Bonds that Burn and Bind

Chapter 5 Part 3

AN; Sorry for the late update, time got away from me this week. Thanks for the 287 reads and 94 votes! I am going to start holding my chapter for hostage now. I will update either when I have 104 votes on this entire story or by next Friday, which ever comes first! Enjoy this chapter, its a doozy!!!

Ignoring her, I flung open the carriage's door and was greeted by the three young mercenaries I had befriended on the ship; Tall-Jamie, Big-Jamie, and  Freckled-Jamie, along with their horses.
We've been talking about going for a hunt since our ship docked and we agreed we would go during our next pixie delay.

"So did you get everything we needed to hunt river serpent?" I asked after we had mounted our horses and began down a path so narrow we had to walk single file. Freckled-Jamie rode in front, holding a rope tied around the neck of a goat. He had put him in charge of gathering all the supplies.

"Yes, the river guide said there were sightins' where we're goin'," Freckled-Jamie said. "But he also warned they were too dangerous to hunt,  I know we all agreed it would be our mark, but maybe we should go for something else."

"The guide's right about the danger," I said, eyeing the white and brown goat trotting merrily along, unaware it was marching toward its doom. "They are extremely intelligent creatures. But I think we can handle an oversized snake. River serpent's scales fetch good coin. Enough to buy your sweetheart that ring you wanted to propose with. Enough for Tall-Jamie and Big-Jamie to buy that plot of land they wanted. And one of its scales will make a great gift for my beloved Prince Adil. So are you in or out?" I asked, readjusting my quiver across my back.
"I'm in," Freckled-Jamie said.

"I'm in as long as it's something I can eat it," Tall-Jamie said from his horse behind me. "I'll eat anything that isn't deer jerky."

Big-Jamie grunted in agreement. Big-Jamie never said much.

"I think you can eat them, but I'm not sure about the taste," I replied.

We stopped along the bank of a lazy green river populated by countless lily pads in full bloom.
We all dismounted, and  Big-Jamie took a wooden stake and went to work hammering it into the ground, before tying the goat around it..
I got something for you, Lady Ashwood," Freckled-Jamie said, reaching into his saddle pack and retrieving three odd-looking arrows. These arrows had iron loops attached to their fletching, and each loop held a coil of sturdy rope.

My fingers traced the unfamiliar shapes of the arrows. "What kind of arrows are these?"
"Needle and thread," Freckled-Jamie explained, his voice holding a hint of excitement. "See, they look like giant needles threaded with rope. The guy I traded for them this morning said they're used in hunting river serpents. You're our best shot, m'lady so I think you should be the one that fires them." We then went over the details of our plan: I would bury these special arrows in the river serpent's side after luring it out with our bait. Once the arrows were lodged, all three Jamies would work together to haul the serpent onto the shore to finish it off.

"Shouldn't I practice shooting them?" I asked, as I held one of the unfamiliar weapons.
Freckled-Jamie chewed on the inside of his cheek, thinking. "Don't have time for that. They shouldn't handle much differently than regular arrows. Unless you think we should hunt something else."

"No!" I snapped.

So we settled into the shaded alcove below a tree heavy with mangos, a stone's throw from the water's edge. The sweet scent of overripe fruit hung in the air around us. I don't remember how long we waited, but the only thing that emerged from the river were three water nymphs we scared away after they began petting our goat.
Water nymphs appeared as beautiful young women with long green hair, web feet, and hands, and eyes as dark as the deepest parts of the river. These nymphs came in shades of blue iridescence instead of the greens of the water nymphs back in Dalmar. They bared their pointy teeth at us while emanating low hisses as they dove back into the water. They were nature spirits and were harmless if you didn't harm their home.

Having collectively given up on the hunt Freckled-Jamie went to retrieve the goat, and I stepped out of the alcove and onto the bank, stretching my lower back that ached from crouching for so long. An odd-looking log, moving in opposition to the current and headed straight toward Freckled-Jamie, caught my attention.

I stiffened when I realized the log had large, slitted eyes the color of stagnant water.
"Jamie!" I yelled, and Freckled-Jamie looked up, and I pointed just as the river serpent reared its snake-like head out of the water. Its neck was at least three feet long and the same width as the palm trees growing along the river bank. Its scales glistened like dragonfly wings. The river serpent struck at him like a viper, and he dove and rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding fangs the length of my forearm. The goat let out a frightened bleat and took off into the undergrowth. Freckled-Jamie's shining silver armor slowed him as he got up again, just in time to avoid another strike.

I scrambled back into the alcove for the needle and thread arrows, picking them up and nearly tripping over the ropes attached to them, as they dragged on the ground around my feet.  I crashed onto the river bank, the mud squelching under my sandals, and stopped. About five yards downstream from where I stood, Freckled-Jamie was still fighting to get to his feet yet again, as one boot became stuck in the mud. The river serpent loomed over him, readying for another attack.

I knew this time he would not be able to dodge. He realized it, too, because he unsheathed his sword, holding it horizontally with one hand on the hilt and the other on its broad side near its tip. The serpent lashed out, its fangs clashing with the blade with a deafening crack. The force of the impact knocked Freckled-Jamie flat on his back. His arms trembled as he struggled against the river serpent's jaws closed around his sword. Big-Jamie was by his side in a flash, slashing his blade across its snout. The river serpent recoiled but did not retreat.

My hands shook, and my heartbeat boomed in my ears as I knocked one of the needle and thread arrows, feeling its unfamiliar weight and let it fly. The arrow crashed into the water, its rope dragging behind it. The creature's gaze swiveled to me. I knocked another arrow and aimed, drawing my bowstring back further this time but the arrow flew over my target.

Even with Big-Jamie now trying to pull Freckled-Jamie to his feet, Freckled-Jamie had still not regained his footing due to the slippery nature of the mud and exhaustion. Worse still, the river serpent's attention was back on them.

I knocked my third and final arrow, inhaling deeply to steady my hands before letting it go with a silent prayer.  The arrow bypassed the serpent's scaly armor and lodged in the side of its neck. It hissed like steam whistling out of a bed of hot embers doused with water. I slung my bow across my back and grabbed the rope. Tall-Jamie joined me moments later, and our feet dug into the mud as we fought to keep it from striking again.

By this point, Big-Jamie had resorted to dragging Jamie under his arms to safety. We needed to buy him time until he got a little further from the river's edge.

The river serpent began to pull back, sliding us closer to the bank's edge until cool water lapped at my toes. Its slitted eyes stared hatefully at us as we finally got a good foothold and began dragging it away from our friends and towards us.

We continued pulling, hands overlapping each other, yanking the serpent closer and closer, centimeter by centimeter. Then I stopped as I realized something. The river serpent was still pulling back against the rope enough to keep it taught, but this was all too...easy.

Realization surged through me like a roaring wave released from a dam breaking. We weren't actually dragging it towards us, it was just letting us believe that we were.

"Run!" I yelled, dropping the rope and turning back towards the Alcove. Tall-Jamie did the same, but before I could get too far, I fell. At first, I thought I had slipped in the mud, but when I tried to get up, I realized the rope we had just been pulling on had tangled around the top of my foot.

My gaze flew to the river serpent, and to my horror, its eyes were fixed on the rope wrapped around my ankle, and that intelligence I had read about sparked in its eyes. If river serpents could smile, this one did, before receding back into the river, dragging me into the deep cold water with it.