The chief did not lower his weapon.
His eyes remained fixed on Seris.
"She cannot remain here."
Traveler stood between them.
"Why?"
The chief's expression hardened.
"Because she is one of them."
He pointed toward the forest.
"The serpent women."
Seris lowered her gaze.
The villagers murmured behind the chief.
Traveler looked at Seris.
Then at the villagers.
"She is human now."
The chief shook his head.
"That doesn't matter."
Traveler's eyes narrowed.
"What do you mean?"
The chief took a step forward.
"Our laws don't recognize what she looks like."
He pointed toward the village.
"The moment she entered our settlement, she became a threat."
Traveler's voice became colder.
"And because of that, you can kill her?"
The chief didn't answer.
Traveler stepped closer.
"You can't just kill someone like this."
The village fell silent.
The chief stared at him.
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
The chief lowered his weapon slightly.
"Every serpent woman who ever entered this village began as something that looked human."
He looked at Seris.
"Then people disappeared."
His voice became quieter.
"Children."
"Women."
"Men."
"Whole families."
Seris closed her eyes.
She remembered the instinct inside her.
The hunger.
The desire to hunt.
She knew the chief wasn't completely wrong.
But she also knew she had not chosen what happened to her.
The chief continued.
"Our laws were written after the first Blood Moon."
Traveler looked toward the old village beyond the trees.
"What law?"
The chief answered immediately.
"Anything touched by the serpent must be destroyed."
Traveler's eyes hardened.
"She isn't a thing."
The chief looked at him.
"She is a serpent."
Traveler glanced at Seris's human legs.
Then back at the chief.
"Then look at her."
The chief did.
Seris stood trembling behind Traveler.
No tail.
No monstrous body.
Only a woman who had been given back something she had lost.
The chief's expression didn't change.
"That doesn't prove anything."
Traveler's voice became colder.
"It proves she can change."
"Or that she's learned how to hide."
Traveler stared at him.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then the chief raised his weapon again.
"Move."
Traveler didn't.
The chief's soldiers spread outward.
They began surrounding them.
Seris looked around.
There were too many.
Traveler remained completely still.
The chief gave one final warning.
"Step aside."
Traveler's eyes moved across the villagers.
Then returned to the chief.
"No."
The chief's jaw tightened.
"You would protect a serpent?"
Traveler answered without hesitation.
"I will not watch people kill someone simply because they are afraid of what she might become."
The words settled over the forest.
Seris looked at him.
She didn't understand him.
But for the first time in a very long time—
someone had stood between her and death.
The chief slowly lifted his weapon.
"Then you will be treated as one of them."
Traveler's expression didn't change.
"Try."
The villagers raised their weapons.
And behind them—
deep within the forest—
twelve enormous eyes opened.
The Devourer watched silently.
It had heard every word.
And it was waiting to see what its Lord's vessel would do next.