Julian, Anne, Dick, Jo and Timmy were now really in a fix. According to Dick, the snake that was holding them at bay was not the most poisonous, but still the biggest poisonous snake in the world. George stood a few feet away from the others, watching the dilemma from a distance, stuck in a state of shock. She did not know what to do. How was she to keep the snake away from the others? "I do have one piece of good news in our humble situation," said Dick holding Jo close to him and standing protectively in front of her. "And that is?" the latter asked hoarsely. "The bite is 100 per cent fatal, and you die relatively quickly. If one of us is bitten, he won't have to suffer for long," Dick replied, which of course didn't reassure the others at all.
"Timmy! Stay away from that thing!" shouted George alarmed by Dick's comment about the scaly beast. But it still remained rooted to the same spot. " That's not good news for me at all," Julian uttered, standing in front of Anne. Timmy growled loudly and did not take his eyes off the dangerous predator that was snaking ever closer to them. George cursed herself inwardly for not stopping Lewis from running away. He certainly knew what to do in this case.
The thought of Lewis also immediately brought his "gift" back into her mind. The gun! The others didn't even know yet that she had received the gun from him. Desperately, she reached for the pistol she had tucked behind her waistband at her hip. She wished she had a proper holster, like Cassi. But she didn't have time to worry about that now. She still had to find a way to protect her friends from the snake.
The easiest way George could think of to do this was to shoot the snake with the new pistol. But the longer she filed this thought in her head, the more worried she became. She was afraid of accidentally hitting Timmy or one of her friends, which was actually very unlikely as she was standing directly to the side of them. She had a clear shot at the cobra. Yet, she did nothing. Confusion and indecision froze her in place and left her standing idly.
"Do something, George. Come up with something," Anne wailed, clinging to Julian in agony. Julian stood very far forward and looked with a deprecating gaze at their enemy from the animal kingdom.
This enemy from the animal kingdom seemed to be slowly losing patience and dared to attack clever Timmy. Luckily, George's dog quickly dodged the attack and barked so loudly at the animal that it retreated a little. Slowly it was getting really dicey. Often Timmy could not stop the snake from attacking the friends because the snake was not exactly unintelligent either. It dared another attack, but this only served to trick Timmy. Although Timmy managed to catch the snake and trap it in his mouth, the animal wrapped the rest of its scaly body around the dog and clung tightly to it.
Whimpering, Timmy yelped under the snake's strong grip. Instinctively, the dog let go of the hostile animal with its mouth. Hissing, the snake held its head as far away from Timmy as it could and looked down at the weakened dog, almost taunting him. "Timmy!" shouted Anne and George at the same time, watching the battle between dog and snake with concern.
Just as the animal was about to strike the final blow and finally defeat Timmy, a loud pistol shot rang out, causing each of the teenagers present to flinch violently. It took them a while to realise that someone had actually just shot the snake that was about to bite Timmy. Blood poured from the large bullet wound on its head. A large part of it was torn off by the force of the bullet. It was a sight that disgusted the youths. But... who had just saved the kids from this animal? Evil laughter and clapping immediately answered their question. No one had such an ugly and annoying laugh... like Cassi.
"I really bailed you out, didn't I?" she asked mockingly, pointing the pistol she held casually in her right hand at the children. "If Nick hadn't been such a fucking crybaby again, I would have loved to watch the cattle slaughter one by one of you," she added. "You're sick, aren't you?" spat George, giving her an extremely grim look. "Sick?" asked Cassi indignantly, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Which one of you just saved your friends, huh?" she said, giving George a mockingly insulted look. "Disrespectful cheeky brat.", Cassi continued to murmur, which really went against George's grain. Julian barely managed to stop his cousin from lunging at Cassi. George completely ignored the fact that Cassi was armed with a pistol, pointed it right at them and was therefore a real threat. Only her cousin, who rushed to her side, brought her back to her senses. "Just stay where you are," Cassi ordered and loudly loaded her pistol, bringing George back to reality.
George and Julian were quite close to each other. This was also noticed by Cassi, who looked at the two young people with a quirky look, but said nothing further about it. However, Dick was the one who noticed this. He found this behaviour extremely strange. George hated it when someone got too close to her. Normally, she would have already pushed Julian away a little or would have taken some distance from him on her own. To Dick's confusion, however, she remained in exactly the same place, right by Julian's side. What exactly did that mean?
"They wouldn't just save our lives out of the blue. I'm sure you have a relatively good reason for it," Julian spoke, looking at Cassi grimly. "Of course I have. I would have thought I could possibly get that nice little compass for it without having to teach each one of you a lesson.", Cassi laughed. "No way," it shot out of Jo, who held the object tight as a rock in her hand. "Okay, have it your way.", Cassi threatened and took a few steps towards Julian and George, pistol at the ready. She held it right in front of the two kids' noses and commanded icily, "The compass or it will go pew-pew."
Dull, distant machine-gun shots interrupted the tense situation. Everyone looked around in confusion and stood frozen for a while. "Cassi, we should get out of here," Nick suddenly whined, which immediately got on his girlfriend's nerves. "Stop whining. Some idiots are fighting in the Khwām Tāy, so what? We're safe here. It's far away from us." she grumbled, rolling her eyes. Cassi's mention of the forest of death made Julian wonder. If she too knew about this supposed section of anarchy, it definitely had to be real. So, Lewis hadn't lied to her, he was now a good deal more certain of that. So, their search for the treasure would take them to the most dangerous place in the world after all.
Julian's trains of thought were interrupted by a sudden, unexpected headache. His breathing partially stopped, and he had great difficulty catching his breath. He was plagued by heavy sweating. Julian got the feeling that he could not hold himself up for much longer. What on earth was going on now? It was an incredibly bad moment for a fainting spell. However, Julian was gradually being driven to the ground by the attacks of his body. Sharp pains in his arm, which started as suddenly as the headache, forced him to let out a muffled cry of pain and to clench his right hand convulsively around his upper-left arm. He was sure that something had stung him. Nothing hurt like a deep prick in the skin. At least that's what he thought.
"Julian!" shouted Anne, Dick and George at the same time. The latter had just managed to stop the oldest of the group from hitting the floor face-first. Completely weak and sweaty, Julian fell into George's arms, who was as confused as everyone else. Cassi, however, showed no concern. She was much more amused, almost gleeful, at Julian's unexpected, dramatically deteriorating condition.
Julian's collapse had briefly exposed his upper right arm. A kind of black circle formed on it, surrounding a reddened spot on his arm. The only one who saw this worrying mark was Cassi. She knew immediately what exactly had happened to Julian, but did not tell the others. The children's panic and helplessness were just far too amusing for her. "What's wrong, Julian?" asked Anne in an extremely shaky and frightened voice. "I don't know. I feel extremely dizzy all of a sudden.", Julian groaned weakly. "Maybe heatstroke.", Dick guessed and straightened up to get a water bottle from their backpacks. However, Cassi stopped him immediately.
"Whatever you're up to, you can save it. Your great leader won't have much time left anyway. The bite of a black forest killer makes its victims suffer, but not for too long," she spoke and laughed darkly. "What!?", Jo blurted out in shock, finally seeing the swollen injury on Julian's left arm. "Phracêā ch̀wy c̄hạn!" she groaned in dismay. The others were puzzled. "What did you say?" asked Dick with a furrowed brow. "Cassi's right, it's a bite from the black forest killer. Supposedly there's no cure for this bug's venom," Jo replied dejectedly, hanging her head. "Maybe not for you village idiots, but there are plenty of cures available from civilized areas," Cassi gave out. "Stop insulting us and tell us what we can use to save Julian," George murmured. "You'll never get the antidote, so there's no point in telling you about it at all," Cassi retorted, looking bored. "But Cassi, you can't just let the boy die," Nick suddenly interjected, who had remained hushed for most of the time. Probably his girlfriend's behaviour was starting to go a bit too far for him. "Well, they could give me something I'm very keen on. Maybe then I'll tell them where to get the antidote. It's up to you," Cassi said with a grin. The friends knew immediately what exactly Cassi meant. It was another attempt on her part to get the compass from the kids. But did they even have a choice this time?
"It's just a trick, don't fall for it," Julian gasped weakly. His voice was incredibly hotter and toneless. It scared the hell out of Anne, who clutched her brother's hand desperately. "Give her the fucking compass." she whispered softly, surprising the others with her choice of words. Cursing was something Anne never did. She really didn't seem to see any other way to save Julian.
Without finding an alternative, Jo suddenly stood up and angrily threw the compass at Cassi's feet. "At least I have a heart. I don't risk people's lives to save my village. Especially not those of the best friends I've ever had the privilege of knowing," she said, kneeling back down to Julian. Dick immediately tried to calm her down because shortly after she had done so, tears ran down her face. She seemed quite upset by the whole situation, which in Dick's eyes, was perfectly understandable. She had just possibly sealed the future of her village forever.
Satisfied, Cassi knelt down and picked up the compass. "You have two choices. You look for a rare, red, cherry-like berry and hope for a positive effect, or you get chaloditrophrine from the Khwām Tāy. However, that could be quite dangerous for you, so completely without weapons and experience in firefights and so on," she told the youths. "What's that?" asked Dick, confused. "The only medicine for the bite. More precisely its symptoms, which it weakens so much that the body can defeat the poison itself," Cassi replied, bored. "Man, I thought you guys were smarter than that," she let out in a whisper.
George was really fed up with Cassi's insults and taunts. If Julian wasn't in her arms right now, fighting for his life, she would have held her gun to her face. "We'd better go and get the berries. Lewis told us to stay out of the forest of death," Anne spoke, gently stroking her brother's cheek with her fingers. Cassi brightened at the mention of Lewis's name, however none of the friends noticed, all of them heavily focused on Julian. "Sorry to disappoint you there, sweetheart. The berries are so rare here that you will never find them. But there are a lot of them in the Khwām Tāy. The only problem is that they are also eagerly searched for, and you would have to go into the heart of it," Cassi immediately interjected, which made Anne burst into tears. "Why does everything have to be so dangerous here." she widened, sobbing heavily. "You should have just stayed in the safety of your resort. Then nothing would have ever happened to your Julian," Cassi chided. "Well, now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do. Treasure must be found.", Cassi finished her sentence and pulled Nick back into the forest with her. "Good luck, kids." she called brazenly before being completely swallowed up by the jungle with her boyfriend.
"That bloody stupid bitch is getting on my nerves," snorted George, looking grim behind her enemies. "You don't say?" sighed Jo, looking down sympathetically at the eldest of the Famous Five. Was she to blame for this dilemma? Maybe Cassi was right, after all. If Jo hadn't told the others about her problem, the Famous Five would have continued their holiday quite relaxed. Anne once told her that they were planning to go to Bangkok for a day and see the capital of Thailand. Lewis' words popped into her head. According to him, there were currently rebels in Bangkok terrorizing the population. So, were they going to be in danger either way? Was their entire Thailand holiday doomed to end in disaster?
In tears, Jo could no longer withstand her strong feelings of guilt. She had to get away from her new friends, for whose downfall she alone would be responsible. With a loud sob that she unintentionally let out, she straightened up and moved away from the group. Dick reacted immediately and jumped to his feet as well. He was incredibly worried about his brother, but he didn't want Jo to do anything stupid either.
"Hey, what's going on? Where are you going?" asked Dick, trying to sound as empathetic as possible. "I'm going to get those berries. It's all my fault Julian is dying now," Jo replied in a weakening, brittle voice. "That's not true at all. It's not your fault at all. We got ourselves into this adventure. If anyone is to blame, it's ourselves. You were just desperate for help and that's perfectly okay," Dick reassured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'll still go and get those berries. To make amends.", Jo objected, trying to turn away from Dick. "I'll come with you. I won't let you go to the Khwām Tāy alone," Dick immediately retorted, giving his all to stop Jo from running away. "No, you stay here with your brother. He needs you," Jo defended herself. She avoided any eye contact with Dick and stared at the ground in front of her feet. "He'll be fine if only George and Anne stay with him. Don't you understand that I'm trying to protect you? You just mean too much to me, so I can't let you go off into the deep jungle all alone," Dick said, touching her gently on the shoulders.
This made Jo look up again, a little flushed. Had Dick really just said that? Or had she just imagined it. "What?" she stammered uncertainly. "I like you. A lot, actually. I don't want to lose you by putting yourself in this danger alone. I will come with you.", Dick said confidently and in a serious voice. As he did so, he gently took her hands in his and looked piercingly into her eyes. Out of reflex, Jo had to smile. "I like you too," she whispered softly and gave Dick a brief but meaningful hug.
"Let's tell the others we're going to get the berries," she breathed as she broke away from Dick. He nodded at her and, without really noticing, took her hand. Jo did not mind. On the contrary, she even liked it.
"We'll get them," Dick said boldly and confidently when they were back with the others. "What?" stammered Anne, confused, and looked up at the two of them. Only after a while did she catch on to what Dick was talking about. "You want to go and get the berries and venture into the Khwām Tāy?" she asked, frightened. "Yes, it's the least I can do after putting you in this dilemma," Jo gave out. Again she could not look the others in the eyes. Her guilt was tormenting her a lot and she just had to do it to be able to quiet it again.
"I'll stay with Julian. Maybe you should go with them too Anne," George said resting Julian's head on her lap. "I'm definitely not going into that bloody jungle. Dick and Jo shouldn't risk it either," Anne immediately denied and looked at the others with wide eyes. "But then Julian will die. I'm afraid there's no other way to save him without going into the Khwām Tāy," Dick countered. His sister then slumped her shoulders in exhaustion. "We should never have gone here.", she stammered, burying her face in her hands. "I'm sorry.", Jo gave softly, which confused Anne a little. "No, it's not your fault. It's all our fault. Please don't beat yourself up about it," Anne blurted out when she finally understood Jo. Her new friend didn't answer and just looked at the floor, shaking her head.
"We should leave. The longer we delay, the worse Julian's condition will get," Dick said. "I guess you're right," Anne sighed, squeezing her dejected brother's hand. "I'll come with you." she said quietly, causing the others to look at her in surprise. "Are you for certain?" asked Jo cautiously. She didn't want her friends to put themselves in that kind of danger. She still saw herself as responsible for this problem. "Yes I am. Sitting around here won't do any good," Anne replied, trying to sound as confident as possible. Yes, she will risk her life for her brother! Lewis would do the same, she thought to herself. Why she was thinking of the young Australian at that very moment, she couldn't explain. But his determination to do everything for his brother also drove Anne to do everything for her own.
"Here, take this. In case things get really hairy," George said, holding out her new pistol to Anne. Her cousin looked startled at the gun in her hand. "Where did you get that?" she asked in shock. "Just before Lewis left, he put it in my hand. He seemed to have guessed that we were going to this forest of death and left it with me so that we could defend ourselves," George spoke. Slowly and cautiously Anne took the gun from her hand and looked at it for a while, just as George had done before, like an object from another world. "It might be for the best." she said quietly, tucking the gun into her waistband and covering the weapon with her T-shirt. This surprised George, beyond measure. She would have expected Anne to pass the gun to Dick or Jo. Instead, she took charge of the gun herself. George had to admit that this behaviour impressed her. Anne seemed to become braver and more self-confident, which would definitely be a great help to her in this adventure.
"Let's get going then. I hope we find those berries quickly," said Dick and set off with Anne and Jo on their most dangerous journey ever.
