Chapter Eight: Mortal Coil

Vela ran from the hunting party at a speed where they could keep her in their sights, but not catch her. She took a moment to tuck Leo back into her cleavage right as the arrows started to fly. Leo winced as he saw one pass over her shoulder.

“They’re shooting at us!” He cried.

“Relax, they’re just splinters,” she said in haste as she continued to sidewind through the dense woods. Leo thought he heard a loud ‘smack’ as an arrow pelted her in the back. He could feel the impact through her chest cavity, but Vela showed no sign of acknowledgment. ‘Oh, right. Vampires aren’t vulnerable to anything but the sun,’ he thought.

“So, you’re just going to let them chase you?”

“For now. If I run, they’ll think I’m worth chasing. I wanted to lead the racket further away. The longer they chase me, the less chance Jacqueline has of getting curious about the noise. Plus, they’ll tire in the pursuit. I won’t.” Just as she said that, someone stepped out from behind a tree directly in front of her. He was swinging something bright and hot right at neck level. Vela fell down to her knees and slid under the attack, rebounded to her feet, and side-thrust kicked the man in the side of his rib cage. He seemed to squeak in pain as he was thrown against the tree behind which he had been hidden, and crumpled on the ground uselessly, holding his ribs. “Two down,” Vela said.

Leo watched as the man’s weapon tumbled to the ground and stopped glowing. It looked like an ordinary ax. Vela began to run again.

“What was that weapon?” Leo called out.

“Not sure, but it was hot. The air burned around him, that’s how I knew where he’d positioned himself. Some sort of mage craft.”

“How’d he get in front of you?”

“I’m... actually not sure...” Vela admitted. Were there more of them? How many men does it take to hunt down one lycanthrope?

Her thought process was interrupted when another arrow struck her square in the face. The shaft shattered uselessly against her, but it made her blink, and she was distracted just long enough for two men to pop up on either side of her, both wielding the same, odd, glowing-edged weaponry. One was a sword, and the other was another ax. They swung at the same time.

Vela rolled to the side and under the swing of the swordsman, grabbing him by the ankle, and lifted him off his feet. She swung him with terrifying force and threw him into the man wielding the ax, who had made to throw it after Vela had dodged their swings. The swordsman’s body collided with him the moment the ax left his hand, and they both flew back and sprawled out in pain after rolling a few feet. The ax passed by Vela’s left arm and stuck into the tree behind her, it’s red glow subsiding. Leo looked at her arm, and his eyes grew wide.

“Vela! Your arm!” She looked at her bicep where the ax had passed her by, and there was a deep gash nearly halfway through the width of her arm. Vela gasped.

“What wicked magic!” She ripped the ax out of the tree and threw it blindly in the direction of their pursuers, sending them all scrambling out of the way, buying her a second to think. Leo stared, bewildered, at the wound. Already, it had closed. He blinked in disbelief.

“Vela, the wound,”

“It’s fine. But... it represents a problem,” she said. Then, she looked up, tilted her head to the side as if pondering the night, and then leapt from the earth high into the branches of the nearby tree. She began springing deftly from tree to tree. She continued for a few dozen until she stuck to one, climbed higher, and pulled herself on top of a broad branch. She lied on the branch with her arms at her sides, effectively hiding herself from any eyes below. Leo’s heart was pounding in his ears in the silence.

“Vela, are you okay?” He asked with some fear in his voice.

“Yes, fine.”

“I thought only the sun could harm you.”

“Kill me,” she corrected him. “I’m vulnerable to fire. It would seem these men have sharpened their flames.” Leo’s eyes grew wide.

“One of them was trying to take your head off!” He gasped.

“Shh-h-h,” she hissed. Leo covered his mouth. “Correct. They mean to dismember me. And I don’t know their numbers. This... is not good.” Down below, Leo could hear the men shouting as they searched for which direction the vampire had gone.

“If they succeeded?” Leo asked, afraid of the answer.

“Then it would be very easy to expose me to the sun,” she replied. “I need a new game-plan. For the moment, I seem to have lost them up here.”

“I know I came up with this whole scheme to avoid any fatalities, Vela...” he began.

“Yes, and I admired your principle.”

“But these men mean to kill you. Don’t you dare let them,” he said urgently. She smiled.

“I don’t take pleasure in the loss of human life, but I don’t mean to die this night. Rest assured.”

They lied there in silence for a while, listening to the sounds of the men below.

“Where the hell did she get off to?” One asked.

“I don’t know. We had the area surrounded. She must still be around,” another answered. Then:

“The trees! She’s in the trees!”

“Shit. She could have escaped our line by going right over us.”

“What do we do?” There was a silence.

“Burn it down,” came an answer.

“Burn what do—”  

“The forest! Set the fucking forest ablaze. I’m not letting that murdering bloodsucker get away,” the man who seemed to be the leader declared.

“I’ll get the oil!” Replied the second.

“Damn,” Vela whispered. “We can’t have that.”

“What are we going to do?” Leo asked.

“Don’t know. I wish Jacqueline was here, actually. It would be nice to... well... she would certainly shake things up. I’m surprised she hasn’t caught on to all of this noise. Maybe she ran off in the wrong direction after all.”

“Well at least there’s that. The plan wasn’t a failure.”

“True. But I wouldn’t call this a success.”

“Well, we’ll have to lead them away from the trees or they’ll burn it all down. Do you really think you can’t outrun them?”

“Please. Breaking through their little containment line will be a simple matter. But do you want them to be able to chase me, or do you want to guarantee our safety?”

“Let them see which direction you’re headed, but run like hell,” Leo said.

“Very well. Have it both ways,” Vela answered. “So demanding,” she jested. She pulled Leo out and kissed him, pushed him back down deep in her cleavage, and leapt from the tree. She landed right on top of the man preparing to douse a nearby tree in oil, her feet on both his shoulders. He screamed and crumbled under her.

“Hey, boys. Don’t burn down the forest on my account,” she said. A volley of arrows shattered against her from several directions. She leaned left and right to avoid a few glowing hatchets. Then, she dashed forward, and sprinted at full speed towards one of the archers. She shoulder-tackled the man, but held onto him, carrying him with her for several meters. Eventually, another man came from behind another tree like before, and tried to clothesline her with a sword, but it collided with the back of her human shield. She shrugged the man off her shoulder and got a hold of the surprise-attacker by the throat, and slammed him into the ground, riding on his chest as he slid several feet, and then sprang off of him, shattering his ribs. She continued forward, now free of the men’s circle, and dove into the night.

Vela ran for several minutes at flight speed, putting good distance between them and the hunters. She emerged from the wood line at a small clearing that overlooked a sheer cliff. Vela looked down into the gully below.

“Good,” she said. If they chase us here, I’m sure I can lose them over this cliff. No way they’ll leap after us.” She turned and sat down at the cliff’s edge.

“You’re going to wait for them so they can see you take the leap?”

“Yes. They need to know to abandon the chase.”

“Smart. But... you don’t think the speed with which you took off made it clear that chasing you was pointless?”

“They were willing to burn down the forest when they lost sight of me in those circumstances. They don’t give up easily. This way is better.” Leo nodded in assent.

“Okay. Then we wait.”

They sat there patiently for what seemed to Leo like an hour with no sign of the hunters.

“Are they still chasing us?” Leo asked.

“I can hear them. They’re moving with extreme care,” she replied.

“How far off are they?”

“Very close. They’re advancing at a crawl, but I can hear their movements just a few meters beyond the tree line. I’m sure they’ll be out in a few moments.” She was right. Not a minute later, some men holding glowing weapons of all sorts emerged to their left and right. Vela stood up and took a few steps back toward the cliff. The man who lead the hunters cane walking out directly in front of Vela. He was grinning hideously.

“We got you now, heathen,” he snarled. Vela turned and leapt off the edge. For a moment, they were in free-fall. Leo felt just stomach leap up into his throat from the force of gravity, but then, their momentum was abruptly halted, and Vela was jerked back. They swung down and slammed into the face of the cliff. Vela let out a terrifying cry. Leo looked down. There was some kind of barbed hook protruding from her gut. It was glowing with the same mystical heat as their weapons. Vela grabbed onto it, but it singed her hands.

They were hauled back up onto the cliff by a glowing red cable of steel that was connected to a reel anchored to a tree. Vela was terrified. She couldn’t remove the hook and the cable was too strong. She was pinned helplessly. She struggled up to her knees, and the men closed in on all sides. They all wore the same, sinister smiles. The leader stopped a few feet away.

“We came to this mountain hunting a werewolf, but do you have any idea what you’re worth?” He asked. Leo was horrified. What did they mean to do? He squirmed out of her blouse and up to her shoulder.

“Wait!” He cried. “Don’t kill her! We mean you no harm!” The leader frowned at the sight of Leo, his face appearing confused.

“What’s this? Vampire’s got a pet fairy?”

“I’m a borrower! And I’m not her pet! She’s my friend. I love her! And she’s never killed humans. She doesn’t do that!”

“A borrower. Well, little man, I don’t really care what she is to you or how she behaves. She’s getting pieced,” he said, brandishing a glowing sword.

“You can’t! Please! Why kill someone who was only running away? We didn’t kill your friends in the camp either! We just knocked them out so they wouldn’t chase our friend!”

“Who said anything about killing her?” The man said. “We’re just going to take her arms, legs, most her bones and such. It’s all very useful. How about this, you can keep her head. Sound fair?” The men all started laughing.

“L-Leo... I’m s-sorry,” Vela stuttered. Was she giving up?

“No! Vela! You can’t let them have you! You’ve got to fight!” He pleaded. The men all howled with laughter.

“Can’t... can’t move...” Vela struggled to say. Leo leapt from her shoulder onto the ground in front of her.

“You’ll have to go through me!” He shouted, putting up his tiny fists. The men’s laughter reached a new high.

“Awe shucks! Well, in that case, I guess we had better pack it in, boys!” He shouted to their amusement. He sheathed his sword and stepped up to Leo, looming over him with his hands on his hips. “Stay out of my way, little man, or you’ll get stepped on.” Leo was shaking with adrenaline and desperation.

“N-no, no way! I love her.”

“I said you could keep her head. It’ll live a while. I’m a generous man. But keep annoying me, and I’ll break your little twig legs and leave her head on a spike for the sunrise where you’ll get to watch the show.” Leo gulped. This man was pure evil. He was shaking in terror.

“Leo... run away. Over the cliff. You’ll be fine,” Vela begged. Leo turned to look at her. Her face was twisted in agony. His rage and sorrow flared simultaneously.

“I won’t leave you,” he said. She smiled weakly and shook her head almost imperceptibly.

“My little fool...” she said. Then, her eyes grew wide, and she threw her left hand up as if to stop something. Leo saw the man’s glowing sword swinging right for her neck, but it caught her at the left wrist instead. Leo watched in horror as her left hand was separated bloodlessly from her arm and flew off the cliff into the trees below. Vela showed no additional pain. Her face was merely determined. The man cackled.

“You can only block a few swings, vampire. I don’t care what you lose in the process; that head’s coming off!” The men all cheered. Leo was stunned to silence. This was it. He was going to watch his precious Vela get taken apart by these barbarians.

Just then, there was a loud crash from the forest. The men all stopped laughing and turned to face the source of the violent noise. ‘Is it Jackie?’ Leo wondered.

There was a scream from someone behind the trees, but it was quickly silenced. Leo heard several more ring out from the woods.

“The hell is that?” One of the men asked.

“It’s probably the wolf!” The leader barked. “Silver up, men! We won’t let her slip away this time!” The men all sheathed their glowing weapons and pulled out normal looking ones Leo assumed were edged with silver. They all stood their ground in silence, waiting for Jackie to reveal herself, but what came next was entirely beyond their expectations.

A massive shadowy figure exploded from the woods and overtook the man furthest to Leo’s left. In the same breath, several more burst forth and quickly subdued each respective victim.

“Oh, fuck!” The leader cried. He redrew his glowing sword and stood there, two swords at the ready, and shook at the knees as a massive figure slowly emerged for him. Leo’s jaw dropped. A dark shape of a massive serpentine behemoth loomed menacingly above the man. It had the body of a snake and the torso of a woman, but she was gigantic! She had the body of a woman that would have stood twenty-foot all, easily, but Leo had no way of estimating how massive the snake part of her body was.

“A naga!” Leo cried.

“Stay the hell away from me, you monster!” The man warned.

“You folk have overstayed your welcome,” the naga announced. “You’ve disrespected our mountain for too long, burning countless trees and killing many creatures. You show no regard for any but your own, and we have waited long enough.” She slithered at the man, and he took a wild swing with his swords, but they merely ‘clanged’ against the tough scales of her hide. Her tail came whipping from the shadows and hit the man in his side, knocking him down a few feet away. He dropped his swords and tried to crawl away helplessly. The naga didn’t let him get far. She was on him in a second and grabbed him in both arms. She held him struggling with her hands around his chest in front of her face. He didn’t cry out—just stared at her in frozen terror.

She opened her mouth wider than Leo thought should be possible and brought her mouth down over the man’s head. She shoved his squirming body into her hungry mouth, moving her hands down his legs to assist with stuffing him in. It only lasted a few seconds, and then, Leo could see the massive bulge in her throat move down into her chest, temporarily making a massive bump on her human belly. Then, the naga leaned forward and appeared to tense up, and the protrusion moved down her abdomen until it vanished within the massive snake part of her body. The naga licked her fingers and sighed with satisfaction. “You brought this fate upon yourselves, humans,” she said looking down at her undulating coils. “We take no issue with your kind passing through or even staying here, but your presence was intolerable.

The man was in a state of utter shock as he was squeezed down the narrow esophagus of the merciless naga. He hadn't been able to regain his senses since he was beaten down effortlessly by her powerful, serpentine tail. He was vaguely aware that the breath was squeezed out of him as everything had gone dark, but even as he was deposited into her first, human stomach, his mind was incapable of processing and accepting what was happening. He was forcibly squeezed into an upside down fetal position in a cramped, squishy chamber for mere moments before the pressure around him became unbearable, and he lost consciousness as he was pushed even deeper through a tight, muscular sphincter. The valve closed behind him, and he awoke once more a few moments later in a somewhat roomier, though no less unforgiving chamber. On some level, his intellect was aware of what unfortunate fate had befallen him, and even now it was desperately trying to warn him that he was in terrible danger, but it was no use. His conscious mind was baffled by pain and shock beyond the point of truly fathoming and making peace with his situation. He reflexively writhed around, trying to make more room for himself in the snug, slimy confines of the naga's second stomach. The walls simply hugged him all the tighter. It wasn't long before he hyperventilated in his confused panic and found calm and solace in the embrace of unconsciousness. 

Leo watched the ordeal with a mixture of fascination and horror. He’d been swallowed himself, but the knowledge that this man was going to be a mere meal for the terrifying naga made a lump form in his throat. But he spared no sympathy for the man. He turned to look around him, and each smaller though still huge naga was finishing off her own quarry. He looked back to the center one, the biggest one. She eyed Vela with curiosity.

“Don’t eat her! She’s not a human! She was only trying to—” he was stunned to silence as the enormous naga slithered over to him and brought her gigantic face down to bear with his.

“What’s this? Hello, small one. I could not hear you,” she said. Leo gulped hard.

“H-hello. I’m Leo,” he stuttered.

“I’m Elgara-ek’teen, what was that you were saying, Leo?”

“Not... not to eat my friend. She... she’s not...”

“I have no desire to devour a night walker, Leo. Her kind are very respectful and are also not suited for eating.”

“Leo... it’s going to be okay,” Vela said. “Honorable and beautiful, most noble and graceful guardian of this sacred mountain,” Vela began. “... a little help?” She said, gesturing with her right hand toward the barbed spear in her belly. The naga smiled.

“Of course, night walker.” She slithered over to Vela, taking special care not to squish Leo. She cradled Vela in one hand, and quickly yanked the spear out with the other. She released Vela, who fell back down to her knees. Leo rushed over to her.

“Vela! Are you okay? I was so worried, I thought we were done for!” Vela extended her right hand for Leo to climb into. He complied, and she brought him up to her lips and kissed him softly for a long time. He hugged her lips and kissed her back, fighting back tears that wouldn’t stop coming.

“I thought so, too, Leo. But we’re saved. The naga will not spare a thought for the likes of us.” She held Leo down by her torso and stood up. Leo saw that the abdominal wound had already closed, but her left hand was still gone. The clean stump of her wrist hung by her hip. “Thank you, Elgara-ek’teen, you have done me a great kindness. If I may be so brash as to inquire something else?”

“What is it, night walker? There is nothing urgent for my people now that this business has been dispatched.”

“Did your people come across a moon-child tonight?”

“Yes, we found the moon-child. She was chasing a squirrel up a tree.” Leo gasped. Did they eat her too?

“She is ours.”

“Your tribe is a strange one; a night walker, a moon-child, and a...” she hesitated.

“Borrower,” Leo offered.

“Bor-r-r-ower,” she said, trying out the title. “You are small but brave, Borrower.”

“Where’s Jackie— er, I mean, the moon child?” He asked.

“Leo, it’s impolite to be so direct,” Vela said, by which she meant ‘naga don’t take kindly to curt interrogation.’

“It is fine, night walker.” She looked down at Leo. “Your companion is unharmed. We took her under our care. It is unsafe for a moon-child to be left unattended at the end of the cycle.”

“We thank you with all our hearts for this unequaled kindness,” Vela began. “And I apologize for the burden. She is ours to look after, but we were trying to keep her far away from the hunters.”

“I understand your priorities. But moon-children are no burden when there are no humans about. We were planning to take care of them anyway. But when we found her and understood their goals, we concluded that their time was up. No cursed child of the moon seeking refuge in the mountains will be punished. We hope she will not begrudge us for what we found necessary to do with her kin.” Leo didn’t think Jackie would mind too terribly much. She would just be glad she hadn’t done anything awful herself.

“She will not blame you for being blameless. You are as just as you are graceful,” Vela said. Leo was beginning to catch on to how she was addressing the naga: constant flattery and thanks.

“We are in your debt, oh beautiful and heroic Elgara-ek’teen,” Leo said. Vela sighed with the slightest hint of exasperation. ‘Why did you do that?’ She asked internally. The naga smiled warmly.

“Oh? I am sorry that you feel the scales are tipped. We were merely doing as we saw fit. But if there is an imbalance of favor, we shall do our best to alleviate you of the discomfort of a burden. You may accompany us back to our home, and we will see to it that there are no outstanding feelings of obligation. Then, we shall be restored as equals,” Elgara-ek’teen announced proudly. Leo was confused. What exactly had he done, he wondered. He looked up to Vela, and she shook her head at him.

“We graciously accept your offer, most courageous and lovely, Elgara-ek’teen. We look forward to restoring the balance between our tribes,” Vela said with a smile and an even tone. “Please be so kind as to show us the way to your home, and we shall follow.”

“I will dispatch some little ones to search the land below for your hand, night walker. They do not have much time to find it,”

“I am sure they will do what they can, Elgara-ek’teen. I will not begrudge their failure.”

“Very good. Now, follow closely. We will not move quickly by your standards. My warriors and I are all with meals,” she said. Leo realized she was referring to the hunters they had all eaten alive. He shivered. Elgara-ek’teen turned and began to slide back into the trees.

“Way to go, Leo,” Vela said quietly, confirming his suspicion that he had somehow made a mistake.

“Okay, what did I do?” Leo asked, embarrassed.

“Oh, you’ll see. You’ve gone and made a queen snake think you feel miserably indebted to her. She seems to respect us and loathes the idea that we feel such a painful inequality due to her actions. She’ll try to right that wrong by... well. You’ll see!”

“Dammit, what the hell are they going to ask of us?” Vela smiled at him. “You. Will. See. But I can tell you one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll bet that Jacqueline is going to hate it,” she said with a smirk. Leo remembered. Jackie had actually said that nagas give her the creeps.

“Oh, no. You have no idea. Jackie said nagas freak her out.”

“Oh?” Vela’s eyebrows raised. “Then she’s REALLY going to hate it. And I confess, while I hold no ill will towards the girl, this night was awful and may have cost me my left hand. So, I will take some level of joy in this. Thank you for getting us roped into it, Leo!” Leo chuckled.

“You seem in pretty high spirits for someone who just lost her hand, and almost died.”

“I am. Because we didn’t die. I’ll mourn my hand later if I must. For now,  I’m on a cloud. And these naga essentially guarantee that, for a short while, our troubles are over. We won’t overstay our welcome, but this will be a very pleasant contrast to the last twenty-four hours.” Leo shook his head. “Besides,” she continued, “they won’t ask anything of us tonight. Jacqueline is still a wolf. So that means, tonight, I get to hold you close, and show you how thankful I am that none of us died.” Leo smiled big.

“Okay, when you put it that way...” he said. They walked along in the woods just behind Elgara-ek’teen with the rest of the naga warriors following shortly behind. Leo wondered what strange new adventures the next couple of days would bring.