A Snake's Path (A Snake's Life Book 2)

by Kenneth Arant

"Suit yourself."

  The two sat in silence for a while longer, before Ayla asked, "If I'm so 'normal', then why envy me?"

  "Because you have something I want," Hali replied while stepping over to the edge of the building and looking down on the Asgardians guarding the front of the building.

  "And that is?"

  “Torga.”

  "My dad?"

  "Wow... Maybe there is a brain beneath all that hair, after all." Hali smirked over her shoulder at her, then turned away from Ayla.

  "Wait!" Ayla jumped to her feet. "You were serious about that!?"

  Hali looked back over her shoulder and winked. "Serious as a dragon attack."

  Ayla stared after Hali in shock until she collapsed to the ground.

  I always thought she said that to annoy me. To think she was actually serious... Ayla suddenly shivered as she recalled the conditions bet they’d made a few weeks ago during one of their usual sparring matches.

  “I win, you have to call me Mama Hali,” Hali had said, and at the time, Ayla thought she was only joking. But now? Now she was really glad she’d managed to win a match against her for a change.

  “Say, how about we go double or nothing on that bet?” Hali asked without looking at her.

  Before Ayla could respond, Fenris alerted the group that they were surrounded.

  “Okay, we need to come up with a plan," Thor told them after they’d gathered in front of the inn. He unsheathed the sword at his waist and prepared himself for combat. “How many can you smell?”

  "Not sure; it’s hard to tell from this distance.” Fenris quietly said. “But it's at least thirty men."

  “Any idea what we’re dealing with?”

  “That’s easy; I smell humans.”

  “Got anything more specific?”

  “If I had to guess, priests from Phoria,” Fenris growled.

  Ayla glanced around and thought about the present situation. The twins were standing in front of Fenris while Findral stood off to the side. Across from them, Thor and his men stood with weapons drawn as they readied themselves for battle.

  "Not including the priests themselves, there were also twenty crusaders and a few magic users hiding amongst them," Fenris said.

  "What does that mean for us, exactly?" Thor asked.

  "Simple. It means we can easily kill them while suffering only a few casualties. Though, I should warn you that the magic users are conjurors."

  "You don't think they can summon anything powerful enough to break our defenses, do you?" Thor’s right-hand man Jorolf asked. Jorolf was a powerfully built man who wore more plate mail than you would usually find on an entire platoon of men.

  "Most likely not. That would require them to send out their battle mages and that would be an act of war. Surely, they wouldn’t do that—” Before Thor could finish speaking the ground began to shake, and a loud roar echoed through the trees. Everyone in camp turned to glare at him. "Okay, maybe I was wrong," he admitted.

  “Why would Phoria go to war with Asgard?” Ayla asked.

  Well, they have been at odds with us for several months now," Thor explained.

  "Why? What did you do?"

  Thor looked honestly hurt by her accusation. "I did nothing. It was my muscle brained brother who killed their crown prince in a mock tournament last year. They've been rather cross with us ever since."

  Fenris snorted, "I can't imagine why."

  Heavy footfalls were among the first sounds they heard coming their way. The second was the twang of multiple bows being fired from the treetops.

  "Incoming!" Fenris hollered.

  The soldiers raised their shields to block what they could, while Ayla and Hali caused the ground to raise up to meet the arrows in the air. After a few seconds of this, they waved their hands and sent the raised ground rocketing in the direction the arrows had come from. They heard a few shouts of pain and a couple of thuds from something falling to the ground below, but they knew the ground had missed the bulk of the shooters, as the arrows kept coming.

  “Fenris and Asgardians, you're up front," Thor barked, causing them to quickly move to obey his orders. “Ayla and Hali, the two of you are in charge of keeping those archers off of us."

  "Right!" they said in unison while directing their energy to form an earthen shield above the group.

  “Findral, you and I will guard the rear. We can’t let them flank us, understand?" Silence was his answer. “Findral?”

  “Fin?” They all turned to find Findral missing. The only evidence of her ever having been there was a burnt patch of grass.

  "Did she really run away?" Thor angrily asked.

  "Findral wouldn't do that!"

  "She just did!"

  "As much as I hate to admit it, Findral is the last person on this planet that would leave Ayla's side," Hali said.

  "Oh yeah? And why is that!?"

  "Simple," Fenris interrupted. "Because she would never betray Torga's trust—damnit, incoming!" he growled as four groups of humans came charging towards them. Each group had five people and they all had a glowing yellow shield around them.

  "They've been shielded!"

  "Damnit!" Ayla yelled as her portion of the earth shield slammed into the ground ahead of them.

  "What're you doing, Ayla?” Hali yelled.

  "It's not me!" she fought to raise the shield back into the air, but no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn't budge.

  "No, it was I." A hooded man stepped out of the darkness of an alleyway.

  "I knew you were trouble, ya damned priest!" Fenris growled after seeing Samuel walk out of the alley.

  "Oh, come now beast. You didn't actually think you could get away with it, did you?"

  "Do you know this guy?" Thor whispered to Ayla.

  "He traveled with us for a while. Fenris kicked him out of the group because he was being an asshole.”

  "What is it you think I've done!?" Fenris asked.

  "You've corrupted these beings of light with your foul nature, Warg!" Samuel yelled in a crazed tone.

  “What in the nine hells are you talking about?”

  "The elves you dull creature!" As Samuel spoke, the wind began to pick up. "Not only did you corrupt the women with your foul presence, but even the children have been corrupted. Look, that one has been so corrupted he’s begun to take on your appearance!" Samuel yelled while pointing at Solon.

  "That’s my son, you daft cunt!"

  Samuel was taken aback by the admission, and his previously pitying eyes turned to scorn as he looked at Ayla and Hali. "Have you all been taken to bed by this foul creature?" Samuel whispered. "Have you all become whores of the demon spawn?" Following his words, the wind began to spiral around as multiple loud thuds racked the area. "See, even the gods are so offended by your corruption that they've offered their power!" Samuel’s face twisted into one of extreme anger as he glared at Fenris.

  "Smite the heretic with your awesome power, Oh mighty God!"

  "Gladly..."

  As quickly as it appeared, the wind ground to a halt and a deafening silence racked the camp.

  "What?" Samuel asked aloud as he turned around to face the voice he'd heard... What he found was a pair of blood red eyes staring deep into his soul.

  "You not only called my friend 'demon spawn,' but you called Ayla, Findral, and Hali whores... But, do you want to know what ultimately decided your fate?"

  Samuel felt something he'd never felt before travel down his spine... a feeling of complete and total powerlessness as he stared into pools of blood.

  "You did all of that, while I was starving." Suddenly, the blood was immediately replaced with a set of fangs and rows of razor-sharp teeth. “Thank you for the meal."

  Chapter 6

  A FEW MINUTES EARLIER...

  "Where are you, master?"

  I looked up at the sound of Findral’s voice, a novel experience since it’d been a while since I had to look up to see anything. I found no sign of her, but I knew I’d he
ard her.

  Once Fenris caught the girls’ scent in the village and began following it east, I took to the skies and followed him from a distance. I knew he and Lena wanted me to stay behind and wait for the girls to return on their own, but I was past caring what either of them wanted. A minute or so later, she landed only a few feet from me in a streak of fire that left a trail of burnt ozone in its wake. "Hello, Findral. Good of you to join me. Though I am curious how you found me."

  Findral wobbled in place for a moment, then collapsed to her knees. She struggled to look up at me, but once she did, a blinding smile appeared on her face.

  "Master? Is that really you?" she asked.

  "In the scales. Were you expecting another giant snake?"

  Findral's dark skin flushed with embarrassment. She quickly cleared her throat to hide it and shook her head. "No, master. I just didn't expect you to be so..."

  "Small?" I asked.

  "Close, though that works too."

  "What can I say. I didn’t like the idea of Fenris bringing you back on his own. Besides, I've finally been returned to a slightly more manageable size, so I wanted to get out and stretch my wings a bit." I looked over my body and once again marveled at the stone’s ability. I was still massive by any creature’s standards—over sixty feet long from head to tail, not counting my horns. But considering I was now but a fraction of my original size, it was a significant improvement.

  “Noticed any side effects?”

  “Not to my knowledge.”

  “That’s... good. I’m happy for you, master.” She smiled. “Wait, no, we don’t have time for this.” She struggled to her feet. “Ayla needs your help. They’re in danger.”

  My eyes narrowed and a low hiss came from the back of my throat. “Tell me everything.”

  Findral quickly gave me a brief overview of what happened since they snuck off and what she knew of the current situation. I responded by ordering her to lead me to this ”threat” and then to rejoin the others.

  “But, master, what if you need help? When I left there were at least thirty enemy combatants.”

  I let out an involuntary hiss and bared my teeth. “Good. It’s been far too long since I’ve tasted combat and I’ve been itching for a decent meal ever since we got to this world.”

  Findral thought over my words for only a moment, then nodded her head. “I will only come to your aid should you need it.”

  “Lead the way.”

  Findral quickly blasted herself into the air and took off in the direction she’d come from. She flew far faster than I’d ever seen her move: streaking through the air like a shooting star. After waiting a few seconds for my body to catch up, I wound it into a spiral and used my tail as a spring to launch myself into the air in pursuit of her.

  A few minutes later we arrived at the outskirts of a small village. Findral used her mastery of fire to cloak herself from sight and land on the barrier wall. I flapped my wings in a slow but steady rhythm as I passed over the wall and began to circle at a height of about six hundred feet. From that height, I had a great view of the village and its surroundings. I spotted a group of people in a battle formation just outside of a large wooden building.

  I thought about landing and joining them, but a strange sight caught my attention. I watched as a man cloaked in a robe I recognized led a small army through the narrow alleyways of the village. Originally, I was going to wait and see how this played out, then drop out of the sky and scare the hell out of him, maybe with some kind of catchy one-liner to throw him off his game.

  But any thoughts of playing with him vanished as soon as he ordered his army to attack without so much as a word to them.

  I looked down at the ground surrounding the little square my companions were in and saw the other priests and their entourages: a few crusaders, a magic user, and the priest who would act as support for the band. However, their numbers were inflated due to their use of what I knew to be golems. Each golem looked like a human made entirely of granite. They were between twenty and thirty feet tall and supposedly weighed as much as five tons.

  That fact didn’t stop one of them from turning into rubble after I slammed into it at full speed.

  The flashy way I destroyed the golem was a surefire way to alert the others that something was up, which is why I quickly opened my second set of eyelids and activated my petrification skill. To my surprise, the skill activated even before they could turn to face me, and most of the humans were turned to stone within a few heartbeats. I whipped my tail at the two that somehow managed to resist my initial attack, batting them to the side and sending them hurtling through a couple of their company men.

  The petrified crusaders shattered like a dropped vase.

  I vaguely heard the priest’s ranting, but I didn’t have time to focus on it as the golem closest to me swung its massive fist in a downward arc towards my head.

  I refused to move.

  The fist slammed into my head with the force of a cannonball, resulting in a loud boom that echoed off the walls of the nearby buildings. I grimaced: not because of the punch, but because of how loud the sound was. I bit down on the ’golem’s fist and twisted my head around, breaking off its arm and pulling the golem close. I ducked my head and coiled my body around it. A few seconds later, the magical construct’s waist crumbled to dust under the force of my grip.

  At risk of alerting the entire town to my presence, I acted to at least attempt to mask what I was doing by closing my eyes and focusing on the air around me. I pushed my magic outwards, allowing it to saturate the air, then I pushed it into a slow spin around the village that should help keep the sound down.

  However, that would do nothing to those close enough to see what was happening—as was the case with the two companies of crusaders and golems that came charging around the corner.

  My eyes locked onto the rapidly approaching crusaders, whilst my heat sense went to work trying to detect the magic users. It was a bit like trying to watch two objects while being cross eyed, but I made it work.

  I activated my petrification ability just as my heat sense came back with something. As soon as the first crusader turned to stone, I focused all of my attention on the magic users. I forced four large spikes of stone to shoot out of the ground and into the darkness of the forest. Three loud thuds later and one cry of pain let me know they’d hit their mark, so I quickly reactivated my petrification skill and held it until the last crusader turned to stone midstep.

  Before I had a chance to celebrate, I felt a terrible pang in my stomach that sent me reeling. I suddenly lost all strength as my hunger reached a level I’d never felt before. Guess that’s what I get for using too much magic.

  Four golems seized the opportunity I’d given them and jumped me. They began beating me into the ground; four sets of massive fists pummeled my scales until their granite hands began to crack and my scales started to ache.

  “Have you all been taken to bed by the foul creature?”

  My head snapped to the side and I stared off in the direction of my companions. Did he?

  “Have you become the demon’s whores!?”

  My temper flared and the monster within me came to life. The golems were reduced to dust as my hunger drained them of their life-giving essence in less than a blink of an eye. My magic responded to my emotions and briefly ran rampant, causing the wind I was controlling to turn into a roaring twister as too much mana was pushed into it.

  I thought I would need to struggle to lift my head, but rage and the ambient magic I was pulling in was fueling me. I wound my way around the stone crusaders and tiny buildings until I reached the edge of the twister, behind the spot where I’d last seen the hooded man. I slowly pushed my head through the heavy winds and stared down at the fool.

  “Smite the heretic with your awesome power, Oh mighty God!”

  “Gladly...” I hissed. I swallowed the priest whole, taking extra care to chew as many times as I could while he was sliding down my throat. As
I felt the weight settle in my stomach, I turned to see everyone staring at me.

  Some pretty boy with red hair and a gilded sword tried to take a step back, to push Ayla away from me.

  I hissed quietly at the action.

  Ayla grabbed the man’s hand and pulled him closer to me with a creepy smile on her face. The man looked like he wanted to either plant his feet or run away, but something, presumably his pride, kept him from doing so.

  “Ayla, what are—" She clamped her hand over his jaw and slowly turned his head to face me.

  “Thor, I would like to formally introduce you to Torga, my adoptive father. Old man, this is Thor, my fiancé.”

  I stared down at the pretty boy, and he returned my stare with wide eyes.

  “P—Pleasure to meet you.”

  “Sure, it is,” I chuckled. “You and I need to have a little chat.”

  “I really don’t think—”

  “Either you’ll sit down and talk with me, or I’ll eat you and Ayla can find another boyfriend.”

  “I’m her fiancé,” Thor replied forcefully.

  “I know what I said.” I turned away from the pretty boy and looked Ayla up and down.

  Ayla watched me watch her for several seconds, then showed me a bright smile. "Hi, Dad. You're looking well. Have you lost weight?"

  I narrowed my eyes at her use of the D-word. Despite my going through the process of formally adopting her in the eyes of the other druids, Ayla rarely referred to me as her dad; it was usually either “Old man,” “Torga,” or “Father” if she was feeling formal. I was only “Dad” when she thought she was in trouble—which she was, and she knew it.

  "Don't think you're off the hook, Brat. We will be having a talk after I finish with his highness, Lord pretty boy."

  "But, Dad—"

  "No, Ayla. I mean it.” I glanced over at Fenris and nodded my thanks, to which he returned a nod of his own.

  Ayla frowned, but couldn’t seem to decide what she wanted to say. She looked like a fish out of water for a few seconds, which made me want to laugh or crack a joke, but I was supposed to be in “angry dad mode.” So, I had to keep that at a minimum.