Heirs of the Fallen: Book 02 - Crown of the Setting Sun Read Free Page B

holding still. All at once, the snake struck, and Leitos barely leaped clear. At the same instant, he threw the rock, but it flew wide by a foot or more.
    The serpent slapped down and slithered near. Leitos spun away, and his foot rolled on a loose stone. He fought for balance, but fell onto his back. He immediately began kicking against the ground, propelling himself backward, and flinging grit into the adder’s face, driving it aside. It seemed that the snake was retreating, then it abruptly coiled and struck.
    Everything was moving so fast, but Leitos could see all with startling clarity. The serpent flew at him, its hooked fangs jutting from gaping, puffy white jaws. As it soared at his unprotected face, its scales formed a delicate yellowish gray pattern that glinted in the sunlight.
    At the last possible moment, Leitos flung up a hand. By chance alone, his fingers clamped down on the snake’s body, just below its head. Too stunned to consider his luck, he jumped to his feet as the adder began wrapping around his arm. The creature was twice the thickness of his wrist, and incredibly strong. His fingers went numb under the building pressure, and the brief thrill at capturing his prey turned to apprehension. If he did not dispatch the reptile quickly, his grip would fail, leaving the serpent free to sink its fangs into him. His end would come slowly, painfully.
    Leitos rushed to the serpent’s lair, where the ground was littered with stones. Holding the creature’s weight at arm’s length was no easy task, but Leitos suffered through the weakening of his muscles, ensuring that the serpent remained well clear of his face. In his haste, he lost his footing and slammed to his knees, nearly losing hold of the snake in a frantic bid to keep from pitching to his side.
    Gasping and sweating, he pressed the snake’s head against the closest boulder, while his opposite hand retrieved an egg-shaped stone. His first wild swing collided with his wrist, and he bit back a howl. Furious now, his second, third, and fourth blow crushed the adder’s skull to a pulp. The serpent wrapped tighter around his forearm, but it was dead.
    Waiting for the creature to accept its demise, he settled back on his heels, shaking as exhilaration waned and his heartbeat slowed. On rare occasions, he and Adham had secretly caught serpents or lizards or rats and, well out of the slavemasters’ sight, had prepared forbidden meals. Adham often stated that meat tasted better when cooked and spiced, but the closest slaves came to fire was its light, when the slavemasters burned camel dung of an evening.
    Leitos unwrapped the snake from his arm and set it aside. Even in death, it writhed back and forth. He hunted until he found a prominent lip of stone jutting off one of the boulders. Using the same rock he had used on the adder, he smashed the stony protrusion. Sandstone crunched and flew. He stopped after he had a collection of shards littering the ground at his feet. Kneeling, he picked through the sharpest bits until he found one as long as his hand and somewhat knife-shaped, then sharpened the crude blade against the curve of a boulder.
    While he worked, he searched the desert. The only prominent landmark was a long, knobbed ridge of reddish sandstone far to the west. Other outcrops reared up, all stubby and offering little reliable shade. Of
Alon’mahk’lar
, there was no sign.
    After dragging the makeshift knife back and forth over the boulder, the roughness began to smooth, providing an edge of sorts. Most importantly, he created a sharp tip. After a few more licks, Leitos strode to the serpent and went to work. He considered his grandfather’s cautionary words, making sure the cut was well down from the head in order to avoid the snake’s venom sacs. His knife was sharp for stone, but not really sharp at all, so he sawed and hacked, until he could rip off the head and toss it away. Next, he dug the tip into the adder’s belly, making a