The wind swayed the trees outside the barn, patting and rustling thousands of leaves. The buzzard lazily descended and landed on the open sill high above the barn’s large opening. His red eyes adjusted to the darkness and made out the faint, grayish-white body of the behemoth snake.

“My Lord?”

“Sssebassstian! Back so sssoon?”

“Yes, My Lord.”

“What good newsss do you bring me?”

“Well, I didn’t exactly find the entrance the mouse spoke about–”

“Nooo? But I gave you ssstrict ordersss.”

“Yes, Master. But it isn’t the full moon yet, and that’s the only way he said we’d find it.” His eyes darted around the darkness, trying to see where the giant snake moved.

“Tsk, tsk! Oh, Sssebassstian, what a pity,” the voice hissed.

“B-but, My Lord, I–” The buzzard’s right wing was powerfully gripped and his body carelessly yanked into the darkness. Giant coils swiftly encircled him. “My Lord! I saw–” he panted through the suffocating squeeze. “I saw a goat, a pig, a dog–” His crushed lungs screamed for air. “–and a human walking in the pastures.”

Farangis released him. A few feathers drifted in the air. “A human, you ssssay?”

Sebastian greedily sucked the air. “Y-yes, My Lord. A boy was with them.”

“Interesssting! Now what could they be up to?”

“I don’t know, My Lord.” The buzzard shook as the coils contracted.

“Are you sure you don’t know, Sssebassstian? I can sssmell if you’re lying to me!” The snake’s long, skinny tongue tickled the feathers on his chest.

“I’m not lying, Master! It seemed strange. They were so far into the pastures.”

“No doubt they are Pugsssly’sss sssubjectsss.”

“That’s what I assumed, My Lord.” A loud hiss caused him to pull back in fear.

“But a human boy…. Why?…Sssebassstian, my faithful ssservant!”

“My Lord?”

“Go tell Malachi and the rest of my loyal pets to ssspread the word to all the wild inhabitantsss of the land.”

“What do you want us to tell them, Master?”

“Let them know that if any one of them helpsss thisss pathetic human and hisss sssmall group of friendsss, they too will die.”

“Yes, My Lord!”

“And Sssebassstian…go and find that entrance.”

The buzzard hastily pulled away from the snake and flew out of the barn.

“Ssso, my friendsss, we leave tomorrow night for the attack!”

Hisses and rattles sounded from around the darkness. “Will we find their kingdom without the full moon, Massster?”

“Yesss, Sssiloam, we will find it. We will find it. And every one of them will die.” Why is this human helping them?

Sebastian flew to buzzards engulfing a tree, then to others on the ground. One by one they took wing into the darkening sky.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

George and Maxine

THE FOREST WAS ALIVE with noise. Cicadas, crickets, and many other insects chirped, hummed, and some just plain yelled obnoxiously. Frogs conversed while birds argued in the trees.