Its long body had no fat, no cellulite. Nor was it muscle. It was nothing more than skin covering bones. Deep yellow and orange scales covered it from top to bottom, and covering its scales were sharp barbs the colour of the sand in which it hid. Its fearsome eyes, seemed to be every colour possible. Its hooded, elongated head had no nose but its gigantic tooth lined mouth made up for that. Its long, long body lay three times the size of Del’s 6 foot 5 inches. Del turned slowly, unsuspectingly, to face ta great pile of sand that could have been easily mistaken for a dune. The creature launched itself at him and Del made a grab for its head but missed by inches. The Snake swerved and crashed to the floor, its tail whipping Del's legs from under him sending him to the sand too. The creature squirmed and writhed, finally rolling back onto its soft underbelly once more. Where was his knife? Del scrabbled in the sand, he had no recollection of dropping it but it must have happened in the panic. He turned back to face the creature with empty, shaking hands, adrenaline fizzed and bucked through his veins clearing his blurred thoughts. With the Snakes next flying leap, Del lifted his hands and clamped its jaw shut. The beast battled against Del’s hands but he held the snake up high above his head, and it struggled heavily against his body. Clenching his fingers around Del slammed the animal to the floor and he sat with a leg on either side of it, looking into its strange, hypnotic eyes. I know what you are, Del spoke. I’m what ever you want me to be. I am your lover, I am your sworn enemy. I am your salvation but I also condemn your soul. I’m whatever I have to be. Why shouldn’t I just kill you now? Del liked being vulnerable as much as he liked the desert. That is to say, not a lot. Because I have what you want. Del had strict orders not to kill it. Just to get what he needed, what they needed. He felt it rifling through his mind, looking for something. It should have felt strange, uncomfortable. It did not. It was almost familiar. Del’s chest seized with unease, something was wrong. And because you want the same thing as I. You want to be free. GIVE ME WHAT I WANT Del screamed in panic. The animal had touched something that was sacred. Something that was unsaid. Something that had never been heard, it was the only thing that he had ever owned and now it was no longer his. You are like me. Something made rather than born. Different. The beast had latched on to his weakness. And began bleeding it dry. Then realisation dawned that he was the mouse in a trap thoroughly laid out for him, Del knew that now they had what they wanted. He and the snake were the same. They had used the same material to raise a beast that could infiltrate his being the way he could do so many others. The Palace now knew that he would turn traitor as soon as look. His sister's safety was in dire jeopardy and with her body of just fourteen years, she is vulnerable. However much she protested that she could look after herself. And now his kin will burn. Run, his body screamed. But he wasn’t done yet. He scraped his bare foot up the body of the snake until his foot pressed its head back into the sand so it could not escape. Using his fingers, he ripped scales from it's body, as if pulling the feathers off a dead goose. The snake hissed and cried out in agony as its red blood started to run. Del slid a clear, angular vile from his belt and collected enough of the blood to fill it. He forced the cork back into the vile just as the snake twitched and he lost his grip on the monster. It forced itself away, flinging Del in the other direction and braced itself to leap upon he man. He landed heavily, feeling the sand beneath him shift. It was soft and warm everywhere apart from the patch just underneath his left hip. It was bumpy and hard with an end tapering out into a sharp point. He pushed his hand under his damaged body and grasped the handle. The Snakes pounce came just as he raised the blade with both hands, one on the handle the other flat against the tip, and watched as the beast fell, neck first onto it. The knife bite into it's skin not only injuring but decapitating it clean through the bone. The blood gushed out of the snake’s body straight into Del's face. It's body was still moving, independent from its head which had rolled away from him just over his left shoulder. Del lay and and waited for the last twitches to cease. The barbs from its scales, were hooked into his skin. Pulling painfully at his flesh unbearably. All he could do was lie there and hold his breath as the last of the blood slid over him. He heaved away the carcass, letting a grunt escape as the bards slid from his body once more. Del finally peeled himself from the sand and stood. Puncture holes littered his thick tunic and each hole now seeping a turquoise liquid, his body was rejecting the poison. Del limped away, leaving a trail of the snake’s blood behind him. He looked back over his shoulder, and for a second. Just for one second. The brown rings in his green eyes shone orange as he cursed himself, then continued to slink away. His punishment awaited in the palace and it was a most pressing engagement. After all, it was fore-sworn. It had been organised for more than a while now. It was really was a shame he would miss it.