"Gladiator (Updated)" by James ´Jimbo Fett ´ Inwood

The crowds were roaring for more as the unfortunate individual was thrown to the baking hot sand floor of the amphitheatre.

A little puddle appeared near his legs as the Hydra towered over him, saliva dribbled from the beast’s draconic maw as it anticipated the coming feast.

With trained reflexes he got back up onto the floor quick as lightning, now if only he could get to his sword in time he thought…

But he was too late. The beast lunged at him. Jaws clamped onto the man’s leg snapping it like a twig. It lifted the doomed fighter into the air finally bringing him down with an almighty crash.

Back broken and with a mangled leg, the fighter slipped into oblivion as the crowds went wild in a blood lusted frenzy.

The Hydra slithered over to the freshly slain human, hoping to gorge it self on the tender meat which had dared to attack it.

But the crowd wanted more.

The trapdoor opened, heralding the entrance of another warrior, which had come to slay the foul monster - for the amusement of the crowd of course.

He stepped out onto the harsh sand; his bronze armor shone in the fierce glare of the sun. His scarred face squinted in apprehension at the beast which he was about to face.

Unsheathing his scimitar he marched forward.

The Hydra was barely halfway through his meal when the cacophony of human voices caused it to raise one of it’s nine heads.

So another human had come, good it thought you could never have enough man-flesh to eat.

The Hydra’s scaly body slithered away towards the gladiator.

Both man and monster circled each other. Both experienced fighters they attempted to find an opening or a weakness in each other that they could exploit.

But the Hydra was growing careless; it would usually listen to its brains rather than its stomach, but the prospect of two humans to eat spurred the creature on towards a reckless manoeuvre.

It lunged it’s nine heads snapping franticly, hoping to catch the gladiator from all sides in a hugging motion; in which it would lift him up and tear him limb from limb.

Unfortunately the gladiator was expecting this.

With gritty determination he quickly stepped forward and swung his scimitar beheading one of the hydra’s head’s.

Showered with gore the gladiator calmly stepped back; eyes closed as not to get the mildly acidic blood in them.

Pain coursed through the Hydras neck shuddering all the way down its reptilian body. It decided to try a different tactic.

Lunging forward left and right, and right and left; changing its pattern randomly to confuse the human - hoping to catch him out and tear his head off.

Meanwhile the gaping wound on the end of the Hydras neck began to close.

The gladiator began to worry; he saw right through the Hydras plan, it had hoped he would continue chopping it’s head’s off unaware they would simply grow back, waiting for him to tire.

If he couldn’t behead the monster how could he ever hope to defeat it?

As he dodged another of the Hydra’s snapping maw’s he had an idea.

What about the tail?

Putting his sword away he rolled into a ball towards the beast under its many necks, where it couldn’t reach him so easily.

Quickly he brought his scimitar out and severed the tail.

Hissing and spitting in agony the Hydra was felled like a tree, without legs to support it’s considerable bulk; it needed its tail and without it was immobile.

The triumphant gladiator brought out his scimitar for the final killing blow stabbing the beast in the back.

Fountains of blood squirted out of the wound onto the gladiator’s armor and face. He fell back, overwhelmed by the pain as the blood began to eat away at his flesh and disintegrate his armor.

Before he died he had found out why no one had ever gutted a Hydra - it was because no one had ever lived to tell the tale.

The last thing he saw was the Hydra: eight of it’s heads writhing and hissing while its life blood ravenously ate away at the scimitar impaled it its gut, and the crowd cheering at the spectacle.

Which he had given his life to please.