A Snake's Life

by Kenneth Arant

  VALKAS HEIQEN HAD NEVER amounted to much in his life. As the only son of an elf shaman and a human woman, he was born an outcast. His father, a disgraced shaman warrior, was the only member of his tribe to survive the “purge”—the kingdom of Guisea's attempt to cleanse the land of the races they deemed too “impure” to live.

  His father, while being severely injured, crawled over seventy miles to the small border town of Silverglen. It was here that he met Sophia, the oldest daughter of the local blacksmith and fiancée of the town's young lord.

  Naturally, as with all stories of this nature, the two fell in love... But they didn't get to live out their fairytale ending, as the father was executed for impregnating the lord's fiancée. And Sophia was locked up inside the lord's keep until the day of her wedding. Then, after giving birth to her son, she was forced to hand him over to the local orphanage.

  Valkas lived at the orphanage for ten years. But once he'd gotten too old to continue living there, he was kicked out and was forced to turn to a life of petty crime to survive. This life would eventually land him a job as a highwayman for a local bandit boss. A semi-lucrative job to be sure, and one that would lead to his eventual doom.

  The road he was ordered to toll was near an area that until recently had been teeming with wildlife... But something had recently driven the animals away and forced the nearby town to start importing their food, as the hunters could no longer find enough meat to keep the town sustained.

  While this led to even more tolls for Valkas, his success in the area had caused his ego to swell enough that he lowered his guard for the first time in weeks.

  Valkas was slowly stirring his pot of rabbit stew when he heard the sound of a stick being broken. He quickly looked away from the campfire and stared in the direction the sound had come from. His half-elven eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness of the surrounding forest and he saw a large shadow standing just out of the fire's light. He squinted his eyes in order to get a better look, but the shadows were simply too deep for him to see through.

  Adopting a fake smile—the kind he always used to get inside women's pants and disarm travelers—he stood from his squatted position and introduced himself with an alias that he'd recently come up with.

  "Whoa! You gave me one hell of a fright, my friend. The name's Mathias, would you care to join me for a meal?" Valkas asked in a falsely jovial tone, while moving his hand towards the scabbard on his side.

  The shadow stayed completely silent as it stared at him. A few seconds later, another stick was broken, but this time the sound came from directly behind Valkas.

  He turned his head to see who was standing behind him, and he drew his sword from its scabbard in a show of force. But a strong strike to his jaw rendered him unconscious before he could fully unsheathe it. The last thing he saw before passing out completely, was a nearly invisible foot about to kick him in the face.

  He came to an unknown amount of time later. His arms and legs were bound by strong cords of leather and he'd been stripped of his clothes and weapons. His back was pressed against a solid wall of... something, and he was in complete darkness. He struggled in an attempt to free himself, but that was brought to a halt when a strong strike hit him in the chest. The blow knocked the breath out of him and brought tears to his eyes.

  "You should probably stay still. We transported you here safely, but should you try to escape... Well, let's just say, you won't like our response." An oddly two-toned voice spoke from inside the darkness.

  "You can't keep me here!" Valkas screamed. "Do you have any idea who I work for!?" He thrashed around, prompting another strong blow against his chest. Spittle flew from his mouth as he yelled in pain and he thrashed again. "Release me!" Another blow came, but this one struck him across the jaw. His head spun to the side, where it impacted a solid surface and he became severely dizzy.

  The two-toned voice let out a sigh, then spoke again. "If you'll just answer my questions, then I'll set you free."

  Valkas used his head to right himself, as he was still pressed against the wall, then he acquiesced. "Fine... What do you want to know?" A chill went down his spine after he answered. but he wasn't sure why.

  "What is your name? Your real name, not that fake one you gave my associates," the voice demanded.

  Valkas stared into the darkness in an attempt to see his abductors, but it was still too dark, so he instead asked, "How do you know it's fake?" A heavy open-handed blow struck him across the face, and his head was slammed into the “wall.” Valkas let out a groan of pain, then answered. "My name is Valkas Heiqen, I'm a highwayman for the bandit boss Grukag!"

  Silence followed his statement. Then the voice spoke again. "I'll be honest and say, I didn't expect you to give up who you worked for so easily. But you've saved me a question, so I thank you for that. Next question: Are you expecting anyone to come find you?"

  Valkas didn't want to say anything on this subject, so he remained silent. Until a kick to his stomach loosened his lips. "Yes! Four members of my group are supposed to come join me in the next week and if I'm not there, then they'll assume the town did something to me. And trust me when I say, you don't want boss Grukag mad at such a small town. He's destroyed towns of that size for less than what you've done to me," Valkas said, in an attempt to rattle his captors.

  "Oh well, that isn't my problem. Next question, and this is the final one: Has anyone from the town seen your face?"

  Valkas shook his head. Then quietly said, "No... I wore a mask every time I 'tolled' someone, so no one has seen my face. You're not letting me go, are you?" It was the 'That isn't my problem' statement that alerted Valkas to the fact that he wasn't dealing with a vigilante from the town like he'd thought.

  Ever since he awoke, he'd been thinking that someone from the town had come back to punish him for what he'd done since coming here. A vigilante, if you will. But now, he knew otherwise. Whoever this was, they didn't grab him because of what he'd done. They most likely didn't even care who he worked for.

  "What are you going to do with me?" Valkas asked.

  Suddenly, two sets of arms hauled him into the air and slammed him against a cold smooth surface. "I thank you for your cooperation. The last eight travelers my associates grabbed weren't as accommodating and had to be... 'dealt with.'" The voice paused for a few seconds, then a hand grabbed him by the hair and pressed his forehead into the cold surface. "As for what I'm going to do with you... As I said, I'm going to set you free... from everything."

  A pain, unlike anything Valkas had ever felt, penetrated his head. Along with the pain came an ambient glow that revealed just what he was pressed against.

  "A... jewel?" He passed out shortly after and never woke again.

  Chapter 29

  THE STONE GOBLIN PUPPET turned to ash, just as I finished turning the highwayman into a new puppet, and a few seconds later I got the pop-ups.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  You have eaten the following race for the first time.

  Wood Elfling: Tier 3

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "So, he wasn't an elf like I thought..."

  Siofs and Findral had watched this guy for days. Though his outward appearance had caused his victims to underestimate him, I made sure to order the females to take him out without giving him the opportunity to fight back, lest they be injured in the attempt.

  He appeared young, possibly in his early to middle twenties, and he was a little on the short side. He kept his long blond hair pulled into a ponytail and his face was cleanly shaven, which only served to make him look even younger. His eyes were dark blue, and he had long pointed ears.

  He was wearing a pair of loose brown pants, a long-sleeved green shirt with a brown pocket on the right breast, and a pair of brown leather boots. As Siofs was the one to carry him back to me, Findral had stayed behind and looted his camp. She brought back one complete set of leather armor, a long wooden bow with metal spikes on each end and a metal grip in the center, a quiver with
twenty-three arrows, a dark lower face mask, and all of his camping gear.

  Naturally, as I had no use for the armor, the camping gear, or the mask, I distributed them among the goblins: I gave the armor to Siofs, and I gave the camping gear to them as a whole. And as Findral begged for the mask with huge eyes, I wound up giving it to her.

  Before I got too invested in the bow, I'd decided to keep for myself, another pop-up appeared.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Wood Elfling Puppet

  Classification: Tier 3

  Skills: Major Agility Up, Light Stepper, Thievery, Observe

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Because three of the skills were fairly self-explanatory, I only asked about Observe, and thankfully, the pop-ups took pity on my ignorant self and I received another pop-up.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  Observe: Gives detailed knowledge on creatures, objects, or places you have prior experience with.

  *Note: If you do not have any knowledge of the target of this skill, then it will fail.

  ꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏꝏ

  "That's useful."

  After reading the pop-ups and doing some light exercise to get used to controlling the new puppet, I made it pick up the bow and quiver, then head outside to practice. Because the puppet could be ordered to complete a simple action, then left on its own, I could simply tell it what targets to hit, and it would shoot at them. Though it wasn't accurate in the slightest and out of ten shots, it only hit with three of them.

  I made the puppet call over Siofs, then it handed the bow to her. "The puppet can't hit with this thing, so I'll just stick with a melee weapon for the time being. Can any of you use a bow?"

  "Well..." Her expression turned thoughtful for a few seconds." I believe Findral can use a bow, but I'm not sure how well she can use it."

  I hummed to myself, then called to Findral. Her ears perked up and she came bounding over with the grace of a large Alpha Deer: loud, fast, and dangerous to anyone standing in her way. Thankfully, she slid to a stop just before running into Siofs.

  "Hi, Master! What can I do for you?" she asked in her annoyingly cheerful way.

  "Can you use a bow?" I asked, even though I dreaded the answer. But her response honestly surprised me.

  Her cheerful expression faded a bit and was replaced with a more serious one. "I can. Does Master wish for me to use the bow?"

  I nodded, handed over the bow and its quiver, then I ordered the puppet to go hunting. It picked up the blade that had been confiscated earlier and disappeared into the forest.

  The next morning, I assumed the role of the puppet's eyes and ears and ordered it to head into town. It made the thirty-minute journey in about ten and came to a stop outside the town proper. I took direct control of it and made it begin looking around the town.

  The buildings were simple things: wooden walls and dark tiled roofs, and they were just large enough to fit a small family comfortably. However, I wasn't interested in the homes for the moment. No, I was interested in the blacksmith and the tailor. The first of the two I came to had an anvil on a sign hanging above the door. I pushed the door open, causing a bell to chime, then I walked inside.

  The inside had a bare center floor, but each of the four walls had five shelves apiece, which stretched from one side of the building to the other. And a chest-high counter blocked off the shelves from any would-be thieves. Behind the counter was a young human with black hair. He was wearing an apron, denoting that he worked here. But instead of greeting me, he had his nose buried in a large book that he had placed on the countertop, so I took the opportunity to look at the items that lay on the shelves.

  I took my time and tried to memorize every detail I could about the shop: where everything was located, what appeared valuable, and what was useful to us. Not once during my time inside did the boy look up from his book, so I left without saying anything to him. From there I wanted to go inside the tailor shop, but according to a sign on the door, they weren't opening today, so I turned on my heel and headed for the camp.

  After returning to camp, I had the goblins gather around the puppet and I laid out the plan for the next few days. The females would observe the town and count the number of guards they saw in the area around the blacksmith shop for the next two days, while the guys would do the same for the tailor.

  Then, the following night, Siofs and I would break into the blacksmith shop and steal the equipment we needed. Findral and Holstig would break into the tailor shop and steal clothes and any repair supplies they could find, provided I could get inside and look around first.

  "Remember... The rules still apply. No one is to be harmed unless I give the order. If you are discovered, then you can knock them out, but No. Killing... Am I clear?" I looked at each goblin in turn, to ensure they understood. As none of them said anything, I accepted their silence as confirmation, and I sent the puppet out hunting again.

  Chapter 30

  THE NIGHT OF THE BREAK-in came and Siofs and the puppet were crouched outside of the blacksmith shop. Because Findral had given two sets of lockpicks to the puppet, it was currently crouched down in front of the door, while Siofs stood watch. *Click* The lock successfully turned, and the door swung open.

  "Yes!" I quietly celebrated, then I turned to Siofs and motioned with my head for her to go inside.

  She stepped around me and quietly walked inside, while drawing the sword I'd given her. Once she was inside, she searched the building for any residents while I began to search for the items we needed. I jumped over the counter and looked on the shelves for anything we could use, but they were gone.

  "Damn, the clerk must move the items after closing." I mumbled to myself, then I headed into the backroom where I found Siofs still looking around. I joined her for a few minutes, then I headed up the stairs and started looking around up there. Searching through the five rooms I found up there netted me several barrels that contained swords, daggers, maces, and a number of other weapons.

  I began throwing the weapons each goblin claimed they could use inside a rucksack Findral had found with the elfling's camping supplies. I tossed three sheathed daggers, two iron longswords, and a morning star into the sack, which I then tied closed to prevent any of it from falling out. Then I headed back down and found Siofs standing at the foot of the stairs holding a similarly filled rucksack.

  "Got everything?"

  She nodded, then threw the sack to the puppet. "Have the puppet carry this, so if we happen to run into any trouble, it can escape while I hold our pursuers off,” she said, then turned and headed for the door. Luckily for us, we didn't run into anyone and managed to get back to camp safely. Approximately thirty minutes later, the other goblins arrived.

  "Did anything go wrong?" I asked Findral.

  "No Master! We got the stuff you asked for and made it back without being seen," she said with a slight smile, then she held out the full rucksack for my inspection.

  I took the bag from her and set it on the ground, then I motioned for them to go over to the sacks Siofs and I had brought back. The three of them eagerly ran over and began to plunder through them, while I looked through the tailor supplies.

  "Four shirts of various colors, four dark pairs of pants, four pairs of boots, and sewing tools." I closed that sack and opened the other one. "Four rucksacks, and a tarp... Good, that's everything we need for the time being." I picked up the sack of clothes and threw it over to the goblins.

  They stopped playing with their new weapons and looked at me with a confused expression on their faces.

  "Everyone but Findral pick a shirt, a pair of pants, and a pair of boots. I'm tired of seeing you lot walking around almost naked."

  They gave me a downcast look and grumbled a bit but complied with my order. After they'd finished getting dressed, I ordered them to pack up so we could get moving before the townspeople woke up and discovered they'd been robbed. After all, it wouldn't be very convenient if we had to fight our way out because somebody go
t lucky and found me.

  An hour later, the goblins had everything packed up and were sitting on my back as we moved off.

  We traveled through the forest for three days. Along the way, I cut off the majority of the puppet's long, blond hair, leaving it short, messy and just barely long enough to cover its ears. Then I made the puppet fight with Holstig, so I could get used to fighting at the new size, which led to the discovery that I'd been controlling the puppet wrong this entire time.

  Ever since I started controlling puppets, I'd assumed the only way they could move was like their counterparts. But that couldn't be further from the truth. The puppets will move according to my direction, regardless of how I tried to make them move. As such, if I ordered them to run around like a big cat, they would do it without much issue.

  This led to an even bigger discovery for me. The puppet wasn't bound by the limitations of its body, at least, not like normal beings were. Sure, it wasn't able to climb vertical surfaces or fit in areas that were too small for it. But in terms of flexibility and strength, there were magnitudes of differences between it and the being it was imitating. It could fold its body into a ball and roll around without difficulty, and its strength was magnified to the absolute peak for something of its size. It never tired, so it could run at its maximum speed for as long as it needed to.

  And the only thing keeping me from realizing this sooner was I'd unknowingly put limitations on it. I'd assumed it needed to function like the original, so it responded in kind by behaving like the original and its body took on the original's characteristics.

  After I made this realization, the puppet was no longer bound by the strength and flexibility of its muscles or by the hardness of its bones. It could run, dodge, or flip around an enemy for as long as it took to wear them down, then it would strike with brutal efficiency. And in the cases where it couldn't avoid being hit, it could withstand any blow that didn't immediately immobilize it.