The Queen With The Frozen Heart 14

The moon stared the men from the nightly sky with a frown on its round face.

It did not appreciate what its wife was up to and it had no soft sentiments for neither men nor the boa people.

But since the vultures and the jaguar men had managed to insult even the moon with their hateful ways.

It had decided to leave his wife to her own device.

She was smart enough to know what she was doing.

The silent men filled the opening in the forest.

Red, yellow, brown and colored boas bathed in in the moon’s light while they hanged languidly from the tree branches around the opening.

- Iluku, a voice called.

- I – loo – koo, it screeched in the night.

A huge white owl flew by the moon and landed softly in front of the prince.

Iluku, he saluted her softly, thank you for coming.

The owl nodded and screeched again.

It opened its wings and the men found themselves without a space where to stand.

 - Hop on it, Amarun indicated, she will fly us to the mountains where the jaguar men live.

The warriors shuffled their feet and raised their spears but no one moved.

Hurry, the prince admonished them, we only have the night!

The men looked from one to another, nobody wanted to be a coward but not one wanted to mount the huge owl either.

- It is Iluku, Amarun explained, she will not hurt you but she is here to help us.

- I will go, a young boy moved forward.

- I trust you, Rumi said to the prince.

 The warriors shuffled their feet again, raised their spears and thumped them to the ground.

Then they all climbed on the owl, and while they climbed the owl grew in size, so that each and every one of them was able to find a place where to sit on it.

But there was no space for the boa people, and neither did they want to try to ride on Iluku.

They were no friends, she would rather eat them than let feel their coils around her feathers.

The owl plucked a feather from under her wing and held it in its beak.

 Its wise eyes looked into princes eyes.

 - I shall give you this gift if you wish it, Amarun could hear its voice in his head, but the magic is strong and I do not know the antidote.

Slowly he reached out and took the feather from the owl.

His body started changing form, it became longer and more sinuous and he could feel a ridge growing from his neck.

Something was tickling his back and his hands and his feet.

- Amarun, he could hear the warriors whispering, the Feathered Snake.

When the prince opened his arms he could see that he had now wings and instead of human feet, his were like a lizard’s.

 Slowly he walked to the bubbling river next to the clearing in the jungle and watched the reflection of his new form in the water.

His head was like a snake’s head but he had a big ridge growing from it and the ridge was covered with rainbow colored feathers.

His hands were wings covered in the same rainbow feathers and his long fingers, covered in scales, ended in claws.

His feet had similar multicolored scales and ended in talons.

From his behind he could see his tail, when he moved it the rainbow feathers moved together with him and formed a multicolor crown around him.

- He is the Great Rainbow Snake; the men muttered and shook from fear.

To be continued...

This is the fourteenth part of the story.

If you want to read the first part of the story, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 1  

To read the second part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 2 

To read the third part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 3. 

To read the fourth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 4. 

To read the fifth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 5.

To read the sixth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 6

To read the seventh part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 7

 To read the eight part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 8

To read the ninth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 9

To read the tenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 10

To read the eleventh part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 11

To read the twelth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 12

To read the thirteenth part, go to The Queen With The Frozen Heart 13