The castle bells tolled nonstop. 

   Thick layers of ice covered the castle exits. Nobles and servants screamed and ran desperately, in order to save their lives from the knights in black armor, who were vehemently killing everyone in sight. 

   Odilon was trying to unblock one of the exits to clear the way for a group of women and children. One of them, who seemed to be the youngest, was pregnant. She was in a lot of pain. Another woman, an older one, warned that these were contractions and that the baby could come at any moment. The prince felt even more pressure to open a passage, but the constant screams from the pregnant woman didn't let him think straight. 

   Suddenly more screams are heard. Screams of despair. A boy, who was watching Odilon closely, ran to his mother and grabbed her by the legs. The prince turned around. One of the black soldiers was drawing his sword covered in blood from the pregnant girl's chest. The young girl, lying on the ground had stopped screaming... forever. A purple snake crawled up the soldier's body and strangled him, killing him. The man, suffocated, fell to the ground. The snake continued its course without attacking anyone else. 

   The young prince managed to open a passage. The blond boy, a nickname given by Odilon to the boy who watched him closely, smiled with his yellowish teeth as a form of gratitude. One of the women passed weeping through the narrow gap in the middle of the ice, it was the mother of the young woman who died. 

   I keep walking, looking, looking for something, or someone. A noise was heard in the throne room. Soldiers came running past, shouting:

   "Protect the king! Protect the king!"

   A second noise was heard, this time louder, like thunder. Odilon drew his sword and ran in the same direction as the guards. The hall was full of soldiers in black armor, but it was not known to which kingdom they belonged. The Antiphean soldiers were unable to pierce the armor, and when they did, their swords broke as they tried to pass through the soldiers' super-strong bodies. 

   Again the snake appeared. One by one the foreign soldiers it killed, entering through their armor and applying its lethal venom. The men in black armor fell, and their bodies joined the dying of Antiphes, the same bodies they had spilled the innocent blood on. 

   The king was not found, his sister was not found, nor was his daughter. He was alone and bewildered. Dozens of bodies on the floor, a room full of blood and destruction. The prince could not understand the reason for this terrible event. He sat down on his father's throne, but not with authority, but with despair. 

   The serpent crawled to the center of the room and stared at the one sitting on the throne. Its small head swayed from side to side slowly. Odilon did not move. The snake jumped on his neck and choked him to death.

   "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!". Odilon quickly got up. 

   "What happened, boy?". The frightened sorceress asked. "Something happened."

   "I had another strange dream." Odilon breathed frantically. 

   "Again? That makes three." 

   "And I don't know?" 

   "What did you dream this time?" 

   "The day the ice giants invaded the castle in Antiphes." The prince stood up. "Only it was strange. It wasn't the same as the day, there was a snake...a purple snake. It killed the men and then...well, then it killed me."

   "Where are you going?"

   "I need to pee. I drank too much liquid before I went to sleep." 

   "Don't go too far away. That road is full of dangers." 

   "And what isn't?" 

   The place was very dark, because the night light was weak. Owls and other animals made noises. The wind whipped gently through the trees, swaying their branches and leaves to and fro, very slowly. 

   Odilon was urinating behind a tree when he saw the silhouette of someone running behind the bushes. "What the hell," he thought.

   "Polypedes, is that you?" 

   No one answered. Again the shadow passed quickly behind his back.

"Yavel, if that's you, stop right now!" 

   His sword was missing, which made the prince even more afraid. 

   He began to walk slowly towards the bushes, from where he heard a strange sound coming. He went into the bushes and to his surprise came face to face with a purple snake. Startled, he took two steps backwards. 

   "Don't be frightened!" Said the snake, without moving its jaw, which amazed Odilon even more. 

   "How did you..." He was interrupted. 

   "I am a normal person, just like you."

   "You are a snake."

   "I am a viper, you idiot. Don't you know the difference? Didn't they teach you that in school?" 

   "Odilon! Odilon! Where are you?" 

   "I'm here!" 

   "Is that the voice of Polypedes?" 

   "Be quiet, you talking snake." 

   "It's viper! I am a viper." 

   "Odilon, what are you doing... by the gods, that's a snake. Kill it!"

   "Viper." Odilon corrected Polypedes, while looking wryly at the viper. "It speaks!" 

   The sorceress laughed long and loud. 

   "Have you gone mad, Odilon? Snakes don't talk." 

   "I told you I'm a viper." She repeated again. 

   Polipedes was startled. 

   "See. I said." 

   "Gee, the only time I've ever seen anyone turn into a snake was..." 

   "It's me!" Said the viper, trying to get off the rock on which it was stuck by its tail. 

   "Wow. Get it out now, Odilon. Carefully." 

   "You know...you know that?" 

   "It's Mikae." 

   "Get her out of there right away. Quickly." 

   "You're not listening! Get me out of here!" 

   Odilon suspended the stone, thus facilitating the exit of the viper called Mikae. 

   "I've been sending you messages in your dreams for three days. Why haven't you answered me?" 

   "Certainly because I didn't know." 

   "You should have sent the message to me. Odilon doesn't understand this subject." 

   The prince felt inferior. 

   "I couldn't access her mind. She is almost impenetrable."

   "It must be because she is hard-headed." 

   "It's not about that fact and yes..." Mikae interrupted. 

   "No need to explain anything. Odilon was just trying to be funny. Let's go back to the fire. Go back to human form so I can give you a hug." 

   "Human form?" 

   "Of course! Or did you really think animals can talk?" Mikae giggled.

   Polipedes smiled with the corner of his mouth. Odilon once again felt the mocking look of the talking viper.

   Odilon was about to put more dry twigs on the small fire, when Polipedes reached out his hand causing the fire to rise by itself. The prince quickly took his hands away from the fire, shaking them as one of the flames licked them. 

   "Say, what were you doing in the forest?" Odilon brought his gaze to the young girl, who was straightening her black hair with rock streaks cut at shoulder height. "Even more so at night." 

   "How are you alive?" The sorceress spoke over Odilon. "Many think you are dead."

    "At the moment, they must remain so." Mikae took a gulp of water from the wineskin. "It was very hard to stay alive after what happened in the refuge." She looked into the void, she seemed to be living again the horrors of the massacre from the day they gave her up for dead. 

      "What happened?" Polipedes shared the bowl filled with pieces of roasted hare. 

   "Someone gave away the whereabouts of our hideout. They were totally ruthless, killing defenseless children and women."We tried to defend ourselves, but they were outnumbered, but we... our students were not yet prepared for such horrors. 

  "And how did you survive?" Odilon licked the grease from his fingers. 

   "I had to pass myself off as dead. I drank a potion that makes you fall asleep, to the point that you seem lifeless. After I woke up, inside a ditch, I turned into a viper, to get out unnoticed."

   "And what brought you here?" The prince was still waiting for such an answer. 

   "My sister."

   "Fiorella is alive?" Polipedes said.

   "I believe so. I checked your tracks, they brought me here, but then they stopped. Hand me that one more piece, please. The other day I was investigating some more, that's when the hunters showed up. I had no way to hide, so I turned into what everyone had already seen. One of the hunters saw me from afar, yet he didn't want to kill me; he didn't know I was a witch, he thought I was just some animal. He seemed to be afraid of poisonous animals, so he put that damned stone on my tail. Do you happen to have anything to drink other than water?" 

   "No, we don't." Odilon replied dryly. "If you want to find your sister..."  The prince paused. "Why didn't you do to her what you did to me?" 

   "I tried, but without success. I believe she has blocked access to your mind. She's probably mourning my false death." 

   "Yes, this is all very tragic indeed. Too bad we can't help you. We already have our own problems.

   "Yes, we do. Don't call Odilon." 

   "Yeah, don't call me. After all, I just had my daughter kidnapped." 

   "I know it is hard for you such a fact, Odilon, but realize that if we help Mikaela find her sister we can get the necessary support we need to get your daughter back. Do you want more hare? 

   "I want another piece." Mikaela raised her hand to the jar that was next to Polipedes. "Help me and I will help you. Me and Fiorella. I guarantee it."

   Odilon lay down, without giving any answer. He was too worried about his daughter to allow himself the luxury of meddling in other people's problems. Mikaela remained sitting by the fire. She admired the flames dancing on the burning embers. 

   "If you don't help us." Odilon murmured. "I'll make sure you stay pretty dead this time." 

   The young woman's eyes widened. Polypedes looked at her with the same expression, but they both understood the suffering of the prince, so no one was able to retort to his ignorant speech.