Chapter 331 - The Great Horned Serpent

The Great Horned Serpent slid away from the bank and rushed into the depths of the marsh. The mists around her cleared as she slid across the waters to finally come to a stop sending a small wave into the marshy tree line. The mist still lingered around her in a circle as she coiled ready to strike.

From the mist emerged a hooded wizard wearing an orange clay mask. In the moonlight, the old Grecian mask glowed most evilly. The mask had a large smiling figure the eyes slit were crescent moons, a large nose, large ears at the side, and an even wider grin. "Abomination, why have you come to seek me?" The Great Horned Serpent hissed in English.

"I have come for your child, of course," the wizard coldly replied. Despite his many years of efforts, it was only possible to learn to understand parseltongue, but never to truly speak it. No matter how much he tried only those born with the magic gift could ever properly speak the serpent's language.

"I smashed my own egg rather than allow my own daughter to fall into your corrupted hands!" The Great Horned Serpent roared causing a small wave of water to be thrown about.

"You lie!" The masked wizard bellowed utterly enraged. "You'd never allow the child with so much effort to be produced be so easily destroyed."

"My child is gone and out of reach," the Great Horned Serpent hissed as the truth could be heard ringing in her voice.

"Foolish creature," the hooded wizard roared. "Then you are of no further use to me!"

"Abomination, your day will come," the Great Horned Serpent roared back. "I was but an egg when I was carried away by ships to this foreign land. And even then, I could sense your foul stench. You will never find that which you seek Abomination. Of that, I can promise!"

"Enough!" The masked wizard thundered in fury.

Taking hold of his wand he began to chant magic of old, which most of the wizarding world had forgotten. The Great Horned Serpent began to hiss as well as the water around her began to move and rise around her. Suddenly a white-hot beam emerges from the wizard's wand as the Great Horned Serpent moves impossible fast to the side to dodge despite her great girth. The surrounding water instantly evaporates and burns where the great beam hit.

The Great Horned Serpent wasn't one to toy with either as the waters around her rise to form pointed daggers and blast towards him. To his utter shock, the water icicles turn into real ice and blast his shield apart. "And where did you learn to do that?" The masked wizard hissed as he'd just barely managed to avoid the shower of deadly icicles.

"One learns a trick or two in a foreign land," the Great Horned Serpent hissed as she raised her massive tail and blasted him through the trees. The wizard was nothing but a bloody paste against the trees, but still, she warily watched. A soft musical hum escaped from her mouth as she coiled up again intently sniffing the air.

Dozens more of hooded figures appear all wearing the same old orange Greek mask as one of them says, "I must congratulate you on destroying one of my dolls," the wizard said. "But I am many and we are all one." The hooded figures surge forward as the Great Serpent slams the marsh with her tail causing one body to be smushed and another wizard to be impaled into a tree right through the chest.

Swirling magic gathered around her as the orange masks fell to reveal the dying faces of men and women. But still, the figures keep on coming and coming until the Great Horned Serpent is overwhelmed.

Weak and bleeding the Great Horned Serpent draws herself up proudly. "I will not even leave a single scrap for your puppets use, Abomination," the Great Horned Serpent growled as the blue gem on her forehead began to fiercely glow.

Suddenly there was an explosion that could be heard for miles as the area was entirely blasted into smithereens. Not a single masked figure was left standing in the end except for one. The one who had been watching all along from the distance, the puppeteer.

This masked figure unlike the rest had a white, stone, rather stern mask that of Zeus. The eyeholes were dark gapes as the masked wizard strides over to the blast sit. "Foolish creature," the wizard said as he stopped at the edge of the crater.

"I would have been merciful and let you live. But given that you just caused your own death, I have no choice, but to believe your words that you have indeed destroyed your egg. A pity really, but this will only be a small setback in the grand scheme of things."

The masked figure turns away as he sniffs and apparated away. Not long after the members of the ministry of magic hurriedly arrive but all they find is a singular blast site. None of the Auror's knew what to make of the scene as there was nothing found at the blast site. They quickly wrote the incident off as a freakish, rare occurrence and rushed back to the wizarding grounds. There were still plenty of party-goers out in the open and they all needed to be carefully watched.

Back in the Prince tent, Rowan had carefully placed the egg and horn gifted into her enchanted travel bag. But using her world mapscape map she watched the figures arrive to surround the dot on her map that read as the Great Horned Serpent. One by one the dots all went out including the dot of the Great Horned Serpent.

A bit of a sad feeling wells up inside of Rowan. The Great Horned Serpent was the first snake that she'd actually enjoyed talking too. And she'd have liked to ask the serpent more questions but that was impossible now.

Just about to pull away from the map in her mind, Rowan sees a single dot remaining. The dot didn't have a name but rather read as Hydra. Why on earth didn't the real person's name show? Or is it because that's how they viewed themselves as?

Pondering the sudden ramifications, she wonders if her mapscape can be tricked by Polyjuice or a state of mind. In that case, maybe, the map wasn't to be trusted as much as she originally thought. With that disturbing thought in mind, Rowan didn't get much sleep the rest of the night. But she wasn't the only one. For a certain Hydra was plotting his next course.