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nest. She gulped as the light revealed what she and Ardeo had stumbled upon. A hundred heads swerved
above a mass of intertwined bodies. Beady eyes stared back at her. Crimson tongues licked the air.
I don t like snakes, murmured Kale as she inched backward. One tiny garden snake is tolerable. She
took another step back as the heads swayed, but none of the creatures slithered from the nest. One
medium-sized water snake is acceptable. How much farther is it to the opening? I have to keep
calm. One large and lazy tree snake can easily be avoided. She narrowed her eyes and glared at the
reptiles. This& this is ridiculous.
The snakes uncoiled and followed. Kale gasped again. Not quite as many snakes threatened her as she
had thought. Each body had five heads. So only twenty or so serpents slithered across the rock floor.
Their heavy bellies rasped across the stone.
The warmth of the sun hit her back. A few more feet and she would be out of the cave. Would these
creatures follow? She drew her sword and called mentally to her dragon friends, Come help me.
Snakes!
Kale backed into the open, sunlit area. The snakes slithered out and stopped a moment to blink their
eyes.
Were they grinning? A shiver went up Kale s spine. These serpents were unnatural. Her dragons dove
from above, spitting caustic saliva. The smirking reptiles dodged most of the hits and countered by
striking upward. Several times they almost connected with the swift dragons.
The snakes fanned out and surrounded Kale. She swung at them with her sword, but the devious
creatures kept out of range.
Father!
What is it?
I m surrounded by snakes. Come help me!
You ve fought bisonbecks and grawligs, mordakleeps and quiss, blimmets and schoergs. You can
handle a few snakes.
There are more than a few, and each one has five heads.
Five heads?
Yes! I think that one over there has six, no seven, but most of them only have five.
Unnatural. Sounds like Crim Cropper s work to me. He s always experimenting. Then when he
tires of a project, he dumps them into the wild.
I don t care how they got here. I want help protecting myself.
A snake lowered all five heads and sped forward. When it reached her feet, Kale swung downward with
her sword, scooped the beast up, and flung it against the stone wall. It hit with a cracking thud and five
lesser thuds, then slid to the chasm floor.
Are the minor dragons gone? They aren t protecting you? Oh, blast! They haven t been eaten by
these nasty snakes, have they?
They re here, spitting. But the heads are hard to hit, and the dragons are going to run dry soon.
You can do this, Kale. You don t need me. Five heads, you say? If we judge by Crim Cropper s
other experiments, they ve only one brain between them. Not literally, of course, but figuratively.
They should be slow and stupid.
They are not slow, and I have no way to determine how intelligent they are.
One serpent charged Kale. She lopped off a couple of heads, and it retreated. I can say they are
persistent.
Well, if you insist, I ll come down. It ll take a minute or two.
Kale bit back the plea to hurry and busied herself keeping the troop of snakes at bay. She caught
movement in the corner of her eye. Surprised that her father had accomplished the climb so quickly, she
glanced beyond the circle of reptiles to greet him.
Four short, stocky ropmas glared at her. She sensed more newcomers and turned to see five of the hairy
beasts standing behind the other group of snakes.
Father!
I m coming, he snapped. I m not as young as I used to be, and I m a lot stiffer.
Nine ropmas have joined the fight against me. I could really use some help.
The ropmas are attacking?
Not yet. So far they re just standing around, making faces.
They aren t likely to attack. They re generally very placid creatures.
One of the snakes flashed a head at her leg and struck. She yelped and hopped backward. The leather
of her boot showed a mar, but the fangs had not penetrated.
Pardon me if I am a little skeptical, Father. You re the one who told me the snakes would be slow.
Throw some ice on them. They are reptiles. Cold will slow them down.
I m short of water to make ice.
I can t think of everything, Kale. Use some initiative.
Kale let out an exasperated growl. She dropped her sword, balled her fists, and began to throw orbs of
energy. She took three seconds to gather a charge of power in her palm, opened her hand, and hurled
the weapon into the squirming snakes. In a few minutes, most of the creatures were dead. Around the
circumference of the slithering circle, the ropmas stamped the remaining injured and retreating snakes.
Kale heard a noise behind her and swiveled to throw another blast of energy. Her father stood with his
hands on his hips.
See? I told you so. You didn t need me in the least. He nodded toward the ropmas. And the hairy
beasts were not here to attack you but to help. He shook his head. You really must have more
confidence in your father, Kale. I ve been around quite a while.
He knelt beside one of the slain serpents and picked up its head. He screwed up his mouth and wrinkled
his nose. Poor workmanship. Definitely Crim Cropper s design. He used his thumb to open the
creature s mouth. The fangs are not hollow. No poison here. He dropped the beast, dusted his hands
against his britches, and stood. I supposed it would smart some if one received a hit from one of the foul
creatures.
A spot ached on Kale s leg where her boot had protected her from a foul creature s strike.
One comment came to her mind, and she didn t bother to disguise it from her father. I want my
husband.
29
ENLISTING AID
The congregation of so many grawligs worried Sir Dar and Bardon.
Who s bringing them together? asked Sir Bardon as they sat in their headquarters tent. And why?
We need a spy. Dar cocked an eyebrow at Bardon.
You re thinking of Leetu s friend, aren t you?
Sir Dar s ears twitched.
Bardon tapped the papers he held in one hand on the side of the table. These are notes from the far
reaches of Amara. They all say the bisonbecks are becoming outrageous in their defiance of district laws.
Their troops openly mock Paladin s authority.
Leetu has known Latho for two years.
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