The Poison In The Blood Read Online Free Page A

young boy following him, he was angry. He ordered Iolus to return to his mother. Iolus refused. Instead, he scampered ahead of Heracles down a path that led to the swamps. There, by the side of the water, was a boat.
    “Let me row you,” said Iolus. “How else will you be able to get into the swamp?”
    Heracles stepped into the boat. “Give me the oars,” he said, “and go back to your mother.”
    “I won’t,” said Iolus.
    Heracles frowned. He reached for the oars. Iolus stepped backwards. At that moment, a wave hit the boat and Heracles and Iolus almost fell over. The wave washed them further into the bubbling waters of the swamp.
    “Wha . . . what was that?” stammered Iolus.
    Heracles held up a hand. “ssssshhhh.” He pointed. In the distance, something huge was slipping through the reeds. Then, with a splash, it vanished into a fresh expanse of water. A new wave came rushing towards the boat and rocked it so that Heracles and Iolus almost fell over again. The boat drifted further into the swamp.
    “What was it?” asked Iolus again.
    “Trouble,” said Heracles. He took an arrow from his quiver and placed it in his bow. Then he turned to Iolus and gestured with his head. There was no talk of sending Iolus back to his mother now. Iolus picked up the oars and began to row. The boat slipped through the water. The mist thickened. Not a sound could be heard except the splashing of the oars. Heracles crouched. His knuckles whitened around his bow. Iolus continued to row but it was becoming harder as the water seemed to thicken. He looked down at the swamp: it was green and purple and red. It bubbled with lazy plops. Then, suddenly, the oar hit something. He peered over the side and screamed. There, in the water, was a bobbing, half-eaten corpse. Iolus looked around. Corpses were everywhere. The swamp was a soup of melting corpses. Iolus screamed again.
    At that moment, something monstrous loomed out of the mist.
     
     
SIX
     
    At first there was only a single neck. It rose up high, like a snake’s. Its eyes were narrow with hunger. It had orange and scarlet frills around its neck. Its mouth snarled open. Its teeth were razor sharp. Drool dripped from them. When the drool landed in the water, it hissed. When it landed on mud or rushes, it burned them. The neck coiled and twisted. The head darted. The jaws were open wide. It spat poison at the boat. Iolus had to row frantically to avoid it. The boat rocked. Heracles stumbled. The water hissed and boiled where the monster’s poison splashed.
    Heracles pulled back the string of his bow. He aimed. He fired. The arrow sang as it flew. It thudded into the open mouth of the monster, which bellowed in pain. Its blood was black. It spurted out in a thick flood from between the monster’s jaws. It splashed into the water. Again the water boiled.
    “You killed it!” shouted Iolus. “You killed it!”
    “No,” replied Heracles. “Look.” He pointed.
    Iolus stared. Something seemed to be moving beneath the water. Coils, twisting and turning. “More snakes?” he yelled in terror.
    Heracles shook his head. He strung another arrow and gritted his teeth. “A hydra,” he whispered. “It is a hydra. A hydra with a hundred necks.”
    Suddenly a second head rose from the depths. Its neck arched high above the boat. It was followed by a third. Then a fourth, a fifth, a sixth. Heracles’s bow hummed. Arrow after arrow flew. But heads rose from the swamp faster than Heracles could shoot them; faster than Iolus could count them as well. Perhaps there were a hundred, he thought in terror. Perhaps more. The necks coiled and seethed and darted forwards and back. Arrows had hit many of them, but not all. And even those that Heracles had struck with an arrow continued to twitch and snap.
    “Over there!” yelled Heracles. He pointed to an island covered with reeds. “Row me over there!”
    Iolus obeyed. As the boat sped towards the island, the hydra followed. The water