The Warrior God (The Ares Trials #1) - Eliza Raine Page 0,55
stage was deafening. They were cheering for Ares of course, the golden blur who had devastated the three cyclopes half an hour earlier.
I stood straighter as he waved the sword he had won at the crowd. The red plume on his helmet fluttered as he moved, and I couldn’t help rolling my eyes. I was developing an unnatural resentment of his helmet, and I had no idea why.
It’s because it covers his beautiful face, the sex-starved part of my brain piped up. I ground my teeth together. Maybe the extraordinarily high levels of excitement and adrenaline I had experienced since coming to Olympus had done something to my sex drive.
Or maybe I had just met the first man in the world who could handle me.
“Are you ready, mighty God of War?” boomed Pain’s voice, and I pulled my knife from my pocket, focusing. It was time to prove to everyone what I was made of.
“Hephaestus has provided me with a monster fit for a God for your second round!” Pain’s voice was filled with glee.
“Hephaestus makes creatures from metal,” Ares said to me, moving so that his back was to mine.
“More electricity then?” I asked.
“I doubt he would use the same trick twice,” he growled back. The ground rumbled for the second time, but when I looked to the gates, they remained closed. “Move!” barked Ares, and I realized with a jolt that the center of the pit was dropping. We both moved fast, reaching the edge of the ring where the ground was stable and turning back. The middle section of the pit had dropped too far to be able to see what was down there, and I began to step cautiously toward the edge, to peer down. Ares’ arm shot out across my front, stopping me.
“But-” I started and he shook his head, plume bouncing.
“It will rise again in a moment. Carrying our foe.”
“Oh.” This must be common in the pits then. “Should we spread out?”
“No. If it is entering the pit this way, then it is too large for the gates. We should stay where we can communicate.”
My surprise at his willingness to work together was only dampened slightly by my alarm that we would be fighting something too big to fit through the gates. They were eight feet tall at least. What the fuck was coming?
I didn’t have to wait long to find out. I saw its head first, rising from the hole in the middle of the pit. Made from shining metal, the back of its serpentine head was ringed with vicious-looking horns, and black oily liquid dripped from silver fangs. Adding to its snakelike appearance, the head was attached to a long neck, and I held my breath to see if it would be followed by a body with limbs, or if it actually was a snake.
It wasn’t a snake. It was much, much worse than a snake.
The neck was attached to a body. A huge hulking body with four legs ending in lethally clawed feet. But that wasn’t what was causing my pulse to rocket and my heart to pound in my chest. There were two other heads attached to the body. Three long necks wound around each other as the heads snapped and snarled at us and very real fear trickled down my spine, my breath quickening.
“Say hello to my new Hydra!” sang Pain.
“Don’t cut off any heads!” Ares said urgently. I gaped at him.
“What the fuck do you think I’ll be cutting them off with?” I held up my tiny flick-blade as the Hydra made an awful screeching sound. Ares’ eyes darted to the little weapon, then back to me.
“For every one head removed, two grow back,” he said.
“You’re the one with the sword,” I snapped. “How the hell are we going to kill it?”
“I’ve only seen one before, and it was disabled by someone pulling out the power source in its head.”
The pit floor was almost level again, and I didn’t think we’d have long once it was flat before the Hydra charged. “How do we get up to its head?” I was estimating its height at about twelve feet easily. My usual red mist, and calm focus wasn’t coming. My breath was short, and my hyped up heart-rate was making my limbs shake.
I dragged at the blind confidence I had felt just moments ago, trying to fill myself with it. I had to prove myself. I had to prove myself.