Prologue: It's Been too Long
For the umpteenth time I look from one shackled wrist to the other and can’t help but think that, all in all, Celestia and Luna overreact too much. Shaking my head I look along the chains holding me to the great tree, marveling at how large it had grown while I was imprisoned. Hell, I could remember when I was first chained to it, though back then the chain had been looped around the tree. Over time though, the tree had grown over the chain, leaving me more so restrained than I had been. Fortunately for me, the chain had an enchantment that let them lengthen so that I wouldn’t eventually ripped apart because the chain ran out of slack.
I was dragged from my musings by the crack of dry brush underfoot. I searched the forest surrounding me before a pony galloped into the clearing, it's head turned to glance back at whatever seemed to be chasing it. Seeing it neither look ahead of itself or make any move to stop, I tensed my body. It crashed into me making an alarmed sound as it fell to the ground stunned.
I turned my attention to the area where the pony had come from. Presuming a couple of timber wolves or perhaps a manticore stalking the invisible boundary of my clearing, I was instead greeted with a couple of deep growls from the upper treeline. Looking up I saw something a bit more troublesome.
It was a fucking hydra. I had a problem with that.
See, when I was imprisoned, one of the spells that was a part of it was a natural deterrent. Most animals, predators included, would either avoid the clearing entirely or, once in a blue moon a greater predator would come near. They would smell something here and take a few steps in. Some other part of the spell would soon drive them away, taking with it another slim chance for freedom.
My problem stemmed from the fact that the hydra was classified as a greater predator. Not only that, but the pony had evidently pissed it off, because even now the great beast was eyeing us both from the trees with a couple of taloned toes breaking the unseen barrier.
I looked down at the pony, a tan pegasus stallion with a dark green mane and tail, both cut short to make travelling easier. His cutie mark was covered by brown saddlebags held shut by a simple bronze buckle. I gave him a casual kick to get his attention.
He rose to his haunches and looked up dazedly, his eyes trailing up my legs and torso, glancing aside at my shackled wrists and letting his gaze linger a bit on the wrappings on my right arm. Finally, the stallion let his eyes come to rest on mine, even as one of the hydra’s heads tasted the air for the scent of prey.
The pegasus whimpered as he glanced back at his pursuer. He looked back to me. "Please help me," he said with a surprising amount of calm, though an occasional twitch showed the fear that had driven him to run.
I raised an eyebrow. Did he seriously not see the one thing wrong with that request? “As much as I’d love to help,” I jangled the chains, “I’m a little tied up at the moment.”
He looked rapidly between me and the hydra now edging its way into the clearing. “I… I can help.” His eyes focused on me. “Swear you’ll protect me and I’ll free you.”
I smiled at this. “How long are we talking about?” I asked, anticipating the freedom just a few words away.
“I don’t care, just swear it!” he all but screamed.
My smile grew. “Deal. I swear on all things meaningful that I’ll protect you for the agreed-upon time in exchange for my freedom.” I tugged at the chains. “Now, please break me loose so I can do my job.”
The stallion nodded. Craning his head back he reached into his bags, sparing the emboldened hydra a panicked glance, and pulled out a compact pick. Unfolding it deftly he hefted it in his mouth. Once, twice, three times he swung it and three times it hit the manacle trapping my right wrist. With a shrieking protest the metal band gave way under the assault, breaking along minute faults that had been worn into it over time. The stallion quickly shifted his blows to the other manacle, breaking it as well.
I looked mournfully at what was surely a permanent ring of chafing around where the chains had held my left wrist. Pulling off the cloth from my right arm, I looked with some satisfaction that there was no such mark on the other wrist. I smiled lightly when my right hand twitched twice, then changed slightly, the fingertips growing inch-long claws.
My attention was drawn by the bellowing call of the hydra, now fully standing within my clearing. “I suppose you’re tired of being ignored,” I ask, not really expecting an answer. One of the five heads briefly looked at me before turning back to the pegasus. I frowned.
They snubbed me? In favor of some half-baked pony adventurer? That hurt. “Hey, hey, before munching on dessert over there, shouldn’t you at least try to eat your dinner?” I chuckled at the indignant look the stallion shot me. “What? You are smaller.” He just shook his head muttering something about odd creatures.
I caught a flash of movement in the corner of my eye. One of the hydra's heads crashed into the ground the stallion had stood on before I pulled him beside me. Moving quickly I stepped forward and stabbed my claw into it’s neck. The hydra threw its injured head back with a cry of pain, bringing me into range of the other heads. The nearest one snapped at me, its teeth piercing the flesh of my left arm. I barely had time to open my mouth before I found myself--quite literally--disarmed.
I screamed in tandem with the monster’s cry of victory. I watched as it tossed back its head, my arm sliding off the hydra’s fangs and into its throat. I whimpered as my eyes stayed focused on the offending head, now turning back to me.
“God dammit.” With those last words I let go of the neck I’d been holding onto, my gaze locked on the jaws seeking to finish the meal it had started.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
POV: ???
I couldn’t believe it. Sure the being wasn't nearly as tall as the hydra, and maybe he didn’t have a bunch of muscle, but the way he’d spoken with such confidence had made me think that he at least had some sort of plan. Evidently he was stupider than he looked, not only getting his arm bitten off, but getting swallowed by the same head! To think I’d lost time better spent making my getaway by gaping stupidly at him.
The heads, having made easy work of their meal, now looked back as me, giving a glare that promised great pain.
Well, I’m sure you were a nice… thing, whatever you were, but since you failed, I’ve gotta make up for lost time.
Just as I turned to run I heard a strange rumble. Evidently the hydra head it too, though it didn't seem to know what it was. A second rumble sounded and the hydra turned its heads to look at its stomach. The softer scales covering the beast's underbelly were discoloring, turning from a healthy tan to a rotten shade of violet not unlike a bad bruise. The bruising spread towards the hydra’s conjoined throats and moving up its necks.
All but one of the heads looked up at me and I could almost feel how inarticulately wrong the hydra felt in that moment. The hydra's legs quivered for a moment before giving way, pitching it forward into the dirt with one head thumping against the ground a few meters away.
Silence reigned supreme for a moment as I tried to figure out what had happened. A twitch from the neck extended in front of me drew my nervous attention. As I watched, the twitch traveled towards the maw of the beast. The light that filtered through the tree canopy finally managed to alight on the tall biped as he exited the mouth of the hydra, severed left appendage gripped in his right talons.
He looked down at me with a trace of amusement before lifting the bloodied end of the limb to what must be his shoulder. Nauseated, I watch as the muscle reaches out to the severed limb, latching on and pulling it back into place as the skin stretched and connected to cover the vulnerable muscle. In a matter of seconds the severed limb was reattached.
Stretching his body released a cacophony of cricks from his joints. Looking down at my disgusted face seemed to bring him amusement. He bent into what seemed a well-practiced bow as he spoke in a rehearsed manner. "As agreed: for services rendered; I, Alan Aengus, shall travel with and protect you until such time as you reach modern civilization." He smirked at me. "I'll take good care of you."
By Celestia's hot flank, what was I getting in to?