Page 22 of The Crown of the Dark Prince
There was a reason people stayed away from this lake. A reason the stands were so far away from the water.
A shadow moved beneath the surface—huge. Unfathomably big.
Then a scaled head rose from the depths, water pouring off its emerald-green hide. Slitted golden eyes locked onto me, and a forked tongue flicked out to taste the air.
Then another head emerged.
And another.
And another.
The Hydraxan.
Ciclopia, the Mother of Beasts, had left one of her children here.
And now they wanted me to fight it.
Memorizing the beasts of Ciclopia had been part of my preparations for my first trial. Few of her children had lived into the modern era, but the Hydraxan was one of her deadliest creations - a beast that had survivedthousands of years. A creature so deadly that not even the most powerful warriors in Athenia had killed it.
The center head of the Hydraxan dipped low, its forked tongue flicking out, tasting the air as it inhaled deeply as it's slitted eyes flicked to my injured leg.
It scented my blood.
I didn’t move. Couldn’t. Pure fear, colder than I’d experienced in a long time, was falling over me in waves.
All seven heads turned toward me at once, their slitted golden eyes narrowing, their massive necks tensing. Then—they roared.
A piercing, gut-wrenching wail that ripped through the air like a storm of sound, rattling my bones so violently I thought they might shatter. The ground buckled beneath me. The air itself trembled. The force threw me to my knees before I even realized I had fallen and my vision a blur of vibrating color.
Shit.
I scrambled to my feet, shoving past the fiery pain in my calf, and sprinted.
The Hydraxan struck instantly.
A head lunged from the left, snapping shut inches from my throat. Another from the right, fangs glinting as it aimed for my shoulder. I barely twisted in time, throwing myself low, dodging by a hair.
The beast was everywhere.
A third head lunged for my ankles, forcing me to leap—but before I could fully land, another head struck from above, jaws parting wide.
It was going to swallow me whole.
A burst of magic shot from my palm, slamming into the beast’s open maw. The Hydraxan reeled back, but barely. It stumbled for only half a second before charging again.
No. No, no, no.
There was no outrunning it.
One of its heads rammed into my back, sending me flying forward. I hit the ground hard, landing awkwardly on a stone and the force knocked the air from my lungs. The pain was instantaneous, flaring through me as Ifeltmy rib crack on the impact. Dirt filled my mouth, blood roared in my ears.
I barely rolled in time to avoid a head snapping where my throat had been.
Another lunged for my wrist—its venom-coated fangs bared.
I jerked my arm away at the last second, but the sheer heat of its breath scorched my skin. If just one of those teeth pierced me—
I would be dead.
