Captive of the Snake King

SELENE

I felt the grip of the man holding me tighten as the group of bandits assessed the situation. I could feel the tension.

“Looks like just one person,” the bandit boss finally said, breaking the silence. “One man against the lot of us is nothing. Bind the girl and let’s go.”

“But, sir, the man isn’t stopping. He’s coming straight for us,” the man holding me said. I almost didn’t hear them over my heart pounding in my ears.

Footsteps crushed the snow then squelched in mud as the bandits shifted along the path. A thread of unease wound through me as their palpable unease rose on the air.

“Based on that steed and his well-made armor, that’s got to be a high-ranking soldier.”

“But a high-ranking Ophidian soldier. I don’t want to trifle with him,” a nervous bandit said.

Their boss gnashed his teeth and snarled, “He’s nothing compared to us. Kill him and take his things.”

The clopping of hooves on the road grew closer. I trembled in the arms of my captor, biting back a rising sniffle. Tears streaking down my cheeks were already damping the hood, but I didn’t want them to hear me crying. I couldn’t let them have that.

“Soldier, stop where you are!” the boss shouted.

“Yeah, not another move or we’ll gut ya!” shouted another bandit.

The marching steed stopped along the road. From what I could tell, not far from the carriage. Even without the hood I might not have seen the approaching stranger around the back.

A bored voice as rich as sin and darker than night hit my ears. “You’re blocking the road. Get out of my way.” There was an indomitable confidence in that tired, grating tone that provoked an odd quiver in my belly.

An animalistic growl followed, shaking the ground beneath my feet. Horses surely don’t sound like that.

The bandit boss barked with abrupt laughter. “There’s only one of you, and twelve of us.”

“I’ve got enough blood on my hands for the day. I’m rather exhausted, so I’ll give you to the count of three to run away or die. Your choice.” The mystery man’s threat sliced through the cold silence.

“How dare you!”

“One…” he began.

“Cut off his head!” the bandit bellowed.

“Two…”

The roars of the other bandits charging ahead erupted around me. That time a startled noise squeaked out of me. Even the bandit holding me captive dropped me to fight. Perhaps they thought I wouldn’t make it far as they killed the intruder.

I stumbled back against the carriage door, nearly slipping in the mud. At some point they’d bound my wrists together, so I couldn’t yank off the hood. That didn’t stop me from blindly inching along the carriage, attempting to flee amid the chaos.

“Three…”

A blade sang in the air as it was unsheathed. The sounds that followed sickened my heart and stomach more than the fear of being accosted had. A storm of terror swept me into a frenzy as a sword cleaved through tender flesh nearby, and men belted their dying screams.

I’d never heard true battle before. Growing up I’d seen the mage knights training, or Rhidian sparring with Eskel, but this was entirely different. The sound of tearing flesh, blood and viscera spraying on the ground, and men gurgling over slit throats chilled me to the bone.

More of those growling noises escalated through the fight. Whatever beast the stranger rode was helping him fight. I knew some skilled mage knights rode Pegasus or griffins, but the hissing snarl of the creature led me to believe it was something else entirely.

I knew the stranger was outnumbered. Even if he was a soldier from Valeruhn he might die before I got the chance to seek his aid. My best chance was to slip away into the night and try to get the hood off my head. If I could sneak off while the battle raged on, I might be able to find my way back to safety.

Shrill screams of terror echoed in my ears. Bodies thudded to the ground, the sound of them finding their final resting place. No one who stumbled upon the scene of horror would come to bury them.

“Mercy, please, I beg you!” the boss was crying.

I paused with my hands on the front wheel of the carriage. My heart skipped a beat as it bounced off my ribs. Had this one soldier just taken down a whole group of men? Aside from a few groans of pain and dying breaths, the fighting seemed over. And I was shocked at the outcome.

“Why should I grant you mercy?” the stranger asked in a flat tone.

“We weren’t paid enough for this. We only had to take the girl—”

The man growled, “What girl?”

“Her.” The bandit boss sniveled, and I imagined he pointed in my direction.

“Hmm,” the stranger said. Then I heard the swing of a blade and the guttural choking of a dying man.

I wished I could have seen the bandit's cowardly face as he died the death he deserved.

Fear gripped me by the spine, and adrenaline forced my legs forward. I let go of the wheel of the carriage and darted away from the road. I fled, shivering from the frigid night air as I ran. With my vision obscured, I ran on terrified instinct through the snow. At some point my cloak had been torn from my shoulders by the bandits, but I didn’t care about the cold. I just wanted to get away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” the man rumbled a split second before a solid wall of muscle and armor crashed into me. Arms encircled me as his momentum swept me off my feet and onto the ground. Our bodies rolled together until we stopped with my back settling into the freezing blanket of ice and a man’s body caging me to the ground.

His legs straddled mine, trapping me. He tugged my bound wrists over my head and held them still. My body trembled too viciously from the cold to struggle against his overpowering hold.

“Let’s see what we have here.” The hood whisked away from my head, and I stole a deep gulp of fresh winter air. When I glanced up with a pitiful glare on my face, all the strength in my body deflated.

Glowing violet eyes stared down at me with a spark of something primal in their depths. Straight hair as dark and luscious as raven’s feathers fell in long strands around his face. His skin was as pale as the surrounding snow. Six short horns sprouted from his brow like a devilish crown.

A line in the center of his forehead made my stomach clench. If it opened, I knew there’d be a third eye there that could turn me into stone with a single glance.

Armor of black dragon scales adorned his powerful frame but did nothing to hide the heat radiating off his body. If anything, it intensified his natural warmth as it crushed me into the snow. Part of my rattled mind dared me to lean into him to escape the sharp cold at my back.

Then I caught the long black snake-like tail whipping behind him.

He was Ophidian, our enemy. And yet, even though I knew I should hate him, I was shocked at my visceral reaction to him. He was dangerously beautiful.

His features were angular and sharp, in contrast to his lips that were perfectly full and sensual. And they were hovering over my face, so close I felt the warmth of his breath tickling my cheeks.

The sensation that coursed through my belly as he stared down at me was wanton and frightening.

The Ophidian soldier reared back enough to glance over me. I waited with bated breath as his eyes raked over my face and roamed along the curves of my chest and hips. A vicious smirk kicked up the corner of his mouth.

“It won’t serve you to run from me.” His entire body trembled under the surface of his armor. Not from the cold, but as if he was holding himself back and fighting his restraint. “I won’t be able to help myself if you run again.”

Reality kicked back into place in my mind. I shouted and thrashed to the best of my ability. But the man was heavy and mountainous, and my struggling barely moved me an inch.

“Get your hands off me! Let me go, you mad beast!”

His grip increased on my wrists, and his face dropped. His breath sawed out of him, huffing against the side of my neck. I froze as he inhaled along the length of my throat.

“Don’t fight back or I’ll get excited and need to hunt you down, princess.” It was half a threat and half a promise that provoked an odd pulse between my thighs.

I squirmed against him, seeking to end the twirling sensation in my belly. My breath hitched when his hips shifted harder into me, likely to stop me from moving.

“What do you mean? I’m not a—”

A sharp, clawed finger trailed over my cheek, tracing the magical tattoo on my face. When his lips peeled back into a devious smile, long pointed fangs flashed in his mouth. My insides quivered with fear.

“You’re wearing the traditional wedding markings for a royal from Valeruhn. So, my intel was correct.” He rocked back onto his knees. “My apologies if I scared you, your highness.”

If the snake knew I was a royal, my fate would fall into his monstrously clawed hands. I squirmed harder, reinvigorated in my need to escape.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!”

“Yes, you were.” His expression was almost empathetic for a moment before hardening with his resolve.

“So let me go!”

The Ophidian soldier shook his head and vented a rueful sigh. He rose off me with a predatory grace before tugging me along with him. He kept my bound wrists in his grip, and I noted the sensation of smooth scales against my skin.

His armor stopped at his wrists, and I saw black iridescent scales and ink-colored claws engulfing my hands. In my right mind, I would have been afraid, but I got stuck on the impressive size of his hands despite the claws.

His opposite hand caught a strand of my hair, and he curled it around his clawed digit. “I can’t do that, but I am sorry for ruining your wedding plans, Princess Cressida of Valeruhn. It looks like you’re coming with me now.”