A lot of foreshadowing in this chapter, pay attention to everything. Also, all of the animals mentioned are drawn from the actual mythology of the region, though I did make some creative adjustments here and there.

[Sign language]

§Parseltongue§

The Giver and Usurper

The weather had started to get colder. Small rainstorms became more regular. Harry and Lyra had long finished their nests and now they were being tested by the elements. They weren't the best, but they were holding together. One morning while eating in the morning, Chief's eyes glowed blue. They glowed for nearly two minutes before stopping. When they did, he looked up at Teacher and exchanged some motions and small noises.

Teacher climbed down to Harry and Lyra to sign [Find, Animal], [Find, Animal, Small, Bird, Animal], [Come]

Teacher walked off into the jungle with Harry and Lyra tagging behind.

Every so often Teacher would climb a tree and look around. Harry and Lyra waited on the ground for instructions. After about two hours Teacher didn't immediately come back down. She made a small noise to get their attention and signed, [Come, Look].

Harry and Lyra scaled the tree and Teacher pointed out an animal in the next tree over. It looked like a squirrel stuffed into a furry sack with only its head sticking out. Harry thought it looked strange. Two small hands popped out of the top of the furry sack to hold onto the branch it was underneath.

Teacher pointed at the animal and signed [You, Catch, Small, Bird, Animal].

Harry and Lyra exchanged a confused glance. Why did Teacher sign [Bird]? It clearly wasn't a bird.

They coordinated climbing opposite sides of the tree, staying invisible the whole time. Lyra would jump and grab it while Harry would make sure she didn't fall. As soon as Lyra jumped, the furry sack around the squirrel opened up and spread into a huge skin flap letting it soar over to another tree and grab onto a new branch. Harry was so surprised he nearly missed catching Lyra before she fell.

They looked at Teacher who only signed again [Small, Bird, Animal].

They spent around two hours trying to catch it, using a variety of tactics, though whenever they tried to throw rocks or harm it in any way Teacher stopped them. Lyra was counting and let Harry know when they caught it, it had taken them eleven attempts. The squirrel really didn't like to be held, so they wrapped it up in several banana leaves and kept it secured that way.

Teacher gave her approval [You, Good, Catch, Good].

Bringing the squirrel back to the encampment, they were met with chirps and soft screeches of approval from the others. They hadn't heard this level of noise from the group since they had achieved their disappearing acts. The largest of the creatures came over and inspected the banana leaf-wrapped squirrel.

Harry had begun to call the largest of the creatures Charlie because of his square jaw and he imitated Harry by smiling a lot, which was kind of creepy. He did that now after inspecting it, then took it from Harry. Charlie held the wrapped squirrel above his head and the assembled group all chirped loudly.

Lyra whispered to Harry, "Do you think we will eat it?"

Harry shrugged and shook his head, "I don't think so, or Teacher might have let us use rocks."

Charlie started to walk out of the encampment and headed down the hill toward the beach. When they got to the beach, Harry and Lyra saw clouds on the horizon. Not just regular clouds, dark clouds that stretched the entire horizon with what could only be torrential rain coming out of them onto the ocean. It was awe-inspiring and more than a bit scary.

Charlie stretched up to his full height and held the squirrel bundle above his head. With his hands up that tall, he was even taller than what Harry thought Mr. Tekula would have been if he had done the same thing. Maybe seven feet tall or a little more. With the squirrel raised in the air and the rest of their tribe behind him, Charlie squeezed the squirrel. The squirrel let out a chittering scream. The tribe behind Charlie all made loud noises. Charlie then walked about five minutes up the beach and they repeated the same thing. This time when the tribe started to yell, Harry and Lyra began to yell and scream along with them. They had no idea what was going on, but they certainly weren't going to be left out, especially after all the effort they made to catch the furry little thing. After the tribe walked the entire beach, three times, repeating the action every five minutes or so, they returned to the tree line.

Chief was waiting by the trees with a peeled banana. Charlie held the squirrel out to Chief and he fed the squirrel bits of banana until it no longer ate anymore. Charlie then held the squirrel up in the air and let out a screech. The tribe screeched back, with Harry and Lyra joining in as well. Charlie then put the squirrel up in a tree and let it return to the higher branches. From there, all of the members of the tribe started gathering together bananas from all the nearby trees. They pulled large banana leaves off the trees by the beach until they were plucked dry. Harry and Lyra started sensing the urgency of what they were doing and did the same. Harry took one of the banana leaves and rolled it up into a cone and filled it with berries. He cut up the end of the leaf so it could be woven together instead of just holding it shut. He showed how to do it to Weaver who in turn, showed it to the others and they added berries and grubs to their gathering process.

They returned to the encampment and started putting the food into holes that had been dug into the high branches of the trees. Weaver and two other females pulled long strands of hair that had been woven together into ropes from different spots in the trees. They started stitching together the banana leaves into a roof in the canopy of the trees. At the end of the day, everyone was exhausted and instead of returning to their individual nests in other trees, everyone stayed the one with the canopy. They all slept in a large pile of bodies and hair.

They woke up in the morning, not to the sun, but to rain. The pitter-patter on their canopy woke everyone up at the same time. Food was passed around from what had been gathered yesterday and everyone ate. What was interesting to Harry was that he could hear torrential rains not far away, heavier than anything he had heard in England, but in their tree outside the canopy, it was only a light drizzle. As the day stretched on, the ground became a lake, the water level rose at least two or three feet at first, and by night time, it was over four. They were safe at least eight feet up. The rain continued through the night and by morning it was starting to die down.

A little after sunrise, Chief, Charlie, and Weaver all had their eyes glow blue for a brief second. The three of them rushed to the side of the tree and looked down, making chirping noises below. Harry looked over to see a large crocodile swimming through the risen waters below their nests. Chief took a broken branch and dropped it on the crocodile's head, watching it thrash around at the unseen attacker. Some of the younger creatures did the same thing until it went away.

The tribe stayed up in the tree for another three days before the water level receded completely. When they did, there was still a lot of food remaining. The food was taken and more leaves were rolled into cones and bananas, berries, and grubs were put inside them. Weaver took more of the hair rope and stitched them together so they could be carried easily. Three days after the water level was back to normal, the chief glowed blue. Not just his eyes, but his whole body. He stayed glowing for ten minutes before fading back. Harry and Lyra were very anxious, but the rest of the tribe seemed relaxed and continued working on stitching together the cones of food.

Lyra noticed it first, something was coming, Harry picked up on it and followed where she was watching on the edge of the encampment. Chief walked out calmly towards the edge as something came closer. At first glance, it had the body of one of them, but it wasn't. Whatever it was was different. It walked upright, almost like a person, slightly hunched like an old man. Though it was still slightly taller than most of their tribe, it seemed to have the same hair as the creatures, but black. While these creatures had hair that was so silver you could almost see through it, this creature had hair so dark it sucked in all light. The creatures' silver hair went down to their wrists, but with this new one, its hair stopped after its shoulders, like a short-sleeved shirt and shorts combined. The other noticeable difference was it had a nose as big as an eggplant on the front of its face, while the silver-haired creatures had a snub nose that barely stuck out.

Chief presented three of the cones filled with food to the creature who stared at them and gave a grunt. The chief turned around and gestured toward Harry and Lyra. Noticing them for the first time it stared in a very disorienting way before taking three strides towards them. There wasn't a way that three steps should have reached them from where it was standing, but when it finished moving, it was standing over them. Lyra peeped and disappeared. Harry stared straight at it and maintained eye contact. It raised a bony hand and placed it on Harry's forehead right over his scar. Harry could feel his forehead grow warm and the creature let out a deep growl which turned into a guttural yell. It broke a vine off from the tree overhead and made to swing it down on Harry before Chief screamed and the dark creature stopped.

Harry could feel Lyra's nails digging into his skin, even if he couldn't see her. The dark creature reached down again and felt Harry's forehead on the side that didn't have his scar. It tapped him a few times and then tapped the scar again. This time he growled. The dark creature turned to Chief and growled and grunted. It gestured at Charlie who picked up the remaining cones and the canopy that had been taken down. It then walked off with Charlie following, carrying the food and shelter they had set up.

After it had left completely, Lyra faded back in and pretty much screamed in a whisper to Chief who flickered a bit at her voice, "What the hell was that?"

Chief looked around and picked up a rock. He gave it to Harry. Then he took it back. Chief signed [You, Catch, Small, Bird, Animal]. Then he held the rock above his head and looked towards the beach. Then he gave the rock to Harry.

Lyra understood first and whispered to Harry. "That thing told them to catch the squirrel and have it scream at the rain so it doesn't come down as hard."

Harry nodded, "And then they give him food and shelter in exchange."

Harry signed to Chief [Understand]

Chief signed the motion of giving the rock to Harry, but without the rock. Harry understood. This creature was The Giver.

Chief motioned to Harry again [You, Go, Moon, Moon, Moon, The Giver, You, Go].

He guessed in three months, he would need to go to see The Giver.

With the recent danger having passed, Harry and Lyra began to explore the area around the island more. Before they did that, they realized they would need to make clothes. The clothes they came with were almost completely ruined, they barely held together anymore. Both of them had started only wearing their clothes when they left the clearing of the village. At first, they had been very embarrassed about being naked, but that faded quickly.

Weaver began to teach them how to make rope out of silver hair. The creatures collected it as it fell out and there was an entire section of the main tree that was stuffed with it. In a week, they had woven a good deal of it. They wove together dried banana leaves to make tunics of a sort and strapped smooth driftwood to their feet to use as sandals. It wasn't comfortable, but it was better than nothing.

They started to explore, sometimes they had one of their tribe come with to show them places to avoid. They followed a small stream uphill to a lake that had a hot spring slightly higher up that overlooked the ocean. It was about a two-hour hike from the encampment but was worth it for a swim. It was also interesting to see all the animals that came to drink the water. There were a couple of types of deer, a very small cow or perhaps a buffalo, and various rodents that would sneak out for a quick drink before running off. When looking in the trees, they would often see the flying squirrel, wrapped up in its skin flaps to keep warm, and also come across the occasional bat colony closer to the mountain.

They continued exploring but never got further than a few hours from the encampment to make sure they got back by dark. Occasionally they would take care of the youngest member of their encampment, the baby they had followed on their first night. He was a very quick learner even though he was still tiny. He made small noises, trying to emulate Harry and Lyra speaking to each other, but couldn't make actual words. So Lyra named him Whisper.

Before Harry knew it, three moons had passed.

Charlie approached Harry and Lyra one morning. [We Go, The Giver, Gather Food, Give]

Over the last three months, the cones for carrying food had become a little more advanced. Harry and Weaver were hard at work using different leaves to hold different foods and water. They even patched some together with extra thick hair weaves to make straps for backpacks. Harry and Lyra now wore backpacks, some of their tribemates opted for satchels on their chests where a child would normally cling. The typical posture of the creatures didn't work very well for backpacks.

Harry and Lyra figured that The Giver would prefer a backpack over a satchel because it stood more upright like they did, and didn't seem to use its upper body to walk like their silver-haired tribemates. They made sure to bring four extra backpacks filled with food of different types. It was a bit heavy; but the exploring, climbing, gathering food, and in general, the constant movement of life had increased their stamina to a level that it wasn't too much of an issue to carry more weight.

They met Charlie at the edge of the encampment and Charlie started to lead them out. They were two minutes out when Teacher dropped from a tree overhead. When their tribemates spoke to each other, it was always in chirps and huffing noises, occasionally screeching when they were angry. Recently, they had started to fold in some of the signs they used with Harry and Lyra to their regular interactions with each other as well. This conversation did not have signs but was pretty easy to understand

Teacher wanted to join them on their visit to The Giver. She had brought a satchel with food and a coil of woven hair as a gift. Charlie did not want her to come. They began to engage in some kind of dominance ritual which Harry and Lyra hadn't seen before, so they backed off and sat down with a cone of berries to eat while they watched.

Teacher and Charlie took turns trying to scare each other. Charlie was quite large so he tried using his size for effect raising his arms and screeching or dancing around behind Teacher and screeching in her ears. Teacher was trying a different approach, she stood very quiet and stood very close to Charlie before screeching in his face. On the last round, Charlie climbed up into a tree out of sight. After a minute he dropped straight down in front of Teacher and screamed. Teacher jumped back but held her ground, she reached into her satchel for something and held her hands out to Charlie with both closed around something. Charlie leaned closer, clearly curious and Teacher opened her hands and revealed a bright yellow spider. Charlie let out a scream and vanished.

Lyra squealed with delight and whispered to Harry, "Remember, that's my trick!"

She ran over to Teacher and startled her with a big hug, but she slowly returned it. Charlie came back and walked over to Teacher, bent low, and butted his head with hers. Then he picked up his bag and gifts and started to walk into the forest. Just as they were about to continue with Teacher, she motioned up to the trees. Harry and Lyra saw most of the tribe up in the canopy, all with their own cones of berries eating as they watched.

They walked for most of the day, stopping occasionally to eat. Harry kept an eye out for other things to eat that didn't grow around the camp. He had brought an empty backpack for this purpose. He did find a lot of other fruits while walking, some were hairy, some were spiky, and some were shaped like stars. He collected all of them to investigate later.

Just before sunset, they had started up the mountain in the middle of the island but were still below the treeline. They arrived at a tree, like the ones they lived in, but this one was massive. The tree was at least as big as their entire encampment, including the clearing inside of it. The roots surrounding it made it look like some of the gothic castles in Ireland that Harry had seen pictures of. He couldn't see where the top of the tree was from where they were sitting. At the base of the tree, the roots opened up to what looked like an inky black abyss. Teacher looked a bit afraid, but Charlie simply approached the entrance and slapped the roots by the entrance a few times, and came back to the other three. Charlie collected all the gifts they brought and laid them near the entrance, then sat down and ate a banana. They waited until the sun had almost completely set when The Giver came out.

There was no sound of its approach, it simply just emerged from the black abyss that was between the roots under the trees. It had a long staff in one hand that had a large headpiece with horns of various animals. Harry recognized the horn of the buffalo he had seen near the hot springs, there was a similar one but longer and something that looked like an ivory-colored deer antler. There were also a few feathers of different colors hanging from woven black hair on the antler. Charlie gestured towards the gifts and The Giver looked very interested in a backpack and tried it on. Charlie helped The Giver carry all the gifts to the entrance, but did not go in himself. The Giver entered the abyss like a rock falling into a fog bank. One moment he was there, the next he wasn't.

When he came back out, he had several small red feathers in his hands. He proceeded to place seven of them with the quills in the earth, arranged in a circle in the middle of the clearing. Harry could feel some sort of energy in the air, The Giver grumbled something and tapped his staff on the ground. A similar red feather on the staff glowed red and the seven feathers in front of them burst into flames. Harry, Lyra, and Teacher jumped back in surprise but Charlie just laid down and stretched out as much as he could so he could feel the warmth on his entire body. As Harry, Lyra, and Teacher got closer, they could feel the warmth as well and laid down like Charlie was.

The Giver turned around and entered his cave. Charlie was already asleep. Harry could feel his scar tingling as he fell asleep facing the fire.

That night Harry had dreams of a pale man, a red-haired woman, and a bright green light. It did not feel like a good dream.

They awoke slowly in the morning. Harry saw the fire from the feathers was still burning. Lyra had moved in the night and had curled up with Charlie in his fur. As Harry moved around, Teacher woke up as well and they backtracked on their route to a small pond they had seen coming in and filled a few leaf cones with water, and brought them back to camp. They stuck them in the dirt so they wouldn't fall over and ate a few berries.

Lyra woke up next but when she looked at Harry she seemed worried and ran over to him and pushed his hair back above his forehead. "Your scar!" She whispered loudly.

Harry peered into one of the water cones he had brought back and pushed his hair up. In his reflection, the scar was still there, but instead of just being pink in the middle, it had split open, and black spidery lines were coming out in different directions. Harry rubbed at it, but that just made it itch. He tried to wash it off, but it just stung to have water touch the wound. Teacher also looked worried but refused to touch Harry or the scar.

By this time, Charlie had gotten up, and when he saw what was going on with Harry, he ran over to the entrance of the cave and slapped on the roots until The Giver came out. He took one look at Harry and grinned an evil grin. Charlie was chirping at The Giver. The Giver grabbed a stick and pushed Charlie with it then started to huff and grunt as well. Charlie continued to look at Harry as The Giver was 'talking' to him. When he was done, Charlie came over to Harry and started to sign what must be a translation.

Charlie pointed at the scar [Bad, Bad, Bad] Then pointed at the other side of Harry's forehead [Good, Good, Good]. [Bad, Scar, Kill]. [Sleep, Here, Night, Night, Night, Night, Night, Night, Night, Kill Bad]. Charlie turned to The Giver and exchanged some noises before turning back to Harry, [Large, Animal, Teeth]. Charlie spits on the ground. [We, Go, Sneak, Bad, Kill].

Harry was incredibly confused. He whispered with Lyra and she understood as much as he did. His scar was bad, but he wasn't. He needed to get rid of the scar and to do so needed to spend seven nights with The Giver. After that, they were going to do something with a large animal and then go somewhere and kill something.

Harry turned back to Charlie and signed [No Understand, Large, Animal], [No Understand, Sneak, Bad, Kill]. Charlie exchanged noises with The Giver, but Charlie didn't perform any more signs. The Giver went back inside his cave leaving the four tribe members to eat.

The Giver returned after just a few minutes and he was dragging… a chest? It was definitely a chest. There was a latch on the side and it had metal on the corners. The Giver opened the chest and Harry saw an assortment of many things inside.

Charlie went over and dug through it and pulled out a coffee mug with a broken handle with the words "World's Greatest Dad" printed on the side, he signed to Harry, [Me, Give].

He did that same thing with a few more of the items in there. Lyra whispered to Harry that he must have earned his position of visiting The Giver by bringing him interesting presents.

Lyra took the mug and pointed at the writing on the side and signed [Parent, Good, Good, Good]. Charlie made his adorable and slightly creepy giant smile for them.

The Giver put the mug to the side and pulled out a spoon, a round club that bore a resemblance to a cricket bat, a chunk of crystal with a bowl carved into it, a pair of pliers, and a portrait of an old man in a frame. Just as he closed the chest again, all of the feathers that had been on fire snuffed out. The Giver pointed at all of them and grunted. Teacher very carefully pulled the burnt feathers out of the ground and handed them back. The Giver took them and put them into the crystal bowl.

The Giver then picked up the club and thumped up the tree and loudly grunted while looking up into the canopy. Nothing happened for a minute and The Giver repeated the process. There was a rustle in the branches and then Harry heard a familiar-sounding whisper.

§Thump thump thump§

§What does he want§

§Always something§
§He better have my snack§

Harry looked curious and scared. He stepped back and noticed he was turning transparent on instinct. Lyra and their tribemates did see Harry's reaction but started looking around not knowing where the danger might be. Slowly a large snake started to descend from the tree. It was about as wide around as Teacher was, but he couldn't judge the length as he hadn't seen the tail yet, but so far, it was at least twenty feet long. It was mostly green, the same colors as the leaves but with various patches and stripes of brown, the same color as the tree bark. On the top of its head was some kind of red patch, its nose was golden in color, making it look like a beak of a bird and it had golden eyes with a black vertical pupil in the center.

The snake lowered itself to the ground but held onto an upper branch, keeping its head above the ground. In total it was probably close to forty feet long. At this point, Lyra, Charlie, and Teacher were completely invisible; Harry was moving in and out of visibility switching between curiosity and fear on different beats of his heart.

The snake looked around and stuck out its tongue as it moved before whispering again.

§I wonder§
§Are the ones with hair my snack?§

§Are the ones without hair my snack?§

§They hide, but I can still smell them§

It started to move towards them so Harry stepped forward and a hissing whisper came from his own mouth.

§We are no snack§

The snake pulled back and The Giver jumped as well, his staff raised defensively towards Harry.

Lyra reappeared next to Harry and stood behind him, "You spoke to the snake!" she whispered. Harry was confused too.

"It sounded different to me, but it was still English," Harry told her. The snake moved closer to Harry and stuck out its tongue, tasting the air around him.

The snake hissed to them.

§You are a Lordling§

§You speak the language of serpents§

§You taste of a great evil§

Harry hissed back
§The Giver said that my scar is bad§ He raised his fringe to show the snake.
§He told me that he was asking a great animal to help with me§
§You are not a normal snake, what are you? How can I speak with you?§

The snake continued the conversation as all the others looked on. The Giver had lowered his staff and looked curious, he tried to make the same noises Harry was, like when Whisper would try to mimic Harry and Lyra speaking to each other.

§The Giver? Ahh, him, he learns and gives knowledge§

§For a price§

§Have you asked the price for his help?§

§As for what I am, I am an Usurper§
§All snakes can hear your voice and you can hear theirs§
§Some snakes will follow your commands§
§I will not for I have no king§
§I am the kingsbane§

When the snake spoke of being the kingsbane, it opened its mouth to reveal two long fangs that seemed to grow as the mouth opened wider and the red spot on its head flared into a large red crest. When the crest was fully erect, the snake let out a cry that no snake should be able to make. It sounded like a grunt and a scream and made it five times, the fifth being longer than the rest. Then the snake closed his mouth and the crest deflated. The rest of his coil lowered down from the tree and the snake placed his head on the top of his coil. The snake then looked at the giver and hissed.

§Where is my snack?§

The Giver was just as shocked as everyone else present and it took the snake poking him with its tail before The Giver reached back into the inky blackness of his cave and pulled out a sack adorned with an Adidas logo on it and set it on the ground. One of the flying squirrels ran out of the sack, but before it could get its bearings, quick as a lightning strike, the snake had it in its jaws, venom pouring into the creature. Everyone watched the next few minutes as the snake swallowed it whole.

When the snake was done with the squirrel, The Giver began to make noises and gestures to it. At one point, he held up the 'World's Greatest Dad' cup. The snake opened his mouth wide and bit down on the edge of the cup. Venom poured into the cup until it was half full and set aside. The snake smacked his mouth open and shut a few times when it had finished. The snake then curled up in its coil and seemed to focus on the digesting of the squirrel, occasionally poking the small bulge with his head.

The Giver focused his attention on the coffee mug of venom. He reached for some fruits that were tied near the cave entrance with the silver hair rope and pulled off one that was heart-shaped with what looked like brown scales on the outside. He sniffed it and peeled back one of the scales carefully, but then grunted and threw the whole thing out of his clearing into the bushes. Harry remembered he had something similar in his bag of fruit and dug out his. It was smaller and all the scales were green. He walked over and handed it to The Giver. The Giver repeated the same process of sniffing it and peeling back a scale. He looked to Harry, grunted, and nodded. On his way back to sit with the others, he saw that everyone else had gathered a cone of berries and was eating them while watching. Lyra handed him some to eat as he sat down.

The Giver proceeded to peel off all the scales very carefully until they were all on the ground. One by one, he dropped seven of them into the mug of venom, a hiss coming out each time as they dissolved. The remaining scales, he put into the Adidas bag the squirrel had been in. He then ripped open the white fruit that had been under the scales and pulled out the seeds that were inside. Once more he put seven seeds into the cup one by one and watched them dissolve.

Harry popped a few more berries into his mouth, fascinated but having no idea what was going on. Lyra, Teacher, and Charlie showed similar expressions as they ate their berries. The Giver pulled the remaining seeds from the fruit and put them into the sack as well. He brought the white fruit and the sack over to them. He peeled off a bit of the fruit and ate it. He held the sack up and made a choking noise and held his hand to his throat.

The explanation was very clear to them. They each took a bit of the fruit and ate it. The taste was amazing. One time, Harry had eaten a piece of cotton candy that Dudley had dropped on the ground. The fruit had the sugary sweetness of cotton candy along with the juiciness of a pear. The four of them tore through the remaining fruit until nothing was left.

The Giver made a grunting noise that sounded like a chuckle and returned to the cup. He put the spoon in and stirred it five times to the left and eight to the right before putting it back into the chest. He then placed the mug in the center of the clearing and put a banana leaf over the top of it.

He started to go back into the cave when Harry stopped him and tried to sign to him.

[What, Give, Scar?] He asked to see what the payment would be for whatever was going on.

The Giver picked up a handful of berries from Harry's cone and squeezed them, with all the juice dripping to the ground, then he pointed at Harry's scar. This made Harry even more confused, The Giver saw this and picked up his staff and poked the snake. The snake gave an indignant hiss and snapped at The Giver. The giver proceeded to grunt and huff and squeeze another handful of Harry's berries.

The snake turned to Harry and spoke.

§He will take from you the blackness of your scar§

§He says there will be juice or blood and he will take it§

§Then after you will come to him and learn§

Harry was even more confused

§Can you understand him? Like you can understand me?§

The snake replied and moved back up into the canopy of the tree.

§His voice is like banging rocks together, our voice is like making the web of a spider§
§I am going back up to my tree, I will listen to the song of a bird, and then eat him§

The Giver must have gone back inside the cave in the meantime while Harry wasn't looking. He returned to the others and explained what had been going on. Lyra was scared at hearing about the juice or blood that would need to be paid.

The group explored a bit of the surrounding area again until that evening when The Giver returned to the clearing outside the cave. He placed seven more feathers in the same spots as before and positioned the coffee mug filled with venom and poisonous fruit in the center. When The Giver tapped his staff and the feathers burst into flame, they could see the liquid in the cup glow slightly. Now Harry's scar was really itchy, but he managed to fall asleep barely.

His dreams that night were even more vivid, though this time they included a chubby little man kneeling on the floor and crying.

In the morning when he was taking a drink of water, he let out a gasp when he saw his reflection. The spidery lines from his scar had grown and now covered most of his forehead, his cheek, and probably some on his scalp under his hair. The others were shocked at the sight and Lyra seemed to cry a little at the sight.

After they ate, The Giver emerged and called down the snake who put seven drops of venom into the cup. The feathers burnt out and were placed with the others from the previous night into the crystal bowl.

The day continued with most of the tribe exploring the area, Harry decided to stick around and try to talk to the snake more.

§You said you are an Usurper, is that your name? Are there more of you?§ Harry asked

The snake replied,

§Usurpers are what I am, but I do not have a name.§

§My mother's name was Hiyas, named for the king she killed.§

§I will have a name one day myself when I kill a king.§

§There are none here anymore for me.§

Harry wasn't sure what to make of that, so he kept all of his other questions simple.

§What do you like to eat?§

§What's the largest thing you've eaten?§

§Do you see color? What is your favorite?§

§Are there other snakes here?§

The snake liked mostly birds and squirrels, he had eaten one of the miniature buffalo before, but couldn't get back into his tree for a month after. That is when he met The Giver who watched over him until the buffalo was fully digested. He didn't understand the question about color. He saw shades and shadows and heat and cold. His favorite color was whatever was the burning feathers at night. So Harry invited him down to spend the night there instead of the tree.

The Usurper told him more about his speaking.

§There are other snakes on the island, and while they are not kings, they think they are.§
§I told you most snakes will follow your commands, those snakes become arrogant when they do not have a Lord or Lordling to command them and believe themselves to be kings.§

§They know that I am a kingsbane and avoid me, fearing for their lives even though their lives are meaningless to me.§

§This side of the island has no other snakes, but there are many on the other side.§

This made Harry very interested in visiting the other side of the island.

That night, The Giver lit up the feathers again. The snake came down and coiled itself near the fire and stared into it for a time before placing its head into its coils and sleeping. Harry rolled over to have his back facing the fire and fall asleep. However, The Giver poked him with his staff to roll over and face the fire. The itching that Harry had the night before now felt like little needles in his head. Lyra came and lay down with him and kept him facing the fire all night.

His dreams that night had voices, the pale man yelling at the chubby man. The chubby man twisted and screamed in orange light. He couldn't yet make out the words.

The next day, Harry was a bit dizzy when he woke up. Lyra gasped and started crying when she saw him. He staggered down to the water and saw his reflection. The spidering branches reached down the side of his neck and the scar itself had turned black and was widening.

The cup had seven more drops of venom added to it and the burnt feathers were added to the crystal bowl.

Harry had small conversations with the snake and his tribemates, but nothing more.

On the fourth night when the feathers were lit, pain erupted in his scar and made Harry fall to his knees when the light of the fire reached him. Charlie had to hold him facing the fire that night. He heard the pale man yelling to the chubby man to speak and receive a reward, the orange light made Harry think of the pain he was feeling.

The fifth night, Charlie held him again, but Lyra and Teacher took shifts making sure he hadn't wriggled free through the night.

On the sixth and seventh nights, the snake constricted around Harry, completely covering him from his feet up to his neck so he couldn't move or roll away from the light of the fire. Harry didn't exactly sleep, he just dreamed of the pale man entering a house, another man falling in green light; then standing before a woman with red hair and a baby in a crib. The pale man yelled, "STAND ASIDE" and then Harry saw the green light again. Then pain and more pain.

On the seventh morning, Harry opened his eyes, and the snake was still wrapped around him. He stared at the dying embers of the feathers in front of him. Charlie leaned down before him and signed.

[Now, Go, Sneak, Bad, Kill]

The snake also whispered to him.

§Today, you will go to end this, with the Creeping Death§