(A/N: I can't believe I've already typed this and yet I forgot to upload it! Good thing our vacation was cut short. My parents and sister are in the hospital after eating some salad thing ( I'm not in to salads that time, Lucky me!) so I'm staying in the hotel most of the time and I'm back to typing some more. Anyways here's chapter 5. Hope you like it! In other related concerns, Twilly is officially a boy in my fic. Special thanks to Lysana, Mritha and KoinuAndKagure for reading and reviewing. Enjoy…..)
Disclaimer: *sigh* I do not own Dragonfable. If I did, I would have made a motion picture out of it.
Chapter Five: Hydra!
The priestess was right. In about ten minutes, we made it out of the woods and came upon a wide bridge made of stone and wood spanning across the river about 40 feet long and about 15 feet wide . Maybe it was the same one I saw earlier today before my whole world went topsy-turvy. It was getting dark now, with only a few streaks of sunlight peering between the mountains turning the river into a mellow shade of orange. A knight who was stationed in the edge of the bridge wearing a full-visor helm waved and came up to us.
"What's a fine-looking lady doing with a moglin and rogue I must say?" the knight greeted.
"Hello Mr. Knight!" Twilly greeted cheerfully.
"Yeah… umm hi." I waved back.
"Pardon us, we were just passing through and came across some bandits. Fortunately we were saved by this rogue . Would you mind if you escort him back to Oaklore and see that he is properly treated?" The priestess asked in a kindly manner.
"Well why not? I happen to be getting back there since my shift is over anyway." The knight took my arm and slung it in his shoulder this time. The priestess stepped back and nodded.
"I haven't properly introduced myself, I reckon?" She held out here hand. " I am Lady Celestia, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I owe you my life."
I chuckled and shook her hand with my free one. She then planted a kiss on my forehead as a blessing, I blushed a little, and then said "Farewell, for now."
"Seeyas!" Twilly waved with his stick as both of them turned and headed for the bridge.
When they were far enough, I heard the knight marveled "One mighty, fine woman I must say!" as he watched them walking farther and farther away. "You have to introduce me to her someday. Eh, old chap?" He chuckled and patted my back. I rolled my eyes. We were about to turn around when we heard a strange gurgling sound coming from the river becoming louder and louder. I saw the priestess and Twilly stop halfway through the bridge. They might have heard it too and I'm starting to have a bad feeling about it. "What in Lore is that?" the knight exclaimed.
Suddenly, the water exploded on both sides of the bridge, two 30-foot columns emerged only for me to realized that they weren't columns, but bodies of huge dark green serpents. Their scales gleamed in the sunset. Their fish-shaped heads contained long curved razor-sharp fangs. They let out an ear-piercing shriek as they saw Lady Celestia and Twilly running for their lives. They were almost all the way into the other side.
"What's a bloody Hydra doing in a sort of place like this?" the knight said while gaping at the two creatures. So that's a Hydra, I thought, still pretty shaken on what just happened. "Hurry lad! We must report to the Cap'n at once." The knight said urgently.
The two serpents advanced on the priestess and Twilly. They weren't going to make it. I untangled my arm from the knight and tried to run-hobble towards them. I could hear the knight shouting behind me, "Listen lad, if you value your bloody life, you best get your stubborn rump back here!" , but I ignored him. I won't just stand here and watch them get devoured. I've already failed on getting the box and I won't fail on protecting them as well. I was half-way through the bridge but the two serpents were already towering over them. At this rate, it will already be too late before I reached them. Desperately, I threw both of my daggers, one for each serpent, while yelling at the top of my lungs. "HEEEYYYY! OVER HERE!"
HIIIIIISSSSSSSSSS!
I immediately caught the serpents' attention as the daggers bounced off their hide harmlessly. Fortunately, Lady Celestia and Twilly were not hurt. They have made it through the other side and were just panting. I saw her glance shifting between the knight, the serpents and me before nodding like it was all according to plan before turning back and disappearing through the woods. They are safe, for now, I thought. But then, I also realized that I just sealed my own fate as I stared up at the two towering serpents. One of the heads snapped at me experimentally. I used my good foot to make a dive sideways as the serpent's head slammed into the wooden floorings. It hissed as green blood dripped from its lips. Apparently, smashing its face on bridges isn't one of its favorite things to do. The other head reared back and lunged as I prepared myself to dive again but this time it didn't try to snap at me, it released a volume of pressurized water and hit me square in the chest. Now I know what it feels to get smashed by a tidal wave when you're not in the water, it was like getting hit with a battering ram. I flew back a couple of feet, dazed and having difficulty in breathing.
The other head had recovered and had joined its sibling. ( I truly don't know what their relationship to each other is so I guess they're siblings.) It was about to lunge at me again when it was stopped by a spear being impaled on its lower neck. It shrieked in pain, fresh light green blood trickled through the impaled spear, and I covered my ears. "We're not out of this yet!" The knight yelled as he picked me up, his sword drawn and his eyes fixed on the other head. He then threw me aside as the head charged, he tried to sidestep, but the serpent knew better and his armor weighed him down. He cried in pain as the serpent sank its teeth on his calf. I was about to stand up and help him when I felt something cold against my arm. It was one of my daggers! The other one might have been thrown into the river. With weapon in hand I jumped on the serpent's and stabbed the serpent straight on top of its head. Big Mistake. The blade ricocheted and plummeted into the water and I gasped as a new kind of pain shot through my body, this time coming from my wrist. The serpent let go of the knights leg ,who crawled into a safe distance, and focused on the person on top of its head. It suddenly rose up thirty feet and began swinging and flailing in every direction. I manage to wrap my body on its lower head where the skull and neck meet. The other head still disoriented and is still trying to dislodge the spear. I was out of options. How am I suppose to fight these thing?, I thought. I've lost my daggers, my leg and chest throbbing like crazy from my sudden dash through the bridge and that pressurized water thing and I was totally dead exhausted. I've fought all day, from rampaging sleep-deprived gorrillaphant to crazy Drakath and friends, and now for round three, I get to fight the Hydra.
Just when I thought my day isn't going to get worse, it did. Without any warning, the middle part of the bridge exploded, sending chunks of rocks and hundreds of planks flying in every direction. A lucky three-foot plank found its way to my forehead and almost knocked my lights out. My vision blurred and started to spin as my grip on the head began to slacken. I could also feel a warm oozing feeling trickling down my face from where the plank hit me. I was slowly sliding down its slimy scales. A horrifying ear-piercing shriek about 5 times louder than the two heads combined. I began to make out another body of a serpent as the dust settled but this one's way bigger than the other two. I mean it towered over the two serpents as it rose up to about 50 feet. Its thick body made the other two look like matchsticks. Its beady yellow eyes searching hungrily for its meal and its gaze rested on my dangling body as the serpent I'm holding onto finally stopped trashing around. I knew I had no choice but to let go or get eaten. As the largest serpent lunged at me with its razor-sharp fangs gleaming with anticipation, I let my grip loosen and I free fell into the river, leading the largest serpent to accidentally bite the smaller one, who let out a shriek. The other small one bit the large on in turn and they ended up fighting each other. I was heading straight for river thinking that there might be other heads waiting for me down there and that my last day on in this world had to end like this when someone tugged at my body plate and prevented me from falling. I looked up to see the knight. He seemed to be fine as he hoisted me up to the edge of the now broken bridge.
"C'mon lad." He said in a raspy voice. " We've had enough bloody action in one day haven't we?" And with that he lifted me onto his back and began to limp away as the Hydra fought itself and have completely forgotten about us. The sky was completely dark by now and the full moon shone unhindered through the cloudless sky, illuminating our path back to Oaklore.
I rested my head on his back and muttered a little 'thanks' before I slipped into unconsciousness.
(A/N: And that's how our hero's first day in the world of Dragonfable ended. Does he have the worst luck or what? I'm terribly sorry for Sir Pent being totally OOC. I guess that's what I get when I watch Pirates of the Carribean before writing these fic. Anyways, the next chapter will be totally a dream sequence as more of Vincent's past will be revealed to the readers. Huge thanks once for Lysana for sparing some time on my story and to Mritha and KoinuAndKagure, whom I hope were still reading my fic. You guys fuel my desire to write.- the Iron Raven taking off!)