"Are we there yet?" asked Marie
"Almost," said Edgar, "it should only be 3 more miles."
Our heroes walked by a large skeleton that resembled a dinosaur.
In the distance, was a young woman crawling towards the group of heroes, "Hello there, I need help!"
"Hello there," called Edgar, "Who are you?"
"My name is Shelly," said the woman as she crawled closer, "My people are under attack at lake Waral!"
"Lake Waral?" asked William, "That's where we are going?"
As Shelly got closer, Will and the others noticed that her lower body was a fish tail.
"Of course," said Edgar, "Lake Waral was rumored to have a population of mermaids."
Mermaids are a race of aquatic half fish half humanoid people who live in water. They are humanoid above the waist and fish below. Although they can live on land since they don't breathe, it's harder for them to move around of land as opposed to the water.
"Are you from the ark?" Asked Shelly.
"Yes we are." said Edgar, "We are looking for water."
"Please help us. There is a hydra there that is killing off my people."
"A hydra?" said Will.
"Where did it come from?" asked Marie.
"Well a wizard had moved into the area recently." said Shelly, "I don't know for sure but I do know that the hydra showed up almost immediately after that."
"Could this wizard have summoned it?" Edgar asked Cayleb, "Could it be done?"
"Well that's advanced magic for me." said Cayleb, "But it can be done. It was originally bred by dark wizards, but there was not been a dark wizard in these parts in decades.
"Legends say that a hydra egg is created when a dragons egg is layer in the middle of a snake nest. The hydra is a dangerous beast with nine heads and will eat anything that moves."
"So it's a dragon snake hybrid." said Will.
"Can you help us? Please!" begged Shelly, "My father is the mayor, he will give you all of our water if you let us on the ark."
"Of course Shelly," said Edgar, "There is plenty of room of all of us. That's why it was build in the first place. I'm surprised that you and your people didn't come sooner."
"Thank you your highness." said Shelly.
"Let's go to the lake then we can call in the ark to pick everyone up."
After only ten minutes, Prince Edgar and the other arrived at lake Waral. It was huge (big enough for several fleets to sail in) and beautiful with mountains and cliffs in the distance.
Lake Waral was the biggest fresh water lake in Randolf, about 49,300 sq miles with an Average depth of 483 feet.
The mermaids had been living in lake Waral in peace for 196 years with little contact with the outside world.
"Well I don't see anything." Said Marie, "Everything looks peaceful."
"Be careful here." said Shelly, "The hydra can strike suddenly. I will tell the others that you are here." And with that, Shelly dove into the water and disappeared beneath the surface.
Edgar turned on a device and spoke into it. "Hello Ark, come it ark. This is Prince Edgar."
"Come in Prince Edgar." said Ora, the radio operator.
Ora was a dwarf with dark brown hair and a long brown beard. He wasn't a miner or mechanic like most dwarves, he was in his mid thirties and a very brainy dwarf and liked solving problems with his mind.
Dwarves are a fascinating race of 4 foot tall people, most of them like to either do mining or build structures. Apart from their size, dwarves are usually recognizable by a long beard (at least males are) and deep voices. Although dwarves are usually very hotheaded by nature and can anger easily they are on good terms with most races.
"Ora, will have found a Colony of mermaids here at Lake Waral. I will need you to bring the arc here and pick them up while we test the water." said Edgar
"Roger that," said Ora, "I will inform your father immediately. Ark over and out."
"The water looks clean." Said William as he bend of to examine the water.
Something moved below the surface.
"Water!" Cried Cayleb and a small burst of water seemed to appear from out of the wand. It was clean!
"So the land here is not cursed?" asked Marie.
"Of course," said Edgar, "This hydra is inhabiting the waters and The fresh water everywhere else as far as we know is cursed." Whoever this evil wizard is he must want people to come here so the hydra can eat them."
"Why?" asked Marie
"To feed his pet I guess." said William as noticed some movement in the water, "I think we've got company."
Suddenly William jumped back as a serpent-like being burst out of the water with a hiss.
"Magic missile!" cried Cayleb as a beam of energy shot out of his wand and hit the serpent in the face.
The serpent shook its head and roared at Cayleb.
Just then three more heads just like the first emerged from the water, and then two more.
Edgar swung his sword at one of the hydra's head, knocking out one of its teeth.
Three more heads came out of the water followed by a large body with black rough dragon-like skin and a long tail.
One head came toward William with its mouth wide open.
William swung his sword at the head, cut through its neck.
The hydra roared in pain as the head rolled off its neck.
"One down!" yelled William.
The neck of the Severed head began to twitch and in the blink of an eye, two more heads grew in its place.
"What the?" yelled William.
"Of course!" said Cayleb as Edgar sliced off another head.
"What do you mean?" asked Marie as two more head grew.
"Sir Haggar once Mentioned that a hydra can grow its heads."
William screamed as one of the hydra's heads bit into his arm.
William jumped back in pain. "That hurt!"
"Fire!" Cried Cayleb as his wand shot a burst of flame at the hydra.
"Are you okay?" Said Marie as she moved to William's side.
"It's just a scratch." Said William, "If it wasn't for this chainmail he could have taken my arm right off!"
Cayleb casted another fire spell and the hydra was covered in flames.
"Heal!" Yelled Marie as she pointed her staff at William's arm. The pain was gone in an instant.
"What did you do that for?" asked William with a bit of annoyance, "it was just a scratch."
"You can never be too careful," said Marie. 'Why do men always act like they never need help?'
The hydra backed into the water putting out the flames.
"Come on you creep!" Said Edgar as he and Cayleb backed up away from lake, "You won't get us in the water! You'll have to come over here!"
As the hydra moved towards Edgar, William and Marie, Cayleb sneaked around in back of it. Now he could burn it and it couldn't get back to the water.
"Fire!"
As Edgar and William both cut off two heads, the fire burned the bare necks and no new heads could grow forth.
After 20 minutes of the fire blasts and chopping off each of the heads, the hydra finally dropped dead.
"It's down, it's down!" said William.
The body of the hydra laid still for several minutes.
"It would have attacked us by now," said Edgar, "it's safe to say to it's dead."
The skin began to melt off of the bones of the hydra very quickly, in less than a minute only the skeleton was left.
"I would call that dead." said William.