Clementine jumped back as the wooden planks crashed to the ground in front of him. The fading light from outside beamed behind Roscoe. Three snakes squirmed under the planks, hissing and rattling, bodies half protruding. Clementine looked in awe.

Dizzy from the impact, Roscoe tried to focus his vision. “Is that you, pig? Right now I see three of you, and you won’t keep still.”

Clementine laughed in relief. “The Matador strikes again!” The daylight revealed they were in a small stable with an exit in the back corner. “So there is a way out!”

“And if I’m seeing right, it looks really dark,” Roscoe said with dread.

Clemintine’s eyes focus on the top of the goat’s head. “Roscoe, you broke a horn!”

Roscoe nudged his horn against the wall to check it. “Yep, it’s broken alright.” He sighed, “Don’t say I never did anything for you, pig!”

“But it looks very sharp.” Roscoe smiled at the pig. “Roscoe, where’s Malcolm?”

“I don’t know. Snakes chased him and his brother into the woods.”

The thought of waiting for the raccoon to return was tempting, but they knew time was running out.

Clementine took a deep breath to calm his nerves. “Well, we can’t just sit here. Let’s find Paco and King Benjamin.”

“You’re right…you go first!” Roscoe followed the pig into the darkness.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Farangis

BENJAMIN THREW THE LIGHTNING FLASH down the hall. The strobe illuminated the entire barn, flashing through the gaps in the walls. They could hear the angry hissing of something large up ahead. “I’m sure Farangis’s eyes don’t like that light one bit, Sire,” Paco whispered. Smoke cleared as they walked on. Along the right were stalls. To the left, past half-demolished walls, was the great room reached through the barn’s front opening. Scattered dead buzzard carcasses littered the dirt floor. The smell was almost overbearing.

A pale blue moon rose. Before the lightning flash stopped burning, a small piece of dead wood lying on the dirt caught fire. The tiny flame was a welcome source of light in the barn, along with the hole in the roof, the open window near the peak, and the front opening. Benjamin looked up and saw a loft. Below it, on a scattered pile of old hay, the giant grayish-white python waited.

The boy crouched and took Paco in his trembling arms. “I didn’t think he’d be that big,” he whispered.

“I’m terrified, Sire.”

“Me, too.” He hugged the dog to his chest. “Hey, I think I’ve got an idea.”

“I can sssmell you! Show yourssselvesss!” Farangis demanded.

“I think I can climb above the loft. Then I can drop the cherry bomb on him.”

“That’s too dangerous, My King!” Benjamin frowned and Paco relented. “What do you need me to do, Sire?”