This one's from a book...

If the emotions could see, they would perceive a room more akin to a cave than a building, though - of course - it wasn't a dank, foul-smelling cave or a wretched hive of misery. It wasn't barren, either - roots and branches supported the long, winding tunnel like so many supports. Sturdy dirt formed the roof, and softer dirt the floor. A pair of rivers ran along the sides of the cave - one heading one direction, its twin shooting the other. The emotions lived at the far end, where the tunnel ended and the river bent around, branching out the further back it went. Eventually, the tunnel curved and twisted into the distance before branching out like a tree, each smaller offspring holding its own small rivers flowing to and fro for the transporting of memories and other such things.

But - like I said - the emotions themselves could not see. In fact, they couldn't even reach out with arms to touch and feel the walls, for the simple fact that they had no arms. This wasn't due to some horrible accident, mind you - they were all five of them snakes, and as such were perfectly healthy apart from their blindness. They made up for it with other senses, of course.

Up at the front, the five emotions slithered around. The ground formed a small crater-like area, with grooves and holes not big enough for the emotions to slither into, but just big enough for them to jab with their tails or brush with their tongues, all while their unseeing eyes stared out into nothing.

Joy spoke to his four sisters in that usual snake dialect. "Do you sssmell that?"

The four paused and sniffed.

"I sssmell sssomething tasssty..."

The adders squirmed and wriggled, the scent from the outside world flooding into their little cavern. The whole place trembled, a response to their host locking in on a new meal. Joy slithered around his siblings and stuck his snout into a particular hole. His tongue flicked around in it, brushing a little root. This single flick was enough to vibrate a larger root, which - in turn - vibrated a larger one, and so on it went, a subtle yellow glow warming the room (its beauty lost on the sightless inhabitants). A single golden sphere tumbled down a hole in the roof, landing with a plop in the river. It was carried downstream, back to the waiting mindworkers.

As the new orb sailed backwards, an old one floated upstream. It was faintly yellow and red, a mix of joy at the prospect of being fed, and the loathing of having to heed the words of another being. You see - the snake was in the midst of a deal; he had agreed to take care of a problem, a group of animals who had found themselves in the bad graces of his current employer (a bloated, fat crow too cowardly to do his own dirty work).

As the serpents' feelings slithered around in their chamber, one of them brought the passing orb down, recalling their orders - deal with the woodland creatures, who think themselves so safe in their fort.

"Ssso pathetic..." Anger whispered to the others as she felt around the groves, brushing up against a few vines and creating a new orb. "The feathered one callsss on othersss rather than fighting hisss own battlesss..."

Joy hissed in delight, saliva running down his mouth, "No more waiting, no more!" He twisted and turned in the mass of slithering, scaly bodies, fangs poised. He shot his head forward with a cry, "Let'sss kill the creature in front of usss! Let'sss feassst upon it!"

There was no argument from the others as the yellow one struck a nearby root with all his might. The vine twitched in response, and a golden pulse rippled out. Their host was ready, eager to bite down on a juicy meal - a helpless little beast by the scent of it. And - from the sounds - it was struggling with a weight, not noticing the adder looming up behind it. An easy meal if ever there was one...

Pain.

Agonizing, hideous pain.

Anger hissed and twitched and writhed - they all felt it. The cavern shook in shock and the emotions spat and snarled as each felt a sting stab their nostrils.

"What isss that? What happened?!"

"It hurtsss! It hurtsss ssso bad!"

"Why, why, why?"

"Nobeassst could ssstand against us!"

As they cried out in agony, their host reflexively lurched back away from the not-so-helpless prey, whatever it was. It had stabbed them so painfully! Spears were thrust into its snout, a stinging sensation erupting in its mind as the waters of its rivers sputtered and shook. The emotions sought out the water in desperation to relieve the stinging nightmare. They bathed in it long, seeking relief from the blinding, heated pain swallowing them whole. Little did they know, their sister Anger had become trapped in one of the grooves below - when the cavern shook, it pinned her in place. Now a flood of red orbs were tumbling into the river, broken only by the ever-so-brief intervals where Anger could bring herself to stay still. But before long the pain would again kick in, and she would curse and hiss and whimper, a twitching mass of rage.

And if the emotions could see, they would have noticed an army of cracks forming around the walls of the mind; it was the beginning of the end of their sanity, their joy, and - indeed - their very life.

Meanwhile, on the outside, the great serpent Baliss the Slayer, the great serpent, the descendant of Asmodeus himself, had been pricked with the needles that would be his undoing.

Having been hired by Korvus Skurr, Doomwyte and lord of all ravens, to attack the helpless inhabitants of Redwall Abbey, the blind terror thought nothing of it when he came to the place and smelled the scent of his first target. He had no way of knowing just who it was he was sneaking up to attack. The old hedgehog was hauling off a dead crow (one of Skurr's spies, slain quite by accident (though also quite justly)) to be dumped in the ditch outside the abbey's walls. Corksnout Spikkle, so named for his choice in prosthetic nose, had his back turned to the ditch from which the dreaded Baliss emerged, as silent as the wind and as deadly as a bolt of lighting. The adder shot out, ready for an easy meal.

Instead, he got a faceful of Corksnout's spikes jammed deep into his nostrils and face, while the lucky hedgehog was knocked across the road, safely out of reach and momentarily stunned by the sudden turn of events.

The serpent hissed and writhed in agony, tearing off back through the woods with the dead crow in its mouth. Blind and helpless, the adder had no way of knowing the cause of his agony. The quills would remain in him. The wounds would fester. He - Baliss the Slayer - would be driven mad with rage and pain, increasing his horrible power while reducing his mind to a sliver of its former cunning.

I've been reading a few Redwall books lately. Talk about a trip down memory lane! I find it odd that, for a series of children's books, they contain some pretty brutal images! Not that I'm complaining - I read 'em as a kid and loved them just the same. Take that as you will.

Now, to the clues!

1. I bluntly spelled out that this character was a snake - I even went so far to say he was an adder - because I thought it would be too vague otherwise to be considered a fair game.

2. I did use the pronoun "he" because - again - I thought it would be too vague.

3. I discussed the events in more detail than I normally would - I went all the way up to saying that he was hired by a crow to attack some woodland creatures in a fort of some description.

Basically, those are the big clues. Sure, there were other, finer details, but I think these three were the big giveaways.