Free Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder Page B

him.”
    “How?”
    “You do not want to know.”

    “Yes, I do. I want you to tell me everything!”
    Moon Man sighed. “The Vermin were once a part of the Sandseed clan. They are
    our wayward kin, and they are infesting the rest of Sitia. How we deal with them is in
    accordance to our laws, and it is the proper way to take care of Vermin.”
    “And that would be?”
    “You exterminate them.”
    A protest perched on my lips. What about those members who might have been
    misguided? But my question remained unvoiced. Now wasn’t the best time to argue
    crime and punishment.
    Instead, I gazed at the tall trees, looking for a way up into the canopy, wishing I
    hadn’t left my grapple and rope in the cave. I found a long vine and used it to climb
    into the higher branches. After a moment to reorient myself—the Zaltana homestead
    was to the west—I swung over to the next tree.
    I kept my magical senses tuned to the life around me, seeking the Daviians and
    other predators as I traveled toward home. The web of branches and crowded trees
    slowed my progress. After a few hours, my sweat-soaked clothes were ripped, and
    my skin burned and itched from innumerable cuts and insect bites.
    Resting on the branch of a hawthorn tree, I scanned the area between me and
    Moon Man. There was no sign of any intelligent life so I linked my mind with Moon
    Man’s and Leif’s.
    You will be safe to travel to this area, I said, picturing the small clearing below.
    Stay there until I contact you again.
    They agreed.
    After I rested, I pushed my way through the jungle’s canopy, staying alert to any
    sign of the Daviians. The rhythm of climbing from tree to tree combined with the
    steady pulse of the jungle’s undisturbed life force. When an out-of-tune presence
    plucked at my senses, my energies focused on the distant ripple. Engrossed, I
    concentrated on discovering the source. A man in the tree canopy. Before I could
    determine if he was friend or foe, my left hand grasped a smooth and pliant branch.
    Surprised, I jerked my awareness back and my mind connected with a hunter lurking
    in the trees.
    The leaves rustled with movement. The terrifying rasp of a stirring snake
    surrounded me. The limb under my feet softened. I scrambled for a solid branch,
    and touched nothing but the snake’s dry coils. The necklace snake’s coloring
    blended with the jungle’s greenery so well that I couldn’t determine where the rest of
    it lay.
    I closed my eyes and projected into the snake’s mind. It had looped part of its
    body between two branches, creating a flat net now closing around me. Pulling my
    switchblade from my pocket, I triggered the blade.
    When the heavy coils of the snake dropped onto my shoulders, I knew I had
    mere seconds before the predator would wrap around my throat like a necklace and
    choke me to death. I sensed satisfaction from the snake as it moved to tighten its
    hold.
    I stabbed my knife into the snake’s thick body. Would the Curare on the blade
    affect the creature? Mild pain from the thrust registered in the snake’s mind, but it
    considered the wound minor.

    The snake contracted around me, trapping my legs and left arm. I realized the
    necklace snake held me aloft. If I cut through its coils, I would plummet to the
    ground.
    Another loop brushed my face as the snake tried to encircle my neck. I pushed it
    away with my free arm. A coil slid up my back.
    Deciding the odds of surviving a fall were better than dying by strangulation, I
    stabbed my blade in the nearest coil with the intention of sawing through it. Before I
    applied more pressure, the creature stopped.
    Perhaps Curare had paralyzed the snake. I pulled the blade out and the snake
    resumed its tightening. The Curare hadn’t worked. But when I reinserted the knife,
    the creature paused. Odd. I must have found a vulnerable area. We were at an
    impasse.
    Through my link with its mind, I sensed the snake’s hunger warring with its desire
    to live. I tried