The Warrior God (The Ares Trials #1) - Eliza Raine Page 0,56

head.”

“Shit.”

“Are you ready?” Ares asked, dropping his stance and leveling his sword at the Hydra.

Nope, but I sure as fuck wasn’t going to admit that to him. “Course,” I said, mimicking him, trying not to think about how under-armed I was. I loved my knife, I really did, but it had never, ever felt so inadequate. I was up against a twelve foot tall monster made of metal. It would so not be my first choice of weapon.

The thought actually hardened my resolve though, as the Hydra screeched again, and the pit of the floor finally clicked into place. Shoving my knife back into my pocket, I flexed my hands into fists, and the creature stamped and shuffled on the sand. This would have to be about speed and agility.

Your body is a weapon, your body is a weapon, I chanted. It was what I had told myself in prison, the only time I had been separated from my blade.

All three Hydra heads stopped squirming and locked on us. My skin tingled and my limbs shook with adrenaline, blood crashing in my ears. Before it could charge us though, Ares bellowed a roar, and launched himself forward. Abandoning all doubt to the dust, I screamed and followed him.

I saw instantly what he planned to do. As the metal beast powered forward to meet us, Ares dropped, skidding across the sand and raising his sword high above him in a point. He was going for the underbelly. Seizing the opportunity he was giving me by distracting it, I veered to the right. If I could get behind it, I would have a shot at climbing up its back. That had to be the easiest way of getting to one of the heads.

But I underestimated the creature. The head closest to me darted out as I reached it, and I heard Ares’ sword make contact with the metal. A shriek accompanied the shredding sound, but I couldn’t see if the cry had come from Ares or the Hydra because a freaking horned snake head twice the size of my own was snapping at me, metal fangs as long as my forearms glistening with black ooze. I tried to turn on a burst of speed but none came, and the thing caught the back of my ribs as I raced on. The impact was enough that I went flying forward, mercifully out of the thing’s reach, but painfully hard enough to totally screw up my landing. Pain lanced up through my ankle as I stumbled and fell, twisting it. I felt my face screw up as I rolled, turning so that I could see if the Hydra was still after me.

It wasn’t. All three heads were now trying to get under its own body as Ares crouched beneath it, slashing and stabbing with his sword.

“Get on its back!” he hollered.

I threw a glare at him as I scrabbled to my feet. Thank fuck for the toughened leather armor. If it was a fang that had caught my back, it would have gone straight through flesh. I tested my weight on my ankle, and though darts of pain sprang up my shin, it wasn’t debilitating. I first jogged, then ran toward the Hydra, taking care to stay behind it, out of reach of its long necks. But as I got close it began to stamp its feet hard, and a wave of heat washed over me.

I kept running as one head shot up high, reaching over the creature’s back and locking eyes on me. It opened its jaws wide, and an unearthly glow shone from deep in its throat. Uneasiness gripped me, and I tore my eyes from the head to its tail. I needed to climb up its tail to its back, and I could worry about why its mouth was glowing later.

I was only a few feet away. Spikes jutted up along the Hydra’s whole spine, and the metal it was made of what looked to be millions of tiny interlocking scales. I threw myself at its haunches as I reached it and cried out at the fierce heat of the material under my touch. But I held on, jamming my fingertips into the tiny gaps between the scales, and kicking with my feet to try to push myself higher.

I could hear Ares yelling but I couldn’t make out the words over the shrill screeching noise the Hydra was making. With an effort, I managed to pull myself up onto the thing’s