Chapter 98. Request of the King of Ents. Part 2. The Serpent.
Leaning against a tree, Severus watched grimly as the wolves entered the small tent one by one. It was an Undetectable Extension tent he had prepared from the very beginning of this trip, then decided not to use, because resting by the fire had felt far more pleasant than living in a tent.
Finally, a tired sigh escaped him.
"What is it?"
"I... I am starting not to understand you. If you wanted to subdue them from the very beginning, then why..." For a moment, Nagini glanced at the place where the wolves' bodies had already vanished, a complicated expression on her face, even though the blood still stained the ground. "...did you do that?"
First, they are beasts. They understand only the language of strength. If I had only frightened them with the fear aura, they might betray us one day, taking it as weakness. And honestly, I was going to kill them all. With a crooked grin, Severus lifted his gaze to the sky. The same goes for the King of the Ents. You are still thinking by the rules of the outside world, but the jungle works differently. If you had to survive here, you would last less than a day pitying everyone. Here only one rule matters: whoever is stronger is right. Remember this: if we were weaker than that ent, it would not have let us go. The same is true of the wolves. Severus exhaled and met her gaze again, feeling through the bond how the melancholy creeping up on her began to fade.
"Then why did you change your mind?"
Their willpower, and their natural talent for fire magic. If they simply breathed fire, I would not care, but at least those seven managed to withstand my fear aura and even the serpent's influence. It tried to subdue the leader, but only managed a small push. The strange fruit that gave the leader awareness did more, as did the promise of more fruit in exchange for obedience. That interested me, so I decided to take them with me. Let them guard the house while we are abroad. Severus looked at the last wolf still outside, the pack leader, staring at him with cold anger. "What else?" he asked coolly, and the beast shuddered and lowered its eyes. "Do not tell me you are upset about losing those fruits."
The beast stared at Severus in amazement. How could he know about them? It had not even suspected there was magic that could rummage through an enemy's head.
"You are next after that serpent, so behave. And if I find the fruits, I will help the rest of your pack grow stronger too. Do we understand each other?" Severus asked with a smile. The leader was uneasy. It had not expected such a terrifying human to suddenly offer something like that. After the display of strength it did not doubt the outcome, but it still distrusted him. It could not do anything about it, though, so all it could do was trust empty promises. With its head lowered, it went into the tent.
When the last wolf finally went inside, the tent shrank down to the size of a football, and Severus put it into his pouch.
"I am sorry I thought badly of you." Nagini said quietly. She had not meant to. If Severus had not had that strength, they could have stayed here forever and become fertilizer for the plants. She also remembered what the woman they had met the evening before had said: dozens of wizards died every year on ents' territory, even if they only strayed there by accident.
Do not worry about it. I am glad I have a conscience like you. I can make mistakes sometimes, and for those moments I have you, to stop me if I start doing something truly awful. So enough of these pointless conversations, or it will really get sentimental, and I can already feel the sappiness starting, although... Severus dropped his gaze to Nagini's head peeking out from under his collar. If only your upper half were human, I would not mind comforting you by pressing you to my chest, like in that romantic film you dragged me to.
"I will bite you now," she muttered, embarrassed, and to prove it she opened her maw slightly, showing her fangs.
"All right, all right, I will shut up." Severus said with a smile, stroking her head. Then he turned and walked toward a cave not far from there.
"Stop! He is in the other direction!" the King of the Ents, silent until now, spoke up.
"You were fooled. There is a trap there."
"What makes you think that? I saw it crawl into that crevice myself!"
"I am a Legilimens. I can read thoughts, and from the blood wolf leader's memories I learned the serpent is hiding here. That other place was prepared for you," Severus said, giving the root a mocking look. "They planned to wall up the entrance, then burn you in an improvised furnace, pumping flame through specially dug holes."
The tree monster fell silent, apparently shocked, or perhaps embarrassed. Severus could not feel its emotions through the root, and he did not think much about it. He did not care greatly about the feelings of a creature he had known for less than four hours.
Trading words with Nagini as they walked, twenty minutes later they reached a dome-shaped stone mound beside a river. A huge snake was calmly drinking from the water, its scales blood-red.
Severus could not say its exact length, but it was more than a metre and a half wide, already larger than the Basilisk he had encountered at Hogwarts. What genuinely struck him, for the first time since arriving in this world, were the small wings on its back.
He had heard legends of snakes that turned into dragons, but had never imagined he would see something like this with his own eyes. Even its aura was different from an ordinary serpent's, and if he compared it to the dragon he had met in the Gringotts dungeon, it only very distantly resembled that creature.
Watching it, Severus felt a brief urge not to kill it but to follow it and see with his own eyes how it turned into a dragon. He dismissed the thought quickly. He had to finish the task, and with his current strength he could not subdue it. The best option was to kill the serpent before it became a dragon.
About two weeks had passed since the last time the pack leader had seen this serpent. Back then it was only a metre wide, with no wings. Now the speed of its evolution was still astonishing. Severus could not suppress a disappointed sigh, because he would have to kill a creature so extraordinary that it existed only in legend.
At that moment, the creature lifted its massive head, narrowed its eyes, and flicked out its tongue.
"Human, stop hiding and come out!" the serpent hissed in an unpleasant, nasal voice, casting a look directly at the spot where Severus was concealed.
Hmm. So it decided to sharpen its sense of smell first. Not a bad choice. Severus thought with a crooked smile, and his outfit snapped into black leather armour with a hood and metal inserts. "At least I will get to test the armour."
"Be careful!" At the words of support, Severus only waved his hand absently, which puzzled Nagini.
"Human! When you kill this snake, besides the Heart, you will be able to come to my territory at any time and take any herbs, in any amount!" the King of the Ents said impatiently, bloodlust obvious in his voice.
"I did not ask you."
Finally, Severus stepped out onto more open ground, his expression detached, edged with something almost like longing and sadness.
The serpent was also surprised. Severus did not carry a wand like other prey. His hand rested on a sword hilt.
"Human, did you decide to bring me not only yourself, but also a toothpick?" the serpent mocked, bending down. "I can sense that wretched tree's magic on you. So it sent you?" It raked Severus with a contemptuous look.
"You are a lousy actor, honestly." Severus drew his sword in a single motion, plunged it halfway into the ground, then pulled it out a moment later, already slick with blood.
The creature gave Severus no time to shake the blade clean. A huge tail whipped at him from the river, and at the same moment its open maw exhaled a purple cloud toward him. The moment it touched the foliage, everything withered and crumbled, leaving nothing behind but empty space.
Severus had no intention of being hit by either attack, but he also had no intention of retreating. He waved his hand, and a pillar of fire surrounded him. A moment later the tail slammed into it with a roar, and the cloud could not push through. Still, it destroyed everything around, not leaving even a blade of grass.
After several dozen seconds, it dissipated. To Severus's right and left, the nearest thirty metres, and a small strip behind him, had turned into scorched wasteland as if nothing had ever grown there. Only a small green island remained beneath his feet. The barrier had held against the terrifying tail strike, though he had needed to exert himself somewhat, because the fire barrier had come close to cracking.
The serpent's strength, size, and speed were colossal. Even with a material core, he had needed real effort to block it.
The monster stared in shock at the completely unharmed human, who was watching it with a strange, thoughtful expression.
How can a human endure my strike?! What kind of monster is this?! Is he even human?!
"Eh... looks like I have no choice." Seeing Severus touch the sword's edge, the serpent tensed and prepared to attack the instant the bug took a step.
But it had not been granted intelligence for nothing. After the first clash, it understood the opponent was strong. The undamaged grass beneath Severus's feet said enough, and the fact that he stood perfectly calm and not even slightly out of breath pushed the serpent to the only reasonable conclusion:
I need to run from this abnormal human! But the thought came too late. In the next moment, the serpent saw only a flash. Severus vanished, then reappeared in the same place, back turned, as he slid the sword into its sheath.
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