[You said she was here.] The scarred snake grumbled as he followed the female guard back into the cave.

[I said Speedy spotted a snake.] She replied while staring ahead, unable to look at him right now. She didn't want to deceive him like that, but it was the only thing that would bring him back to the cave so quickly.

She handed out instructions to the snakes busily and her surroundings transformed quickly. The leafy foliage they collected was draped over the sides of the walls to resemble a woven trellis of creeping plants while the leftovers were spread across the floor in an attempt to create a natural camouflage.

It was an almost perfect disguise. However, the scarred snake took it all in with a bored, unimpressed look.

[I'm going back.]

[No you're not.] The male guard scolded. [There's no time to waste. She'll be here soon.]

The scarred snake jerked up immediately. [Where?]

How predictable. She wanted to laugh but she couldn't – not with the situation being so tense.

[Everything looks ready. We should all hide.]

[I really should tell you two something…] The scarred snake wanted to say something, but the female guard hushed him.

After spending a good few minutes searching for his hideout and then planning the trap that took all her effort, she chose to ignore him for now.

[Tell us later. But right now, we need to hide]

With that, she nudged him along with her brother under the makeshift camouflage. Inside, she spotted an intensely focused, spaded snake, a panicked Sprinkles and the Speedy snake who returned with the latest information.

Based on his feedback, the snake was already in the vicinity of their cave and everyone became nervous on hearing that.

The entrance was concealed with foliage as a protective measure. To the casual observer looking in from above, it would appear as though the cave was empty and overgrown, while in reality, there were snakes in defensive positions all around the opening, waiting and watching.

If they were lucky the snake would simply pass by, but if it entered, they had planned to kill by ambushing from all sides at once.

Unfortunately, today luck was not on their side as a shadow fell across the cave opening, blocking off all light. The atmosphere inside turned to a heavy suffocating air as something large began to slither into the cave. It was fast, yet the touch of its scales on the rocks made no sound.

The nestlings collectively held their breaths in terror as the larger snake crept onto the ground. But while everyone was scared stiff, the female guard flicked out her tongue to sniff the air.

This scent, it was mixed with others but still vaguely familiar.

She peered through the leaves and glimpsed the snake's appearance. It wasn't doing anything aside from staring at the cave walls, but the aura it released was suffocating. She couldn't help feeling like a meal for this starving predator.

Its gaze was indifferent and unwavering while the inky black eyes were a bottomless void of darkness. It terrified her to look at it and took all of her mental fortitude not to break down under the pressure. She then glanced at each of her tense brethren and uttered the words no one was sane enough to.

[I… I think we need to wait.] The words flowed from her mouth even as all the snakes shot her looks like she was crazy. [We should wait a while more. This snake has the same scent as our leader!]

[Have you gone mad?] The spaded snake hissed. [The longer we wait, the more danger we will be in.]

The female guard ignored her and turned to her brother. [Please, let's watch what it does first, I guarantee it won't attack.]

[I disagree.] The spaded snake addressed the male guard. [We should attack now while it still hasn't seen through our little plan.]

The male guard had also noticed the snake's calm state, but his sense of smell wasn't as good as his sister's. And with the terrifying aura it emitted, he was more focused on the survival of the group.

The only one actually listening was the scarred snake. He was focused and all signs of his earlier disregard had gone the moment the snake arrived – but he too looked sceptical.

But the arguing stopped the moment the 'intruder' stopped looking around and stared in the direction of the back of the cave.

It immediately sped off and the female guard's heart sank as she realized – she'd forgotten about the bait.

[What do you have to say now?!] The spaded snake hissed at her angrily and looked in the direction of the new snake.

They had left the wounded snake at the end of the cave, exposed to lure the predator in.

All the snakes had learnt to hide their heat to some degree, so even if they arrayed in front of the snake, it wouldn't detect them until it was too late. The only one that couldn't do that was the injured snake who was unconscious, so naturally it became the bait and target.

Although she agreed to the plan, the female guard began to feel worried. If she made a mistake with the scent and it really wasn't 'her' – her reluctance to attack now would kill the injured snake.

However, as the new snake ventured further into the cave, she grew more confident in her gut feeling. All the snakes watched in absolute silence as it passed the foliage covered walls to reach the unconscious snake. If they were worried about the danger, they did not show it.

[You're all mad!] She heard the spaded snake whisper. Everyone thought the injured snake would be eaten, including her, but their obedience to the female guard made them stay quiet.

But right at that moment, something shimmered in the air next to the large snake and they saw the spaded snake was out in the open.

[What is she doing?]

It took the female guard a moment to realize the spaded snake left their camouflage to attack the snake all on her own!

Has she gone dumb?

She might have thought to attack while it was distracted, but the larger snake detected her movements almost instantly and spun around to meet her head on.

Its movements were fast! Way faster than its large body should have allowed!

And the female guard panicked. Ignoring her brother's order to stay put, she rushed out after the spaded snake, determined to stop her from attacking. Although she was strong, fighting the larger snake alone would definitely end with her death.

Unfortunately, the tense nestlings waiting on the walls, took her appearance as the signal to attack and launched themselves from strategic points as planned, pulling the creeper plants down with them to form a large woven net that trapped the larger snake.

It twisted and spun around to evade, lashing out at everything in its path, but it was stuck inside the tangled mess of plants. And the agile snakes, after casting their nets, fled from the scene to make way for the next wave of attacks.

However, the female guard felt something was off. Weren't things moving along too smoothly?

The makeshift nets were her idea, but she never imagined it would work so well.

The male guard chased after the both of them, leading the charge from the ground and all the snakes trained by him rushed towards the trapped snake. The scarred snake and the speedy snake raced against each other to land the first blow and the speedy snake outran the others by a wide gap.

Yet, the spaded snake ignored every order from her to stay back and leapt on the larger snake herself - seemingly determined to attack first. And the female guard was stunned when she missed.

With a flick of its tail, the large snake instantly shook off the bindings. The speedy snake swerved at the last second to dodge, but the others weren't so lucky.

The spaded snake was simply flicked away, in an attack that sent her soaring backwards, and all the male guards' troops were knocked hard against the cave walls. When the majority didn't get up, she knew there was no chance of pinning the larger snake down now.

The female guard stayed at the back, wondering how the snake had escaped their net. Her eyes fell on the creeper plants, noticing how they were ripped to shreds, then on the unusual lustre of their opponent's scales. And she had a nasty premonition.

As more snakes leapt down from the walls to help, she hissed at them to stop but with the attack underway, it was too late.

The large snake's body twisted, and the hidden weapons of its scales were revealed.

The snakes in the air heard her warning and although they twisted to dodge, most couldn't make it in time. Some avoided the larger snake entirely, others landed in various forms of disarray, but the really unlucky ones fell in the path of a blade.