat as fast as I can and launch myself up toward the horn. As I grab at it with one hand, another, much bigger than my own, appears around it.
Eryx, the half giant, hauls himself up into view. He has both legs wrapped around the creature’s neck and is pulling himself up to get to the snakelike head.
The beast begins to thrash again, and I reach to get my other hand onto the horn. I pull myself up using my arms, feeling the Rage pulsing through me. I try to wrap my legs around the Hydra’s neck, but I’m so much shorter than Eryx and can’t get any purchase on the gleaming metal.
“Lyssa!” Alexios is climbing up behind me, reaching for the horn.
Suddenly something grabs at my leg. I kick out hard, but I’ve reacted too late. In a heartbeat I’m torn away from the horn, my desperate hands sliding against smooth metal.
I yell in fury but can’t get a grip on anything, and then I’m swinging by my ankle, upside down over the flames.
I use my strong stomach muscles to curl up, trying to right myself. Eryx is looking down at me, hanging from the Hydra’s neck by his massive legs and holding my ankle in his large hand. His dark eyes are alive with excitement.
“Sorry, Captain Lyssa,” he calls.
“Don’t you dare—” I start, but he lets go.
I’m falling.
The flames rush up to meet me, and I have just enough time to close my eyes before something slams into me from the side.
I crash into wood, not flames, and hear Alexios groan. He’s tangled around me, and we’re moving. Longboat, I realize. We landed in a longboat.
“Fuck,” he gasps.
I roll off him, panting, my heart hammering. “You jumped after me.”
“Just in time.”
Theseus’s face appears above me, and he hauls both of us to our feet. “Debt paid?” he says to me.
I heave in breaths and nod. “Yup. I’d say so.”
“He’s going to win,” Theseus says, and his longboat slows as we move out of range of the snapping heads. We all look up.
I rest my hand on my thumping chest, watching as Eryx reaches the top of the Hydra’s neck. Better him than Hercules.