Serpent's Quest

chapter seventeen: Nikko

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

NIKKO

Nikko knew that Malthus rode frequently into the forest, allegedly to hunt; yet he rarely came back with anything these days. So Nikko began staying out all night in his wolf form, watching Malthus' cottage. He always went into the forest and changed into a wolf there after hiding his clothing. Then he would swing wide and come around behind Malthus' house, which required crossing a stream that ran through the village, to lie in wait for Malthus to leave. Eventually his patience was rewarded, and Malthus rode out just before sunrise one day with his packhorse in tow. Nikko slipped though the trees and underbrush after him, moving from shadow to shadow, trotting as fast as the terrain allowed. Malthus turned onto a hunter's trace, and Nikko followed. As Nikko moved deeper into the forest he knew so well, he began to hear creatures in the trees, chittering back and forth in a language he failed to recognize.

He gradually became aware of them being on all sides of him. Their numbers increased steadily and now he caught flashes of orange skin. He did not know what they were, for their scent was unfamiliar. Yet he could smell their hostility. It raised the hackles on his neck. One of them stood forth in the treetops, giving Nikko his first clear view of one. It was a nude male, wearing only a belt of pouches, a blowgun, a bandoleer of darts, and a necklace of bones.

Nikko recognized them from drawings in Tempest's books: imps. Their darts would be either poisoned or drugged. Nikko realized that he was in trouble, and knew that he needed to break free before they closed with him.

He reared up in his transitional form and broke for what he believed to be the weakest portion of them. Nikko found two facing him with their blowguns to their lips. They fired, striking Nikko in the shoulder and arm. He throttled one and broke the other's head open against a tree, dropping the bodies on the tarry black soil. Darts peppered him from all sides. Nikko shrugged them off, bursting into the open. For an instant, Nikko experienced a lightness that he interpreted as relief at getting free of them. He felt over his body, grabbing the darts from his flesh, and dropping them on the ground.

Then suddenly, he felt as if he had struck a wall or run headlong into a large tree. Nikko blinked dully, feeling the poison hitting his system harder than expected. He had hoped that his hybrid form would be able to shake off most of it. But he had been wrong. Lethargy crept over him and a trembling weakness swept through his muscles. Confusion and disorientation caused Nikko to make a stumbling circle that brought him back onto the game trail. Gazing ahead of him, Nikko saw Malthus standing with his bow raised at full draw and an arrow to the string.

"What are you doing?" Nikko asked, swaying like a drunkard.

For answer, Malthus released the shaft and drew another.

Nikko tried to dodge the missile, but the dart drugs had slowed his reflexes. The arrow struck Nikko in the chest and he staggered, feeling the burn of some incredible poison in his body, far worse than the other.

"Devil's Silver. I'm killing you." Malthus released his second shaft.

Nikko clutched at the shaft protruding from his chest as the second one hit him in the ribs. He crashed through a stand of briars and stumbled into the trees, trying to flee. The shaft snapped off in his hand and fell into the briars when he tried to jerk it out, leaving the long, barbed head lodged in his chest and lungs, spreading the poison into his blood stream. Devil's Silver ... oh, gods. It must be....

Two more arrows pierced his back, making him jerk and stagger. Another flight of darts punctured his body. The imps chittered excitedly, crying out their victory over him.

All of Nikko's muscles hurt from the swift acting toxins. He thought of Nevin, his first mentor, who had been an exemplar of courage, and steeled himself to fight it. He had to tell someone, but his sense of direction failed him.