Soldiers and Serpents //Scorbus

49 Black

"We will follow no one, nothing."

"You will obey me." His voice raised in volume- a risky move. But this time they seemed to sense that he was who he said. Scorpius hadn't ever tried this- but Aries had said he could do it. So he was going to try.

"We will obey."

"Find Selwyn and Daniel. Strike down anyone else you see looking for me." He ordered, keeping the same tone even though it was loud enough for others to hear him. The serpents still created fear in him- but compared to the thought of dying? It paled. Let Selwyn's followers hear the parseltongue. Let that sink in and terrorize them. They have no idea who their messing with- let's show them. Scorpius watched as the black serpents immediately slithered away under the hedges, and could feel a sort of tether to them. Like he could sense where they are, what they were doing. The feeling was strange, foreign. Then again, perhaps it was because he hadn't conjured a snake to use it like this.

He wondered if Aries would've been proud.

Scorpius looked into the clearing, where the fountain wasn't on. Water sat in the small cement pool, still and silent. He stayed there, listening as people grew nearer and nearer. His grey eyes watched from where he stayed hidden, as a girl emerged. Not a girl- a woman. With a man beside her. He didn't recognize them and they didn't see him.

"... even know who he is." The man was saying.

"It doesn't matter. He came out of the manor. Clearly he's someone close to the boy if he lives there." The girl responded. "If Selwyn wants him dead, then he'll be dead. Perhaps that'll send a message." She scanned her eyes around to the fountain and then to the several entrances of the maze surrounding the clearing. Scorpius's heart skipped a beat. So they did plan to kill Michael. There's no reason for him to pull his punches then.

"Aqua Eructo!" Scorpius stepped out of the shadows, and the spell immediately pulled the water from the fountain, and the jet stream curled around the woman- who was completely caught off guard. She screamed- until the water flooded over her head, muffling her cries and cutting off her air. Filling her nostrils, her mouth, eyes, everything. She fought against the water. The man went to attack Scorpius, but before he could- a serpent strikes him from the back.

The man falls, and the snake whispers Dinner as it slithers towards his kill. Scorpius lowered his wand as the girl collapsed. She wasn't dead, but she was probably unconscious from oxygen deprivation. He dashed through the darkness, across the clearing and through another entrance to the maze. Three more down. Seven left. He had to find Selwyn. If Selwyn and Daniel went down, the others may flee. And the Manor wouldn't be touched.

Scorpius pulled out his phone, holding it up to his ear. "Still there, Michael?" He asks in a soft whisper. Michael responds immediately, his voice also low- as though hoping that it wouldn't affect Scorpius.

"I heard the parseltongue. What's going on?"

"I'm not abandoning my family home."

"You're in my body!"

"Listen to me." Scorpius hissed, feet drawing him towards an exit of the maze, Hut he couldn't reach it before a man comes into view, so he turns a corner instead, and presses his back to the hedge, branches grabbing at his bare arms. "I'm not going to put your body in danger. You have to trust me. Do you trust me?" There's a moment of silence on the other end of the line.

"Merlin help me. I trust you." Michael curses softly.

"I'm hanging up. I'm almost to the forest behind the house. I'll loose signal there. I'll call you back when I'm safe." Scorpius tells him. Michael softly agrees, and then Scorpius ends the call, slipping the phone into his pocket. He wasn't going to the forest yet, but Michael didn't need to know that.