Chapter 3
Heart still pounding for the quick struggle they’d had, Val stared at the unconscious human male in his arm, his mind still reeling. After a few moments he laid human down on the sand and backed away. This… this wasn’t at all something he’d expected to happen and wasn’t sure what to do now. Why
had the human been all the way our there? Thought he supposed that didn’t matter all that much now. The damage was already done… The human had seen him.
Now what though?’ Val wondered as he slithered back and forth on the sand. What should he do with the human? There were three options that came to mind.
Looking around the beach Val wondered what would happen if he just left him sprawled out on the sand. Would the human think what had happened had been real and run to the village with a tale of a snakeman? Or would he awake thinking he’d dreamed the whole thing up, despite having a bite mark on his neck? The fact that humans liked to deny what was before them was one of the few things creatures like him had to their advantage. If humans wanted to pretend something wasn’t real, they could be blind to what was before their very eyes.
Was Val willing to leave it to chance though? He had no way of knowing if the human would deny what had happened to him. So no, he’d not leave him here on the beach. Val wasn’t willing to risk the human telling tales of dangerous snake monsters and getting together a hunting party. Val’s eyes darkened a little at the thought. Far too many innocent beings had been killed at the hands of humans just because they feared what wasn’t like them. What they didn’t understand. Val had no intention of joining their ranks.
Neither of the other two options Val had was any more appealing though. He figured he could either just kill the human and leaving his body some place that make it look like he’d had an accident, or take the human hostage for the time being. Stopping his pacing Val looked down at the young man. Killing him could be the easy thing to do. If he took the human and held him prisoner someplace then he’d have to deal with people out in the jungle searching for him, as well as the human himself.
The thought of killing the human when he was helpless and at Val’s mercy left a bad taste in his mouth though.
“I knew you humans would be trouble.” Val hiss to himself as he bent down and picked up the human. He gazed in the direction of the village for a few long moments before slipping into the dense forest.
~~~
It didn’t take Val too long to get to his destination as he knew the way. An old worn stone structure set into the side of a hill deep in the jungle. Stone steps worn with age led up to the open stone entryway half way up the hill. The heavy stone blocks had a number of carvings worn carving. It wasn’t too hard to tell most were of snakes even with them being worn with age. A small stream of water ran down the center of the stairs and flowed into a long but not too deep rectangular shaped pond before the hill. The area around the pond was paved with slabs of stone. Once there may have been a paved courtyard before the temple, but time had allowed the jungle to slowly inch back up to the hill. Now only a small portion of the area was still paved.
The place was an old temple his people had built on the island long ago. Once it had been well cared by the many Naga that once lived her, but time and the dwindling of his kind had left its mark. It had been a few hundred years since the temple had more than a few naga leaving in it. And since his father had passed away he’d been the only one here.
This was all old news to Val, and he hardly looked around at the temple entrance as he left the cover of the trees and slithered past the pond to head up the steps to enter the stone brick structure. There wasn’t much the in way of an entry room, just a small landing before more stone stairs that lead deeper into the hill. A small stream of water flowed along the wall on either side of the stairs.
They didn’t go on for too long before giving way to a large round room with a raised ceiling. In the center of the round room was a shallow pool of water. The steams of water flowing on either side of the stairs flowed into channels under the stone floor on its way to the pool. There were a number of torches on the walls around the room, but only one was lit so most of the room was covered in shadows. Val could see where he was going just find though as he slide into the room.
There was a door on both the right and left walls of the round room, as well as more stairs that led down if Val went straight from the stairs. The door to the right lead to the living area of the temple, while the left door lead to some storerooms and a small dungeon. Pausing Val looked down at the human in his arms. The dungeon would be the safest place to put the young man, but it would also give him more reason to fear Val. Dungeons were exactly places you normally put people when you had good intentions.
None of the other rooms he could put the human in had locks though… So to the left door Val went. It lead to a long bare hallway with a number of closed doors. At the end of the hall was a door of iron bars. The key to the room hung from a torch bracket on the wall to the left of the door. Val had left the key there as he rarely entered the room and didn’t want to misplace it.
The human in his arms would likely be the first to be held in the room since the time of his great grandfather, close to 800 years ago. He’d dabbled in some of the darker magic’s of his people, and need a place to hold his occasional sacrifice. The rituals weren’t evil in nature, but by its nature blood magic was a darker practice. Val’s need of the room wasn’t as grim, luckily for the young man.
The lock felt like it need oiling to get to turn smoothly as it unlocked, and the door hinges squealed some, but other than that the door opened easily. Like the rest of the temple the room was made completely of stone bricks, thought this room had a couple window with iron bars for a source of light instead of a torches. The room was round and had four stone pillars. Old chains hung from them, but Val ignored them. The lock on the door would be enough to keep the human from getting away.
Val set the human down so he was leaning back against the closest pillar and then started to leave. He paused though with his green hand on the iron door and looked back at the human. Val wasn’t sure if he wanted to still be around when man woke up, which he though should be soon, but something was holding him back. Sliding back into the room Val gazed down at the young man, studding him.
He really didn’t look much like the humans Val was used to seeing. He had much light skin then was normal for the humans that lived around here. It seemed unusual as he wasn’t used to it, but the color fit the young man. It was a nice contrast to his dark brown hair. His clothing was what seemed to be the most different though. The people of the island tended to wear plain tans and browns with the occasional dull red for everyday wear, only dressing in bright colorful clothing for special occasions. It made Val kind of sad. He like seeing the colorful Sarees the women wore.
Naga’s tended to be bright and colorful creatures so Val had a liking for colorful things. So he rather liked the way the human was dressed. The green shirt the human had on wasn’t bright like his scales were, but it did have a lighter green pattern on one side that was eye catching, and the lighter tan of the pants went well with the darker green. Leaning in a little closer he looked at the green and yellow pattern down the outside of the pants, lightly tracing a finger over the material. It almost looked like snake skin.
A low groan drew his amethyst eyes away from the humans clothing and toward his pale face. Slowly the man’s eyes blinked open and he saw they were a light shade of brown with darker flecks around the iris. As the human became more aware of his surroundings the brown orbs widened with fear as he realized he didn’t know where he was and had Val leaning over him. Much like before the two just watched each other, though this time Val wasn’t frozen in place with shock. This time he was just watching to see if the human was going panic or not. He could see young man was scared, even taste his fear as he flicked out his forked tongue.
After a few moments the human looked past him towards the still open iron bar door. Moving on instinct Val pinned the human’s body against the stone pillar just as he tried to make a break for it. The young man struggled to get free, but luckily didn’t start yelling as he’d done on the beach.
“Calm down. I’m not going to hurt you.” Val hissed out once he had a good hold on the human. He’d ended up instinctually wrapping his tail around the human’s legs to keep him under control. And to keep for being kicked a second time. He had a hold of the man’s wrists as well to help keep him still. Feeling just how tense it was making the human though, Val relaxed his coils a little. “See? I’m not squeezing you to death.”
His words seemed to work. At least a little. The human stopped fighting to get free, though didn’t seem to become less fearful.
“Wha..what are you.” The human asked in a fearful voice.
Val considered his answer for a moment before he spoke, “I’m the guardian Naga of this island.”
“Naga? Guardian?”
“Yes, I’m a Naga. A humanoid serpent.” He told the human, watching as his light brown eyes flicked down as his long emerald green scaled body holding him in place. “It’s my job to watch over and protect the island. Keep it safe from you humans.”
Val’s last words caused a spike of fear from the human. He nervously shifted a little under him.“What are you going to do with me?” He asked in a strained whisper. The human’s words were barely above a whisper and Val had to lean in closer to hear.
Val flicked out his tongue, which the man eyed nervously, before letting go of his wrists and leaning back, to give the human some breathing room. “Nothing you might be thinking of. I’m not going to kill you or anything like that. If I had wanted you dead, I’d have just killed you at the beach.” The words, and likely not being held against the pillar anymore, seemed to relieve the human some. At least he seemed a little less tense under the coils still around his legs.
“What’s your name?” Val asked hoping to relax the human a bit more with less dire talk. “I’m called Valithsar of Nagajeera.”
He man hesitated for a few moments the said, “Rahul. Rahul Cruz.”
‘
Interesting name.’ Val thought as he looked at the young man. He though Rahul was a name from this part of the world, but use of ‘cross’ as a surname was definitely foreign. “What had you been doing a good hour away from the village?” Val asked, honestly curious now.
“I was taking a walk. I’d not meant to get so far away, but I’d lost track of time as I’d looked at the scenery.” Rahul told him, speaking a little less fearfully now.
It sounded truthful, and the island was a beautiful place so he could see something like that being possible. It was just too bad he’d seen Val. “You should have stayed near the village.”
’Then I wouldn’t be in this mess.’ For a few minutes neither said anything more. The human just nodded and looked back at the ajar door. Gathering his courage he turned back to Val.“Would you let me go? I’ll-”
“No.” Val cut him off.
“I promise I’ll-
“Tell me what reasons I have to believe your promise Rahul? I don’t know what kind of man you are. For all I know you could just be saying what you think I want to hear.” Val hiss lowly. He wasn’t angry at Rahul for trying to convince him to let him go. He’d have been more concerned if he didn’t. The man was asking soon then he’d thought though. Considering how scared he’d been just a little while ago Val thought it would have taking him longer.
Rahul feel silent at his question and seemed to be trying to think so something to say. After a few moments he asked, “How could I make you believe I won’t break my word?”
Val gazed down at the Rahul for a few moments. The answer to that was both simple and difficult.“By earning my trust.” Val told him honestly. Something Val realized he hoped the human was capable of. He wanted to be shown there were still trust worthy humans out there.
Moving so he wasn’t restraining Rahul anymore Val shifted around so he was ‘sitting’ to him instead. He left his body loosely coiled around the young man, the end of his tail resting over his ankle, to share in his body heat. It was a little chilly in the room and while Val was warm blooded, he didn’t regulate his heat as well as a human could. He also wanted to be able to restrain Rahul easily again, in cause Val was disappointed and the young man tried getting away again.
Rahul seemed a little surprised to suddenly no longer be held down. He looked at door again, but made no attempt to get to it this time. Looking back at Val he nodded in understanding.
Val sat there looking at the human for a bit, but it wasn’t too long before he got up to leave. He had a number of things to do and wouldn’t mind some time to just think. “I’ll be back later.”
~~~
Later after he’d left the human alone in the small dungeon Val had gone out to his favorite tree. It grew near the old temple, so he’d often climbed up it as a child. That had been a few hours ago and was still laying in the upper branches, his long body hanging across a few strong limbs. It was getting on later in the day now and he thought that by now the other humans would likely be missing Rahul. Whether or not they were out looking for him yet Val didn’t know. It would be only a matter of time though.
’How hard will his family look for him?’ Val wondered as he gazed out over the peaceful jungle. How long would it be before it’s peace was disturbed? Turning his head he looked down at the old temple. Would there be a chance humans would find this place as they searched for Rahul? He believed that the village leader would try to keep people away from this area, but just how successful Dipak would be Val didn’t know.
“Could keeping Rahul here be an even greater risk then letting him go?” He wondered out loud as he looked down at his home. He didn’t know. He just knew either way there was a danger to him. He didn’t know the human well enough to judge if he really would keep his existence secret.
And so far the human had no reason not to hold grudge against Val. He had attacked, kidnapped and now was keeping the human here against his will. Val knew if their places were reversed he’d not be thinking too well of his captor.
Letting out a hiss like sigh Val slid out of the tree. He had things he needed to do before humans
were wondering around the jungle in search of Rahul. Like gather a supply of food for both himself and the human. He knew getting food could become harder in the following days, so he wanted to get some stuff while he could. Soon he might only be able to go out late at night. That wasn’t too much a problem for Val, it was just a little harder to find his pray when they were bedded down for the night.
To start off with Val headed back to the beach where he’d run into Rahul. He wanted to see if the wild pig he’d caught earlier was still there. When he arrived at the stretch of beach he peered out from behind the thick plant cover for signs anyone was around. He didn’t want to run into a second human today in the space of a few hours.
The area was free of humans. It didn’t look as if anyone or anything had been here after them either. All Val could see on the sand were Rahul’s fading foot prints and the indent of his long tail. He wasn’t too worried of anyone seeing it. The evening tied would wash the marks from the sand soon enough.
Sliding over to the dead pig lying on the sand Val considered what to do with it. He’d planned on swallowing it whole once it had stopped kicking earlier, but now reconsidered. It was large enough it would likely feed him and Rahul for a couple days. So Val took it back to the temple before he went foraging for edible plants and if he was lucky maybe another wild pig.
~~~
After Valithsar left and Rahul was sure he was alone, he went over to the iron door. Looking past the bars he saw beyond the room was long and dark hallway. It didn’t really tell him much about where he could be so after a few moments he left the door and went over to examine the windows. There were small, longer then there were tall, and up near the ceiling of the circular room.
Jumping up Rahul grabbed a hold of the bars and pulled himself up so he could look out. It appeared the windows would be near to ground leave if seen from outside, so Rahul didn’t get as good a view as he’d have hoped. Even if they’d not been, he doubted there’d been much to see anyway. Looking out the window all Rahul saw was some stone covered ground that quickly gave way to trees. Checking the other two windows showed him much the same.
A little disappointed Rahul let go of the iron bars and dropped back down on the stone floor. “Not sure what good having a clear view of things would be anyway…” he said with a sigh. It wasn’t like he thought he was getting out of here unless the Naga, Valithsar let him go.
Sitting back down against one of the four pillars Rahul thought about the snakeman. He wasn’t sure what to think about him. Valithsar wasn’t like he’d have expected at all. He wasn’t some blood thirsty monster that had dragged him to it lair to slowly kill or eat him. At least he hoped not… The thought that the Snakeman
could just be messing with him before he killed him did worry Rahul a little. Not greatly though. For some reason he felt Valithsar had been telling the truth when he told him he’d not kill him.
Just why he did Rahul wasn’t sure. He did still fear the Naga, but found he wanted to believe that he’d not be harmed by Valithsar for no reason. That as long as he didn’t do something stupid he’d be fine while he was the Naga’s prisoner.
Rahul wondered just how long that might be. How long would it take for Valithsar to trust him enough to believe he’d keep his existence secret? Something Rahul wondered if he’d even be able to do. It wasn’t that he would break his word, but what would he tell everyone if he was let go? He could just claim he’d disregarded the warning the jungle was dangerous and say he’d been lost if he wasn’t here for too long, but what would he say if he was here for weeks or even months? His family would want to know where he’d been, and he didn’t think he’d be able to lie to his twin. He’d never been able to keep secrets for Reina. If he didn’t end up telling her, she just figured it out on her own somehow.
Getting back up Rahul walked over to the nearest window and looked up at it. “I wonder if their back on the island yet?” He couldn’t really tell what time it was at the moment, just that it wasn’t getting dark out yet. He didn’t have his cell phone to with him either to check the time. Idly he wondered if he had his cell on him if he’d have reception here.
Rahul didn’t think it was too late into the afternoon yet. So his father and sister might still be gone. He wondered how long it would take them to realize he was missing when they were back. And what would they do when they did? His father had a very strong sense of looking after family, so he had the feeling he might upturn the small village looking for him.
Maybe he needn’t worry about how long he’d be here for.
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