Serpent of the Abyss by S.J. Sanders
Chapter 34
Slengral hissed from where he lay burrowed in the sand, watching the males leading his mate away. He had crawled closer, slinking through the heavier sand, determined to keep an eye on his mate. He was glad that he did. They were so completely covered that he could not scent them and attempt to determine their emotions. They were big blank spaces that moved around his female in a manner he could only interpret as hostile.
He wanted to go after them and tear them away from her, to kill them as painfully as possibly for taking his mate, but he did not. He had promised Lori. None were touching her, so he could not even make that excuse for his reaction. But everything shrieked deceit to him.
Their complete head and body coverings and the way the one turned away from her made his tail flick with his rising fury.
Deceitful humans. He could not let them take his mate with them!
He started to raise from the sand, his wings flicking it off. His mouth parted with an angry hiss. His tail lashing, he began to dart forward to kill the males and retrieve his mate when a bolt of fire hit the sand in front of him. Another grazed his arm, and he snarled with pain. Fire blasts were raining down on him!
Armed with fire or not, they would not defeat him! He would draw his mate away and let the shinara have the humans for this insult.
Slengral’s body jerked as his wings flapped to make it to his mate, his determination outweighing any pain. Another fire grazed him, and another. He was too quick to be hit fully, each one leaving a black streak of burned scales. The anguished roar that left him, however, had nothing to do with the pain of his wound and everything to do with his last glimpse of his mate before she was ushered within the dome.
She was gone.
He sank down into the sand in agony. He never should have agreed. The deceitful humans would never let her go. He knew this now. Grief rattled through him, and he let out a low bellow. Another blast flicked out across the air toward him. Flapping his wings, he pushed himself backward across the sand, evading it as his fury swamped him.
The humans would not even allow him to mourn the separation! He would show them that a Seshanamitesh was not so easy to remove at their convenience.
Sidewinding on his tail, he snarled, scanning the curved dome of the nest, searching for the source. There were metal structures set up along the outer wall, and in them his keen vision pinpointed humans taking shelter in their strange barrier with raised weapons.
His wings flattened to his back and then spread wide in a gesture of intimidation as he removed his velkat from its harness. Another tongue of fire headed directly to him, and he swung the curved blade up, the superior metal of his people absorbing and dispersing the flames into tiny sparks on the sand. Opening his mouth wider to show his fangs, he hissed again in defiance before drawing in a deep breath and rapidly lifting into the air.
It would be so easy to drop on them from above and hurt them the way that they had done to him, but he was also certain that route would ultimately lead to his death. He would retreat to the dunes and then slowly make his way back to the human nest, keeping low over the sands so they would not see him. It would take him most of the dark cycle to make his way back, but he refused to leave while they had his mate.
Letting out a furious bark that had the humans scurrying back and ducking behind their protective blockades, Slengral flattened his gavo and wheeled in the air away from the nest, his wings stretching wide with every flap. He kicked up the dust and sand, screening his departure as he slowly gained elevation. Flying against the wind, he knew that the sand cloud he stirred would be carried to the humans, and so he was unsurprised to hear their faint angry shouts and the violent hiss of their weapons as fiery tongues were shot out at him.
He turned his head to eye them over his shoulder. It amused him to see how easily disoriented they were. Their shots were fired wildly in his general direction in the off chance that they may hit him, and that entertained him even more. Although the nest was well fortified, he knew that it would be so easy to kill any human outside of it.
But his mate would be displeased with him if he did that.
Growling under his breath, he left the human nest far behind him, gliding over the sands lit softly by Seshana’s four moons. The four sisters, as his people called them, rose slowly over the horizon, their light sharpening his vision. His inner lid had drawn back once the suns had left the sky, allowing him to see in the dark well enough, but the moonlight brought extra clarity as he turned on a glide back toward the colony.
At his approach, he dropped closer to the ground, his thin, secondary inner lid sliding closed to protect his eyes from the sand. He flew at a more leisurely speed so not to disturb the sands beyond what would be seen as natural. With the wind behind him now, he was able to glide with fewer flicks of his wings to keep him aloft. This too worked in his favor.
Slengral worked his way around the colony, keeping his body low and beyond the reach of the lights that beamed out toward the sands as he scouted for weaknesses while it was safe to do so. If the humans did not release his mate, he would find one to exploit, one way or another. Although patrols swept by regularly and he encountered a number of stations that housed guards, he was able to frequently find open gaps where he could get close to the colony to look at its protective casing.
The clear shell that surrounded the nest was impressive. He had thought the material to be completely solid, but when he looked very close at it, he could see tiny pores along its surface. He surmised that their presence was enough to keep the colony within cool, their small size reducing the chance of sand blowing in during the seasonal storms. A strong blow to the surface with his fist also confirmed that the material was strong.
Looking around to make sure that no one was near, he unstrapped his velkat again and struck it. Red lights on a pair of nearby metal beams blinked as a terrible noise filled the air. Hissing, he dropped back rapidly from the dome to a safe distance and buried himself in the sand. No sooner was he covered than humans converged on the spot he had occupied. They shouted to each other in their incomprehensible language, their weapons raised as a number of them scanned the sands, their bodies stiff with tension.
He smiled to himself. They should be worried. The humans were entirely vulnerable to his kind. If they attempted to keep his mate, he would not rest until he got her back.
Growling softly to himself, he settled deeper into the sand to protect himself as the suns gradually made their way into the horizon. The intense heat and light of the sun would damage his scales if he spent too much time out in it, and so he made sure that he was well covered and comfortably cool beneath it, his eyes tracking the movement of the guards within his field of vision.
With the sunrise, those patrolling and at their stations changed for other groups that looked nearly identical to the first. The attitude was noticeably different, however, as the humans swaggered around with the confidence of juveniles trying their wings. He snorted quietly to himself with grim amusement.
Let them feel safe for now while they could. For now, they were safe from him, but he could wait with the infinite patience of a hunter. His dark inner lid sliding protectively over his eyes, he watched and waited.