The Black Serpent By V. L. Fox Prologue -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a cave overlooking a steep cliff to the east of Fire Dragon Mountain lived the Black Serpent. She was a snake larger around her middle than any tree in the valley and as black as a moon-less midnight. No one had ever measured her length because most of the time, or so the stories said, she was curled up around a treasure chest that she guarded with her life. No one knew where she had come from or how long she had lived in the mountain, but one day she asked that every year three different girls would come live with her and help her with raising sheep and goats. The villagers in Delton thought that if they agreed then she wouldn’t attack livestock of theirs, as was so often the case with most dragons. And so the Black Serpent and the villagers lived together in peace for most of the time. Unless a knight happened to come along and stir the villagers up against the Black Serpent; which didn’t happen too often… ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Serpent woke to the unmistakable sound of a horse making it’s way up the mountain. She listened carefully. From the sound of it the horse was at least six years old, maybe seven. Iron shoes on all four feet, the right hind one would be coming loose within a few days. Either the person riding it was very heavy or he was wearing armor. Ah, sounds like a spot of his plated armor was starting to rust. Very annoying sound as it scraped against another plate. The Serpent strained her hearing. Well, at least there weren’t sounds of angry villagers. The last time a knight stirred them up it took at least a year for them to settle down again. The Serpent yawned lethargicly and curled tightly around the chest as she considered what to do. She certainly didn’t want to go out this early, especially if there might be more knights around. There were currently three servant girls the villagers had loaned her. Let’s see now. Rachel spent the night in the south pasture looking after the sheep. Tami would already be out in the north pasture milking goats. The Serpent yawned again before calling out: “Marion, wake up!” “I’m not asleep this time, Black!” the girl called from deeper in the cave’s tunnels. “I’m making stew. What do you need?” “Come to the mouth of the cave, I don’t like to shout.” “You could have fooled me,” Marion whispered as she walked into the main cave room. “I heard that,” said the Serpent. “There is a knight coming up the main road, go and see what he wants. Oh, and take some oil for his armor. That shrieking of metal is starting to hurt my ears.” “Ok,” Marion said walking out into the morning sun. “It’s not like I try to burn stew anyway,” she added under her breath. “I heard that!” The Serpent dozed off. A silly girl like Marion could talk to a knight for hours. It didn’t matter too much. If it was the treasure chest the knight wanted then Marion knew how to get rid of him. Besides, stew doesn’t burn as easy as Marion might like it to. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tami’s poking rudely awakened the Serpent. “Wake-up, Black. I finished milking the herd and put them in the stable caves.” “Good,” she said without opening her eyes. “Is Rachel back yet?” “I’m back,” said Rachel. “I put the sheep in the fenced area.” Something about the dreamy, far off, way she said that made the Serpent opened her eyes to see the three girls and a knight standing in front of her. “Why did you let him in here?” The Serpent flicked her tail in annoyance “I just wanted to talk to you,” said the knight. “If it’s the chest you’re after you can’t have it, if it’s a fight you want you can’t have it. Good day,” she closed her eyes again. “Don’t you now how long it’s been?” the knight asked. “Since I last saw a knight? Not long enough,” answered the Serpent. “They always want one of two things; to ‘slay the fierce dragon’, or to steal the chest..” “9 years,” the knight interrupted. “What?” “9 years,” he repeated. “That’s how long it’s been.” The Serpent opened her eyes and looked closely at the knight. “How do you know?” “I was only a squire when you left, but I remember it clearly.” “You seem familiar to me, but…” she squinted, trying to remember if she had seen him before. “Who are you?” The knight took his helmet off. His auburn hair, well-groomed beard and dark tan was a striking contrast to his glittering blue eyes. The Serpent couldn’t help but think he looked exactly like his father had. “Girls, please take the stew off the fire before it burns,” the Serpent said hastily as she pushed them out of the room with her tail. The girls left with Marion grumbling all the way about how it had already burnt. “Marion,” called the Serpent. “I have a good sense of smell, it’s not burnt yet.” The Serpent released some of the pressure she normally had in her coils and gently touched the knight’s face with the tip of her tail. “So, how tall are you now?” “6 foot 6,” he said proudly. “You’ve grown,” she said as she stroked his beard. “I could say the same about you,” he smiled and pushed her tail away. “Are you even able to get out of the cave?” “When I want,” she said. “Large as I am I probably wouldn’t fit through the castle gate anymore.” “Which would be problem,” said the knight said seriously. “Since Sir Genera would like the chest back.” “Hmm. That is a problem since I swallowed it after that first knight attacked about 5 years back. Quite uncomfortable at times but, you know…” “You… swallowed it?” The knight asked in a slightly shrill voice. The girls giggled, they had been eavesdropping just outside the main cave room after they tended to the stew. Now they wandered in the room to look at Serpant and the knight with renewed interest. The Serpent thought the look on the knight’s face had been hilarious, but she was careful not to laugh. The last time she laughed out loud the three girls that had been on loan to her at the time had been turned to stone for two weeks. So instead of laughing the serpent chuckled and hoped no one would be petrified. “Girls, this is Sir…” “Sir Michael Rotan of Thorn Castle,” interrupted the knight. “Michael was one of my most trusted friends when I lived at Thorn Castle.” She turned her head to Michael. “ I was just kidding, Mike,” she said with a large snake grin. She uncoiled herself from the chest and showed it to him. The brass and wood chest still looked fairly new as the Serpant had taken very good care of it. “Before we make the journey I really owe you girls an explanation,” the Serpent said. “You got that right,” Marion whispered. “I shouldn’t have to remind you that I have excellent hearing, Marion,” said the Serpent. “I suggest you all sit down, this may take awhile.” The Serpent closed her eyes and appeared to doze off. “What’s she doing?” Michael whispered. “Trying to remember,” Tami answered before Rachel hushed her. “I guess it started when I was 13 winter’s old,” the serpent said as she opened her eyes. “It was spring and fields had just been planted. I could see them out of the window in the mornings, there was always that perfect shade of dark brown that hinted at newly tilled fields. I can remember how Sir Genera enjoyed children’s laughter in his castle. He let us, the servant’s children, play hide and seek and let us slide down the banisters.” “You mean to tell us you used to be a human?” Asked Tami. “And a servant besides?” “She was defiantly born human,” Michael answered. “Her birth name was Yovenne.” “Well what happened?” asked Rachel. “I’m getting to that part,” said the Serpent. “Just try not to interrupt me.” The Serpent shifted into a more comfortable position around the chest and continued. “We were allowed free range of the castle for at least an hour each day. While Sir Genra knew that education was important, he also believed playing was essential to the growth of children at least until the age of 15. With this freedom we explored every bit of the castle as we possibly could. We even discovered a few hidden passage-ways, trap doors, and secret rooms.” “The only place we weren’t allowed to be was in the Sorcerer’s Library, we weren’t even allowed on the stairs leading up to the library. We had always been warned never to go into the Library because the sorcerer might turn us into a toad or worse.” “One day we were daring each other to do stupid things. We had dared Michael, who was stable boy back then, to steal meat pies from the kitchen. When everyone had finished eating them it was their turn to dare me…” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Black Serpent is (c)2000 Copyright Leah Turner (V. L. Fox) Please do not distribute without writer's permission.