He tore one off, and threw it away, grasping at another and doing the same. He tried to get to his feet but there were already so many covering him that he couldn’t find time to push himself off without letting them reach his face.
And all the while, the great serpent watched as her children slowly set about devouring him.
He could hear Una shouting in the distance but couldn’t spare the time to listen. All he could do was keep inching backwards, wincing as sharp fangs bit into his hands and through his clothing. This could not be how it ended. He could not allow himself to fail in front of Una like this. He could not fail again. If he couldn’t defeat a simple snake, how could he possibly be expected to go up against a dragon?
As he moved backward, his hand touched something cold. He immediately recognized it for what it was: his sword handle. Tightening his grip on it, he swung it forward, cutting through half a dozen of the beast’s spawn and using its momentum to help him roll to one side and push himself up to his feet.
The serpent’s children still swarmed him, but he could run now, and run he did. He circled around the mother, snatching any of her children that still remained on his body. There were still plenty surrounding his trousers, but he had to ignore them for now. His limbs were beginning to feel sluggish. Undoubtedly the teeth of those little creatures held some of the same venom their mother wielded.
He had to end this fast.
With his sword held high, he charged at the monster, screaming as he went. The monster’s tail came first, but he was ready for it. He twisted out of the way so the poisoned tip embedded itself in the ground. Then with a great heave, he cleaved his sword through the monster’s flesh and bone, severing the tip of its tail.
The serpent cried, like a great whine mixed with a bellowing hiss. Without the aid of its tail, it only had the poison of its fangs. It charged him with its great arms still pulling it forward. Its head whipped forward, its jaws open.
George sidestepped at just the right moment, and gathering all his waning strength, he brought his sword down. It embedded itself partway in the serpent’s neck, causing it to howl and thrash. George lifted the sword again, feeling his poison-filled body protest as he did. He brought it back down, hacking again and again at the monster’s neck, until at last it fell, its body cleaved in two. No other sound escaped its throat.
With a wave of dizziness, George collapsed onto the ground. Thousands of tiny bodies swarmed him, claiming their prize, enacting their revenge on the fallen knight for killing their mother.
But he couldn’t feel their bites. His body was losing all feeling. Slumping to one side, his mind clouded, and everything faded away.
8
It absolutely irked Una that there was little she could do to fight this...whatever it was, this monster, this error of nature. But all she had was a knife, and that wasn’t going to do much against the thing. She’d thought about taking the spear, but it still remained embedded in the creature’s side.
When the massive swarm of smaller snake-like things detached from the larger beast’s body, she froze in place just to stare. She had thought those were some kind of strange scale or hair. But no, those were suckling children, and they remained, even after the death of their mother, to smother what remained of the Red Cross knight.
He tried to fend them off, but his actions were growing sluggish, no doubt due to some kind of poison in the little snakes.
Una looked around for anything that could aid her. The spear. She darted forward and grabbed at the thing, wrenching it out of the giant serpent with a sickening squelch. To her horror, several of the smaller snakes immediately crawled on their bellies to feast on the blood that gushed out of their mother.
Doing her best not to hurl, she ran over to where George lay on the ground and began stabbing at every foul creature that surrounded him.
So far, the snakes had paid her no mind, but now several acknowledged her, slithering in her direction, and snapping at her feet.
Una leapt back. She couldn’t let whatever was poisoning George affect her too. Then they would both be helpless. She continued stabbing at the creatures as they approached her, stepping on others. But there were still far too many crawling over her knight. What if he died? Even if she killed every last serpent spawn, was there anything to be done? Could he possibly survive all that poison?
The creatures continued to approach Una, driving her farther and farther away from George. His body lay completely motionless now, not even trying to fend off the little serpents. This could not be happening. She’d just met this man, and she needed him alive. Whoever this Faerie Queen was, she knew something of Una, and George was her only connection to that mystical woman. George had learned things about her that no one else knew. She could not let him die!
“Get away from him!” she yelled at the serpents who still swarmed the knight.
To her surprise, they immediately bristled as if surprised by her outburst, and turning as one, they began slithering away towards the tree line.
Una stared, temporarily halting in her tracks. Had those snakes...obeyed her?
She stared down at the snakes that had followed her. They were no longer pressing forward to catch new prey. They remained right where they were, not attacking, not retreating.
“Go!” she yelled at them, at which they instantly turned and followed their brothers and sisters out of the clearing into the thick forest beyond. All that remained were the few that had taken to sucking up the blood of their mother. Not a single snake attacked her or the knight.
“George,” she said as she scrambled to his side. She grabbed his hand and squeezed. It was cold, and covered in bite marks, as was his face and just about every exposed part of his body that she could see. “George, don’t die on me, okay. You need to live. You’ve got a dragon to fight.”
He did not respond, but had his finger twitched just then? But no, his hand was still limp, and his face was ashen.
She could not lose him now. Not when he was her only connection back to her home. She simply could not allow it.
“George,” she repeated and slapped him in the face with as much force as she could muster. “Get up!”
The knight’s eyes snapped open, and he gasped for air as if he had been holding his breath for a long time. Una stared at him. She hadn’t actually expected such a violent reaction so soon. His eyes were wide and staring, and his chest began to heave as he took in giant, quick breaths of air.
“Wh...what happened?” he asked, before twisting to look at his surroundings. “Where did the little snakes go?”
“They…” Una tried to think of an explanation. What exactly had happened? All she had done was yell at the little monsters and they had fled. Were they simply afraid of loud noises, or had something else scared them off? She settled for a non-descriptive explanation. “They eventually wandered off after you killed their mother.”
The knight rested his head back on the ground, taking his first slow breath. “How am I alive? I thought the little ones poisoned me.”
“Well they’re clearly not as mature as their parent,” offered Una. “Perhaps their poison is weaker, temporary.”
“Perhaps,” he said. “But I really thought I was dead just then.”
“I don’t blame you,” she admitted.
“I guess we got lucky,” he groaned as he tried to push himself up on his elbows.
“Yeah,” Una stared off at the tree line where the spawn had disappeared. “Maybe that was it.”
“The Faerie Queen protects us.” George slowly pushed himself up to his feet, his knees wobbling slightly. “It is just evidence that we are on the right path.”
Una narrowed her eyes at him. It looked like he was trying to convince himself. His face was still pale, and every inch of him was covered with either blood or muck, though the rain appeared to be helping clear some of that off.
“Perhaps we should stay here for the night,” she said, also rising to her feet.
“
What, in this place?” he glanced at the cave. “After what we just went through?”
“You killed the monster.” Una picked up the spear and began stabbing at the few remaining spawns that surrounded their mother. “I doubt there was anything else in the cave.”
“I don’t know if I…” he took one step forward and winced. It looked like his entire body was in pain. “Well...perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to rest for the evening.”
Una could only agree. She wasn’t too happy staying so close to the corpse of that great serpent, and every moment spent sleeping brought them closer to the midsummer solstice, but George would not last long on the road, that much was obvious. They both needed sleep.
Una helped George stagger to the cave entrance, at which point he managed to support himself on the stone walls to walk the rest of the way. Una left to collect wood from the forest. Everything on the edge of the clearing was soaked through, but inside the dense woodland, she found several branches that were as dry as if they had been baking in the sun for days. It was a strange forest indeed.
She brought an armful of wood back to the cave and set about trying to light a fire using George’s flint and steel. It took some time, as even the dry wood had encountered rain when Una had carried it through the clearing, but eventually she succeeded at building a large fire.
“Thank you,” breathed the knight. He was lying on his back, his eyes half closed, listening to the crackle of the burning wood. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“Without me?” Una chuckled, throwing another large branch on the fire. “You’re the one that killed that thing.”
He stayed silent at that remark, long enough that Una began to wonder if he had fallen asleep.
“What kind of creature was it?” he finally said, opening his eyes to look at her. “Have you ever heard of such a beast?”
Una shook her head. “Other than the dragon, I’ve never seen or heard of any such thing. There are rumors of strange creatures in the Forest of Arden, but we haven’t even reached it yet. And they were just stories. No one has actually seen one. The only beasts anyone has to deal with are wolves and the occasional bear.”
“Those creatures are normal,” he stared up at the ceiling. “This was something... unnatural. Not meant for this world.”
Una stared at the rising flames for a moment. “Yes, it certainly seemed unnatural. I don’t know where it could have come from.”
When George had no response, she stood and exited the cave to fetch the rabbits they had caught earlier, currently tied to George’s horse, who himself was tied to a nearby tree. The animal shied away at first, it had been skittish ever since the serpent attack, but through all of that, it had stayed nearby, and that was saying something, not only for its fortitude, but for its loyalty to its master.
She stepped back into the cave and set to work skinning and gutting one of the rabbits. “You know, I don’t think I ever caught your horse’s name.”
“Really?” he asked. “I’m sure I’ve spoken to it since you joined me.”
“First of all,” she waved a finger at him. “You joined me. And secondly, whenever you talk to that thing, all you do is pat its neck and whisper in its ear like it’s your lover. Your words are indistinguishable.”
The knight seemed to consider that, puffing his lips out as if he’d had no idea how he was behaving. He really was a bit odd for a knight.
“Well his name is Pegasus,” he said after a moment.
Una snorted, unable to help herself. “Really? You named your horse after literally the most famous horse in all the stories? Do you have any idea how many Pegasuses there are among the Roman cavalry?”
“I didn’t name him because I wanted him to be original.” The knight protested, scowling in her direction. But then his expression turned to one of uncertainty. “I just...I thought it would make him, make us feel more heroic.”
“Heroes are made by stories, Red Cross, nothing more,” said Una. She grabbed a metal poker and rammed it through the dead rabbit, before setting it over the fire. “I’m fairly certain none of them actually did the things we talk about in the tales. It all gets exaggerated over time.”
“I know,” he said, but his face suggested otherwise. “But for all the stories there must be at least some truly heroic men out there. And women,” he added after seeing her raised eyebrow. “What would it be like to meet such a person, or to become one.”
“Well I’ve met my share of would-be heroes,” replied Una, turning the rabbit. “They’re all just normal people, even the ones that were supposed to be greater.”
“Who have you met?” he asked. “Maybe I’ve heard of them.”
“It’s not important,” she replied hastily, and went back to what she was doing. “And don’t forget, I’m only cooking tonight because you’re practically a corpse,” she added, frowning as she turned the rabbit again. Part of it had started to burn.
He said nothing, but watched her work. When the rabbit was cooked through, she broke off a portion and handed it to him. “Thank you,” he said. “Truly. I would be dead without you.”
“Yeah,” said Una, idly. Normally she would have followed that up with a retort such as “and don’t you forget it,” but she remained quiet as she raised the rabbit to her lips. It still troubled her how the tiny serpents had reacted to her commands.
She took a bite of the animal and licked her lips. It wasn’t bad. Just about everything she ate was better than the moldy bread and watered-down soup she had in prison. But she’d overcooked it a bit, and the meat was already tough.
“Here,” the knight fished in his pack till he pulled out a small leather pouch. “You can have the last of my salt,” he handed it to her.
“Oh,” she took it before she could think to turn it away. “I don’t need…”
“It’s okay, I don’t need it.”
Una regarded him. Of course he needed it. When they weren’t soaked to the bone from the rain, he was sweating to death in that gambeson. But she found herself taking a pinch from the pouch and sprinkling it on her portion. “We can get more once we find the next town.”
“Perhaps,” he said, though he looked unsure. And Una knew why. They were unlikely to find much this close to the Forest of Arden.
They sat in silence for a while, listening to nothing but the fire crackle, all while enjoying their portion of the roasted rabbit.
“I’ve never had a traveling companion, you know,” he said after a while.
She looked up from her food. “What?”
“At least, not a proper travel companion. I fought for the Romans once, a long time ago, and served...well, anyway, I’ve been alone for a while so this is...this is nice.”
She eyed him. “Well okay, I guess. Keep in mind I’m only traveling with you because we’re going to the same place.” And she was curious about this Faerie Queen of his, though she left that part out.
“I know,” he said. “And the way things are going, I will probably meet my death in that place.”
“That’s not a profitable attitude,” she said as she tore a chunk of meat from the rabbit’s thigh.
“It’s just, I barely survived that fight with the serpent. And it was difficult, but I’m sure it’s nothing compared to a dragon. Aren’t they supposed to have impenetrable scales? And fire belching out of its mouth?”
“Well I know the latter is true at least,” said Una. “But keep talking like that, and you’ll never win. Not that it’s any of my business. I’m not the one making you fight the thing.”
“No,” he said. “No, you are not.”
“Hey, you killed the monster outside, that’s all that matters. Maybe I helped, maybe I didn’t, but the point is, it’s dead. It’s like dice. You might still have a long way to go, but in the end, it’s the dice you play in the moment that matter most. Let’s just take these things one step at a time.”
“Dice, maybe,” he said. “But that’s not how chess works,
any other strategic…”
“My point stands,” she said, cutting him off. She threw the remaining bones of her rabbit into the fire. “You’re overthinking all of this. Get some rest and we’ll deal with tomorrow when it comes.”
George let out a soft chuckle as she laid herself down near the fire, with her head resting on her outstretched arm. She lay on the opposite side of the fire from him, but at an angle so their fingers were close. Tentatively, he reached a hand forward to touch the tip of her fingers. “I’m just glad we were here to help each other.”
Immediately she pulled her hand away and rolled to a sitting position across from the fire.
“Don’t,” she said, her eyes darkening.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t touch me,” she clarified. “Never touch me.”
He paused. “Okay.”
“Let me make one thing clear,” she said, feeling her emotions rise to a level far higher than even she expected. “We travel together and that’s all. I’m not interested in...whatever you were thinking just now. As far as you’re concerned, we’re in a business relationship. No romance. No touching.”
“I’m sorry, I just thought…”
“Well you thought wrong,” she snapped and lay back down, this time with her back to the fire and the Red Cross knight.
He said nothing for the rest of the night, and frankly, Una was glad. Why had she blown up at him like that? Ordinarily, she was completely in control of her emotions, with her face a mask of whatever persona she wanted others to see. And men had tried to woo her before, gently and forcibly. She had even used it to her advantage in the past. So why had his advances thrown her off?
He didn’t even seem like such a bad man, all things considered. He had helped her back at that inn, and once again with the serpent. And now she was repaying him with strong words?
But perhaps she didn’t know him as well as she thought. Perhaps she would have to be more careful in the future. She had let her guard down around this man, and now he was already showing his affection towards her. Just like all the men before him, all those who got a good look at her face and body. Why were men so predictable?
Knight Rising Page 7