The hydra was in a bad mood.
Dozens of head writhed frantically, snapping at each other with enough ferocity to behead.
Which explained why the zoo no longer had a three-headed hydra.
"How long has she been like this?" I asked, turning away from the enclosure to glare at the zookeepers. The younger two shifted nervously, but the third just shook his head.
"Since eleven."
"And you waited eight hours before contacting help?" I said, and the younger two flinched at my tone. How could they have been so careless? Hadn't they noticed the hydra's distress, especially when her heads started fighting?
"We thought it was just irritated by the harpies." Said the younger man, shaking as I glared at him. Barely more than boy, that one. Why they let him around the mythics, I would figure out later.
"I'll have to go in." I said, and final zookeeper started.
"You won't kill her, will you?" She asked, chin trembling as she glanced toward my belt.
I gave a grunt and turned away. "Charmers do what needs done."
Getting into the enclosure was easy, since the hydra was too preoccupied with its heads to notice me. As I approached the creature, I slipped my baton from its sheath. As I lifted it, a long ribbon of magic sprouted from one end and caught the wind.
Of course, it caught the hydra's attention.
All of the heads hissed at once as they turned to me. I twirled the baton, the ribbon of magic coiling in tight loops at the movement.
"Hey girl, I think you've snapped off enough heads for today." It was hard to hide my grin as I stared at the creature. This was my favorite part of being a charmer. Facing off with mythics like the hydra, never entirely sure if I'd walk away uneaten at the end of the day.
I'd been eaten once, and it wasn't fun enough to do again.
The heads on the right shot forward, and I cracked the baton like a whip.
Heads hit the ground with a thud, with the necks neatly cauterized by the baton's magic ribbon.
The remaining heads let out angry hisses, and struck.
I scurried away, snapping out lone heads when I could.
It was great fun, though my supervisor would likely complain that it was excessive pruning.
When there were only four heads left, I put away the baton. As the next head came at me, I jumped onto it.
Releasing a pouch from my belt, I tossed it in the head's mouth. It gobbled it up, and shuddered once before going limp.
Repeating the process with two more heads, I finally faced the main head.
I knew it was the main head by its scales. Hydra's always had one head which was a different shade than the others, and that head influenced all the others.
"You're alright, girl." I said, voice gentle as the main head gave a weak hiss. She probably felt the sedative I'd fed the other heads. Which was good, since that meant I could get closer without having to knock her out as well.
"You've had a rough day, haven't you?" I felt on my belt for the final pouch, knowing I'd only have one chance. The hydra head was moving slower now, with delicate movements.
I took one more step toward her, and the hydra's mouth opened to hiss.
And I threw in the pouch.
It swallowed the pouch, and the hydra blinked. The glazed look of pain faded from her black eyes, and the hydra relaxed. Even the unconscious heads seemed more at ease now.
I slowly backed away, though the creature was no longer interested in me.
Once safely outside the enclosure, I found the three zookeepers waiting for me.
"What did you do?" The girl asked, practically bouncing in her excitement.
"Trimmed the excess heads, subdued the secondaries, and gave the primary some pain killer." I said, before pointing at the head zookeeper. "Never let your hydra get such a bad headache again, or I'll revoke your mythic license."
He nodded, and my work was done.
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