The Silent Serpent

At the edge of the serpent river, somewhere southwest of Lake Ban…

"Backtracking!" the scarred and flamboyant Tskrang let out a forced laugh.

"I would have us doing no such -" he was cut off by the Aropgima, Hiskala.

"Enough. The evidence is clear. We travel upriver once again." Hiskala spoke with tremendous force and authority.

Cam let out a snort.

"Clear?" he said, continuing his mocking tone. "This pile of shit is not evidence of Theran activity in Shysval - it is evidence only that even a scorax gets diarrhea from time to time."

"Then go your own way - you do nothing to further our goals with your actions or words."

Cam stood appalled, the thought of leaving might have been his end goal, but this insult could not go by unnoticed, even if his freedom was on the line.

"NOTHING!" He bellowed, "NOTHING? What about the hulking mass? Who saved you from that horrific monstrosity?"

"You brought it upon us with your insistence on song and dance in the middle of the Serevos." Hiskala said quietly.

"And who killed it? Me!" Cam shouted, puffing up his chest, and bringing his frills out across his face in pride. "Then what of the shadowmants? You would have died in your sleep if it weren't for me, you know that as a fact."

"They were attracted to your roasting fish. I specifically told you not to cook anything using the darkfire."

"And yet again, who killed them? Me. Only taking one casualty from…" Cam counted on his fingers "More than ten shadowmants is something to be proud of."

"I am not proud that we lost a scout in training." Hiskala snapped.

"No, I wouldn't be either, but I would be proud of making the decision to bring me along on the trip - because without me…"

"SILENCE!" Hiskala's whisper may as well have been a roar, and even Cam was swayed by it.

A snap from the woods brought everyone's attention towards the darkened forest's edge. A small ball of light appeared within, dancing for a moment, before rising into the air.

"GET DOWN!" Hiskala yelled, as the light reached it's apex, and began to drop towards the ground in front of them.

Cam drew his heartblade, whipping his body towards the light and lunging, snapping the end of his blade against the tiny orb with a grunt, and sending it soaring back into the woods from whence it came.

"What in the name of the passions was…" Cam was blown to the ground as a deafening explosion blasted through the woods, flames spilling out from every open spot. Whole trees were flung into the air like toys.

Cam stood up with a cheer, turning towards the rest of the scouting party.

"AGAIN, I SAVE YOU, YOU SEE?" Cam erupted like a volcano, throwing his blades into the air. "I AM THE FASTEST, I AM THE BEST, IN FACT, I AM THE CORE OF THIS WHOLE EXPEDITION!" he caught his blades with a spin, laughing heartily.

The rest of the camp looked in horror and began to scramble away.

Cam turned slowly, still laughing, in time to see 7 more orbs in the air, making their way towards the ground in front of him.

"Oh Horse Cocks!" The explosions silhouetted him, and he seemed to vaporize, his blades flying into the air and into the river beyond.

"Therans! Dead or alive!" shouted Hiskala, racing into the smoke and cinders, along with the rest of the scouting party.

…….

The Theran commander stepped over the corpses, kicking one to check for the sign of their house.

"Disgusting. Nevilheim, I would ask you avoid using skin shift, it makes this job very difficult."

The windling jumped down.

"If…" the windling croaked "if you are having trouble relating, I could easily do the same to you."
The Theran commander considered this, and kept silent, digging into the folded piles of tskrang hide for the bracelet. As he pulled it out, he gagged.

The sound of the windling laughing was like the sound of the signal to an execution. A mirthless facsimile of an emotion.

"All Vistremon sir. 6 count." said one of the soldiers nearby.

"There were Seven of them. Egrin?"

The elementalist stepped forward. "The Seventh? That is probably what you are tasting right about now. Now, if you will excuse us, we have no more time to guard our guardsmen. We have to reach Serpentwatch soon, or we can expect they will have already failed to avoid detection as dramatically as you seemed to."

The commander flicked the gore from his hands, and shouted to his men who were rummaging through the corpses for valuables.

"Wrap it up, there is more where this came from in Lake Ban."

As they moved back into the woods, the windling paused, looking back over the decimated bowl burned out of the forest at the river's edge.

The elementalist approached him. "What has you alarmed?"

The windling spoke slowly. "Something here yet lives…"

The elementalist looked about.

"A lot here yet lives. Pay it no mind. These Vistremon traitors are beneath us."

"Right. True enough... but... even so.... have the men come back and clean up once we arrive."

The elementalist nodded.

……..

A few moments later a reed popped up out of the water. A gurgling Cam spat it out of his mouth.

"Beneath you!? That filthy little dredged-up wet-winged reject from Thera thinks I am beneath him? NO ONE IS BENEATH CAM DARKBLADE!"

Cam thought about this for a second, before ensuring that no one was around, and tore off into the woods.