The Siege of White Deer Park by Colin Dann Read Free Book Online Page B

lasted only a moment. Then he squirmed away painfully, in a desperate bid to reach the patch of vegetation. He was not permitted to. The paw descended again and knocked him back. The Beast was toying with him.
    Adder kept moving – first this way, then that. Each time he was knocked back into place. Once a blow lifted him up into the air. He landed awkwardly. Pain racked his body but still he strove to get away. The Beast prodded him, tapped him and, finally, he felt its claws sear through his skin. He imagined he was going to be killed slowly in a form of torture, just as a cat will torment a bird or a mouse before the final kill. He wriggled in vain, like a creature in its death throes. Then a particularly heavy blow hooked him up high above the ground, over the vegetation, and suddenly Adder’s scaly coils landed with a plop in the shallow part of the stream.
    Like all snakes he was a good swimmer and, before he quite knew where he was, he instinctively rippled away into the deeper water. Only his head protruded above the surface. He looked back towards the bank and saw his assailant for the first time quite clearly. The Beast was staring out at the stream in an attempt to discover where its plaything had gone. Adder kept himself well hidden. After a while the Beast got bored and slowly padded away.
    For a long time the snake dared not approach dry land,although the water felt as cold as ice. He had to keep moving to avoid sinking to the bottom, but he merely swam through a cluster of weeds and then back again, until he was convinced the Beast would not return.
    He made his way to the bank and slowly, painfully, drew his battered body into a cluster of rushes and reed mace. Here he rested and nursed his wounds. He was scratched, bruised and some of his scales were torn, but his bones were sound and for that Adder was profoundly grateful. All his grandiose ideas of performing the heroic act of ridding White Deer Park of this menace, seemed now to him piffling and nonsensical. A paltry creature like him trying to meddle with this great hunter from an unknown world! Why, he was no more than a worm who afforded a minute or two’s distraction as a toy for such a powerful beast. Any animals who had made their homes in the Park had about as much chance of diverting it from its intentions as of learning how to walk on two legs. Adder would have chuckled at the absurdity of such a notion if he had been capable of it.
    When he had recovered a little he moved carefully away from the stream, always keeping himself well screened, and slid with the utmost caution towards that quarter of the Reserve where his friends maintained their community. He had to make them understand about this Beast in no uncertain manner. But it was not until dusk that he approached close.
    Toad was the first to hear of Adder’s horrible encounter. He was full of sympathy.
    ‘Oh Adder,’ he croaked, ‘my old friend! What a pounding you have had. Do come and rest yourself a little. There’s a clump of moss I frequent which is as soft as thistledown. I’m sure if you lie there a while –’
    ‘I’m much obliged, Toad,’ Adder interrupted, ‘and I’ll take you up on your offer later. But I really feel Fox, atleast, should know what we have to contend with.’
    ‘I think he’s aware of it already,’ Toad returned.
    ‘No. How could he be? He hasn’t seen the creature. I tell you, Toad, we’re all at its mercy. We’re minnows by comparison.’
    ‘Yes. Even the deer are suffering. Another one has been pulled down. I’ve just been telling Whistler. So despite the Warden’s efforts –’
    ‘Oh, the Warden!’ hissed Adder. ‘What can he do? Can he live amongst the deer herd? No. This hunter will take what it likes without hindrance. First it’s at the pond, then it’s by the stream or in a wood or choosing its prey in the open. It moves at will.’
    ‘Is it the same creature?’ Toad enquired.
    ‘The same? What do you mean?’
    ‘The same