Waking with the rising of Amna’s chariot rising in the sky, Marduk searched the Azul for food coming across a small school of Perch and even some Bowfin. They made for good protein for his first meal of the day, though that wasn’t to say he was left satiated by it, even hatchling Saurians needed almost five kilos of meat a day, adults like himself needed almost twice that to keep up their naturally hulking forms.

Once he’d fed himself though he continued his sojourn to new lands.

He was thankful that the rest of his journey would be on stable land instead of through boggy-silt floored mangroves that often took more away that he gained ground in, contributing to a much longer travel time than he had anticipated.

It took him less than four hours before he reached the point where he could see the top of the colourfully painted Ziggurat that stuck up over the small jungle area around the Nikkal village. The enormous stone structure was donned with red, blue, green and yellow paints filling in carvings and bordering them.

As he got closer to the village he reached the camp of exiles outside palisades, Ur-Nikkal like many Saurian settlements had exiles living just beyond the border of them. Being Exiled in Saurian culture was only a matter of losing mating, trading and living rites with those within the walls of the Tribe they were from meaning Exiles were free to attempt to join other tribes though it wasn’t often that it succeeded. Though there was one privilege that all exiles were allowed to keep-

The Fair Law, a list of commandments that governed Saurian life and society, such as the caring for the weak in so far as that they die naturally and not before their time. Breaking the Fair Law most often resulted in having your tail removed and your possessions stripped of you, this was because Saurians could not live without their tails to support walking upright or swimming. In effect this was a death sentence.

Marduk had never witnessed any survivor of breaking the Fair Law, which he attested to their deaths more than because they are exiled on top of their punishment. Though when he was young he did see a man convicted and the loss of their tail which haunted his young mind.

Being exiled on its own was usually a punishment for theft or trying to convince tribesmen of false ideas.

In any case while Marduk had self exiled he was in no danger and was otherwise greeted well by those outside the palisades he had no interest in causing issues of breaking the Fair Law.

Approaching the large gateway along the spiked walls he was stopped by a smaller pair of sleek dark scaled Saurians that were more serpentine than crocodilian like his tribe were. They wielded bone haft obsidian tipped spears and wore hide loin cloths with red and yellow fabric intertwined around their wastes like a sash. One of the guards had red eyes and the other had green.

It was the red eyed one who spoke. “Stay where you are.”

The green eyed one followed up with “What brings you here Ahkula? Your Seer died some years ago did she not?”

Mentally sighing he tried not to think about his mother.

“I have left my Tribe and am hoping to find a boatman willing to sail me up the Azul.” Marduk responded instinctively, surprising himself, he’d not even thought about what he was here for prior to arriving.

The pair of serpentine Saurains looked at one another before nodding and letting him through by opening the large wooden gate.

Once inside Ur-Nikkal he noticed how much it had changed since he was last here, there were many more wooden and reed roofed homes around on the boardwalk that made up half the village around the temple at its centre. Half the village being on the water and the other half being on land with its port being somewhat free and open.

It might have seemed weird for there to be boats among the Saurians but they still needed a means of traversing harsh waters unburdened and a way of transporting goods as well so boats were developed some years prior to Marduk's birth so they were still fairly new as an invention. Only a handful of villages along the river have them.

Other than this the village was doused in colourful fabrics with many of the peoples dressed in brightly coloured skirts and such, the Nikkal were among the most well decorated of the Saurian tribes in this way. It made visiting a treat as the colour often spread to the personalities of its people who were just as wonderful and exotic.

Though it could also be exhausting being around it all for too long so Marduk hoped to only stay around for a few days at most, first however he would reconnect with a friend of his in the village that he’d last seen some years ago when he was still a Sukkal for his mother.

----------------------------------------

“You look just as dreary as I remember you scale-friend!” Hazi barked in a jovial tone otherwise unbefitting the torn up appearance he held.

Like most Nikkal he was slender, black scaled and serpentine looking, his defining traits being the large war scars he sustained from a battle his tribe had against a Hydra a decade ago. They appeared on his abdomen, leg and in the form of his missing lower left arm as well as missing his right eye leaving just the one red eye.

“And you look as battered as a hatchling's first meal.” The larger of the two responded in a monotone voice.

The two shared a laugh, before moving past the comments.

The one eyed Saurian asked “So you’re looking for a boat to leave the Basin?”

“That sums my task at the moment, yes.” Marduk answered curtly.

“Sky father smiled on you then, a foreign woman has been making trade with the village these past two years on behalf of a port town outside the Basin. You may be able to convince her to take you with her- though I haven’t met her myself.” His friend replied.

“Are you close to those who trade with her?” he couldn’t help but ask, though he knew the answer was yes.

Everyone in the village knew of one another, it was a silly question really.

“You’ll probably have the best chance meeting the foreigner at the temple, the holymen deal with her frequently.” Hazi said while drinking a berry wine from a wooden bowl.

Alcohol wasn’t common amongst the tribes as it induced laziness in many of the Saurians that could easily waste away days, but for those who fished or hunted all day it was an afforded luxury after they finished.

“I will start there after this then, I don’t mean to waste your time but I do not wish to slow my journey down until I reach whatever it is the Great Beings have in store for my future.” He did feel bad about leaving his friend so soon after reuniting, but it was as he said.

“I understand.” The black scaled lizard man said with a nod. “I hope you find what it is you are seeking and that the Great Beings ensure the journey is well fought.”

“Thank you Hazi.” Marduk responded before standing up and the two men shared a bow of their heads before he left the hut and began walking toward the crown jewel of the village.

----------------------------------------

As an Ahkula male Marduk wasn’t often attracted to those outside his tribe, some sort of genetic issue to keep interbreeding between tribes to a minimum to avoid defects he suspected. But in any case with his reincarnation as a Saurian the general way he thought and perceived the world changed to reflect the way they did as such he no longer found pleasure in the thought of well proportioned human women from his memory but instead looked for the right physical features in the lizard women he now saw.

When he entered the first floor of the Ziggurat at the top of the first flight of stairs that this came into play, he laid his eyes on a taller than average Nikkal woman with deep purple scales with a few patches of white on her tail, one near the base and the other on the tip as well on around her neck and on her limb joints. She wore a white gown with the symbol for the Sky Father Quetzal emblazoned on it, a blue feathered condor.

At the moment he caught sight of her she was in discussion with a similarly tall humanoid woman with an oaken appearance that looked like a tree had been given sentience and an alluring figure with dark coloured hair cascading down her shoulders like a bushel of leaves. The clothes she wore made from clean neat cottons that Marduk hadn’t seen once his entire life almost distracting him from the primal urge that arose in his chest to court the purple Nikkal woman.

In spite of his efforts to clamp down on the urges he failed to stop the hard coding of his Suran mind and without pause walked directly toward the pair, earning the attention of the bark skinned tree woman as she stood in such a way that she was facing him as he approached.

She stopped speaking as he got closer focusing her next words on him.

“Do you need…” The tree woman frowned as her voice trailed off.

“Something?” The priestess supplied.

“Do you need something?” She asked in full, and now both womens attention was on him.

“I was told you travel between Ur-Nikkal and those outside the Great Basin?” He asked, turning his attention from the purple scaled priestess to his actual goal.

“You wish to travel with me?”

“That would make my journey a sight easier, yes.” Part of him hoped she would say no that he might have the chance to court- NO!

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

‘STAY ON TRACK!’ He yelled internally at himself fighting off the thoughts of his cold blooded half.

“I am leaving at sunrise.” She answered flatly.

Her skill in Suran was greater than most hatchlings, but it was obvious to Marduk that she was still getting a grasp of their language but it was understandable he’d struggled at first to speak it. Though for reasons beyond him he could comprehend it perfectly since the moment of his birth.

“My name is Adalgard of the Dunn.” She introduced herself almost perfectly, something she’d practised a great deal being a trader he surmised.

Responding in kind he bowed his head to the pair of them “I am Marduk of the Ahkula.”

He noticed the smile pulling at the corners of the priestesses mouth as she bowed her head “I am Siduri of the Nikkal, devotee of the Sky Father and Earth Mother.”

Her lime green pupils lingered on Marduk for a moment and he noticed her tail twitch in a way he’d seen many a time in his village.

‘I need to stay focused’ He grumbled internally again keeping himself on track, or well he did in all but action as his tail twitched behind him in the same way as the purple scaled Nikkal.

“If you are not at the stairs of the temple when the sun rises then I will leave without you.” Adalgard continued, making it clear he was a tagalong.

“I will be there.” He replied quickly and she raised a brow at him as her eyes moved towards his tail and the priestesses both of which had gotten closer in the short time.

Turning to the priestess the bark skinned woman said “I have business in the village, until next time Lady Siduri.” with that Adalgard left the pair out the way Marduk had come in from.

Making a noise akin to clearing her throat Siduri faced the larger Saurian.

“You are new to Nikkal, Marduk of Ahkula?” She asked curiously giving a short glance at the sword on his hip and to the satchel over his shoulder.

“No, when I was younger I visited regularly.” He answered following behind the woman as she motioned for him to move with her through the temple.

“You are familiar with the temple?”

“Not very, I am only familiar with Garash and Mushen.” He recalled the names of the men he’d interacted with easily as they’d been something of friends to him.

“Oh! Mushen is my father!” She exclaimed in an excited tone. “He spoke highly of an Ahkula Seer- that was you?”

Siduri’s question caused him to pause for a moment thinking as to whether or not he should say yes, but seeing as he’d already done as much it was meaningless to obfuscate the facts at this point.

“It was my mother, I brought her visions to Mushen and Garash.” He answered, noticing that they’d walked into a fairly secluded part of the temple interior he tried his best to cast a subtle gaze around.

Siduri stepped ahead of Marduk and stopped turning to face him head on, her tail swishing behind her in clear anticipation-

“I am going to be forward, would you let me entertain you?” She declared with a serious tone.

Marduk's mouth responded before he could think through an answer, inadvertently signing him up for his ‘entertainment’ for the rest of the day.

“Yes.”

----------------------------------------

The next day as the glowing chariot of Amna rose into the sky above the Basin Marduk in all his dark green scaled, nine foot tall hulking figure stood at the steps beneath the Temple of Quetzal as the figure of the foreign sailor approached him.

She wore a dark white blouse, dark blue breeches and brown leather boots, she even had a bicorne fighting the image of a sailor in his memory. Not that it made the idea of seeing all those materials any less weird after years of only having access to curated leather and hides for clothing, though as a Suran he only needed to cover his genitals so it was useless to him now if he wanted to wear normal clothes again.

Especially as Saurian scales were capable of deflecting most bladed weapons and were some of the greatest armour one could as for. It was much like a set of iron armour as skin.

“You’re here, good. Let’s go.” Adalgard left no room for chat as she immediately walked past the large man and headed toward the port.

The port was empty except for two fishermen coming back from an even earlier start than the two who were leaving, their boats were simple small wooden rafts with reed and log buoys to keep them afloat.

It was hard not to see Adalgards ship in the small port as it stuck out like a sore thumb, it was the only boat large enough to support a mast and sails, the rest were small and nimble designed to be dragged along in the water and carry things. But hers was much larger, almost twice the size with a mast near the front going straight up and then one attached to that running diagonally with its sails wrapped around it, the back of the boat supported a cabin like space with a roofed part over the rudder handle.

Walking along the wharf to step aboard he realised that he was probably going to have to sit very still throughout this journey otherwise he might capsize the boat.

Adalgard lazily stepped onto the boat and walked toward the covered part of the boat while Marduk tentatively lowered himself into the craft, being as careful as he could.

The boat rocked as his weight settled on it-

“Sit down while I work.” The tree woman’s voice came a moment later as she reappeared from the covered part of the boat without the hat she’d been wearing.

Moving past him she made quick work of unhitching the boat and kicking it off the wharf as it flowed out into the current of the Azul, almost immediately getting caught in it and pulled along the river. The sail unfurled in time to catch a breeze and the boat started along its way down the Azul in no time flat, Marduk was surprised by how fast it was that they’d set out.

The teal water of the Azul sparkled in the early morning light as they moved along it smoothly, he felt very justified in seeking this route of travel at that moment when he noticed the figure of a Naiad sitting on the bank of the river after they’d been moving for about half an hour. The water spirit raised a translucent arm and waved with a bright expression on her face, an inviting gesture, but not one Marduk would take again after he was nearly drowned by one as a child.

Just seeing the spirit made his body tense, for a long time as a hatchling he’d struggled to find his own food and hunt the waters around the Ahkula swamps after the incident. Being a large bipedal lizard with the strength to swing trees like logs didn’t do him much good if he was frightened of the water however and he was forced to overcome this, but that wouldn’t keep the fear completely at bay.

“What did you do before?” The voice of Adalgard broke the Suran from his thoughts.

“A Sukkal, my mother was the Grand Seer of the ten tribes, I travelled to share her visions with those of importance in the tribes with my siblings.” He answered almost without thinking, he had no reason to hide and as a foreigner she wouldn’t know of the Curse or that his tribe thought his whole family carried it.

Superstitious at the best of times, though he did always find it odd how no member of the tribe ever interpreted it as the Four Great Beings wishing to have his mother back in their company. But instead that she was riddled with a foul curse that spread to her children, that we were somehow the cause of her sudden development.

“Sukkal?” The woman repeated, unsure of the word.

“Divine attendants, Seers are but the gods' shadow, so they are revered in such a way.” He explained briefly before continuing. “However they are not immutable, they die from the Curse of Self which all those who tamper with greater powers lose themselves too.”

It was one of the laws of nature, a curse that reminded you of your place.

You may borrow their power, but you are not of them, you are still mortal.

“Lady Siduri would also be a Sukkal then?” She asked in a curious tone.

“She is yes, all holymen are Sukkal as they do the will of the gods and share it with those less able to hear their words.” The green scaled man nodded his head.

“The curse of self? I have heard of it.” Adalgard questioned moving back to the other part of his answer.

“It corrupts a person, eats away at their soul, their mind and their body until they are Hollow.” Marduk replied in a grim manner, sneering at the idea of it causing the conversation between the strangers to die down for some time.

But they had a long journey ahead of them, so there would be more time to understand one another.