14-5
From the cave entrance darted the Snake King, its sword drawn and its leathery hood raised. It raced at Syffox with a loud hiss that exposed dripping fangs. The King had been dreaming of this reunion ever since they last parted.
Syffox released his arrow at the Snake King instead, but in a blink, the beast slipped out of the way and continued the charge. The monster was in front of him before he could draw another arrow. The Snake King knew this time not to give the archer any distance between them. He crashed his sword down on Syffox with both his hands.
Syffox jumped aside, and the serpent slashed again. Syffox had no choice but to dodge. The Snake King was not going to give him a chance to fire an arrow. Syffox tossed his bow aside, and with a roll backwards, he drew his two short swords.
Vantaiga and the tree continued to struggle with the phantasmal hand. She wasn’t sure how long the scraggly tree could hold, but she hadn’t replenished enough magic to join the fight. She scanned the sky and mountains—a family of sand grouse and a small flock of pigeons were all she could find. Where were the vultures and hawks when she needed them? She cursed to herself as she reluctantly summoned the pigeons.
The Master of Servants clenched a piece of metal and cast a spell that forced a magical will upon Vantaiga. She tried resisting the spell, but her body stiffened, and she fell to the ground, unable to move. The pigeons, still coming to her aid, swooped in on the mage. She knew they wouldn’t be able to distract him for long. She had to end this fight quickly. She commanded the shrubs next to Syffox to entangle the Snake King.
The shrubs were not large enough to reach the creature, but Syffox could see them struggling to help. Between dodges, Syffox led the Snake King closer to the bushes. They flicked and scratched at the monster, distracting it enough for Syffox to parry the serpent’s cruel blade and jab a sword into the beast’s ribs.
The Snake King hissed in pain and instinctively dashed sideways, falling more deeply into the entwining bushes. The bushes engulfed the Snake King and rolled the beast onto its back. Syffox struck to plunge his sword, but his strength was waning. The Snake King grabbed his hand and held back the strike. The creature then tried lashing out with its fangs, but it was too bound by the bushes. It leaned back its head and growled out a loud hiss into the mountains.
The Master of Servants directed his invisible shield to bat away the pigeons swarming around him. Memories of his first battle with Vantaiga flooded him. He jeered at both the memories and the pigeons. Birds hadn’t helped her then, and they wouldn’t help her now. He cast five jets of flame into the air. The birds caught in the flames fell to the ground as burning, flopping masses. The remainder flew away in panic.
A pang twisted in Vantaiga’s heart. She knew she was bringing the pigeons to their doom, but she was running out of ideas, especially now that she was paralysed by the Master’s magic. Her anguish was short-lived, though, as the Snake King’s call drew countless poisonous snakes down from the mountainsides.
Vantaiga struggled against the mage’s hold but could not free herself. This was getting out of hand. In desperation, she tried commanding the snakes away, but the snake’s primitive minds were beyond her control as always. She wanted to grind her teeth in frustration but lacked the ability to even clench her jaw.
With the harassment of the pigeons gone, the Master of Servants turned his attention to Syffox, who was still grappling with the entangled Snake King. He motioned the phantasmal hand away from the tree and gestured with his glove for it to smash into both Syffox and the Snake King.
The hand crashed through the two, tearing the Snake King out of the bushes and throwing Syffox into the air. He landed hard on his chest but managed to tumble and spare some impact. Unknowingly, this brought him within striking distance of a snake heeding its King’s summons. Before Syffox could react, it lashed out and sunk its venomous fangs into his wrist.
With a curse, Syffox cleaved the snake and jumped to the clearing of the trail. He tried rolling to his feet but was too fatigued and fell back into the bushes. He looked at his wrist in agony as pain seeped into his arm. His hand went limp, and his sword fell to the ground.
Horrified, Vantaiga finally found the will to break the spell’s hold. With silent rage, she picked up a cobble-sized rock and lunged at the wizard. The Master, too self-satisfied seeing Syffox’s poisoning, did not notice the infuriated woman swinging a rock with all her strength into his face.
Bones crunched as the elderly man’s head knocked backwards and teeth flew from his mouth. Bewildered by pain and shock, he stumbled backwards. Before he could recover his senses, Vantaiga grabbed his arm and spun him into the acacia tree.
The Snake King recovered from the blow of the phantasmal hand and leapt to the immobilised Syffox. Vantaiga yelled out a furious “NO!” as she commanded the bushes to again ensnarl the beast. She then ordered one of the roadside shrubs to tightly wrap a branch around Syffox’s arm, slowing the agonising creep of venom.
Syffox dropped his remaining sword and crouched closer to the bush. He lifted his poisoned wrist to his lips and sucked out what venom he could. The venom had the taste of bile that, mixed with his blood, made him want to gag. The Snake King used its great strength to rip and slash at the branches tangling it, while the snakes it commanded continued swarming in.
Despair filled Vantaiga as the serpents roiled down the mountainside. Why were there always so many snakes? A thought came to her from the bushes: . Inspiration struck Vantaiga. That meant there were many prey she could command. Frantically, she stretched out her mind to search among the rocks and crevices of the mountains.
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There she found them. Cowering within burrows and tunnels were a host of mice, moles, and hamsters. Too afraid on their own, they would never think to rise out of their shelters. But with the opportunity to aid Vantaiga, she found them eager to come en masse.
The rocks and ground became alive with motion. The diminutive, furry creatures seemed to emerge from everywhere around them. They streamed towards Vantaiga, biting and scratching at the snakes as they passed. The snakes hissed and twisted, trying to fend off the multitude of attackers as their prey turned into their predators. Those that the rodents didn’t overwhelm quickly fled the path and mountainside.
The rodents gathered around Vantaiga and formed about her as a writhing mound of fur, teeth, and claws. With rage, she roared at the Snake King, “Enough!” She turned to the Master of Servants and screamed with equal vehemence, “Enough fighting!” She fumed between the two of them. “Enough of all of this! I don’t want this! I don’t want to fight!” She fixed them both with a clenched stare and pointed at them with the bloody rock she still held. “And even though you both deserve it, I don’t want to kill!” She lowered her hand and growled at them with all her spite, “But I will if I have to.”
She stormed to the Master of Servants, who was bound by the acacia tree and still dazed. The pile of rodents moved before her as an undulating wave. She commanded them to climb over his body, leaving only his bleeding face free. She looked him bitterly in his horrified eyes and spat at him with words rising in anger and pitch, “Either with this tree, these mice, or this rock. I promise you a slow and agonising death if you do not leave me alone !”
Too battered, trapped, and afraid to do anything else, the Master of Servants shakily nodded his head.
She turned and stomped to the Snake King. The rodents drained away from the Master and followed behind her as a seething carpet. She drew close to the massive serpent’s face. It twisted its head to avoid her burning gaze. Even though she was mere inches, it dared not strike or even struggle to free itself before her anger.
“And you! I command more than mice and bushes, but all the birds in the air, the creatures of the wild, and the insects in the ground. I will return with an army to clear you and your snakes from these mountains if I ever so much as see you again.” She loomed over the King and roared, “Understand?”
Seeing no choice, the Snake King also nodded its agreement.
Vantaiga stepped over to Syffox. He spat out a mouthful of blood and venom and cringed away from her, unsure if he should be afraid as well. She touched his poisoned arm and slow warmth crept over it. His fingers tingled as they regained some sensation. She smiled and spoke between deep breaths. “That should slow the venom until I have enough magic to treat it.”
She waved her hand, and the small bush binding Syffox’s arm released him. He gasped in pain as restored blood flow brought with it awareness of his injury. He looked up with a relieved smile all the same.
Vantaiga dropped down into him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. “Thank you for coming back. I missed you so much.”
Syffox held her as much as he could with his aching arm. “I missed you too, my love. I’m sorry I was not able to be here sooner.”
Vantaiga gave him a vexed look. “It’s fine. I’m used to living with jerks.”
Syffox kissed her on the forehead. “I’d like to change that.”
Vantaiga pulled back from him and blushed. She tried to look him in the eyes but found she couldn’t. The warmth of her face washed down her body and settled into her abdomen. She finally managed to look at him and drew in a stammering breath. “Hold that thought.”
She turned to her two tormentors, and with a wave of her hand, they were released from their constrictions. She then sternly commanded, “Never bother us again.”
The Snake King lowered its head and sulked back to its cave. The Master of Servants did not look at her. He staggered onto the path to begin searching for his missing teeth.
Vantaiga wrapped an arm around Syffox and led him down the trail with the dark mass of roiling fur following not far behind.
***
The next morning, instead of awaking to darkness and cold rock, Vantaiga woke to a soft bed and blankets, a rising sun streaming through her window, and the warmth of her man next to her. She moved closer to cuddle against him. As she rolled, she also awoke the many pains of her limbs and body. Her chest throbbed with a painful lump that made it hard for her to breathe, and her skull ached from inside out. She knew it would be days before her muscles recovered from the fight and weeks for her lungs to recover from the blast of the shout.
There were also mice and rodents everywhere about the small bedroom. Vantaiga had kept them as an escort on their long walk back and commanded them to keep guard while they slept. Now the swarm had spread out and covered the farm, eating what crops she had left.
She tried not to think about the damage being done to her small oasis and curled up to Syffox as best she could with mice crawling over him. “Are you awake?”
Syffox’s eyes remained closed as he spoke with a raspy voice. “I’m awake.” There was a pause before he continued, “I hurt everywhere.” Another pause. “I think my legs have turned to stone.” With a groan, he raised his right arm. It was swollen and covered with yellow, purple, and blue patches. “And I don’t know what is happening here. It throbs, it aches, it tickles, it itches, it’s hot, it’s cold.”
Vantaiga suppressed her shock at the gruesome look of his arm. She touched it to find it cold and leathery. “I neutralised the toxin. It looks like the venom still had a chance to do damage.” She summoned a bit of magic to ease his arm and gave him a reassuring hug. “I’ll work on your aches and pains today.”
Syffox suppressed a cough. The sound of it made Vantaiga cough. The two then broke into a coughing fit that made them both laugh and cough and groan in pain at the same time.
Once he could breathe properly, Syffox tried to return her affection as best he could. “Thank you, my love, but could you get rid of the mice first? They’re really giving me the creeps.”
Vantaiga managed a chuckle before closing her eyes and commanding her furry army to return to the mountains. Syffox breathed a sigh of relief as the motion and scampering about the room slowly faded out the doors and windows, leaving the couple in peace.
Syffox squeezed into her more closely. “How far can you talk to trees?”
“It depends. If the tree is alone, a dozen yards or so. If it is in a group, then I only have to be near one to talk to any in the group.”
“I was thinking with the cold, humid air falling down the mountain at night, we could plant some trees along the slopes to watch out for us.”
Vantaiga withdrew into herself to think of what that would entail. “We would have to grow a line of trees or shrubs down to the house for that to work. We would also need to add swales to gather the spring runoff. That would be a lot of work.”
Syffox tried to give her a squeeze but failed with a wince of pain. “Still, it would be nice to have more trees around to make it cool and green like it used to be back home. Besides, I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.”
With his words, a warm glow washed over Vantaiga. She burrowed in closer to him despite his protests of pain. “That does sound nice. I’ll grow you a whole forest if that is what you wish, my love.”
