Stories of the Stars

6.

I stumbled backwards, fumbling for the knife in my pocket, as the enormous snake burst from the wall of the hotel dining room. Vasa yelled a war cry and leapt forward, her sword again in her hands, as I fell out of my chair and onto the floor, grasping my knife in both hands.

It looked pathetically, painfully insignificant between my shaking fingers.

The monster hissed at Vasa, its long forked tongue snapping like a whip. I saw its fangs, each easily as long as my leg, dripping with venom, its eyes slit and glittering with malice and murder, and the scales shining in the dim light of morning, and I couldn't keep a small whimper from escaping my throat. This thing made the hydra look like a child's pet. How'd it fit inside the wall? I wondered. Then I realized that it must not have been in the wall, but in the room on the other side of the wall. I caught a glimpse of the room through the hole from which the monster had come, and all I could see was blood on the bedsheets. I felt my stomach turn through the fear.

Vasa flipped over the thing's head, a wave accompanying her, as it lunged for her. She landed in a crouch, her sword a gold blur in her hand as she lunged for the thing's face. It hissed again, dodging backwards, but I could see its tail end curling around Vasa's back, ready to snatch her in its coils.

I stood up on my shaking legs, gripping my knife with whitened fingers. Get over yourself, Jimlin, I told myself harshly. You cowered last night in front of the wolf, you didn't do much to the hydra, and you'd rather run than fight. But Vasa needs your help. So you're going to go over there and stab the snake.

"Good pep talk," I congratulated myself under my breath, and then I ran towards the enormous monster. I caught a glimpse of Vasa's face as I ran and I saw that icy anger raging in her eyes, the same as it had been last night in front of the werewolf, and I didn't look into her eyes again. I didn't want to see that expression marring her features anymore. So I focused on the monster.

The snake lunged for Vasa again, but she hit the ground and rolled, a wave coming up from nowhere and hitting the monster right in its slitted eyes and forming a tether that covered its head and neck. The monster made a gargling, snarling sound, and it hit the ground. Vasa dashed over to it, raising her sword, ready to slam the golden blade into its eyes.

But I saw something she didn't. Vasa was completely encircled by the monstrous serpent. The thing's body started to move, lashing out like a whip, ready to grab Vasa, right as she was about to plunge her sword into its face and send it down to Tartarus.

Time slowed. I ran faster, my eyes locked on Vasa and the serpent as it raised its tail into the air and she slammed her sword downwards. I clutched my knife in my outstretched hand and jumped, pushing up off the ground with strength I hadn't before known. I leapt across the room and shouted as I plunged the knife into its tail, tearing downwards as I fell towards the ground.

Dark blood splattered me, gushed across the tiled floor, colored the scales of the monster a deep black. The snake hissed a scream, flinching backwards, its tail convulsing from my blow, and its head writhed sideways, struggling to break free of the watery chain that still held it captive to Vasa. She struck, a viper in her own right, and slammed her golden blade into the thing's neck, right below its head. It thrashed, the snake's body crushing tables, smashing walls, completely destroying the hotel in its entirety. I struggled to keep from getting crushed, but I mostly kept my eyes on Vasa as she slammed her sword down again, this time hitting her target. The beast screamed a dying cry as her sword entered its eye and it disintegrated into yellow dust that blew away on an eerily silent wind.

Vasa turned to look at me, her blade discolored with the thing's black blood, her clothes dusted with the dead snake's remains. "We," she said, breathing hard, "have to get to camp. Now."