The Wicked House of Caroline

As long as she could remember, water had been a part of her life. Her father was the magistrate of a seaside town on the capital island of the West Islands. Her mother was a sailor and they had brought her to be baptized in the sea before she could walk. She could swim at two and sail at six. Both sides of her family had water biha users.

When a hurricane took her parents from her when she was eight, Sybil’s life went from part time on the shore to full time on the water with her mother’s eldest sister. She went everywhere the water could take her, learning water biha from all sorts of masters.

As luck would have it, her biha well was substantial.

In a place where too much power could make one a target, her aunt gave her a Trident ring with three ocean blue stones meant to keep her biha undetected by skewing the biha around her body, but not actually limit her ability, so enemies would not target her for her gift.

When Thad was born and he showed signs of wind biha, Sybil had the ring taken apart. It was fine for Deo to show his genius with fire biha; he was, after all, the heir to the Duchy of Caroline, but he’d been targeted on the battlefield because of his ability. She kept one stone as a necklace, Thad kept one around his wrist, and later Wrath would have a similar one, that were disguised as traditional Sagittate blessing bracelets of woven wool.

That was why when they walked through the gateway at the dungeon, their biha could not be sensed. She’d also limited her use of water biha in public in Sagittate, and hid it with few expectations when they were in Kadmium. She’d only been to the capital once, and not much was actually known about her.

Very few people knew Duchess Sybil of Blythehaus and Caroline was a master biha user and that’s what she wanted. She was not given a suppression mark as a result, and she almost wanted to laugh. She had an inkling that when the four corners of exile were assigned, she and her two youngest would be sent off the western coast.

Chamberlain Wilton was a fair man from what she knew of him and if Beks participated in negotiating the terms of exile, then her eldest would have her sent to the location she was most comfortable. When Beks was still in Sagittate, her bedtime stories were all about Sybil’s adventures out at sea. Her daughter knew what direction would benefit her most.

As soon as she was able to get far enough from shore, she’d commandeer whatever ship they’d use to exile her and take her children to safety to await her husband and two older children. There was no doubt in her mind that her sweet Robert would find a way to her.

Robert always found her.

The ride to the shore was arguably the shortest of the exile routes, but as such, she hadn’t paid much attention to the royal guards.

“What is the meaning of this?” Sybil maintained her regal posture as she and the children were told to step out of the carriage. She heard the shore and smelled the salt in the air, but they weren’t at a dock or near the port, as expected. They weren’t even near a beach. Not twenty paces from where the carriage stopped was a commanding view of the sea with the Port of Black Sands down the coast. They stood at a cliff’s edge. Her eyes narrowed as she turned around. Her gaze swept over the six guards. “Where is Mr. Morgan?”

Their driver had been going out of his way to make sure she and the children had proper food to eat and were comfortable in the carriage the last day and a half. Now, he was nowhere to be seen.

“He caught a stomach bug this morning, but you have a boat to catch,” one of the guards replied.

Wrath tilted her head to the side and peeked out from behind her mother’s dress. “Why do you sound weird?”

The corner of Sybil’s eye twitched. “Yes...why do you sound strange?” She didn’t recognize their accent and wondered if they were from a more rural part of Kadmus. However, it was a bit familiar, she just couldn’t remember where she’d heard it before.

“You sound like that mistress!” Wrath’s little voice shot up and her big hazel eyes that matched hers grew wide before narrowing with accusation.

Thad tilted his head to the side and furrowed his brows. “Mistress? What....” His voice trailed off before his handsome little face darkened. His voice dripped with disgust. “That would-be oracle.”

As soon as he said it, Sybil’s lips tightened into a line and her hands twitched at her side. “Temple dogs.” She didn’t care about the anger that crossed the faces of the fake guards. “Did that mistress masquerading as an oracle send you?”

“How dare you call the Great Oracle a mistress!” A young-looking man’s face flushed as he took a step forward, grabbing his sword and unsheathing it.

Sybil sneered. “There is nothing great about her,” she replied with a defiant raise of her chin. “Sleeping with an engaged man tells leagues about her character. I didn’t realize the Temple raised such untrustworthy creatures.” The corners of her lips curled up into a smirk. “Your presence here is also quite telling.” The red-faced young man took another step forward, but another held out his arm to stop him. The oldest of the six men stood in front of Sybil and the children, blocking their way back to the carriage and cornering them on the edge of the cliff. She could feel her children’s hands tightening around the fabric of her dress.

“The drop from this point isn’t enough to kill a person, so we’ll leave it up to chance,” the old man said in a gruff voice.

Thad seemed to tense up. “You want us to jump off the cliff?”

While they were correct; the cliff wasn’t so high that a fall could kill a person without fail, it was high enough that survivors would’ve needed to have been experienced cliff drivers. If it were only her, Sybil would’ve taken a graceful dive into the sea with no problem. However, if a child stumbled off and fell, without proper training, they could easily hit the water awkwardly, resulting in their injury, then drowning and death.

“There are rocks.” Wrath was looking over the edge of the cliff.

Sybil’s eyes darkened as she looked at the men. “What a choice place you’ve selected. The height can’t necessarily kill us, but the rocks and shallows will. The water isn’t deep enough.” She wasn’t stupid.

“What’s the difference between making us jump to our death and slaying us with your swords?” Thad said with a trembling glare.

Before they could answer, Sybil smirked knowingly. “Temple paladins are forbidden from taking the lives of children,” she said. “At least...directly.”

“You hypocritical pieces of trash!” Thad pointed at them. “You’re going to kill us through a technicality! Cowards!”

“No wonder they are led by a mistress,” Wrath said in her soft, child’s voice laced with disgust and anger. “Mommy, they are unworthy of the gods.”

“Sacrilege!” one of the men yelled, infuriated by a child’s words.

“I should say the same to you,” Sybil replied. “Did you think that your hands would not be stained red by giving us such a small chance at survival? Did you think that by forcing us off a cliff instead of running us through with a sword, you’d be innocent? That our fates are in the hands of the gods?” She scoffed. “You are both presumptuous and foolish.”

The men took a step closer, brandishing their swords. “Either you jump of your own volition or we make you.”

Sybil took a step back. She could feel the rush of the wind behind her, moving the fabric of her dress and her long, unraveled black hair around her body. She put one hand on either side of her children’s backs.

“Thad, Wrath, hold on to Mommy and whatever you do, do not let go,” she said in a low voice.

Wrath threw her arms around her mother’s legs and not only grasped onto her dress, but wound the fabric around her small hands as she gripped them. Thad took a step forward, wrapping his arm around his mother’s waist and securing his hands together on the other side.

“Mommy, I don’t want to jump,” Wrath said in a shaking voice.

“We’re not going to jump, Starfish. We’re just going for a little ride,” Sybil replied in as soothing a voice as she could speak. “Just hold on.”

She held her arm out and concentrated. The roar of the water behind them seemed to fade.

“What are you doing?” One of the men craned his neck and squinted as he looked past them. His brows knitted together as he saw the white capped waves receding from the shore. “Where...where is the water going?”

The panic in his voice caused the other five men to tense. Despite themselves, they looked past Sybil and the children. The crash of the waves that were directly beneath them had gone silent. For a moment, the cliff they were on seemed to go quiet.

Sybil slowly raised her arms and the water that had receded stopped. One breath was released and she threw her arms forward.

She couldn’t see what was happening behind her, nor could the children with their faces buried in her skirt, but she could feel what was happening. That collected water rushed back to the cliff larger than any wave that these six unfortunate idiots in front of her had ever seen.

“It’s too big! What is that!?”

“What are you doing!” The oldest man shouted and looked directly at her. His eyes narrowed with hate. “You’re a biha user!”

“It’s coming!” Another man yelled. “It’ll hit the cliff! We need to run!”

“Run?” Sybil said with a cold smile in her eyes. As air pushed forward by the towering wave rushing towards them behind her made her hair fly up and cover her face. “You can’t outrun a tidal wave.” Her lips held a frigid smile as a large stream of water seemed to come up from under the cliff and create a wall between them and their assassins. “I will give you the honor of knowing who takes your lives! I am Sybil of Blythehaus, Duchess of Caroline, and the one true heir of Maritime Legacy - the Black Leviathan!”

The rush of water circled around her and the children, enclosing them in a sphere of water as they were lifted off the ground. One of the men turned around, his face pale as he looked at her with stunned horror.

“The Black Levia...you’re a pir-”

Their bodies were tossed like dolls into the air as the wave crashed over the cliff, sweeping them off and into the water below.

Her children trembled against her and Sybil remained relaxed, allowing the water carrying them to bring them out to sea as she watched the six men struggle to find which way was up in the turbulent water. Her eyes narrowed. Perhaps, if it were a normal wave, they’d have a chance to break the surface for air.

But it wasn’t.

No matter where they tried to swim, it was futile. The current would simply turn them around, making them lose direction, lose control, and lose time. Bubbles came out of their mouths as terror twisted their faces. Their flailing limbs and kicking legs began to slow before they finally stopped.

Six lifeless bodies began to float through the water. Her tidal wave had been so precise that the carriage and horses remained on the cliff, untouched.

“Mommy, where are we?” Thad asked as he seemed to finally dare to open his eyes and looked around. They seemed to be floating with part of their bodies supported by water, but a bubble of air around them, allowing them to breathe.

“Underwater. We’ll go up for air in a bit,” Sybil replied as she stroked his hair back. “Then, we’ll take the carriage to get back to the port for a ship.”

“We’re still going to exile!?” Wrath pulled her head back, her small face filled with refusal. Sybil chuckled.

“Don’t think of it as exile, Starfish,” she said with a warm smile as the sphere of water they were in drifted along. “We’re just going to visit some family while we wait for Daddy and your brother and sister.”

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As soon as the squealing and rumbling from the boars had faded back into the jungle, and the shrieking of the rokh had ended, Beks dared to move. Her steps started slow and steady before she regained her land legs and made a mad dash for the tree line. She assumed it would be more difficult to be plucked into the sky by an airborne creature if she were between trees.

Nestled between two thick trunks of palms, Beks allowed her trembling legs to give way, and sat down, leaning against a trunk. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm her heart. Trembling hands lowered and fished into her cleavage for the little metal canister. She frowned at how wet it was and hesitantly lifted it from between her breasts.

With some reluctance, she shook it. The expected clinking of pills inside was unheard and her heart fell. It was just a metal canister that screwed on to each part. Her fingers were pruny as she twisted the lid off.

Her eyes reddened as she looked at the mush of off-white paste that barely held any resemblance to the pills they once were. She sank in her seat, hunched over and gripping the canister with her hand as her body trembled. The canister had been submerged for just a few moments, but it was enough for seawater to leak through and soak the pills.

She lifted her head and stared at the mush. Where was she going to get replacements? These pills were formulated and made especially for her by royal doctors. She no longer had access to them, nor did she know the prescription in order to get additional pills made. Even if she knew it, where would she get them made?

A cry left her lips a wave for defeat washed over her.

I’m alive, but for how much longer? She bit her lips and stared at the canister, as if willing the contents to change back into pills under her gaze. She shut her eyes. It was a paste right now. What if she dried it out? It would taste a little salty, but the medicinal properties would still work, right?

She took a deep breath and dipped a finger in, taking up a little bit of paste on her fingertips and putting it in her mouth. Her eyes watered at how salty it was, but still allowed it to dissolve.

It was a pre-emptive action. She didn’t know what else she’d expect from the island, but she had to prepare for anything that could cause her emotions to violently fluctuate. The medicinal paste and her breathing exercises might be able to keep any sudden attacks under control. After all, she could think more clearly if she were prepared.

Beks closed her eyes once more and took a few moments to take deep breaths to calm herself. In an environment where she had no control over, the only thing she could control was herself. Her meditation lasted as long as it could before her stomach rumbled. She opened her eyes, trying to remember when was the last time she ate and frowned.

Her last meal had been from Mr. Cleary the night he disappeared and in the chaos of the carriage tumbling down a cliff, she didn’t have a chance to bring the small pieces of food he’d smuggled to her with her. Beks’ eyes drifted back to the back, to the grounded carriage sticking from the water.

Her food would be waterlogged at this point, even if it stayed in the carriage. She ran her hands around her body. Her dagger and hair pin had been tucked into a makeshift pocket of petti skirt layers. She could feel the gold plats still in their pockets, though she was fairly sure she couldn’t spend them on the island.

One hand touched the object nestled between her chest and pulled it out. The urapearl didn’t seem to have any cracks or damage to it. Her arms had been bent during the fall and protecting her head and chest. She could still use it as long as she found a base.

Beks buried it back between her breasts and nestled the canister beneath one. The chain was broken, so she couldn’t put it back around her neck. She then took out her dagger and looked around.

First, food and water.

She needed to take care of her basic needs, then she could look around the island and see if there was anything she could use to contact the mainland or even get back. Beks pushed herself up and gripped the dagger in one hand. She followed the tree line up the coast. There were mostly strips of pale sandy beaches and often jutted out into rocky outcroppings before curving back into another inlet.

As she followed the shore, she looked for anything edible along the coast. She was unfamiliar with the island vegetation, but she knew shellfish. Uncle Timur and the late Queen liked to eat all sorts of seafood and were familiar with them because of the late King Laurence. Paraxes, the kingdom he was a prince of, was coastal with an archipelago territory and he introduced them to seafood.

Beks didn’t think she’d find her favorites, but she did manage to find some familiar sea snails clinging to rocks, two small crabs in a tidepool, and an octopus. Those were edible, but without seasoning or any real idea of how to cook them, she knew not to expect much in terms of taste.

She tied the outer layer of her dress skirt into a bag and awkwardly shuffled around rocks to get to another stretch of beach. She narrowed her eyes as she noticed a stream leading from the jungle to the water. Her heart quickened with hope. Perhaps it came from a drinkable water source inland.

“Okay, this isn’t so bad. I found some food and if I can find water, I’d consider this a successful day.” Beks consoled herself as she glanced around. The fog had lifted, but there was still a lot of low cloud cover. She couldn’t help but be weary of any predatory birds as she dashed from the shore to the tree line.

A breath of relief left her as she returned to the shield of the jungle. The stream was bigger than she thought; appearing rather shallow, but a few paces across. The canopy did not go over it the entire width, but there was enough overlap for her to feel comfortable walking without fear of predatory birds.

She followed alongside it as it curved through the jungle until she lost sight of the ocean. She climbed down to the edge of the stream and brought a handful of water to her lips. She took a small taste and jerked her head back before spitting it out. It wasn’t as salty as the sea, but it was still brackish.

Regardless, the fact that it wasn’t as salty meant that there was a freshwater source further in. Beks continued to follow the stream until the steady sound of running water began to grow louder, slowly drowning out the birds and wind through the trees. The water was flowing faster, appearing deeper.

Beks made her way down to try the water again and almost jumped with excitement. It was fresh water! She dug through her pocket for her hairpin and dunked it into the stream. She held it tight, watching it as it remained its amber color, and let out a breath of relief. It didn’t seem to carry anything harmful.

She knelt down and shoveled handful after handful of water into her mouth, relishing the cool, crisp taste, before she sat down on a flat rock. Beks tilted her head to the side and looked down. Her brows furrowed as she touched the surface. Dirt and debris from the jungle had taken over a good portion of the rock, leaving only a dirty flat surface exposed.

Her hand followed the clean cut, straight edge until she was almost lying across.

She then dug through the debris and found a similar straight edge layered on top, like a step. Her eyes widened.

“These are manmade....” Beks stood up and used her feet to push off the dirt and dead leaves to find another step. She raised her eyes up the small embankment and then looked down at the stream.

She removed her now scratched leather flats and placed them on the stone step. She carefully set foot into the stream. The cool water rushed against her ankle as she stepped down. The ground was soft with mud and stone, but it wasn’t as uneven or rocky as she thought it would be.

It was different from the streams she’d played with in Sagittate, where she could feel the jutting, smooth stones that made up the riverbed and the fine sediment that collected at the bottom. It wasn’t supposed to be flat.

For a moment, excitement swept through her. There was a chance there was some sort of village here where she could get help. She stood up straight, suddenly ready to follow the stream further up, when a wave of dizziness swept through her. The world around her began to spin and Beks flung her arms out to steady herself.

She sat back down on the step and took a deep breath.

First, she had to eat.

She trudged back to the edge of the jungle and gathered dried leaves together. It took her some time to make a fire, but once it was going, she piled up two large rocks on either side of the flames. She untied her skirt and looked at the half dead creatures she’d gathered.

“Thank you for your sacrifice,” she said with a small solemn nod before skewering the two small crabs between the eyes and the octopus through the head with her hair pin. She then placed the hair pin over the two rocks to cook the creatures.

As for the sea snails, she simply tossed them into the fire and made tongs from a piece of thick, palm branch with her dagger to pluck them out. Lady Eleanor had told her to use what was available around her as tools and this was the best she could do.

Beks sat down watching the fire and occasionally turning her skewered crabs and octopus with its burnt tentacles that had fallen into the fire. Her eyes crinkled up.

This is going to be the worst meal of my life; I just know it.

After some time, she began to pluck the snails from the fire and put them aside, then removed the crabs and octopus from her hair pin onto a clean, broad leaf that was her makeshift plate. She gave it a moment to cool before using the tip of her dagger to twist out the snail meat.

It was rubbery with a faint taste of the sea, but otherwise had no other flavor.

The octopus was bitter, mainly because she had charred it. Beks didn’t know what she was doing grilling an octopus and she’d gladly admit that to anyone. She tried to scrape off the black burnt bits, but it did nothing to save the taste. What meat wasn’t burnt was, as the snails, rubbery.

Finally, she turned her attention to the crabs and of all her harvest, they tasted the best. Like crabs.

By the time she finished, the sky was starting to darken. Her next order of business was to find shelter for the night and she was going to use the stream to help her. If there were manmade steps, then there must’ve been a manmade path leading to the stream at one point. A path must’ve led somewhere.

Beks walked the length of stream, trying to keep an eye out for any unnatural clearing between the trees that didn’t match with the rest of the environment and successfully found some stone pavers leading into the forest. She dragged a stick on the ground to keep a check on where the pavers were going until she stopped at the sight of massive mounds of dirt and overgrown trees and tree roots.

She’d seen sketches of archaeological sites in the past, and Laurence used to share his interest in ancient civilizations with her, recounting stories of explorers rediscovering old buildings and monuments. She used to pretend that the workmen’s tunnels beneath the Gilded Palace and the Old Tower were long forgotten temples and palaces that she’d discovered in a distant land.

It was one of her few sources of entertainment as a child unable to leave the palace grounds, after the twins left.

She couldn’t help the wide smile that filled her face or her quickening heartbeat. She was sure she’d found something and almost let out a scream.

Rebecca of Caroline found stone ruins.

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She let out a small snort and rolled over, wincing as her body protested against any movement. Beks opened her eyes and stared at her surroundings, taking a moment to remember where she was and how she got there. Her lips pulled into a line.

She’d only had a chance to explore some of the ruins before it got too dark, so she went to one of the first chambers she could find that looked reasonably clear of too much debris and overgrown vegetation. The ruins were made of stone blocks of varying sizes, though the roofs, which had likely been supported by wooden beams, had long caved in.

The chamber she found was around the edge of the site and its roof was now part of a tree. Beks had collected clean leaves and piled them into a corner. As many as she could before she started another fire at the entrance of the chamber. It was still burning when she fell asleep from exhaustion.

If she weren’t so tired and beaten, it would’ve been much more difficult to fall asleep. She’d always slept on comfortable mats and cushions, even in the prisoner carriage. Now she was sleeping on leaves and dirt. She didn’t have a blanket or pillows, just the clothes she wore. Luckily, it was warm even at night and she didn’t need a blanket.

Now that she was awake, and after an exhausting day before, she was reminded of all she’d been through from the way her body cried out in pain. In addition, she felt warm, as if feverish and heavy, but it must’ve been due to the stress her body had gone through in the last two days.

Aside from that, there were cuts and scrapes all over, bruises from her legs to her face. She could feel her face tight and itchy, as well as a bit sore, from her sunburns. She’d never had them before, but she knew people who got them. She’d once tried to console the twins that the sunburns were proof that they had a fulfilling time training outdoors with their father.

They’d just given her a deadpan look and told her to eat her sweets their cooks had brought for them. She was so naive then. If they saw her now, she wondered if they’d laugh and then do their part to console her. Laurence would immediately send for a doctor to prescribe something to ease her pain and Lady Eleanor would bring her cake from the city to cheer her up.

Her eyes watered as an unexpected wave of loneliness swept over her. Beks kept her eyes up, looking at the bark of the tree above her as her vision blurred with tears.

Her parents and Deo would probably baby her. Thad, her sweet little brother, would hold her hand and reassure her. Wrath would judge her, but that was fine. As long as she was there. Just seeing her cute little serious face made Beks happy.

She felt the tears slide down the sides of head and over her ears as she laid on her back. Her heart ached, hoping all of them, from the twins to her little sister were all safe and well. That any harm had passed without hurting them and they were protected.

Beks closed her eyes and took a deep breath. No matter how much her body hurt, as long as she could walk, she needed to get up and move. She needed to find food, observe her surroundings, and gather water. In addition, she wanted to look around the ruins a bit more and see what she could find.

Ignoring the throbbing on various sections of her body and the sharp, sudden jolts of pain when she moved a particular way or raised an arm too high, Beks made her way back to the stream. It wasn’t too far from the ruins and she’d knelt down by the steps and washed her face, rinsed her mouth, and began brainstorming food.

The shore wasn’t far away; it would take her an hour or so to walk there following the stream, but she also knew she couldn’t live on sea snails and tiny crabs forever. The jungle chorused with the sound of birds, and the birds back at the Old Tower ate seeds and bread that humans could eat. Observing them could help her discover what was edible.

After she drank her fill, she went deeper into the jungle to observe animals and see what they ate. She didn’t get far when she saw a troop of small monkeys sweeping across the treetops above her. Beks gasped and stood in place, her eyes wide with wonder as she watched them jump from branch to branch, yelling at each other.

She’d never seen monkeys in the wild, just tethered to a handler doing tricks for coins. This was much more exciting.

A few monkeys had smaller ones clinging on to them and she beamed. “Babies!” As she watched them, she noticed the adults were giving something to the baby monkeys. Beks squinted and was silent. It appeared like pieces of large, torn fruit. The skin was a greenish-brown, smooth, and the insides were off white.

She nodded to herself and followed the direction where the monkeys had come from. She found a tree with similar fruit and used her dagger to make a sharp point out of a fallen stick she found to pierce a head-sized fruit. She managed to get it down and cut it open. The inside looked like the fruit the monkeys were eating and she took a small piece to eat.

Beks stopped before she could put it in her mouth.

“You know what, I’m going to cook this first.”

A few minutes later, she was back by her chamber, blowing into the fire to get it to grow stronger before carving out a piece of the fruit meat and putting it on the tip of a stick to be roasted. She poked the raw fruit with her hair pin and waited for it to turn black. The pin remained its color. When it started to char, she removed it from the fire and put it on another large leaf to cool before taking a clean stick with a paddle-like tip she’d shaped to scoop out a little.

She poked it with her hair pin again. No change.

Reasonably satisfied that the fruit was not poisoned, Beks blew over the piece of hot fruit and put the fruit meat into her mouth.

Her eyes widened as she took a sharp breath and stared at the fruit in disbelief. It tasted like bread. Fresh, warm bread with a hint of butter and a little aftertaste of sweetness.

“What is this....” she muttered as she took another piece. The fruit melted in her mouth, but the taste remained and she shut her eyes and leaned back against the stone doorframe. Her stomach felt warm and the hunger pain that she’d been ignoring subsided.

She roasted and ate less than half of the fruit before she was full. Satisfied, she relaxed for a bit before getting up to explore the ruins some more.

The first half of the morning, she’d circled the perimeter of the ruin site - or at least what she could make out was the perimeter of the site, and found a square fountain or pond in what appeared to be a central plaza area that the buildings were built around. It was covered with dirt, vines, leaves, and on the pond itself, large pads with white and pink flowers. Beks lifted one up to see if there was water beneath, as a small trickle was coming from one side and appeared to lead down a drain to the stream.

A frog hopped out and she let out a cry before dropping the pad back. It bothered a bunch of other frogs and soon slight croaking could be heard. It looked like she couldn’t get water there with all the frogs. Part of her was tempted to catch and eat one. Frog legs were quite good fried, but she didn’t know how to kill and clean one.

She stopped for lunch and ate the remaining half of her bread fruit before pushing out more dirt and dead leaves from her sleeping chamber and going off to procure more fruit. She made a mental note to try to figure out how to weave a basket out of leaves that night as she went back to where she’d found the bread fruit earlier.

Using the same method, she speared two and tugged down to pull them off their branches. She stepped aside so they didn’t land on her. They were soft, but heavy enough that they’d hurt if they fell on her. She really didn’t need to be injured further.

She put her stick down and gathered one fruit on each arm before walking back towards the ruins, humming to herself about how she found a lovely bunch of bread fruit. She giggled; her humming was rather boring compared to the sounds of the birds. She’d heard all sorts of sweet sounds since she arrived, now that she thought about it. And not counting the shrieking rokh.

Beks’ smile faded as she slowed to a stop.

She didn’t hear any birds. Her eyes narrowed as she lifted her head. She always heard birds and the distant chattering of monkeys since she wandered into the jungle. They were everywhere. The last time it was dead silent, the rokh was chasing boars.

“Oh, no.” Beks tensed up, squeezing the fruit against her as she crinkled her eyes and listened.

A steady thud was coming from the distance and she could hear the rustle of dead leaves as that steady beating grew closer. She whirled around and stared into the jungle’s interior, her breath catching in her throat as her mind raced with possible animals. The ground wasn’t shaking as much and it didn’t sound like boars.

But something was being chased.

The cry of an animal was heard and Beks dropped her fruit. She looked around for a place to hide and not be trampled. She could climb a lot of things, but not a tree. It was best to find something to hide behind or under.

Another cry was heard, throaty and distressed.

I’m distressed, too! Beks turned around and saw something flash by. Her eyes widened as she saw several shadows move between the trees, all fleeing in different directions. They were bouncing through the gaps with agile legs despite their size.

She could only duck behind a tree as one flew by.

Deer? They looked like deer, but were larger, at least her height and a half, and she was not short. They didn’t have antlers, and weren’t as large as the Northern Kadmus elk she’d seen that were taller than a single-story house, but she’d never seen deer that big before.

Several more were running towards her and Beks crouched down. She needed something more secure than a tree.

She saw a large rock wedged between tree roots. She narrowed her eyes. No, not a rock. It was a broken stone block half buried in the dirt. Beks craned her neck behind the tree and waited. When there was a break in the panicked run of the deer, she darted across and slid into the narrow opening of the edge that was enough for her to fit her body through.

Dirt had piled up underneath, but not so much that she’d stick out. From where she laid, she was probably a knee’s height from the opening. It was a tight fit, but she was able to maneuver herself to look out the opening.

The ground shook and above her, the stone trembled. Dirt was knocked down and she covered her head as she shut her eyes. The stone was strong enough not to fall apart and when she realized she wasn’t crushed, she opened her eyes.

Beks took another sharp breath. One of the deer had stumbled into the open space in front of her hiding place. It lifted its head and let out a distressed rumble as it tried to stand up, but as soon as it put weight on to its front right leg, it gave out and fell back down. It cried out once more, its dark, terrified eyes looking up.

Her chest tightened and Beks began to count her breathing.

She made it to ‘two’ before something large and white flew out from the side and slammed into the deer.

The creature’s long, muscular body had sprung up from behind her hiding place, and opened its mouth. Its jaws unhinged and grabbed on to the deer’s neck before its body wrapped around the deer. The deer twisted from side to side, trying to escape the death grip of the massive white snake. They rolled on the ground, one desperate to get up and the other tightening its hold to constrain it.

Smaller trees were knocked over, dust and leaves were kicked up, and Beks grit her teeth and ducked into the hole. She could hear the deer crying out as it suffocated in the snake’s grip.

One...inhale...two....exhale...one...inhale.... It was fine. The snake couldn’t get to her. It was too large to fit through the narrow opening. She wasn’t sure how big it was, but it had to be at least as tall as her shoulder. Furthermore, even if its head could fit, the row of pointed gold horns above its brows and down the back of its head wouldn’t.

Beks opened her eyes. Horns?

Curiosity got the better of her and she raised her head, peeking through the narrow gap. She could see the thick white body of the snake. It hadn’t loosened its hold. It had wrapped around the deer’s head and muzzle, revealing only the deer’s gritted mouth and an exposed tongue hanging out. Behind it, Beks could make out a gold horn shining in the light from a break in the canopy.

A horned serpent was considered a legendary beast and said to have a consciousness. There were stories of them being sacred animals or following around a human they were bound to; however, she’d never actually seen this. Horned serpents were heavily hunted in the temperate regions of Kadmus. There were sightings in the Southern Jungle, but she didn’t recall them being this big. Her eyes crinkled up. Then again, the animals of the island, save for her crabs and octopus from the day before, seemed to be larger than normal.

The deer seemed to take one last breath before its body stilled.

Much bigger, indeed.

Beks swallowed hard, unwilling to move for fear that the slightest movement would attract the horned serpent’s attention. It was best to wait until the serpent finished eating its meal before she squeezed out and returned to the ruins. At that point, the serpent would be too full to move and might even stay in place to rest. It would be too lazy to pay any attention to her.

It was just that she didn’t know how long it would take for the serpent to swallow the massive deer whole.

It took some time before the serpent finally loosened its hold on its prey. Beks crouched down, only the space from her eyes up revealed in the opening, and watched as the smooth, scaly body tensed and relaxed to get into a better position to eat. Its head rose, dropping the part of the deer as its jaw closed.

But it didn’t go in for another bite at a better area to start from.

Its forked tongue darted out, smelling the air. Beks held her breath and couldn’t help the nostalgic heartache as she saw its big, red eyes and remembered her beloved pet.

“Snowflake.”

Those red eyes snapped to her. Trapped in its gaze, Beks froze in her spot. The serpent’s smooth movements unwrapped the deer as its broad head and horns lowered. Its tongue flicked out and Beks knew it knew she was there.

A hot air from two nostrils on its head came into the small crevice and she leaned back, trying to get as far as she could from the head. It couldn’t fit, but it did press its head as far as it could go, which was just against the entrance. The tongue was a different matter. Beks shut her eyes as it flicked out and touched her face.

As soon as it did, the serpent retracted its head before trying to push its way inside further. Beks paled. Why do you want to eat me? You have venison right there! Yummy, yummy venison!

Failing to squeeze through, the serpent drew back and returned to its prey. Before Beks could be relieved, the creature wrestled with the deer, flinging it from side to side and making the ground shake as their bodies hit the ground over and over. Beks covered her head and turned away to keep the flying dust out of her eyes.

It went on for some time before something wet flew against her face. She lifted her hand and gasped as she saw the red streaks on her fingers. She lifted her head and saw part of a deer leg in front of the crevice opening. Beks paled even further.

The legends were right. They are extremely intelligent and have a consciousness. This one is trying to lure me out with bait!

The serpent lowered its head and seemed to look into the crevice. Its tongue flickered out, but it didn’t let out a hiss. Instead, it pushed the piece of deer leg closer. When she remained wedged inside, the serpent pushed the leg to the opening, almost covering it.

Beks narrowed her eyes. Why did it shove the deer leg into the opening? Was it trying to suffocate her? It couldn’t even get to her inside! “What’s your game, snake?”

It flicked its tongue once more and then returned to its meal. Beks peeked past the bloody deer leg and watched as the serpent began the slow process of swallowing the remaining deer whole.

She had to admit, the beast itself was beautiful with its shiny white scales that were almost luminescent and its ruby eyes. Beks used to love watching Snowflake eat, as it was strangely fascinating and he made a weird face. Afterwards, her snake would roll his head to the side, exposing his chin and Beks would give it a little chin scratch while praising him for finishing his food.

It was very cute...on a snake only as thick as her child-sized arm.

The horned serpent had a massive lump several paces from his head, and even if its eyes and scales reminded her of Snowflake, this was not Snowflake.

It moved its head back to the crevice and then rolled it to the side, exposing its chin in a very familiar fashion.

Beks stared at the bloated creature with a slack jaw. It was impossible. This place was an island. She didn’t know how old Snowflake was when she had him, but even if Snowflake wasa baby horned serpent, there was no way for him to appear on this island. Snakes couldn’t swim.

Could they?

Her eyes crinkled up as she questioned the possibilities and likelihood. It all seemed impossible; it couldn't even be considered a coincidence. The serpent’s tongue flicked lazily and it almost seemed to scoot closer, so that its chin rested against the opening.

Unable to resist the tempting white scales, Beks raised her arm and touched the smooth, cool chin.

“Snowflake?” she said as she gave him a little scratch. “Is that you?”