Chapter Forty-One
Zain ran back to me and I reached for him when he got close, helping him to get behind the rock.
“I think we have to kill the hydra for the door to open,” he said.
I nodded. “Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
“When I call out your name, that means I need you to be prepared to cauterize.”
“Got it.” Then he leaned forward to kiss me quickly.
He looked as if he might say something final, so now I was the one putting a finger over his lips. “We are going to survive this.”
“If you say it, then it must be true.”
I smiled and then ran out from behind the rock, straight toward the hydra. It took all my instincts and ability to avoid the heads that snapped at me, trying to reach me.
Taking out one of my knives, I ran to the side of the hydra and jumped up, using the knife for purchase. The beast again screamed when the knife went into its side and I swung my body up to get onto its back.
The heads couldn’t turn around to get me, something I hadn’t realized before this moment.
“Zain!” I lifted my sword and cut into one of the necks. It was tougher than I would have thought it would be. The hydra screamed and tried to buck me off but wasn’t successful.
I saw Zain run out, but one of the heads dipped and swallowed a mouthful of water and used it to douse the flame.
That was unexpected.
“Go relight it!” I yelled.
He ducked behind the barrier and I hoped he would get it lit quickly.
I started slicing into the various necks, preparing them for when I would cut through.
The hydra kept screaming, kept trying to get me off.
I took out another knife and used it to stabilize myself by sinking it into its back and holding on.
Zain emerged from behind the rock with the torch lit.
This time two heads grabbed water and spit it out. A third head darted forward and grabbed the doused torch out of Zain’s hands, then swallowed it whole.
What now?
The heads moved to the side to give the middle one room, and Zain ran, getting behind a different rock. The acid-head spit and it burned the rock.
I wanted to ask him if he was all right but didn’t want him drawing any attention to himself.
The hydra apparently had had enough and started running full tilt at the wall connected to the upper ledge. I realized it was going to slam into that wall and was hoping to throw me into it.
I yanked my knife out and used it to slide down the far side of the beast, rolling clear before it could toss me.
The entire cavern shuddered when the hydra hit the wall. I sprinted to where Zain was hiding, crouching down next to him.
“New plan?” I asked.
“New plan,” he agreed.
My knife felt sticky and I looked down to see black ichor dropping from my blade. “Is that its blood?”
“Looks like it.”
The hydra came to the edge of where the rock barriers were situated and scream roared.
“Why isn’t it coming over here to get us?”
“The tops of the rocks.” He pointed up. “They’re all jagged.”
“And it’s worried about hurting itself.” And although I wasn’t ever the person with a plan, one occurred to me.
“Do we have to cut off the heads?” I asked. “Is that the only way to stop it?”
“That’s the only way I’ve ever read of it being done.”
I was going to take that as a no. If the hydra bled, then it could be killed in all sorts of ways. I reached into my bag and pulled out the rope of Phrygia, looping it over my shoulder. “I’m going to need you to run out there and distract it.”
“You do realize that I am too handsome to be bait, don’t you?” He stood. “But if that’s what you need . . .”
He ran toward the hydra, making noise. I moved as quietly as I could so that I could sneak up on the opposite side.
And despite what was happening, I found myself stopping to watch him.
When I was a little girl, there had been a woman in the village who had come from Sasania, and she’d had a pet monkey that ate from her hand.
The monkey loved to be outside, swinging from tree to tree, bouncing between different locations.
That was what Zain looked like now. The heads couldn’t keep track of him because he moved so quickly, never staying in one spot for long.
When the middle head prepared to spit, he ran so that the acid would hit one of the other heads instead of him. The burned head screamed out in pain and the hydra shook. I wrapped the rope around one of its legs and then drew it over to another, tying it off.
“Zain!” I called out.
And without me needing to explain what had to be done, he ran over, grabbed the end of the rope, and tied it to a rock.
While avoiding all the heads that tried to bite him.
“Go toward the barriers!” I yelled.
He ran and the hydra moved forward to give chase, not realizing what I had done. The rope went taut, drawing the legs together and forcing them to buckle. The hydra screamed as it went down, rolling to one side like I’d hoped.
I took my sword out and stabbed it down into the hydra’s underbelly. I backed up quickly to make the cut deep and to drag it all the way across its body, cutting through muscle and sinew as I went.
The most disgusting entrails slipped out and I backed up to avoid them.
As it bled out, the hydra heads began to fall, one by one, until only the middle one was left. It gave a weak protest, and then it too fell to the ground.
There was a loud grinding noise and the metal door swung open for us. Relief flooded into my gut and I quickly untied the rope from the hydra while Zain undid the end on the rock, which only he could remove because he’d tied it.
He brought it over and then picked me up in a hug. “You did it!”
“We did it. That was a joint effort.”
“At any point have you thought that maybe this isn’t worth it?” he asked.
I supposed I was going to extraordinary lengths to help those Thracian girls.
“If this saves even one life, it’s worth it.
And if we don’t retrieve the caduceus, Actos will send someone else to get it.
Eventually he’ll find someone who will succeed.
When we give it to him, then we’ll know for certain he has it, which will make it easier to get it back. ”
Zain nodded, agreeing with me.
I glanced at the dead monster. “It’s not going to suddenly grow two more sets of internal organs, is it?”
“I don’t think so.”
That wasn’t a no. “We should leave.”
“Agreed.” He took me by the hand and we rushed for the open door, ending up in another hallway.
It again narrowed, forcing us to walk one at a time. The blue light from the hydra room faded, leaving us in the dark. Zain insisted on taking the lead and I heard him repeatedly losing his footing as he walked across smooth shale. I kept my hands on the walls, using them to balance.
I became aware of more blue light, even brighter than it had been in the last cavern.
We edged closer and closer to it. I wondered what horror we would find here.
After two turns, the light became nearly blinding, it was so bright. I had to blink several times before moving forward. Zain stood at the edge of the hallway, through the opening.
He wasn’t moving.
What did he see?
I stepped around him and almost gasped. There sat the biggest red dragon I had ever seen in my life.
It rumbled in its chest and then rose to its full height.
I had thought Lia’s dragon was big. But this one was three times Luna’s size.
“Is that a fire dragon?” Zain asked in panicked awe.
It wasn’t—it had wings. I had seen fire dragons in person and they did not. “No. But we are so dead.”
He gulped and nodded.
Then a rusty voice spoke in my head.
Greetings, True Heir, Child of Invara.