KARBO CONTEST ENTRY:
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(This is my entry for Karbo's writing contest. Its about Fiona, my giant naga. I hope you guys enjoy it ^_^. WARNING: This story does contain some vore. If that kind of stuff bothers you, don't read it and if you still do...don't get mad at me.)

>>> The Not So Mighty Hunter
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     Lightning lit up the sky in random, staccato bursts of light, thunder crashed and the wind howled as the forest was rocked by the largest storm it had seen in years. The trees swayed in the wind and the river flooded over its banks as the storm did nothing but increase in its intensity. Some of the smaller trees had already begun to uproot and tear apart in the furious winds and only the larger trees were escaping serious harm.
     
     The young naga was struggling to make her way through the raging storm. The rain had drenched her to the bone, causing her to shiver uncontrollably from the cold, and the wind threatened to knock her down with each new gust. The water and mud that covered the ground made it hard for the young naga to move, and she trudged ahead, becoming exhausted by the effort. She was still very young, very small and she was very afraid. Her shoulder length blonde hair was blown around in the wind and her once lustrous green scales were covered in mud and dirt. She was holding a large leaf over her head, in some futile attempt to keep dry as she trudged through the blinding rain. Her tears flowed down her cheeks, mixing with the rain as she called out to no one… ”Momma…Daddy! Where’d you go? Please…I don’t want to be alone!!!” she cried, but the rain and the wind drowned out her small voice “...I’m scared…Please come back…Don’t leave me alone.” she whimpered. The small naga desperately called for her parents, but the howling of the wind and the sound of thunder was her only answer…
     
     As if in response to her sorrowful cries, the wind picked up and focused itself into a mighty gust that knocked the young naga to the ground and sent her sliding through the mud. Her make-shift umbrella flew away, lost to the raging winds. She looked up at the sky, up into the storm that seemed like it was out to torment her, and began to cry uncontrollably. “Mo…Momma…Dadd…y…Why’d you leave…me all…a…alone…?” she whimpered while sobbing uncontrollably. She brought the end of her tail around and held it close to her, like how a small child holds their blanket or favorite toy when they are afraid of what is waiting for them in the darkness. She swayed in the wind as she muttered to herself…“I don’t want to be alone…I don’t want to be alone…I don’t want to be alone…I DON’T WANT TO BE ALONE ANY MORE!!!” she cried out into the sky.  

     The child heard a loud crash from above her. She looked up, but she barely had time to register the movement before a large weight fell on top of her, pressing painfully into her back and tail and driving her into the mud. She managed to stay conscious for a second…and then the blackness overwhelmed her and carried her away…

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    Fiona woke up with a start. She bolted upright and let out a small scream. Before she could remember where she was, she lost her balance and fell sideways off of her branch. Out of instinct, Fiona tightened the part of her tail that was coiled around the branch to try and stop her fall, but she only caused herself to swing like a pendulum into the trunk of the tree. Fiona let out a yelp as the back of her head collided with the tree, sending a red-hot stab of pain through her head and knocking her for a loop. The sudden, intense pain caused her to lose her concentration and relax her tail…sending her falling the rest of the way to the ground and bashing her elbow on one of the massive tree’s roots.
    
     “Ow!!!” Fiona cried as she tried to hold her head and her elbow at the same time, she honestly couldn’t tell which one hurt worse at this point. “Stupid tree!!!” She yelled as she whipped her tail into the side of the tree, leaving a large dent in the massive, old tree. “It was that dream…back when I was little” Fiona shivered as she began to recall the events of the dream…”I hate that dream…I hate it so much…Why won’t it just go away?” she asked to no one”It hasn’t gone away yet…not after all these years…what am I going to do if it never does?” Fiona began to feel sick to her stomach and quickly pushed the thought out of her head.
Fiona hated her dreams, most of the time they were bad. She had a good dream every now and then, but no matter how many happy memories she thought of before she went to sleep, most of her dreams put her back in that storm...completely alone, lost and afraid as the winds raged, the thunder crashed and lightning lit up the sky overhead.
     
      Fiona felt her eyes begin to well up with tears as her head and elbow worked together to make her miserable, but she forced herself not to cry. The giant naga picked herself up and slithered over to the small pond that was nearby, the pain in her elbow was beginning to subside but the bump on her head throbbed with a sharp, piercing, pain as she made her way to the small body of water.  She reached the pond and looked at her reflection for a little while before climbing in. She looked tired… like someone who hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a while. Her body was covered in sweat and her hair was a mess from all the tossing and turning in her sleep and from the fall she had when she woke up. The tip of her tail was twitching uncontrollably from all of the stress.
     
     Fiona lowered herself into the water, the massive naga took up the entire pond and most of her tail was still hanging out over the edge.  She let herself begin to calm down, enjoy the cool, clear water and relax a little. After a few minutes, she started to clean herself off in the clear, cool pond. Fiona loved her morning baths, they helped her to relax and it felt like she was washing away all of the terrors from the previous night. After she finished cleaning up, she got out and fixed her hair the way she liked to wear it, checking her reflection to make sure it was right. “Looking good, Fiona” she said as she smiled at her reflection.  She picked a flower from a nearby tree, smelled it and put it in her hair, just above her left ear.
      
     Fiona turned around and looked up into the slowly brightening sky…”Ahh…sunrise. Another long night behind me, and a bright new day ahead” she said with a smile on her face as the memories of her nightmare slowly began to fade away.  She stayed where she was and watched the sun rise into the morning sky while she humming a song to herself, a song her mother used to sing to her when she was little. Fiona truly loved sunrises, she loved the promise of a new day, a clean start and she loved how the sun painted the sky so many shades of orange as it slowly made its way into the heavens.

     Fiona always felt that the only good thing about her nightmares was that they usually got her up early enough to watch the sun rise into the sky. She felt that this fact alone helped to make the thought of having another nightmare a little bit more bearable.
  
     “Okay Fiona…that’s enough of that. The Sun is pretty, but it’s time to get your tail in gear, and get on with the rest of the day” she said to herself. Fiona took one last look at the Sun, which was already becoming too bright to look at directly, finished humming her song, and began to slither off into the forest, wondering what would be in store for her this bright new day.

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     Fiona had been slithering through the forest for a little while, humming another tune to herself, when she heard a loud rumble from her stomach. She looked down and patted her stomach…“Oh…I guess it’s time for breakfast. Okay, time to find something good to eat” she said with a smile.
     
     Fiona closed her eyes and allowed herself to “tune in” to the forest around her. She had been living alone in this particular part of it for over 30 years and had learned to sense when something edible was in her territory. She stretched out her senses, she listened for the faintest of sounds, and used her sensitive nose to try and smell out some food. Fiona couldn’t locate anything significant in her immediate area, but she did smell a familiar, sweet smell from not too far away.
     
     Fiona slithered towards the smell and came to a medium sized tree, it’s branches were heavy with dozens of large, brightly colored citrus fruits…”Well…they’re better than nothing, I guess” she said as she picked four of them from a low branch. She could smell the fruit’s sweetness, and her mouth began to water at the thought of eating it. She brought the fruit up to her mouth and took a big bite out of it Her mouth was flooded with its sweet, tangy juices…”Mmmm…so good” she said with a smile and bit into the fruit again. She finished off the first piece of fruit in a few more large bites, and quickly devoured the other three. “Those were soooo good!” she said with a large, happy smile on her face.
Fiona wiped off a trickle of juice that was coming out of her mouth with the back of her hand,  and then reached up and grabbed two more pieces of fruit…”And few for the road” she said. Fiona slithered away from the tree as she munched on the fruit, taking her time now that her hunger had been satisfied for now.

     After she was done, she licked the remaining juice off of her fingers and washed her hands in a small, nearby stream. Fiona patted her full stomach, let out a small burp and quickly covered her mouth ”Oh, excuse me” she said. Fiona set off into the forest again.

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     It was only a few hours later when Fiona felt her stomach begin to stir again…”Stupid fruit” she said “Why can’t something that tastes so good be filling too?” She crossed her arms as she slithered through the forest…”I guess I’m going to have to eat some “real” food soon…” she said. It would have been obvious to anyone listening, that she was not looking forward to it.

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     Fiona wandered through the forest for a while longer before she heard a sound…It was a familiar sound. It was the sound of small footsteps running through the forest. Her stomach began to stir a little. Fiona wasn’t really that hungry yet, but she was getting very close. Fiona made her way towards the noise, trying to be very silent as she approached, so her potential prey wouldn’t know she was getting closer.
     
     It wasn’t long before she spotted the human running through the forest alone. He didn’t seem to be making any efforts to be quiet, and only seemed interested in running as fast as he could and getting to wherever he was going. Fiona waited for him to pass by her and then began to slowly slither behind him, easily keeping pace with him.

     He was so focused on wherever he was going that he didn’t even notice the large predator that was silently following him. Fiona looked curiously at the human as she followed him; her stomach began to stir even more now that prey was right in front of her. Before she realized it, her mouth was watering at the thought of eating him. When Fiona realized this, she was a little ashamed of herself and quickly tried to get a hold of herself.
     
     Fiona realized that this human was completely focused on what he was doing and wasn’t going to notice her unless she did something to get his attention. ”Hi, little guy!” she called out to him in a cheerful voice. The human skidded to a halt, nearly toppling over as he did so, and slowly turned around to see where the booming female voice had come from. When he saw Fiona he backed up a few steps, lost his balance and fell flat on his ass. ”Oh…n.n..no….a..a…n..n…na…naga….” he stuttered in a terrified voice. Fiona was a little hurt that he was so scared of her, but she could understand why he would be. She would have been scared of herself too, if she was human sized.
     
     The human finally began to collect himself somewhat, and slowly rose to his feet. He had light tan skin and short spiky black hair. He looked fairly young and couldn’t have been older than 17 or 18 years old. He wore dark blue pants and a gray shirt. “Leave me alone, monster…I am a powerful warrior, from a family of powerful warriors…I’m n..n…not afraid of you!” he said as he drew his sword and waved it around in front of him.
     
     Fiona couldn’t help but let out a small giggle as she looked at him. His legs were shaking uncontrollably from fear and his hands were shaking from the effort of holding his large sword. She could smell his fear, but she didn’t really need to. Fiona only had to look at his face to tell he was terrified. She lay down on her stomach in front of him, and looked him over. ”Are you sure you’re not scared of me? I mean, you look and smell like you’re terrified” she said as she leaned forward, moving her face closer to him. The human began to shake even more as Fiona inched closer…”O..o….of course I’m not” he said in a less than confidant voice “Don’t c…c..come any closer…Or….uh…I…I’ll...I’ll cut you” he said as he continued to nervously wave his sword around in front of him. Fiona giggled again, her face now only a little over ten feet away from him. She reached forward with one of her hands and used her thumb and index finger to gently, and effortlessly, pluck the sword from his grip. She looked at it; it seemed very old and dull with some rust already forming on the blade. It seemed like a weapon that had been cast aside and forgotten about until recently. Fiona squeezed it lightly between her fingers and the blade bent and broke off. ”Oops, I guess I broke it” she said with a giggle “You aren’t much of a warrior, are you?”.  
     
     The human looked at her giant face, his eyes full of fear…”O..o…of course I am…I’ve slain bigger monsters than you…with…uh, my bare hands. Yep, with only my bare hands…and in a single blow” he sounded as if he was starting to make things up off the top of his head now. “Really?” Fiona asked as she moved her face only a few feet from him …”Are you sure? You don’t seem like much of a warrior…” she said in a gentle voice, her warm breath causing him to begin to sweat a little.

     He backed up, fell down again and let out a sigh…”No…I’m no warrior…I’m just a baker, well my parents are teaching me to be one. I was hoping you’d buy my whole “legendary warrior act” and go away”. Fiona looked at him and smiled “Well, I almost did. You were very convincing” she lied. He looked saddened now…”Well, I guess this it for me. I’ve failed her” he said, mostly to himself. “Huh?” Fiona said with a curious look…”what are you talking about, little guy? Failed who?”. He looked at her, a little calmer now that he was almost certain that he was looking his death in the face. ”It’s my little sister” he said “she got bit by a very poisonous type of insect. She’s still holding on, barely, but she needs an antidote. But to make it, you need a rare kind of plant that grows deeper in the jungle. I went off to get it. It took longer than I thought, but I finally found it and I was on my way back home with it…until I ran into you. If she doesn’t get it very soon…well, the venom will shut down her heart and she’ll die. But I failed her. I know I’m not going to make it back now…I know what your kind does to mine” he looked like he was about to cry “She’s only 5, she never even had the chance to live her life” he said, his voice cracking a little near the end as he struggled to hold back tears.

     Fiona looked at the human, wide-eyed and shocked ”That is such a sad story” she said, her eyes began to well up with tears as she image of a small girl slowly dying formed in her head ”it’s so sad. No one deserves to die that young, before they even have a chance to live” she said. The human looked at her nearby face ”Yeah…but you caught me. I know what happens next…” he looked away and closed his eyes so he didn’t have to see his death coming.
     
     Fiona was torn; she really didn’t know what to do. She knew she was hungry and she really wanted to eat him…but Fiona knew that if she did, an innocent child would die and she’d always hate herself for causing that. She thought about things for a while. ”Go. Get back to your sister” she said with a smile. The human looked at her, shocked and convinced he had heard her wrong “Huh!?...you’re letting me go!?” he said as he got to his feet, and before he could help himself he asked ”why?”. Fiona looked at him, trying to look as friendly and non-threatening as possible ”Because I won’t be responsible for the death of a child and I’m really not that hungry right now anyway” she lied…and as if on cue, her stomach let out a rumble of hunger. Fiona looked a little embarrassed ”Go on little guy…get a move on” she said as she smiled and gave him a light nudge with her finger. He looked at her and smiled back ”Thank you! Thank you so much!…umm…I never got your name”. She smiled at the human “I’m Fiona, now go on, go save your little sister”. The human started to run away, but before he got too far, he stopped, turned around and looked at her ”Oh yeah, my name is Ezekiel Arbok…but my friends call me Zeke. Thank you so much. I really, truly owe you one, Fiona. I can’t thank you enough” he turned around again and ran off through the forest, trying to get back home as fast as his legs would carry him.
    
     Fiona laid there on her stomach and watched him leave and disappear into the forest ”It feels so good to help people” she said with a happy smile on her face. She looked like she was really proud of herself. Fiona’s stomach let out a hungry growl and she poked the side of her stomach with a finger ”Oh shut up, you”. She reared back up to her full height and slithered off through the forest again. A little while later, she noticed that it was getting close to midday and was starting to get pretty hot and humid. “Well…I guess I might as well take a nap until it cools off a little” she said. Fiona curled up at the base of a nearby shady tree to rest; her stomach gave one more growl of protest before she fell asleep.

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     When Fiona woke up several hours later, she realized two things. First, she’d slept a lot longer than she wanted and it was now sometime in the late afternoon, maybe only a couple hours from nightfall. And secondly, she realized that she was desperately hungry. Her stomach ached from a lack of food and growled loudly at her. “Ohhhh” she moaned ”I’m so hungry. I have to eat something.” Fiona reared up to her full height and once again “tuned in” to the forest to locate something to eat. Fiona felt something off in the distance and focused her senses on it.

     She heard many small footsteps and smelled a familiar smell ”Humans” she said “and a group them too”. Fiona began to smile and her mouth began to water a little at the thought of food. Fiona realized she really was looking forward to eating them and became very ashamed of herself. She quickly got herself back under control and sighed a little “Well, I have to eat something” Fiona said with a little bit of a frown, and slithered off towards where she sensed the humans were.

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     It didn’t take Fiona very long to find the humans. She saw that it was a small group of them, only three. They wandered through the forest looking around as they went, seemingly amazed by their surroundings. They didn’t even seem worried about being out in the open just walking around. Fiona knew that they had to be a group of new arrivals. She knew that humans came here from many different worlds, but she wasn’t exactly sure how though. Fiona could tell they had no idea what this world was like, or how much danger they were in right now. She knew they would be an easy meal.
     
     Fiona pressed herself against a tree that was near where they were walking and peeked around it until the humans came closer. When they got close, Fiona quickly slithered around the tree and headed directly towards them. She was on them before they even realized it.

     Fiona quickly reached down and grabbed two of the humans, one in each hand. She brought the first one up to her mouth. Fiona dropped the on her tongue and closed her mouth. She pressed him against the roof of her mouth, enjoying his taste. She could feel his desperate struggles to get free. Fiona tilted her head back a little and swallowed him, sending him down her throat with a gulp. The human made a small bulge in her throat as he travelled down it, disappearing from sight as he passed her collarbone. After a few seconds, Fiona felt the human land in her stomach. She could fell him moving around inside of her, feeling around and trying to find a way out.

     Fiona brought the other human up to face level. The woman struggled around in Fiona’s grip. She had dark brown hair and was wearing a green shirt. Fiona looked at the woman in her hand. She had a torn look on her face. Fiona was still really hungry, but still felt guilty about eating these humans. Fiona’s hunger won out as her stomach let out a small rumble of hunger. She began to bring the woman closer to her mouth. “Nooo!!!” the woman said shortly before Fiona put her in her mouth. Fiona rolled the human around on her tongue a little, and then swallowed her whole like the other one. The human travelled down Fiona’s throat, propelled by powerful muscles and landed in her stomach with the other one. Fiona thought she could feel the two of them huddling together inside of her.
     
     Deep down Fiona really felt did bad about eating the two humans, but their wonderful taste and the feeling of food in her stomach were keeping her from thinking about her guilt too much right now. She felt the humans moving around inside her and patted her stomach; it felt really good to have some food in it.
She turned her attention to the third human. He hadn’t even moved yet. He just stared at Fiona with a mix of fascination and absolute terror as the massive creature towered over him. He was rendered completely speechless and incapable of rational thought by the sight of her and how she had eaten his comrades. Fiona smiled at the human ”Well, I’m not completely full yet, so…I’m going to eat you too, little guy. I’m really sorry” she said in as cheerful a voice as she could. She bent over and reached out to grab him. It was at this moment that his mind started working again. He began to back away as her hand got closer. The human had seen how fast Fiona could move and he knew he had no chance if he tried to outrun her. His mind desperately scrambled to come up with a way to escape or to distract her, anything to keep from being eaten alive by this beautiful, hungry, creature like his friends had been.
     
     The human did the only thing his panic stricken mind could think of at the time. He pointed dramatically past Fiona and yelled “HEY!!! Look over there!!! There’s something behind you!!! I’m not kidding, there really is!!!”. Fiona was a little surprised at the human’s sudden outburst. She couldn’t help herself; she was curious about what the human might have seen. Fiona turned halfway around and looked over her shoulder. ”Huh? You say you saw something behind me?” Fiona said in a questioning voice as she looked around for whatever he could have been talking about. The human could not believe what he was seeing; she had actually fallen for it. He had to make himself stop being amazed that his plan had actually worked and he started to run away from the giant creature at full speed.

     Fiona began to slowly turn back around “Well, I don’t know what you think you saw, but there’s nothing back ther—“ she stopped in mid-sentence as she saw the human running away from her. Fiona brought the tip of her tail around and used it to block the human’s path. He skidded to a halt and turned to face her again. Fiona looked embarrassed as she looked down at the human.  “Wow, I can’t believe I actually fell for th—I mean, totally did NOT fall for that trick of yours” she said in an embarrassed voice. Fiona began to slowly move closer to the human so she could grab him.

     The human stared up at her; shaking in fear as the massive creature slowly came closer “Can’t you just l..l..let me go? You already a..ate my friends” he asked in a terrified, pleading voice. Fiona looked down at the frightened human “I’m a naga” she said in a voice that sounded like she was trying to convince herself of it “I’m a predator. Once I start hunting my prey, nothing can distract me”.  Shortly after she finished her statement, a large butterfly flew into the area and began to lazily fly around in front of her. Its wingspan was easily twice as wide as the human was tall. Its large wings had a metallic sheen to them and reflected the sunlight as it flew through the air.
     
     Fiona seemed to lose all interest in the human as she watched the shiny insect fly around in front of her. “Oh, its soooo shiny” she said with a far-off look on her face. “…I have to touch it”. Fiona reached out to touch the butterfly and it began to slowly fly away. “Aww…come back” she called out to it. Fiona glanced down at the human one more time and then began to slither off after the large, shiny insect. Her love of shiny things had overpowered her still hungry stomach. The human stood there, watching in disbelief as she just slithered away from him…and still not entirely sure of what had just happened. After a while, he began to backtrack through the forest, hoping to find some sort of civilization…or at least a safe place to spend the night.
    
     Fiona slowly slithered after the butterfly for a while. She reached out every now and then to try and touch it, but it effortlessly dodged her fingers. “Aww…come here” she called to it “I just want to touch you, you shiny bug, you” she said with a smile. Fiona lunged forward in a final attempt to grab the butterfly, but it dodged her fingers again and flew off deeper into the forest as Fiona landed flat on her face. “Aww…I just wanted to touch you” she said as she picked herself back up and pulled a twig out of her hair. She seemed to think about something for a little while “Wait…wasn’t I doing something…hmm…The human!! I completely got sidetracked” she suddenly realized. “I can’t believe it, that’s the third time this month that I’ve done that” she said as she face-palmed herself in embarrassment and frustration. She tried to sense the human, but she had moved too far away from him. Fiona sighed “Well, at least I found something to eat” she patted her stomach “I guess it’s better than nothing”.

     Fiona noticed that the Sun had started to set and she began to make her way back to the tree she had been sleeping in for the last few days. She stopped along the way and plucked several small pieces of fruit to eat on the way back. Fiona reached her tree at nearly nightfall and climbed back up into the branch she had fallen out of earlier.
     
     Fiona lay on her stomach on the branch with her tail wrapped around it as she watched the setting sun. She had felt the humans in her stomach stop struggling some time ago and the guilt was beginning to come back. “It’s not fair” she said “Why do I have to balance out being a good person, with starving to death. It just isn’t fair. I don’t want to hurt anybody, but I have to eat to stay alive”.  Fiona let out a sigh and watched the sun until the orange sky began to fade to black. After it got dark, she started to feel herself begin to fall asleep. Waking up early and the stress of a long day had finally caught up with her. Her half satisfied stomach let out a small, barely audible rumble of hunger. Fiona poked the side of it with a finger ” Be quiet, you. That’s all for today”. A little while later, Fiona began to drift off to sleep.
     
     When she was nearly asleep, Fiona heard the familiar sound of thunder coming from deep in her head. She quickly lifted herself up and shook her head in an attempt to clear it. “No storms tonight” She said as she lay back down ”Please, no storms tonight”. A little while later, Fiona was fast asleep and for the first time in a long while, the storm didn’t rage in her dreams. Fiona had a peaceful look on her face as she began to enter a deeper sleep and started to dream.

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     The young naga heard voices as the blackness faded away and she began to regain consciousness. It was early in the morning, just before dawn and the storm had stopped. The sky was clear and it was just starting to brighten up in the distance. “Well we have to do something. It’s still just a child, we can’t just leave it!” a female voice said. “You know what they grow up to be Kaylee! If we don’t kill it or leave it to die, since it’s as good as dead anyway with that branch sitting on top of it, it’ll just grow up into another one of those monsters and kill people!” A gruff male voice said.

     The young naga slowly opened her eyes. She saw a group of humans standing nearby, maybe 20 something of them. A short female human with light-brown hair and a flower in her hair was arguing with a large, tough looking man. “You’re talking about leaving a CHILD to DIE Sypher!!!” the female yelled at him, standing on her tip-toes to try and get in his face. “That’s no child Kaylee…It’s a man-eater in the making!” he yelled back. “You’re a heartless bastard Sypher!!! We have to try and help the poor thing!” Kaylee yelled back at him. Sypher glared at glared at the short woman. He knew she was too stubborn for him to speak kindly and get his point across. “Just because your womb is as barren as the western desert doesn’t mean you need to adopt the first parentless child you see! Especially if it’s going to grow up and try to eat us all!” he yelled at her. Kaylee looked hurt, like old memories best left forgotten had been dragged up. She backed away slightly and absentmindedly put a hand over her stomach. A male human that had been standing off to the side walked up and punched Sypher square in the face, knocking him to the ground “Don’t you EVER talk to my wife that way AGAIN Sypher!!! I ignore a lot of the stupid shit you say, but I won’t ignore it when you say something to intentionally try and hurt my wife!” he yelled. Sypher got to his feet, his lip bleeding a little”Your wife is going to doom us all if you let her bring that monster with us Edward. I’m looking out for the rest of the group” he said. “No, you’re not” Kaylee said angry from being verbally attacked by him “You’re just being an ass and worrying about yourself Sypher. You weren’t “worried about the group” when that tree ate Mike and his wife. You were one of the first ones to run away!” she said. “I won’t leave an innocent child to die” Kaylee said as she walked towards the young naga. Sypher wiped the blood off his lip “Fine, do what you want. You’ve seen what lives on this world, we’re all doomed anyway…” he turned to the rest of the group “…but remember, I warned you all” Sypher walked away and sat down to sulk.
     
     The young naga saw the human woman come over to her and kneel down “It’s okay sweetie. I’m going to help you” she said with a smile. Kaylee tried to move the large branch, but it was too heavy and too deeply stuck in the mud for her to move on her own. “I need some help over here. Someone help me free her…please” she called over her shoulder, her eyes pleading for someone to help her. Her husband, Edward came over first. He was followed by nearly half the group, the other half watched or walked over to talk to Sypher. Edward and the others managed to lift the branch enough for Kaylee to drag the child out from
underneath it.

     Kaylee cradled the young naga in her arms. She saw that the child was scratched up and covered in mud…but otherwise okay. She figured the soft mud had let the child sink in enough to keep the branch from crushing her to death. Kaylee held the child close to her as she talked to her “Are you okay little one?” she asked “Mhmm” the child nervously answered back. “Where are your mommy and daddy?” She asked the young naga “…I don’t know. I couldn’t…find them….I was so alone” the child answered, she was on the edge of tears as she talked “I don’t want to be alone anymore”. Kaylee gently stroked the child’s hair and held her close to comfort the scared naga…”Shhh, it’s okay. Don’t cry little one. You won’t be alone anymore” Kaylee said in a soothing voice. She walked over to Edward with the young naga in her arms, the child’s tail still dragging the ground a little. Edward looked at his wife and the scared child she was holding. He wrapped his arms around Kaylee and the child. “It’s going to be okay little one. You aren’t alone anymore” Kaylee said. She looked down at the young naga “Do you have a name?” she asked. The young naga felt safe and warm in the embrace of the two humans. She looked up and saw that the sun was just rising into the sky, painting it so many shades of orange as it went.

     The young naga looked up into the faces of the two humans “……Fiona. My name is Fiona”. For the first time since becoming lost in the storm, Fiona felt safe and warm and loved. Kaylee hummed a song from her childhood as she held onto Fiona and her husband. Fiona fell asleep in Edward and Kaylee’s arms as they all watched the sun inch its way up into sky.

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     Up in her tree over 5 decades later…Fiona slept soundly and peacefully through the night for the first time in a long while.


                                                                                                        7/27/08 ~ rcs619