Serpent's Advocate
"Stop screaming! It's only a mouse!" the boy was holding his hands over his ears, practically jumping up and down. His tangled light brown hair fell into his eyes, making their designs indiscernible to most, yet his younger sister could still tell that he was glaring at her. She had scurried behind him, at the unholy sight of a large brown rat heading through the labyrinth of weeds in the field.
Yelling at the top of her lungs she hollered, "It wasn't a mouse! It was a rat!" Her brother, gentle with none but her - generally speaking - couldn't abide any earsplitting noise, especially a girl screaming.
The boy shook her off and stormed away, grumbling to himself about the interruption of his thoughts. The girl, a blond beauty, stared after him. He was three years her senior, and never did cater to any form of fawning she displayed. Having an older brother like that, at nine, she was rapidly outgrowing most of her girly habits - preferring to follow him around than play with the maids about the village. He tolerated that relationship - to an extent.
But now he was angry and wanted to be by himself. Hands in pockets, he continued to lurch off into the field. He cringed as she hollered, unbidden, after him, "Vaisey! Vaisey! Wait, can I come too?"
He turned violently around, "A clue: NO!"
She pouted, disgusted by the new slogan he had picked up from that traveling merchant that had arrived only a fortnight ago. She was aware, however, that it said what he meant in just a few words. By and large, one would not consider her brother, Vaisey, a Spartan character. He could make the most eloquent speeches ever heard, but when he became angry at someone - well that was another story… He became irate and preferred 'motivational' action to lengthy vocabulary.
Oh, not that her brother became 'motivational' himself but several choice village boys had their pockets lined for the accomplishments of certain 'small favors.'
Young Davina looked despondently after her brother and thought, What does he think I am going to do now? To tell the truth, Vaisey could care less about his sister's plans at this moment. He needed to cool his head, before she became a new name in the figurative book of settled scores.
Vaisey tried to remain calm, he really did, but something in him just would not let Davina completely out of the noose. He had to think of a reprisal for her, not that she truly deserved one but he brushed that thought away like a pesky horsefly. He needed to prove that he was not the least bit weak or yielding when it came to exacting punishment on those who dare to encroach on his bad side - not that that was very hard to do. Until recently, with the 'subtle' help of a few monetarily deprived lads, Vaisey had been the one bullied. He was small for his age, easy to corner and torment. The devious youth had become fed up with his situation in life and was determined to turn it around and place himself in position of tyrant. Slowly but surely the village children were becoming rather afraid when he was nearby.
Vaisey strolled in the field, thinking hard, when he stumbled across a group of boys crowded around something on the ground. Coughing, he made his superior presence known to the peasants. The collection of lads glanced swiftly up at him - many having upset him at one time or another, Vaisey noted.
Slowly, they stood - something that they would never have done a year ago, as if he would tear them to bits if they went too fast. Vaisey liked the feeling that this gave him. Power! He made a memo to himself to have a heap of it when he was grown. Wait, why did he have to put it off till then?
The farm boys continued to back away from him, before zipping off into the tall grass, fading away like deer in the forest. Stooping down, Vaisey took a gander at what they had been so enthralled with.
Squirming in a quickly fashioned pit, were two black snakes. Obviously the snotty daubers were trying to get them to fight. Almost, not a bad idea, Vaisey contemplated. He grabbed one of the harmless reptiles out of the hole and left. He now had his plan…
He was reassuring himself that it would be worth hearing her scream again. Vaisey wasn't giving up now, not after the writhing serpent had bitten him - twice! The youth found his sister where he left her earlier - forever waiting. Should he do this terrible thing to her? With barely a second's hesitation, Vaisey answered his own question: Yes, without a doubt. "Davina!" Vaisey called out. She got up and began to make her way towards him. "No, no. You just stay there. I have a surprise for you," he was nigh on singing by now. Davina paused at her brother's request, waiting for his 'surprise.'
"Just stand there and close your eyes. When I yell 'Catch!' - open them and grab what I toss to you. Understand?"
She nodded, and obediently closed her long lashes. Davina waited for but a instant before she heard her brother call out to her. She flung open her eyes and saw a twisting projectile hurtling at her. Giving a diffused yelp, Davina instinctively caught the creature. Frightened, she glanced at the serpent - who was attempting to elude her firm grasp. Davina calmed almost instantly, her fear quelled.
Vaisey, waited for the scream that never came. She must be in shock, he thought to himself. "What's wrong? Why aren't you yelling?"
"What's there to yell about?"
"Oh, I don't know… Could it be because I threw a snake at you?"
Looking down at the long black creature, Davina smiled, "I like snakes."
"You like snakes! With their flicking, flimsy, forked-tongues?"
"Yes, I'm fond of them."
Vaisey was steaming, dancing from foot to foot, "And what, pray tell, could possibly make you fond of them?"
Davina looked at her brother, calm as a newborn foal, "Because, they eat rats - like you."
A/N
I do not own any of the Robin Hood BBC characters - and don't want to. What I do want, is a Time Machine…
When you read Vaisey saying, "Flicking, flimsy, forked-tongues" - think of "Dearly departed dead Dad Dan." Please tell me what you think about this story. I'd really love (is that too mild of a sentiment?) to hear from you in a review.