Venomous Kiss

[An inn between Brewbury and Pratha]

Two innkeepers watched their customers with greedy eyes. "Ee yup, ee yup!" encouraged a round, pig-like man, waving his short arms comically at the two guests.

"Yesss," agreed his wife, a tall, thin woman with a tendency to hiss her words. Her slanted eyes examined the two diners like a farmer sizing up a cow. A yellow bandanna on her head concealed what little limp black hair she possessed, which was scant more than her bald husband. The two stood like statues a mere two paces away from the travelers.

"Oo laika foo?"

"Yes, yes, it's very good, stammered the male, kicking his friend.

"Delishis!" she agreed, grinning. "Betta 'n Mitha use ta make."

"Pleassse, le' me ssserve mo'."

"No, no, thank you quite the same! The lady and I must retreat to sleep. We have a full day's riding ahead of us."

"Oh, Daer, I love it when ya call me 'lay--'"

The girl's words were abruptly cut off as her companion dragged her to her feet and fled upstairs. Once the two were gone, the innkeepers exchanged looks.

"'E nos. Sohsah."

"No sssorssseror, no nohsss…"

Grunting, the fat man tugged at his nose, pulling it off easily in his hand. Beneath the disguise was a flattened snout, the nostrils pointing in the direction of anyone unfortunate enough to look in his direction. As he pulled off his ears, the fat man said, "Oo waaz."

"I wachesss…"

---

In the room above, Daerinnid worked furiously over a potion, throwing in ingredients with the speed of a man who knows he is dead already. Neesa stood behind him, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Daer!" she hissed, her voice far more regular than the woman downstairs. "Whatcha doin'?"

"No time, this is a matter of life and death! Quick, drink this!"

"What is it?" she queried as she took the small stone bowl in her hands.

"It neutralizes poisons." Daerinnid lifted his own bowl to his lips and drank deeply of the greenish liquid. Neesa followed his example, nearly choking at the burning sensation in her mouth.

"Tha's nasty!" she gasped,

"Quiet, no time to waste--get in the bed with me!"

"What!?"

"In the bed! In the bed!: he repeated, pulling down the covers and scrambling in. Excited at the thought of such an invitation, Neesa obediently slid in with him, but found Daerinnid as violent and rough as before.

Roughly, Daerinnid grabbed Neesa's shoulders and pulled her close until they were breathing into each other's faces. "Daer," Neesa whispered hoarsely, "what's wrong?"

"Shh," he shot back, his voice low and secretive. "Just lay very still and don't speak or move a muscle. Bite your lip if you have to, just don't talk or move!"

The urgency in Daerinnid's voice frightened Neesa, so she snuggled up close to him and closed her eyes. No matter what he thought he was doing, she was actually laying in bed with him. It was most unromantic, but it would have to do, since this was better than nothing.

Gradually, the minutes ticked by, Daerinnid's arm protectively around her. Neesa could hear his every ragged breath, calling her to sleep, and she let her mind wander into the fields of dreams.

---

Damn, Daerinnid thought. Neesa had fallen asleep. That was a bad sign. Daerinnid wanted to wake her and see if this was drug-induced sleep or natural one, but he could not risk moving.

The snake's eyes were on him.

It had begun moment before with the creaking of the door. Daerinnid had not seen the figure enter, but judging from the lightness of the step, it had to be the snake-woman. She was the most dangerous of the two, her incisors filled with toxic venom against which Daerinnid knew no defense. He knew she was waiting, waiting to be sure that he and Neesa were truly asleep. Daerinnid could not risk trying to make the first move when the snake's partner was still at large.

"Sssirsss," the woman hissed, soft but audibly. "Awa'he, sssirsss?" Not even daring to bite his lip, Daerinnid waited more. The snake seemed to suspect something. As the moments passed her suspicions steadily wore down. Any lesser man would have been shivering in fear by now, and Daerinnid was grateful that Neesa had fallen asleep.

The snake-woman gave a toothy smile, showing her pointed fangs to Daerinnid's back, and strode confidently toward him. Her fangs flicked outward in anticipation of the kill. Daerinnid tensed in anticipation as her shadow fell over the covers.

"HEARGH!"

The snake woman lunged. Daerinnid turned, knocking Neesa roughly off the far side of the bed, and brought up a dagger towards the snake's face. The combined momentum of her movement and Daerinnid's thrust drove the dagger up to the hilt in her mouth and through the back of her skull.

Drawing back, Daerinnid let the woman and her poisoned fangs fall across his legs. He could hear her final breaths of agony as she thrashed madly about on the white covers, staining them red with her blood. It took a long time, but her movements finally ceased.

Once certain she was dead Daerinnid drew out a small vial and turned the woman over to expose her face. The sight was sickening, but Daerinnid bit back his fear and pulled the dagger free of its gruesome scabbard. He could hear Neesa's confused moans from the floor as she sat up and looked into the bloody visage. Before Daerinnid could stop her, she let out a cloodcurlding scream.

"Neesa!" warned Daerinnid, but he knew it was too late. The snake-woman's partner would have heard that. Ignoring Neesa's pained cries, Daerinnid turned his attention to the dead woman's mouth, using the sheets to wipe away the blood so he could examine the roof of her mouth. The poison glands were intact. Daerinnid scraped the top of her mouth with his dagger and carefully pressed the poison into the vial and corked it. The poison of a magical snake in a human's form was extremely rare, and Daerinnid would put it to good use.

Quickly hiding the vial underneath the pillow, Daerinnid took the dagger and readied himself for the innkeeper he knew to be coming. Since the dagger had been used to scrape the woman's mouth, the tip was now coated with one of the deadliest poisons known to man.

The sound of heavy footfalls precluded the pig-man's arrival and gave Daerinnid the chance to time his attack. Just as the man burst into the room, Daerinnid threw the dagger with all his might towards the oncoming figure. It struck the pig-man in the shoulder and bounced off. Despite the seeming failure of the attack, Daerinnid grinned. A thin speck of blood was visible where the dagger had torn the pig-man's shirt, and that was all that Daerinnid needed.

Still, such a tiny amount of poison would take a long time to topple the large man. The man threw himself at Daerinnid, using his weight to knock the smaller man to the ground. Daerinnid gasped in pain as the air was driven from his lungs.

The two opponents grappled on the floor, the pig-man having the distinct advantage of size and strength. No matter how Daerinnid tried, the pig man remained on top, his weight threatening to crush Daerinnid. Daerinnid's only chance was to find some way to escape the pig-man before the mass of flesh died on top of him.

Death would come soon. The pig-man's breath was ragged now, his bloated face puffy and greenish as the poison traveled through his system. All Daerinnid could do was look horrified and watch, unable to draw in a breath of air himself.

"Aiyaaah!" screamed Neesa, hefting a washbasin over her head. The pig-man rolled over slightly as he looked up. Screaming her battle cry, Neesa brought the solid bowl down onto the man's head. The sheer force of her adrenaline-feuled anger shattered the bowl, sending pieces of glass in every direction. With a groan, the pig-man rolled off Daerinnid and slumped to the floor, unconscious and dead within minutes. "Don't you DARE touch DAER!!" Neesa shouted after the dead man. Her yell was so loud that there was barely any trace of dialect in her voice. Satisfied that the pig-man was truly dead, she hurried over to Daerinnid and helped him to his feet.

"Daer! Are ya 'kay?"

"My chest… feels like I've broken a rib."

Neesa looked at Daerinnid's chest, running her hand along the ribcage. "Nah, ya jus' broosed ya'sel'. 'Ere, 'ave a seat." She pushed him down onto the bed and seated herself beside him. "It'd be wrong o' me ta take advannage o' ya when your like this."

"Advantage?" repeated Daerinnid, not quite understanding. Neesa leaned over him, her hair spilling into his face.

"Ya silly prince," she giggled, running a finger down his cheek. While Daerinnid puzzled over her words, she leaned over a planted a kiss firmly on his mouth.

The surprise on Daerinnid's face only caused Neesa to giggle some more before she skipped gaily from the room. She was gone for the moment, but the fact only registered a few minutes later. "Am I getting slow?" Daerinnid mused aloud. It certainly seemed that way. Neesa was turning out to be more of a surprise than anticipated. Daerinnid sat up and rubbed his mouth with his hand. Why had she kissed him? Even stranger, why had she called him "prince?" Something was amiss.

Then again, it could be nothing more than a common farm girl's fantasies. A fantasy about Daerinnid.

"It's a lie…"

It was a lie. Daerinnid had no concern for the girl, but it was clear she was very concerned over him. She had saved his life and kissed him. What had he done to deserve it? Killed her family and done nothing but lie to her. Daerinnid had the nagging notion that he was supposed to be feeling some guilt over the matter, yet he could not.

"An illusion…"

It had to be just an illusion. For some reason, Daerinnid did not like the thought of this kind of tie. Love was a weakness. If Daerinnid could break this illusion, he could avoid the chance of Neesa becoming his weakness. If she thought him to be some form of prince, he would simply have to act like a selfish, evil man.

But hadn't he already been acting like that? True, he was careful balance his actions, but on the road he had repeatedly turned on her. At the river, he had ignored her for his own safety and only saved her when it was of little inconvenience to him. With the horses, he had let the gray mare buck her, then left her crying and gone straight for the food. He always thought of himself first, and her needs second. Surely that was not an appealing characteristic to a woman.

Yet stick with him she did. Perhaps his tendency to put her second was something she found attractive. Daerinnid rubbed his head and kicked the snake-woman's body off the bed. "Argh, I just don't get her!" he groaned. "She's too damn… too damn…" For once, he was at a loss for the right word. "Confusing, stupid, talkative, sweet, caring, trusting, talkative… No, none of those are right!" He swore bitterly at himself. "She gives me headaches, she's annoying, she causes too much trouble…"

… And she had saved his life.

"Not that I owe her anything," he said bitterly.