In a Hostile World

(Part 18 of Shadowdale)

Bane splashed into the pool, gratefully drinking in the dark blue waters. The dragon drank until he was sick at his stomach, climbing out of the pool to pant heavily after he had had his fill.

He looked down to the green scales at his side, poking gingerly at the bloody gash that ran along his side. The wound had continuously bled since it had worked its way across his flesh several hours before, finding itself unable to clot from the scorpicore venom in his veins. The water was supposed to flush out the poison, allowing his body to take up the healing process; but even that would take time.

"Get back up." Pyre instructed her companion after several minutes. Bane groaned in protest, shakily crawling to the water's edge to once again dip his head beneath the surface.

"Force yourself to drink," the red dragon said after her friend emerged. "You need to get the poison out of your system."

"Right," he mumbled, once again lying back down to give his weary body rest. His fatigue was not all natural, he knew; the loss of blood was making him weak.

The three larger dragons sat around Bane, watching as he moved to and from the water. The eyes of each flared with concern; he had lost a lot of blood already, and the wound was only just starting to close.

* * * * *

Slithice watched the three visible dragons with a bit of uncertainty. Dragons and naga had always been at odds with one another. It made sense: they shared a similar diet, similar territory, and were close enough in size for one to pose a threat to the other.

But the group was clearly lost; perhaps, being in unfamiliar terrain, she could gain the upper hand over the party in an encounter.

* * * * *

The attack came without warning as the massive form leapt from the darkness. Two hands wrapped themselves around Razor's neck, tackling him to the ground. His head snapped back as his body made contact with the stone, stunning him momentarily.

In his moment of weakness his attacker coiled a snake-like tail around him, pinning one arm, his tail, and his legs to his body. Pressure forced its way around him, crushing him like stone beneath a hammer. A loud growl escaped his blue lips as he snapped his head about, trying to make contact with flesh as his free arm worked desperately to tear the coils of his enemy away from his body.

Pyre and Blaze moved to help but found themselves occupied as well as another pair of enemies came from the darkness. Their upper bodies were female, the skin tanned as though they had spent their entire lives under the sun; their lower bodies, however, stretched out nearly one hundred feet, the snake-like tails winding back and forth as they sent their owners across the cavern floor.

A naga with black scales approached the draconic leader while her companion found herself paired with a slightly smaller, dark red creature. The purple dragon's opponent lunged at her immediately, trying to tackle her to the earth as Razor's adversary had; this, however, failed miserably as Cleaver snapped out to slice deeply into the monster's arm. The naga retreated with a pained gasp, realizing she had almost lost the limb.

With a growl of determination the snake's opponent started forward again, her massive sword easily twirling through the air under the influence of its owner's dexterous fingers.

Pyre and her enemy stared each other down for a short time. Claws and fingers alike flexed as both prepared their opening move, watching each other and seeing not a naga or a dragon but the raw power behind the other.

And then the snake-woman sprang forward, roaring as her body flew through the air. When her body was just above the red dragon's head Pyre reached up, catching the other woman by the throat just before her body made contact with hers. Using the momentum of the naga's lunge the party's leader sent the naga back behind herself, tossing her into the pool of water where she disappeared in a massive splash.

Before the black scaled creature could rise her opponent was atop her, pinning her body beneath the surface of the underground lake. The naga struggled to rise above the pool, to get a breath of fresh air. Pyre took advantage of her moment of weakness, positioning her jaws just above the naga's head as she flailed about beneath the water. When the snake finally brought her human head above the churning liquid jaws clamped down on her neck, crunching through bone with sickening force.

Blood spilled across the now calming surface of the water as Pyre rose, letting the corpse sink back into the blue abyss.

Just over one hundred feet behind the draconic leader, Blaze faced off against her opponent. The red scaled naga swayed back and forth in a hypnotic pattern, drawing a confused look from the muzzle of the distracted dragon. Suddenly the spokesman's silver eyes bulged open as she felt her legs pulled from beneath her, the tail of her adversary having worked its way across the ground under the cover of her blind spot.

Purple scales hit the ground as Blaze sliced out with Cleaver, trying desperately to sever the constricting tail of the naga. The sword connected but the blow was glancing; the attack did not stop the lower half of the monster's body from working its way up to the dragon's torso.

The naga leaned down closer to her enemy, a wicked smile breaking out across her human face.

"It's been so long," she said, speaking fluent draconic "since I had this pleasure. It's been centuries…"

The tail tightened itself around Blaze, drawing a pained gasp. The dragon inhaled deeply, trying to find the air in her lungs to churn the fire in her belly; the naga anticipated this and, with a smug smile, wrapped the tip of her tail around the purple dragon's throat. The pressure choked her, made her unable to release the pyre within her; she was helpless.

And then, from the darkness behind the monster, a pair of hands shot out. Fingers wrapped their way around the naga's neck and, in one quick motion, twisted the human head cleanly around. Death came swiftly for the dragon's enemy as she collapsed to the earth, the pressure immediately lessening around her body.

"Dead bitch," Bane said matter-of-factly, dropping to one knee as Blaze gave him a thankful nod.

Several dozen yards away Razor managed to work his second arm free. The naga immediately went to work trying to coil her tail back around the limbs but, before she could make any progress towards her goal, a blaze erupted from the blue dragon's maw. Fire scorched across human skin and scales alike as his opponent writhed in agony, trying her best to retreat. The scales were unharmed by the inferno but her skin lit up like a normal human's would, serious burns blistering across its surface.

The blue dragon got off one more attack before his adversary slithered into the darkness, his claws striking out to painfully tear into the woman's side. Blood fell to the stone ground as the unfortunate naga stumbled in her haze of pain, crashing painfully to the ground. Before the Inner Council member could continue his assault, however, the monster was up again and disappearing back into the tunnels.

"She'll warn the others." Pyre noted as she moved back from the pool.

"And we're sitting ducks until Bane's wounds close." Razor noted, massaging his bruised ribs. "The whole clan could be down on us in a few hours."

"Then let's hope the poison can flush itself out of his system quickly." The red dragon said simply. Her tone was clear: they were not going to leave their companion behind, even if it meant fighting an entire clan of the powerful snake-women.

Thus the group sat back, recovering from their wounds as the still-bleeding green dragon once again took up his cycle of trips to and from the pool. The darkness around them seemed to be an entity in itself, one that, at any moment, could spawn a horde of vicious enemies.

And, should that horde come, none of the dragons liked their odds.

* * * * *

Slithice sighed as the party began to move off again. Her reptilian eyes flashed with indecision; should she make her move now or let the opportunity fall?

She shook her head, watching the companions move off into the darkness of the terrain. She was not about to rush conflict; but she also was not about to let the lost companions continue their way through hostile territory on their own.

Waiting until the great forms disappeared, the naga relied only on her sense of smell, following their trail with stealth that would have even made one of the dragons jealous. Unseen and unheard, she was never far behind her quarry.