V: Behind The Waterfall.
Slowly, and quietly he lit a torch that he had pried from an archaic skeleton’s brittle fingers. Mondisi now saw what had lurked in these eerily unlit, untouched caves, with the first spark of flame from the dead-man’s torch.
First the unbelievably huge tongue that was far too big for it’s mouth, giant, black, judging eyes that the king could see himself within. Scaly green, slimy, damp skin, that was in the process of shedding.
As the king’s eyes widened- gripping his sword, the sound of the leather-wrapped hilt between his tensed fingers. The monstrous beast’s obsidian eyes suddenly opened. Eye-crust the size of the king rained down onto the cavern floor, speaking in an elongated manner.
"Hello.. ELF." Jumping backwards the king shouted
"Reveal your identity demon! why are you in my Kingdom!" The serpent, unmoved,
"why I have always lived here, mortal, the question I should ask is why are YOU, in MY home?" The king pronounced his chest.
"lies! slander! Surely you jest, this kingdom was built especially for me!" The king's lips dribbled strings of spit as his glare intensified in the dimly lit cave.
The serpent began to rise, crashing into the ceiling, it’s voice echoed against the walls.
"Do you really consider it wise to raise your tone at me? Mortal?" The king shaking, adding a soundtrack of clanking metal between his kneecaps. Mondisi horrified, in shock, knew that this was his irrefutable end, but even kings can be wrong.
The snake lowers itself back to its calm, relaxed position on the cavern floor with a thud. Plopping down, dust coughing in a cloud, outwards toward the king. The king hacked and coughed, waving his hand to clear the musty air. The snake lowered its jaw, its over-sized tongue drooping out of its mouth, revealing its mountainous teeth, they illuminated within the dark.
"Although, your bravery shall be rewarded mortal, I assure you. I will give you advice only an immense being like myself could give. Trust no one other, than your own kind, ever, in these lands. Heed my words Pale-Elvan King, or watch the ones you love crumble before you- lost only to ancient stories that are hopefully, one day, told."
The serpent lazily shut its eyes. The king’s eyes widened
"By what do you mean demon.. tell me! " the snakes eyes opened again, intrigued,
"I cannot my pointy-eared-king, heed my words and forget my presence, perhaps I'll slither under your command, if I'm not hungry.. now go, or be my early dinner, colossal snake like myself could sure as these vibrant lands, eat all of you and still be craving the taste of mortal flesh" the king has no words, no reaction but the sweat caressing his brow. He slowly turned around, walking nervously back the way he came in, toward the open waterfall. In a faint echo he hears the serpent one last time before realizing he did not ask its name.
“And don’t you tell a soul about my home, lest it be the last words ever spoken!” As he marched out, turning his head-up, the stone recessed, hiding the waterfall, once again.
Walking back across the flimsy bridge, in the ever so long catacombs, up the webbed-stairs- tilting the book back, surprisingly far less drunk than the king was before. Mindlessly, Mondisi walked back to the fire, wobbling slightly less than before.
Approaching where everyone had now fallen asleep, drunkenly so. The brothers were still in a deep, snoring sleep, slumped in an awkward position of their posteriors, up in the air.
The king couldn’t help himself, quietly chuckling, his hand covering his giggling mouth. Retreating to his quarters where his lonely, beaten wife, was STILL, awaiting his neglecting return.
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