The Serpent and the Maiden Fair Chapter 2
Cedric looked around first; his serpentine eyes studied his surroundings, trying to find out if there were humans nearby. When he was already sure that he is alone, he transformed into his real form. He roared as his skin bloated and changed, it was painful, he felt that he was electrocuted every time he does that but then he became used to it. When he was done, he then moved to hunt, he choose to do that in the middle of the thick forests of West Nubar as the place was rarely visited by humans. He wants to avoid them as much as possible.
Naga shape-shifters have been despised by humans ever since and were hunted down and killed, it was the reason why he was alone. His parents died because of the stupid humans. He hated them as much as he hated living alone. He was just ten years old with no other living relatives; he was forced to live in the depths of the forests just to be safe from the clutches of evil hands.
After his parents' death, he had a hard time adjusting, he doesn't know how to hunt for himself and there were a lot of ferocious animals just lurking nearby but when he learned how to transform, he found out that he can easily take down mountain lions or tigers. He learned to communicate with his fellow serpents and they will give him news about the outside world. Everything was nice and peaceful except for the part that he yearns to have a family that will take care of him.
He slithered into the forests looking for a place where he can wait for his prey, his mouth watered as he spotted a nice and healthy deer grazing on the meadow. He positioned himself, ready to attack anytime. A scream surprised him and the deer ran away. His frowned and was about to follow it when another scream echoed in the forest again. He realized that it was just near his current location.
He started moving to check it out. He found himself near the lake; his eyes darted and saw something glowing in the waters. Without even changing to his human form, he went near to check it out.
"Heh-heh, I wonder how much gold the Duke will pay for his daughter's safety." He heard a man say. Cedric silently hid into the bushes while trying to find out what's happening. From his position, he can see two men sitting near the mouth of the lake. They were holding some kind of rope and were connected to the river. No, it wasn't connected to the river.
He checked again and learned that the glow in the water was not some sort of light but another human. A girl to be exact. He almost gasped as he saw her, she was very beautiful. Her hair was pastel blue, and her body was covered with glowing scales while her legs, no she had no legs but a tail was located on her lower body. A mermaid? No, mermaids can't be found in fresh water and there were no mermaids in Meridian.
"Who would have thought that the Duke married a freak?" He heard the smaller man said to his companion.
"It's not a freak you idiot. That's a water nymph, a Naiad to be exact. Only a few exist and the Duchess is one of them. Her daughter is too. Just wait when we take her out of the water." The bigger man told his companion. A water nymph? He remembers his mother telling him a story about water nymphs before, like the Naga's they were hunted down by people because some believed that they were bad luck. Somehow he felt pity for the girl.
"Please. Take me back to my parents." He winced as he heard the girl's voice. Judging by her appearance, she was only seven or eight years old. The men just laughed at her.
"Silence! We won't harm you. We just need your parents to pay us money first." The bigger man said and he started pulling the string that is tied on the girl's feet. Cedric saw the water splashing as the girl was struggling to break free but it was no use as the rope was tied tightly on her leg. The man continued to pull her until she was now out of the water. Her appearance changed and the scales earlier were now gone and was replaced by a normal body of a child. Her blue hair was replaced with silver blonde. She was shaking but not from cold, but because of fear. He started to feel disgust to the men that took her.
He somewhat felt a strong connection to her with the fact that they were both despised by the other humans. He wants to help her but then he was a small child just like her, well, in his human form, yes but he was in his Naga form so he can easily scare or take down the men around her. He inhaled deeply and studied the situation before attacking.
"Who would have thought that you are a beauty out of the water?" The smaller man said while touching some locks of hair from the girl. Cedric clenched his teeth. How dare this man think about perverted thoughts with a small child? With this he jumped out of his hiding place and roared. It took the two men in surprise.
"A Naga!" The smaller man yelled as soon as he saw him. Cedric can feel the vibrations of the smaller man's veins due to fear and how the blood flowed from his body. He can smell his fear. A smirk formed on Cedric's lips.
"It's just a child!" The bigger man shouted to his companion but before he can do anything else Cedric jumped towards them, targeting their neck. He wrapped his long tail on the bigger man's body and went to bite his neck, transferring the deadly venom from his system. The other man screamed and without any words ran away. He sighed as he let go of the bigger man, who was now shrieking in pain as the venom flowed throughout his body.
In a few minutes, he will die. Cedric glance at the shocked little girl looking at him, he looked for disgust or fear in her eyes but there was none; only worry was registered on her face, which shocked him. Any young girl who would've witness this scene should have passed out in fear but this girl, she was different. He sighed and transformed back into his human form and went near her.
"Are you alright?" he asked. The girl seemed to wake up from her thoughts, she looked up and their eyes meet. Violet eyes? It was weird though. It was like he was looking at his own eyes as they have the same color. A smile crept on the girl's face.
"T-thank you." She replied. A small blush crept on her pale face. "Beautiful." The girl muttered.
"What?" he asked, his forehead cringed at her words. Beautiful? What was beautiful?
"You. In snake form. You are beautiful." The girl said as she reached out to touch his face. He gasped as her cold hand touched his still warm skin. It somewhat sent volts of electricity throughout his body and the sensation was like his transformation, yet this one was gentle and he liked it. She was different, she was special, and she was the first person who called his real form beautiful. He smiled gently and helped her up.
"What's your name?" He then asked, out of curiosity. They started walking away the lake, leaving the dead man. His put his guard on, in case the other man will come back to attack them.
"Eh-ve-ry." The girl muttered. He raised his eyebrow. Every? "Avery." The girl then repeated. He smiled. The girl seems not to feel cold even if her clothes were wet. Well, as far as he knows Naiads were also like Naga's they were cold blooded.
"Where are you from?" he asked again. The girl pointed out to the outskirts of the forest. She was from the town. He stopped on his tracks. No, he can't come with her. People will kill him if he goes there. The girl seems to have noticed; he gasped as she grabbed his hand and ran towards the opening. Without any questions he just followed her.
Avery watched as Irma was trying to practice her skills in jousting, she had to admit that the girl was talented. She wondered if Irma learned how to do it or she was just born with it. She smiled and waved at her friend who immediately jumped out of the horse and ran towards her.
"Avy!" Irma shouted and tackled her with a hug.
"You act like you haven't seen me in months." She said after Irma let go of her. Irma chuckled and removed the helmet from her head, her hair wet with sweat. She₂ must have been practicing for a long time. "Where are the others?" she added and looked around to check if the others are there.
"They're in the museum, trying to find out some ideas for the theme. Elyon's got the balloons." Irma replied while trying to dry her hair with a towel, she₂ then stopped as soon as she spotted Mr Fordham walking towards them. "Hey Mr Fordham, I'll bring Dusty back right after I win the tournament." Irma said to the teacher.
"Manure." He muttered in his deep and scary voice.
"What? Your saying I can't win because I'm a girl?" Irma replied making Avery chuckle. Mr Fordham shook his head.
"I'm talking about our deal. I'll lend you Dusty, you clean out the stalls." He said and she heard Irma scoffed.
"Don't you have like a poo vacuum cleaner?" Irma asked him again but the professor shook his head and left them.
"Don't worry Irma, I'm free today. So I can help." Avery said, trying to comfort her friend. Well, today, she doesn't really have anything to do. There were no classes because of the carnival and Principal Knickerbocker promised to give extra points to people who will help in the preparations.
"Thanks. You really are an angel Ave." Irma said while leading the way to the stalls. She frowned when they arrived there. The place smells disgusting and the loud neighing of the horses can be heard inside.
"Ugh. Yucky." Irma complained while taking out a broom and dust pan, she₂ handed it to Avery and proceeded to clean the place. Avery just smirked and took a handkerchief from her pocket, she then folded it and wrapped it around her nose are to block the smelly scent coming from the waste.
"You know, I kind of like you more than Elyon and Corny. You're older but you're cool." Irma said while sweeping off the manure from an empty stall. She just smiled. Well, she also likes Irma a lot compared to the others; she₂ was outgoing, funny and always has witty jokes that make her laugh.
"But are you sure you are really related to Elyon? No offense meant but you too look different from each other." This question caught her off guard. She never thought someone would notice it and would ask her.
"I don't know. For some reasons that also bugs me. I mean, Mom and Dad totally look different from us. I always ask them if I'm adopted but they have DNA results, you know." She replied. Irma shrugged and looked down on the ground, thinking hard.
"Is it okay if I ask you something?" Irma said again. Avery raised one of her eyebrows but just smiled at her young friend.
"Sure thing. What's that?" She replied.
"What will you feel, if you know, like your adopted or something?" Irma asked. She sighed. She can't believe she's having this kind of conversation with her friend, let alone someone younger than her. Is her appearance really that different that people think that she is adopted?
"I don't know. Maybe I'll be angry but I supposed I should be thankful that they raised me." She said while looking at Irma who was also staring at her, waiting for the reply to come. The other girl mouthed an "okay" before going back to cleaning. They were halfway through the job when some kind of bad smell, even more disgusting than the manure, came inside the stables.
"Eww! That smells worse than horse poo!" She complained and pinched her nose to prevent it from smelling the bad odor. Irma was staring on the ceiling; there was an eerie expression on her face. "What?" she asked her. Irma winced.
"Uhmm. Ave. Can I go out for a second?" Irma asked, acting weirdly. She just shrugged and nodded. The girl then went outside and the scent was somewhat gone. Weird. She thought. She just focused on finishing the last stalls. Irma went back after a short while with a boy in unusual clothes trailing behind her.
"Uhmm. Ave, can I ask you a favour?" Irma asked while trying to take off the armour she was wearing.
"Yeah. What?"
"Can you look out for this guy just for a while? I need to go to Will." Irma replied, while grabbing the arm of the boy and shoving him in front of her. The boy complained but Irma didn't mind it. She looked at him, typical girl crush, she thought; tall, dark, handsome, and muscular, with brown hair and green eyes. In her estimate, the boy was younger than her.
"Avery this is Caleb. Caleb this is Avery, Elyon's big sister." Irma introduced them to one another. She smiled and held out her hand for him.
"It's nice to meet you Caleb." The guy's forehead furrowed while looking at her but then he accepted her hand and shook it.
"Have we met before?" He asked, now it was her forehead that cringed. Met before? I don't even know this man. She shook her head. Irma then hurriedly ran outside the stables.
"Are you new here?" She asked the guy named Caleb. He looked at her, his gaze somewhat pierced her.
"Yes, I'm staying at Hay Lin's." Caleb replied. Are they related? She wants to ask but stopped herself because it was sort of a personal question. But Caleb seemed to have read her mind.
"No. We're not related. I just work there for part time. I came from Meridian." She cocked one of her eyebrows. Meridian? What the hell is that place? "I mean, I'm from another place." He then added. She sighed. Somehow the air was getting awkward; she wanted to scold Irma for leaving her with a new guy she barely even knew. She went back to cleaning.
"So, you are Elyon's sister?" His statement sounded like a question to her.
"Yeah. Is it too obvious?" She asked almost sounding sarcastic. "How did you know my sister?" She then added.
"We'll Cornelia invited her to Will's birthday party where we met." What? Seriously, how many people does this new guy know? Wait, how come he was invited to Will's party when she wasn't invited? She knew that Matt came too. Weird.
"So, you will also play in the joust?" Caleb asked again. Really? Can this guy just shut up?
"Uh. No. I don't even know how to ride a horse." She answered.
"You want me to teach you?" Caleb added. She wanted to say no but then she always wanted to learn how to ride a horse when she was young. She quickly nodded and Caleb smiled and opened a stall, containing a brown horse. He went near it and started caressing its face gently. He signalled her to try, which she did, she fidgeted the moment her hand touched the horse's skin but the horse neighed softly at her, almost liking what she was doing. She started to caress it and it feels strange, it was like her hand was familiar with a horse.
"I think he is ready to let you ride him." Caleb then said, she nodded and went to the back and tried to mount on it. She gasped as Caleb's hands surrounded her waist and lifted her on top of the horse. She sat properly and clutched the reins of the horse tightly, afraid that she might fall. When she was ready she slightly kicked the horse back to signal it to walk. She chuckled as the horse started walking, it was a success! She tamed a horse and rode it!
"Are you sure that this is your first time to ride a horse?" She turned to see Caleb, riding another horse and was following behind.
"Yes! And I feel great!" She yelled and because of her excitement she accidentally kicked the horse again and it ran faster. "Wait. No. No. Stop!" She said while trying to pull the reins but the horse continued to run.
"Avery!" She can hear Caleb calling her. She turned her back on him but she gasped. It wasn't Caleb running after her. It was the man with a blonde hair, the man on her dreams. No! This isn't happening again. She glanced forward and was shocked to see that the horse became white and that she was running on a meadow and not on the school grounds. She looked back again to check and she saw the man, she got a better look and realized that it was a younger version of the blonde man in her dreams; he looks like he was just fourteen years old, his hair was even short.
"Avery! Slow down!" The man called again. She shook her head. She was dreaming! She slapped her face to wake herself up but then the horse started running faster and her clutch loosened. She tried to reach for the reins but she can't. Her heart pounded fast, fear washed through her body and she uttered a small plea for the horse to stop. Then after a few seconds it stopped running.
"Are you alright?" The man caught up with her, his violet eyes were full of concern like those in her dreams.
"No! Don't touch me!" She screamed as she tried to avoid his hand, his forehead cringed, and then she felt a soft tap on her shoulder.
"Avery hey!" She opened her eyes and saw Caleb looking at her, his face was somewhat worried. She looked around and she found herself sitting on a chair in the stables. She fell asleep!
"What happened?" She asked Caleb, her voice was a little bit groggy.
"You fell from the horse earlier, good thing you were not injured." He explained. She looked at her arms and legs. She was covered with dirt! She found some minor scratches on her arms but it wasn't really much of a big deal. She sighed.
"You scared me!" Caleb exclaimed. "Irma would kill me if something bad happened to you." She chuckled and lightly punched him on the shoulder.
"I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me!" She said and smiled at him, her heart somewhat flattered with his words. Before he can even say anything Irma came rushing towards them.
"Avery! Can I borrow Caleb for a while?" Irma was panting. She nodded, Caleb waved goodbye to her and was dragged by Irma outside. Avery closed her eyes, her head felt heavy.
"I've seen this painting! We can go in from the other side!" Caleb said as soon as he and Irma were alone. He was still worried about Avery, she fell from the horse yet no one was left to look after her but then this incident was a big deal, the other guardians are trapped in a painting in Phobos' gallery!
"What other side?" Irma asked looking confused. Caleb inhaled deeply, his hand moved to comb his hair, a thing he does whenever he was nervous.
"Meridian. We can only go in by entering the painting in Phobos' gallery." He exclaimed. Irma's mouth dropped.
"You're kidding right?" She asked, biting her lips in the process. It was the first time that he saw her like that but there was no time to waste. Irma face then lightened like an idea struck her. "I know what to do!" She exclaimed and dragged her back to the stables.
After a few minutes, they were now standing in front of the blue swirling orb.
"You ready?" He asked Irma before kicking the side of his horse to signal it to run. Irma nodded and followed him inside. It was dark as always in Meridian, the rumble of thunder can be heard throughout the silent land. The guided their horses towards the entrance of the castle, where a lot of guards were running towards them but they easily passed through with the help of the horses and the lances.
"Behind you!" He yelled at Irma who was in front of him, a guard jumped towards her back but she quickly thrust the lance towards his direction and the guard fell over.
"Thanks!" Irma said now catching up with him. The horses were now climbing the steps towards the part of the castle where Phobos' library was located. When they reached the castle, they nudged the horses to walk silently to avoid gaining the attention of the other guards. Good thing that area wasn't well guarded. The door of the gallery sprang open revealing the big painting where the others are trapped.
"That's Avery!" Irma's voice surprised him; he glanced towards her and saw her staring at a smaller painting. He jumped out of his horse and walk towards her. His mouth dropped as soon as he saw it. It was Avery but younger. Wait, no it mustn't be. How could Phobos have her face plastered on his gallery?
"Lady Avery von Heinrich." Irma gasped after she read the label below it. "That's Avery's face when she was twelve years old!" Irma added, her face mirrored his, a mixture of shock and confusion. Irma's hands scrambled as she reached for the painting, getting it off the wall.
"What are you doing?" He asked, Irma didn't answer him but she started ripping off the canvass from the portrait.
"What are you two doing here?" They both stopped and turned to see Phobos. His emerald eyes were blazing in anger. He raised his hands and a sword appeared. Caleb grabbed Irma and they hurriedly mounted their horses and jumped towards the painting.
After fighting with the evil forces and going back to the school to finish the spring carnival, Caleb and the girls found themselves inside the Silver Dragon's basement. The other guardians face registered shock and confusion when Irma showed them the torn painting.
"But this is Avery when she was twelve years old!" Cornelia exclaimed, if anyone knows the Browns better, it's Cornelia. She has known Elyon all her life. Will took the painting from Cornelia's hands and stared at it.
"Why would Avery's face be posted on Phobos' gallery?" Will asked. Well, that was also the question that bugs his mind. How on earth will an earth girl's picture find itself in Phobos' gallery?
"Maybe she's like a dead relative of Phobos and was reincarnated as Avery." Taranee replied. Irma shook her head.
"Then why is the label named Lady Avery von Heinrich?" Irma asked her, Taranee shrugged telling her that she had no idea. Maybe they should ask Elias, Phobos' former painter whom they just save earlier.
"We asked Elias but he said that the painting was there even before he started painting for Phobos." Hay Lin spoke as if she can read his mind. If there was anyone who would know why Avery's face was on the painting, it was someone who works in the castle. Caleb drew a deep breath before speaking.
"I need to go back to Meridian. I will ask Vathek to gather information about the painting." He said before taking the torn painting from Will's hands. "Blunk, sniff me a portal." He then called out his slimy and smelly not-friend Blunk, the passling nodded and followed him outside.
A/N: If you are wondering why the chapter started with another flashback again, well, I plan on adding some flashbacks on chapters so that you can have an idea what *happened* in the past. Next chapter will be posted before Christmas, hopefully and don't forget to review! Phobos demands it! :P
*Chapter contains scenes from Season 1 Episode 10: Framed
*she₂- Irma
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