A frown of bewilderment broke through the tension and surprise on Sef's face. For a brief second she forgot all about the snake and the danger and she could do nothing but stare at Joachim as if he'd sprouted a second head. He wanted her to watch his back? No, no. He wanted her to watch his back while he leapt into battle in defense of her - her things.

Really. Really?

The frown deepened. That wouldn't do.

"You watch mine," she said with a certain huffy tone and lunged forward past him. Not giving her next move a great deal of thought, she simply did what seemed like the best idea under the circumstances. She defended it by reminding herself that [i]a[/i] plan was better than [i]no[/i] plan.

Using her bare hand she snatched up a glowing piece of burning coal and tossed it into the snake's face. It was out of her hand too quickly for her to feel the pain - yet. A split second later the tip of her spear shot out through the air at the underbelly of the snake.