14. Asp in the Grass

 

Asp in the Grass

Tiffani moves through the grass like a whisper. He takes a moment to mentally pat himself on the back for finally succeeding in something today. He had charged ahead of the group as they had begun this mission, but he quickly realized, once he was out of the familiarity of his city, that he was very out of his element. 

The urgency he feels in finding Bitsy is strong, but he has not been good at anything he has tried thus far today. He is very glad that Miss Noori is here. Being able to walk by her side as she led this group of strangers through the forest was a balm to his ego every time he was unsure of which path to take, or made a wrong turn… or supremely failed at climbing a tree. For most of the last hour, he had played the part of confident explorer while desperately hoping he did not appear as at a loss as he actually felt.

But now he is playing no part! He is confident that he had heard something rustling in the forest just beyond where they stood. He could tell he had been the only one to clock the sound, and when he had signaled for silence they had all given it to him. 

He moves along the ground, crouched low as he follows the sound. He parts the greenery in front of him with his long arms outstretched, but holds his body farther back and out of range of anything he might come upon. 

Perhaps he is sneaking up on some danger. Or maybe even finding one of their missing charges and ending their hunt earlier than any of them expected. 

He holds his breath in anticipation as he parts a curtain of grass to reveal a large rock.

Atop the rock is a large snake with a stripe of yellow along its body. Its length is coiled tightly, but the serpent's head stands out tall and is turned away from Tiffani, locked on something the boy cannot see. 

Tiffani holds perfectly still. 

He has no idea what kind of snake this is. 

The rustling sound makes itself known again. It comes from past the snake, from the direction the creature is looking. Tiffani flicks his gaze quickly in the direction, but he sees nothing before wearily locking it back on the snake. Though it is not moving, he does not want to lose track of it if it begins to. 

There is suddenly the sound of movement behind him, and the young Wood Elf whips his head for the danger behind. 

It is only Miss Noori. 

TIffani relaxes a bit and turns to face the snake once more. 

“What’s going on?” Miss Noori whispers to him once she is near enough.

“I don’t know, but there is something further in the grass the snake sees. I don’t know what, though. I can’t see it.”

“We can just ask,” Noori says in a whisper before raising her voice. “Hello, Friend!”

The snake whips its head around and tension seizes back into Tiffani’s body. He hopes that Miss Noori’s greeting means this thing isn’t venomous. 

The snake's attention wavers between whatever it was looking at before and Miss Noori, clearly unsure of what required its attention more. 

“We’re not going to do any harm,” Noori assures the reptile. “We are looking for someone. What is it that you are looking at, Friend? Are you in danger?”

The snake shakes the rattle at the end of its tail. Tiffani hadn’t spotted that rattle before! That means it’s venomous, right? Tiffani looks to Noori, but she does not look overly worried. So he shouldn’t be either… right?

The snake’s head turns away from the two of them. Tiffani wants to believe this is because it does not see them as a threat. But that leaves him to wonder if the threat on the other side is one they should worry about as well.

“Will you let us pass?” Miss Noori asks. 

The creature rattles its tail and curls up more tightly.

That is probably not a good sign. 

Miss Noori’s voice has risen to her comfortable level, however Tiffani is anything but. He can hear the sounds of the others coming along in the grass behind them, making much more noise than either he or Miss Noori had.

He does not feel good about this at all.

“I’m gonna move past you, if that’s okay.” Miss Noori declares to the snake. And without waiting for even another rattle from the serpent or a comment from Tiffani, she unfurls her great height and steps forward. Tiffani keeps a hand on his knife and moves forward on Noori’s side, determined to protect her if something bad came of his bad feeling.

“Oh, it’s an asp,” he hears Nessuna say quietly, suddenly in the space next to him at Noori’s side. 

“An asp!” Maximilian shouts. “Where?!”

A loud, snorting grunt and the sound of pounding hooves raises up in response to Maximillian’s yelp. Tiffani’s head whips back in the direction that the snake has been looking in and watches in horror as a boar bursts out of the tall grass. 

Its black coat is dusted with mud, dirt, and grass stains, its powerful body is heavily muscled and wide, and the only thing sharper than the hard bones of its massive tusks is its small, beady eyes. 

It squeals loudly and speeds past the snake on its rock. It gallops past Tiffani, Noori, and Nessuna where they are still hidden in the grass, heading directly to Maximillian, who stands in full sight of the charging animal.

Tiffani sees Maximillain’s eyes go wide as they lock on the animal. The boar moves quickly and Maximillian raises an arm to point at the beast.

“You’re going to get bit by the snake and die painfully, you fool of a beast!”

The words echo with some sort of power that ripples unpleasantly over Tiffani’s flesh, but it is gone in a moment. 

The boar is not as lucky.

Tiffani watches it shudder on its legs and veer suddenly off of its path to Maximilian. The bard hustles backward, keeping an eye on the foe and placing his hand on the hilt of his sword.

The snake slithers off of its rock into the grass, Nessuna knocks an arrow in her bow, and Tiffani palms his dagger and points it at the animal, tracking its movements with the point of his weapon.

He hopes that the boar just keeps running and forgets about their group, but his hope bears no fruit as the animal rights itself and circles back, taking another charge at the bard.

Tiffani takes a moment to breathe in deeply as he takes aim, leading the boar's movements with the point of his dagger with sharp eyes before tossing it underhand at the speeding beast. It catches the boar in its flank, and the beast wobbles off its course once more just as Zixxes appears out of the grass, aiming a punch at the creature's head. 

The boar squeals and swerves out of the way of the other boy’s fist, and Zixxes moves several paces back, placing himself between the boar, who turns for another charge, and Maximillian. 

And then, without warning, the ground is shaking under the animal’s feet. Tiffani watches it happen, crouching down to the ground at the suddenness, but the dirt beneath his feet remains still. Only the earth around the boar quakes, causing the animal to stumble and limp on unsteady hooves. It manages, somehow, despite its wounded leg, to remain standing as the shaking earth settles around it. 

With another furious squeal, it rushes after Maximilian again.

But Maximilian does not shrink back. He rushes forward, rapier in hand, and lunges, trusting the sharp instrument ahead of him and impaling the boar through the heart in a single swift, clean movement.

The boar’s body falls heavily to the ground and blood pours from the fresh wound as Maximillian retrieves his sword. The boar thrashes wildly on the ground, but this only lasts a few long seconds before its last breath is taken. 

Silence fills the forest air and a similar hush falls on all of them.

Maximilian is the first to regain his composure. He moves close to the beast’s carcass, inspecting its body. Tiffani waits a few beats before following suit.

“It doesn’t look like there is anything wrong with this animal,” the bard says mostly to himself.

Tiffani nods, not knowing what else the man had expected to find. He looks over the animal and feels sadness swell in him. The boar was probably just spooked and angry; he feels bad that they’d had to kill it when they have no intention to take its meat or fur. It feels like a senseless murder this way, rather than a cycle of life. But he understands that they were given no other choices in this. 

This is the first time he has been party to a killing that was not a hunt.

He feels as though this is a big, important moment, but doesn’t know what to do with it. 

Tiffani retrieves his dagger from the hindquarter of their fallen foe. He needs to get more daggers. Though he had gotten a hit in, it had left him weaponless. That would be a hindrance if  their task to retrieve the gnome family is met with opposition, which he is sure it will be.

Always keep your sword with you, regardless of what other weapon you have on hand.

Tiffani winces as the thought bombards him. He cringes when the words of admonishment sound so like his father’s voice in his ear. 

Grief grips his chest like manacles, stuttering both his breath and movement. He lets it hold him, allowing it to do its work for a few short moments, before the grip of it wanes and washes over him. It does not disappear completely; it never does. But he’s used to it at this point. 

He shakes himself slightly, wiping the blood off of the dagger in the pelt of the felled animal. When he rises, he puts the thought behind him and scopes out the area. 

Miss Noori is calling out to the snake, but the creature seems to have fled in the tussle. Zixxes and Nessuna are walking the perimeter of the area, and Max is taking a trophy from the boar. 

Tiffani walks a little ways back the way they came, keeping his ears open for any more animals wanting to fight. When he is sure the area is safe, he directs his attention upwards, studying the branches in the trees above. Just like before, it seems as though someone had fallen out of the tree and hit several branches on their way down. The distance is not a short one, and he finds himself hoping it was the father who took the fall, rather than one of the children.

He searches the ground, ignoring the newer tracks they had created and trying to look beneath them for older ones. He has some training in this, but he’s never really needed to put it to use in this manner.

He follows the ghost of some other being, moving back out of the meadow to join his group, and follows the trail to the edge of the forest. The tracks get slowly but thoroughly obscured by the fresher tracks of animals. He can tell that the snake had escaped in this direction after the fight but can barely see anything else besides that.

By the time the trail becomes too muddied for him to distinguish anything he deems useful, he is standing by Nessuna who is also staring intently at the ground attempting to decode the mess of prints. 

The Teifling woman is crouched close to the ground; her long, thin fingers dust delicately at the loose dirt, pushing away the remnants of cloven hooves, padded paws, and other animal tracks that muddle the trail. She uncovers a small print, clearly a shoe-covered foot. Then she uncovers another print, still small, but larger than the first, and then a third, even smaller than the first. She raises her hand and points a little ahead before moving to a new spot several paces away.

Tiffani follows after her, watching as she crouches down again and lightly dusts the ground. She finds more prints.

Tiffani is very impressed.

Nessuna stands up again and turns to the group. She steps back a little in surprise, as though she had been so focused on her task she did not realize that Tiffani had followed so closely. 

She clears her throat and then raises her voice to catch the attention of the rest of the group. 

“There are a set of tracks a few days old going this way,” she twists slightly to gesture behind her. “One adult and two children. Small, but clearly gnomish. This is the way the family went when they started their journey. We need to continue this way.”

And, without waiting for anyone’s confirmation, she begins to lead the group through the forest, following the trail. Tiffani follows casually but closely beside her, eager to distract himself by learning from this seasoned tracker, but not wanting to show it. 

{Part Fifteen: Across the Drink}