SOURCE: Star Born (1957) by Andre Norton

DESCRIPTION: "Three full-grown snake-devils were stretched at pulpy ease, their filled bellies obscenely round, their long necks crowned with their tiny heads flat on the sand as they napped. A pair of half-grown monsters, not yet past the six-foot stage, tore at some indescribable remnants of their elders' feasting, hissing at each other and aiming vicious blows whenever they came within possible fighting distance. Three more, not long out of their mothers' pouches scrabbled in the earth about the sleeping adults..." (Star Born by Andre Norton)

NOTES: The Snake-devil is the largest predator on Astra. It is so feared that all humans and Free Folk are obliged to kill them where ever they find them. This is not an easy thing to do since cutting off the head of the monster will not stop it from fighting since it has smaller auxiliary brains inside its body. The humans of Homeport use poisoned arrows which are shot into the upper throat. The scaled hide of the snake-devil is thick and impervious to weapons. Only this softer under portion allows them to be killed. Snake-devils live in the wild but Those Others also use them as guard animals and for fighting in the arena. these creatures bear a metal arm-band. The lair of the snake-devil can be detected long before it is found by its terrible smell, a combination of its snaky smell and the decaying bodies of its prey. the snake-devil will attack and eat anything. The flying-dragons are smaller winged relations.

HISTORY: Norton may have been partly inspired by Robert E. Howard's Satha from "The Valley of the Worm" and "The Scarlet Citadel".

This later cover lacks the arms of the snake-devil but shows Dalgard using his poisoned arrows.