Chapter 739 - Frost Moon Ⅵ (1/2)
Rowan remains silent lost in thought until at long last the sound of hooves trotting across snow can be clearly heard. A blurring, white, scaled figure darts ahead of the trotting hooves rushing through the trees, before hurling itself right at Rowan. ”Protector!” Nadira happily said in English. She did not speak in serpent speak before others when the presence of the protector. Nadira knew that the protector wished to keep identity as a parselmouth a secret. And Nadira would not fail the protector, whom she considered her closest kin!
The beautiful, white albino Great Horned serpent happily twined around the figure of Rowan. The serpent was now twice as large and had grown as thick as Rowan's torso. The soft nubs on Nadira's head had begun to slowly harden to resemble more that of tiny horns. The brilliant blue gemstone in the middle of Nadira's forehead glistens mystically as her sapphire-colored eyes glisten with delight.
Practically purring, Nadira rubs her smooth, scaled head against the Protector's face. Letting out a soft sigh, Rowan mutters, ”You are getting far much too large and heavy to be doing this, Nadira.”
”Never!” Nadira vehemently protested with guilt. She had been growing more and more as of late especially being so well fed by the merfolk. But then again, she was a Great Horned Snake, and their kind grew to extraordinary lengths. Her own snake mother had easily been over 100 feet long! (And she only knew this because of the creature inheritance that her Great Snake Mother had left her.)
Gently patting Nadira on the head, Rowan lifts her gaze as the hooves sound louder through the snow. Emerging from the shadows is a familiar young centaur, Firenze. The teenage boy with a swimmer's build, white-blond hair, and a palomino body. His blue-like eyes that gleam like the brightest and palest of sapphires seemed much more solemn, m.a.t.u.r.e than the last time she had seen him.
Rowan's eyes flicker to a corner of his c.h.e.s.t where four fangs formed together to create a rune symbol, that of a seer. Ever since Nadira had marked Firenze as the next shaman for the centaur tribe, Firenze's life had changed. He was no longer a foolish outcast, but the third most powerful figure within the tribe directly below the current Shaman and Chief of the Centaur tribe, Magorian. Then again, Stan Lee had worded it best, ”With great power comes great responsibility.”
A tired, but sincere smile appears on Firenze's handsome face causing Rowan's own lips to smile back. It was a shame, really, but Firenze was quite the lovely spectacle. If only his lower extremities weren't that of a horse. Maybe for some other witch that wouldn't be an impediment nor obstacle, however for Rowan that was a dealbreaker. And there was nothing wrong with her appreciating the natural charms of Firenze. No, there certainly was not.
”Child of the Founders,” Firenze greeted her as his breath let out a puff of air in the cold night, ”always an honor as always, Rowan Prince.”
”Firenze,” Rowan nodded her head back in greeting as Nadira reluctantly loosened her grip on Rowan. ”I promised that I would return upon the next full moon.”
”Yes,” Firenze paused as his sapphire gaze rose to the starry night. There is a breath of silence as he thoughtfully muses out loud. ”Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus will a line. Three forces will intersect-.”
Firenze vibrant sapphire-colored eyes pull away from the starry heaven to settle solemnly onto Rowan. Rowan tries not to flinch of the seemingly knowing eyes of the teenage centaur. ”Come, the hour grows late, Child of the Founders,” Firenze matter-of-factly stated, before kneeling onto the forest ground.