Chapter 2 – Dangerous Jungle

"Don't try to fool me Miranda. If that is your real name" Sarah said angrily. "I don't know what you are talking about." She hissed. "You poisoned the wine and the food probably too". Miranda looked at her with an upset expression and she pinched her lips. She raised her left hand to cast a spell but Sarah jumped right into her and denied her action by sending Miranda and herself to the floor. Sarah got up a second before Miranda did and she took the glass of wine quickly in her hand and she poured the content with a quick gesture right in Miranda's face. Miranda screamed out in pain and she fell to the ground. Sarah heard knocks at the door as she looked at Miranda, who rolled over the floor, covered her face with her hands and groaned in pain. Sarah decided to flee out of this village. She walked to a window in the living room and she climbed out after she had opened it.

She looked around, searching for way out of this village. She spotted a small hole in the wooden wall. It was big enough to make her escape possible. She rushed through it and made sure that nobody saw her. I knew there was something fishy with that woman. Nobody helps anyone anymore these days. She thought and she cursed the society in her thoughts. I should be more careful. I definitely trust strangers to easy especially young, hot women she thought. She had never liked men before. Since she was 13 years old she started liking women instead of men. She thought that men are immature, perverts who just have one thing on her minds. She didn't have good experience with men. She reminded herself that Miranda had poisoned her. According to my little poison detecting magical object, the poison should be of an animal. The animal could be a snake which is found rarely. She knew a lot of poisons and Miranda's poison should have started working immediately after she started to eat the meal.

She felt a piercing pain in her right arm, as she looked at her arm she saw black marks in a shape of a deformed skull creeped up her arm. The Curse, That's all I need right now she thought. She pulled out a small bottle and she drank the green liquid which was inside the bottle. Disgusting she thought as she finished drinking the nasty fluid. The pain stopped as the marks disappeared. She doesn't know why the poison hasn't harmed her, maybe because the curse absorbed it, but she wasn't sure about that. The bigger problem is that somebody has sent a lot of strong, brutal and fearsome warriors to kill her. She didn't know who had sent them and who they are, but she knows that she shouldn't encounter them. She didn't even know why she was hunted by them. She hasn't seen them at all but she has sensed their auras every time they came closer. She didn't have much time to take a break, she has to run constantly to get away from them. She had tried to shake of her pursuers but it didn't work at all. She was one or two days ahead of them maybe less, she wasn't sure about that. All she knew was she has to hurry. She doesn't know where she can hide she doesn't even know if she ever will be able to escape them. She doesn't know where she should go, but she dreamed about a shaman who is called Nagaburo. They aren't just normal dreams, Sarah was pretty sure that they had a special meaning for her, like a vision or something like that.

She doesn't know where she can find her or him. She wanted to ask some people in the village but while Miranda was around, there probably isn't any opportunity for that. The bigger question was, does Miranda belong to her pursuers or was she sent separated by them. She was sure that Miranda's tattoo belongs to a guild of assassins, murderers and thieves. She reminded herself that she hasn't enough time for thinking about her. She has to search Nagaburo quickly. Her dream told her that she has to travel to the Howling Mountain, which is located in the kingdom's north.

She was in the south now, so she has to travel a lot, one or two weeks maybe. She would be a lot fasterif she was able to get a horse or a Warg. She didn't have enough money so she decided to steal a horse. She walked around the wall to the village's back gate. A few traders left their coaches unguarded next to the gate. She kept an eye out for guards, but she spotted none of them. She walked to a horse which was tied to the wooden coach. The horse had brown fur and a long white mane. Sarah gave the horse a couple of carrots. The horse whinnied happily and ate the carrots. She untied the horse and climbed in the saddle, which was made out of black leather. She spurred her new horse and the animal stared moving forward, first at a slowly but later with a faster tempo.

She had ridden for a few days without stopping or making a pause. She hasn't even slept during this period of time. She got of her horse and she walked a few meters. She was now in an area with many huge forests. The horse took her to a forest with a lot of threes, which are higher than 10 meter. Most of the trees had green or blue leafs, only a few were be stocked with purple leafs. Some trees carried weird looking fruits. Sarah wasn't sure if the fruits were eatable, so she decided not to eat them unless she would be starving, but for her fortunate she has enough supplies for the next week. Her horse carried her through the half of the forest. Sarah discovered few rare animal races, most of them were bugs, snakes or reptiles. The ground was overgrown with moss, grass and little plants, you could barely see any spots of soil. The air was very hot and Sarah began to sweat. From the treetops branches hung a lot of lianas and long thick snakes. She smiled as she saw the beautiful creatures. In her homelandsnakes, spiders and scorpions where treated as godlike divine animals.

She watched closely how a big, almost 25 meters long, purple male Grash-King-Boa kept focus on a young crocodile, which swam in a shallow river. The snake stuck out her tongue and hissed as she crawled nearer to her target. Sarah watched fascinated as the Boa closed the distance to its target to almost one meter. The crocodile didn't realize in which danger it hanged. The smaller reptile kept staring in to nowhere, while the deadly larger reptile winded itself around the croco's body and started tothrottle it. The green reptile hadn't even the smallest chance to defend itself and after it showed some resistance, the croco's muscles became limp and the snake devoured it without any problems.

Sarah was lost in thoughts but a loud rustle pulled her out of it. She turned her hand around, as she saw a much larger female Grash-King Boa creeped her way through the overgrown ground right in her direction. "Don't you dare! Stop moving in my direction Miss Snake", she said and hoped that caused that the pink coloured Boa would have changed her mind and let off from her. She doesn't fear them, it's quite the reverse she loved snakes and she don't want to hurt them either. The snake came closer. "Don't do it. Don't you dare. No let me in Peace!" she told to the snake, but the talk to the beautiful animals hasn't changed anything at all. From the corner of her left eye she saw that the male snake changed its focus to her too. She was now flanked from two big snakes. "Shit", she mumbled as she started running a direction where none of the snakes were. She heard the hissing snakes right behind her as she increased her speed by using a simple magical spell. The snakes weren't able to keep up with her after she had doubled up her running speed. She escaped from them without having any problems.

She heard a loud whinny from her horse. "Damn it. The snakes probably are attacking my horse. I have to save him, but I'll be too late and the risk is too high that the snakes are trying to attack me again. I have to keep walking northwards, but I also have to take a brake soon. And I need a bath too, she thought. She walked for a couple of hours and stopped as she reached a small lake. The vegetation around the lake told her that she had entered a jungle which she hasn't even noticed before. She took a closer look at the lake's surroundings, but she couldn't spot any dangerous animals or plants there. She took of here clothes and laid them on a large stone. She felt a cold breeze hit her body that caused her to get in the water very quickly. The water was surprisingly hot, it was the exact opposite to the air. She leaned back to relax a little bit but she stayed attentive, she did not want to be attacked by an animal or a murderer, while she takes a bath.

After about a half of an hour she noticed that the water started to bubble, she looked around but she couldn't find the origin. The bubbling got more and more intensive over the time, she tried to leave the lake but she wasn't able to move her legs and feet, something powerful bound her to the lake. The hot water turned into cold water very fast and suddenly Sarah noticed a weak aura, which got stronger very quickly. The water foamed up and formed itself into a spout that almost looked like a tornado. The water was icy cold now and Sarah shivered with cold, the sky, which was cloudless before, was now overcast by big black clouds. It started to rain heavily and the water spout disappeared in a wink of an eye and a water spirit appeared instead. The over 5 meter tall light-blue creature, which body was made of constantly rotating water which stabilized the water creature's form and denied that the spirit body collapsed. The body of the water spirit was heavily built and it's almost looked like a cup of tea without the handle.

"Delicious little humans are always my favourite meal, but you are nothing but skin and bones, I probably have to wait for a second meal after I have eaten you", a pinched voice said, which came out the cup-head's lungs. "Let me go and nobody will be hurt. I probably won't taste good anyway. What kind of a creature are you? I've never heard that water spirits are eating flesh", Sarah said as she looked up to the spirit and tried again to free herself from the cold waters grip, but she failed.

"My name is Krirax, the Waterlord of Kalajin and you entered my territory without my permission. So it's my right to do with you whatever I want and I decided to eat you", the water spirit responded.

"You will break your teeth on me"

"Luckily I don't even have teeth"

"Yes lucky for you because I would have broken you every single one"

"Ha-ha, you don't even have the smallest chance against a mighty Waterlord like me. You wouldn't even withstand 5 seconds against me."

"Should I prove you that you are wrong?, she asked with a broad grin.

"You foolish weak humans often overestimate yourself. I would never lose too a small little child like you"

"Child? I'm twenty years old"

"Twenty years? Hilarious. I'm almost 200 times older than you"

"Age doesn't matter it's your skill and your intelligence that counts and it seems that you are not one of the clever kind."

"How dare you insulting me? You must be way more stupid than I thought. Taunting the one who can end your life within a few seconds."

"You better don't underestimate me"

"Enough! I hate your arrogant nature. You dumb fool ! I'll smash your head and tear your body apart", Krirax screamed violently angry.

"You are the fool Krirax. You let me distract you, so that I had enough time to free myself from your water bindings.", Sarah said and jumped out of the lake on dry land. Krirax laugh almost hurt her ears and he said " How do you want to fight against ME? You don't even wear clothes or armour, you don't even have a weapon. Sarah looked around only to saw that what he said was true. Her clothes, armour and sword disappeared. Krirax regarded her bare body, "You humans are such... hideous creatures" he hissed disgusted. "Shut up or I will rip your stupid head apart from your body" she responded. "You are not able to defeat me, neither with a weapon nor with armour."

"I don't need armour or a weapon to beat the shit out of you" Sarah said as took a defensive posture and made herself ready for an incoming attack. Krirax screamed out of anger and hatred and lifted his left arm for a powerful punch but Sarah foresaw the incoming attack and she made a giant leap on the waterlord's hand as his hand was one meter away from her. She climbed up his arm and she run right to his left shoulder as a jet of water, coming out of his mouth ,hit her and threw her off his shoulder. She winced in pain as she landed on the stable ground. Blood flowed out of her left sight, but it wasn't much, a sharp painful noise escaped her lips as she pulled herself up. "I told you that you don't have a chance against me", Krirax taunted. "You will see be a little bit patient" she replied. "I've been enough patients with you", he said as he opened his mouth for another jet of water but Sarah was faster as she fired a flash of lighting in his direction. The water spirit got hit by the ray which caused him to stagger a few steps back.

He groaned in pain as he was hit by a second ray, Sarah took advantage of this opportunity, in which the water spirit wasn't able to move because his body was in a state of shock,she made a large jump right in front of his face and she gave him a powerful, magical increased, roundhouse kick right in his jaw. He screamed out in anger and pain that made her knew that she had hurt him by a lot, "You are getting on my nerves, I will end this now" he roared as his jaw's size increased by three timesof the size. "Oh Oh this is bad" Sarah whispered as she was devoured by Krirax's mouth.