The entire village gathered in the square. The Village Chief stood on the platform used for meetings and events.
"Freta Upar and her friends were swimming in the women's pool in the forest when an immature snaram snatched her from the pool. The girls chased Freta, and the snaram took her to its cave."
"If it's an immature snarum, couldn't the girls help her get away?" One of the men asked.
"Normally, but this snarum's mother is in the cave. It won't let anyone near the cave. It looks like she gave birth not long ago. Freta is okay now, but when the little snarum gets bored with her, the mamma snarum will probably kill her.
We need to get to the cave as quickly as possible and rescue Freta as soon as possible...Hey, Ubaid, where are you going?!"
"Lach took off to rescue Freta!"
"Oh no, hunters, get your equipment, farmers, some sharp tools. We need to get there fast!"
No one hesitated, and nearly the entire village emptied as they went to chase after Lach and Ubaid.
"Oh Lord, please protect that crazy crybaby Lach!" The Village Chief yelled his prayer to heaven.
"Amen," the villagers responded.
When the villagers finally caught up with Ubaid, he was quietly watching behind some trees. The village chief carefully moved to Ubaid.
"What's going on?" He whispered to Ubaid.
"Lach is in stealth mode."
The chief's eyes widened, and he whispered orders to the villagers around him. The hunters took up support positions as they prepared to help.
Inside the cave, Lach slinked along the walls. Tears matched his movements as they slinked quietly down his cheeks, careful not to add to any noise that might invite attention. Lach was covered in mud and other things to hide his scent from the snaram.
He expertly picked his path through the cave as he shivered from abject terror.
"What am I doing here? I shouldn't be here. Freta will be fine. The villagers will come and save her. There was no need for me to rush over here. Why did I run over here? I blacked out, and here I was in stealth mode."
A barely audible breath exhaled on either side of Lach. Turning his head as robotically as a non-robot can, the color drained out of him, and his knees weakened as he nearly spasmed with fear when he realized he was standing in between the nostrils of the mother snaram.
"Th-th-those nostrils...I could fit in each nostril...how big is this thing?"
Images of the beast opening its mouth and casually swallowing him in one bite flew through Lach's mind. Unsure of how to proceed, Lach stood as still as a statue. To his horror, the snarum's head and body suddenly raised. The snarum was half snake and half ram. Its front hooves lifted as its ram head looked toward the entrance.
Without noticing Lach, the monstrous creature walked and slid its body toward the entrance. The snake half barely missed Lach. When he believed the snarum missed him, he prepared to move. But to his surprise, a newborn snarum looked at him with big eyes. More worrisome were its demonic-looking rectangular pupils.
The friendly creature bleated a greeting to the strange rock thing in front of it. The mother snaram twisted its head and body back to look for whatever its baby was bleating about. It went back to where Lach was, but he was hiding behind the baby snarum. Laying as prone to the ground as possible, he tried to make his body invisible.
The tears and snot flowed freely, but he forced his body not to shiver in fear with every ounce of courage. The tradeoff was his whole body turned bright red, while his face turned purple due to lack of air. The baby feeling the warm body behind it, inclined on the new heater in comfort.
Seeing its baby looking carefree, the mother turned back to the entrance. She eventually exited the cave. Lach released his breath and gulped fresh air when she was out of sight. Extracting himself from the baby snarum, he moved quickly to find Freta.
When Lach found Freta, the juvenile snaram was bouncing happily as a terrified Freta gently swung a shiny piece of glass from a string. Dried tears streaked her youthful face. When she noticed Lach lurking in the dark, she thought it was some new creature come to torment her.
"Don't worry, it's me, Lach. I'm in stealth mode."
The juvenile snarum stared into the dark, puzzled for a moment. Lach walked out from the shadows with his arms open. The juvenile snaram examined him before growing excited and running to him excitedly.
Lach pulled something out of his pocket and fed it to the snaram. Once it got its treat from Lach, it found a place in the gave and laid down while it chewed.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Lach held out his hand, but Freta wasn't sure if she should take it. The tears weren't so bad, but the sniveling and shaky legs made Freta wonder if she could trust Lach to rescue her.
"Come on, the villagers are distracting mamma snaram." Freta finally took the proffered hand and nearly yelled in surprise when Lach swept her off her feet into a princess carry. He began to run full speed toward the exit. As he saw the Mamma snaram, he ran around its tail and through its legs.
"UGANDAAAAAAAAAA!!!" He screamed as he ran away from the mamma snaram.
"Ubaid, Villagers, Save meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"But don't hurt mamma snaram, she's just a single mom trying to raise her two kids. Her no-good husband left her a while back, and it's just been her trying to get by. It's not easy being a single mom!
The mamma Snaram was enraged when she saw the fleeing humans at first, but when she heard Lach's words, she made what looked like an appreciative face. As if she were saying, "So, you understand how hard life is for me. Thanks for the support."
The villagers looked confused, and before they did anything, Lach ran past them, crying with tears and snot flying behind him as he ran.
The villagers found Lach and Freta in the town square. Lach sat under a blanket shivering from fear. Freta brought him some warm soup and refreshing water as she encouraged him to be a brave boy, like a little mother.
The stunned villagers watched as Ubaid walked to his friend and put his arm around him.
"Good job, buddy, you saved the damsel in distress."
Lach looked up at his friend with the most mournful and terrified face.
"Is everyone okay?"
"Yes."
"Even mamma snaram?"
"She's fine."
"The kids?"
"They're also fine.
"How's Freta?"
Ubaid paused and looked at Freta, who looked back at him, confused.
"She seems fine?"
"Good, poor girl was scared out of her mind. I did my best to comfort her."
Ubaid looked at Freta once more; she shrugged her shoulders and nodded in the affirmative.
"You did a great job, she's doing well."
"Good, good, good."
"How are you doing, buddy?"
"Oh, Ubaid, it's so awful those snaram are so scary. I hate going into that cave, it's always so scary!" Lach began to cry once more.
"You've been in there more than once?" Ubaid couldn't help but ask.
"That's my third time rescuing a villager from that cave this month. That snaram brat is always kidnapping villagers. You'd think they'd be more careful, but they're always surprised when they get kidnapped.
Grandma Granny was knitting the snaram brat's hair when I found her; that was even scarier. It was like she was a zombie raised from the grave to do weird knitting for a demonic creature!"
Ubaid sat patiently while his friend shared all the scary rescue stories. It turned out this had been going on for nearly a year. Ubaid, unsure of what to say, patted Lach's back. Freta handed Lach a kerchief for the tears and snot.
"Lach, I need to speak with you." The Village Chief gently shook Lach's shoulders. Without looking up, Lach weakly nodded and stood shakily following the Chief.