The only weapon Sabit had brought with her was an iron spear tip fastened to a piece of knotty, green wood the length of her forearm. She weighed it in her hand as the serpent slithered closer behind her in the darkness, the movement of its scales barely discernible among the constant swish of the tall stalks of grass. Sabit knew the creature was behind her, but not precisely where. With neither moonlight nor starlight, her strike would be as clumsy as a blind woman’s.
The massive stalks of grass crowded so closely that Sabit wasn’t sure how she might manage a proper thrust. Simply spreading her arms forced her to push through dozens of stalks of the tall, tough grass, their sharp-edged leaves nipping at her skin.
A plan leapt into Sabit’s mind and she put it into motion just as quickly. Throwing her arms to either side, she swept great swaths of grass backwards with all her strength. Sabit’s force compressed the blades into a weave of stem and leaf so dense that even the thinnest serpent would be stopped from a deadly strike.
Sabit set off at a run, charging into the darkness. Ignoring the the slaps and cuts of grass leaves upon her face, she pressed herself forward as fast as her mighty legs would allow. She focused all her senses on keeping her course straight ahead in this sightless realm.
Her chest heaved, drawing lungfuls of damp, green-scented air. She pressed on. Thirst burned in her throat, but Sabit did not slow. Her legs burned with fatigue. She ran faster.
Ahead, Sabit sensed a thinning density of the oppressive crush of greenery. Was that the sound of water churning over rocks? Sabit pushed herself faster. She could see something beyond the grass. The eastern sky was pale, the low-hanging stars devoured by the coming dawn. Where was the shrine?
As Sabit sought her bearings, she slowed her pace, but did not stop. One stride left the springy ground. The next caught only air. Sabit toppled forward into the void, the sound of a brook taunting her from far below.
— — —
Photo by Irina Kostenich from Pexels: https://images.pexels.com/photos/867647/pexels-photo-867647.jpeg
Wayfarings of Sabit: Dawn is copyright (c) 2018 by Michael S. Miller. All rights reserved. New chapters post every Thursday (and the occasional Monday). You can support this and other stories on Patreon: https://patreon.com/michaelsmiller Find more sword and sorcery fiction at http://ipressgames.com/fiction/.