Chapter 7 Aethra #2
Seth leaped onto the head as it rocketed toward the ceiling. Whirling a bloody blade, he drove it into the creature’s skull.
The dragon’s head snapped back, trying to shake us off. I lost my grip and tumbled down its neck into the crook of its body, landing in a layer of water shallowed in the gaps between its heads. Seth dropped down beside me and summoned a new blade from the cut on his palm.
The dragon’s remaining six heads turned to look down at us.
Something strange nestled in my thoughts. It felt . . . foreign. Like the words flowing through my mind did not belong to me.
Seth had always protected me. Would always protect me. Everything would be okay, as long as I stayed with him.
The words were a promise. From him, to me.
Hope bristled in my heart, that we might make it out of this alive.
“Seth!” I shouted. “Get down!”
“What?” He called back.
Throwing myself again at him, I knocked us both over.
Silence enveloped the cavern. I could no longer feel Seth’s damp clothes, nor the faint body heat beneath them. His breathing silenced, and everything simply stopped.
A blast of air followed the hushed stillness as the Empty’s power erupted from me. A disc of pure nothing shot outward in every direction, cleaving through all of the hydra’s heads and pounding into the cavern wall, digging gouges several paces deep.
Blood gushed from the heads where their severed necks had simply disintegrated. Then they fell into the lake with an enormous splash.
The hydra’s body slumped. Water washed over us, throwing us back into the lake. Seth grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me to his chest as we plummeted into the depths. A massive head sank past us into darkness.
Pain rattled through my bones—the same sensation that had overcome me after cleaving a path through the Empty. It felt like my very soul was being siphoned from my body. The world flipped on end, and I dug my fingers into Seth’s tunic, dazed.
I didn’t know how much time passed. Eventually, the pain dissipated, and the blurry world returned to clarity. A familiar voice called to me.
“Lady Aethra!” Eleos shouted.
Twisting my neck, I saw a small boat drifting toward us, bearing a man in a pale blue cloak. Eleos.
Seth had dragged my limp body to the surface. He handed me to Eleos, who gently pulled me aboard.
I stumbled onto the deck and coughed up cold, bloody water. Falling to my knees, I observed the destroyed corpse of the hydra, where eight stumps hung limp on its unmoving body.
Seth boarded behind me. He glanced at me, then the corpse, and broke out into a laugh.
“Maiden’s grace!” He grabbed his arm. “Did you just kill a fucking hydra?”
Seth sounded downright giddy. Giddy.
“Seas,” Eleos cursed. “I thought you were about to obliterate me.”
“Oh gods.” I staggered to my feet. “If I’d known you were here, I wouldn’t have—”
The sound of movement cut me off. Whirling around, I watched as the hydra’s body stirred. The stumps rose from the water, new flesh forming on their ends as the heads started to regrow.
If hydras were real, why should I have doubted the tales of their regrowing heads?
Cut their heads off, and more regrow. Had I doomed us?
Grabbing the oar, Eleos plunged it into the lake and pushed the boat forward.
“Eleos,” Seth called. “We’re going to need your plan after all.”
Eleos shoved the oar into my hands. “Row,” he ordered, pulling a dagger from his belt.
Obeying, I thrust the oar back into the water, rowing as quickly as my flimsy arms allowed. Pain throbbed through my arm, and I strained to ignore it.
Eleos ripped the dagger across his arm, severing an artery. A waterfall of blood gushed down his wrist, rushing in an upside-down arc as it streamed toward the floor before rising toward Seth’s outstretched hand.
The first head reformed as pink flesh before scales emerged to cover the blood and bone. A second followed, jaws snapping as its blue eyes swung in our direction. The remaining heads followed suit until the creature was whole again.
I ducked as the spell Seth was channeling took shape above our heads: an enormous crimson arrow like that of a ballista, or a harpoon.
With a wave of his hand, Seth sent it flying into the hydra.
The artillery tore through the furthest neck before slamming it into the wall, pinning one of its heads in place.
Pressing a hand to his bleeding arm, Eleos stared down the monster, eye twitching in concentration. The aggression in the hydra’s eyes dimmed, and its thrashing movements slowed. Its irises shrank, and its body language changed.
The pinned head thrashed and flailed like an animal caught in a trap. One by one, the heads dove beneath the water, as though desperately seeking shelter. Clumsily slamming into the walls, the hydra fled from us.
Fled.
It was scared. I blinked at Eleos in disbelief. Had he done that?
Could psyches bewitch monsters, too?
The cavern trembled again, and a boulder dislodged from the ceiling, crashing into the lake behind us. A wave ripped toward us, catching our tiny boat in its midst and driving us forward. I slammed into the bow and clutched its soaked wood for dear life.
Wood scraped against rock. Our boat struck something solid and ground to a halt. I was tossed onto smooth, hard stone, landing on my bad elbow before rolling over myself. Groaning in pain, I pressed my palm into the ground and pushed my head up.
Eleos and Seth had landed nearby, no more gracefully than I had. The assassin found his feet first and limped to my side. He pulled me into his arms, eyes flaring in concern when I hissed in pain.
“Are you hurt?” Seth asked, helping me stand.
“If I wasn’t,” I said, cradling my injured elbow. “I might start thinking I was a god.”
A small smile tugged at Seth’s lips. He touched his arm, where the hydra’s teeth had penetrated his wing and grazed his skin. “Three wounded arms, for one hydra. Not bad.” He turned to Eleos. “I guess your plan worked, after all. Do you frighten dragons often?”
Clamping a hand on his bleeding arm, Eleos shook his head. “Before today, I’d never seen one. But, it’s incredible what can happen when you stop to think, no?” Sarcasm dripped from his words. He glanced at me, observed me briefly, and returned his gaze to Seth.
Eleos’ expression shifted, eyes narrowing, lips drawing into a thin line. Striding forward, he raised his good arm and curled his fingers into a fist.
Crack. Eleos punched Seth square in the nose, with enough force to snap Seth’s head to the side.
Surprised, I stepped back. Had Eleos always been capable of violence?
Blood trickled from Seth’s nose. Shocked, he touched his face and stared at the ground before slowly raising his eyes.
Eleos took a deep breath. “Gods.” He sounded relieved. “I’ve been wanting to do that for ages.”
A few expressions crossed Seth’s face. His hand clenched into a fist, and his lips drew into a line. Then, his fingers uncurled, and he bit the inside of his lip.
Finally, he nodded. “I deserved that.”
I agreed wholeheartedly. He did.
Wincing, Eleos dropped to a knee. Tearing a piece of my skirt off, I wrapped it tightly around his upper arm, doing my best to make a tourniquet.
“Why your blood?” I asked. “Doesn’t Seth normally use his own?”
“Eleos said I should conserve my strength,” Seth said, rubbing his cheek. “I’m our best bet for survival after all . . .” He trailed off. “Or, maybe you are, princess.”
“Perfect.” Eleos wore a half-smirk. “That means we can leave Seth to die. Because that,” he breathed, “was incredible, Lady Aethra.”
My eyes watered, and a smile widened my lips. No one had ever said anything like that to me before.
Eleos smiled at me gratefully as I finished binding his wound. I helped him to his feet before realizing someone was missing.
“Wait.” I whirled around to look at Seth. “There was another girl. Did she have someone with her, too?”
Seth looked down. “Yes. Two young men.”
“What happened to them?”
“We were given two options,” Seth explained. “We could brave certain death for a chance to save you, or . . .”
“Or we could swim the safe passage back,” Eleos finished.
Grief laced through my heart. That poor girl had been abandoned.
Had she known, in her final moments, that her friend, lover, family—whoever they’d been—weren’t coming for her?
Pain shot through my skull again, and I pressed my hand to my forehead.
“What’s wrong?” Seth demanded.
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “I’m . . . I’m fine.”
Light spilled from the nearby wall as a stone door scraped open. I expected to see Seraphim or Percy run toward us, but my hopes were quickly dashed.
Soldiers in silver togas and golden plate streamed through. Ten circled around us while another eight remained behind their line, bows knocked and drawn. Seth flicked his hand, and a blood blade formed in his grip.
The last to emerge from the door was a nobleman—one I hadn’t seen before. Short silver hair framed his face, bound by a circlet. He wore the same golden breastplate as the soldiers, but a silken white toga flowed down to his feet, capped by an elegant, deep blue cape.
He was tainted, too. Silver eyes embedded on pallid skin drank in our features before his mouth rose into a smirk.
“The Oracle warned me you were a threat.” His gaze settled on Seth. “You are so close to redemption. Why ruin it now by inviting your deaths?”
I glanced at Eleos and his injured arm. A fight with this many trained soldiers would be dicey. And I didn’t want to send this entire dungeon into high alert before we learned where the others were.
Nudging Seth’s arm, I tried to catch his eye. “Not now,” I whispered.
Scowling, Seth reluctantly lowered his blade, allowing it to fall to the cavern floor, where it dissolved into a pool of blood.
“Wise choice,” the nobleman commended. “Take them to their quarters,” he instructed. “And this time, keep them separate.”
Two guards broke away from their line to apprehend me. Allowing them to haul me away, I watched as two more grabbed Seth, and another took Eleos.
I was dragged through the door first. Seth’s crimson eyes followed me until we rounded a corner into a dark hall, and I lost sight of them.