The Hydra's Curse

Chapter 7 - Hydra

Tracking the hydra wasn't a hard thing to do, even if Calvin hadn't been helping her. For about two days, neither of them got a good clue as to its whereabouts, but late into the third, Sasha came across a trail. Nothing extremely obvious, but it was made up of slightly crushed shrubberies, broken branches and other things her untrained eyes could still notice.

Calvin, get down here, I've got something. She pushed the mental image of the trail down the connection. The intent of acknowledgement echoed back to her as he came down for a landing, dropping in front of her a half a minute later.

"Definitely the hydra." He muttered, looking at the ground past some of the broken brush. "Even the grass is still slightly crushed, this is fresh." He looked to the trail Sasha was leaving in the grass too. "Pity it's three times your size otherwise we could sort of compare the damage to the ground."

Sasha looked at the trail as well. Sure enough, her weight flattened the grass to a degree but it wasn't really useable to draw a comparison. Nobody had ever tracked a snake the size of the hydra before.

"Ok, I guess I'll follow it. Maybe- hopefully it will just lead to a cave and we could trap it in there. There's no way we can kill it alone."

Calvin nodded. "Not if it's as big as you say it is. Hopefully it isn't bigger now. What if it isn't hiding away?"

Sasha shrugged. "Keep and eye on it from the air and wait for it to enter a cave? Then maybe as can trigger a rock slide or something."

"You're really keen on starving it out aren't you?"

"Well it's that or cut off every single head. Which bite pretty hard by the way." She flicked her tongue out a few times searching for a scent. "There's a faint trace of it in the air." She flicked again. "Nothing big though. I don't think I can go off that alone it is entered a rocky area."

"Hmm. Let's hope not then." He shook his wings the way he always did before taking off. "I don't want to get to close to this thing either."

"At least you can fly, imagine how I feel."

Calvin gave her a pained look. "That's why I didn't want you doing this. You might not be able to outrun it."

She raised herself to his height and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "I can if you warn me in time."

That didn't lighten his frown. "Don't put the guilt on me now."

"Don't make a mistake then." Sasha grinned at him.

He shook his head and took off, a jump and two beats of his wings to lift off the ground and above the treetops. Sasha got a series of pictures of him rising further and further up. I don't see any movement. He said mentally. Start following that trail I guess.

She did, and it wasn't short either. It crossed over itself a couple times, telling her she could avoid the huge loop it made, but there was still a good five ours traveling before she found where it slept. The whole area was pressed down, not unlike when Sasha slept in the underbrush. Look at this. Must be where it stopped for the night. She sent a couple images up the mental link, getting a few back from Calvin's vantage point up in the sky.

That looks pretty fresh. Not even a week I'd guess, those plants recover pretty quickly when pushed down.

So we're close? I'm not sure if I like that or not.

Probably closer than anybody could be comfortable with.

Sasha pulled the sword from its sheath across her back and tested the edge. Still razor sharp. Okay, I'll keep following it, are there any villages nearby?