As Taryn slowly dripped through the rocks, she could feel the sense of the earth moving and air filled with hissing. She had lost all sense of time but she knew that she had filled many of the serpents and they had drowned as she passed through them. A few were well suited for water and these were some of the most ferocious in this den. Finally, she pooled in majestic chamber where a scaled tail coiled in what felt like a mile of flesh.<br/><br/>The scarlet, yellow and black scales were rising and falling, slowly and steadily, in what Taryn recognized as breathing. As she flowed through the stone floor of the chamber, she realized that she had not yet seen the face of the Cotl. Silently, she took out three serpents before flowing to a stair case. One problem with being water was that she couldn't go up since water always seeks the path of least resistance. The earth trembled around them and her surface rippled. The snakes rushed to surround the massive red, yellow and black flesh, their faces turned toward the entrance and not this back passage.. She flowed behind a curtain and decided she was in the clear.<br/><br/>Forming into her human form, Taryn raced up the staircase where she could plainly see the flat black eyes of the ruling Cotl. He had a tongue that was as wide as Raschen was across his chest. A pair of leathery black wings were folded at his back. Taryn's eyes widened. This serpent had powerful black arms with biceps that even for his size would have belonged to a body builder. His  red hands ended in sharp claws. A gold band around his wrist echoed the red, yellow and black of his scales. On his head was long flowing hair in red, yellow and black strands. She watched him in horrified fascination and almost missed the movement above her head as a guardian snake dropped onto her shoulder.