The water rose quicker than I could walk. It surged upwards to just a foot or two below the woven bramble paths. Luckily, the flood was doing its job and sweeping away any fish before they got to take advantage of to their sudden proximity to the paths. All the ground level portions of Bramble Watch were becoming submerged as the walls protecting them weren't completely watertight. I hoped that Juniper artwork wasn't ruined, but I didn't regret calling for the flood. It provided the force we had been lacking to push back the horde.

The path under my feet shuddered and shook from the water's current and the various things swept up in the water and banging their way out to the sea. I kept my balance. Eventually, I'd need longer to fully recover but my unwanted nap helped me ease some of the exhaustion. Having a simple goal to focus on and determination did the rest.

I could protect Juniper.

Horde or high water I could do that.

Pry open the Water Frond Snake's mouth, recover the crystals, and stop whatever was happening with the weird glowing. From one to the other and back again; I travel from the Water Frond Snake to Juniper and the other way around as many times as needed if it meant I wouldn't lose anything ever again.

Everything jerked and I glared at the fish that had managed to hook itself onto the path and climb over the wall in front of me. Blue, large, and ugly. Bulbous eyes and slimy fins. It was a wonder any fish ever held a weapon or attacked accurately with it. That was a mystery I couldn't answer even as I knew they were quite good at both given the chance. Perhaps the Lady Blue's bloodlust twisted into combat ability in her creatures.

This enemy, however, didn't anything but those fins and scales to protect it in a fight. I let my imagination picture this fish as the one that had nearly drowned me. I had my knife out and slashing across its throat before it fully registered it wasn't alone. I gutted it. The fish fell and quickly bled out.

It might win in the water but I had the advantage everywhere else.

"Blessings be upon the deaths I bring today." Not wanting to skimp the goddess, especially since I had decided against it when I was trying to reach Juniper, I pricked my wrist and let a drop of blood fall. This was a known prayer, safer than anything I could come up with on my own. "Blood and honor I offer to the goddess."

I had learned the words from my first shore fight with Mishtaw and her group. I had been injured then too, but I hadn't let the pain stop me from what needed to be done, and that had been a more serious injury than being sore and tired.

I pressed on. Going as fast I could to where Juniper had left the Water Frond Snake though I did have to stab a few more fish along the way. Two weren't even fights. The fish had gotten caught in branches or a broken bit of netting and I used my spear to put them out of their misery. The last was another fish that managed to pull itself up onto a path that dipped too close to the water, but I took care of it before it fully managed to flop onto the walkway.

Even if I didn't have the map of the delta memorized I would have known I was getting close to where the Water Frond Snake was before it fully came into view. The glow from it stained the surrounding water and trees gold, green, red, and blue. Vibrant, unnatural shades.

Several agonizing minutes later, I was able to find a break in the trees that let me see the Water Frond Snake in its entirety. It was smaller than the first time I had seen it. It seemed Juniper had shrunk it in her haste to return, but it was still at least three or four times my height. Not as small as I'd seen her change it.

The glow was also mainly concentrated in the fronds branching from its head. They were the quickest to change color while the body shifted slower, in a more rolling fashion from head to tail, and still had some of the original silver mixed in. I wasn't sure what to make of that.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The water had it pinned against two pines which some enterprising individual had already turned red. Fish were pinning along with it and seemed to be trying to force their way into its mouth but they weren't having much luck. Most fish in the delta seemed to have forgotten weapons in their haste to get to the crystals and their fins weren't giving them the leverage they needed to go against the force of the water and the inherent heaviness of the snake's large jaw.

Part of me was content to watch them struggle while the rest of me was already trying to figure out how to resolve the situation. The last thing we needed was an abomination—or two—on our hands if they beat the odds nor was I inclined to let whatever was going on with the glowing resolve.

I caught the eye of one of the watchers keeping an eye on the situation but nothing much had changed since their report to Ana and Tribe Master Toniva. The water was still flowing strong, the fish were still trying to get to the crystals, and the snake was still glowing like a captured rainbow.

Now that I saw the situation for myself, however, I saw an easy solution to our Water Frond Snake problems. All we had to do was hoist it out of the water and expose the crystals to air and they would disintegrate and solve the situation on their own. Between where it was stuck and its current size doing so should be feasible.

I hadn't thought to bring netting or rope and hauling it would have likely drained me more than I'd have liked, so I had to settle for sending the watcher back to Bramble Watch for supplies. One of these days I wouldn't have to keep backtracking there to solve my problems and wasting time. I did walk around so that I was as close to the Water Frond Snake as I could get and picked out branches that looked sturdy enough to hold the snake's weight.

The watcher returned with plenty of strong rope and a couple more helping hands to help hoist the snake. The other watchers also dropped down from their posts to help since it was clear the time for observation was over. They were uncertain about how to exactly hoist the snake up since the water still had enough fish to be dangerous, never mind the dangers of getting caught in the swift waters, but I didn't see any reason why we couldn't wrap the rope around and through the snake's fronds as they were sticking out of the water and had plenty of spots the rope wouldn't slip off. The tribesfolk hesitated both due to the light show concentrated on the fronds and because the fronds were the most iconic part of the Water Frond Snake. They didn't want to disrespect or damage their tribe's guardian.

Never mind that it was a terrible construct that took their people's minds from them.

But that was how I became the one tied into an impromptu rope harness dangling from the branches with another rope to wrap and tie around the fronds I could reach. If a whisper woman got injured or broke the Water Frond Snake they could say I forced them to help and it'd be our responsibility, potentially, to fix whatever went wrong rather than the tribesfolk.

I poked the glowing frond just to see what might happen but nothing did just like when I pressed my forehead to the pearl. The glow only affected Juniper and the snake. Everything outside their connection might as well not even matter.

Scowling, I got the rope tied in place and signaled for the others to start hauling it in. Foot by foot, the Water Frond Snake's head slowly lifted from the water. I watched as the fish it was protecting from the flood waters were swept downstream. A slight feeling of gratification lightened my mood when I saw the fishes' element clearly turned against them. One fish managed to cling to the snake's eye socket but one of the tribesfolk took care of it with a well placed spear.

I positioned myself near its mouth as they finished pulling it up to the correct height. Water rolled off the snake in large beads and my breath sounded loud in my ears. No one spoke. They just stared at me, expectant.

Hoping I wasn't about to embarrass myself, I reached out to the Water Frond Snake's jaw, wedged some fingers in, and pushed down. Which was about as effective as the fish trying to do the same thing with their fins. I used my knife next to try to use the leverage from it to pop open the jaw.

But it was locked tight. I tried a few more tricks that failed before I was swapped out for the buffest tribes member to try them all over again. They failed too. Then they tried half the group while everyone else made sure the snake stayed in place and they didn't fall into the water.

Still, the Water Frond Snake's jaw refused to open. It was stuck how Juniper had left it. I was about to whack just see if that somehow made a difference when the Water Frond Snake's mouth did open. Without anyone touching it. Without anyone even being near it while we tried to figure out our next move.

I watched as the glint of crystal disappeared into the white bone body of the Water Frond Snake rather than disintegrating. My stomach dropped. Had Juniper somehow slipped back into the Water Frond Snake? Was she trapped again?

Had I failed again?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.