A Snake's Life

by Kenneth Arant

  "What!?" She seemed utterly surprised at Ayla's confession.

  "Are the Alpha Deer truly so dangerous?" I wondered to myself. Sure, they seemed like it at first. But they proved themselves to be fairly dim-witted. Surely the elves could outsmart them?

  "Where is this man, then?” Granny asked. “I'll have to reward him for saving your life."

  "Yay!" Ayla ran to the edge of the firelight and began looking for me.

  "Old man! Where are you!?" she hollered into the darkness.

  "Oh well, might as well get this over with."

  "Old man?" Ayla called again. Though this time her voice sounded nervous.

  "Yeah, yeah. I'm coming, ya damn brat." I watched the gathered elves’ faces as I entered the light. At first, they didn't seem to react... though that could have been because they were frozen in surprise.

  The ensuing volley of screams told me they weren’t frozen any longer.

  One of the men wearing leather armor with a bow strapped to his back yelled something in that odd language. The other armed men and women quickly surrounded me, while the unarmed people fled. Those with bows notched their arrows and prepared to fire.

  "Is this how you repay someone for helping you?" I raised myself up and glared down at them.

  "Wait, no! He's my friend!" Ayla yelled.

  "Hold your fire, hold your fire!" Granny yelled.

  "You should listen to them; I'm beginning to get hungry."

  The leather-clad elf said something to Granny and Ayla without taking either his eyes or his bow off of me.

  "There are children inside the camp, Elder!" a female elf yelled. I was surprised that I understood that one.

  "You think I don't know that!?" Granny yelled back before she cautiously looked up at me.

  "If this... serpent, actually protected Ayla, then I owe him."

  "Well, aren’t you the honorable one?"

  She looked up at me. "Some think me 'foolish', not honorable."

  "Sometimes,” I laughed, “those aren’t mutually exclusive.”

  “Agreed,” she said through a tight smile.

  "Smart lady."

  The other elves were watching us talk, though they appeared confused. "What's it saying, Elder?" a woman asked.

  "It?" I asked curiously.

  "Don't get upset, Titan. They don't understand you, the way we druids do."

  "My name is Torga, and yes, I figured that out when they started speaking gibberish. Though I was led to believe this a druid camp?”

  "Well, Torga, this is a druid camp. However, as we cannot defend ourselves in these lands, for fear of losing our magic, we hired guards to protect us. They cannot speak to the animals as we do."

  "From... the deer?" I guessed.

  "Yes," she nodded.

  "I see. Well then, I'll be going now." I turned and began to head back the way I’d come.

  "Wait, old man, where are you going?" Ayla ran ahead of me and stomped her little feet.

  "I'm going to hunt, brat. Unless you want me to eat some of your camp to satisfy my hunger?" I asked, knowing full well the answer I’d get in return.

  "No, definitely don't do that!" She rapidly waved her hands in front of her.

  "That’s what I thought. I’m going hunting now, and I’ll return tomorrow to receive whatever reward your granny decides to give me," I assured her.

  "Promise?" She looked at the ground.

  "Yes, Ayla. I’ll be back tomorrow.” Her face began to heat up as I moved around her on my way to the forest. Once inside, I began hunting for as much food as I could find. A portion of the surrounding forest didn’t survive the night, and I fell asleep only moderately satisfied.

  The next morning, I reentered the druid camp and was quickly surrounded by the guards, which I expected. What I didn’t expect was the dark-skinned elf with silver hair and red eyes standing at the forefront of the group. "Hello," she purred, walking up to me. "My aren't you a beautiful creature." She reached out to run her hand along my scales.

  "If you desire to keep that arm, then keep it to yourself," I said in a neutral tone. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with this right now.

  She quickly withdrew her hand and glared up at me. "Well, aren't you a feisty one?" She waved her hand in an intricate pattern, and I felt a force enter my mind. "Now, you're going to let me touch you, aren't you?" Her voice reverberated throughout my mind, and my body attempted to obey. My head was lowering to her eye level when I stopped.

  "Get. Out. Of. My. Head," I hissed.

  "My, you are a strong willed one. I'll have to break you of that. Now, Bow!" she commanded.

  Her order caused an instant and severe migraine. Even so, I refused. "You. Pretentious. Elven. Bitch. Get out of my head!" I struggled against my body as it tried to obey her. The pain was getting worse for every second I disobeyed.

  "You'll comply eventually. They always do." She smirked up at me. I was about to respond again when I got a pop-up.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Because of your repeated resistance to druidic mind control, you have gained the following trait.

  Strong Willed: Increases resistance to mind altering effects.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Almost instantly, the pain began to lessen, and my body stopped fighting against me. The elf seemed to notice that I wasn't struggling as much and appeared to believe she had won.

  "There, you see. I knew you would comply eventually." I lowered my head to her level.

  She grew excited and quickly raised her hand to touch my scales, but the instant she did, I whispered, "I warned you."

  "Huh?" she asked an instant before I bit her arm and quickly spun my body away. She was pulled off her feet and slung into the air. She screamed as she traveled through the air until, at the peak of her motion, I quickly pulled in the opposite direction. Her arm couldn't take the strain and was torn off, while she fell out of the sky and onto the hard ground. I quickly swallowed her arm before anyone could stop me and began glaring at the surrounding elves.

  The previously confident elves were now nervous, and terribly angry.

  One of them screamed, which alerted the rest of the camp. They drew their weapons and tried to corral me. However, a voice froze them in their tracks. "Stop this at once!" Granny and Ayla ran inside the circle of guards and stood in front of me. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Granny demanded.

  One of the guards yelled something, and Granny took a step towards the guard in response.

  "She's not dead, you incompetent oaf!" She pointed over their heads at a group of druids surrounding the downed form of Aurae.

  The guard seemed much less confident now. His words came out staggered, almost as if he were stuttering.

  "Shut your damn mouth! I told Aurae last night to leave Torga alone, and what does she do? She tries to force him to bond with her." She took two more steps forward. "She's lucky we need her, or else I'd let nature take its course!"

  "So... I can't eat her?" I quietly asked.

  Granny glared at me over her shoulder. "If that is what you desire as payment for saving Ayla, be my guest."

  "No, I’d rather receive information as payment,” I immediately replied.

  Granny’s body seemed to sag for a moment before her back straightened. "If it is information you desire, then follow me and I will answer any question you have. However, I would ask that you leave after that to prevent further incident."

  "Very well." I nodded my head.

  "Come along, then. We'll talk over at my campfire." She turned and walked off.

  I glanced down and saw Ayla fidgeting in place. "Relax brat. I suspected that would happen before we arrived."

  She peeked up at me. "You're not mad?" she asked. The nervous tension in her voice was as clear as day.

  "Not at you. Though if that woman comes near me again, I'm going to eat her."

  "I think Granny was hoping you would pick that as your reward." She leaned up to whisper near my head. "She's been t
rying to get rid of her for years now. But Aurae was given her position by the previous Elder, so Granny can't do anything directly."

  "I think your Granny and I could really get along," I admitted after a moment.

  Ayla perked up at my words. "So... you'll stay?"

  I shook my head. "I can't stay. I have something I need to do, and I can't do that with people around."

  "Oh. Will you come visit?"

  "Yes brat, I'll come visit you and Granny."

  She glared up at me. "Promise?"

  "Yes, I promise I'll come to visit."

  Her glare vanished and she smiled up at me. "Good!" She took a few steps back. "You better keep your promise, or when I'm bigger I'm going to come looking for you!"

  "Understood, brat."

  Her smile grew wider. "Okay! Bye, old man!" She turned and walked deeper into the camp.

  "Bye, brat." I moved to follow Granny and headed up to her campfire for our talk and hopefully, some information on my next target.

  Chapter 10

  I FOLLOWED GRANNY TO a tent on the outskirts of the camp. I noticed that it was one of the simplest among the several tens of tents scattered around the area.

  "I'll be honest. I expected something a bit more..."

  “Lavish?” She asked, glancing up at me.

  I nodded.

  "What can I say. I prefer simple." She shrugged. She sat down on an old tree stump near the campfire and motioned for me to move closer. I did, and after fiddling with something in her bag, she looked up at me. “Bantil?” She held out an off-green stick for me to inspect. It smelled like peppermint.

  “Sure.” She tossed it and I snatched it out of the air before it could travel more than a couple of feet. And I was right, the damn thing tasted like a less sweet version of a piece of peppermint candy. “Say, aren’t you supposed to be the leader?” I asked after taking a moment to glance around the area. “Why’re you over here by yourself?”

  "I am. Though you'd never know it by asking most of the people here. And I prefer to be by myself. Easier that way," she admitted offhandedly.

  I tilted my head in confusion. "Why?” I asked. I decided to ignore the various stares pointed in my direction and refocused my attention on Granny.

  "Too many people with differing opinions have caused a divide. On one side, you have my family and a few of the older druids. And on the other...” she scoffed. “Aurae and her lot. She's been luring the younger generation over to her way of thinking for several years now. Most of them have already turned against the old teachings."

  "And your attempts to stop her have failed because... she’s more powerful than you? Better connected politically, perhaps?”

  “Something like that,” she agreed. She stood up and began pacing back and forth in front of her tent while a bantil stick hung loosely from her mouth. "My grandfather, the last Elder of the clan, gave her that position. Whether I like it or not, that's given her a... a modicum of leeway in what she can and cannot do. And I can’t interfere as long as she claims her actions are for the camp’s 'protection'.” She bit off the end of the bantil and let out a frustrated sigh. “Credit where it’s due. She's quite good at manipulating the truth to fit her needs. The bitch is as slippery as a snake—er... sorry, no offense meant."

  I wanted to laugh at how red her face turned, but I did a mental shrug instead and chose to ignore it. “None taken,” I assured her. “I still don’t understand why you haven’t put a stop to it, though.”

  "I told you why. If I can't prove she's done something wrong, then I can't punish her for it. Without proof, the people would believe I was just pushing her around because I didn’t like her."

  “So? Who cares what they think as long as they’re safe? Say, can I have another one of those stick things?”

  "What?" She stopped pacing and was now staring at me.

  “Can I have another one of those stick things?”

  “No, I mean, yes, but before that. What did you say?”

  “Would you mind?” I asked while motioning to the bag with my head.

  She pulled a handful of bantil out of her bag and tossed them to me one at a time. Once I’d eaten all of them, she stared expectantly at me as she waited for me to explain myself. After a few seconds of my not saying anything, she started tapping her foot impatiently.

  “Okay, maybe things are different here. And I’m certainly no leader, so take what I’m about to say with a grain of salt. But, if it protects your people, who cares if they think you’re being mean? Her path could, and probably will, lead to a lot of deaths. So, which is more important: the lives of your people or whether they remember you as a nice person?”

  Her foot picked up speed as I spoke until it settled into a rhythmic beat that I could imagine accompanying a rock song of some kind. She seemed to be doing it without conscious thought since she appeared to have zoned out after I was finished talking.

  "Guess she got that from you, huh?" I wondered out loud.

  My offhanded remark must have caught her off guard because her foot stopped tapping. "Huh?" she asked a few seconds later, which confirmed it.

  "Ayla does that too." I motioned to her foot.

  She looked down and quietly laughed. "Oh, yes. Ayla's picked up a few of my habits. And I suppose you're right. I’ve been too soft on them. Treated them like they were my misguided children instead of the adults they actually are. Perhaps, I really am as foolish as they say."

  I immediately disagreed. "No, I don’t think you’re foolish. Perhaps a bit too kind for your own good, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing."

  “Fair enough.” She sighed. She returned to her spot on the tree stump and, after a few moments of staring at the ground, she looked at me with a refreshing smile on her face. "Alright, tell me what it is you want to know, and I'll do my best to answer."

  “She’s made a decision, then...” I collected my thoughts for a few moments before asking my first question. “How big is this planet?”

  She waved her hands in a series of circle and line patterns and a dirt ball floated into the air. Then, she waved her fingers and a line carved its way around the planet. "This is a representation of the planet we are currently standing on. That line in the center is the only source of water on this rock."

  "The river?"

  She smiled a little brighter. "Exactly."

  "But, what about civilization? I mean, surely this camp can't be all that exists.”

  She shook her head. "Of course not." She waved her hand and a small tree grew underneath the ball of dirt. The tree suddenly sprouted innumerable branches, before it finally stopped growing. "This," she motioned to the tree, "is Yggdrasil."

  "What's that?" I asked as I stared in awe at the miniature model.

  She closed her eyes, for a moment to think. "Maybe it's better if I called it the 'World Tree'."

  "Oh... that Yggdrasil."

  “So, you have heard of it? Good, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to explain everything. No offense, but sometimes animals, even intelligent animals like yourself, aren’t the most self-aware creatures.” She coughed into her hand and quickly looked away. “That saves us a lot of time and a general overview should be enough for you to get by. The rest you can figure out on your own.” With a few more waves of her fingers, the model began to gain detail.

  "Okay, first things first. We’re currently here.” A tiny orb attached to one of the highest of Yggdrasil’s innumerable branches turned a pale green color. “We’re on a dwarf-planet called Rualea. Rualea is little more than a wildlife preserve in terms of usefulness to the outside world, but it does have its purpose. Certain plants and animals are unique to this planet due to the extreme levels of earth mana found here.” Another finger wave caused an orb slightly further down the tree to glow pink. “In the outside world, and away from the relative safety of the upper branches, it can be very dangerous for the unprepared."

  "I see." I nodded along with her words.

  “For instance,"
she pointed to the newly glowing orb, "This is Rhan, and it's currently the farthest down the tree anyone has managed to get."

  "What's there?" I asked curiously.

  "Not much at the moment. It's a planet on the edge of the ‘civilized’ world, so I’m not sure if they’ve even managed to build their first gateway yet. A few towns and villages maybe, but nothing really worth talking about."

  "Where’s the current seat of power?”

  "Depends on who you ask," she muttered while fiddling with her model.

  "Multiple kingdoms?"

  "Yep. Thousands of them, possibly hundreds of thousands. The exact number is impossible to guess due to the sheer size of Yggdrasil. Honestly, no one is even sure if Rhan is the farthest down we’ve gone. It’s just the best guess of the Lusan Kingdom, which I happen to be a citizen of.” She pointed to an orb that glowed faintly yellow a few branches down and to the left of Rualea. “Aside from us, the other two that I’m familiar with are Dadora, the beast-man kingdom." An orb that glowed blue appeared a few branches to the right of Rualea. “And the Shazar Empire." An orb lit up with an eerie black light a few branches over from Rhan.

  "What’s with the creepy color?"

  She shrugged. “Considering the Shazar Empire is ruled by and named after an Elder lich, it fits.”

  "One creature has its own empire?" I accidentally hissed my response. Luckily, she didn’t seem to mind my outburst. Or if she did, she didn’t react to it. Instead, she stuck another bantil in her mouth and bit down.

  "No, the reason it’s called an empire is because of the massive undead horde under the lich’s control."

  "And, this lich... it just stays there?”

  She nodded. "Most of the time. Although, it has been known to travel to a new planet every... hundred years or so."

  "Oh." I suddenly had the feeling that I’d run into that lich eventually. "Very well.” I let my annoyance at the thought go. “I only have one more question."

  "Alright," she nodded. She bit off another piece of bantil and waited.

  "Can you explain the tier system to me?"

  "Sure." She took a moment to collect her thoughts then began speaking. "I'm assuming you know your own tier?”