The viper lingered at the fringes of the clearing for two days, waiting. Sometimes, she basked outstretched on the granite stones, her azureous scales warming in the autumn sun. Sometimes, she watched with lidless amber eyes from the shadows of the twisted oaks. Either way, the instructions were clear.

  Wait for the harmony of the Diviner. When the legion comes to bind the break, protect what lies on the ground.

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  The snake knew her duty. She saw the thoughts of the god who summoned her here. She would bend to her destiny as easily and naturally as she coiled her body beneath the fallen leaves of the forest. She would seize it as easily as she ambushed her prey.

  On the night of the second day, when the moon was high and the fire was dying, she heard the keening wail of the Diviner. She followed the legion of eyes and legs that descended from the trees and crept across the forest floor, into the clearing. And then she claimed her destiny, to fulfill the will of the gods.