The snake makes a promise
Ferravale Chieftain's home....yes, they spend allot of time here. It is Blisa's home.
Blisa the cat and Ferdinand the ferret. Basilisk the snake (A.K.A. 'Basil').
The house seems quiet today, at least for Basilisk. Having no more need to hide he curled up in front of the fire place after a decent meal of cheese bread. It's not as the snake considers proper food, just something to fill his belly until the beasts let him eat a beast-kin...or turn their back for a moment. Occasionally he will raise his head to watch the beasts pass by outside the window. He hisses softly to himself as he does, "Bassssilisk...."
Blisa comes out of the kitchen, an almost haunted look in her soft green eyes from the news she got yesterday, all her cheeriness gone, and she seems seasons older than she is. She sits beside the snake and stares silently, broodingly into the fire.
And then there is Blisa. The snake sighs. He really should just eat the kitten. It would be the proper thing for a snake to do. But...the beast can't bring himself to do so. Instead the snake moves behind her, resting his head somewhere close to her own, He stares unblinkingly at the cat, "What issss ammisss child...?"
Blisa continues to stare at the flames as she answers in a hollow voice, saying, "My aunt is dead, and I can't do anything about it. I've seen my mother and baby brother be murdered, and now my aunt has been killed. My father is the Chieftain here, and he almost constantly seems to be getting death threats. How soon will I be....an orphan?" with the last two words, the kitten's voice cracks, betraying the deep pain she is experiencing.
Basilisk is NOT the one to seek comfort from. He rolls his eyes, might as well give it a shot he guesses. The snake says in his usual raspy voice, "Basssilisssk is here. So is the ferret...you are not alone..."
Blisa makes a chocking sound and balls her paws into fists, her tiny claws extended so far into her palms she makes herself bleed slightly. "But what can you do?! We...we can't be with Daddy all the time! I...I don't want him to die...he's all...all the family I...I've got left..." tears start to trickle down her cheeks as her emotions begin to threaten to overwhelm her again.
If Basilisk had a heart it would be touched. Even so the snake is moved with...pity isn't the right word. Something a little less than pity but has no word for it, "Death iss a part of nature child..." The snake slithers around the cat, giving her plenty of space as he talks, "Everything diessss eventualleeee... but I don't think... your papa isss going to die...not yet at leasssst."
Blisa is fighting really, really hard to not cry, and she's managing to not sob, but she can't stem the tears streaming down her cheeks. "I...I hope....y...you're r....r...r...right...."
There is a cackling sound from the snake. It's his laughter, dark, foreboding, and laced with vile. "Basssilissk isss 'alwayssss' right."
Blisa sniffs and looks questioningly at the snake. "Wh...what do you mean, 'always'?" She wipes her eyes with the back of a paw revealing four small, oozing red marks on her palm from her claws.
The snake smiles, his features highlighted by the fire next to him, "I decided to ssstay...didn't I? Wasss that a missstake?"
Blisa shrugs in a rather infuriating manner, then shakes her head slightly. She looks dully at the bloody little spots on her palms, not wanting to even try to get them bandaged up.
The snake uses his tail to try and spin the kitten around to face the kitchen, he chuckles, "Maybe the kitten will feel bettersssss....after having some foodssssss. yah?"
Blisa gets spun around before she realizes what's going on, then latches onto the snakes tail, looking slightly miffed, but she's also looking a little less haunted. "You just want some food for yourself! You're gonna get too big to move if you eat too much more! And I wouldn't like that."
The snake snickers, "Maybe we can give ssssome ....of my food to the ferret then, eh? Fatten him up a little..." The snake laughs before the kitten can reply, "I kid...I swore not to eat anyone here in the house..." Out side the house, the snake thinks, is a diffrent matter.
Blisa frowns slightly, seeing the play on words after a few moments. "What about when you go outside the house?" She asks, hugging the snake's tail even tighter.
Basil pauses. He replies with a sheepish grin, "I think itsss more interesssting if I /don't/ anssswer." The snake begins to move towards the kitchen.
Blisa immediately goes to hop onto the snake's neck, right below his head. "You will answer me, buster, or no more cheese buns for the rest of the week!" She's serious about that threat, too.
The snake scoffs as the kitten leaps on him, and she says HE needs to lay off the cheesebuns? "Fine....I promisss not to eat the beasssts you don't want me too." The snake's diction and grammar has improved to say the least since staying here. "Happy?"
Blisa shakes her head. "Whatabout Ferdinand? He's my friend, and my bodyguard. Promise you won't eat him! Or Daddy, or Nightbreath, or Oakenpaw, or anybeast from Redwall!" She squeazes the snake's neck.
Basil sighs, "Fine..." the ferret wouldn't make a fine meal anyway. Plus, there are always loop holes in any aggreement...like following the agreement. "You're /friendssss/ are safe with meeasssss...."
Blisa lays her ears back and growls dangerously into the snakes ear hole. "They'd better be." Then she slides to the floor and starts to stalk off to the kitchen.
The snake is quick to follow, he has some demands himself, "If...I can't eat beastiessss then Basssilisssk needsss more cheeeeeesssse bunssss..." Basil curls himself into a ball in the center of the kitchen. He still wonders how they explained away the mess he made a week ago.
Blisa nods and pulls out a basket full of cheese buns specifically for the snake and sets the basket in front of him, still looking miffed. "The baker is getting suspicious..." Ferdinand is here in the kitchen, standing ta the fireplace, stirring a huge pot of stew. He raises an eyebrow at the comment the snake made on his way into the kitchen, but other than that, makes no other reaction.
"If you wouldssss....let me eat the baker...he would not be..." the snake curls around the treats and begins to eat. He snickers to himself, staring at Ferdinand while he eats. There is no telling what Basil is thinking.
Blisa shakes her head. "No can do. Then you'd be sure to be killed, and I wouldn't be able to save you form the mob that would come hunting for you." Ferdinand tastes the stew and smiles satisfactorily, and starts to dish up three bowls of it. The mouthwatering smells emanating from it hint of garlic and other herbs, and it looks like it has potatoes in it.
The snake snorts, if possible. The thought of dozens of prey flocking to HIM...now there is an image to be had. Basilisk pauses for a moment, tongue hanging to one side as he imagines the sight. Finely he shakes his head, distracted by the smell of the kitchen. The snake grabs the basket with his tail as he moves forward to the cook. He raises up behind him to peer over his shoulder, "Sssssmeelllss good..."
Ferdinand is literally having the worst time not killing the snake. He does not trust snakes, especially after they, y'know, try to kill him! The pats week has been almost more than the ferret's nerves can bear. It's everything he can do to not drug the reptile every night to make sure he doesn't kill the kitten. And right now it's all he can do to not punch Basil in the jaw. After a few moments, he smiles and nods. "Thank you. If you'll thit at the table I'll give you your bowlfull." Blisa has set the table with three spoons, three plates, and two cups and a bowl full of very sweetened mint tea. After putting a bowl full of heavy whole grain bread in the middle of the table, she sits in her chair and waits patiently for her bowl.
The snake grins at the ferret. It has been stressful as well for him. To have so much food go by, real food, the kind that tried not to be eaten, it was almost maddening to not swipe at the ferret every time he saw him. Instead the snake simply coils at his place around the table, content in the knowledge that one day, one day he will make them all rue the day they came across...came across Basilisk the...the whiptail... and wow that stew does smell good.
Ferdinand sets the bowls of stew down and sits himself down, smiling a bit proudly. "Dig in." he says, then follows his own advice. Blisa starts wolfing down her food with startling alacrity, dunking a chunk of bread in the stew and ripping off bites savagely.
The snake laps up the soup like water. Liquid food. Who would have thought? He finds it tasty...refreshing. The snake realizes then that perhaps, just maybe, the ferret should live...simply so he can cook him food. Basilisk decides to show the ferret that he no longer wants to eat him by giving him an affectionate hug, with his tail, wrapping up the ferrets legs and torso.
Fortunately, Ferdinand is pretty perceptive sometimes, and he gets the message. He smiles slightly at the reptile, then goes back to eating his soup. Blisa has finished her first bowl of soup, and now asks, "May I have seconds?" When her bodyguard nods, she gets up and dishes herself more of the simmering stew.
Basilisk squeezes harder as he eats. "Bring more Cheeeeeessseebunssss..."
Blisa sets her bowl down and goes to pry the snake's coils off of her bodyguard. "That's not very polite..." she grumbles, deciding it's high time Basil learns some manners. Ferdinand coughs slightly and glances at the kitten, alarmed that she would choose to say that while the whiptail has a hold on him.
While the kitten is distracted the snake reaches over with his long neck into the stew pot. He begins to lap up the soup with a mirthfull grin. His tail looses a bit on the ferret, but aims to keep him restrained.
Blisa hollers in irritation and kicks the scaley tail as Ferdinand tries to stand in the chair and jump to the floor. "Theriouthly! That took me two dayth to make!" The kitten latches onto the tail and starts to growl.
The snake releases his grip finely on the ferret. By then though the damage has been done, the stew pot rolls off the counter, empty. Basilisk gives Ferdinand a smug, and very content smile, "And it wassss....delichioussss...you should make more sometime." Slowly, lazily the gorged snake retreats to the other room to curls up in front of the fire. Something the cat said strikes him as funny. Growing too large to move. Basilisk chuckles at the thought...after the week of gorging the beasts have given him...he just very well might.
Ferdinand presses his fists to the temple, looking about ready to scream, but instead begins counting from behind clenched teeth, "One, two, three, four, five, thix, theven, eight, nine..." Blisa growls and finishes her soup, then skirts the snake and heads to her room to write in her diary about this latest little irritation in her life...Meanwhile, the ferret cleans up the kitchen...again.
Thanks for reading!
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