377 The Firsts (1/2)
”I hope you appreciate this.” Sharl smiled at the closed eyes of the Inferno guild leader. ”You should be thankful I'm not Ronnie. There's no telling what she would do in this situation.”
She replayed the message that Nix had sent to all the officers. Her experience with Shank and the twins was limited; she was confident that all three of them would recognize her. When she was the guild leader of the Daybreakers, her image was always on the forums. Finding the chair uncomfortable, she sat next to him on the bed.
**************
The Nether rat escaped for the fifth time in as many minutes; Nix cursed himself for using the primary food of snakes as his primary scout. Even in human form, the moment he was within a few meters of one of the Serpent Clan, they immediately changed and gave chase. ”Who knew Nether rats were such a delicacy?”
Nix crept through a small water pipe that was left half-full by several ruptures. There was no warning whatsoever, two bright green orbs blinked open directly in front of him, and he was swallowed whole.
Instinctively he twisted his head, thinking he might gnaw at the insides of the snake that bit him. However, the muscles of the creature's throat squeezed around him to the point where he could barely move. ”Fuck... Now what?”
Although completely immobilized, Nix was aware that the snake was moving very quickly. Not an expert on snake behavior, he didn't know that usually, they would find somewhere to rest after a meal.
Time passed, Nix had no way of knowing how fast, several times he was tempted to let the snake have the puppet, but in the end, it represented a large investment on his part and he wasn't willing to part with it.
Nix felt the movement of his carrier stop suddenly; the pressure on him increased for a moment, and he found himself spat out in what could only be described as disgusting bile. His first instinct was to flee, but the long term constriction on his puppet body made its limbs feel lethargic.
[Don't run Nix. You aren't in any danger.]
Nix blinked the slime out of his rat-eyes, his tiny black paws rubbing at his face. After a few seconds, his captor came into view. A long white snake with green eyes that glowed brilliantly watched him from a few feet away. ”You say that name like your acquainted with that person. Who are you?”
”I am Mari'Djinn, the Second.” The snake's voice held a hint of amusement, the tone of it reminded him of Ducky's voice when she was charming someone. ”You will lose the most important battle in history if you don't come with me.”
”The Firsts require your presence; there is much to be done before you confront Khione.”
Nix straightened out his long whiskers. ”Who is Khione?”
”It's difficult to converse with you.” The snake-eyes moved closer; verticle lids blinked lazily at him.
”Pon, the Rat King, will follow you.” Nix reached out a rat paw and patted the snakes snow-white snout. An instant later, he sat upright in bed, jostling the sleeping Sharl who was leaning against him.
Sharl blinked against the light and offered him a smile. ”Where's your puppet?”
”That lousy snake ate me.” Nix cursed loudly and swung his feet over the bed. He noticed that Sharl was wearing the flannel pajamas that he made her months earlier. ”I can make you some new ones.”
Sharl shook her head. ”I can't part with these; they are too comfortable. The rest of the group isn't back yet.”
[You have been summoned by Mari'Djinn the Second. Do you accept the summons?]
Nix read the message twice before it sank in. ”Tracing me through a puppet shouldn't be possible. Call everyone back, Sharl, going to take a quick trip.”
Sharl nodded and opened her hud. ”Where are... Nix? Shit!”
/Viper: Sharl: Everyone back to the room. Nix just disappeared.
Sharl looked at the guild roster; he was listed as unavailable. ”The hell did you do now?”
********************
Mid-West Everspire: The Fire Lion Clan
*****************
Jala kicked the serving woman when she evaded his attempt to grab her ass. ”You f*cking bitch! Do you think your only job is to serve food?”
The hulking brute was shirtless; scars crisscrossed his heavily muscled chest. His big hand grabbed her by one arm and squeezed, a vicious leer forming on his face when she cried out.
”Release her at once, Jala.” A slim, middle-aged man stood in the doorway of the tent, his apparent distaste for the bigger man was written on his face.
”Father...” Jala flung the girl across the tent like she was weightless. Jala's face was broad and flat, his square jaw bronzed from countless hours in the sun. He bowed low to hide his sneering expression. ”The woman always spills food on me; I swear she does it on purpose.”