The soldiers had swords, not guns. Their armor looked worn, and their fur wasn't that clean. There was a general smell ever since I arrived. Apparently, the snakes didn't believe in plumbing. Several creatures were rushing about, as smoke rose in the distance behind us from the burning warehouse in the town.

I hopped off the cart. Firefur didn't hesitate to leave immediately. The poor voles pulling the cart with him on it, and several other goods in the back. I moved forward with purpose, projecting confidence and the natural superiority of an Apostate.

"I wish to speak to the Chief Attendant, what is their name and where are they?" I demanded of the guard at the front entrance to Slither's Nest.

"Apostate, it is Chief Attendant Shortnose, and they are handling an issue at the moment," the guard said.

"I don't care about their issue. I shall speak to them at once, lead me to them," I replied. They nodded and they reluctantly brought me into the entry chamber, through two massive doors. The doors at the back led into the meeting chamber. I refused an offered seat and waited. Not even Apostates could go further.

An attendant was notified at the back of the meeting chamber and disappeared. I waited and refused all refreshments. Eventually an older female rat came out. She bowed her head before me. "Apostate, I am Chief Attendant Shortnose to Slither, master of this nest. How can I help you?" she asked.

"You have been immediately asked to attend to higher matters." I leaned in close so the distance guards couldn't overhear and carefully whispered in her ear. "Snakes are stupid," I said. Her eyes went wide and she shuddered, blinking heavily. She suddenly collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Several soldiers and attendants rushed over. "She is being brought in for questioning," I said.

"Slither will not like that. He will insist that she remains," one of the attendants said. I leaned down and rolled over Shortnose. She was still alive, just passed out.

"While he may object, I answer to a higher authority. He can raise his objections there. But for now, she is coming with me." I moved to pick her up. A soldier stepped forward.

"Apostate, I am sorry, but I cannot allow that. Slither has given orders, no attendant is to leave his nest at this time. If you wish to take his Chief Attendant you will need his permission," the soldier said and put their hand on the hilt of their sword.

"Who are you to dare question me? I am an Apostate of Jörmungandr. Not some mewling babe. My master High Apostate Bastet answers to a much higher authority who has given orders. Slither will understand if he does not want to deal with the consequences," I firmly replied. The soldier appeared to be wavering for a moment, before he firmed up and shook his head.

"I am afraid I will have to insist. I am sure Slither will agree with-" I lunged my claws slashing in a horizontal motion. Blood sprayed out of his neck as he stumbled backwards with a choked gurgle. I moved quickly killing one creature after another, focusing on the attendants first, so none of them would rush back and warn Slither.

Some soldiers escaped to the front, but I wasn't too concerned. I hoisted up Shortnose onto my shoulder and quickly went back into the entry hall. A large group of soldiers was already moving in front of the entrance. I noted one soldier move around me and rush towards the back of the nest. I tossed Shortnose to the floor and rushed the soldiers.

Their swings were slow. They would be powerful against unarmed slaves, but against a trained cat like myself, empowered by Mes, there was zero competition. I quickly killed them as fast as possible as they rushed to their deaths. Speed was critical here. I had at most a minute, maybe two, before Slither came barreling out here. I had to be outside the cave system by then.

I killed a soldier, and there were no more coming at me. I rushed back and picked up Shortnose, and hightailed it out of the cave system. The Serpentine river was nearby and there were several tied up boats. That was going to be the best way to escape and lose any scent trail.

There was shouting behind me, but no one stopped me. That was when I saw Apostate Fareye appear between me and the dock that had been set up near Slither's home. He stepped out from behind a tree. "Surrender," he said while bringing up a pair of knives in his paws.

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At the same moment there was a roar behind me from the cave and the ground shook. I faked moving to my left, and then rushed right, past the Apostate. I dodged a slash from his knife and quickly hurried to the docks. I heard him running behind me. I tossed Shortnose into one of the transport barges and spun around. My claw intercepting a knife strike.

I lashed out but the Apostate, retreated, clearly trying to buy time for Slither to arrive. The nearby attendants had run off. I moved in again to quickly end the fight, but the Apostate clearly was on their game and was only trying to buy time. They weren't letting me create distance unfortunately.

We traded several blows back and forth and easily pushed them back. I feinted a lunge and they retreated, while I turned and rushed back. I cut the ropes mooring the transport barge and kicked it away from the dock and hopped. On. I noted that Shortnose was stirring. Spinning around the Apostate came to a halt on the dock as we drifted away, but they didn't commit to leaping over.

"What is happening?" Shortnose asked.

"Don't worry, you are coming with me," I said while keeping an eye on the Apostate as we drifted into the Serpentine River, or at least this offshoot of it.

"Oh, no," Shortnose said, and they broke down crying. A knife came flying from the dock, and then a second. Both were aimed at Shortnose. I easily deflected them with my claws. They went spinning away and landed in the water.

I felt an immense wave of danger pass over me. I quickly raced around the barge and found a poll, and used it to push off the water. I also kicked off the barrels and crates as I rushed around to lighten the load, so we could move faster.

The current began to pick up. We turned around a bend in the river just as Slither came into view in the distance. His form was massive. One massive slit eye turned to focus on me, and I froze in place. Thankfully the barge shifted and took us around the river bend.

I pushed the barge to the center of the river with one of the polls left on deck and pushed more stuff off the edge. Shortnose just lay on the deck curled into a ball, moaning and blabbering nonsensically. No matter what happened, I couldn't deal with them at the moment. I had to ensure the barge was moving as quickly as possible. If Slither pursued us then this would become a major fight.

There was a massive splash in the distance. Slither was coming after us. I pulled off the blood soaked Apostate robe, so I could move easier in the fight that was about to occur. I flexed my claws. They were in good condition, even after the previous fight. That was the perfect warmup for what was about to happen.

Slither rounded the bend. He wasn't as large as the ancestral spirit Bastet had called down, but he was large. If he called down an ancestral spirit, then I had no chance. I just had to make chasing us annoying. "Why did you kill them all and disturb Slither?" Shortnose moaned.

"You have the information?" I asked.

"Yes, but we are going to die," she cried in fear.

"Just stay on the barge. I handle snakes all the time," I said with partly false confidence. Slither came around the bend in the river and his form was massive. He was gliding on top of the water. Snakes could swim, just not across oceans.

"Ssssurendur," he hissed out. The word echoed in my head, but I refused to listen to it. I didn't say anything, while lowering my paws to draw him in closer. Slither began to approach, letting down his guard. I had no idea what he thought, but I couldn't fight in the water like he could.

"Shortnose, why have you done this?"

"I…" I couldn't let her spill that she was actually a spy.

"It was all me," I declared but wasn't foolish enough to look into its eyes.

"A cat! A fake apostate! Disturbing me. Killing my slaves. You are nothing more than food!" If that was meant to be an insult, it didn't land. I was ready for his next move. His head darted forward. I was crouched down and leapt up. The back of the barge was smashed apart as I landed on Slither's head. My claws barely managed to dig into his scales.

I began to move quickly and rushed for one of his eyes. He slammed his eyelids shut and twisted his head around quickly. I kept my grip, as I was spun about.

"AHHH!" I screamed and brought up a paw and slammed it down with all my might on the eyelid. My claws managed to pierced through. The shaking stopped and there was a roar of pain from Slither. I felt my body shake. His head jerked around again, this time much less controlled.

Kicking off the scales, I went flipping through the air. I used his head shake, to propel me through the air and landed back on the barge. My hindclaws dug into the wooden deck, leaving gouges behind, as I came to a stop. It was still afloat, but a bit lower in the water and with no rudder.

Slither was in pain, pain it had probably never experienced before. I ducked behind a crate too big to push off the side, and pulled down Shortnose with me. The barge was slowly spinning and drifting down river. I was hoping Slither didn't realize I had landed back on it. Shortnose was comatose with fright.

Snakes were just too hard to damage. With their Ancestral Spirit behind them, it would be impossible to hurt them. Celestial ore weapons helped primarily against ancestral spirits, not super hard scales on an actual snake. They were bulletproof as well, or at least a snake Slither's age was. A minigun would just tickle them.

Their eyes were their weak point. But unlike an Ancestral Spirit, they could close their eyelids to defend themselves from such an attack. Hopefully he would let us drift and not pursue us, but I wasn't that hopeful. All I could do was buy time and try and keep the snake off of us, while the river and barge did the work of actually moving us where we needed to get to.

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