Silverwood

Shushhhh

Vidya is injured. We are out of the cave. The snow bed underneath my feet is crumbling. I sense danger. Look around and a huge sack of snow gliding towards us. A shiver runs through my body. The thermal suit I bought before climbing the mountain is useless now. I am freezing. My lips are numb and my legs deny moving. If I get into this avalanche, there is no chance of survival. 

''God save me'' I can only pray.

The mountain is roaring. Looks as if the mountain is dusting off and I am the dirt. My grip on Plum and Vidya gets tighter.

"Hop on!" A voice from behind.

Arun came to our rescue. Gathering all my strength, I run to him.

"Whose bike is this?" I scream.

"It's not the time for a quiz." He replied with a scream. 

The snow slabs are getting closer. Chasing me with the closest distance. It was about to catch me. But I reached Arun and hopped on the bike. The chase continues, but now we are a bit faster. The snow is speeding up. I hold him tight. It seems we can not escape the avalanche. 

"Hold tight." He shouts.

I glued to him. He then changed the direction.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Trust me."

Closed my eyes, holding him tight. I was only praying. Open my eyes due to a sudden jerk I feel. At some point, I see a hollow area. Is he going to get inside the hole visible at a distance? My heart is going to burst. My heartbeat is too fast. The bike moves like a flash and dived inside that hole. We dived into a dark hole. We crashed in and the snow slabs just passed over the opening. Some dust gets inside through the opening but rest assure we are safe now. It's dark and freezing. 

I am panting. Hard to breathe.

"Hey, dangerous player. Are you okay?" He asks. 

"I am fine but Vidya,"

"Let me see."

He starts the bike and the crystal on it glows. The light obtained through it gives us quite a good vision. 

"Wing is broken." He says.

"She can not fly ever?"

"I didn't say that.... Her wing is broken but it can be fixed. She can fly as higher as she wants." He sigh. "All we need to do is to get out of here. As soon as possible,"

It is like a tunnel. Or maybe another cave.

Plum is a cute polar bear now. I guess he is fine. Vidya is shivering. She is still unconscious. I am worried now. 

"Aren't you cold?" I ask Arun. He came to our rescue, but without any preparation.  

"No, I am fine." His reply.

He doesn't have warm clothes. He will freeze to death. Vidya is sleeping on the bike with the blanket on. Hight of the tunnel doesn't allow us to ride the bike. We are walking along with dragging the bike. 

He is cold. He is getting pale and breathing smoke out. 

"Let's stop," I say.

"Stop? Here? You have a death wish?"

"Plum! Cuddle." I order.

"Wow..wo.."

Plum hugs both of us, and he is so fluffy and warm. Relaxing.

"He is warm. But we can not stay like this. We need to keep moving." Arun, tell me something I don't know.

I know we should keep moving. But just now I escaped death, I need a timeout. So does you. Stupid guy.

Huh! He falls asleep as soon as he felt the warmth. 

Cuddling Plum is mind-blowing. So comforting. 

***

When I woke up, I find myself out of the tunnel. I am on Plum's back. And he is an elephant now.

"What happened?" 

"You awake? Wanna have some?" Arun is offering me fruits. He is on his bike with Vidya still asleep. Slowly synchronizing with Plum, his bike is moving. 

"How did we get out of there?"

"Your pet showed me the way."

"He is Plum."

"I know his name Dev."

I frown and say.

"You do? You are taking my name wrong. It's Devi. Short of Devanshi."

"Short of Devanshi, Devi? Not suitable. Dev is more convenient. Dev-anshi. Perfect."

"Ooofff! Don't you get it? Dev is a male name."

"Yah"

"So..I..how..ohhh." This is frustrating. 

Talking to him is like dressing up an elephant. Totally useless. 

"Plum is a kid. He can't take my weight."

"He can lift a sum of ten like you. Please don't underestimate him."

"Still then, he must be tired."

"Say directly, that you want to get closer to me."

"What rubbish." 

"Yeah. You are on your Plum, and I am on my bike. Moving separately. You dislike it. And now you want to be with me on the same bike. Sitting closer." 

What a jerk? I just said something, and he drove another meaning out of it. 

"I don't want to sit on your stolen bike."

"This is not stolen. I just borrowed it."

I rolled my eyes. 

"Where are we going?"

"To the hospital. Don't you want your friend to be fine?"

Whom is he calling my friend? Vidya? She is not my friend. She is.... She.. Yeah, who is she? Is she really my friend? 

I get a glimpse of a hill of hay.

I am staring at it. Soon discover a door in it.

"This hay dump has a door in it." I say.

"Congrats, you saw it. Did you see the doormat too?"

I shook my head.

"Then look over there."

He pointed to the doormat with a 'Welcome' written on it.

He placed a gentle knock on the door.

The door opened, and a beautiful and sexy elf appears. 

Wow, what a figure. 

"Shush! Darling, it's me. No need to cover up."

 What is he saying? She is almost n***d. Such a crop top and a sexy slit skirt. He is saying not to cover. 

"Oh, you again. Now what you want?"

Her voice doesn't match her appearance. She is so beautiful and her voice is so rough. More like someone having a tonsil. Hard for her to speak. Something like that. 

"Not like this. I am not comfortable. Show me your true self." 

Pervert. He is flirting with her.

"You got guests."

"She won't mind."

"But she is beautiful."

"Nothing compares to your genuine beauty."

Huh! Talking about me. I am right here. I can hear my beauty is being compared. 

"Ahm ahm!"

It worked. My cough fetched their attention. 

"Oh, let me introduce you to my darling Sushree. The greatest and flawless wizard of all. And Shush this is Dev, my customer."

What the hell? Was that an introduction?

"Hi, this is Devi, nice to.." 

I stretched my hand for a handshake. But I think I should pull it back.

Her eyes look scary as her eyes changed from deep black to glossy deep blue marble with a pupil like a straight cut. Her skin is getting scales. Blue and orange combination of scaled skin. Snake eyes. Her body transformed into a human-size snake. With the lower portion like a snake and the upper portion like a human girl. 

I am trembling right now. Became a statue from outside, screaming hard inside. My eyes are wide open and I am gapping her continuously. I was about to faint. But Plum came to me, then I came to my sense. Calm down...calm down. Taking a heavy breath, I need to calm down. This is common here. I can't freak out. No, I am freaking out. Okay, calm down. I should be used to it. 

I have watched a Jet Li movie named 'The sorcerer and the White Snake'. She looks exactly like it has portrayed the snake sisters. Till the chest, she is a snake. Face, hair, arms are all like a human. Eyes are not like a human though. She changed her eyes back to normal. 

"Hi" 

Now I get it. Why her voice was like that. Like she was having trouble speaking. With more hissing sound. 

Gulped very hard in fear before shaking the hands. 

"Shush, her friend is hurt so will you help her."

"Sssssureeee!!!"

Did she say sure? She must have.

Wow! Her tail helps her climbing up just like that. I took the stairs. I reached there. She is scary. When she moves, her scales create sounds that give me chills. But I have to stay. I took Vidya near her and she examined her. 

In a bowl, she is putting some leaves. Smashed it with a stone. Took out a glowing mushroom from a box and a slimy worm and placed them on that bowl. Smashed them all together. The mushroom was glowing green earlier but the whole solution is glowing pink right now. 

"Crystal?" 

She is asking for the payments.

"Yes, my darling."

He said yes and now looking at me. It's clear, I have to pay. 

"How much?"

My question made them laugh. Why?

"Dear!"

Oh no no no..... She is getting closer. Coiling around me. Checking me out. I took out one crystal. She turns into a complete snake. Her snake face is so close to me. Open and swallowed the crystal on one go. After swallowing, she glows from inside.

"Now I feel like I am alive."

She shakes in a wave from head to tail. 

"More!"

Does she want more? 

"Darling. That was for her friend. This is for my friends."

He shows her all the crystal he had. He gives them to her. Her upper beautiful girl appearance came again. Better now. 

"You are such a good friend. We are alive only because of you. Come join our celebration."

She is inviting us for what?

"I would love to but I have a customer."

"Take her along. In fact, the patient needs rest so you have to rest somewhere. Why not in our village?"

"What you think Dev?"

I am pissed off.

"Only if you won't call me Dev again."

"Wow, condition haan? Okay."

Was that, that simple? Wow.

Stars are twinkling in the beautiful, purplish dark sky. Sky is like someone accidentally splashed purple color over the pitch-black canvas. And spray white over it. Wait! Where are all the moons? I looked around. 

"What happened?"

Turned to find whose sweet voice was that. It is a cute little snake girl. She has a skin of brick red with black stripes. 

"Nothing"

I smile. She looks harmless. 

"What are you staring at the sky?"

"Nothing. It's so clear. No clouds, nor moon."

"Don't you know?"

"What?"

"Every month there is one day when all the moons hide somewhere."

I chuckle. 

"Really?"

"Yes and on that day if we don't eat crystals we die."

What? I see in far Arun places all crystals he has and others brought their contributions. They are breaking the crystals into small pieces. 

"Wo...What is happening to you?" 

"Oh, my skin is shedding. It happens."

"Arun comes to visit you often?"

"Yes, one day he rescued one of the kids from our village. Our village was in debt. Our parents work hard, but still, we had a scarcity of crystals. Since then he comes to us and gives us the energy to live."

So you became greedy, for them? Crystals! It can be made by ourselves too, right? In our chemistry class, I've read it. If they could get the formula, they can produce their own crystals. What I have is the DIY from my friend. And that works for them.

What is the science of this concept of crystals?

"Come!" 

She drags me to the campfire. 

It is beautiful. Each snake persons are so colorful. They dance with only graceful hand movements. Their houses are huts made of hay. They are feeding children's the small slices of crystals. 

The feast is ready. I get a glimpse of an area where fruits are kept. I am sure I saw something similar to sugarcane. 

"Have this drink." One lady's hospitality is awesome. 

I drink it. It test like sugarcane. Is it so? 

"Arun!" He is not listening to me.

He is with Sushree.

"Arun" I walk to him.

"Shush"

"Yes," She replies.

"No, shush everyone....Something is there."

Suddenly they who were singing, dancing and celebrating became quiet. The atmosphere becomes serious. They started hiding everything under hay. 

We all get inside and hide. I peep out and see witches flying on the broom. We all are together. The witches are spinning around as vultures do. 

"They came again. They always take our children away from us." One says.

They live in fear and in paucity. 

I am having a weird feeling. I see my finger's color is changing. I am changing into a human? What's the time? No no no. I need to drink the portion soon or I'll return to my original self. 

"Anu!!!"

One snake lady screams. She is looking outside, so I do the same. The cute little girl is out there. No, she is in danger. 

Witches are out there, a girl who was sweet to me is in danger, and I am about to turn into a human in front of them.