Snake-Back-Riding

Blackey was surprisingly comfortable to ride on. Coiling her massive body effortlessly through the undergrowth she kept up with our fellow travelers, who traversed the forest floor with ease using a mixture of long steps and short jumps. Despite her massive size, she moved with incredible precision and minimal noise through the brush and around trees and rocks, shifting her body in a way that I had never seen a snake do. Unlike the specimens back in my village Blackey didn't push her body forward through meandering movements of her mid-section. Instead her head shot forwards like an arrow pulling the rest of her from after it, leaving a thin line of black mist behind her.

All I could do in the beginning was trying to prevent myself from slipping down by hugging the snake as tight as I possible, but after about an hour I figured out the rhythm in in which the snake shifted her body and began matching it with my own, leaning from left to right to left, like a drunken sailor. This made staying on her back easy, even when sitting up. Now I was finally able to observe my surroundings.

The forest was made up of giant trees towering overhead, casting long shadows across the brightly lit forest floor. The air seemed to be alive with the sounds of birds and insects singing and chirping loud enough that even the air brushing against my ears couldn't drown it out. Every now and then I picked up movement just outside my field of view, with leaves falling and bushes shaking. The forest was alive, but it's inhabitants seemed to hide from us.

With only two short rests to look at the map and determine our position we ran until the sun began to set. Only then we stopped and set up camp. Only a few moments passed until we had gathered firewood and built a little campfire.

"I hope this is the moment where one of you guys tells us that she can use elemental magic."

Despite addressing both of us Venosa stared at Skarra expectantly. The nightstalker shook her head.

"Sorry, pure body-type over here."

"Amen, Sister", Lopus said, raising a hand, inviting her to a high five. Skarra left him hanging and Venosas eyes turned to me.

"Your moment?"

"Sorry I don't really do magic."

"What, you too?"

She scratched her chin turning to her snake.

"You heard that Blackey, guess I am the odd one in this group. We knew this day would come."

The serpent looked at her master with complete lack of interest.

"Lopus you are up"

Lupus took two sticks and began rubbing them together, in a way that would never produce fire. Back home my mother had taught me how to start bonfires. In order to work at all one of the sticks needs to be sharpened at the end and used like a drill against another stick covered with very dry leaves. I was about to reveal that I was kind of an expert on the matter when the two sticks in the man's hand began to glow and catch fire. He placed them in the middle of our bonfire and covered it with dead leaves, while my mouth slowly crept towards the ground. He had started a campfire with friction alone. Skarra looked at me with a smile on her face.

"You ok, buddy?"

"No… No, in fact, I am not."