Otheris and the Serpents of Qhudrus (5 page)

“No! No!
Thakina!” yelled Otheris as the men ran after the smoke but it
disappeared leaving an evil laughter that echoed through the
surroundings.

“I thought
princess Thakina is supposed to use her powers to repel these blood
suckers!” said Otheris.

“She’s only a
dreamer! She dream dreams and the king mistook her for an oracle,”
said Zuka, “and now it is your power that we are yet to see young
Otheris!”

“I do not have
any powers!” Otheris answered, “I only have faith in someone,
that’s all!”

“You’ve got
lucky Otheris, that serpent wanted to blind you,” said Fakal.

“Faith? Hmm!”
exclaimed Zuka, “You should have put your faith into good use when
they appeared and not land us in this fate. Faith! We’ll see about
that! Let’s go save your princess Otheris, they couldn’t have gone
far!”

“Let me check
on Karim!” said Fakal as he turned to move.

“He’s dead!
Let’s forge ahead before we lose their trail!” Zuka yelled.

The men walked
through the woods that same night and arrived at an old house up on
the mountain that looked haunted; the house looked like it stood
the test of time through centuries. They approached carefully and
broke their way in through its mighty doors, and because it had no
light in it, they lit their way with torches. Thick cobwebs were
everywhere, it seemed no one had lived there in a long while.

The men looked
around carefully and with great caution. The wooden stair cases
cracked and squeaked as they go up searching for signs of life in
there. The entire house was old and cold, and it felt as though it
watches them through its many hidden eyes on the walls.

“Thakina!”
whispered Otheris.

“I don’t like
this place!” Fakal said, he drew a second sword as they walked
gently up the stairs.

They pushed
themselves deep into the creepy old house but could not find the
serpents nor anyone, instead, they came across cages made of steel
filled with many starved children; when the children saw them they
all stood up stretching their hands, “Help us!” the children said
in a weak voice, they all looked sapless.

Otheris
approached one of the cages, bent on his knees and looked around
for a way to open the cage as the little girl stared at him.

“Please give me
water to drink!” said the little girl.

Otheris tried
to open the locks.

“You can’t open
it without the keys!” she said.

“Where are the
keys? Who has them?” he asked looking into the girl’s eyes as the
rest of the children gathered behind her, all looking weak and
feeble.

“With the witch
down below!” the children responded.

“With the witch
down below?” he asked.

The children
shook their heads.

“What’s your
name little one?” he asked.

“Aaricia!”
answered the little girl.

“Lovely name!”
he smiled, “I’ll get you out of here! All of you!”

“Otheris! Come
on we’re running out time. Let’s go, we can come for them later!”
suggested Zuka, Otheris stood to his feet.

“Please don’t
leave us Mister! Mister please stay with us!” the children
cried.

Saddened by the
unpleasant situation, Otheris exhaled audibly and said, “I’ll be
back for you! I promise! Just stay quiet okay?” he ran his hand
through the little girl’s dusty hair, “stay strong, I’ll be
back!”

“Come back with
food and water! We are all hungry!” said Aaricia.

“We’ll bring
something better than that Aaricia, we’ll bring freedom!” he
answered. The children smiled and some in tears as they felt a
glimpse of hope.

“Otheris!” Zuka
yelled.

The men planned
to split in order to comb the old house and after a long otiose
hunt they all came down and gathered in what appeared to be the
living room.

“I don’t think
they are here!” said Zuka.

The men saw old
paintings dating more than a century old,

Otheris
approached one of the big paintings hung on the wall above the fire
place, “I know this face!” he raised his torch higher revealing
what appeared to be the portrait of the great witch of
Moughdug.

“Who is it
then?” Zuka asked as he admired his beards in a dusty mirror on the
wall, “Hmm I think my beard would soon look like Karim’s! Maybe
even longer, and finer!”

They heard a
horrible laughter from the rooms upstairs that echoed throughout
the creepy-old house, all went on alert and drew their swords
pressing their backs against each other, then something began to
roll downstairs like a crystal ball. It bounced its way down the
big old wooden staircase, emitting smoke as it landed on the floor.
The men watched it roll to the centre of the room.

“What’s this?”
asked Zuka as he lowered his torch down walking towards the crystal
ball. There seemed to be something shiny in the crystal, it
glittered and dimmed continuously, Zuka turned away from the
crystal ball and looked up the stairs.

“I think we
should stick together!” said Fakal, “come and see what’s inside the
crystal!”

The men stared
down at the crystal ball as their reflections stared back at them,
they saw something like a golden scaled serpent raising its head in
the crystal ball. Unknown to them, it was the reflection of what
was hanging on the big chandelier above their heads.

“Yes! You
should!” hissed the golden scaled serpent as the crystal ball
shattered to pieces breaking the floor beneath their feet, exposing
what appeared to be a big conical opening about fifteen feet in
diameter. The golden scaled serpent dropped itself upon them as
they all slid along into the hole and down below into a cavern; the
men screamed and yelled as they fell, then plunged into a slimy
pool filled with human skulls and bones. The golden scaled serpent
disappeared under the slimy pool.

The men got out
of the slimy pool and laid on the rocks, and as they panted, they
heard a sound, then looked around the cave and saw an old woman
seated naked on a big rock humming a song.

Otheris left
the others and walked a little closer to see her face, he saw her
gently sponge-bathing something between her thighs so he stopped
and wondered whether he should go ahead or not, the old woman then
turned; the sight of her sent chills down his spine.

“Otheris! Son
of Delial…I told you no one would burn me that night, didn’t I?”
she said as the cave shook a bit over the sound of her
laughter.

“Melnourat!?”
he said in shock, gazing at the golden necklace around her neck
ornamented with many keys.

“Otheris!”
shouted Thakina.

The men sighted
Thakina lying on the ground with her hands tied together across on
the other side, surrounded by twelve Serpents.

“Aww! Isn’t
this romantic? Hey Princess…your knight in shining armour is here
to save you!” the witch mocked, “while the world burns and needs
saving, you young lads rushed in like fools to come save just
one…lady in distress!?” She laughed, “Oh! Otheris my hero, you’ve
come to save me!” mimicked in Thakina’s voice.

“Melnourat? The
great witch of Moughdug?” Zuka asked.

“Yes! Oh Yes!
It is I, in the flesh you sons of wretched whores!” she managed to
stand on her shaky feet stack naked with a huge black serpent
hanging in between her thighs.

“Whoa! Whoa!”
Zuka screamed as they all took some steps backward.

“How come?”
asked Otheris, “I killed you! I cut your head off!”

“Yes you did
Otheris, indeed you had killed that body…and saved me from that old
sacking bag that fateful night!” she uttered with such great pride,
“you see, the body is just a vessel, son of Delial, you can channel
the substance anywhere anytime, and you did to me a great favour
that night!” she mocked, “how do I look now, huh?” laughed and
raised her hands up like a peacock’s tail, as the black serpent
between her thighs made a fierce hissing sound.

“It’s
impossible!” said Otheris.

“Yes! Yes! Oh
yes! It is…impossible son of Delial! But considering the fact that
you have whom you worship and we have whom we bow to as well! Ha!
Ha! Ha!” bragged the witch, “You see, you did destroy a body that
night. Oh yes, but then it is only a body, as long as I am willing
to serve and sacrifice as much to darkness the blood it seeks then
having another body is as easy as milking a lactating cow! When you
take this path son of Delial, you’d find that even the dark lord
provides for his own!”

The black
serpent between her thighs swung its head up with half of its body
still stuck inside of her. The sight terrified the men, they began
to look around for a way out.

“The only way
out is up gents,” said the witch, “there is no escaping this
Otheris! There-is-no escaping Melnourat the great witch of
Moughdug…tonight!” she yelled, “You and these poor devils have had
your fill of self-glorification and the gates of Hades await your
ill-scented souls…all you wretched beings, I shall devour you!” she
prided herself on being the most vicious of them all, “after that
fateful night I knew that old wilt of a king would gather the
grunts to come hunting for my offspring so I await his army yet he
sent you-imbeciles and as I waited patiently, I smelled the essence
of Delial. That foolish king directed his best warriors and you
Otheris right into my snare!”

The serpent
that hung between her thighs raised its head and hissed at
Otheris.

“Your time has
come Otheris! I had told you once and will tell you again…no one
shall burn me tonight! I shall devour you and once done with you
and this worthless daughter of your king, my babies and I will walk
through your little villages and wipe out all your people!” added
the old witch, “come out my babies!” Thousands of snakes of many
colours began to make their way slowly out of rocks that surrounded
them, and from the pool behind the men “you think you know me.
Well, you’re dead wrong!”

Zuka signalled
Otheris to take on the old witch as he and the rest of the two men
quickly sprang into action to attack the twelve serpents of
Qhudrus.

“Such pitiful
waste of bootless effort, don’t you think Otheris?" said the old
witch, “your lives have come face to face with the portal that
leads to its doom!”

Otheris raised
his sword, “Hey you listen to me old witch, you let Thakina go and
we…I mean I’ll let you live to see the sunrise!” a bit
frightened.

The old witch
laughed so hard then took two giant steps forward as the cave
shook, “Show me what you’ve got Otheris son of Delial!” turned to
the thirteen serpents, “Kill them all my babies! Kill them
all!”

A fierce fight
broke out between the serpents and the men, after a long and fierce
battle, Zuka was able to free Thakina and she ran to Otheris.

“What do we
do?” Thakina asked Otheris.

“What can you
do?” yelled the great witch of Moughdug, she took another step down
as the black serpent protruded more of its body out of her, as it
struggled to have a taste of Otheris’ blood while it tried to
forcefully exit her fragile vessel.

The twelve
serpents killed three of the men, they also ganged up against Zuka
and devoured him.

“I don’t want
to die like this my love!” said Thakina.

Otheris’ eyes
got wider, “Did you just? Wait, does this mean you’ve agreed to
marry me?”

“Shut up and
think of a way out of here, silly!” she shouted, “How can I marry
you when I am dead? Or are you going to run your sweet lips and
tell me you’d still marry me even when I’m dead!?”

The serpents
began to advance toward them as the old witch took another heavy
step, the snakes continued to make their way out of the surrounding
rocks moving swiftly and advancing toward Otheris and Thakina.

“We shall not
die tonight!” said Otheris as he closed his eyes. Thakina watched
his lips moved as though he was enchanting.

“What are you
doing?” she asked, “what do you think you’re doing? We’re about to
be ingested and you’re what? Praying? Seriously Otheris?”

Otheris used
his hand and covered her mouth, “I am trying to concentrate here!
Do you mind?”

“Oh! Otheris
listen to the princess and just beg for mercy!” said witch, “he
prays every time he’s afraid princess but tonight, prayer saves no
one from the great witch of Moughdug!” She laughed wickedly and
advanced towards them as the golden coloured serpent emerged from
the slimy pool.

Otheris turned
to Thakina and looked into her beautiful eyes, “Can you trust
me?”

“I-I-I do!” she
stammered.

“You do?” he
reacted with a lift of his eyebrow, “wait, this feels like a
wedding!”

“Yea…yes I can!
I do trust you! God!” she shouted, “Otheris!”

“Oh!” he
exclaimed, “Then close your eyes! Hold me tight and don’t let go no
matter what!”

“Okay!” she
said as she held him with her eyes close, “What now?”

“Just hush!” He
said.

The snakes
parented by the serpents gathered and placed Otheris and Thakina in
the centre, the old witch laughed and boasted manically. Chanting
as she emphasised her name.

Otheris then
put his sword back into its sheath and as he continued to pray,
something like a ball of fire surrounded them and began to burn the
snakes close to them.

“Impossible!”
cried the witch as the black serpent hanging between her thighs
made a swift attempt to strike Otheris but the fiery force field
protected them.

On seeing that
they are being shielded by a fiery force field, Thakina could not
believe her eyes, “Teach me Otheris! Please teach me!” she said
softly without hesitation.

Otheris opened
his eyes, “I told you to keep those beautiful eyes close!” he
sighed, smiled and whispered something into her ears.

“That’s it?”
she asked.