The Hydra's Curse

Chapter 3 - Outcast

The deer was just over a hundred feet away and for the third time that day, Sasha was looking at it from behind a bow. She was a terrible shot and the fact that her eating well hinged on her archery skills wasn't really helping things. Still, she steadied her breathing and drew the bowstring back, taking aim once more. There had been a few nice pluses that had come with the change, her eyesight being one of them and strength being another.

Things further away were so much clearer than they had used to be. Even at this distance she could see the individual hairs on the animal moving in the wind. It was actually quite the blessing and made foraging for berries and fruit so much easier. It also gave her a reason to use her own eyes rather than let the snakes atop her head do all the work. And of course being stronger made archery so much easier now. She had struggled with a bow string before, now it just came back smoothly when she pulled.

Those two factors alone should have made her great with the bow and arrow but it didn't change the fact that she just plain sucked. But she took the shot anyways, and the arrow went high this time. It actually soared overtop of the deer's body- a victory in her books because it meant she had one dimension aimed properly that time.

It still wasn't a victory for her stomach though.

Sasha sighed as the deer scampered away for the third time that day. Plants for supper again she supposed. She had been fine eating greens the first couple days in the forest but a craving for meat had overtaken her, and she found herself hunting to pass the time. It was a good skill to hone after all, she wasn't going back to civilization anytime soon.

The missed arrow was a ways past where the deer had been so she went to collect it and tried to figure out which way it had went in the meantime. There was still quite a bit of daylight yet. Tasting the air she picked it's scent again, and starting following the trail it had left through the underbrush. Picking her way through the bush without making noise was actually surprisingly easy considering her size. All she had to do was keep her upper body low to the ground move the branches aside when she slithered. It made for a typical sliding sound of course but it wasn't the crunching that echoed through the forest when a bear tried to push through the brush.

The trail the deer had left wasn't very pronounced but she was able to keep on track by following the scent. For something she thought to be revolting when she first discovered it, her new tongue was proving incredibly useful. She flicked it out again, going to the right slightly to keep on its path. With the mountain looming only a day ahead of her she wasn't sure if she wanted to leave the forest at its base. It had started to grow on her and was feeling familiar. But that could just be her nature which was to resist change. She knew that on the other side of the mountain range was a huge river and even thicker forest. Sasha did want to live in the jungle for a while. The mountain range did cast a large rain shadow.

Her hunt led her to a clearing- a large one at that; probably a thirty minute walk- or slither- across. She could see the deer in the distance too, it's head poking out of the tall grass on the lookout for whatever was pursuing it. This was perfect. Sasha unstrung her bow quickly and slid it back into its slot on the quiver and went nearly flat to the ground before sliding out of the forest and into the grass. There was a strong wind which masked her movement through the grass and made it all but impossible to tell she was even there at all. Using her of her longest hair snakes to keep and eye on the deer, Sasha slowly but surely made her way towards it; only moving when the wind gusted to she the rustling she was making from being suspicious.

And it worked. She was within ten feet of the deer and it had no clue, still eating the leaves off a lone tree in the middle of a grassy field. Once she was that close Sasha reigned the rest of her long body in close to her in a fashion that would let her strike. She had wanted to try this for a while but could never quite get close enough, her prey always noticed her. But not this time.