Ch. 10
It wasn't too late in the day when they reached the outskirts of the forest where the spring of Amymone was located. The distance hadn't been great from the small village where they met the man who told them where to find the monster. Both heroes were still a bit shaken from what they witnessed. The hydra poison had literally burned the man's flesh from his face. It was a slow process too. They found out afterwards that the man had been there suffering for days. Heracles' mercy killing had truly been a blessing for the poor villager.
They'd also been told, although they weren't sure whether or not to put any stock into the tip, that the monster had one head that was supposedly immortal. This was part of the story they'd gotten when they'd asked around the village about the man's condition. Though the source wasn't reliable, it did seem like something that might be true in the case of a multi-headed monstrosity.
The minute they set foot in the forest, the temperature seemed to kick up several notches. It was a heavy, moist heat; one that left both demigods dripping in sweat within minutes. The vegetation was dense and made travel painfully slow. If was as if the forest were trying to stop them from finding the monster, an attempt to dissuade their suicidal mission.
Perseus had used his pendant to summon a sword and hacked his way through the dense foliage. The deeper they delved, the more their surroundings gave them the urge to stop and turn around. Although thick with plant life, the forest had a sick feeling to it. It seemed like the forest itself was ill, suffering from the effects of the Hydra's habitation.
Soon the air around the two heroes took on an acrid smell that was eerily similar to the one they'd found surrounding the elder villager's body. Heracles took the lead as they continued on. Sickness began overtaking them though and they were forced to stop.
Heracles to ripped part of his cloak off and tore it into two pieces, handing one to Perseus.
"Cover your nose and mouth, it should help."
Perseus did as he was told and found breathing a little easier, the clothe filtering out some of the toxins in the air.
A few minutes later Heracles' held out a hand to stop Perseus. He pointed ahead of them where a spring sat in a small forest clearing. The water was tinged a sickly green color and seemed to be steaming, releasing its toxic excretion into the air. A large cave was set just to the side of the spring and Heracles knew they'd found the hydra's lair.
Heracles knelt down and poured a small amount of oil onto the forest floor. He pulled some dry tinder from his cloak and used a flint to ignite a small fire. He pulled two arrows from his quiver and dipped them in the oil. He set the arrows ablaze and looked at Perseus.
"Be ready," he warned before launching the two flaming arrows right into the cave.
An inhuman screech answered the flaming arrows and both heroes instinctively took a step back.
That step back was soon justified when out of the cave appeared a creature so terrifying, Perseus had to stop himself from running for his life.
The monster was enormous. It had the body of a reptile and towered over both the demigods. Nine long necks protruded from its body and formed diamond shaped heads, each lined with razor sharp teeth that looked ready to tear them to pieces. Thick scales covered its entire lower body and looked tougher than any armor the two heroes had seen in their travels.
The monster eyed them both angrily, obviously not used to being the prey rather than the predator. This intrusion into its home was clearly not a welcome one.
Heracles fired an arrow but it bounced off its scaly body. He fired another at one of the heads but the monster was quick and the arrow flew harmlessly into the woods.
"Alright," Heracles said staring the monster down and pulling a sword from his sheath. He stepped forward and one of the mouths spat at him.
He nimbly jumped aside and the ground sizzled and smoked where the poison landed.
Without giving it a chance to spit again, Heracles sprinted at the monster. Perseus summoned his bow and fired as fast as he could at the monster's heads, giving Heracles enough cover to get close to the hydra.
One of the heads lunged at him, teeth snapping at the spot he was standing. Heracles avoided the teeth and brought his sword down on the creature's exposed neck. The celestial bronze cut through the neck with ease and the severed head flopped to the ground and dissolved into poison.
The monster recoiled as the other eight heads screeched in pain. It stepped back, away from the son of Zeus. He was preparing to go for the next head when the severed neck began to shake. From the spot where the head was cut, two new heads emerged, now giving the creature ten heads to deal with instead of nine.
"Oh," Heracles mumbled. "That's not good."
Perseus thought the statement didn't really need to be said but fired an arrow at one of the new heads just as it prepared to spit at Heracles.
"Need to find the immortal head," Heracles yelled back to Perseus and changed his target to the next nearest head. He cut through it without trouble but was only rewarded with two more to deal with. He cut another one but like the others, the decapitation just resulted in two more heads springing up.
With twelve heads now, Heracles struggled to avoid all the poison and snapping jaws. His Nemean Lion pelt took a number of poisonous projectiles but it seemed the lion's hide was stronger than even the monster's poison. The poison didn't even stick to the pelt, just bounced off and sizzled on the ground where it landed.
Heracles tried to backtrack but found heads in every direction. He sheathed his sword and took to punching the heads away when they weren't spitting at him.
When all else fails, just start punching stuff... Heracles thought, the tactic hadn't failed him yet.
Perseus fired an arrow that found it's mark on a head trying to flank Heracles. The arrow flew right into the beast's open mouth and stuck in its throat. The monster recoiled in pain as the arrow protruded through both sides of the head.
Though it did little to stop the monster, it gave Heracles his chance to slip back.
"I don't know what to do!" He said, exhausted and gasping for breath.
Perseus wasn't sure what to say. All they had accomplished was to turned a nine-headed monster into a twelve-headed one. Not exactly the kind of production they were looking for.
Perseus grabbed another arrow and prepared to fire when a single beam of sunlight seemed to break through the thick forest canopy. The light landed directly on their small fire that was slowly starting to die out as it went through the slow burning oil.
The sight of the fire reminded him of their battle with the Nemean Lion. He thought about how they'd nearly died in the first encounter and Heracles being injured. The injury required the wound to be cauterized to stem the blood flow.
That memory seemed to trigger and metaphorical light bulb in Perseus' head.
"Fire," he said more to himself as he fired an arrow but Heracles heard him as he too fired an arrow to keep the beast at bay.
"What?"
The plan hit Perseus like a punch to the face.
"Fire!" He said louder. "We need fire!
Heracles looked at his friend wondering what in Hades he was talking about and nearly got a face full of poison for the effort. He ducked at the last second and came up firing at the offending mouth.
"What are you talking about, boy?" He shouted over the sounds of the hydra's shrieks as an arrow flew straight through its neck.
Perseus didn't respond. Instead, he grabbed the jar of oil and ran into the woods behind them. Heracles thought he'd been abandoned for a second until Perseus returned a moment later holding a thick branch. He poured the oil onto it and put it on the dying flames of their small fire. The branch ignited instantly and became a flaming torch.
"Cut off one of the heads." He ordered, surprising the son of Zeus quite a bit. Perseus never demanded things of him.
It turned out he had little choice in the matter as the hydra had used their distraction to close the distance on them. One of the heads lunged at his face and Heracles unsheathed his sword on instinct and severed the appendage.
Before it could even recoil, Perseus charged forward and thrust the flaming torch at the writhing neck. The skin burned and sizzled for a second before he had to dive for cover to avoid being hit with poison.
Heracles just watched as the neck flailed side to side but to his utter disbelief, no new heads emerged. He looked at Perseus astonished.
"You brilliant boy!" He exclaimed in glee. He spun aside to avoid another head and lopped it off with one fell swoop. Perseus tossed the torch to him and Heracles jammed it into the wriggling flesh, sealing the wound before anything else could grow in its place.
The remaining ten heads turned on Heracles. He would have been torn to shreds but Perseus saw it happening and ran for a boulder to the side of the monster and launched himself off the rock and came down with a two handed overhead strike that sent two more heads flopping to the ground.
Heracles was in shock. Perseus hadn't much skill with the sword yet but he looked like a seasoned soldier with his bow turned sword. He recovered quickly enough to cauterize the necks before they could regrow more heads.
Heracles grabbed Perseus by the back of his shirt and threw him towards the spring. The son of Poseidon flew a good ten feet before crashing to the ground roughly. Heracles waved the fire at the beast and started to back step his way towards Perseus.
For all that work, they'd only managed to turn a nine-headed Hydra into an eight-headed one. One that was stalking towards them yet again. Heracles cursed himself for taking so long to figure out that just cutting off the heads wasn't going to work.
Perseus was now behind him, his sword still drawn and ready to strike. Heracles handed the torch back without looking and held his blade in front of him, waiting for the beast to strike.
The hydra made like it was going to step forward before all eight heads reared back and launched wads of poison at Heracles. Surprised by the move, he barely managed to pull the Nemean Lion pelt around to protect his body. He felt the poison hit the pelt but when he felt no pain he knew he was safe.
That was when he heard an agonized scream behind him and knew his mistake.
He emerged from his little invulnerable cocoon and found Perseus staggering away. His left arm was held away from his body as he fell to his knees, unable to hold in his cries of pain. Heracles could see the skin on Perseus' arm turn a sickly shade of red as the skin literally melted away.
Ignoring his own safety, he ran to his friend. He tried to grab Perseus by the shoulders to steady him but was stunned when Perseus shoved him away hard with his right hand.
His sea green eyes met Heracles' sky blue ones. Through the tears of pain, there was a look of determination Heracles didn't know if he could match if the roles were reversed.
"Finish it," Perseus said through clenched teeth. He held his injured arm as far away from his body as possible, trying to keep the poison and the pain as far from him as he could.
Heracles shook his head, his concern for Perseus' far outweighed this silly quest and these foolish attempts at redemption. He wanted to grab his friend and run for it but when he tried to reach for him again, Perseus used his foot to kick him away.
Instead of saying anything, Perseus reached to his side where the torch lay and grabbed it, tossing it at the son of Zeus, the message obvious.
Heracles felt another couple poisonous projectiles hit his back but the lion hide protected him once again. He stared at Perseus for another second, watching him writhing in agony before something inside the son of Zeus snapped.
His feeling of panic vanished and was replaced with one of utter fury. He snatched up the torch and turned as the monster closed in for the kill. Instead of reacting, he just stared at the hydra as it approached.
His sword lay in the dirt at his feet. His foot slid under the blade as he continued to stare at the monster. One of the heads flew towards him, teeth gnashing together as it prepared to kill.
At the last second he twisted away from the head and used his foot to kick his sword up. He caught it and in one fluid upward motion, severed the head off at the neck. He charged at he beast and jammed the torch into the neck.
Another head swung towards him and he dropped to his knees, taking the torch with him before leaping at another head and slicing through it like a knife through butter.
He hadn't noticed it but the sky had become disturbingly dark, rain began to fall and thunder boomed overhead. The monster tried to retreat when a huge bolt of lightning dropped from the sky and struck the monster right where the head had been severed. The force of the bolt knocked the monster off its feet and sent it sprawling to the ground, the lightning cauterizing the wound in the most extreme way possible. Heads and necks writhed wildly as the stunned monster hit the earth, convulsing at the electricity coursing through its body.
Heracles barely noticed what he'd done. His mind was consumed with revenge and a lust for the creature's blood that had injured his friend.
Before it could recover, Heracles sliced through two more of the necks and used his huge foot to pin a third to the ground as he seared the severed flesh. Poison flew at him but the aim was off and he simply leaned back before severing the pinned head. Another bolt of lightning dropped and obliterated the poison spitting head.
Nothing tried to regrow from the mangled flesh as Heracles burned the still pinned neck.
Heracles spun his blade in his hand as he eyed the final head of the creature. Before he could finish the cursed monster, a different kind of cry came from behind him that froze him. He turned just in time to see Perseus trying to crawl backwards with one arm immobilized and a giant crab emerging from the earth and stalking towards him. Heracles' eyes went wide in shock and then narrowed in anger.
"HERA!" He bellowed at the heavens in a rage. He knew in his heart this was her doing. All of this was, her vindictive plan for revenge against Zeus.
Ignoring the hydra, he ran towards the crab as it nearly overtook Perseus. He swung his blade through two of its legs and sent the crustacean toppling lopsided to the ground. Heracles jumped as high as he could and stomped with both feet down on its shelled back. The hard shell cracked under his weight and his feet went straight through it. The crab didn't even have time to realize what had happened before Heracles drove his sword through its head and it went limp.
Heracles looked down at his friend to make sure he was okay but the look of panic in Perseus' eyes was seen too late. A hard pressure dug into his shoulder as the hydra tried to latch on and bring the great hero to the ground.
But when its teeth hit the invulnerable pelt, it could only grab on, its teeth unable to break through to reach its prize. Heracles dropped his sword in surprise but then reacted by spinning around and wrapping his thick arms around the hydra neck.
The monster tried to pull back but Heracles was simply too strong. He held firm and spun his body around, wrestling the hydra's neck around and pulling it off its feet. The mouth tried to bite him but he grabbed the it with one meaty hand. He pulled a dagger out with his free hand and stared into the hydra's intelligent eyes.
"You hurt Perseus and I will make you suffer!" He drover the dagger straight into the neck and cut a huge gash open as he ripped the blade free. He grabbed a handful of flesh and pulled in the opposite direction bellowing in rage as he ripped the head right off the neck.
The hydra's body fell motionless to the ground.
A three huge bolts of lightning hit the ground beside the son of Zeus, opening a deep crater in the ground. He held up the still writhing and screeching head of the hydra, clearly the immortal head (of course it was last), and dropped it into the ground. Heracles pushed an enormous boulder into the crater, burying the head deep within the earth where no mortal would be able to stumble across it.
Heracles turned and found Perseus on the ground, barely conscious. He ran to him and flinched at what he saw. The skin on Perseus' arms was almost completely gone from his bicep to his wrist. It was hard to look at with the muscles and tendons clearly out in the open air.
"Hold on, my friend, I will get you out of here."
He made to lean down and scoop Perseus up when the sound of someone sucking in a wincing breath stopped him.
"Ouch, that looks painful."
Heracles turned and found a handsome young man with blonde hair and blue eyes looking down at Perseus and flinching at his arm. Before he could say anything, the man put a hand on his shoulder and knelt down next to Perseus.
"Such a young lad and always makes the proper offerings to the gods. Not even you thanked me for your excellent marksmanship in the battle in Nemea." The man said as he shook his head disapprovingly.
Heracles felt his jaw go slack.
"Apollo?"
The young man raised an eyebrow in question.
"Did you think I was Artemis?"
A.N: Another chapter down... More fun to come ;)