Chapter 99. Request of the King of Ents. Part 3. The Serpent's Lair.
As soon as the sword slid into its sheath, a pained hiss rolled through the jungle. The river nearby began to redden from the spray pouring from the serpent's wounds. The creature that had been looking down at Severus with such pride only moments ago now writhed on the ground, howling, smashing everything around it and soaking the earth in blood. Each convulsion carved deep ruts in the soil, snapped young trunks like twigs, and rained down wet, sticky clumps of leaves.
"Satisfied?" Severus's indifferent voice was almost lost beneath the serpent's furious hissing.
"Yes. We thank you, human. Finally my brothers and sisters can rest in peace. Now there is only one thing left: kill this serpent!" the King of Ents said ominously, but Severus barely listened. He was thinking about something else, and the question had been little more than courtesy.
"HUMAN!" The serpent's red eyes, flooded with bloodlust, locked onto Severus. Forcing itself upright through the pain, wounds covering almost every inch of its body, it began to rise. "EVEN IF I DIE TODAY, I WILL TAKE YOU WITH ME!" In the next moment it flung its maw wide and lunged, trying to swallow him whole.
Severus did not stand still. He pressed on the center of his bare palm, runes flared, and he vanished, reappearing ten meters to the left. The serpent only bit into the ground, into dark dust where the plants had already rotted away.
It did not stop. Not even a second passed before the tip of its tail whipped toward Severus. He did not try to block it; that would have been pure stupidity. He shifted to the right again without difficulty.
Even drenched in blood, the serpent was terrifying, and it understood that with such blood loss, it would not live for long. Pride demanded it drag its killer down with it. Being slain by a mere human was a disgrace it could not allow, not after rising so high and savoring that strange, almost draconic power. This was no longer the pride of a serpent, but the pride of a creature that had almost become a dragon.
"STOP RUNNING! MEET YOUR DEATH!"
"Oh, certainly, I will trip over myself rushing to oblige," Severus said with a contemptuous smirk, staring straight into its eyes as its maw rushed at him with insane speed. He vanished again.
But the moment he reappeared beside a fallen tree, a huge tail was already swinging toward him, ready to crush him where he stood. Years of honed reflexes and armor that could boost his speed for short bursts saved him, and Severus threw himself backward.
Smart, he thought with a faint smirk, studying the fallen trunks. It's been herding me the whole time, leaving a small clear patch as if it knew exactly where I'd appear. Next is the river. I underestimated its intelligence.
"AND NOW DIE!" the serpent growled, savoring the moment. Jump into the water and it will be your grave!
"How naive." Severus's mocking tone made it hesitate. "Can you not see? There is something better than water here." He pushed off the ground and leapt, then, as if stepping on an invisible foothold, jumped again, and again, and again, rising as if the air itself were solid beneath his feet. Every second he climbed higher. Flight was impossible here, but nobody had said he could not jump.
"NOOO!" The serpent surged upward, snapping at him before he could rise further, but a barrier flashed into existence right in front of it, inches from its prey. In its mind it was already swallowing him, crushing bones, hearing screams of despair.
Instead it stared, hollow-eyed, at the smiling human drifting further and further away as darkness slowly swallowed it.
With a crash, the serpent slammed onto the ground, throwing up a cloud of black dust.
"All right. That's settled then. Now I just have to finish this." A small crimson fireball formed in Severus's hand. It compressed until it was no larger than a ping-pong ball, and then he lazily tossed it down.
The fireball fell almost lazily, and the Ent King, several kilometers away, frowned at the scene. The instant it touched the serpent, it swelled violently, devouring everything around it. The serpent was no exception.
There was no sound, only dead silence. If not for the searing heat, which even the Ent King felt on his own territory, and the plants that began to scorch before his eyes, he might have thought it was an illusion.
Seeing it with his own eyes, the Ent King felt genuine horror, and at the same time a grim sort of relief that he had not tried to kill Severus at their first meeting, when he had seen Nagini under the cloak, and later, when he learned what Severus specialized in. Even from far away, the heat washed over the forest in waves, and the oldest leaves curled at the edges as if they were afraid.
The flame burned for about a minute, then vanished in an instant, leaving nothing behind. Even ash could not survive that temperature. All that remained of the serpent was its skeleton, lying exactly where it had fallen, proof that it had never woken during the burning.
"I will take the skeleton. It will make good material for a sword."
"And the wings?"
"Probably burned as well. They must have appeared recently and had not yet had time to harden," Severus said thoughtfully as he drifted closer. "Satisfied?"
"Yes. I thank you for saving our kind. From this day, you are the most welcome guest of the Ents. Come back. I have already prepared the Heart. I am sure my ancestor would have been glad to give it to you for this!" His voice sounded bright and grateful, but it was too eager, too rushed.
"Old scoundrel," Severus muttered, smirking at the root in his palm.
"What do you..."
"You want to take whatever helped this serpent evolve."
"N-no, how could I?! I only wanted to reward you as soon as possible!" the Ent King protested, but his voice trembled.
"You are a terrible liar. I will come back later, after I check the cave."
"Wait!" But he did not get to finish. The root burned up and ash scattered on the wind.
"Now nobody will bother us." Severus lowered his gaze to the skeleton, touched it, and it vanished. "Time to check the serpent's lair. If what pushed it toward becoming a dragon is still there, it might help you grow stronger too."
"I want to become human, not a dragon," Nagini said flatly. Then she peeked out from under the cloak and looked at him with a sly gleam. "And why do you need a second dragon?"
"Oh, caught me," Severus said, smirking toward the cave. "I got curious about how the evolution would play out, and if it works and the serpent becomes a dragon, I can make you stronger too. It is a shame to lose a lamia, but half-dragons are interesting as well. I have heard those ladies are very passionate. They say even ten men are not enough to satisfy one." The embarrassment flooding through their bond was strong enough to make a person drunk, like the harshest dwarven ale, the kind that supposedly even dragons could not survive.
"What are you saying, you damn pervert?!"
"Did I say that out loud?" Severus asked with feigned surprise, not even trying to hide his amusement.
"I am definitely going to bite you!" Nagini protested, very sincerely, even though her emotions made it obvious she was not entirely against it and the protest was half for show.
"When you are a half-dragon, bite wherever you want," Severus said with a wink, glancing left as Nelly appeared with a box.
"Master, I poured ten buckets of blood-clotting potion and ten buckets of restorative down the serpent's maw. I also smeared its whole body with anti-burn ointment, and then poured more restorative."
"Good girl. Keep an eye on the serpent for now. Put a muzzle on it, bind the wings, and wrap it completely. It will not wake up any time soon. If you are worried, you can pour a weakening potion down its throat too, but no more than three buckets," he added, stroking her head, with his tone firm at the end. Nelly beamed so brightly, gazing up at him with such devotion, that even Severus felt a little uneasy. It was the kind of adoration that could turn dangerous if he ever forgot to keep his distance. "All right, off you go."
"Yes!" Nelly jumped back into the box.
Clearing his throat and ignoring Nagini's amused look, Severus walked calmly toward the cave.
Inside, it was gloomy, damp, and deep, just as a serpent's lair should be. The passage ran roughly straight with occasional twists, and the deeper they went, the narrower it became, until finally they stepped out into an open space that looked almost like a canyon.
They stood at the very bottom. Ahead was only darkness, yet Severus spotted chips in the stone and a trail pressed into the grass near a small waterfall spilling down from a high ledge. Similar green patches ran along the path, which was both strange and oddly beautiful.
There's the trail. And if even I cannot see the end, it is a long one. I will have to speed up.
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