Chapter 91: The Messenger’s Message And Bella’s Despair!
The snake was moving. Still alive. Still conscious. It began to unwind itself from around the beam, its long body descending slowly toward the ground.
Ryker was already shifting. Gideon had grabbed something sharp. Sorin was moving into a defensive position even though he was still recovering from his earlier injury.
But Neve just stood there, frozen, watching as the outcast revealed itself completely.
The snake was large. Massive, even. Its scales were dark and iridescent. Its eyes were intelligent and cold. This was not just a random animal. This was a beastman. A member of the snake tribe. An outcast who had deliberately infiltrated the cave and hidden himself to observe them.
To observe Neve.
"So," the snake hissed, his voice like wind through dead leaves, "you found me. The one who delivered the poison to your little leopard friend."
He looked directly at Neve.
"The king sends his regards," the snake said. "He wanted me to test you. To see what you were capable of. To confirm whether you were really worth all the trouble."
The snake descended further, his body moving with sinuous grace across the stone floor.
"And you passed," he continued. "You’re definitely worth capturing."
"What?" Neve said, his voice cutting through the tension in the cave. "How does your king know about me?"
The question hung in the air.
Everyone in the cave went very still. Even the snake stopped moving for a moment, clearly shocked that Neve had just spoken to it in its own language. In the language of the outcasts. In a language that no one in the leopard tribe should have been able to understand.
Neve looked up, noticing the sudden silence that had fallen over the group.
"What is the problem?" he asked, genuinely confused by their reactions. "Did I say something wrong?"
Ryker stepped forward, his expression shifting from ready-for-battle to genuinely confused.
"Neve, how are you able to understand the words of the outcast?" Ryker asked from where he was standing, still in a defensive posture.
Neve looked back at the snake and that was when it hit him.
He remembered. The system reward. The one he had received from completing missions. The reward that gave him Beast Language Knowledge. The one that let him understand all the dialects. All the languages. Even the ones spoken by the banished tribes.
Even the outcasts.
He shut his eyes and sighed deeply.
It felt weird and suspicious. How was he able to understand the snake when all the others could only hear hissing and slithering sounds? When Cael had mentioned back at the beginning that Neve was chittering?
He wanted to smile at the memory but he held it back. He looked at Cael who was now healthy enough to have thrown a cup at the snake. Then he looked back at the snake still coiled on the cave floor.
"I don’t know what you’re aiming to get," Neve said firmly, "but I won’t let you hurt anyone in this tribe again."
The snake’s head tilted slightly.
"I’m only doing my mission," the snake said, its voice still that hissing whisper that only Neve could fully understand. "However, I don’t personally care if he dies. My king only wants to know everything about you. And I’ve found out everything I needed to know. I’ll be on my way now."
It started to move toward the cave entrance, uncoiling itself from the stone floor.
"On your way?" Neve asked, rolling his finger in a gesture that told the snake to look around. "You’re thinking of escaping just like that?"
The snake looked around the cave carefully.
It saw Cael standing with his fists clenched. Ryker in a position ready to strike. Gideon holding something sharp. Sorin still recovering but dangerous. Popi with her claws extended. Everyone was armed. Everyone was ready.
"What?" the snake said, its voice carrying something that might have been amusement. "I can’t be killed. I’m a messenger. The king’s messenger. You know what happens to those who kill messengers?"
"They don’t believe that," Neve said calmly, pulling away from the group.
But the snake moved faster than anyone expected.
It crawled quickly across the stone floor and wrapped itself around Neve’s leg with surprising speed and force.
"Neve!" Cael shouted, his voice full of panic and fury. "Don’t let that bloody thing bite you! Move away!"
"I would strike it to death if it’s not wrapped around your leg," Ryker added, taking a step forward but stopping because of the snake wrapped around Neve.
"Gideon, find something to do," Popi said, her voice sharp and commanding.
"What? I’m a physician, not a snake handler," Gideon protested. "Ugh!"
Neve held up a hand to stop them all from panicking.
"It’s fine," he said calmly, looking down at the snake coiled around his leg. "Everyone, just relax."
He turned his attention to the snake.
"I’m not going to bite you if you tell them to let me go," the snake hissed. "Just tell them to stand down and I’ll release you."
"Just go if you want," Neve said simply.
The snake’s head came up, its eyes narrowing.
"I’m going to bite you," it said threateningly. "Don’t you dare ignore my words."
Neve smirked slightly.
He was thinking about what he wanted to know. About who the king of the outcasts was and what he wanted enough to send a messenger to spy on Neve. About what the outcasts were planning. About what threat they posed to the village.
But asking directly would not work. The snake was clearly following orders. Clearly under the control of someone more powerful. Threatening it would not get him answers.
So instead, Neve took a different approach.
He carefully picked up the snake, making sure to support its body properly so it would not feel threatened or lose its grip. He walked toward the entrance of the cave with the snake now wrapped around his arm.
Behind him, everyone was shouting.
"Don’t let it go, Neve!" Cael yelled.
"We can still kill it!" Ryker added.
"Wait, think about this!" Sorin called out.
But Neve kept walking.
He reached the cave entrance and stepped out into the cold night air. The snow was falling heavily now. The village was quiet. Most people were asleep or inside their caves.
Bella was still kneeling in the snow where Soren had left her.
She looked up when Neve appeared, hope flickering in her eyes.
But Neve walked past her and toward the edge of the cave.
He could hear the voices behind him getting fainter as he moved away from the cave. He could hear Cael calling his name. Ryker demanding he come back.
But he had made his decision.
Neve stopped at a spot where the snow was deep and the darkness was thick. He carefully lowered himself and allowed the snake to unwind from his hand.
"Go," he said simply.
The snake looked at him, clearly confused.
"Go back to your king," Neve continued. "Tell him I know he sent you. Tell him I know he’s interested in me. But tell him also that if he wants me, he’ll have to come here himself. Tell him I’m not something that can be captured by spies or messengers."
The snake was quiet for a moment.
Then it nodded once and began to slither away into the snow. Within seconds, it had disappeared completely, buried in the white powder, leaving only a trail that would be covered by new snow within minutes.
Neve stood there in the cold for a moment, watching where the snake had gone.
Then he turned and walked back toward the cave entrance.
As soon as he reached it, Cael was there grabbing him, pulling him inside where it was warm.
"Why?" Cael demanded, his hands checking Neve’s leg for bite marks. "Why did you let it go? We could have killed it!"
"If we did, the king of the outcasts might find out that we killed one of his own," Neve said calmly. "And guess what will happen next?"
They all knew the answer without him saying it.
War.
It would be war between the leopard tribe and the outcasts. A war they were not prepared for. A war that could destroy everything.
"Then let’s just let it live," Neve said, wanting to turn back inside to get warm when someone grabbed his clothes from behind.
He felt the grip before he heard the voice.
"Neve please," Bella cried, her voice breaking with emotion. "Forgive me! You forgave the snake, but not me. Why?"
Neve froze.
’Oh! I forgot she was still here,’ he thought to himself.
He turned slowly to look at Bella kneeling in the snow, tears streaming down her face. Her lips were turning blue from the cold. Her entire body was shaking. Just a few hours in the snow was taking its toll on her physically.
She was looking at him with such desperation. Such raw emotion. Such need for forgiveness.
And Neve had just let a dangerous messenger snake walk away free while condemning Bella to suffer in the cold.
But he doesn’t feel a bit guilty about it.