They were like day and night and yet they were the best friends. Errol Snaffle, tall, blonde, with a boyish face and an engaging smile, more or less always surrounded by his fan club, as his friend was calling the group of girls always fussing around him, and always up to the first trick he could think of. On the contrary, his best friend, Cobra Slake, was more slender, though probably more or less as tall, with dark hair and, without anybody able to figure out how he was managing that while being the best friend of the so popular Errol, he was always alone.
Generally one dark glance from Cobra was far enough to send Errol's fan club away if he had wanted to talk to Errol. But Cobra never went to disturb his friend; it was always the other way around, Errol coming to Cobra, dismissing his followers when he wanted to talk to his dark-haired friend. Some could have thought it almost seemed as if Errol was looking for Cobra's friendship, but of course everybody knew that nobody could be wanting Cobra's friendship, especially not someone as popular as Errol and so everybody said that Errol, so nice, was just acting this way to save Cobra's pride.
The truth was not exactly that simple. It was true Cobra was so proud that he wouldn't have accepted to be seen seeking Errol's friendship among his fan club but it was not true that Errol wasn't wanting Cobra's friendship. Had someone made him choose between his fan club and Cobra, he would have chosen Cobra. As a matter of fact Errol often wondered if Cobra wasn't staying apart because he didn't mind being alone and that he, Errol, was breaking his peace by coming by. But then each time when Cobra was looking up at him, there was an unmistakable light in the sharp grey eyes and Errol's doubts faded away.
That day Errol was standing near a window, surrounded with three girls and two bragging boys telling everybody who would listen to them that they were Errol's right hand men. Cobra was at another window, looking outside at the gardens carefully tended by three gardeners, muttering something and obviously deeply lost in his thoughts. Everybody else in the common room was sitting at the long tables where ten people could be sitting without disturbing too much the neighbour writing feverishly only they knew what. One table was full with maybe fifteen people, all gathered around a thin girl speaking fast and with animation, her laugh showing perfect teeth white as pearls, while her gaze was endlessly going from Errol to Cobra and back to Errol, as if it never settled down on her own admirers. One single girl occupied the next table and she was acting as if she didn't want people to notice she was even at this table. Nobody was looking at her and that was apparently what she wanted.
Cobra looked up a brief instant, had a glimpse of Errol being as usual the centre of everybody's attention and left the common room, looking at his feet but obviously not seeing them. He crossed the corridor, the chatters fading slowly behind him. He crossed another room empty too, not even noticing the fact - a room was hardly empty at the school - since he was still looking at his shoes.
"Cobra!" a voice called him in his back.
He stopped on the spot and turned slowly the head, as if ready to resume his walking if the caller was someone he didn't want to talk with. It was the girl with pearl white teeth; she smiled gently at him but got no smile back.
"You are avoiding me," she said and it was no question.
"No business to do with you whatsoever," mumbled Cobra gruffly.
He was ready to turn away but suddenly her hand was on his arm. He glared furiously at her, wondering how she could dare touch him!
"We have nothing to do together," he said carefully spacing his words out.
"We have a lot to do together," she replied on the same tone, cool green eyes locking up to his grey ones.
"Oh yeah? Explain that to me, if you're able to make it quick," he snapped looking both angry and already bored.
"You and me are the only ones here of our kind," she whispered with a conspiracy tone.
"You and me alone? How annoying!" yawned Cobra not sounding interested for a bit.
"Well, there's a third one, but she is of no interest," said the girl with a careless wave of her hand, as to chase this unknown girl away.
She failed to notice the sparkle of interest that lighted up in Cobra's dark eyes for a brief instant.
"So what?" he almost barked. "Because you think you share a common point with me, do you think it allows you to bother me?"
"This secret makes us like siblings!" she half exclaimed.
No mistake was possible in interpreting the look on Cobra's face. It was pure anger.
"You share nothing with me, you will have no bonds whatsoever with me, is that understood? I'm not your brother or I don't know what, I'm not of your kin!"
Despite herself the girl stepped back at his anger.
"You cannot threaten me like that!" she said. "I can fight you back!"
"That's what you don't understand, girl. I am not going to fight you. You don't deserve my interest enough for me to be willing to fight you."
He left the girl where she was, not looking again at her. She slowly made it back to the common room, her previously bright joyful face now rather dark and unhappy. As she was walking down the corridor, two young bullies blocked her.
"He he, Viper, nice encounter here," smirked one of them.
She straightened up a bit and her face took a look of contempt.
"Not if you ask me," she said.
She tried to pass them, but the second one pushed her back against the wall, blocking her with his arm across her throat.
"And where exactly do you think you are going?" he asked.
"That's no business of yours!"
"Not very polite, girl, here," he scolded her. "What about teaching you politeness?"
"What about teaching you to mind your own business?" growled a new voice behind the second bully.
Cobra was there and it was well known in the whole school that nobody dared face Cobra alone. He was said to be jinxed, though nobody had any proof. He just raised his eyebrows.
"Two against one little girl... Oh, that's fair. She will probably tear you apart just by looking at you!" he said sarcastically.
The first man came toward him, threatening, but Cobra didn't move.
"Remember," he said, "I'm jinxed."
He had a smile being everything but certainly not reassuring when saying those words and the two bullies preferred to leave the girl at once, knowing they would be able to find her later without him being around. Cobra shrugged and left the corridor, following again the path he had already followed before.
"Cobra!" called the girl, running after him.
He stopped and turned to her. She was very close.
"Thank you," she said. "But your intervention showed something you didn't want me to know before..."
"Oh indeed?"
"Yes. It showed I deserve your interest enough for you to intervene in my favour."
Cobra had a short laugh.
"Wrong again, girl. The reason of my intervention, if you want to know, is due to those two men - I don't like their way to go bully everybody."
"That's the first time they bully me," she pointed.
"Well, you are not the only one in this school," he retorted flatly.
The girl looked at him with a sort of anger.
"Their usual victim is of no importance!" she stated.
"Why would she be of less importance than you?"
To his great surprise she put her hands on his shoulders and leaned toward him, her lips almost brushing against his ear.
"Because you are bound to me," she whispered softly.
Then she smiled at him, a soft, engaging smile, and went away. Cobra remained frozen an instant, then shrugged and turned on his heels. He froze instantly. A third door he had never seen open till now was open and in the doorway a girl was standing, looking at him. Their gaze locked up, grey eyes and misty green eyes, then, looking suddenly frightened - which was her usual expression anyway - she ran away without a word. Cobra opened the mouth as to call her back, but changed his mind, since he knew she never answered those calls anyway. Shrugging again he resumed his walk out of the room and almost sighed when a hand fell on his shoulder.
This time it was Errol, smiling happily as usual.
"Hey, Cobra," he said as a greeting. "I saw Viper following you. Was there anything wrong?"
Cobra didn't get fooled by his light tone and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Nope," he said. "You can still dream about her green eyes without fearing me as a rival."
Errol blushed slightly and he would have been surprised to know that in Cobra's mind the green eyes he was seeing were rather misty than cool.
"Elenie left too," added Errol. "I thought she followed Viper."
"Errol, I don't care a bit for Zamenis," sighed Cobra. "But I did see Elenie, alright."
He suddenly froze.
"Zamenis. Viper Zamenis. And Elenie... Elenie?" he whispered, frowning. "Errol, do you know Elenie's last name?"
"No idea," admitted Errol.
"I never call anyone by their first name, except you. And her. Her case is not normal."
"So you want to know?" asked Errol.
"I'm intrigued," replied Cobra chewing pensively his lower lip. "Funny, I'm not able to recall hearing her last name... not even once... In four years, that's a bit strange, don't you think?"
Errol replied only with a vague noise that sounded a bit like an agreement then without a word, he let his friend alone and went on an unknown errant. Cobra continued chewing his lip and staring in the void as if he hadn't noticed.
Errol came back half an hour later with exciting news.
"Cobra, I know the answer to your mystery!"
His friend raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his attention.
"You call her by her first name because she has no last name!" said Errol on a conspiracy tone.
"What you telling me, she has no name?" growled Cobra. "Everybody has a name!"
"Well, not her! I looked up in the registry..."
"You what?"
"Well, you wanted to know, so I went to check and she is registered under the name Elenie. Period."
"Someday, Errol, you'll get into deep troubles," sighed Cobra.
"But you know your answer at least!" said Errol sounding vexed.
"Yes, I do. Thank you, Errol."
The blonde man smiled happily. Cobra's opinions and thanks were very dear to him.
By the following day everybody knew Elenie had no name. Errol was surprised, Cobra furious. Elenie looked at him once and he felt the reproach in her eyes. In the afternoon they had the class everybody was hating, astrophysics. During this class Cobra and Elenie were only separated by the alley between each group of two tables. He knew there was nothing more she feared than this teacher; she was so afraid of him that each time he was asking her a question, she paled suddenly as if she was going to faint and was unable to answer even the easiest question.
Rennard, the teacher, entered the classroom so silently that everybody who was whispering while looking at Elenie didn't notice he was there till Errol said:
"Good afternoon, professor."
Instantly everybody became quiet. Rennard walked to his desk.
"I see you are very interested in this class," he said ironically. "Maybe it's because what I'm teaching you is too easy for you... Let's see if I'm right... Miss Elenie, certainly you know your last lesson..."
Cobra pitied Elenie as she was looking around her like a hunted doe. She nodded so slightly that only an adverted eye - like Cobra's or Rennard's - could notice it. Cobra knew it was the truth, for he had seen her study astrophysics very hard in the library. He felt a gaze weighting on him and surprised Viper's eyes looking at him with a mischievous light.
"And certainly, miss Elenie, you can manage to answer a simple question this time..."
Elenie's knuckles were becoming white for clutching too hard on her desk.
"So miss Elenie, tell us... what is your name?"
A general laugh answered him; Elenie looked on the edge of tears. Cobra suddenly jumped on his feet.
"Leave her alone!" he shouted.
Heavy silence fell on the classroom.
"Oh, mister Slake is playing the knight in shining armour ready to rescue the nameless maiden!" said Rennard. "So, mister Slake, since you are defending her, maybe you can answer her question for her!"
Cobra knew Rennard didn't like him; as a matter of fact, he wasn't sure Rennard liked anybody of them. He hated Errol because he was so popular, he had an immense pleasure torturing Elenie and asking Viper who was her boyfriend of the week. He didn't dare too much tease Cobra, because this one was the best in class and could answer each and every question.
"I can't answer that question. Nobody can answer it but Elenie if she wants so. But you accepted her in the school without her having a name. Why do you reproach her today to be 'nameless'?"
Rennard didn't like this remark at all.
"Mister Slake, please come with me immediately. You will answer of this impertinence in front of whom you are criticising! The others, class dismissed!"
Calmly, Cobra took his books and followed Rennard. Everybody was leaving the classroom happily; Errol came to Elenie's desk.
"If Cobra is punished because of you, you'll regret it dearly!" he said in a threatening voice.
Nobody had ever heard Errol threatening anybody. Elenie looked up at him with her misty green eyes that slowly became invaded by tears. When the last student went out the classroom door, Elenie crossed her arms on the table and, hiding her head in them, cried silently.
She didn't see time passing by; she didn't even care for it. She didn't hear the door open and started when a hand fell on her shoulder. She looked up to meet Cobra's dark eyes.
"You didn't leave with the others?" he said, feeling stupid for asking such an obvious question.
"Which others? Those who treat me of nameless girl or those who threaten me if something happens to you?" retorted Elenie bitterly, wiping away some tears clumsily.
Cobra took her face in his hands and wiped off her tears himself. His already dark face was even darker due to a frown.
"Who threatened you?" he finally asked.
"Who is your well-known friend?"
"Errol? I will tell him off for that. I'm sorry."
"Why would you since it's you who betrayed my shame? I saw it in your eyes yesterday."
"You thought I did? I didn't, I swear it! Errol and I were the only ones to know it yesterday and I know Errol didn't tell anybody. I didn't either."
Elenie shrugged. Suddenly Cobra remembered the look Viper had given him only moments earlier.
"I know," he said slowly.
She looked at him, read the answer in his eyes and sighed.
"I should have known. Sorry for the accusation. And thank you for standing for me."
He shook the head.
"I shouldn't have done that. It will only bring you more troubles. Rennard was furious."
"Against you?"
"Because I spoiled his fun. He wanted to torture you and I cut him short."
Elenie looked around her, seeming as afraid as usually for some obscure reason. They were alone in the same room, Cobra and her, and that seemed to distress her even more. She stood up suddenly.
"I have to go, it's late."
"You are trying to run way from me."
"Why do you say that?" asked Elenie, her hand already on the handle.
"Because if Rennard hadn't dismissed the class, you would still be in astrophysics class by now, not saying it's late."
She blushed.
"Why are you so afraid of everybody?" he asked softly. "You fear Rennard more than people fear death! And Zamenis hates you and you are frightened of me too. Why is it so?"
"Why do you think I have no name?" she said, bitter again.
"I don't know and I don't care."
"Oh, you care! If not you wouldn't have tried to find out that mystery about me. Secret, mystery, shame, no name, that's me!"
"And does that secret prevent you to get close to anybody?"
"To see them leave me as soon as they know? No thank you, I have already given to that utopia."
"And me? I already know you hide your name. Why do you fear me so? Can't you get a bit... close to me?"
"No... You less that all the others..."
"Why?"
"Because you would figure it all out... They wouldn't, they cannot see, but you would and you would leave..."
She opened the door and left half running. Cobra jumped on his feet, calling her back, and ran behind her. He caught her in a near corridor empty of people and pushed her against the wall to block her between his arms.
"Gosh, you are fast!" he commented.
"Let me go, Cobra, please..."
"So," he said with satisfaction, "you know my name."
"Everybody knows it."
"But that's the first time I heard you say it. Thinking of it, that's the first time we ever speak in four years. Don't you think it's a bit strange?"
"Things happen," she said shrugging.
He bent close to her, his face inches of hers.
"You avoid me on purpose."
"Maybe! Who cares?"
"I do."
He was so close he could have kissed her just by bending down an inch more. And suddenly, when he had never cared for such feeling before, he felt a surge to kiss her rising in him. He knew such a movement would be rude, but his reputation was already bad. The worse he risked was to be refused and ridiculed, but he knew Elenie wouldn't tell anybody. She was looking at him, wondering what he was thinking, and her misty green eyes were mixing up all his ideas, bewitching him, captivating him, so tempting...
He blinked when feeling Elenie's lips against his; without noticing he had bent down and kissed her. Her surprise was as great as his and shock had invaded her eyes. His hands reached out for her, one at her waist and the other behind her head as he pressed his lips more firmly against hers and drew her to him. She wasn't fighting; as a matter of fact, she was rather receptive, though not responsive. The feeling of her lips against his was intoxicating for Cobra who was kissing a girl for the first time.
"I'm sorry," he said breathlessly when he released her at least.
"No, you're not. You wanted to," she replied as breathless as he was.
He put his finger gently on her lips to have her quiet.
"I'm sorry, but I don't regret it. If I had to do it again, I would. I've never felt such thing..."
"When you'll know my secret, which won't take you long, seeing how fast you go, you'll understand why it was so thrilling to kiss me."
As she was leaving - without running this time - he called her back again. She turned to him and he captured her face between his hands before stealing another kiss.
"Are you playing with fire, Cobra?" she asked softly without a hint of reproach.
And then she disappeared.
It didn't take long to have Viper's reaction: she was waiting for him as he entered the common room.
"Obstinate, I see," she said, sliding down from the table she was sitting on.
Cobra didn't answer; he headed to Errol waiting for him at the other side of the room, but she stopped him. Cobra saw that Errol's attention was immediately focused on them.
"I saw Elenie coming in here one minute ago, all flushed, and she went directly to the dormitory. She never does that; this girl's always the last one to go to bed, as if she was afraid of going to sleep. What did you do together?"
"If her behaviour is my responsibility, that's none of your business. And if it's not, it's still none of your business."
"In the second case you're right, but the first one is my business."
"Any reason why?"
"You are my business," she said flatly.
Cobra grinned.
"Great. So what do you think I did to her? Threaten her to death?"
"Did you kiss her?"
"Sure, I go my way kissing each and every girl I meet," retorted Cobra, hoping irony would save him. "So if I met her, I probably kissed her."
She seemed relieved.
"Good. She is trouble, believe me."
Then she asked, perplexed:
"Then why was she flushed?"
He shrugged.
"You know best. I didn't see her flushed."
On those words he took his leave from her and went to Errol. Looking through the window he snapped:
"Stop doing that! I don't want anything from your precious Zamenis! So don't be mad at me!"
"I'm sorry, Cobra. I'm stupidly jealous. It's just... everybody seems very interested in you recently."
"What do you mean, everybody? We are talking about Zamenis, right?"
"Elenie, Cobra," sighed Errol.
"Oh! Are you going to yell at me too because of her?"
"You kissed her, I saw your aura on her."
Cobra half-winced; he had forgotten about Errol's Sight for seeing people's auras.
"You kissed her seriously," Errol continued. "The aura was not on her cheeks."
Cobra shrugged.
"Even if you're right, then what?"
"You shouldn't. Remember what they told you."
'They' was meant for Cobra's mother and grandmother, both gifted with Vision. They had forbidden him to get close to any girl, let alone kiss one. Cobra remembered asking Elenie why she wouldn't get close to him - he wanted her to be close, he knew that, but he hadn't the right. Maybe her parents had forbidden her to get close to anybody too.
"I know what they told me," he grinded. "That's why, at twenty-five, I still have one friend only, one friend they chose for me and bound to me."
"Do you regret it?"
"To have you as a friend? No. The way you became my friend and will have to remain so no matter what, yes."
"Cobra, did you kiss her?" asked Errol, his mind obviously far away from his own fate.
"Yes, I did," admitted Cobra. "Twice, actually. And that was the most enjoyable thing I did lately."
"So you bound her to you, the same way I'm bound to you, except that she doesn't know, she didn't accept the bond!"
At that moment Errol was no more looking like the merry man he was usually, but was deadly serious. Cobra shrugged again.
"That's of no importance as long as I don't use the power of the bond against her."
"Gosh, think, Cobra! That makes you vulnerable! They can reach you through her!"
"No, they can't. They can reach her through me, but not the contrary: she didn't accept the bond."
Errol sighed of relief.
"Alright, I see you've thought about it..."
Cobra nodded vaguely; to be honest he hadn't thought at all about it, he just had followed the flow and his desire to kiss Elenie, forgetting everything else in that kiss, even the strongest recommendations of his family. He half-frowned - that wasn't like him to get carried away like this.
"Errol," he whispered to his friend, "please act as if you were mad at me, so that I have an excuse to leave the common room..."
Errol knew for a long time already that it was of no use to try to discuss when Cobra had one of his ideas, so he obeyed; but he had never been a good actor and Cobra had to seriously control himself for not laughing, so exaggerated it was. Feigning to be angry in his turn he strode out the common room, muttering under his breath. He could feel Viper's perplexed gaze on his back and that made him chuckle silently. He walked till the dormitory and glancing quickly around him to make sure nobody was watching him, he entered the girls' dormitory. He saw her immediately, kneeling near the window, her brow pressed against the cold pane. Silently he came behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. She gazed up at him slowly, seeming ready to bend down the head again, as if to avoid to be hit.
"What are you doing here? It's forbidden to you!"
"Nothing's forbidden to me," he retorted calmly, kneeling next to her.
She glanced nervously around.
"You are going to get us into troubles," she whispered.
"No, I promise."
She sighed.
"Alright. What do you want? Another kiss already?"
"Just talk," he answered, though her question had made him want to say yes.
"Talk about what? I thought we already said everything that had to be said."
"I was told you were all flushed when coming back to the common room and that you sheltered immediately here, though everybody knows you hate this room. Did I distress you that much, Elenie?"
His saying of her name was very soft, very gentle, and she knew it was the first time he was using her name while speaking to her. His voice sounded worried and concern filled his dark eyes. She mentally shook the head, trying to clear up her ideas.
"Yes, that's true, I was all flushed when I came back," she admitted, looking up straight at him. "It was the first time I was ever kissed, Cobra, and you would have kissed my cheek instead of... well, instead, it would still have been the first time. And yes, I came here, because I didn't want to hear Viper laugh at me in front of everybody. I hate this room, true, but nobody ever came here that early."
"Except me," said Cobra, half-smiling.
"Except you, but you shouldn't be here. You've got your answer, go now!"
"Did I distress you, Elenie?" he asked again, very softly.
She shook the head.
"Distress is not the word. Maybe surprise. You are the last one I expected to kiss me. You see, I thought one of Viper's suitors would kiss me for fun; they always seem ready to do that anyway. But I couldn't imagine you doing that for making fun of me. And then you kissed me again, as if... as if the first kiss had really enthralled you... You got me a bit lost..."
"I'm sorry, Elenie, I didn't want to distress you nor surprise you. As a matter of fact I didn't plan the first kiss - I don't know what happened to me, I lost all control and couldn't help it. But then it seemed that kiss has made me crazy for you, fire running in my veins; I had to fight myself to release you instead of keeping you in my arms as I wanted to do."
Elenie's eyes were a sea of surprise.
"You can't be serious," she whispered. "You sound as if... as if..."
"As if I was in love with you? Very much so, Elenie. I feel almost as if I was bewitched, but I don't care. I told you, fire replaced blood in my veins, a fire yearning for you..."
Cobra never knew he could feel so passionate about something - or someone. His tone was surprising himself and he wondered briefly what his mother would say if she was hearing him - or Errol, so preoccupied about the bond. Elenie shook the head again.
"We can't, you know we can't..."
Her voice was so muffled Cobra didn't hear it.
"I'm leaving, Elenie," he said, forcing the words out of his mouth.
She nodded without looking at him.
"Elenie," he said then, almost hesitantly, "you spoke of... of a kiss earlier... Can I get one now, please?"
She sighed very softly and lifted up her face to him. He drew her to him, caressing her cheek with one of his hands, and bent down his head to meet her lips. Before closing his own eyes, he had the time to see Elenie's eyelids lowering slowly. Tentatively she reached up for him, her hand sliding on his neck, the other resting on his shoulder. He held her a bit closer, kissing her again, harder, almost savagely; she didn't protest, nor fight back. She wasn't only receptive, she was responsive too this time: the kiss was coming as much from him as from her.
"Elenie," he sighed, holding her against him. "We are crazy, totally crazy..."
"Yes, I know... Oh gosh, what have I done, I've doomed you, my shame's on you now..."
He tightened his hold on her.
"No, you didn't, never say that, never! Even if it were true, I would gladly face your doom with you than face my own without you."
"You don't know what you're speaking about," she said, hiding her face against his chest without even noticing it. "It's so crazy, why did you kiss me the first time, why?"
Cobra didn't answer; he didn't know the answer to that question, he only knew that cradling her in his arms was filling him with wonderful new sensations and, among them, the sensation of being at last whole. He half-closed his eyes, his hands caressing her hair loose in her back. He held her until he felt her relaxing a bit in his arms and then reluctantly, he let go of her.
"I have to go," he said.
She nodded wordlessly and slowly curled up on herself as he left the girls' dormitory.
Cobra slipped into his own dormitory, being careful of not letting anybody see where he was coming from and then knelt on the floor near his bed. He took out from under his bed a large flat box whose delicate locks were sealed magically. His forefinger rapidly drew a complex rune on the lid and the locks unsealed themselves with a soft click. He stopped a brief instant, wondering what was happening to him to make him act so strangely since the astrophysics class, his hands resting on the lid still closed. He took a deep breath and opened the lid, revealing a long bronze snake on a dark green velvet cushion. His forefinger caressed the cool bronze, following the pattern of the intricate pattern of the scales. He whispered some words in an odd language, never breaking the contact with the snake.
"Please come to me..." he said under his breath.
Slowly the coolness of the bronze melted into the coolness of a snake's living body, the scales shining slightly and the joint between them turning a bright copper. The eyelids opened to reveal emerald-green eyes staring right at Cobra.
"I thought you would have called me earlier," the snake said, gliding on Cobra's lap to get some warmth.
"What for?" he retorted, cupping his hands around the slick body.
"Well, one would have thought you messed up things already enough like that without doing it further by going in the next room," said the snake, resting his head on Cobra's thigh with what sounded like a sigh of contentment, half-closing the eyes.
Cobra didn't seem surprised by his snake's knowledge.
"So I did bad, huh?" he asked, caressing slowly the snake from head to tail with one warm hand.
The animal sneered, though obviously enjoying the attentions.
"Of course you did! What an idea to bind yourself like that!"
"Iriss," sighed Cobra, "I am not bound to anybody, except to Errol and you know it!"
The snake raised up the head till his eyes were at the same height as Cobra's.
"Holy Ydriss!" he hissed. "You really didn't realise it, did you? Didn't you understand why she was so afraid of you? She was trying to escape you all the time and for one kiss you ruined all! Didn't you feel it? As soon as you touched her, your two souls were bound together."
"But no!" protested Cobra. "She didn't know, she never accepted the bond!"
"I agree, you had to wait till the third kiss for that," Iriss hissed with spite. "But you accepted her bond by kissing her and she sealed it by finally returning your kiss."
"Her bond? What do you mean?"
"You humans!" sighed the snake in exasperation. "I've already said so much that a child would have understood! But not you, because you are so blind!"
Then Cobra had enough of all the fuss about Elenie and him.
"Listen, Iriss," he said between clenched teeth, "either you explain yourself more clearly or else you stop patronising me. Can't you understand that since Elenie and I have 'bonded' I feel so whole? For once in my life I chose freely someone and this someone chose me back. Can you understand that freedom, that feeling that, at last, I know she's choosing to be with me? Nobody is telling her to go with me like it was the case for Errol."
"So now you are happy and ecstatic and just for that, you are ready to screw up your life and hers? Very considerate for her indeed."
"Screw up her life?" repeated Cobra, not even caring that he might be screwing up his own.
"She told you... she is nameless and by bonding with you, she doomed you, made you share her shame. And you will break her heart if you leave her once you will find out what all is about."
"I won't leave her!" said Cobra fiercely. "Don't you understand I love her?"
He stopped, stupefied by his own words. He had noticed Elenie's presence not that long ago actually, how could he already feel so strongly about her when they had spoken to each other only so little? He remembered the way their first kiss had thrilled him, and all the others had thrilled him the same way. What was about her so special? How could he claim to Iriss that he loved her, Iriss who knew everything, who knew so much more than he would ever know?
"Am I... bewitched?"
He couldn't really believe that from Elenie, but he remembered having already thought that. Iriss sneered.
"You obviously don't need her to bewitch you, you're doing it yourself," he said contemptuously. "Of course not! Do you think such a spell would have gone unnoticed? Frankly, Cobra, you disappoint me."
On those words, without even asking why Cobra had summoned him awake, Iriss turned back into a bronze snake. With a sight Cobra put him back into his box and locked it safely, before docking it again under his bed.
He lay on his bed, his arms crossed under his head, looking at the ceiling, trying to sort the storm of thoughts in his head and why everybody was in such a turmoil, Elenie and himself included. After half an hour of fruitless thinking he mentally shrugged and just gave up before closing his eyes, not even caring to change into bed clothing, trusting Errol to wake him up.
Maybe one hour later the migration from the common room to the dormitories began and Cobra, half-asleep, heard the voice of Viper emitting an acerb comment when she opened the door of her dormitory; Errol's soft-spoken voice answered her, but the tone wasn't very nice. Just seconds after, Errol sat on the edge of his bed and shook him awake by the shoulder. Cobra rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, with that movement he had as a child and never lost. Errol usually always had a smile when seeing him doing that, but not tonight.
"I had a long discussion with Viper," he said.
Oddly his face wasn't looking as if the discussion had been a happy one. Cobra looked at his friend in wonder.
"Aren't that supposed to make you ecstatic?" he asked, reusing the same term as Iriss had used toward him.
"Depends of the subject, I guess," sighed Errol, settling himself against the head of the bed. "This one wasn't very joyful."
"Yeah, thanks, got it that far," retorted Cobra sitting crossed-legged on the bed.
His friend sent him a pained look.
"Ok, ok, I shut up," said Cobra. "Go on, I'm listening. Never mind I had quite a trying evening too."
Errol did as if he hadn't heard.
"Well, Viper told me she had enough of my sad puppy look and that it would be best if I could understand that she simply couldn't be interested in me," he said bluntly. "Of course I asked why and she shrugged, saying that it should be obvious that she could only be interested in men, not in boys still growing up. And for concluding her nice speech, she added that she had become friend with me only to be able to get close to you."
Cobra winced. Of course that was his fault again, his name had to come at the end of all this. He pitied Errol who looked truly dejected.
"What did you answer to that?"
"She got me quite mad and I retorted that since she thought I wasn't man enough to interest her, maybe it was simply because she wasn't woman enough to appreciate people like me."
Cobra had a hard time restraining his laugh. That was a nice rejoinder that he would have liked to say himself.
"I guess she didn't take it very well."
"Actually it infuriated her," admitted Errol with a very slight sad smile. "After that the discussion degenerated quite fast, she and I keeping insulting each other and she never stopped to compare me to you, to your advantage, of course. I can't stand that," he added, grinding his teeth.
Cobra slapped him lightly on the jaw.
"Don't do that," he said mechanically, "it's bad for your teeth."
Errol didn't answer.
"Did she say for whom it was best?" asked Cobra.
"Huh?"
"She said it was best if you could understand she wasn't interested in you. Best for whom?"
"Dunno. Her, me, who cares?"
"I do. The question is: did she say that because she would ruin your life or because you are ruining her plans by following her like a lost puppy?"
"Who knows? Maybe both. Or maybe it is because she wants us to break our friendship."
Cobra grinned.
"Oh yeah, that would be definitely better for you."
"Hey, I didn't say that!" protested Errol immediately. "Cobra, you know it's not true. Bond or not, you are my best friend and nothing can change that."
"Thank you, Errol," said softly Cobra, truly moved by his devotion.
He sighed and looked at his hands resting on his knees. Errol sighed in turn and made a move to stand up before stopping in mid-action.
"But, wait, you said you had a trying evening," he suddenly remembered. "What was it about?"
Cobra shook the head.
"Nothing important," he muttered. "I got scolded by Iriss, that's all."
"Oh, man, this is serious! What did he say?"
"To summarise, that I was stupid and blind and totally unreasonable."
"Ouch!" said Errol in sympathy. "Tell me what happened."
"Well, you began by scolding me yourself... after Zamenis, of course, as usual. When I left the common room, I went to see Elenie."
"You didn't!"
"I did, Errol, and I don't regret it. She is truly wonderful. Well, anyway, after, I came here."
"Wait. What happened with Elenie?"
"We talked a bit and then we kissed, if you really want to know. Errol, that's sort of personal, I would appreciate you not asking too many questions."
"You would be a normal person, I wouldn't ask you anything, I promise. But you are not, so I have to know. So you were saying you came here after."
"Yes, and I summoned Iriss to wake up. He wasn't very nice to me, saying that I shouldn't have bonded like that."
"But you didn't, did you? She didn't accept the bond."
"Iriss said she had, because she not only accepted my kiss, but she answered by one of her owns."
"Oh, man, that is bad! Does she know you two are bound now?"
"No, of course! I'm not fool enough to tell her. For all I know, she knows nothing of my particular 'powers'."
"Then you are safe. Nobody knows you... huh... are interested in her, so everything's fine. But if you really want to continue this relationship with her, you have to be very careful."
"I know that, thank you, Errol!" growled Cobra. "Will you one day stop to consider me like a child?"
"Listen, Cobra, I'm your guardian. That's my job to protect you."
Cobra looked at him in wonder, trying to see in the dark if he was serious or not, and then laughed softly.
"You are not my guardian, Errol! You are the poor guy they picked among all the others to be my friend, so I wouldn't go bonding with anybody."
Errol had an odd smile.
"I know what I am saying, Cobra. Why do you think I always keep an eye on you?"
On those words he stood up and went to his own bed, right next to Cobra, who spent all his night looking at the ceiling, wondering what was suddenly happening around him.
The next days, even weeks, to come were quiet and peaceful. Cobra and Elenie found a rhythm to meet each other from time to time without anybody knowing it. They at least always managed to see each other once a day, to share a longing kiss before parting again. Elenie was beginning to think that she could relax a little, that Cobra wasn't going to leave her. She had asked him not to search about her secret and he had agreed without any difficulty, not that he wasn't interested in knowing, but he felt that it would reassure her. As a reward that day he received a kiss that took his breath away and almost sent his head spinning.
Errol toned it down, but Cobra could almost feel his gaze on him all the time, as well as Viper's. It was still tense between Viper and Errol, the girl ignoring the young man openly. Errol tried to appear unaffected, almost disabused, as if he was used to her acting like that and was just waiting patiently for her to stop that stupid little game. Cobra knew that, deep inside, Errol was hurt and he could do nothing to help his friend, but at least he was grateful that Errol didn't put the blame on him. He would have liked to talk about that to Elenie, but some words from Viper held him back:
"You and me are the only ones here of our kind."
That explained probably why she was interested in him, but that, he couldn't tell to Elenie. That bothered him to keep something secret from her, but he reasoned it was for her safety - would she know, she would be in a great danger.
Before each class of astrophysics Elenie always managed to whisper to Cobra to let Rennard bully her if he wanted. Cobra didn't know why she wanted it like that, but he accepted her decisions. During their weeks together he had discovered that Elenie was a strong-willed young woman, keeping her feelings always under control, except sometimes this fear that managed to show in her eyes no matter what she tried. And obviously Rennard knew how to wake up that fear and make it break her control.
But still it was during an astrophysics class that Cobra got a new outburst. Rennard was speaking very fast, so fast in fact that nobody was able to catch up with him, so all the pens were on the tables and all the students were looking intensely at him, trying to memorise something - or thinking of something else for those who didn't care a bit for astrophysics. Elenie, on the contrary, was leaning on her desk, her pen scratching softly the paper at an incredible speed. Cobra looked discreetly on her side and managed to see she was able to transcript almost word for word what Rennard was saying. This impressed him, for he had given up for a long time already, knowing perfectly he would have to find this lesson in the books of the library if he didn't want to fail the final exam.
Rennard seemed to notice Elenie's feverish writing and stopped suddenly in a middle of a sentence. Elenie's pen wrote the last word and then hung up, waiting for the next words, for she didn't dare to raise the head and miss the end of the sentence.
"Miss Elenie, can I know what is so interesting that you don't even care to listen to what I'm saying?" asked Rennard's cold voice.
Elenie, startled, looked up, her pen falling on the table without her even noticing. Her huge misty green eyes were fixed on Rennard and she was, once again, totally unable to answer.
"This lesson is very important!" stated Rennard. "I want you to be very very attentive! If I see you writing another single word, you will have five points taken from your final exam before even beginning it."
"Maybe you should have a look at what she was writing before threatening her!" said Cobra, barely containing himself.
"Oh, my, I forgot that mister Slake was miss Elenie's designed knight. So mister the mighty knight, is your damsel thus an innocent bird?"
Rennard's ironical tone took the better from Cobra. He stood up and took the last page from Elenie's desk.
"Read this!" he growled. "Read this and tell me if it's not word for word what you have been saying so fast that none of us has been able to write it down, except her! 'This lesson is important'! Well, sir, if it is so important, why don't you talk a bit slower so that we can take notes?"
Rennard didn't make a move toward the sheet Cobra was holding.
"Shall I read it aloud? I think everybody who had been paying attention will recognise the words."
A small hand clutched at his sleeve.
"Cobra, please," whispered Elenie, fear filling her eyes, "please stop, you're making it worse."
He was about to protest, but the plead in Elenie's eyes was too much to bear for him. He put down the sheet on her desk and sat down brusquely.
"As you wish," he grunted.
She bent down the head, knowing that she had hurt him. For once Rennard didn't add any acerb comment and continued his class. Elenie didn't take her pen back and Cobra ostensibly didn't look at the teacher, busying himself with mathematics exercises for the class of the following week.
As they went out of the classroom, Rennard held Elenie back and Cobra, noticing it almost immediately, motioned Errol to continue without him. He remained near the door, in earshot, but not near enough for anybody to accuse him to spy on the conversation. Nevertheless his keen ear caught up some parts of the discussion.
"Does he know, Elenie?" growled Rennard.
"No, of course not!" she retorted. "Do you want me to share my shame with him?"
"Keep him away from you. It's dangerous enough like that."
"I can't do that. Honestly I would rather tell him everything than shun him for no reason."
"We cannot afford that, Elenie. No sentimentality! No matter what you feel for him you must keep him away from you."
"No, I won't. I'm feeling so much stronger now that he is with me."
"It's a false impression!"
"I need him, uncle!"
"I'm here to protect you. You shouldn't need anybody else."
"Your way of protecting me is humiliating. He is tender and caring."
"I don't have the choice, Elenie! Nobody could possibly believe I'm protecting you when seeing me acting the way I act with you!"
"I know that," she said bitterly.
"Be careful and listen to me. I'm your only family now, don't forget it."
A door closed and then Elenie whispered:
"How could I forget it since you're remembering me every instant? But, I'm sorry, uncle, I'm not going to listen to you, not this time!"
She walked to the classroom door and opened it, only to see Cobra waiting for her a bit further in the corridor. She paled visibly.
"You were there..."
"Yes, I was there," he answered, his face emotionless.
"What did you hear? No, don't tell me! Oh, it's horrible! You must hate me!"
She bit her lower lip as if she was ready to cry. Immediately he was near her, taking her in his arms.
"Rennard is your uncle. And you love me. That's all I know."
She put her arms around his waist, hiding her face against his chest.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Cobra! I don't want to keep secrets from you, but I can't do otherwise! Please, please, believe me on that!"
"How is it Rennard knows about me?"
"He's my uncle. He knew the first day you kissed me. Don't ask for more, please..."
He held her closer.
"Elenie... I know it's still very early, but I love you, I really do. I yearn to be with you every waking moment and I ache each time we have to part."
She nodded wordlessly, as to say she felt the same.
"Elenie, I would like your secrets to be mine, like mine would be yours, and so I could protect you from any harm and you wouldn't need Rennard's protection anymore."
"None of your secrets can be as terrible as mine," she whispered.
"You would be surprised... Elenie, please, listen to me..."
He took a deep breath and then asked softly:
"Elenie, will you marry me?"
At first she didn't react, as if she hadn't heard - or didn't believe what she had heard. Then she jerked away.
"Marry you? Bind you forever to my shame? No, never! Never! I still have enough dignity left to forbid you to do this sacrifice!"
She tore herself from his embrace and ran away, but not before he had the time to see the tears invading her eyes. He stood there, rejected, and felt his heart slowly breaking.
Errol had only to take one look at his friend to know there was bad news. Cobra crossed the common room without stopping, his face darker than usually, and went straight to the dormitories. Errol found him sitting on his bed, settled against the head of the bed, head resting against the wall, his arms circling his legs. He sat next to his friend.
"What happened?"
"Nothing important," retorted Cobra flatly without looking at him.
"Yeah sure. Why don't you summon Iriss?"
"What for? To hear him tell me that I'm a stupid fool? I know that already, thank you," he said with what sounded like a sniff.
Thunderstruck Errol looked more carefully at his friend and he understood that the bright look of his eyes was due to the tears invading them.
"Cobra," he asked softly. "Tell me what happened. I'm your friend."
"Can't you guess by yourself instead of asking me?" grunted Cobra.
"Well, it's probably about Elenie, since it's the only thing that matters to you recently, that and avoiding carefully to get between Viper and me. I know the general subject, Cobra, what I want to know is what happened exactly."
Cobra sighed.
"She broke up with me. There, are you happy?"
"Not really. Am I supposed to? Why did she break up?"
"Probably because I know too much," shrugged Cobra, pain twisting his lips.
Errol didn't know what to say. His own problems with Viper never pained him as intensely as Cobra was hurt.
"Well," he said, trying to joke a bit, "it seems we are not good for communicating with girls!"
He wished immediately he hadn't said this: the look Cobra sent him was pure suffering. He wondered a brief instant how Elenie did to inspire feelings intense to the point of torturing Cobra.
"If you need me, I'm downstairs," he muttered, not knowing what to do.
Cobra nodded vaguely as Errol left. At curfew time, Cobra was no more in the dormitory; Errol worried immediately but, knowing his friend, he ran his hand over the covers of his bed and found the "message" he had left him: a simple rune, telling him Cobra just wanted to be left alone and thus didn't care for the noisy company of their classmates. He sighed and let himself fall on his bed, decided to wait till his friend returned, but sleep took him by surprise around two in the morning.
Unnoticed of everybody, Cobra was in the common room, seated near a French window, his arms around his legs, looking through the thick pane to the darkness outside.
"I knew I would finally find you," said a voice filled with satisfaction behind him.
He didn't even care to turn the head and didn't start, as if he already knew someone else was in the room.
"Why didn't you listen to me? I told you she was trouble."
"I don't recall asking for your advice."
"Playing the tough guy, I see," Viper said calmly, sitting next to him. "If you had listened to me, you wouldn't be mourning in your little corner as you are currently!"
"What I am doing is my own problem and I would advise you to keep away from me, understood?"
"I already told you, you are my business."
"Listen, Zamenis, that's the last time I'm going to tell you this: you may claim highly to which family you belong to, you may know that I belong to this family too, that does not make us siblings. It only means that we may have the same powers, you and me. That's all. So now, go bother someone else who would like your company better than I do."
"Like your guardian Errol? Pitiful guardian, by the way."
"Errol is not my guardian. He's my friend."
"Don't try to fool me, Cobra," hissed Viper. "Like you said yourself, we both belong to the same family. I may not have powers as great as yours, since I don't have a guardian, but I know when people are bounded. And Errol and you are."
"Oh... astute! Alright, now that you've scolded me so nicely, will you leave me alone?"
"No, I have news for you."
"What if I don't want to hear them?"
"It's about your precious Elenie. I figured you would be interested."
Cobra stiffened but didn't answer.
"What if I told you her last name?" whispered Viper.
"I thought she was nameless?"
"She is registered here as nameless. That doesn't mean she is in real life. And I discovered her name. Maybe it will sound familiar to you... Her full name is Elenie Snake-Eyes."
She stood up and left without giving him the time to answer. Cobra remained unable to move or to think.
When waking up very early the following day, Errol didn't find his friend in the bed next to his and worried. Less than a minute later, he was downstairs, fully dressed, and through the window of the common room, he saw Cobra wandering in the gardens still dark. He jumped through the window and came next to him.
"Did you sleep at all?" he asked.
"What for?" replied Cobra.
Errol mentally sighed. When Cobra was in this mood there was nothing to be done.
"What is it again?"
"Zamenis had the niceness to tell me Elenie's last name. Snake-Eyes."
"Holy Ydriss!" breathed Errol. "That's terrible! And you are bound with her?"
"Yes, I am."
"I will break the bond as soon as I'll see her."
Seeing the puzzled look Cobra sent him, he added:
"I can break any bond you formed, except yours with me. As I told you already, I'm your guardian and I have this power - among others. I'll free you from her."
"No," sighed Cobra. "I don't want you to, first. Then second, it would be useless: Iriss said she created a bond with me as well. We are doubly bound."
"Any other bad news?" grinded Errol.
"Not yet. You really want some?"
"No, as a matter of fact. What are you going to do?"
"Don't know exactly. Maybe I'll try to talk to Elenie about all this."
"You think you still have a chance?"
"Won't hurt to try."
"And what if it hurts?"
"Then it will be too bad for me," shrugged Cobra.
He waited the whole day long. He could feel Elenie's gaze on him sometimes and he guessed she was probably wondering why he looked so worn out - and why he was so obstinately avoiding looking in her direction. At the end of the last class, during which Cobra got praised by the teacher though he didn't say a word - for having all his mathematics exercises done correctly - Elenie herself came to him. She tentatively held him back, her hand on his arm. Cobra slowed down his pace till everybody had passed them and then he turned into an empty corridor. He knew pretty much all the corridors where nobody was ever coming.
"Cobra, listen, I didn't intend to hurt you," she began.
"That's alright. You have the same right as other girls to break up with me. Who cares if I'm hurt?" he said quickly, only half-succeeding in hiding his bitterness.
"I didn't break up with you. You startled me yesterday, that's all."
"If you didn't break up then tell me what you are doing! Did you honestly think that I'm with you now and that I will marry someone else later? Or is it what you intend to do with me?"
"No!" she protested, on the edge of tears. "It's not like that! I didn't think ill of you and I would rather marry you than anybody else! But I can't..."
"I would have thought that using my name would help conceal all the noise about yours. I mean... Snake-Eyes is a name rather difficult to have lately."
His tone was so casual that it was almost painful. Elenie looked at him open-mouthed.
"You know... you know... how can you know that?"
He shrugged.
"That's of no importance. Elenie, I'm saying this for the last time. If you refuse, I won't bother you ever again, I can promise you this... Will you accept to take my name in place of yours, will you accept to be my wife?"
She shook the head, tears invading her eyes.
"I can't possibly, Cobra, please understand..."
He bent down the head, biting his lips.
"Alright, alright. I assumed too much, I guess... Then farewell, Elenie, for you won't see me ever again..."
He was already walking away, but she ran after him.
"No, Cobra, please, no, don't do this, don't leave me! Listen, think a bit! Who is Snake-Eyes? Why is this name so dreaded, why do I have to hide the fact it's my name?"
"Snake-Eyes is the worst assassin in the whole land, feared by most of the population and hated by those who don't know fear," recited Cobra. "He is too, but few people know that, the minister of justice chosen by the king and the privileged ambassador to the Snake tribe. And I guess from your fear that he is your father."
"Yes, he is. How can you still want to be with me knowing all this?"
"This has nothing to do with you. I want to marry you, not your father."
"My father is from the Snake tribe and my mother is from the Fox tribe! I'm more animal than human!" cried Elenie in despair.
"I don't care," retorted Cobra flatly.
"Where does Snake-Eyes come from? Where? You know that, surely, since you know already so much about him!"
"Oh, everybody knows Snake-Eyes was a real snake before becoming a man thanks to the powers of the Snake tribe's lord," replied Cobra casually.
"I am the daughter of a snake," stated Elenie. "Aren't you repulsed?"
"No. If you want me to be, next time, warn me before."
Cobra's tone was totally passionless, as if he was so deeply hurt that nothing mattered to him anymore. Elenie understood it. She put her hands on his shoulders and looked gravely at him.
"Cobra, I didn't break up with you and I don't intend to if you think you can stay with me knowing who I am. You know who is my father, you know who is my uncle, someone from the Fox tribe, you know what is my shame and how doomed I am. Tell me that you don't care for real, that you'll always be there for me no matter what, and I'll accept your sacrifice. Do you really want to marry the daughter of a man who is the murderer of his own wife?" she concluded with defy in her voice.
"Your father didn't kill your mother," said slowly Cobra.
"I know that! But nobody else knows it..." whispered Elenie in wonder.
He shrugged.
"I know everything there is to know about the Snake tribe."
"I'm bound with you, I'm sure you know that..." said Elenie timidly. "Since you accepted... since you... want... I mean, since you accepted my bond, will you wear that ring as the mark of our bond?"
She held out to him a heavy large ring, very simple, of dark gold. Cobra took it and looked thoughtfully at it.
"I will... if you really want me to wear it."
She nodded, a pale smile dancing briefly on her lips, and slipped herself the ring onto his finger, without noticing immediately that she had unconsciously chosen the ring finger to do so. She blushed profusely and stepped back.
A moment of silence fell between them and then Cobra said slowly.
"So now I know everything about you, but you still don't know anything about me..."
"I know all there is to know!" exclaimed Elenie. "I know you are a man not afraid by bad fame, able to overlook the crimes of the father to declare yourself to the daughter."
"Who knows? Maybe it's because my own father is worse than yours," retorted Cobra, a grin twisting his mouth.
"What can be worse than being hunted down like an animal in the whole land?" muttered Elenie bitterly.
"Being the one who sent all the hunters on the tracks of his best friend, knowing he was innocent," suggested Cobra.
It took a certain moment for Elenie to realise what he had said and when she finally looked up, Cobra had disappeared.
He didn't go very far. Suddenly a group of men pounced on him and dragged him in a rather dark room. He didn't even seem surprised, as if he was expecting such a thing to happen sooner or later. In the room, seated as on a throne, was Viper, a light smile on her lips. Cobra jerked free but didn't try to escape. He stood proudly in the middle of the room, surrounded by men he had never seen before and who certainly hadn't any friendly attention toward him.
"Cobra, you are going to bond with me," said lowly Viper.
He looked at her in silence and then replied disdainfully:
"I very much doubt it."
"I can force you!" threatened Viper.
"Go on, try! I think that will be fun."
Then Viper noticed the golden glint on his finger and saw the ring. She came to him to look at it more closely.
"A bond ring!" she raged. "Who dared..."
She seized his hand in hers and touched the ring in a certain way.
"Elenie," she whispered. "She will pay dearly for this!"
She caressed briefly Cobra's cheek.
"Don't worry, Cobra dear, I can break her bond."
"Oh yeah?"
"Cobra dear, I hope you didn't believe she was really taken with you. Did she tell you she loved you? No, of course, she didn't. She never does."
"Never?"
"You are not the first one she manipulates like that, you know. You are but one in a long list! She just uses her huge innocent eyes, binds innocent and naïve men to her, even goes sometimes to the point of giving them a bond ring, but she just uses them to get what she wants."
"And what does she want?"
"That, nobody knows. But what everybody knows is that none of the men bound with her was ever seen alive again," concluded Viper on a conspiracy tone.
"And can I know how you know so much about the daughter of the worst assassin of the whole land?" inquired Cobra, who didn't seem troubled at all.
"Oh Cobra, don't tell me you didn't guess who I was! I am the leader of the hunters bound to track down Snake-Eyes. I got my power of breaking bonds from the Snake lord himself."
"I know perfectly who you are," said Cobra calmly. "You are the leader of assassins who, under the pretext to track a murderer, seek in fact a way to steal the lordship from its righteous owner. There is only one Snake lord, Zamenis, only one, and it's Lord Ydriss."
"I know that, thank you! I am from the Snake tribe myself. Why do you think I'm called Viper?"
"Well, I thought it was because of that venomous tongue of yours."
Viper grinded her teeth as she settled down herself on her chair again.
"Someone took his ring off!" she commanded.
A man tried to snatch it from Cobra's finger, but he had to renounce.
"It's impossible, Mistress. It's as if the ring and his finger were only one."
"Then cut his finger!" said Viper impatiently.
Cobra almost laughed.
"Alright, let's stop that comedy. I don't know if she told you who I am, but I think it's time for you to know it... I am Cobra Snake, youngest son of Lord Ydriss and heir to the lordship of the Snake tribe. I know you are more or less strangers to your own tribe, that you have faithfully followed your leader - and her father before her - on the tracks of Snake-Eyes, that you have been so far away from your families for so long that you feel like exiles... I can change that. I can make you go back to your homes and stop that vain quest. Now you have the choice between Viper Zamenis, leader of the Hunters, trying to harm the heir of your tribe or me, Cobra Snake, heir to your tribe, son of your lord. Choose wisely."
The men appeared to be nervous.
"Mistress," one of them finally asked, "is he saying the truth?"
"His name is Cobra Slake, not Cobra Snake. Though the difference may seem trifling, he is not our lord's heir. Do you think I would try to harm him?"
Cobra laughed almost heartily. He went to a chair and sat down.
"May I? Thank you so much. Alright, dear Zamenis, I think it's time to summon the other characters of the play..."
His hands waved in the air, tracing complex runes and suddenly someone pounded at the door. Nobody moved.
"You better open that door if you don't want it to be smashed," advised kindly Cobra.
It was already too late. Whoever was outside broke the door down and stepped inside.
"I did as fast as I could, Cobra. I hope I'm not too late," said Errol, breathlessly.
"Your timing is perfect, as usual, Errol," replied Cobra smiling.
Errol came by his side, Iriss coiled around his neck, followed by Elenie.
"I think we are all here..." said Cobra with satisfaction. "Alright, let's begin. Maybe with the presentations... Dear friends, may I introduce Viper Zamenis, from the Snake tribe, leader of the Hunters, and, of course, her Hunters."
Elenie gasped and her eyes shone with fury. Errol nodded painfully.
"What a fool I am," he muttered.
"There, there," whispered Cobra. "You couldn't know. And you wouldn't have listened to me if I had told you."
"You knew all along?"
"Of course, I knew, Errol, please don't consider me as stupid, that's insulting."
He looked around and something like pain twisted slightly his face.
"Sorry, Elenie," he whispered. "Then," he added aloud, "here is Elenie Snake-Eyes, daughter of the infamous murderer Snake-Eyes, who is hunted by the Hunters, of course."
The Hunters hissed their anger and Elenie stared at Cobra in disbelief: how could he have betrayed her like that?
"I give you then Errol Snaffle, Guardian of the Snake heir, and the Snake Spirit, Iriss."
Viper herself seemed impressed. She had known Errol was a guardian, but she hadn't known he was the Guardian. She was beginning to have serious doubts: the presence of the Snake Spirit was a proof in itself...
"And finally," continued Cobra, slowly standing up. "I am Cobra Snake, youngest son of Lord Ydriss and heir to the Snake tribe."
Elenie uttered a small cry and Cobra could see, just by looking at her, that she was utterly terrified. He added:
"I know most of you have known me as Cobra Slake, but change one letter to my name and you'll have my real name. Obviously going nameless draws a bit too much attention to oneself. And as I see that there are still some unbelievers among you, I'm afraid I'll have to prove myself..."
"Cobra, no!" exclaimed Errol reprovingly. "You know it's forbidden by the very laws of the tribe!"
"Someday, Errol, you will learn that laws are made to be broken," said Cobra, smiling gently.
Once again Cobra's hands waved a complex pattern in the air and the atmosphere suddenly seemed charged with electricity. A bronze aura surrounded him and he bit his lips for not screaming his pain as scales were appearing on his arms. When the aura disappeared, he slowly took off his shirt and everybody could see the scales covering his torso and arms, the same colour as Iriss'.
"I hate doing that," he muttered under his breath. "Alright, is everybody convinced now?"
Everybody nodded. Some were a bit pale and others had to swallow hard. Cobra went to Viper and took from her shoulder the badge she was sporting that evening.
"It's over, Zamenis. The Hunters don't exist anymore. You can go back to your tribe and your family."
There was hate in Viper's eyes.
"My family isn't anymore. They all fell under Snake-Eyes' strokes!" she hissed.
On her command all the Hunters followed her out of the room. Slowly Cobra went back to Elenie.
"I'm sorry, Elenie," he began. "I know how you feel. If you want it, I'll break your bond. You are bound to me by my bond too, but Errol can break this one. I'll set you free if you want."
"Errol told me you refused when he wanted to break your bond to me. He wanted to protect you from Snake-Eyes' daughter, but you refused. Why?"
"Because I know he's innocent of the crimes he's hunted down for. He did kill, yes, but he didn't kill his wife."
"That's exact. How do you know it?"
He shrugged.
"I am son of Lord Ydriss, I can talk to the snakes and snakes never lie. They told me everything."
He looked down as his feet, very quickly, giving just a hint of his nervousness, and then looked up again, whispering:
"What do you decide?"
Errol didn't know about the accusations from Viper, but he could tell Cobra was fearing something. As a matter of fact, Elenie never did tell him she loved him. He pressed his thumb against the ring she had given him as to reassure himself, but Viper had even planned this case and had said something about it... Silently he was begging Elenie to tell him Viper had lied.
"I gave you a bond ring," said Elenie. "I won't ask you to break my bond. But I will ask Errol to break yours."
Cobra closed the eyes, feeling as if he had just heard his doom.
"Very well," he said. "Errol, you heard her. Do as she wants."
Errol nodded silently. He had never broken a bond before, but he knew Cobra would be hurt in the process. He whispered something to Iriss and then waved his hands in the air, pointing his fingers to Cobra. Light came around his hands, so bright that his right hand ended up looking like a blade; in a lightning movement he slashed air in front of Cobra who winced painfully, proudly refusing to utter the smallest cry.
"You are free, Elenie Snake-Eyes," Cobra said, refusing to meet her eyes. "You won't see the heir to the Snake tribe anymore unless you want to."
Without waiting for her to answer he walked out of the room, followed by Errol.
"You didn't give her a chance to explain," noticed the blonde man.
"What for?" shrugged Cobra. "The bond she decided to break told me enough. You and I are the only ones able to break my bonds. But pretty much anybody with enough power can break hers. She only probably wants to save a bit of my pride and I'll discover one morning that this ring can get off of my finger. I'm just a stupid fool, that's all, don't feel sorry for me, Errol."
"And we are back at the beginning, like two idiots," grinned Errol.
Cobra looked at his friend in surprise and then laughed a bit.
"You are right. But we still have each other, right? A friend is so precious."
Errol nodded and then said:
"You know, you should really change back into entirely human. It's not that it bothers me to see scales on your chest, but I guess some in the school would freak out."
"Oh yeah. Good thinking," answered Cobra, immediately transforming back without the flourish he had shown in front of the Hunters and Elenie.
"What would you do without me?" sighed Errol.
"I guess I would make a spectacle of myself."
Errol had an amused smile.
"You are a poseur," he accused, half-laughing.
"Just a good actor. They needed that to be convinced."
Errol laughed frankly. Cobra tapped on his shoulder.
"You never thought of breaking my bond with you?" he asked casually.
"I told you, I can't break this one."
"Does that mean you already tried?"
"No," grunted Errol. "I was told this just after they bound me with you," he added with a wink.
"You know, if you want to be free, I can probably break it," suggested Cobra.
Errol seemed to be thinking very hard and then said:
"Nope, thank you, that doesn't interest me."
"May I know why?"
"Where would be the fun?" grinned evilly Errol.
And they both burst out laughing, while, around Errol's neck, Iriss was shaking his head in total despair.
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