Obsidian Scales

Chapter 9

Silas was pissed, since nothing went according to his plan. The plan had been simple: invite Lily out for a nice walk in the forest, and then slowly lead her to his village. Honestly, how hard was that supposed to be? Now here he was, covered in dirt with a few scratches on his skin. The damn manticore had thrown him off, and now he was having a stare down with it. His tail thumped threateningly on the ground, and his upper half began to sway side to side slowly, as he tried to entrance the beast into letting his guard down.

This brute was definitely a male. He could tell from the length of the fangs. Typically females had shorter fangs, but they still shared the same pissy attitude. The manticore had tried to bite and claw his tail after he had wrapped around the creature in order to hold it so Lily could escape. The bastard had stung him in his torso a few times. Even now he could feel the poison in his body, a horrible burning sensation from the wounds reminding him of that. Naga were mostly resistant to poison.

Mostly.

He wouldn't die from it but it would hurt like hell for a few days. Snarling, the manticore began to circle him, starting from the left. Silas hissed back, showing his fangs, and keeping eye contact. He coiled up slightly, moving his tail in such a way that he was sidling on the ground. It prevent his tail from being caught by the enemy, and kept him ready to strike should the manticore pounce. As he predicted, the manticore pounced, fast as lightning, leaping into the air after making a few bounds. Jaw wide in a roar, Silas screeched back and shot forward, aiming for it's belly. Just a few more inches, and he could catch it with his claws before sinking his teeth in for the final blow.

The manticore's roar cut off quickly.

A gurgle came from it, along with a spray of blood which flew from the mouth and onto Silas's face. A spear had cut cleanly through it's neck and pinned it to the ground. Silas spit out some of the blood that got in his mouth and he looked to the trees, his tongue flicking out to taste the air. He hissed angrily. "I had it!"

The branches rustled and cracked, and two Naga descended from the tree where he was looking. One Naga had black scales and hair like Silas, though his hair was cut shorter and was a little messy. He wore black leather armor that covered every inch of his torso save for his neck and face. At his side on a matching belt hung a sword made of bone. Although it wasn't any sort of metal, it still cut through flesh like butter. His yellow eyes glittered with mischief as he chuckled. "Seems like you were getting your ass kicked to me." The other Naga by his side had a dark bronze tint to his scales and hair. He looked at Silas with green eyes, yet said nothing. Like his compatriot, he also wore black armor, and had a spear strapped to his back. He silently moved forward and pulled the spear from the manticores neck, resulting in a disgusting pop.

Silas narrowed his eyes. "Veraldi," he said to the smirking snake, "Kess," he looked to the silent one. "Good to see you both again." he huffed. Kess continued holding his silence, taking out a cloth from a small satchel strapped to his belt and wiping the spear off with it. Veraldi, however, was the complete opposite. "You don't seem too happy to see us after five years." he pouted a little.

"How did you find me?"

"You mean besides the sound of screaming?"

"I wasn't screaming."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Veraldi..."

Veraldi caved after Silas growled at him. "Besides hearing you both fighting, a little friend of yours asked for some help." he gestured to the trees. Something was loudly crashing through the brush, before eventually running through it and into the light. Lily was panting, her hair a mess, some twigs and leaves in it. She bent over, putting her hands on her knees while trying to catch her breath. When she stood back up she looked to him with relief in her gaze.

Before they widened to horror. "How are you still standing?" she demanded. As if on cue, Silas' vision began to swirl. "Good question..." The world tilted and he thought he heard Lily yell, before landing on something hard with a dull thud. His vision blurred before quickly going black.

Lily panicked as she saw Silas fall to the ground. She moved to catch him but the snake beside her – Veraldi – was much faster, he was able to catch him right before he hit the ground. "Ok buddy, I got ya." he said and began to slither off. Then he stopped and looked at Lily. "Well what are you waiting for? C'mon!" he said, moving again. "Unless you want to be left in the forest?" he called back. Lily flinched and followed after him, Kess falling into step beside her. He gave her an apologetic look, as if to say "I'm sorry about my idiot friends." she simply smiled at him, and followed behind Veraldi. Veraldi had shifted Silas in such a way that his head and arms rested on his shoulders, and his tail simply drifted to the side while still making it possible for Veraldi to move. Lily looked to Kess. "Where are we going?" she asked softly. Kess lifted his hands and touched the tips of his fingers together, pointing them upward and creating a sort of triangular shape with them. "Um..." Lily said, unsure of what he was trying to say.

Veraldi happily cut in. "He's mute so he talks with his hands. He's saying we're going to our village!" he said, without looking back at them. Apparently someone had asked so many times that Veraldi was able to figure out what he was saying. "Ah, ok." Lily said, growing nervous. Silas hadn't really explained to her what village life was like, or how the Naga acted. And now she was going to see them. Though, instead of doing this for herself, she was doing this for him. She had to make sure that he was alright. Even if it meant going into a den of snakes.