Jason and Reyna: The Praetor's of New Rome - Truth

The air head saves the day

"In the wild you must always be ready young one. We will not always be the alpha predators and you must learn to defend yourself at a moments notice, just like the prey we hunt." This was one of my first lessons from Lupa. Good thing I learned that one very quickly.

Lupa had honed my instincts day in and day out. Before Reyna could even respond to my question I felt another presence nearby. Its movements were subtle, but I could feel the short waves sent through the water. When the creature rose above me and its tail had rattled behind Reyna, I knew that we were surrounded. I grabbed Reyna's arm and used the winds to pull us in the air, just before the snake could wrap its large body around us. I strained against the wind and we landed just a few feet away from the snake.

The snake was now coiled up, squeezzing our backpack. I thought back to the books I read when I would sneak away from Lupa during the day. I recalled one book I read about reptiles. The snake seemed to be a cross of a rattlesnake and cobra. The beast had a large rattle at the end of its dark blue body. Its upper body expanded, revealing a white under belly. The snake was larger then Lupa, towering over us.

Reyna's first reaction when we landed was to run, but I held onto her arm and held my ground.

"What are you doing. Lets go!" Reyna insited.

'We run, we die." I said. I tried to keep my voice as leveled as possible, never once taking my eyes off of the snake.

"If we stay here, we die!" Reyna cried out. She didn't fight against me however and stood as still as a rock.

The snakes eyes were locked on us, its tongue flicking out. I remember reading that snakes used their tongues to capture the scent of its prey in the air, to make up for its lack of eyesight and hearing.

I let go of Reyna's arm and slowly extended my left hand to her. I kept my eyes on the snake, its cold eyes staring right at mines. I felt Reyna take my hand, squeezing tightly. The tall grass in between us and the snake began swaying to the left as I changed the course of the winds. The snake's tongue began to flick more rapidly, trying to pinpoint our location. I squeezed Reyna's hand and started moving slowly to the right. She followed behind, keeping up with my pace. The snake started following the direction of the wind, veering to the left. The snakes tail rattled, alarmed.

I was feeling really good about myself. The snake was traveling in the opposite direction from us and we were about to celebrate when we heard more rattling behind us. We turned around and saw not one, not two, but three more snakes behind us. All three of them staring dead at us.

"Can we run now?" Reyna asked.

I sighed. "Yep."

I made a pushing motion and a burst of wind pushed Reyna and I back. We ran away towards the river, following down the way we had been going. I glanced behind me and saw the snakes gaining on us. They swam effortlessly through the water, while we splashed and strained against it. We would be overrun again.

"Reyna, I'm going to need your help." I extended my hand again.

Reyna looked at my hand and then glanced back at the snakes again. "Alright." She took my hand.

I tried to concentrate while I ran. I had only pulled this trick once, but with Reyna's help I could probably hold it for a lot longer. I felt the wind pushing behind me. I willed the winds to pull us up, just like I had done before. Just before one snake could catch us, we shot up into the air. Reyna wrapped her arms around my neck and held on. I struggled with the winds, trying to keep us afloat. I tried to focus the winds beneath our feet, but they wouldn't obey.

"Reyna! I could use your help."

Reyna looked down. We were a few feet above the snakes, just far enough to be out of their reach. "Your doing fine. I don't think you need my strength."