The Pearl Of Vynes - Chapter 16 Rescue

“Unfortunately for you, my servant deals swiftly with intruders” the robed man let loose a command in a language Alice couldn’t understand. Directing towards Alice and Miles a large shadow loomed behind the throne. The Hydra’s rose from behind the throne with a hiss.

for visiting.

“Kill them” the robed man commanded. For a moment the Hydra hesitated, its tongue flickering out for a second to taste the air. The head turned towards the robed man and opened it mouth, swallowing the man whole. Miles started to let lose control and laughed himself, tears forming at the edges of his eyes. The hydra swallowed the man whole and turned towards Alice and Miles, slowly lumbering its way towards them as its glassy eyes lit up with hunger.

“Miles need you to concentrate right now” Alice said panicking as Miles was laughing himself silly, sprawled on the ground barely able to control himself. The hydra slowly slithered towards them, closing the distance between them.

“Miles!” Alice said again in a more strained tone. The Hydra was getting ever closer and was easily within striking distance, though not feeling threatened enough to be quick about the job.

“Throw the bomb” Miles instructed as he wiped away the tears from his eyes.

“How’s that going to help?” Alice raised her voice as the Hydra had its face close to Alice’s.

“Trust me” Miles winked, a grin plastered all over his face. Alice started sweating as the large creature flickered its tongue in Alice’s face making her scrunch her face from the foul breath it was emitting. With tightened hands Alice threw the small explosive towards the creature. The hydra looked at the odd thing as it suddenly emitted a large light that blinded the monster. Miles got himself off the floor and waited as the creature flailed around being unable to see. Miles walked up to the creature and tapped it on the side. Freaking, the creature swallowed Miles and Alice barely let out a cry as Miles had disappeared down the creature’s gullet. As the creature finished it stopped, being completely still as Alice could some noises from its stomach. The hydra then started to make a dry retching noise, coughing and choking on something Alice couldn’t see. Noticing two large lumps in the monster’s throat it then threw up Miles and the robed man, both covered in slime and smelt absolutely awful to Alice. They hydra collapsed over in a corner groaning and unable to move. Miles got himself up and tried to wipe off the slime covering him from head to toe.

“Are you alright Miles? Alice asked, keeping her distance and holding her nose closed with her hand.

“Yeah, just wished I didn’t have to ruin my clothes. The stomach acid is gonna eat away at it soon as well.” Miles said trying to unfruitfully wash himself in the water.

“Is the hydra going to get us” Alice asked, looking at the resting body of the creature in the corner.

“Nah, after vomiting any creature is not going to feel well for a while” Miles said, having finished mostly washing himself. Miles walked over to Alice and held his palm open, confused Alice passed to him her dagger. Miles walked over to the creature lying on the ground. With a grunt Miles shoved the blade into the creatures head with a sickening crunch. The creature let out a faint wail and slumped down; Miles exhausted wiped the blade clean of blood and made his way back over to Alice. With a sigh he handed the blade back to Alice, who put it back into its sheath.

“Good thing this was one was young, probably the only reason the guy was able to control it” Miles said pointing at the unconscious robed man.

“That’s young? How big do they get?” Alice asked staring at the large creature slumped on the ground.

“The older ones could easily be as big as the turrets in Rift, the older they get the bigger.” Miles responded. Alice and Miles walked over to the unconscious man, Miles reached down and pulled the hood back revealing an insignia carved into his forehead in the shape of a pentagram. Alice backed off in fear while Miles resumed his giggling at the man.

“What’s so funny?” Alice asked keeping her distance from the man.

“Take a look at this Alice” Miles said holding the man’s arm, pulling the sleeve back with a couple numbers tattooed on wrist. Alice couldn’t read the number and looked to Miles.

“What does it mean?”

“Oh its 666” Miles said giggling again

“Is he a man of the devil?”

“No, actually he’s an ex-adventure. I remember this guy from the wanted posters back in Rift. After getting his Brave’s rank it went to his head and he disappeared a few years back, I never expected to find him somewhere out here” Miles explained.

“So he’s an idiot” Alice stated.

“A huge idiot” Miles laughed, “Although it would be best to take him back to the authorities, they should deal with this huge mess” Miles said as he stood up and started to wander off behind the throne the robed man had just sat in. Alice following close behind glancing back at the two bodies in the room in case they came back to life. Miles seemed to find something of interest as he got up close to the wall, having his hands covering the wall trying to find a slight inlet that he could grab. Suddenly Miles’ hand gave way and a square in the wall pushed inwards. With a large groaning sound coming from the rock a large hole appeared behind the throne. Miles gestured Alice to follow as he headed into the darkness, stealing a new torch from the wall as he walked down as he dropped it earlier when the Hydra had swallowed him. The faint sounds of chains rubbing against chains perked Alice’s ears. Raising the torch up higher the light spread out and covered the area ahead. A number of cells reflected in the torchlight with a rusted metal gleam.

“He certainly had a bad taste in clichs” Miles lamented to himself as he explored the small dungeon, with people cowering in the darkness.

“Clich?” Alice questioned as she looked out at the people that were chained up here. Eyes reflected the torch light back that had given up hope of being rescued.

“Don’t worry about it, let’s release the people from their cells, it’s not going to be easy to take everyone back on the boat” Miles started walking over and wrenched opened up cell doors, the hinges giving way easily from the rust and decay. Alice followed suit and walked through pulling doors off with ease and untying people from their holds. Some were still chained properly down. Alice looked around the cell and found a large rock that she started to smash the chains apart since they had no key. Despite the people being free they stood in the cell not moving.

“We killed the beast, now’s the time to go home” Miles shouted while he released the last of the captives. At the words the people slowly but surely started to walk and then run to their freedom.

“Is that the last of them?” Alice asked as she pushed them towards the area of the throne room.

“Don’t push, stay clam” Miles shouted after the freed prisoners, “Seems like it, I found my friend but I think we’ll reminisce later back in town” Miles walked the last of the stragglers that were older and unable to keep up, walking back into the torchlight room. The hydra was still slumped on the ground, a pool of greenish blood was already forming around it. The robed man was still lying on the ground unconscious as the group passed him by they would occasionally spit or kick the man. Miles grabbed some rope from his bag, and tied up the man’s arms and legs. After hefting the man over his shoulder he pointed the group forward.

“All right ladies and gents, our ride home is just outside so let’s carry on. Alice would you be a darl and take that skull, we’ll need it if we’d ever get the money back for this trip” Miles said pointing at the skull. Scared Alice approached the creature, her dagger now drawn as she got close to the hydra. With a deep breath she shoved the dagger hard into the neck of the creature, and slicing through it cleanly. The head fell to the floor as Alice hesistated at picking it up, a bag fell at her side. Looking up Alice saw Miles behind her, giving her a quick nod he led the captives out of the cave towards freedom. Alice stuffed the creatures head in the bag and followed the group. The hydra’s body quivered slightly as the water flowed over its neck. The body once again started to twitch. As the waves crashed around the rocks, the escapees saw the boat and ran for it.