Crimson Coils (The Snake Men Book 2)

Chapter 3

Mari would have died.

Yes she would be very much, dead.

She should be dead.

Yet somehow, she was incredibly lucky. When the ground had given away, it had also left her a small ledge to cling onto. And that's where she was now, dangling by her arms onto that ledge, holding on for dear life. Slowly, she heaved herself up onto the ledge, praying that her luck would hold and it would not give way. Thankfully it didn't.

But her luck didn't exactly stay as she heard the snarling return. Looking up, there were the dragons. At first she figured they wouldn't risk climbing down to eat her.

She guessed wrong.

Cautiously, the Alpha put its clawed foot down on the rock, and slowly began to climb down. It almost seemed to grin at her, as if to say "your time is up." She might have been able to save herself from the fall, but she couldn't save herself from them.

She was ready, ready to accept this fate, no matter how awful it was. That is, until she heard one of the dragons give off a screeching yelp, drawing the Alpha's attention behind it. One of the dragons was suddenly flung over the cliff, screaming as it fell towards the bottom, it's legs kicking in the air. The other dragons hissed and snarled, turning their attention to their mysterious attacker. Even Mari couldn't see what was going on.

The snarling and growling soon turned into whimpers and screeches. She saw blood spray into the air, and two more dragons went sailing off the cliff. Another screech and a soft thud, and finally another dragon tumbled down the cliff, but stopped on the ledge she was sitting on. It was the Alpha, a clean cut through the neck, showing it's insides. Its head lolled off to the side, over the edge of the cliff, as it wheezed a final breath.

Mari had seen many disgusting things in the waste, and this was the first time she wanted to throw up. It was now silent, the snarling completely gone. But now a new worry came to her: just what exactly killed those dragons? She wasn't sure if she was supposed to be thankful or afraid, and currently she felt both.

A sound from above alerted her. Whatever it was, was still there. She looked up to the edge of the cliff, the sound coming closer...

...and a young man looked over the cliff down at her. He wasn't so far away that she couldn't see his features. He looked to be about her age, if not too much older. His hair was a beautiful dark red, he had browned skin, and seemed to wear some type of armor. A spear, freshly stained with blood, was strapped to his back. She hadn't seen anyone like that in her travels.

"Miss!" he called down, startling her out of her thoughts. "Are you alright? Are you injured?" he seemed to be looking over her, trying to find any injuries.

She quickly answered back. "I'm fine I think!" she slowly stood up, careful not to step on the dead dragon, and pressing herself against the rock. "I can stand!" she confirmed.

"Can you climb? If you can climb, I can pull you up the rest of the way!"

Mari looked around, finding a good foot and arm hold, and slowly lifted herself up. "Yes!" she responded back, and began to slowly climb up towards him. As she got closer, he reached a hand down towards her.

"Grab my hand. I'll pull you up the rest of the way!" he said with a smile. Mari noticed he had bracers on, and underneath those there seemed to be some sort of tattoo that went up the length of his arm.