...

The following day, Sir Jimmus and Sir Reginald were at the courtyard of Castle Rosehill, loading up their provisions for their diplomatic mission to Kotaria. Jimmus was the husband of Lady Mariot and roughly the same age. His hair was a short black with spots of grey and his one remaining eye was a deep brown. His opposite eye had been lost to a bandit and so he almost always wore a black eyepatch. Reginald was about ten years younger than Jimmus and shared his black hair. While Jimmus was always clean shaven, Reginald kept a thick moustache, curled and waxed at both ends. Both men wore plain leather pants and tunics with light chainmail as opposed to their usual full armor so as not to intimidate their hosts.

Kotaria was a two day journey through Duneland, named for its dry, sandy dunes. The travel carriage was a large box made of oak with four wheels and pulled by four horses. It had enough room to hold four men plus a compartment for luggage. The knights packed sacks of potatoes, carrots, dried rabbit and venison, as well as a bag of gold coins as a sign of good will.

"Must we waste so much time appeasing these savages?" Reginald questioned.

"I would not say that to their face if you wish to keep your head." Jimmus advised, "These 'savages' are the only chance we have of freeing Bloodmarble from the bondage of slavery."

"Why us, though?" Reginald pestered.

"Would you rather send Mariot and Constave?" Jimmus asked, "Do you think they would stand a better chance of returning alive?"

"Send Captain Jeanine and the redhead." Reginald advised, "Surely they would fare better."

"Don't twist your chainmail, Reggie." Jimmus jibed.

"Don't call me Reggie." Reggie complained.

"Jimmus!" called out a familiar voice.

Mariot hobbled over to her husband, still cramping, with Lady Constave at her side. Constave was the wife of Reginald and younger than Mariot. She had long black hair she kept in an elegant braid behind her hair and had darker skin than most Rosemarblians. She was what others politely called "half-toned" and not-so politely "half-breed". Her frilly yellow dress was almost identical to Mariot's except for the color.

"How are you faring, my dear?" Constave asked her husband, "Will you be safe?"

"As safe as one can be when traveling to a foreign land." Reginald said, "The journey will be difficult but Our Lady will protect us."

"Where are the other knights?" Mariot asked.

"Just us." Jimmus admitted, "We don't want to come across as a threat."

"You'll be killed!" Mariot complained.

"We are taking a risk, but we cannot hope to defeat Bloodmarble without Kotarian allies." Jimmus said.

"I shall pray for you, Jimmus." Mariot said.

"And I shall pray for you, Reggie." Constave added.

"You know I don't like the name Reggie." Reggie repeated.

The two ladies embraced their husbands, hugging them tightly and giving them an affection kiss on the lips in unison. Mariot and Constave looked at each other sorrowfully as this was perhaps the last time they would see their husbands.

"Do be safe." Mariot told Jimmus.

"Out Lady be with you." Constave told Reginald.

After they had finished loading the carriage, the two knights ate a light meal of bread and beef broth before departing. Jimmus and Reginald took turns driving the horses while the other rode in the carriage. The two men switched every few hours, not much able to converse with each other.

Kotaria was three days south of Rosemarble, past the great Duneland desert. Duneland was unbearably hot in the daytime but it did have the Dune River flow through it, its fresh waters staving off dying of thirst. As the sun began to set for the evening, the carriage came to a halt and the two men collected water in wooden pails they had brought along. Jimmus and Reginald drank their fill and then watered the horses. Reginald suddenly felt a chill up his spine as something darted across the horizon.

"Someone is watching us." Reginald warned.

"From where?" Jimmus asked.

"To the east." Reginald said.

Jimmus looked eastward and could barely make out two shadows in the distance. Both men drew their swords as the shadows grew larger but before they could even tell what was in front of them, both men were knocked to the ground and their swords fell into the sand. The two knights soon found themselves tightly enveloped by two massive snake tails that were attached to female humanesque torsoes. Each serpentine woman had six arms, the one ensnaring Jimmus had long purple hair, fair skin, and wore elaborate golden amulets on her arms. Her tail was a light brown, bespeckled with large black patches. The woman trapping Reginald had pink hair, light green skin, and wore similar decorative amulets. Her tail matched her skin except for pink stripes that trailed down in decreasing size. In times past, the serpentines' differing skin meant a differing tribe, but now the serpentines were united under one large tribe.

"Greetings, foreigners." the green-skinned serpentine woman announced in bizarrely accented Rosemarblian, "I am called Saphirina, leader of the Dunefang tribe, here to collect my tribute."

The serpentine's voice sounded like a harsh echo in Reginald's ear but Jimmus enjoyed the sound. Saphirina's pink reptillian eyes reflected in the sunlight and her slit irises shrunk. She bared her two large fangs and hissed her forked tongue. Reginald shuddered in fear and anger as Saphirina pressed her claws against his cheek.

"And I am Salamanca." the fair-skinned serpentine added, addressing Jimmus, "You would be wise to pay the tribute, lest we crush your spine into pieces."

Both women tightened their coil around the men. Reginald tried to wrest free to no avail but Jimmus made no such effort.

"What is your price, desert dwellers?" Jimmus asked.

"You have coin, do you not?" Saphirina said, "Five gold coins for Salamanca, and ten for myself. And also the price of blood."

"We shall give you no such thing!" Reginald asserted.

Saphirina swiped the man's cheek with her claw, making it bleed. She then extended her tongue and licked Reginald's blood.

"Disgusting creature!" he shouted.

"Show some respect or I'll inject my venom right into your neck." Saphirina warned.

The serpentine then plunged her fangs right into Reginald's neck and sucked his blood until he began to feel faint.

"The price of blood for this man has been fulfilled." Saphirina announced, "Salamanca?"

Jimmus tried to stifle a giggle as Salamanca put her tongue on his neck. She then dug her fangs in and drank his blood.

"That tickles!" he remarked.

Soon enough, Jimmus fell faint and the two serpent women released their grip. Reginald clutched his bleeding neck, now with two fresh puncture marks, and did his best to hiss back at the serpentines in defiance. Jimmus tried to give an angry frown, but could not help but smile and blush. He felt the wounds on his own neck but did not have any lingering pain.

"We can inject sedative as well as venom at our choosing." Saphirina explained, "Be grateful that I was feeling generous. Now there is the issue of coin."

The serpentess slithered over to the carriage and dug around its compartments, soon finding the bag of gold. She shook the bag and heard dozens of coins rattle.

"Perhaps I shall take the whole bag." she considered.

"You said fifteen coins." Jimmus recalled, "Are you not a woman of your word?"

"She's scarcely even a woman." Reggie said under his breath.

"Very well, human." Saphirina relented, "Fifteen coins. But know this, I am being lenient at my discretion whereas I have the power to kill both of you and take all your wares. Yet you do amuse me."

<I don't like this one.> Salamanca said in her own language, pointing at Jimmus, <The one with the missing eye.>

<Why?> Saphirina asked.

<He looks at me the way Sirikana looks at me, like we are lovers.> Salamanca argued, <What do you make of that?>

Saphirina then broke into harsh, hissing laughter that made Jimmus nervous. Salamanca hissed angrily and gave the man a threatening glare.

<Your little human lover!> Saphirina commented, <Are you going to collect two human lovers now? What would your husband say?>

<Leave him out of this!> Salamanca demanded, <Let us depart!>

Saphirina gave a heavy sigh and took exactly fifteen coins from the bag, balancing them in multiple hands. She handed five to Salamanca and the two slithered away into the evening just as quickly as they arrived.

"I'm going to have fang scars for the rest of my life." Reginald realized.

"Scars are a part of knighthood." Jimmus reminded him.