I had run into the girl of my dreams, or rather she had run into me, and time was frozen. Sounds like the start of a romantic story, right? Well, you are wrong. As soon as I took a step back she whirled at me, pointing her sword under my chin again. I scowled at her, mind my reeling with pain and confusion. This girl was literally the girl I had dreamed about. Her red hair was slightly curly and her green eyes were flaring. She was about my height and appeared to be a little older. She had mud and grime all over her, just like she had in my dream.
I felt stupid standing there having a staring match while she held a sword under my chin. For some reason her air of arrogance was pissing me off; I felt like I was staring Cannon down. I had to do something, so naturally I went with my gut. I stepped back and whipped the knife out, throwing it up as the blade moved towards me again. My little blade deflected her sword down and I slammed the pommel down on her hand. The short sword clattered to the pavement and I kicked it away, thankful that I was wearing boots instead of flip flops- that would have been a vicious way to cut my toe nails. She stared at me in surprise and I smirked, but my victory was short lived.
The girl charged at me and was on me before I even had time to process it. She struck the knife from me with trained skill and I began fighting back, realizing that she could be a deadly opponent. She was surprisingly strong and I had to use everything in me to block the blows she was aiming at my head. I felt every blow to my forearms as I blocked her, felt every bruise as it began to form. I thought back to every fight I had ever been in and nothing even came close to this. I stopped thinking and started acting as some instinct deep within me took over.
My blocks became more solid, my timing more precise. I was no longer just preventing my demise; I was holding my own. As soon as I felt the slightest waiver in her attacks I went on the offensive. My leg struck out and caught her knee which made her stagger backwards. I aimed a bunch at her ribs and she barely deflected it, her eyes widening. I didn't necessarily want to hurt her, but I didn't want her to kill me either. I aimed another blow at her head and then swept my leg out, catching her in the back of the knees. She went down hard and I could tell the wind was knocked out of her. I scrambled to claim her sword and gently rested it under her chin, a triumph gleam in my eyes.
"Now then. How about we talk?" I tilted my head, daring her to try anything. Which in hindsight was extremely stupid; she could have easily taken me out if she had wanted to.
"Who are you?" She demanded.
"Who are you?" I countered.
"I asked first."
"I've got the sword."
"I guess you have a point there." We stared at each other and I couldn't help but smile slightly. That was my kind of humor.
"Just a little bit." I took a step back and lowered the blade, letting the tip rest on the ground. I offered her my hand and she stared at me for a long moment before accepting the gesture. I pulled her to her feet and she frowned, studying me. "Here." I offered her the pommel of her sword and she took it slowly. For a moment I thought she was going to cut me down, but her stiff posture relaxed slightly and she finally sheathed the blade.
"I know you, yet I don't." She studied my face and I had to admit I was doing the same thing. It was like seeing a ghost; I knew she was there in front of me, yet I couldn't quite grasp it.
"Yeah, same here. Small world huh?" I scratched at my head where I had hit the ground; there was already a lump there. "So, uh, I'd love to exchange names and all that jazz, but I was kind of in the middle of running."
"What were you running- "her sentence died off as she spotted the monster for the first time. I swear she went so pale that it alarmed me. "By the gods, where'd you find a Hydra?"
"A hydra? You mean Barney's angry cousin?"
"Barney?" She gave me a confused look and then shook her head. "Why isn't he moving? What did you do?"
"Why are you accusing me? I didn't do anything! As a matter of fact, you did! As soon as that stupid black hole opened up time seemed to stop. It's been like that ever since."
"The black hole?...you mean the Labyrinth?"
"What is that?" I frowned.
"It's- never mind. We need to get moving. I don't know how long the-" her sentence died off as the Hydra suddenly seem to spring back to life. I barely had time to shove her to the ground as a column of acidic goodness flew past us and splattered a few yards away.
"Come on." I jerked her to her feet and we took off at a run, scrambling up the cement incline.
"Thanks." She managed shakily, drawing her sword as she ran.
"Don't mention it." I muttered as I snatched an arrow and knocked it to the string, pulling the bow back to full draw. "Keep going."
"What?"
"I, um. There is supposed to be a place up ahead. I am looking for it. Keep running."
"Are you crazy? He'll kill you."
"You might be surprised." I yanked her behind a large tree trunk. "If you aren't going to listen then at least stay put."
"Who died and made you king?"
"Oh, shut up!" I hissed and was surprised that she did just that. I took a deep breath and side stepped into the open. "Hey, barney boy!" That got the monsters attention. He roared and I let the arrow fly. It lodged in the roof of mouth number four and I'm sure if I could speak monster that I would have washed his mouth out with soap.
"Get back here." The girl hissed and jerked me back behind the trunk just as acid hit where I was standing. "That was impressive, but don't be an idiot."
"I had it handled."
"Oh, I am sure. Come on." She jerked me off to the left but I balked.
"I need to go north."
"I know what you are looking for. Or at least I have a pretty good idea. We need to go left. We have to get to the hill."
"What hill?"
"THE hill. Just trust me, okay? I think." She mumbled the last part but I heard her. For some reason my gut told me to trust her, so I followed her lead and fell into pace beside her. My life was starting to look like a bad movie and this was just the beginning.
.
.
.
It took us another twenty minutes to finally reach the spot that the girl was looking for. By time the hill came into sight my lungs felt like they were going to explode. My legs were on fire and I was dying for some answers to all the madness that was happening. Who was this girl? What was a hydra? Why was he hanging out behind a donut shop? I would have made the girl give me some answers, but I had a feeling that it wasn't the best time to try to ask questions.
We reached the base of the hill and suddenly every hair on my body seemed to stand on end. Something was on the other side, something that felt familiar. I could practically feel it radiating through the mound of earth. We started up the slope, but things went wrong fast. The grass was high and think. It slowed our progress and made it dangerous to move to fast, but we realized that too late. The girl let out a yelp as she fell and I could hear her ankle snapping from where I stood. A wave of nausea rolled over me and I dropped to her side, trying to pull her to her feet.
"Come on," I grunted, straining under her weight, my backpack, and the bronze breast plate.
"Just go." She shoved my hands away. "Get over the crest of the hill!"
"Like hell. We're going to finish this together."
"Why?" She demanded.
"Like hell if I know. Just because. I am not leaving you here." I stopped trying to lift her and instead spun on my heel. The Hydra had just broken through the tree line and he would be on us in no time. I drew an arrow and went to work, hailing arrow after arrow down upon the heads. It wasn't doing much damage, but it was slowing him down slightly, buying me time. Time that I didn't know how to use. What was I supposed to do? How could I beat this thing? I was just slowing down our deaths.
'The Hill.' I thought suddenly. My gut was telling me help was just over the horizon. I placed another arrow in one of the Hydra's beady eyes and then drew a deep breath. "HEY, ANYBODY! WE COULD USE SOME HELP UP HERE!" I yelled as loud as I good. The girls head snapped up in surprise. She struggled and managed to get to her feet and limped to my side, drawing her sword.
"We are screwed."
"Looks like it." I muttered, reaching for my last arrow. "The name is Clint."
"…Natasha." She said finally.
"Well, hi and bye." The Hydra descended upon us in that moment. I pushed Natasha aside and dodged one of the heads as it snapped at me, slapping my bow across its nose. I managed to drag Natasha up the hill a bit, but I couldn't move her and defend the both of us at the same time. I made the mistake of looking back and that is when it happened.
The hydra snapped at my leg and caught it before I could even register what happened. I felt pain unlike anything I had ever known before; I felt the pain of poison. I tried to scream but no sound would come out as I was whipped into the air, the other three heads snapping at me as the fourth tried to keep me away from the others. It was just a game to this beast. I was a mouse and he was the cat. My world shook as he slung me back and forth, my quiver and backpack falling to the ground somewhere below.
My neck strained from the forced of the force of being whipped about and I feared that my neck would snap at any moment. I heard a crack as my leg turned at too odd of an angle, but I could no longer feel anything below my waist. I began waving my bow around, desperate enough to try anything to stop the wild ride. By chance he ducked the head I was attached to lower than normal and I felt my bow snag his bib. That must have made things personal because he let loose a roar unlike any I had heard before. The good news that came from that was that he let me go. The bad news was that he let me go.
I soared through the air, up over the crest of the hill, tumbling end on end like a downed fighter jet. I caught glimpses of the things below me; a bunch of cabins in a horse shoe arrangement, some kind of coliseum, a pavilion with a roaring bonfire. None of it made sense to my poison fogged brain. But one thing was clear: I was about to die and I was angry about it. I had come so close to finding the answers I was looking for. I had come so far and gotten lucky so many times. But my luck was about to run out.
The ground rushed up at me and I had just resigned myself to death when a white blur shot past me and literally knocked me out of the sky. I landed in someone's lap, some kid with crazy blond hair and bright blue eyes. He was grinning at me like this was the best time of his life. He had on a chest plate over flannel pajamas, which seemed weird to me. I struggled to make sense of everything, struggled to process why the horse we were riding had wings. I felt my world fading fast and I groaned.
"This is like the coolest thing ever, right?" The kid laughed and we descended into a dive. My world started spinning and then I knew no more.
