It was all going so well.

Well, at least as well as could be expected given the circumstances. For a town that hadn’t seen so much as a gnoll raiding party in months, the sudden appearance of a four headed hydra came as a bit of a shock. So much so, really, that far too many refused to believe that fact until it was, at the risk of sounding cliché, too late. Those with wings were able to confirm it pretty quickly, but even these warnings were dismissed at first as those grounded thought it was just people getting in on a hoax.

To say the least, I wasn’t too happy at being so ignored, a fact perhaps augmented by the fact I wasn’t a local. I’d only really stopped to rest a bit while flying cross county, not even knowing this backwater little town even existed. Wasn’t even on the map I was using. Still, the place was nicer on the interior than my initial scan would have led me to believe, and if it weren’t so far from any major trade lanes, it might well get some recognition. Heck, I’d hazard to say it was so middle of nowhere even the usual wandering creatures didn’t even know it was there. Or maybe a local mage had some kind of “don’t notice me” magical aura on the place. Might explain how everything seemed higher end than its frontier location, to put it mildly, would suggest. And why so many people were loathe to believe a hydra was heading straight for them, like such a claim was just people crying wolf to get a little attention.

Ahem.

Anyway, once I saw it, and saw that by the time people were going to take the threat seriously there wouldn’t be time to even grab personal belongings, I took wing again to try and stall it a bit, hoping that the stubborn wouldn’t take too much longer in realizing that so many people wouldn’t possibly be trying to pull the same prank simultaneously. Normally, my preferred tactic in a fight is to keep to the air and pepper foes with arrows until they fall or flee. Some may say it’s cheap, I say it’s effective. Besides, unless it’s an organized competition or “civilized” warfare, there truly aren’t any rules. Unfortunately, said tactic is less effective in an enclosed dungeon, and against certain creatures, a hydra being one of them. They heal up pretty quick, and I had no means of utilizing fire arrows at the time.

Even so, I hoped that haying it would delay it as needed. It seemed to be working fairly well at first, as I got its attention on the first couple shots, swooping low and being careful to stay out of range of those long necks. It hissed and snapped at me a few times as I put a few more arrows into it, pacing my shots to try and make my shots last. About the time I was growing confident that my stall tactic was working, the heads regarded me a moment, quickly and systematically began pulling out arrows with three maws as the forth looked ahead, and proceeded to the town at a quickened pace.

The hydra was smarter than I’d given it credit for, as it seemed to have figured out that I couldn’t really hurt it, and thus I posed little threat to it, and so it continued on to the anticipated buffet. Even worse, I was drawing a blank on alternative strategies. It wasn’t until I was looking around, as though something in the environment would inspire me, that I noticed that the whole time, we had been progressing closer to the town, and once the hydra got into its trot, it was within the town proper in little time. The following screams of surprise told me that the non-believers finally had changed their tune.

What happened next was clearer in hindsight than real time. As I lowered my altitude to get a better angle at the eyes, about the only thing my arrows were going to have a meaningful impact on, some dragon bloke shot out of one of the upper windows of the inn in a bid for escape. We barely dodged one another, I’m not quite sure how, but I had to duck low, the angle spilling the remainder of my arrows to the cobbles below before I could angle up for altitude. A startled yelp above me led me to believe that his course correction took him too close to the hydra.

He wasn’t the only, or the first, either, as I angled back down to collect my arrows, or at least one, I was determined not to flee and save my own skin. Surely someone else in this town knew how to fight, or could at the least bring fire to bear to keep the giant lizard from regenerating. Three of the heads were now occupied with meals, the third looking away from me for a morsel of its own, so I swooped down, managed to get three arrows in one grab, stroked my wings for lift and-

SCHMACK!

The lurching halt of forward momentum felt like my spine nearly disconnected from my pelvis. Both arms and wing shot out past my head and I was sure they were going to go on ahead without me. Luckily, I was not dismembered, but I lost grip of both bow and arrows, which whirled through the end before landing in the town square. I went just about limp as the sudden stop rattled my brain a bit, sorting itself out in time to register something soft, nimble, and wet working its way up the front of my torso and behind my neck. It took just a few more moments to put together what all the feelings around my body added up to.

I looked back in reflex, though I’d already figured out what had happened, and sure enough, I saw the maw of one of the hydra heads clamped down around my waist. The look in its eyes seemed to saw that it was going to enjoy eating the one who had so pestered it, but that might have been my mind playing tricks on me. Apparently, it wasn’t as distracted as I’d thought and I’d cut it a little too close going for my arrows. Fortunately, I still had the use of my wings, so I did what I could to flap them in his eyes so that, maybe, in its distraction, it’d loosen its grip and I might be able to slip out. Being honest with myself, I knew I was in a tight spot, in both a highly literal and figurative sense, but I wasn’t going down without a fight at the very least.

At first, I tried to pry its tongue off me, which was its greatest leverage point, but even with my minimal claws, it was just too slippery to get a firm hold, so I quickly shifted my grip to its lower jaw, where at least some of it wasn’t covered by saliva. Thing is, brute strength isn’t my forte, it’s why I stick to archery and distances when I can. Between gullet and tongue, I found myself slipping in at an alarming rate, and though I hated to do it, I was forced to quickly tuck in my wings or risk them being snapped at the joint by the upper jaw.

By this point, I was borderline panicking, as I was quickly more in than out of the hydra’s mouth. Its tongue may as well have been an appendage for as well and gripped and tugged me, quickly soaking my clothes in saliva as it did so. Of course, as more of me moved from open air to mouth, and mouth to gullet, I was just about soaked to the point I think it could have just tilted its head back and let me slide down without actually swallowing, if it weren’t for the death grip I was still maintaining on its lower jaw. For a moment, I hoped that reverse was true, in that maybe I was slippery enough to maybe pull myself out. That plan proved itself futile pretty quickly, as I strained my arms and didn’t budge, and it wasn’t even actively swallowing when I did so.

When it did swallow, there was no mistaking it, but lower half being clenched by the surrounding muscle and pulled down. That one gulp was enough to pull me in to the point my arms were outstretched before me, holding on the glimmer of hope that was still daylight in front of me. The second gulped proved just how much its muscles were stronger than mine, and my grip was finally pulled from its jaw. I slipped down its throat with dismaying ease, and I was sure it wasn’t even taking full gulps to get me down, just undulating the muscles enough to massage me down.

A few seconds later, and I exited the throat tunnel and into the surprisingly cavernous stomach. I could tell it was abnormally roomy because the walls were equally surprisingly lightly luminescent. Unfortunately, this meant the dragon who was swallowed before me recognized me and berated me for ruining his escape. I didn’t bother with a rebuttal, and before long he was shut up by someone landing on him. The five of us soon became six, and I stopped bothering to count past eight. I’d already noted that the stomach of the beast seemed rather devoid of fluids, just enough to keep the interior moist, and nothing that looked like digestive juices. That, combined with the fact that it was swallowing so many people alive and whole, led me to believe that this thing wasn’t just a normal beast looking for a meal.

Who or what made this thing, and for what purpose, I was going to find out. I just hoped it wouldn’t take too long. It was more than a little cramped in there.

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Art by  Derilect
Damian by me
Other characters by their respective owners
Original here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/25786042/