MAN & MONSTER

treason

"You're going to get yourself in big trouble one day," was what his supervising officer back when he was young liked to tell him. He was young and naive and overflowing with empathy not befitting a soldier.

Falk, being eighteen and assured of himself, refused to believe it. He would be a brilliant soldier, he would ascend the ranks and—most importantly—he wouldn't mess up or forget his duty.

The irony of it all now.

Now he could look back at the past and admit that his supervising officer had been perfectly correct. His soft heart was absolutely going to land him in deep shit one day.

That day happened to be today.

A huge and heavy figure followed him through the dark as he walked confidently, like he was doing something he was supposed to be doing. Despite the size of his shadow, the only sounds they made were the soft rustling of grass when their body slid through it, parting the blades damp with evening dew.

Falk nodded a greeting to another officer passing by, taking a moment to slow down and chat—it did just what he hoped it would do. Falk wasn't that interesting nor good at small talk and the other was more than pleased to get away from him.

He scratched his short hair with his nails and continued on, hearing his follower in close pursuit, thankfully not speeding off on their own and risking themselves but entrusting their safety to him.

When they reached the walls of the grounds, Falk stopped.

He looked around casually and extinguished his lantern, leaving him only in the pale moon's glow. The sound of movement approached and his companion was next to him. An enormous snake's tail extended, circling about the ground around his feet, though it never once touched him.

Still, the naga cleverly manipulated his upper body so that his face stared down into Falk's.

His face was wild, long lines of tattoos in a dark blue sheen done along every sharp point or ridge of bone. They flowed all the way down his body until, Falk knew, they ended where his dark blue scales began.

"My lifelong gratitude," Ssalsin said, making a circle over his heart on his chest.

Falk absently reciprocated the gesture by pressing a closed fist to his breast. "You're welcome. Don't get captured again."

It seemed words too few to sum up months they had spent together, guard and prisoner. Falk had barely looked at him in the beginning, unnerved by the creature whose people they even now warred with (in futility). He looked back at his past self with shame, as Ssalsin was clever and dignified, if as wild as his hair. He'd dive right back into fighting the moment he returned to his homeland and he'd do it with glee.

As Falk gazed through the darkness at the still naga, he forced himself out of his reverie. Ssalsin was waiting for his cue, waiting to see if there was something else yet they had to do before he could escape.

"Go on. Just over the wall and into the forest. Head northeast."

Ssalsin's eyes nictated and he pulled his scaly lips into a line. "Will you be ssssafe here?" he questioned, dragging out the 's' in his speech as usual, his forked tongue flicking out as he did. It served to taste the night's air, making certain of their being alone.

Falk wasn't certain if he'd be safe, though.

If it was determined he released the prisoner, he would definitely be branded a traitor. If it was determined he'd allowed him to escape by an accident, he'd surely be dishonourably dismissed and be made to beg whatever job he could get.

His silence was enough answer for Ssalsin and Falk watched the naga's nostrils flare.

"Then," he said and wrapped his arms around Falk.

"Oh, no," Falk gasped, too late as Ssalsin bolted up and over the high stone wall and he had to bunch himself up to avoid being scraped to pieces on it. Ssalsin's body thumped heavily down on the other side and Falk clawed in futility at his hard scales in a diamond shape on his chest as the naga rapidly approached the trees.

"This is kidnapping," he hissed, as furiously and as quietly as he could muster. Yet there was nothing in him that wanted to fight, that wanted to go back to the day-by-day drag that had only been stimulated by Ssalsin. The only light in his dreary days was the naga who told him of a faraway land of dunes and battle, of tribes and their own country, interlopers with no claim to the land who would soon fall.

Ssalsin down at him and his red eyes crinkled with mischief. "You ssshould have thought about that before you let me go," he said.

Falk groaned and hung his head.

Trouble indeed.