He was cut off by the yell of the unarmored man, followed by the sound of his blade singing from its sheath.
The commander leaped backwards and spun, his own sword at the ready, his body settling into a swordsman's crouch.
But the young officer was not drawing against his superior. He was hacking at something ropy and writhing that squirmed on the ground as the lieutenant's blade bit into it. Within seconds, the serpentine thing gave a convulsive shudder and died.
The lieutenant stepped back clumsily, his eyes glazing in the flickering light. "Dropped from th' tree," he said thickly. "Bit me."
His hand moved to a dark spot on his chest, but it never reached its goal. The lieutenant collapsed, crumpling to the ground.
The commander walked over, slammed the heel of his heavy boot hard down on the head of the snaky thing, crushing it. Then he returned his blade to its sheath, knelt down by the young man, and turned him over on his face.
The commander's own face was grim.
By this time, some of the nearby men, attracted by the yell, had come running. They came to a stop as they saw the tableau before them.
The commander, kneeling beside the corpse, looked up at them. With one hand, he gestured at the body. "Let this be a lesson to all of you," he said in a tight voice. "This man died because he took off his armor. That"—he pointed at the butchered reptile—"thing is full of as deadly a poison as you'll ever see, and it can move like lightning. But it can't bite through steel!
"Look well at this man and tell the others what you saw. I don't want to lose another man in this idiotic fashion."