The ground seemed to rumble. That fear set in again – the fear the men had felt from the start. The dragon and its nest that Samuel had feared that they were walking into. But after all, he decided, this was no dragon. The coiling around his heart was not the claws or teeth of a mighty beast. It was more the rigorous constriction of a giant serpent.
It was not only fear that such a creature invoked. A dragon might bring about a sense of awe and mightiness, but the slithering of the giant serpent did bring out something else. It was that which was hidden in the long grass, away from the naked eye, so cunning, so intelligence, and so likely to make a man shiver with frightened distaste.
The rumbling grew louder, and through the trees, they caught glimpses of gold and of silver.
