Darien knelt beside the captive woman for a closer look. The lower half of her body was composed of a copper colored snake, and black scales formed vaguely circular patterns in ever diminishing size down to the tip of her tail. Despite having a human form from the waist up, the snake influence continued with the scaled skin reaching up as far as the back of her neck where it vanished under her short brown hair. 

The scales reduced in size as they descended down her arms from the shoulders, and by the time they reached her elbows, Darien could no longer identify their edges. The black circular pattern continued unabated down to her wrists, but it looked more like a tattoo than scales.

Because she was lying on her stomach against the stone floor, Darien could only see half of her face. A tiny amount of her scales could be seen behind her ear, but otherwise, her face appeared fully human.

The snake woman's tail twitched slightly, the scales scrapping against the stone floor. Because of the weakness of the move, he wondered how long she'd been down here. Snakes had a reputation for being cunning, so he also considered she might be faking to lure him into striking range.

"Hello," Darien said cautiously. He stayed well out of reach should she try to grab him through the bars. Chains held her wrists to the floor, but if she was planning something, extra slack could be easily concealed beneath her, allowing her to reach greater distances than he expected.

The snake woman's eyes opened slightly. Her reptilian eyes had a vertical slit and were the same coppery color as her skin and scales.

"Water," she breathed before closing her eyes again.

Darien looked around and found a water barrel. He also spotted a cup with a very long handle. Filling the cup with water, he passed it to her. She seemed in responsive at first, so he tipped the cup slightly and spilled some of the water on her mouth. Her lips parted, and he was able to give her more of a drink, but most of the water still ended up on the floor.

Darien refilled the cup several times, and she gained strength, being able to drink more and spill less with each attempt.

She stopped drinking and looked at him for a moment before taking a firm hold on the cup and pulling hard. Because of his kneeling position beside the water barrel, he was easily dragged off balance and dumped face first onto the floor.

Darien had been right in his assumption of the snake woman having extra slack in her chains, and as she reared up on her tail, he got the briefest look at the lengthy chains securing her to the floor.

Hissing loudly, the snake woman reached one arm between the bars and was able to grab him by the shoulder, dragging him over to the cage with a surprising and terrifying amount of strength. Once he was close enough, she pulled him upright with his back against the bars. Both her arms went around his neck and started constricting.

Darien couldn't breathe. All he wanted was for her to let go. A blinding flash came from the amulet clenched in his fist, shoving the snake woman away with an invisible hand and allowing Darien to crawl back out of range while gasping for air.

Darien pressed himself against the cold stone of the far wall. The snake woman coiled in the corner of her cage, hands curled into claws and gripping the ground as if ready to spring toward him again.

He now understood why Cordin Oakstaff needed to amplify his powers before facing off against the serpents. If they were all as cunning and dangerous as this one, it would make them a formidable opponent. It made him wonder how he was going to be able to fight them in order to complete the story. Cordin had power and it would've been a challenge, but the only magical ability Darien possessed came from the amulet the serpents would have copies of in abundance.

Whatever the course his life would take, he couldn't do more here for the time being. Half stumbling, half crawling, Darien escaped the secret room and sealed it closed again.

Once back in his room in the storage basement, Darien collapsed on his mat, massaging his sore neck and turning over the recent events in his mind to make some sense of them. He concluded he had the answer to at least one of his questions. Cordin Oakstaff must have gained possession of the amulet from the snake woman imprisoned below, but Darien had no idea when or how he'd managed to capture her.

Cordin could've been keeping her for study purposes. It was the only likely explanation Darien could think of as to why the dangerous creature was still alive after the amulet had been secured.

Although he considered leaving her down there, he couldn't abide the thought of letting her die of starvation and dehydration. She might be a viscous predator trying to kill him at every opportunity, but she was still a living thing. Darien was a thief not a murderer.

Since he was required to fill in for the deceased wizard Cordin, Darien also decided he might need her for information as well, but he'd have to be cautious as anything she told him might be a lie to make him drop his guard and let her try to escape again.  If the snake woman ever did manage to escape, Darien felt certain she'd try and kill before she left.

Darien rolled over on his mat, longing for the days when he only had to worry about being caught by the city guard or a resentful owner of something he'd pilfered. He'd only been trapped in this story a short time, and he'd been nearly killed twice. Lendus lived upstairs and was waiting for an opportunity to dispose of him, and now he'd discovered a snake woman downstairs who wanted to choke the life out him the first chance she got. He missed his old life.

***

Darien was awakened by a fist hammering on his door.

"Wake up, Thief!" Lendus shouted.

"I'm awake," Darien said only half truthfully as he staggered to the door.

As he was about to draw back the bolt, a shot of adrenaline coursed through his system and brought him fully awake. He made a mad dash back to his mat and scooped up the amulet, hiding it in one of his many pockets where he could reach it easily.

When he unlocked the door, he found Lendus standing outside. The young man's standard robes of extremely dark green had been exchanged for linen pants and a short sleeved shirt, both of a faded tan color.

"We're going to the Velacian Mountains to check on the serpents," Lendus announced. He shoved a bundle of clothes against Darien's chest. "Get ready, and don't take all day about it."

Darien took the offered clothes and locked the door again. As he changed from his dark thief outfit with its many useful pockets and concealed equipment into the tan linen apparel Lendus had given him, he considered what they might be facing in the mountains. According to Lendus, no one had managed to bring the serpents to heel, so Darien expected they might encounter heavy resistance.

Getting into places where no one wanted unexpected visitors was one of Darien's specialties, but he'd never undertaken a mission with an enraged magic user looking for a reason to kill him.

Darien transferred the amulet from his thief gear into his new clothes, hiding it in a pouch he shoved into his deepest pocket. As he unlocked the door and headed out, he wondered whether the serpents or Lendus posed a greater threat to him on this scouting mission.

***

As Lendus and Darien exited the library of Cordin, Darien saw a fortress in the distance. Since Cordin had been the called wizard from the castle at Blacklake, he assumed the towering structure with its dozen spires was the building of which the Librarian had spoken.

Darien had no time for sightseeing as Lendus wasn't waiting for him. The apprentice had adopted a long legged stride, and Darien had to hurry to catch up.

They walked together over smooth stones of marble, a pathway of white across a green lawn. Trees around the perimeter offered shade near the outer wall. At first glance everything seemed palatial, but Darien began noticing details that dispelled the illusion.

The marble slabs of the walkway were old and cracked. The distant trees were covered over in vines threatening to choke out the plants. Flower beds overflowed with weeds.  The once spectacular grounds had fallen into disrepair, and if Lendus hadn't hated him so much, Darien might have asked the reason for the deplorable conditions. Due to the young man's ire, Darien kept his questions to himself and considered the situation on his own. 

An idea formed, and he thought it possible. He believed Cordin and Lendus had dedicated so much of their time and energy to fighting the serpents, they simply didn't have time for tasks like cutting the vines back and removing weeds. Satisfied he had a plausible explanation, he put the whole matter out of his mind and concentrated on the mission ahead.

Lendus led Darien to a circle of marble. Set at evenly spaced distances from one another were torches around the edge of the stone circle.

Whispering unintelligibly, Lendus pointed straight out from himself to either side. As he slowly turned, the torches ignited as his pointing fingers swept past them. The flames burned orange at first, but when Lendus passed them a second time, they turned purple. Violet flames followed after the movement of Lendus' arms as he continued to slowly turn. The flames combined and swirled about them until Lendus and Darien were in the eye of a hurricane of fire.

Lendus dropped to a kneeling position, slamming his palms against the stone. The swirling flames dispersed, but the grass covered lawn was gone. Bare rock and sand greeted the two men. A blistering wind swept across the brittle sprigs of vegetation sticking up from dry soil cracked by thirst.

"Welcome to the Velacian Mountains," Lendus told Darien, "homeland of the serpents."