Page 30 of Tattered Huntress
Iflew down the path in the direction of the men, my feet sending clouds of dirt into the air. The snake hadn’t fully emerged from the cave yet, but it was already a terrifying thing to behold. Its girth was massive, spanning at least a metre, while its glittering black eyes displayed nothing but malevolent, hungry intent. As its dappled emerald scales caught the fading sunlight, there was a terrible beauty to it; in any other circumstances I might have admired it. But the bloodied body of its first victim was lying across the path and the shocked reaction of the three survivors, who clearly had now realised that they were in a fight for their lives, negated any such sensibilities.
‘What are you doing?’ Hester screeched in my ear. ‘You’re supposed to run away from the monster, not towards it!’
I ignored her and concentrated on reaching the three men. The snake hadn’t noticed my approach; it was focused on the men, hissing and spitting at them before lunging at one and then at another. It was toying with them like a cat might toy with a mouse. For all their sophisticated gadgetry and sleek appearances, the men in black didn’t stand a chance.
But I was less than a hundred metres away. They weren’t alone.
One of the men – I was pretty sure he was called John – reached for something clipped to his belt and motioned to his two companions to do the same. When he held the device in front of him, I realised it was a taser. It probably wouldn’t do more than annoy the snake even further, but it might buy a few seconds of precious time. I prayed that it would and veered to my right to check on their fallen comrade.
He was lying on his back, blood bubbling from his mouth as he struggled to breathe. There was a gaping hole in his side where one of the snake’s fangs had punctured his body. His skin was pale and waxy and his glassy eyes told me that he was beyond pain.
My magic didn’t extend to healing powers. I knew there were witches who boasted that their potions were strong enough to heal any wound, but even if there had been one around I doubted any potion could help this poor guy.
I yanked out my phone to call for help but a glance at the screen told me that I had no signal. I hissed and started to peel off my jacket, then glanced up at Hester and Otis. ‘Can either of you do anything to help him?’
Otis wrung his hands while Hester only stared; I guessed that was a ‘no’ then.
I dropped my bag, knelt over the man’s body and wrapped my jacket tightly around the wound; it would staunch the flow of blood, if nothing else. I had a small first-aid kit but nothing inside it would be effective against a wound of this magnitude. Besides, we were running out of time.
‘You need to go and fetch help,’ I told the brownies. ‘Fly out to the road, find a way to stop the nearest vehicle and get the driver to call 999. Make sure the emergency services know thatthe snake is free. The last thing we need is more potential victims coming here.’
Neither of them moved. I drew in a sharp breath. ‘Otis! Hester! Go and get help!’
My words finally seemed to register. ‘Yes,’ Otis said. ‘We will.’ He tugged at his sister.
‘We have to get out of here,’ Hester whispered. She raised her eyes to mine. ‘Youhave to get out of here.’
‘I will,’ I said firmly. ‘I’ll be right behind you.’ I gave Otis a long look. He nodded, tugged Hester again and they flapped away, staying as far from the snapping, vicious snake as possible. Luckily they were too small to draw its attention, and slid past in seconds.
‘Alright, buddy,’ I said to the man in black. ‘You stay right here whilst I help your friends.’ Wishing I could do more than offer platitudes, I patted his shoulder. ‘Don’t go anywhere.’
I stood up and returned my attention to the snake. The other three men had fired their tasers and, as I’d expected, they’d had little effect. Its head continued to whip around and snap at each of them in turn. The only thing I could do was try to distract it and give them a chance to run. If they could get inside their SUV, they might have some protection against the snake’s jaws.
I waved frantically at the desperate trio. ‘I’ll distract it. You need to get out of here!’ I shouted.
John wasn’t daft enough to take his eyes from the snake as he replied. ‘You’re an elf, right?’ he yelled. ‘Use earth magic and collapse the cave!’
That was a stupid idea; it would piss off the snake and bring it further out from its home instead of trapping it. We needed it to retreat inside, not have another reason to stay in the open. Besides, regardless of the circumstances, it was against the law to harm magical creatures in their own habitats.
I didn’t waste time explaining all of that. ‘Be ready,’ I called.
He grunted as he raised his arms to fend off yet another lunge. The snake was starting to get bored with play time and it wouldn’t be long before it chomped another of the men. I had to act now – and, as far as I could tell, there was only one option open to me.
Reaching into my backpack, I pulled out the length of rope that thankfully I’d thrown in at the last minute. I coiled it tightly around my right hand, sucked in a breath, tightened my muscles and ran towards the snake’s glittering green body. All I needed was momentum and a tonne of good luck. Easy-peasy.
I flung my left hand backwards, using both it and the natural swing of my arm to propel me upwards. A second later, I was scrambling up the snake’s scales until I was perched on its back twenty metres from its head.
The snake’s body jerked and I fell to my hands and knees as I scrabbled to get a grip on something to avoid falling off. I managed to hook my fingers underneath the edges of two of the sharp scales. It was as well that I did because the snake had obviously registered that I’d landed on its body and it definitely wasn’t happy about it.
It jerked its head around and fixed its beady eyes on me. I slid forward until I was straddling its wide girth as it writhed and bucked in an attempt to throw me off. I clung on with all my might.
I lifted my head and yelled at the men, ‘Run, for fuck’s sake! Get out of here!’
I didn’t waste time checking to see whether they took off; it was taking all my energy to stay on the snake’s back. Its head was curving towards me and I knew I’d be a goner if its fangs reached me. I had to move.
I released my grip on the scales and stood up shakily, keeping my body low to maintain my centre of gravity. A breathlater, I started running the length of the snake’s long spine towards its huge head. As long as I kept my balance, I was in with a shot. Speed was key, so I moved quickly, taking care to watch the rippling muscles so I knew in which direction the snake was jerking and could adjust my weight accordingly. At the same time, I uncoiled the rope and stretched it out between my hands. I was no cowgirl but I reckoned I could wrangle a giant snake. Maybe.
The snake bucked to the left and then to the right. My foot slipped and I almost fell, but providence smiled on me and I managed to cling on. Then its massive, forked tongue flicked out towards me and I was forced to duck to avoid it. The rotten stench of its breath was almost enough to knock me over, but I threw myself forward another four strides until I was too close to the snake’s head itself for it to twist and reach me.
