Obsidian Scales

Chapter 15

Silas watched from his branch above the campsite, glaring at all of the bandits, his gaze filled with hate. He saw his dear Lily trapped in the wagon with the rest of the girls. He would embrace her soon, but now his gaze was trained on the only tent in sight. That – or rather – he was his target. To his side, Kess and Veraldi sat in their own branches. Veraldi was by the wagons, while Kess was closer to Silas, waiting to pounce. The other Hassan-syn were hidden in the undergrowth. In total, there was six of them, half of the amount of human men there. Three of them, including Silas were in the trees, and the other three were on the ground, surrounding the campsite.

Yet it was the humans who were outnumbered.

He slowly crept along, positioning himself just above the tent. He looked to Kess and gave a slight flick of his tail, signaling to begin the attack. Kess nodded to him. He looked to the undergrowth and flicked his tail as well, letting out a soft hiss. The undergrowth shifted a bit as the Naga moved towards the first guard. He smirked.

Let the games begin.

~/~

Lily was resting against Kate, their arms around each other with their backs propped against the side of the wagon. Her head rested on top of Kate's, and another girl was resting her head in her lap. A sound drew her attention to the campfire, and her eyes fluttered open. She looked over, only to see a massive Naga crawling quietly towards the first guard. She stilled, fascinated as she watched. The Naga moved with lethal stealth, and once he was close enough, he whipped his tail forward, wrapping it around the column of the guards throat. His yell was cut immediately as the Naga pulled him into the darkness of the forest, where silence followed shortly after. The other guard turned, only to look in confusion when his companion was gone. He squinted at the darkness, moving to investigate, when another tail whipped out from the shadows, pulling him into their dark embrace.

Lily was watching in silence, though she heard heavy breathing beside her. Kate had awakened, and was watching the same scene. She looked to her other side to see the other girls watching too. Whether they had woken themselves or Kate woke them, she didn't know. Watching this scene, she didn't care either. Especially as she watched Silas and Veraldi slowly lower themselves upon the sleeping men. Silas looked different in her eyes though, and it was because of the armor he was wearing she realized. Unlike the typical black armor he wore, this one seemed to have a new shine. It was then she realized that the shine was from the chitin of the manticores tail. He was wearing armor made from the manticore that had been slayed earlier that day. Kess descended down to the door of their wagon. The girls moved away fearfully, but Kess lifted a finger to his lips, offering a smile while also warning them to be quiet. He then moved to the man closest to the wagon. The other three waited quietly in the bush. Veraldi hovered over one of the men, while Silus kept his focus over the entrance to the tent, suspending himself over it.

Veraldi unsheathed a short sword and pointed the tip towards the middle of the man's face who he hovered over. Lowering it slowly, he aimed it towards his nose...

...and gently poked it.

"Boop." Veraldi said cheerfully. The man scrunched up his face and opened his eyes, only to see slitted ones staring back at him. "What the hell-" Veraldi flipped his sword in his hand and cleanly sliced the mans throat, blood spraying onto his face as he did. The girls gasped in horror. The mans exclamation was enough to wake the others. "We're under attack!" yelled one as they all scrambled to get up and grab their weapons. Veraldi dropped immediately onto two more, while the other three Naga's on the ground came to his side, taking out others closer to him. Kess attacked with large sweeps of his tail, knocking the men off their feet before diving for the kill, diving his spear into their chest. The men screamed as the Nagas cut them down like wheat for a harvest.