13. Spiraling

As the full moon painted the night sky, the four returned to the field. The flowers danced in the wind with a pale glow that turned their colors into pastel shades. Their forms were twisting and turning and they could see a long winding pattern amongst the flowers.

- "Wait" - Mazanlold said in a quite voice, signaling them to stop. - "watch this pattern" - they paid attention and it was becoming clear that it was not only wind moving between the flowers. - "Get ready" - they entered their fighting stances. Noticing the danger of the unknown, he continued - "Caoilainn, we need fire."
- "Sure" - she took a step, extended her staff and unleashed a small line of fire directed at the winding form. Startled, it revealed itself.

Now, they could see a snake surfacing from the flower sea. It was huge, sporting white scales and a hood with black spots. It's eyes were yellow and devious, and it looked straight at their eyes. It chose Mazanlold and went straight at him, trying to bite, or better, eat him alive due to its sheer size. He barely avoided it and Caoilainn unleashed another stream of fire directed at the snake's body. It barely moved.

Then, the snake turned around and chose Richard as its new victim. Richard started sprinting away from it right away, giving time to Isabella to try to cut it's body with her sword. The snake did feel the hit and was distracted, but not a scratch was on its scales. As it tried to attack Isabella, Mazanlold attacked with his morning star and again to no effect. As the snake tried to attack again, Richard shouted:
- "Caoilainn, send fire to its face" - simply trusting, Caoilainn created a small fire explosion in the snake's face. There was no damage but it got disoriented, providing them with a chance to regroup.
- "I see no weak point" - said Isabella panting - "at least the fire startled it" - she looked at Richard - "good call."
- "That was a hunch" - he replied - "snakes usually see the world using heat, so the fire should be effective. But that also means it can easily see us if we try to hide" - Mazanlold was visibly annoyed but remained silent.
- "I can keep using fire to distract it" - said Caoilainn - "but that is certainly not enough." - as she said that, the snake was already coming for them.
- "Watch out!" - shouted Richard, and the four jumped back as the snake came spiraling and lunged at them. It was quicker than before, and they barely avoided the attack.

Yet again, Isabella and Mazanlold tried attacking its body to no avail. Unbothered by the ineffective strikes, the snake aimed at Richard. As it lunged, Richard avoided the hit with the help of his spear. The mouth of the monster dropped venom on the spear. Caoilainn intervened creating another fire explosion and two fire streams to allow them to regroup.

- "Oh no" - said Richard, noticing parts of his spear were corroded. - "This venom is acid" - it was a terrible realization. The morale was low.
- "It might be better to retreat" - said Caoilainn.
- "I hate retreating" - Mazanlold simply replied. Isabella sighed and said:
- "Regardless of taste, there is an issue" - she looked down - "that snake might attack the villagers. You can retreat if you want, but it is my obligation to protect them" - Caoilainn promptly answered:
- "That we won't do! As you said today, we always stick together!" - Isabella smiled. Mazanlold kept thinking and then said:
- "We have one hope, the insides of the snake. I've never seen a monster that survives a blow on its insides" - Isabella asked:
- "Alright, what is your plan?"
- "Well, Caoilainn will distract the snake, then you will bait it to make it open its mouth, and I will strike inside. And then" - he paused - "we hope." - he turned to Richard - "it's a good chance for you to run, I will let you go today" - Richard simply looked down and said:
- "I will stick with you, always." - Caoilainn smiled. Mazanlold continued:
- "We shall see." - before Isabella could intervene, the snake was again lunging at them.

Caoilainn waited for the snake to get closer and used her fire to confuse its senses. It was close to the ground. Isabella tried to attack it, but it nagged its tail at her, keeping her away. Mazanlold, however, did not hesitate and was able to strike the beast's head with his morning star, making it open it's mouth. Before it could react, he hit its lower mandible, breaking it. He was going for a final strike, but the snake spat at him and he threw himself at the ground. The snake was hurt, but all of them were in awkward positions. As it was moving prepared to spit and strike with its tail, Richard appeared and thrust his spear in its mouth, impaling its head. The snake finally stopped moving.

Panting, Richard removed his spear from the corpse and sighed as he saw it was completely corroded and ultimately unusable. Caoilainn approached him and said:
- "Thanks a lot, Richard, this was amazing." - she looked at his spear - "about your spear, it really is done for, we can get another one later."
- "Thanks Richard, that was really good" - said Isabella. Now, Richard put his hand behind his head and said:
- "That's nothing, I just used my spear, that's all." - Mazanlold replied:
- "Don't rejoice too much, we could've killed it, but you would be dead without us." - Richard for the first time felt his blood boil, but before doing anything, Isabella said:
- "It is done. Caoilainn, let's continue." - Caoilainn shook her head.

Now, the four again approached the bowers' window. The full moon was high, again painting the flowers in her light and spreading it along the field. The wind spiraled in that sea. Caoilainn beheld the sight with a serious expression, as she slowly walked towards the undug chest. Her deep blue dress looked stunning on the moonlight, and its white frills shined. This lone figure knelt before the chest and started drawing runes on the ground. When she was ready, she touched the roots with her white gloves.

The others observed and could see a faint glow coming from her hands. The roots slowly turned black and dissolved, like they had never existed. When it was done, Caoilainn delicately removed the chest from the hole with and opened it.