Myxius was still swinging strongly, but she was not frantic anymore. The horsemen had fallen behind and she knew they would not be able to catch up. She changed direction anyway, just to be sure. Now she was travelling north. Although they had held up longer than she had thought they would, her arms were beginning to tire. They began to burn slightly with each swing, and Myxius knew if she didn’t find somewhere soon to rest up, she’d be unable to move tomorrow.

As she was swinging, she started to hear strange noises from up ahead. It was growling and roaring and shouting and it began to get louder, and just as Myxius started to think they perhaps she should change direction again, the trees began to thin. There was a clearing ahead, and Myxius almost missed a branch. A hydra! She had spotted a multi-headed hydra protruding from the swamp, and as Myxius swung closer, she saw a little dwarf man run up a steep fallen tree toward the hydra. Near the top, he slipped and fell, and began falling through branches. Myxius strained to swing faster, hoping she might get there in time to catch him, but his foot caught in a branch and his fall was halted.

As Myxius got closer she noticed another man, a giant man, advancing on one of the hydra’s heads and not taking notice of another head turning towards the little dwarf. Myxius reached him and perched on a branch nearby, where she could reach his foot. She grabbed it and he didn’t move, so he was definitely unconscious. The hydra’s head was closing in so Myxius unwedged his foot from the branch and held his weight as she looked for a swinging path. Luckily he’s a dwarfy person, or I wouldn’t be able to hold him!

Myxius launched for a branch heading away from the hydra and managed to grab hold before the dwarf’s weight pulled her down. She let their bodies swing to gain some momentum, and then she let go and flew to another branch. It was a slow and painful process for her arms, but they had began high up enough that they could half fall away from the hydra for at least five more branches, and even now the hydra couldn’t reach them unless it moved it’s whole body in their direction. Myxius kept going though, just to be safe. As they swung to what looked to be their last clear branch, the dwarf suddenly woke up, and began struggling as he tried to work out what was happening. Myxius’s balance was broken and she missed the branch, and as they fell Myxius realised that there was a woman crouching down on the ground next to the tree, and they were heading right for her. At the last moment she looked up and saw them, but it was too late. Myxius and the dwarf man tumbled into the woman, and they all fell in a heap.