After stopping to break before we reached the first town we came across in the Plains we found that the wildlife was much more violent and aggressive here, we were attacked ten or so times a day by all manner of lesser monsters and roaming pack animals. Somehow managing to miss the main border town between Lakar and the Plains.
The wild dogs were the worst of the attacks though.
This was how I found out Lappe had developed a fear of them after the Barghest, as well as the fact that these hounds were exceptionally uncaring as to us and were more than happy to try ripping the bags off our backs to see what we had even if it meant dying.
“Are you okay Lappe?” I asked the grey haired, bronze armoured man and he nodded his head slowly.
“I will be soon,” He was obviously exhausted, sweat dripping down his brow from his hairline.
We’d been going a lot harder than we’d intended and with all the attacks it was becoming too much for his newly healed leg.
Holding his leg with a dark expression for a little while he eventually came around and stood up from the stone he’d been sitting on, I moved to his side from where I stood and offered my side in support, he wordlessly accepted it and we set off again.
“It’s beginning to get really hot,” Lappe commented, looking up toward the cloud-covered sky.
My scales were enjoying the hell out of it, but I could understand it being uncomfortable in all his armour- I kind of guessed that was why he wasn’t wearing a helmet, so that he didn’t overheat and blackout or something similar anyway.
“Means we’re in the Almond Plains.” I quoted him from our first day and he shook his head with a huff.
Feeling a bit of levity coming on I asked him a poignant question.
“Did I ever tell you about my friend?” I wasn’t sure if it came across in my voice but I tried to hold back laughter.
“No… I- can’t say you have…” His exhausted tone languished out a response, I hoped he’d find the humour in what I said.
“His name is Biggus Dickus-” I couldn’t contain my moronic laughter cackling like a great fool at the joke.
Dry chuckles to my side as my friend's body trembled indicated I’d won the first half, now to get him with the second.
It took all my energy to hold back my laughter and try at making my voice shrill with a lisp again. “He has a wife you know? Her name is Incontinentia, Incontinentia Buttocks-”
I barked loud hoarse crocodile noises as Lappe made similar sounds as he laughed.
I’ll have to thank those old Pythons one day for coming back to me after so long- I could almost sing about the universe or looking on the bright side of life.
We carried our improved mood to the road that we found which shortly after revealed a town in the distance, along the road were a plethora of carts drawn by horse sized comodo dragon looking creatures. Many of the carts were boxes with goods and price signs advertising their goods on the side with a handful being carriages that were fairying people.
It was an odd feeling to go from being alone to suddenly seeing so many people on the road like they’d just appeared from thin air, eventually we came to the town itself.
A large painted verdant green gatehouse with golden designs on either pillar marked the entrance of the town- though it was probably a city now that we were outside it. The gatehouse was easily forty feet tall and a hundred feet wide with thirty or so of the width being the entryway. As well there was an enormous sandstone wall around the place decorated brightly with white paint and other smaller designs in green along it.
Almost a hundred carts, carriages and thrice as many people waited in line outside the gate for entry, joining said line near the back we were soon after joined by a guardsmen wearing a bronze helmet, circular chest protector and greaves over a knee length tunic the same green on the gatehouse with leather sandals.
He carried a spear in one arm rested against his shoulder, tip pointed skyward with a clipboard with wax in the writing space and a reed pencil in hand. Lastly he had sun bronzed skin and dark hair cut short under his very corinthian looking helmet, though his eyes were yet again that green.
“Names and reason for entering Cyra?” His voice wasn’t anything standout, just a little dry causing him to clear his throat before speaking.
He also spoke Auran which made me happy to no have to suddenly learn a new language.
“I am Marduk of Ahkula/Lappe of Zaros” We replied together and the man noted down before repeating the second part of his question.
“We’re lo-” Lappe cut me off giving his own answer.
“We’ve been stuck in the wastes for the past few days and are looking for shelter until we have enough supplies to move on.” His answer sounded a lot better than what I would have said.
The guardsman nodded his head giving an understanding look. “I know that feeling, here you guys take this chip and walk over to that line there-” he pointed to what I could now see was a line for people and not just those with carts and such we’d missed with all the transports around us.
“Welcome to Cyra, if you treat her well, She’ll treat you well back.” He said before moving onto the people behind us as we carefully cut across to the line he’d pointed to ending up behind a large group of rather mean looking men.
Rough and scar bearing the men dressed in sleeveless tunics and calf length pants and leather sandals, on their hips were chitin plate tassets and similarly they wore chitin plate chest protectors. They all carried broken weapons, one had a spear that was snapped in two with a spearhead on each end, then there was a sword what was crooked with a breakpoint by the guard making it more like a knife and lastly two others had hammers with stone heads- which weren’t broken just covered in dried blue blood.
If I had to guess I’d assume they were some kind of mercenary group or something the way they all dressed the same, they were chatting rather rambunctiously amongst themselves about slaying some Bug.
I became distracted as we waited for the line to slowly move along with conversations around us, listening in and finding out about the goings on of this new world we’d entered. The dry grassy wastes and stoney sand acres now fading into the back of my mind.
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Watching the mercenary group enter under the massive portcullis the gatehouse had Lappe and I stepped forward and were greeted by a man who looked nearly identical to the guardsman who had given us the wooden chip earlier which we noticed had some kind of mark on it neither of us were familiar with. Handing it in the man grabbed our names before handing back another similar wooden chip this time with the mark glowing with soft magical power then waving us in.
Making it past the gate revealed a massive street split down the middle with raised planters bearing huge trees casting shadows over the mud brick road, not only were there carts, carriages and those massive lizards hauling them but tens of Scorpion Arachne making their way along the road. The street itself led out to a massive lake in the centre of the city that everything seemed to be built around, before I could get lost in exploring the Oasis Lappe pulled me aside and reminded me we needed to find accommodation before I started looking for any signs of Alex or something that would key me into the fact she was around.
The first ten places that advertised they were Inns or places that offered housing to waywards denied us due to being packed and booked in, by this point we’d been in Cyra for almost three hours and food was sounding better and better so we took ourselves to a restaurant we’d spotted by the fifth Inn by the waterfront.
“Food for the starving and drink for the drowning” A man barked a harsh laugh as his hand slapped my shoulder when we entered the establishment.
It was an open air sort of affair, the cooking and half the seating under the cover of the building itself and then the rest of the seating beyond its doorway under the shade of palms and a few other trees that line the shore of the lake.
As for our server he was Minotaur, head like a bull- horns and all- torso and arms of a man with the legs of a bull as well. He was as big as I was, if not wider and more muscular, had dark brown fur and light brown eyes. All he waistguard with a skirt of cloth around his hips not unlike myself in that regard.
“What takes yer fancy?” he asked in a grunt of a tone showing us a cloth sheet with a menu written on it.
For a moment, if things weren’t so weird visually I might have thought I was back home eating at a normal restaurant.
I shrugged my shoulders, I might have been given money but Lappe was the one who was holding it and knew which was what. My education in Sophus’ house didn’t actually cover the value of the coins we now had as some form of parting gift to us by Theodoric.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Lappe making up for my indecisiveness ordered for us.
“The lake special.” The grey haired man said and the minotaur server nodded his head and left a moment later.
Almost as soon as he left a very attractive slim figured woman approached us, she wore only a white frilled bardot crop-top over her chest and a soft lilac skirt around her waist. At first I failed to notice it but as she placed a wooden serving tray on the table with mugs of complimentary drinks I realised her entire lower half from the waist down was scarlet carapace of chitin with those hands that had delivered the tray to us having been pincers.
Maybe I should have realised it when I saw that her front was a soft white colour and her sides, arms and back seemed to be reddish-pink that something wasn’t quite right.
My staring though, once again earned a comment from the woman I was ogling.
“You don’t have a half bad set of chitin either lizard boy” The crustacean woman said wryly with a melodic laugh.
Turning away with the tray in hand she parted, blowing a kiss my way.
“You really have a knack for making monster girls horny.” My friend said as I failed to take my eyes off the receding waitress.
“I- what?!” Never any good at hiding my embarrassment I squawked indignantly at his comment eyes meeting his.
Lappe just smiled and shook his head “you’d have no idea if someone didn’t tell you, but damn near every encounter we have with the more monstrous races you managed to make them lather you with looks that give me the impression they’re half a breath away from having their way with you- it's honestly surprising you hadn’t noticed it already.”
“What? Like who?” I asked reflexively.
“Azra, she wanted to mount you after that first visit to her clinic but eventually gave up on you making a move when she realised you were too stupid to see it.” He replied easily. “Actually it was kind of really annoying after a while, listening to her go on about how much of a dung beetle raised idiot you are.”
“Dung beetle?” I repeated and he nodded his head.
“Well she said dung beetle at first but it quickly became shit for brains- but they pretty much mean the same thing.” Lappe seemed to remember something. “Member’ those Lamia women by the Hydra? I might not speak their language but they were definitely giving a look.”
“A look?” I repeated, if I had arch-able brows I’d be doing it.
“Yeah, like the Karkinos just a moment ago, Honestly…” He sighed something fierce with his head in his hands. “I wish a nice Aes Sidhe or Auran woman would look at me like that.”
A silence sat between us for a moment before he let out one last comment. “Umbra’s embrace I’d even take being flattened by a Giant or a Merfolk.”
After our enlightening talk we didn’t say much else as the food arrived and we got stuck into it. The food we’d ordered was a large platter of crab meat and potato salad with a few other things. I wasn’t sure how eating crab while one of the restaurant's employees had the lower half of one made me feel but it tasted too good to pass up or let my morality sour its taste.
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Sunset was gorgeous in Cyra, it crested the walls and roofs of the buildings in just the right way that when it hit the lake in the middle it made for a beautiful picturesque moment.
I sat alone on the shore watching it as came to terms with what had been going on so far, leaving home, meeting not only Siduri but Adalgard, travelling to the now named Logos, having my trust broken by Minerva then being framed for murder and imprisoned pretty much the same day I’d become willing to accept her apology.
I wonder if Hatzi is going okay with this whole war thing in the Basin?
The thought pushed itself into my mind, it had been a long while since I’d thought about my gruff warhorse of a friend, his battered form still perfectly intact in my memory.
I guess we look the part of brothers now
Huffing a dry laugh out loud I touched the stump of my left arm where the blood of the Cockatrice had destroyed my arm.
I missed having two appendages but honestly I didn’t feel like life was actually different, the sky was still blue, the sun was still hot, I was still a giant lizard man in a foreign magical fantasy land staring at a lake in a desert city.
And I was still looking for my wayward wife-to-be because a dragon said something cryptic and a Hydra said she was in this world with me.
Sigh
Running my hand along the underside of my jaw my eyes turned to the others along the shore, there were a lot of people just soaking in the rays and enjoying themselves. If the circumstances were a little different it wasn’t any different from the way things were before I died.
I supposed, now anyway, that I had grown enough to go chasing for my dream instead of simply following Alexandra everywhere.
“Excuse me?” A voice deep enough that I didn’t register it as a womans until I looked up at the silhouette casting a shadow over me.
I felt like being Diogenes for a moment, telling the woman to sod off because she was in my sunlight. I changed my mind when I locked eyes with her, brilliant blue stared back.
She was fierce looking, but very beautiful. Messy-wild glossy white hair framed an angular strong red face with bright azure blue irises on black sclera, her skin was matte red and failed to have light gleam off it. Even from my position sitting with my arm on my knee and my tail around my side it was easy to tell she was shoulder height with me, her body was refined and muscular but not grotesquely so. Lastly a pair of matte black horns rose into the air from the edges of her forehead.
Like with the barmaid/waitress earlier in the day she wore only loose crop-top length ivory white cloth over her large chest and a tiger skin skirt around her waist that was open enough at the front to reveal her black undergarment covering her chastity. Hanging from the belt that kept the skirt on her hips was a large wooden club with metal capping the head and pommel.
Something about her seemed familiar.
“Excuse me?” She repeated in that same deep tone though maybe it was because I was paying attention now that it sounded more feminine.
“Uh- Yes?” My wonderfully eloquent, crafted and expertly executed response came.
“I’m looking for someone, do you think you could help me?” The red skinned woman asked with an intensiveness in her tone.
“I.. guess so? Have you asked anyone else?” I questioned, still caught in her gaze.
She shook her head, “No one wants to deal with a demon, they all run away when I approach them.”
“Why’d you ask me?”
A smirk crossed her lips as she replied.
“You looked dumb enough to answer me without thinking.” She joked in a light tone, chuckling to herself for a moment she sighed before giving a real answer. “It was actually because you looked like someone I used to know- always got a pensive serious look on your face.”
“Even with my lizard face?” I replied and she nodded her head with a smile.
I finally stood up at that point proving my guess about her height to be mostly right, her eyes were above my shoulder so she was basically where I said she would be..
“Even with your lizard face.” She affirmed. “I’m Raiz-” she stuttered a moment before finishing. “Raiga, I am Raiga.”
With her correction out of the way I introduced myself, bowing my head “Marduk of Ahkula.”
“So you were looking for someone?” I prompted and she jumped a little lost in thought as she stared past me causing me to look over my shoulder.
“R-right! I’m looking for a friend, he’s about average human height, has golden hair, an amber coloured eye and a red coloured eye, his skin is pretty tan and he’s absolutely covered in scars-” I was about to ask something when she cut me off guessing my question. “It’s a long story, his name is Stilicho but he was a slave for a while and now responds to Gaiseric.”
“Do you need help now or are you just asking me to keep an eye out for him?” I asked looking down the shore again before returning my eyes to hers.
“Both if you would?”
This was how I was roped into searching for a man I later found out was more trouble than he was worth, but I liked helping people, so I didn’t stop even when things became clear that I’d been had.