Tales From The Lost World

Venom (2)

Under the mask: Venom's story, part 2

Venom wandered around Possibility, looking for nothing in particular. Occasionally, she would buy something and flick the shopkeeper a tip. Or she'd smile at a dragonet, although they either ignored her or got away as fast as possible. She didn't blame them.
She was gonna buy some mice for Carl to eat, but she realized she was short the money. So, she knocked out the shopkeeper by slamming their head into the wall and stole the small animals.
"Some shoplifting won't ruin your business." She told the unconscious Sandwing as she left.
I'll need to sell something so I don't have to do that... she searched the bag around her neck, carefully moving Carl out of the way so that she grab a vial of green liquid. The viper woke up, looking at her sleepily and slithering out of the bag and around her neck. She patted the snake's head and then closed her bag. She chuckled at the terrified looks on the dragons around her.
"What? He only bites when he wants to." She smiled under the mask, amused. She flared her wings and took off, flying for the Scorpion Den. Unbeknownst to Venom, there was someone watching her.
The hybrid stood outside his clinic. "Hmm. Interesting dragon. I'll have to look into that." With that, Copperhead went back inside.
After a long flight, she could see the Scorpion Den, although not the busy part. This area seemed... deserted, almost. But there was definitely something... well, someone, living here. She landed and spotted talonprints in the sandy, unswept floor, along with... drag marks?
She shrugged and started walking towards the populations part of town, when she heard a whistle of a blade. A knife buried itself into the cracked sandstone wall next to her. She stopped and Carl wound his way down her talon, slithering off along the ground. Venom turned and spotted another Sandwing staring her down. She was smaller than Venom, but not because of age. She looked... almost starved, with an emotionless face and eyes the pierced her own. The two girls stared each other down for a while, before the other one finally spoke.
"Who are you?"
"I could ask the same."
"What are you doing in my territory?"
"Well I'm sorry, but I don't see your name painted on the fucking walls."
"I'll paint it on with your blood then. You don't belong here."
"Fine, I'll just leave." Venom took a step forward, but was stopped by another knife blade lodging itself into the wall in front of her, pinning her hood to it. She pulled the sharp object out and freed herself, just in time to feel another one graze her shoulder, leaving a thin trail of blood on her scales. The other Sandwing continued to watch her, but this time with a weapon held at the ready.
"You're not going anywhere."
"Actually, I am. And I do have business to attend to, so put down the blade and don't put up a fight. I'm just passing through." She paused for a moment. "Who even are you? What's your name?"
"Taipan. And who are you?"
"Venom, daughter of Mamba and granddaughter of Vulture."
"Ah, I've heard of your family."
Venom snorted and went to leave. Taipan took a threatening step forward, but was stopped by a snake expertly wrapping around her front talon and hovering his extremely venomous teeth right over her scales. If Venom gave the word, Carl would be able to bite and kill the dragon immediately.
"I would recommend letting us go."

Venom got back to her lab, dropping the live mice out on the sand and sending Carl out to chase them. She watched her snake chase them for a while, thinking about the encounter. She hadn't heard of a dangerous dragon lurking in an abandoned part of the Scorpion Den. And, as a very curious dragon, she had to explore it further.
"Taipan... hmm." She didn't know what to expect from a dragon like that, but somehow she knew it wasn't gonna be the last time they met.
She went inside after Carl had finished his hunt, whistling to call him inside. She heaved the door closed and locked it, walking down to her lab.

And never in a million years did she expect that this one event would lead into a long adventure that would involve discovery, loss, death, revenge, and love. But fate has a strange way of doing that, doesn't it?

Carl slithered through the empty streets of the Scorpion Den, searching for food. The silent snake looked across all of the sandy surfaces, his tongue occasionally flicking out to smell the air. He caught a scent and sped up, chasing after the poor rat that attempted to enter his territory. He it down on the small creature, immediately killing it. He dragged the rat back to the hole in the side of a building, his home. He took a few bites out of it, then left the rest for the tiny hatchling to eat as well.
After he had finished his meal, he looked around the town again. He never dared to go out where the dragons were, because they would kill him. No matter how many dragons he bit, there would always be more. And for a deadly snake like him, there's no escaping their talons.
The scarred viper found himself in a familiar area, with evidence of life... long gone, but it had been there. Many shelves that used to be stocked full of venoms, a multitude or racks meant to hold blades of various sizes. Dried blood was visible on the walls and floor, although mostly rubbed off.
He made his way across the floor, spotting a nest, made by another snake of some kind. He knew who it belonged to, but she didn't live here anymore. Not after the dragon left.
He climbed up onto the desk and looked around at the contents, somehow yet to be looted. A well drawn plan, scrawled into the wall. A few throwing knives scattered across the desk, next to a small pile of papers with strange dragon symbols written on them. Nothing that Carl knew. But there was one item that he did know.
The black mask was lying next to the wall, by the edge of the desk. The printed white teeth were dirty and dusty from years without use. The whole mask was slightly worn and torn around the edges, and the black cloth had been faded from the bright desert sun.
Carl stared at the mask, his unblinking eyes never leaving it. Every day, he checked this spot. But the mask never moved. Neither dragon ever came back. Not even the angry one. On the rare occasion, he saw the taipan snake return to her old home, but she left very soon.
One day. They'll come back one day. Dragons always do. Even though he couldn't fit in his bag anymore, and he had moved on. He found a new home and accepted that nothing was going to change. But for some reason, he still checked.
He hissed, then slithered back down the desk and out the door, leaving the building behind as he returned home. One day. One day, she'll come back.