Twelve eggs. One single?

Yes. Should I kill it?

No. We need to keep the diamond cobras alive.

  That was all Hannke could remember. Pain. A cave. And then everything was black.

  Very dramatic. But totally real. 

  There came a loud crash from the tree above them. Wren fluffed her feathers in panic. “Move, Hannke, quit sitting there like a log!”

  Despite terror, Hannke climbed clumsily down the tree, Wren flapping behind him, and slithered in the general direction of the canal. They pushed through the undergrowth, parting the bushes and flattening the grass. The canal surged just ahead of them, clear waters slithering over rock.

  “Quick, quick, we need to lose her trail!” Wren cried as Hannke caught up.

  “AAAHHH!” He yelled as she shoved him in, and they started rushing down the water.

  Hannke was something of a misfit. Unlike the other king cobras, he had no wish to cause pain and grief, let alone murder, unlike what other animals typically thought of his kind. He had also been raised by a mongoose. Her name was Guardian, and she had taken him in when no one else wanted to.

  She couldn’t understand why he wasn’t cruel, but she was glad that he wasn’t.

  Neither could Wren. 

  Wren knew everything.

  Sort of.

  But Hannke could remember her hissing scales, a fanged mouth, a cobra trying to eat Wren. It had been the worst moment of his life, knowing he could do absolutely nothing to save her life.

  Or could he?

  That’s why they were escaping. Hannke, and Wren, an egret and his best friend. Yes. It sounded very strange. An egret for a best friend!

  Hannke, you are the worst and best snake who ever lived. You are a complete coward, but you have the biggest heart.

  Venomkeeper came soaring out from the treetops and splashed into the water. “I’ll get you!” She hissed angrily. “You and your stupid bird friend!”

 “Go!” Wren cried. She flared her wings in an intimidating gesture, and Hannke considered taking off down the canal. After all, Venomkeeper wasn’t the best swimmer.

 But first he had to perform a trick he knew well and hated to do. He needed to suffocate Wren. Give her the gift of underwater breathing.

  Like him.

  How was it that a cobra could breathe underwater? No one knew. It had come in handy, though.

  How he hated to make anyone any more like him. But this was for their own good. Truly.

  He closed his eyes (mentally, snakes don’t have eyelids) and squeezed tight, coiling his body around the pale gray egret, holding her as tight as he could. When he finally let go, he was exhausted and Wren looked the same. He leaned close.

  “Are you alright?” He asked, worried.

  “Yup.” Wren replied, fluffing out her feathers. “Totally didn’t just get suffocated or anything.”

  Hannke cracked a small smile. It was weird that he only smiled around Guardian and Wren. A smile felt strange to him.

  Now he and Wren had to head down a river. They had decided while escaping from Venomkeeper that escaping into the canal would be their best shot at fleeing from the cruel cobra, due to the fact that Venomkeeper was not the best of swimmers.

  “Aw, Moonray is going to kill me for staying out  for too long,” Wren sighed. Before Hannke could suggest heading back, she shook her head, “It’s okay. I’d rather Moonray kill me than Venomkeeper. Her method of killing is something like making me play with Lavi all day,”

  Hannke laughed lightly as Wren plunged underwater. She had the best sense of humor. He was about to follow when suddenly, he heard something. 

  It was probably nothing. 

  No, it was there. Barely a whisper. But he heard it.

  You are gifted. Diamond Cobra . . . . .