Chapter 4

The monstrous snake lashed out with blinding speed, razor-sharp fangs aiming to impale Graham where he stood shielding me. With reflexes honed by years on the road, he hurled himself sideways, enabling the reptilian terror's strike to snap shut on empty air with an earthshaking crunch of those granite-shattering jaws.

I scrambled backwards on all fours, crab-walking across the soft loam to put some distance between myself and the deadly duel unfolding. My forgotten injury screamed in anguish at the exertion, hot wetness blooming once more as the hasty bandaging job came undone. Black spots danced treacherously across my vision.

Graham was a veritable whirlwind now, broadsword swinging in a ceaseless silvery arc as he tried in vain to find an opening in the surging, sinuous wall of scale and fang. For every viper-quick bite he deflected, two more snapped at his heels, each dodge more harrowing than the last. His lethal dance grew ever more draining and desperate.

With a feral snarl, the snake made an overhead lunge, unhinging its jaws to grotesque lengths as it descended like a striking cobra. Graham met its plunging bulk head-on, blade piercing up through the creature's distended gullet with a sickening crunch of shattered bone and pulped flesh.

The beast convulsed in a frenzy of agony, thrashing wildly to dislodge the embedded steel burrowing through its vitals. It struck Graham's legs from under him with one lashing coil, sending him crashing hard to the loam. Slick green ichor sprayed from the impaled maw as row upon row of fangs snapped mere inches from his face, flecking his features with ropes of corrosive venom.

I glimpsed an opportunity and seized it without hesitation. Ignoring the screaming anguish in my torn side, I snatched up a thick fallen branch and charged at the monstrosity's exposed flank, swinging the makeshift club in a clumsy overhead arc. The weathered wood connected with the beast's midsection with a resonating whump, eliciting an earthshaking hiss of pain and fury.

Graham capitalized on the distraction instantly, wrenching his blade free and rolling aside in a shower of ichorous spray - narrowly avoiding being crushed by the serpent's colossal weight as it reared upright, seeking me with those sizzling golden orbs.