The snake lady, or Eshanai as was probably her name, hissed when she heard the sound of the voice coming from the woods. She leveled her spear in its direction and snarled threateningly. She couldn’t have understood the words spoken and therefore did not realize we are surrounded. If she attacked, Eshanai would probably get herself killed, how could I convince her to lower her spear when I couldn’t talk to her. She surprised me then, as her tongue flicked out to taste the air, her eyebrows rose on her forehead. She turned around slowly, her expression becoming more and more worried, she then looked at me uncertainly and lowered her spear. I shook my head and placing my hand on the weapon I slowly removed it from her hands. She let it go with some reluctance. I put the spear on the ground and gave her a comforting smile, she returned it, still looking a bit confused but at least she didn’t look like she wanted to rush off into the woods to face our enemies anymore.

The guards slowly walked out of the woods and into my little camp, all with spears pointed at us and shields raised. They started whispering amongst themselves, some of them gestured towards Eshanai fearfully. A guard captain stepped into the ring of spears with us, I could tell he was a captain by the red band tied around his upper arm, he stared at Eshanai and me for a long moment before barking. “Jenkins! Get over here and tell me if this is the creature that made you abandon your pursuit of young Eplubus over here?” He said in a calmer tone while gesturing towards Eshanai and me in turn. A nervous-looking guard broke through the ranks of spears to stand beside the captain when he laid eyes on Eshanai his face paled before saying.

“Yes sir, that’s the one sir,” despite his face pailing his voice remained firm, I envied him slightly for that.

“The fact that none of your squad were even slightly injured, and what looks like one of our standard spears that are laying at the ground by the creature's tail, I assume you retreated without even trying to engage it in combat?” The captain said this all while remaining calm and collected. “While retreating is sometimes required, you and your squad seemed to have run away at first sight of that creature, whatever it is. You even abandoned your weapons in the process, be aware that your group will be punished accordingly when we get back to Yhester,” he continued, still in his calm but stern voice.

“Yes sir, sorry sir,” the guard said before saluting and stepping back behind the ring of spears. The captain then turned his attention back to us. He paid extra close attention toward Eshanai.

“Could you please explain what you are doing with her, or where she came from? I have never seen anything like her before,” the question was directed at me, but the captain's eyes were riveted on Eshanai. She stared right back, seeming equally as fascinated by the captain, she seemed particularly interested in the short sword that was strapped to his waist.

An idea struck me suddenly, and if I could get Eshanai to go along with it, this could solve my problem of being hunted everywhere I go, at least I would be free in Yhester, the guild still wanted me brought before them. I could move around freely again, and get started on my plans to better myself.

“S-s-s-s,” I began, but couldn’t get the words out. The captain's eyes turned to me, and he gave me a level stare. “S-s-spirit,” I managed the lie, she wasn't a spirit of course, but the guards didn’t know that. The captain’s eyes widened in surprise, before he could say anything though, I continued. “I s-sum-moned her, ch-a-a-am.” The captain seemed to get my meaning and finished by exclaiming.

“Champion! You wish to enter her in a trial by combat?!” He said in excitement, and I nodded, his exclamation seemed to have embarrassed him, he looked around at his guards before calming himself. “That’s for the judge to decide, you’ll be placed in a cell still, but I will see that your request is heard. I think it has a good chance of being accepted, the arena in Yhester hasn’t seen a good fight in years,” he said, now back to his calm and collected tone.

Trial by combat meant that my case would be put to the gods to decide, no one chose to do them very often because they were hugely unfair. The defending party could decide to fight themselves or accept a champion to fight for them. If the god were on their side, they would easily win. Therefore judges often pitted them against multiple enemies or even horrible monsters, for if the defendant were genuinely innocent, the gods wouldn’t let them die. I had placed an enormous risk on Eshanai, and I felt a bit guilty, she hadn’t understood anything that was said, and I didn’t know if she was a good fighter or not.

“I wish to f-fight by her s-s-s-side,” I said suddenly, it was only fair to Eshanai that we go through this together. I had basically forced her into this without her consent after all. The captain shrugged his shoulders and said.

“Do you think the guild will be happy when they get a corps to punish instead of you alive?” It was a fair question, but it was the judges I needed to convince, not this guard. After a while of staring at me, he relented with a sigh. “Bah, no matter, I will bring your request to the judges and let them decide. It’s rather unconventional to be allowed an ally in the arena, but we are wasting time, let’s get moving.” Eshanai’s and my hands were bound behind our backs, and we were marched back to Yhester surrounded on all sides by the city’s guards.

Yhester was not the biggest city, but it was not small either. It sat on a hill outside the forest surrounded by walls, so when you approached it, you could see the castle and some of the nobles mansions rising above the wall in the middle of the city. Like a big pimple on the face of the earth, most of the roofs were red tile roofs, so the pimple comparison was apt I thought.

We entered through one of the open gates in the wall, it was not the biggest one in the world, but it did its job of protecting the city. People were moving in and out of the gate, mostly farmers and merchants, they looked at us curiously. Eshanai got a lot of attention once people noticed that she had a snake tail instead of legs, and they whispered to each other and pointed as they passed us. Eshanai didn’t seem to notice all the looks she was getting, being too busy staring up at the wall made of stone in awe, as if she had never seen anything like it, maybe she hadn’t. I had no idea where she had come from before meeting her, but she must be from far away, as most cities and even some small towns that I had seen had some type of wall surrounding them. This theme continued as we left the gate behind us, people staring at Eshanai and Eshanai either not noticing or not caring and instead stared at all the buildings with the same awe with which she had stared at the wall.

We were brought to the local jail and were placed in a cell together, after both of us had been searched and stripped of our belongings, my boot knife was found sadly, we were only allowed to keep the clothes on our bodies. I hadn’t had much anyway, and Eshanai had even less. The cell was a little room made of stone bricks, with a door made of iron bars. All I could do now was wait and hope that the judges accepted my proposal, if not I would probably be shipped back to the mages guild to face my punishment. I didn’t know what would happen to Eshanai. She hadn’t honestly done anything, and she hadn’t even killed anyone as I feared. The guards had merely fled at the sight of her, but without me, they will quickly realize that she is no spirit and that I didn’t summon her. Hopefully, they don’t mistake her for some monster and let her go instead.

I had been sitting on the floor of the cell, at the pitiful excuse for a bead, it was just some straw and a couple of moth-eaten blankets. I had my head in my hands, but as I thought of Eshanai, I looked up at her to see what she was doing. She seemed to be fascinated by everything around her, slithering from place to place to feel the walls, or raise herself up to look outside the tiny window high up on the wall. She could become really tall if she stretched out her tail fully to support herself. At one point she even licked the bars of the door to our cell, well, smell them more likely, but she flicked her tongue against them. Did snakes have taste buds? I didn’t know, but I could ask her if only I could understand her. Then a thought struck me, well I had nothing better to do while being locked in here so I might as well give it a try.

“Eshanai,” I said, interrupting her inspection of the door. She turned towards me with a smile on her face, as if she wasn’t locked in a cell and everything was just normal, better then normal actually judging by her radiant smile, her fangs hidden behind her teeth. I could almost believe it too as I smiled back at her from my seated position. I gestured for her to get over here and she slithered her way towards me, it was kind of fun to watch actually. While her lower body swayed from side to side on the ground, her upper, human-looking body stayed completely stationary as if she were some ghost floating towards me. She could make a fair impression of one if a low wall or something hid her tail, the thought made me chuckle to myself slightly.

Eshanai stopped in front of me and pouted at me, and this only made me laugh harder and eventually, Eshanai joined in, laughing too. She had a nice laugh, not seeming forced or embarrassed, but a genuine one. The tension seemed to leave me with my laughter, but I made myself stop and gestured for her to sit. She made a sort of nest with her tail and plonked herself down in the middle of it, leaning her back against it behind her.

“Eshanai,” I said while pointing at her, and she nodded her head up and down. I was glad some gestures were universal. “Lubus,” I said, this time pointing towards myself, she nodded again but repeated my name to herself. The s at the end got elongated slightly in a sort of lisp maybe her forked tongue was the cause. It didn’t matter though I found it kind of cute actually. “My name is Lubus,” I said next and extended my hand towards her intending for her to shake it. She stared at my hand for a while, and I grabbed her hand and placed it in mine, shaking it up and down in a greeting. “My name is Lubus,” I said a second time and gestured towards her with my other hand. She seemed to understand then as her face lit up while she tried to repeat my words. She eventually got it right, with me saying it again and again so she could practice.

“My name isss Eshanai,” she said, the lisp still there on the s sound, but I could still understand her. Then Eshanai would point out different things in the cell, and I would say the name of them in my language, and she would try to repeat them. There wasn’t much variety in the jail, but we got by with miming and charades. That was how we spent our time until the guards came, escorting one of the judges who wanted to speak to us about a deal. We must have looked ridiculous, right in the middle of our cell, making impressions of different animals.