Vipero the Snake Man (2 page)

S
TORM’s HOOVES ECHOED ON THE COBBLES AS
Tom and Elenna rode into the little town. A hot breeze whirled sand down the street. The buildings were made from blocks of reddish stone, as if the town had grown up out of the desert. Every door was closed and the shutters were fastened across the windows.

The street came to an end in a deserted marketplace. Tattered canvas awnings flapped on the abandoned stalls. A few dried cabbage leaves were blowing about in the breeze.

Even in the heat, Tom felt a chill of apprehension. Something wasn’t right….

“The whole town’s deserted,” Elenna said, gripping Tom’s waist. “Where is everybody?”

“I don’t know.” Tom turned in the saddle to take in all the houses that surrounded the square. “Do you think Malvel’s Beast could have driven everyone away?”

He climbed off Storm, his limbs stiff and aching from the long ride. Elenna slid down after him. “We ought to look for water,” she said. “Storm and Silver need to drink, and we’ll have to take water into the desert with us.”

Tom pointed to a stone trough at one side of the marketplace. It was shaded by a gnarled, leafless tree. “That must be where the townspeople water their animals.”

He led Storm over. Silver trotted ahead and let out a disappointed whine as he looked over the edge of the trough. It was completely dry. The sides were furred with green and there were a few scraps of trash in the bottom.

“There’s no water at all!” Elenna said.

Before Tom could reply he heard the sound of a door opening. A voice called, “Hey! You there!”

Tom turned. A woman was poking her head out of an open door. She wore a loose brown robe and a brown cloth wound around her head, so he could only see her eyes and nose.

“Are you mad, standing out there in the heat?” she asked. “It’ll kill you if you don’t get inside.” She held the door open wider and beckoned. “Come on.”

Tom led Storm into the little shade cast by the tree, and looped his reins around a branch. Silver slipped underneath the stallion’s body and collapsed on the ground, his jaws gaping as he panted.

Elenna bent down to pat his head. “We won’t be long, boy,” she promised.

Tom and Elenna approached the woman in the doorway.

“Do you know where we can get water?” Tom asked her.

The woman stared at him. “Water? There isn’t any water. The heat has dried up all our wells.” “But that’s impossible!” Elenna exclaimed. “I wish it were,” the woman said. “But even here, on the edge of the desert, we’ve never known heat like this.”

Malvel!
Tom knew it. This had to be the work of the evil wizard.

“Are you coming in or not?” the woman asked. “I can’t bear to see the two of you suffering in the heat.”

She stood back to let Tom and Elenna into the cool shade of the house.

Inside, window shutters kept out most of the light and heat. Tom drew a deep breath of relief that they were protected from the glaring rays of the sun.

The woman led them through another door and into a small room. In the dim light, Tom made out four or five people lying on the ground. They seemed exhausted by the heat, and hardly looked up as Tom and Elenna went in. Only one raised a hand in greeting.

A boy was lying on a mattress at the far side of the room. He kept tossing and turning and letting out low moans of pain. His face was flushed with fever. Elenna crossed the room and stooped down beside him to lay a hand on his forehead.

On the ground in the middle of the group was a shallow bowl of water. A man got up, dipped a scrap of linen into the bowl, then put the scrap to his lips to suck the water out of it. Tom exchanged a glance with Elenna as she returned to his side. These people must be desperate if this was the only way they could make their water last.

“We’ve got to do something to help,” Elenna murmured.

Tom knew his friend was right. But first, he had to ask a favor.

He put a hand on the woman’s arm and drew her to one side. “My friend and I have to go into the desert,” he explained quietly. “Can’t you spare us
any
water?” He felt guilty for asking when these people had so little. But the only way to help them was to seek out Malvel’s evil Beast and defeat it, although Tom knew he couldn’t tell anyone here about his Quest.

The woman’s expression hardened. “Do we look as if we have spare water to hand out to strangers?” she asked sharply. “I’m sorry, but I have to put my own family first.”

“But we must —” Elenna began.

“My advice to you is to go home,” the woman interrupted.

“We can’t do that,” Tom said.

Their raised voices had attracted the attention of the other people in the room. They struggled to their feet. Suddenly, Tom was surrounded by men and women with angry faces and accusing eyes. One of the men curled his hands into clenched fists.

They don’t understand
, Tom thought.
And I can’t explain. What am I going to do?

E
LENNA ELBOWED HER WAY THROUGH THE
group and stood beside Tom, her head raised defiantly.

Tom searched desperately for the right words. He needed to calm the townspeople and convince them to let him have some water. But how could he do that when they needed water for themselves so desperately?

The sick boy was still tossing on his mattress, muttering in his fever.

“I know!” Elenna exclaimed suddenly. Turning to the woman who had let them in, she asked, “How would you like to trade?”

Instantly, Tom realized what Elenna meant. Aunt Maria’s herbs! “Yes, we don’t expect you to give us water for nothing,” he added hastily.

“What have you got to trade?” the woman asked.

“We can help him,” Tom explained, gesturing toward the sick boy. “We have herbs that will cure his fever. Will you give us a skin of water in exchange?”

“I’ll give you everything I have if you can do that,” the woman replied. Her voice shook as she added, “He’s my son.”

The people crowding around Tom and Elenna began to relax, though they still muttered doubtfully to one another.

Elenna pushed past them and went to kneel beside the boy. “Fetch me some hot water, please,” she said, “and a mortar and pestle.”

The woman immediately brought the mortar and pestle and set them down by Elenna’s side.
Tom took out a handful of the dried herbs from his pocket and dropped them into the mortar. Then Elenna ground them into powder with the pestle.

“He’s very ill,” she muttered softly, so only Tom could hear. “It’s lucky we came when we did.”

“And it’s also lucky you know about herbs,” Tom said. He felt a stab of anger. “This is all the fault of the evil Beast. We have to stop it!”

By the time Elenna had finished pounding the herbs the woman had returned with a bowl of steaming water. Elenna mixed the herbs into it. Then she raised the sick boy’s head and held the bowl so that he could drink the mixture in small sips. His mother looked on anxiously while Tom dipped a rag into the dish of water and bathed the boy’s forehead.

Almost at once the boy stopped moaning and let out a sigh of exhaustion. His eyes closed, and his breathing became deep and even.

Elenna gently lowered his head to the mattress. “He’s sleeping now.” She handed the bowl to his mother. “Give him the rest of that when he wakes up.”

“Thank you.” The woman used her headcloth to wipe tears from her eyes. “He hasn’t been so quiet in days. I’ll fetch your water.”

Tom and Elenna went to the door to wait for her. The other people settled down again, their glances more friendly now.

A few moments later, the woman came back carrying a leather skin of water and handed it to Tom. She held open the door, and the baking heat of the marketplace hit them once more.

“I’m sorry I was so unfriendly,” she said. “We’ve always welcomed strangers. But we’ve never known heat like this before. Times are desperate. Is there anything else I can do for you, to make up for it?”

Elenna glanced over at Storm and Silver, still
waiting beneath the tree. “We could ask her to keep the animals for us,” she whispered to Tom.

Tom shook his head. He knew there was nothing more the woman could do for them.

“No, thank you,” he said to her. “You’ve already done enough. We’ll be on our way now.”

“Good luck, then.” She raised her hand in farewell as Tom and Elenna made their way back to Storm and Silver.

“Why wouldn’t you ask her?” Elenna asked. “We agreed we can’t take Storm and Silver into the desert!”

“We’ll have to.” Tom’s voice was shaking; he found it hard to control himself when he thought of what he had seen in this desolate town. “These people have
nothing
! We can’t ask any more of them. Besides, I’d rather risk Storm and Silver’s lives in the desert than leave them with strangers who have no water or food to give them.”

Elenna nodded. “You’re right. We need to stay together. But it’s going to be hard.”

Tom clenched his fists. “This is all Malvel’s doing!”

Elenna nodded. “I wonder where the Beast is hiding,” she said.

“I’ve no idea.” Tom gazed out past the houses to where the dunes of the desert rolled endlessly toward the horizon. “But it won’t be long before we find out.”

T
OM AND ELENNA BOTH TOOK A DRINK FROM
the waterskin. Then Elenna cupped her hands and Tom poured water into them so that Storm and Silver could drink. Tom fastened the waterskin securely to Storm’s saddle and put on his golden armor: the helmet, chain mail, and breastplate. Then, leading the stallion, he set out along the street that led toward the desert.

A wall of heat hit them in the face as they left the shade of the last houses and stepped into the desert. The bare skin on Tom’s arms began to prickle and blister. He could even feel the hot sand through the soles of his boots. Fear stabbed through him.
How could they bear this heat and still be ready to fight a Beast?

“Cover up,” he called to Elenna. “The sun will burn our skin as badly as a fire.”

He pulled his tunic down to cover his arms, and trusted that the magical golden armor would protect the rest of him. Elenna was wearing a long piece of fabric as a scarf, which she wound around her own head, covering her mouth and nose until all Tom could see was the slits of her eyes.

Before they set foot in the desert, Tom pulled out the compass that his father, Taladon, had left for him with his uncle and aunt in Errinel many years ago, before he disappeared. Once more Tom read the words inscribed on the back of it:
For My Son
. He had the chain mail for strength of heart, but when he looked at the compass he felt close to his father, as if Taladon were beside him, giving him courage.

As he peered down at the compass the needle
swung wildly between Destiny and Danger. Clearly, it was too soon in this Quest to use it. Tucking it away in his pocket, Tom set his teeth with determination. There was no choice; he and Elenna had to go on. He checked his sword and hooked his shield over his arm; it bore the magical tokens from the good Beasts of Avantia he had freed in his first Quest: Ferno the Fire Dragon, Sepron the Sea Serpent, Cypher the Mountain Giant, Tagus the Night Horse, Tartok the Ice Beast, and Epos the Winged Flame. He knew they would come to his aid if he needed them.

Slowly they headed farther into the desert. Both animals had become very quiet. Storm plodded on determinedly, while Tom and Elenna walked beside him. Tom reached up to pat his neck. “You’re doing fine, boy,” he murmured. “Let’s hope we’ll be out of here soon.”

Elenna looked down to where Silver padded along in Storm’s shadow. “When this is over,” she
promised, “I’m going to give you the biggest bowl of water in all of Avantia.”

Silver let out an approving howl.

As they trudged deeper into the sand dunes, they lost sight of the town behind them. All they had to guide them was the glowing red line on Wizard Aduro’s enchanted map.

The sun started to go down, but it glared as fiercely as ever and an eerie whistling noise filled their ears.

“What’s that?” Tom asked, sharing a startled glance with Elenna.

Slowly they both turned to look behind them. At first Tom could see nothing but the rolling sand dunes.

Then Elenna pointed upward. “Look!” she cried.

Tom saw that the sun was growing hazier, as if a thin curtain had been drawn across it, and the sky was turning a dirty yellow color.

“That’s sand!” he exclaimed. “It’s a sandstorm!”

Above them, sand was swirling in the sky, churning like a celestial whirlpool. As Tom stared upward, it took on a horribly familiar shape.

Malvel!