Snakecharmer chapter 1: chapter 4.5

Spine moved as quickly as his serpentine body was able, his tail undulating behind him and using the flex grip pattern of the scales on the grass to propel himself. His eyes were narrowed against the passing air, his long green hair flowing out along his back and only occasionally tickling down on the floor. Amber and black snake eyes scanned the undergrowth in quick, jerking movements and he twitched himself over his obstacles with uncanny precision- narrowly avoiding trees and boulders without a second thought to their existence.

The Naga could feel the ground becoming softer beneath his belly and as he reached up to latch his nails into the softened bark of a fallen tree and pull himself over it, he smelled the unmistakable stench of swamp. He had never been a fan of this area of his territory, for it reeked of things rotting and damp and were not even close to his usually classy and well kept tastes. His mind was focused, intent on what his snake instincts told him was his prey- and he allowed it to think that way. If the serpent had prey then he was far less likely to give up the chase, and the Cobra was the one preventing him from reaching his goal, and therefore must be dealt with.

Golden brown and bronze scales practically glowed in the twilight, reflecting the bits of watery moonlight that filtered through the thick green canopy above. Molding leaves lessened the sound of his passing and granted him stealth, moss regained its form only seconds after the heavy serpent had crushed it with his bulk, and so he traveled nigh untraceable.

Spine tasted the air with his tongue when he had decided he was close enough to the hidden human village, picking up the scent of fear, blood and reptile within seconds of beginning his search. His rage grew with each passing swipe of the two pronged muscle, and by the time his usual three had passed he was incensed. The prince followed the scent trail to the edge of the murky, reeking water, who's surface danced with biting insects and filth coated the bottom. One the other shore was his prey, the Cobra with the boy cornered against a thick tree and the anger built up anew.

His enemy was smaller than he- which was pretty normal, considering Spine was the largest of his species and at the top of the snake food chain. He was a bit shorter and thinner, his expression one of feral satisfaction with no trace left of any human intelligence, burn scars running down the right side of his body and across the planes of his chest from some long ago battle that Spine had no interest in hearing. A rogue, a cast out from his tribe that had ended up all the way into anaconda territory, and an outrage that the prince would no longer tolerate.

He couldn't let himself go yet though- quiet the animal, get the boy to safety first. The child was sobbing in his corner, clinging tightly to the tree like it would somehow come to life and save him- while his eyes had no hope whatsoever that it would. A bite mark dripped blood from the curve from neck to shoulder above his collarbone and the area around was starting to swell with infection. Spine suppressed any instinctively sound from passing his lips and instead glided down into the swamp water before him.

As an anaconda, Spine possessed an inherited ability to swim that would play an advantage on this rogue cobra, who had very little water experience comparatively except that which he'd had to learn on his own. Swimming was written into Spine's very genetic code, and as he slipped soundlessly beneath the surface, a film covered his eyes to protect them from the bacteria and allow him clear vision at the same time, his arms flattening to his sides and twisting his tail like an eel to quickly place him closer to the opposite shore. His head rose from the water just enough for him to see where the cobra was, the white film sliding back down into his eyelids and his hair now a deep black from the water filling it and making it heavy on his shoulders.

The boy saw Spine first, and his eyes grew impossibly wide in further terror- would a second naga be coming to make a meal of him? Spine only nodded to the tree though and the child seemed to understand, turning to quickly begin climbing the trunk to safety in the branches and the cobra finally turned to see what had directed his prey. The smaller naga scanned the surface with its one good eye and when he spotted the anaconda rising from the murk he paled a little, spitting defensively and began to hiss as his tail coiled around himself. He was assuming a defensive state, warning the larger naga to leave him alone to his prey without using words, but it was only a bluff in the face of his opponent.

With the boy safe, Spine allowed the snake to rise up in him and take over. He gave in to the instincts and the Serpent willingly opened his mouth to give a long, low growling hiss back at the cobra. Like an angry dog, the anaconda's hiss was long and seemed to require no real breath, his chest swelling and making himself even larger as he pushed himself halfway onto land and angled himself so his front was to the cobra. Both Naga raised their human half's as high was was comfortable- and still the cobra was outdone by the anaconda, but he did not back down.

Admittedly, even if the Cobra had chosen this moment to flee from Spine, it wasn't likely that the other was going to let him go...

The burned one opened his mouth as wide as it would go without dislocating the jaw, and the long fangs unsheathed to glisten with clear venom in the low amount of light. Spine waited, analyzing the younger beast with a keep eye, and as soon as he saw the others' throat expand he jerked to the side. His forethought paid off, and the striking cobra bit only open air and a few strands of Spine's wet hair. The older of the two saw his opening and reached out to grab the Cobra's elbow, tightening his grip like a vice and with a quick flick of his wrist had flipped the male over and sent him spinning onto his back near the waters edge. The tail pushed against the tree and he used it as leverage to angle himself back over and take a low strike at Spine, catching him and sunk his fangs deeply into the anaconda's hip.

Spine let out a sharp growl and more of the serpent flowed into his mind, slamming himself down on the cobra, turned and threw him bodily into the water. He landed with a heavy splash, the tail thrashing above and below the surface as the cobra tried to reorient himself enough to swim- already knowing his peril- but it was far too late. The anaconda entered the water just as seamlessly as he had before and the thick tail found a tight hold around the smaller victim. Long, unkempt nails clawed uselessly against slippery anaconda skin but couldn't get a good hold on him, the cobra far too clumsy in an element that Spine had been practically born in. Fangs found his body several times throughout the writhing they were doing half under the water, and the prince could feel venom beginning to gnaw at the edges of his mind- but venom would be too slow to stop the other males' fate at this point. The burned one bit the amulet around his neck and for a moment he was being choked by the pull of the chain, but when something finally gave and he was again loose, Spine pushed the cobra's face away from his neck with one hand.

He finally managed to get a good hold, wrapping his arms around the torso of the cobra from behind and turning them both so that the younger one's face was pressed down into the thick muck at the bottom of the water, their fighting causing a cloud of debris to fill the area and frightening away the small swimming creatures that lived within it. Spine's tail wrapped around the cobra over and over, until it was impossible to tell in the tangle where one naga began and the other ended, and squeezed. He was patient with it regardless of the twitching and fighting the smaller was still doing, waiting until he exhaled each time in his panic and then tightening the grip a little more to make it unable to refill his lungs all the way with anything but water, splintering ribs and bones and scales each time.

Spine didn't know if it was internal bleeding, suffocation or just drowning that killed the cobra in the end, but by that point he was so far into his anaconda state that he didn't hesitate to dislocate his jaw and swallow the smaller snake as soon as he ceased to breathe. No sense in leaving the corpse behind to be found and alarm the humans, so he disposed of it the only way his snake self knew how.

When the waters had begun to settle and the glistening Naga had dried himself somewhat on the shore, Spine returned to the tree he'd left the boy in and looked up into the branches. Climbing would be no trouble for him either, but he felt as though doing so would only alarm him further, and he could feel the poison in his veins limiting his time to be patient.

“Child... come back with me...” Spine implored, smiling kindly and running his fingers through his long hair to push it back out of his face, hoping that the water had washed away enough of the blood to be somewhat presentable.

The boy was terrified to say the least, but after further coaxing from his savior and a reminder that the human would die without an antidote to the bite on his neck, the child finally slid out of the tree. Spine lowered himself to let the boy climb onto his back, then turned began the journey back to Sazuka's- a trip that seemed twice as long on the way back, and his vision was becoming a red tunnel. He was panting by the halfway point, and his lungs felt like they were on fire, his fingers going numb at the tips and was moving on sheer willpower alone. He had no choice- as a larger snake it would take longer for the venom to kill him, but not even half that time to kill the boy, he had to get back to Sazuka before the venom managed to get a good hold and destroy the child to an irreversible extent.

He thought of Alexander, wondering if he was warm and safe, and grateful that the vampire had stayed in the house. If he'd been here, surely he would have gotten hurt, and Spine would not have been able to do anything for him in the swamp.

Even now, Spine did not realize that his amulet was still missing...