EYE OF THE SORCERER

Sangrador had retreated into the jungle with great reluctance. It was all he could do, since he could not stand to be in the presence of The Light. He was burning with anger at having been interrupted before he could get what he wanted. He could hear Travis mumbling in the ancient tongue, but he was too far away to understand what he was saying. He was so close, so close! But there was nothing he could do about it. Sisk was covered by The Light and as long as Travis was in his presence, so was he. If Sisk would leave him unattended for just ten seconds, that was all it would take, he could get what he wanted and would have no more use for Travis. But it was clear that he wasn't going to get ten seconds, as Sisk seemed to be getting Travis up to take him with him. He was angry, very angry, but what could he do? There was nothing he could do, other than something that was merely out of spite. Something to scare them and perhaps make them do something stupid and unthinking.

He picked up a piece of dead, twisted vine from the forest floor and spit on it and rubbed the spittle over the entire stick and began muttering a spiteful incantation, as he laid it carefully on the ground and turned to go. Alone, the stick began to elongate and stretch and swell in size. The splotches of dried bark and exposed rotten wood were transformed into diamond shaped geometric designs and became scales. Soon it was no longer a stick, but rather, a long, ever growing snake. Three feet, then four feet in length, it continued to grow as it came into being and hissed and contorted, as the end developed a knot and then a wicked head, taking on all the physical attributes and characteristics of a real snake. And as it grew, it began to slither toward the road, where Sisk was trying to get Travis to his feet.

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Travis was still trying to make sense of what had happened to him. He couldn’t remember anything past walking down the road, enjoying the morning. The next thing he remembered, he was on the ground with Sisk standing over him, trying to get him up. Nothing else. He would remember nothing of his brief encounter with Sangrador, nothing but perhaps a whiff of foul odor that he didn’t think he would forget anytime soon.

“You’ve been drugged, son! Not with a physical dose of anything, but spiritual! It was an evil incantation! Let’s get up and go back to the Cross house, quickly!”

“I don’t understand how...”

“You don’t have to understand right now! Just get up and let’s go! I don’t want you staying here another minute longer than you have to. Sangrador is back and he’s on to you!”

He helped Travis to his feet and together they made their way back toward the road to the Cross house. Travis felt like he was drunk, as he staggered from side to side. What was he doing in the bushes? Why did he leave the road at all? Why was Dan Sisk so nervous? He didn’t understand. He couldn’t remember at all what had happened, but it was for certain that it was not good. They staggered onto the road together and that was where they saw it.

Travis could hardly believe his eyes, but then, he was having a hard time grasping on to the reality of anything at the moment.

The serpent had to be at least forty feet long by now and seemed to be getting bigger before their very eyes! Not that forty feet was unusual for a snake down here, he'd seen larger ones in Peru. But this one was not just a snake. It was winding and curling around in geometric circles on the road in front of them, scraping its hard dry scales on the gravel. But it wasn’t merely a snake, was it? As it writhed and contorted, they both could see that it had legs! No, it wasn’t just a snake it had a crude resemblance to a dragon!

A dragon? There were no such things aside from myth!

The serpent raised up its head and lashed out at them with a red forked tongue, a tongue as long as Travis’ arm! It opened its mouth and hissed and at the same time exhaled a cloud of noxious fumes, which ignited like a blow-torch and burst forth from its nostrils in a crackling puff of fire. Both men were petrified with fear and could feel the intense heat and smell the sulfuric odor from the dragon’s breath.

Travis wanted to turn and run down the road away from the beast, but it seemed like his joints had turned to liquid and he could not move. Dan Sisk made no effort to move either, but stared at the creature with disbelieving eyes.

The dragon reeled back and let out a hideous scream and then blew a hot blast of fire past the two men, which disintegrated a green bush on the side of the road and created a fire that continued to burn the bushes after the scorching breath subsided. Travis shrank away from the flames.

The dragon reared up on its hind legs, which had now grown to massive proportions and the neck had grown to at least eight feet long and the head was unbelievable, with horns and tusks in places where such things normally should not be.

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