Within the next few minutes, Skamos received a reply from Surina: "Help dispatched but may not arrive on time. If it does, look to the skies." He was about to tell the team when Olorin's voice chimed in that his message was received and that he would let Skamos know if Alaric contacted him. The bard waited a moment to see if the wizard from Shadowfell would also reply, but nothing came through.
Once everyone was up to speed, they saddled up the animals and loaded their belongings before heading off to the first mile gate, ready for anything that stood in their way. Taking up the front position, Magra hoisted Feyre up onto her shoulders.
"Uh, what are you doing?", Feyre asked. "I can already fly, and Ru has a carpet you could sit on if you want a better view."
"Yeah, I know," the half-orc replied matter-of-factly, "but it's been a while since we did this." She clasped her large hands over the gnome's dainty ankles for more support.
"If you say so," Feyre chuckled. Although she wouldn't admit it, she appreciated the gesture and felt a nostalgic comfort. From her vantage point, she could see the road was clear at least until a slight bend far ahead. About fifteen minutes later, the quiet was broken.
"P-CAW P-CAW!" The shrieking bird call jolted everyone to attention and was followed by more whoops and trills. Then they noticed it was just Feyre with her hands cupped around her mouth.
"Feyre, I can't hear anything around with your squawking," Aeldevan complained from the end of the caravan, walking alongside Nick. "I need to make sure no one sneaks up on us."
Lounging comfortably on the rucksacks in the cart at the middle of the group, Skamos turned around to face front, "Yeah, and how can I possibly focus on reading?"
"Well excuse me," Feyre said, offended. "I'm trying to call a bird over so that we can get some dinner."
"You probably scared away any birds around," the bard quipped as he reopened his book.
Before Feyre could retaliate, Ru held up her hand for everyone to hold, pausing her carpet to hover ten feet in the air. Not used to surfing on it, the stop almost hurled her over the edge. After regaining her balance, she turned her head to listen more intently to rumbling only she had noticed. "I hear something where it is."
Feyre gave her a dumbfounded face. "Could you be little more specific, please?"
"It's coming from over that way." The dwarf pointed to the forest on their left, about half a mile before their destination. "I see a gray structure up ahead just beyond that curve, but I think whatever's making that rumbling is going to collide with us before we reach it."
"I'll walk just inside the tree line so I'm not as noticeable," Magra volunteered. The half-orc released her friend's legs, and the wings on Feyre's boots started flapping to let her float in place.
"I'm coming with you," Aeldevan announced as he smoothly shifted into a panther and trotted to her side.
"It's time to get pumped up," Magra warned him as she swung her arms back and forth and took a deep breath, about to let it out in a rageful shout.
Just before she exhaled, Aeldevan quickly slapped her lips with his large paw. Her eyes widened in surprise, but she understood and made a motion at her lips like she was locking them up and throwing away the key. At that moment, the druid heard the sound that Ru described now split into two locations. While one source continued its way towards the trail, the second source began circling behind them, knocking down trees in its path.
Aeldevan gave his friend a nod before silently moving further into the woods alone, hoping to catch one of the them by surprise. About a quarter mile later, he caught a glimpse of a very large creature with scales, although he wasn't sure of their color. Not wanting his allies to be caught off guard, he stealthily navigated back to Feyre who would be the only one that might understand him in his current form. All he could manage to tell her was, "Dragons?", before running back into the woods.
"Alright everybody," Feyre announced. "We're about to encounter something big, possibly dragons." Without another word, they all got into formation. Ru stowed her carpet in the wagon and pulled out her maul, Magra readied her axe at the road's edge, and Skamos swapped his book for his shield. Feyre remained in the air but now with her blades out.
Aeldevan peered back and saw his friends get ready. Reassured, he focused on his task and prowled closer to the frontward noise, inching closer as the rumbling got louder. As soon as the sound stopped, he looked up through the brush and saw two reptilian heads peering down at him. What he was hunting had also turned out to be hunting him.
◊◊◊
In front of Aeldevan with a set of five heads loomed a hydra, each scaly face giving a toothy smile. The panther growled back confidently, remembering the other hydra they defeated at the lake near the ruins of Napkit. Unfortunately, backup wasn't coming for him since the other rumbling creature revealed itself on the other side of his friends. This creature also reared five heads, but each one was vastly different not only from the first hydra but from each other. The brief moment Aeldevan was distracted realizing it was a dracohydra was just enough time for first one to tear into the feline's lithe body with its jagged teeth, forcing him back into his half-elf form.
Luckily, Skamos wasn't caught off guard and also remembered their last fight with a hydra. He immediately cast Burning Hands, instantly reducing one of the dracohydra's heads to ash. In retaliation, the monster breathed multicolored energy that inflicted the entire party with an acidic burn. Skamos's hellish heritage allowed him to send another blast of fire back at the creature but not enough to remove second head. However, he was grateful for that when a moment later the dracohydra grew back two heads.
"Isn't it not supposed to do that since I hit it with fire?", the Tiefling shouted.
"It must not have the same weakness as the last one we fought," Feyre realized out loud as she flitted around the beast, luring its heads closer to the ground to be within melee reach.
Ru charged in shouting, "I don't know what you're all talking about, but I bet this will still hurt it," as she bashed one of its lowered heads to dust.
Aeldevan shouted over his shoulder as he brandished his flame sword, "I'll keep this one distracted while you focus on that one!" As he and the hydra exchanged blows, the rest of Haven's Blade assaulted the dracohydra relentlessly.
Magra severed another head with her demon axe, spitting in its eyes at it hit the ground. As the creature's other heads released a second breath attack of poisonous fumes, it again regenerated double the heads it had lost, giving it eight total now.
"This isn't looking good!" Magra shouted as she rolled out of the way of the toxic cloud.
Aeldevan lent support from afar against the dracohydra with Blight before he shifted into a giant crocodile, further blocking the regular hydra from any possible attack on his allies while also buffing his own defense.
Deadly breath and gnashing teeth were met by magical daggers and steel weapons. The dracohydra smacked Feyre out of the air, knocking her out as her limp body thudded against a tree. Both Magra and Ru roared as they ran at it, each taking out a head in their onslaught.
"Let's finish these guys with a fire storm," Skamos declared, pulling out his Ollamh harp. "Hold him down, Aeldevan!"
The druid listened and kept the hydra pinned to the ground with his massive jaws. A second after Skamos melodically plucked the harp's strings, fire rained down from the cold cloudy sky, controlled to pelt both hydras with molten drops while avoiding the member's of Haven's Blade. Although it didn't have the same weakness to fire, the dracohydra still suffered plenty of damage. Its multitude of heads howled as its flesh melted away from its bones until it was nothing but a mass of cooked meat. The first hydra only lost a head, but it wouldn't be growing any back due to the flames.
"Now's our chance!" Magra shouted.
They all rallied and turned towards the remaining monstrosity whose health Aeldevan had slowly been chipping away at without giving it the opportunity to regrow any heads. Now with his backup, the crocodile viciously chomped off the head he was holding as Magra and Ru hacked and pummeled the creature, helping bring it down to its last remaining head.
Skamos stepped forward, rubbing his hands to create friction as they began to glow, and released another blast from his fingertips, focusing the blaze on its head. The flames whirled and raged, and despite the intense heat incinerating it, the hydra emitted a guttural laugh until Skamos concentrated the flames to sever it from its neck.
"And that's how it's done," Skamos concluded, snapping his fingers and giving his friends a wink. "Let's call these guys Nam and Nom since their cooked flesh actually smells pretty good."
"Maybe we can take some to go," Ru joked as she ran over to give Feyre much needed medical attention. She was able to stabilize her before Aeldevan got there, so he helped heal her enough to get her back on her feet.
Looking up, the druid realized some of the forest had caught on fire from all of Skamos's attacks. He focused on a nearby creek and controlled the water to quickly put them out. Unfortunately, he couldn't do much to get rid of the smoke rising over the treetops. He addressed the others who were still catching their breath, "The fires are out, but anyone nearby could've seen them and the smoke. Let's grab what we can from these bodies and get out of here in case any orcs get curious."
The team hustled and managed to get an array of useful materials despite the condition of the bodies. Ru extracted several vials of dracohydra blood, and Aeldevan took the head that Magra had cut off and was spared from the fires. Skamos only had time to pull a few dozen teeth off the hydra, and Magra peeled enough scales off it to fill a small sack.
"Alright," Skamos said as he closed his bag of fangs, "time to go."
