Manannan was oddly busy, working most of the day in the study. After six days of this, Gwydion was extremely bored. It hadn't helped that the weather turned nasty, raining for three straight days, and drizzling for the rest. In the few sunny breaks, he check the garden, which was already thriving, and he was using the fruits and vegetables in the kitchen daily, but it did really need that much tending. The Keep was spotlessly clean. He couldn't go visit anyone with Manannan hanging around, and because the wizard spent all his time in the study he couldn't even borrow a book to read. He had even given Letholdus so many brushing that the cat was now avoiding him.
He was bored.
He finally cracked on the seventh day, and that at night, sneaked into the study and borrowed three books, shifting the ones around them to hide the gaps. The first book was a small diary which had 'The Chronicles of Prydain, by Taran Wanderer' on the first page, and was full of interesting pictures of strange creatures, and was written by a orphan boy who Gwydion immediately felt kinship with. The second was 'Snakes; common, magical, and related' which was quiet thick and heavy, but had drawn Gwydion to it, especially its beautiful colour plates and illustrations. The last was a diary written by Kurt Niederloh, who traveled deep into forests looking for magical talking plants, of which there was a surprising variety. Gwydion had picked it because it smelt softly of lavender, and pressed in the pages was a variety to cuttings from the plants Niederloh had been looking for.
Gwydion had taken to reading the books in his room, curled up on his bed, watching the rain drum against the window. He was in the middle of the book on snakes, which he found was ordered alphabetically.
Seps: First described by the chronicler Lucan (in his work Pharsalia), the seps is a dangerous snake, with extremely corrosive venom. The Seps can be found to two colour variations, the more common pure white or the rarer, larger, pure black both with a slight blue tint to the scale. The white Seps is commonly found in the highlands of the north, and is in fact endemic to the Kingdom of Morfessa, but has also been spotted as far south as the Barzakh Mountains. Black Seps are found only in northern marsh lands, and are highly territorial. Both variations are known to hiss loudly when threatened. Seps are not particularly large creatures, with white Seps reaching only two feet long, and black Seps a maximum of four feet long, but their venom is almost larger than life in its capabilities - more than able to eat through not just flesh, but bone as well. The venom of Seps' are, as such, often used in potions and solutions used to clean dragon scales, as dragonhide and dragon scales is one of the few materials resistant to the venom of a Seps. The venom of a Seps turns the body of those it bites to slurry, rather akin to the venom of the Axetail dragon, and, like that dragon breed, it then feeds off the slurry produced. Indeed it takes very little venom to completely liquefy a body, and generally the only cure for a Seps bite is a hasty amputation. However Seps tend to produce their venom rather slowly, with milking done usually once every three days, in comparison to the daily, required for snakes such as the Dipsa and the Hydros. This means they are a measure more common as pets than other magical serpents, and are often kept by the brave or foolish. Isidore of Seville was the
"Gwydion! Where are you boy?" Manannan's yell was so surprising Gwydion almost fell off his bed as he jumped. Quickly shoving the books under his bed, he shouted back.
"In my room Master!"
Gwydion scrambled out into the hall, to find Manannan storming up the stairs. Manannan seemed to pause, taking in Gwydion's appearance. He sniffed, as if the boy was something distasteful, before saying, "I will be taking a trip into town. Feed yourself and go to bed before dark."
"Yes, Master."
Manannan again looked over the boy from head to toe. Gwydion thought he might be looking for something to complain about, as Petunia had often looked just like that. But something seemed to soften in the wizards eyes. The wizard then said, to Gwydion amazement, "The Keep looks very clean. Well done," before the wizard spun and stomped out of the keep, as if escaping the praise he had just given the boy.
Gwydion wished the wizard hadn't said anything. It just made him feel even worse about even thinking about betraying him. And that's what it would be, a betrayal, not matter how much everyone else said he had too, and that it was the right thing. Gwydion barely tasted the sandwich he made for dinner, and went to bed early, even his joy at having books to read gone under his heartache.
Author Note: The description of the Seps here was taken in part from the excellent blog, themonsterblogofmonsters .tumblr .com. Also thank you to those reviewed!