As he flew high up into the air, reaching the height of his magical propulsion, Kyle reached out for one of the branches that appeared in front of him, flinging both arms around it and clinging onto it for dear life. He did the same with his legs, but ended up sliding sideways, until he hung upside down from the branch - still holding on with all four limbs - like a sloth would.

While he hung there, Kyle craned his neck back and assessed what the situation was back on the ground. The Runespoor had followed him - naturally - but he at least had a few moments to think up a strategy.

Heaving himself back round so that he was sat on the tree branch, straddling it like a broomstick before shifting to something more like side-saddle, Kyle considered his options. Three heads, all with a different function; it was a weakness as much as it was a strength. More heads meant it was harder to fight off and defeat, it made it more of a three-against-one scenario. But with each head having a different function, one could drastically change the type of creature one was fighting, even by dealing with just one head.

Merlin, it was stifling. Heat had a tendency to rise and up here in the canopy in the trees, it felt as though the heat of the forest had been caught and preserved in the foliage. Already, Kyle was streaming with sweat again... his fleeing from the Runespoor hadn't exactly helped in that department either. Nothing was more tempting than getting back to his charmed area by the door.

Holding his wand out, Kyle leaned around and looked for the Runespoor. Spotting it, he cast two spells in quick succession, pointing his wand first at the right head, the critic - "Stupefy!" - and then at the right head, the critic - "Confundo!"

He had considered using Obscuro on the beast, but serpents were hardly famed for their vision. As far as Kyle knew, they relied more heavily on senses other than sight to hunt down their prey, and depriving it of its eyes would make very little difference, if any at all. A Confundus Charm, then, to confuse, and a Stunning Spell to try and knock out one of the heads. Two different spells, two different heads. Kyle wasn't sure if casting at one head would affect the rest of the Runespoor, or if its scales would repel one or both spells anyway, so for now, he attempted two separate tactics and waited to see what how each worked out.

Not daring to look away from the creature for too long, Kyle gasped down hot air. It felt as though he was breathing through a through a thick, wet cloth, like no oxygen was getting to his lungs. Since running through the forest, he had felt practically no reprieve. Sparing only a second, he cast another Aguamenti spell over his head and into his mouth again, but it would likely not be enough for long. If he could fend off the snake, and get back to the door where his Atmospheric Charm was still in place, he might benefit from the more forgiving air.

Magicking himself up a tree had never been intended as a permanent solution. Snakes could climb trees, Kyle knew that, but he also had no intentions of jumping back out until the last possible moment, in the interest of buying himself as much time as possible.