The Girl and the Naga

Chapter 2

I woke up on a soft pile of pillows, staring up at the inside of a cave. I lifted myself up and looked around.

It was a large cave, and it was stuffed with boxes, trunks, and other random objects lining the walls.

My head hurt, so I moaned and brought my hand up to it. I felt a bandage wrapped around my forehead.

"Glad to hear you're up," a masculine voice said from behind me.

I whipped my head around to see who had spoken, and my eyes widened in shock.

It was the snake-creature who had saved me from the anaconda.

I stared at him, my mouth hanging open, unable to react properly. He came closer to me, a wet cloth in his hands.

When he came to a stop next to me and brought the cloth towards my face, I finally was able to think clearly.

I screamed and backed away from him as best as I could.

"Hey, calm down. I'm not gonna hurt you," he said, but I wasn't listening.

I stood up and dashed off the pile of pillows. I located the entrance of the cave and ran towards it.

He cut me off at the entrance and I backed away from him. I screamed again and ran farther into the cave. I looked around for a weapon, or anything I could use to defend myself, but there was nothing.

The snake-creature came closer to me, and I ran screaming into a corner of the cave. I buried my face in my knees and cried, willing whatever was about to happen to end quickly. Silent tears poured down my face as I anticipated what was about to happen.

When nothing happened for a long time, I brought my head out of my knees and looked up.

He was standing a few feet away from me. I had to look up quite a bit to see his face.

There was a sad and pained expression painted across his features. He slithered off to a different part of the cave, leaving me alone. I was momentarily confused by this, but then my eyes locked in on the entrance, or in this case exit, of the cave.

I slowly stood up, watching the snake-creature's back carefully. When I was sure he wouldn't turn around, I darted for the exit.

I almost made it, when something grabbed a hold of me and pinned my arms to my sides. I realized it was the creature's tail and resumed my screaming with a new vigor.

"Stop screaming. You'll attract other predators," he said, but I still wasn't listening, and I continued to scream bloody murder.

"I'm really sorry, but you leave me no choice," he said.

He darted down to my shoulder and bit into it. I yelped in pain.

As quickly as he had bit into it, he pulled back and dropped me from his tail. I stared at him for a moment, very confused. That's when I realized that his image was starting to swim in front of my eyes. He turned away from me and moved back into the cave.

I turned around and continued to head for the exit of the cave, but I felt very weak and tired. I couldn't move very quickly, and my legs felt wobbly. I lurched to the side of the cave. Luckily, I was close to the wall. I slowly made my towards the entrance, using the wall to support me. My vision was getting cloudy, and it was going dark around the edges.

I was almost home free, and I pushed myself away from the wall. But my legs gave out and I fell to the ground a few feet from the exit. I tried to push myself up off the ground, but my arms gave out as well.

I futilely reached for the sunlight mere inches from my fingers.

The creature's orange scaly tail gently wrapped around my waist and lifted me up.

"No," I moaned.

He carried my limp body back over to the pillows and set me down. I was barely conscious.

I looked up into his face, but his image was too blurry for me to make out anything.

"I'm sorry," his muffled voice reached my ears.

My eyes slipped shut and I fell asleep.