Neil 

 

It turned out there were actually two Lamia outside my tent squeezed into my little room. They each grabbed one of my shoulders and pulled me out of my tent and up to my feet. Normally I would have objected to being manhandled like this, but they each had a spear in their other hands so I figured as long as they weren’t actively stabbing me I would try to deescalate the situation.  

 

“Hello, I’m Niel. What are your names?” I said with a big smile. 

 

The two Lamia looked young, roughly Shassalas age, so maybe 19 or 20. I hadn’t managed to get a good look at her friends when they met with her that first day I met Shassala but she had mentioned their names and that they were the same age so I took a shot in the dark and guessed. 

 

“Are you two Renther and Khallax?” 

 

“What?” The larger of the two, Renther if I wasn’t mistaken said. 

 

“Renther right? And that would make you Khallax.” I said pointing at each of them. “My name is Neil, it’s really nice to meet you, Shassala has told me all about you. So what brings you here today?” 

 

The two of them had a somewhat stunned expression on their faces but slowly Renther started speaking.  

 

“You’re on the sacred peak, you’re not supposed to be here. The elders told us to get you and bring you to the pool.” 

 

When Shassala had called the pool sacred I thought that there might be trouble with me using it as a bathtub, but I hadn’t guessed the entire peak would be sacred to the Lamia, it was deserted after all. You would think that a sacred site would see a little more use. “Oh are the elders here now? I’d love to meet them. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you all!” 

 

Whatever the two Lamia had been expecting to happen this clearly wasn’t it, their grips on my shoulders had lessened and while Khallax still looked suspicious even he was on the back foot, or back part of his tail at least. 

 

“Do you mind if I get dressed before we go? It’s just that I’d hate to walk out there looking like this you know?” I said indicating my clothes. I was sleeping in my boxers and an undershirt having decided it was too hot to sleep in my pajamas. Fortunately my morning wood had gone away immediately after being grabbed, otherwise this would have been really awkward. 

 

“It will just take a second, I promise.” 

 

The two had finally let me go so I took that as assent. Moving quickly but not so quickly they would think I was trying to run off I pulled on my jeans, changed my undershirt for a semi clean t-shirt then put socks and my boots on. Putting on my belt I slipped my hunting knife onto a belt loop quickly, Khallax looked like he was going to object to that but I spoke first. 

 

“So what are the elders names? Should I great them any specific way? I really want to make a good first impression.” Seeing that they weren’t about to answer me I decided to keep the conversation going but change the direction a little. “Has Shassala forgiven you yet?” At this Khallax perked up. 

 

“What?” Khallax asked. 

 

“Shassala, she was pretty upset at how you two left her alone up here. She said that it had been your idea to come up here and then, what were her exact words.” I said making a show of thinking. “You ran off with your tails curled down as soon as you saw me? I think that was what she said.” 

 

Finishing tying up my boots I stood up and looked at them. Neither of them had said very much up to this point which was fine. I had just wanted to get dressed and grab my knives. I was even able to slip my folding knife into my pocket along with a vial of stamina potion into my other pocket while they had been looking at each other. If I had to run for my life at least I would be able to make great time, until I collapsed from heat stroke at least. 

 

“What happened that day?” Renther asked. 

 

“That’s a good story, I’ll tell it to you while we head over to the elders, they were at the pool you said?” 

 

My question seemed to remind them that I was actually their prisoner and they my escorts because they straightened up and held their spears a little straighter and tried to lead me to the peak.  

 

Actually, getting out of the little room proved to be no small challenge. It had been cramped in here with just Shassala and myself with two Lamia and myself it was actually pretty comical watching them fall over each other trying to get out. In the end I had to squeeze past them and stand in the corridor outside the room while they climbed over each other to get out.  

 

I considered running for it right then and there while they were still struggling, but it still looked like this could be solved with diplomacy, also all my stuff was still here and I didn’t want to just abandon everything I owned. 

 

Trying to not to let them see how hilarious I found their struggle as Renther literally climbed over Khallax I waited for them and as soon as they were out we started walking towards the pool. During the walk over they had asked about how Shassala and I met.  

 

“I’ll tell you about it later, it’s a bit of a long story.” I promised, hoping that I would actually be able to tell them about this later. 

 

Walking up the stairs with me in the lead and the other two young Lamia behind me I tried to stay calm, or at least look like I was calm. 

 

Cresting the stairs I saw two older Lamia with gray hair and scales that looked to be an even mix of green and grey, one was male and one was female I took them to be the elders. 

 

Off to the side I saw Shassala standing by herself looking miserable, her arms wrapped around her stomach hugging herself and her eyes were rimmed with red, like she had been crying recently. 

 

The elders were looking at me the male had a neutral expression on his face and the female was glaring at me with undisguised malice in her eyes. 

 

Deciding that I had nothing to lose by introducing myself I walked up the stairs with a smile on my face and as a relaxed walk that I could manage.  

 

Stopping about 10 feet in front of the elders I waved at them and said. “Hello, my name is Neil, it’s a pleasure to meet you! I’m sorry I didn’t come down to introduce myself earlier but I’ve been trying to get myself sorted out here and it’s been a little bit tough.” A few of those words didn’t translate into Lamianese very easily but I was pretty sure they got the idea. 

 

The male Lamia looked surprised while the female looked even angrier if that was possible. 

 

“Who are you? How did you get here? Where are the rest of your people?” She practically yelled at me. 

 

“Like I said, my name is Neil. I don’t have any people here with me, and how I got here is a long story. The short version is that I was walking in some mountains in my homeland during a rainstorm and I got so lost I wound up here.” I honestly had no idea if I should be so forthright in my answers, and telling them that I was by myself could end up being a terrible idea. If they decided that killing me was the simplest thing to do, they might just do it, but I also know myself, and I am a terrible liar. 

 

I had only played poker a few times in my life but I almost always managed to lose, the few times I won it was because I was the only sober person at the table.  

 

If I wanted to get out of this alive I couldn’t rely on spinning some complicated web of lies, especially since I didn’t know what would set them off. For all I knew people routinely appeared on their mountain with no idea of how they got here. 

 

As I answered her questions, I could see her getting more and more disbelieving and thunderous, while he looked just as calm and collected as ever. Now there was someone that I didn’t want to play poker with. 

 

“Do you take us for fools? You just walked through the deep jungle with no trouble? In this season? The Kroklocks would have torn you apart, and if you had come over the veil our scouts would have found you and brought you to us.” 

 

“I never said I walked here. I was thousands of miles away. I’m so far from home that I have no idea where I am now. One moment I was there, there was thunder and lightning and then I was here. I almost walked off a cliff I was so surprised.” Well I guess people appearing here is not that common then. 

 

This only served to piss her off more. Her face started turning the strangest shade of red. I hope she doesn’t have an aneurism, at least not while talking to me. The man however just looked more and more curious. 

 

“If what you say is true, how do you know our language? The Lamia from outside the deep jungle speak a different language, even the tribes at the edge of our lands use different words. You speak our language like us.” The man said finally speaking, cutting off the apocalyptic looking woman. 

 

Hesitating I considered what I should do next, so far the truth hadn’t really been going over very well and I had no idea how they would take the idea that I was seeing magic boxes and learning languages in just a few days. Well I was still alive at least and they were listening to me, so I might as well stick with the truth. 

 

“It’s hard to explain. Ever since I came here I have been seeing things, and learning very very quickly, I was able to learn your language from Shassala over just a few days.” 

 

DING 

 

 

Well that was interestingly timed. I had guessed that new conversation partners and topics would help increase language skills faster, but it was nice to confirm it. 

 

Trying to ignore the box in front of me I focused on the male Lamia. He looked somewhat intrigued while the woman looked just furious, although her face was no longer maroon colored, so she was probably calming down a little. 

 

“What are these things you see outlander?” He asked. 

 

“They look like blue boxes in the air, they can tell me about things, like animals or plants. What’s safe to eat or not, what some plants do, they also tell me when I learn something, or get better at it.” 

 

I could not get a read on this guy at all, his poker face was just too good. He might be intrigued or he might be getting ready to have me killed. At least with the woman I knew where she stood with me. 

 

He slithered forwards slowly and grasped the woman’s elbow pulling her back to talk with her quietly. They spoke back and forth for several minutes before my stomach started rumbling. Whatever was happening there I didn’t think I could influence it now. Looking at Khallax and Renther I could see that they were looking as confused as I felt and Shassala was looking kind of antsy as well. 

 

Taking this opportunity, I whispered to myself. “Who?” 

 

DING 

 

 

I was pretty glad that worked, I had never tried that question before, aside from Shassala I had never met anyone else before. 

 

“Who?” 

 

DING 

 

 

Well, that was somewhat helpful, but it also looked like Jax had seen what I did. For just a moment his poker face had broken and he looked more shocked than anything. 

 

 

“Um excuse me?” When the stopped talking and looked at me I continued. “Sorry to be a bother and all, but I haven’t eaten yet this morning. Were you hungry as well? I would love to cook something up for you all.” 

 

Whatever they had been expecting me to say this was clearly not it. “You wish to cook us food?” the elder male Lamia said. 

 

“Of course! You must have climbed up here while it was still dark so you probably haven’t eaten yet either. I’m afraid I only have some fruits and vegetables but I’ve gotten pretty good at turning them into a stir fry.” This would also hopefully change how you thought of me, instead of trespasser, host. 

 

Shassalas expression was turning into one of incredulity as I spoke, and even Hallice looked more confused than angry. 

 

Looking like she was about to shout something at me Hallice had her mouth opened, but Jax spoke up first. “That sounds nice thank you. Renther, Khallax and Shassala, stay with him.” 

 

That done they started their whispered argument again. 

 

Walking towards a stunned looking Shassala I grabbed her hand and led her past an equally incredulous looking Khallax and Renther. “Come on you two, I need to grab some things from my camp site and then gather food. You guys can give me a hand with that right? Great thank you!” I said not bothering to wait for a reply. 

 

I somehow managed to talk myself into, well not a position of strength, but at least a position where no one was being outright hostile, and I was about to have breakfast so win-win. 

 

If I ended up needing to run like hell it would be best to not have to do that on an empty stomach. 

 

Going down the stairs with Shassala following behind me closely and Khallax and Renther following behind her I brought them to my campsite and grabbed my pack. Inside it was all of my cooking gear, potions and some clothes as well, throwing my folding knife in as well I started walking. “Shassala can you grab the water please?” 

 

Walking ahead of them I didn’t allow anyone the chance to actually disagree or try to think. “Khallax, Renther, I hate to be a bad host, but would you two give me a hand gathering some food for everyone? I don’t have enough now but there’s lots on the mountain, I just don’t think I’ll be able to carry it all.” 

 

“Uh yeah. How did you do that?” The Lamia I was fairly certain that was Renther asked. 

 

“Do what?” 

 

“Get them to stop talking, and offer to cook everyone food.” 

 

Stopping for a moment I considered his question. “I don’t know.  I’m just hungry so I thought if I offered to cook for everyone, we could all eat something. I’m not sure why they agreed to it though, for that you’d have to ask them.” 

 

“Shassala,” I said turning to her. “Glurp.” I squeaked out as she hugged me tightly. 

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would be like this!” She said in my ear. 

 

“It’s ok, nothing has happened yet. It’s good you told them, if you hadn’t they would have found out about me when I wandered into your village either today or tomorrow anyways. Are you ok?” 

 

“I’m fine, but you have to be careful! Hallice is so angry I knew that she didn’t like outlanders but I had no idea how angry she would get when I told the elders about you. She wanted to kill you immediately! You have to go now!” She said while crushing me in a hug. 

 

“Shassala, I went down the mountain yesterday and I immediately ran into a baby Onca Parda. I barely escaped with my life. There is nowhere for me to go, alright? This is it, this meeting needs to go well or I don’t know where I could go. So let’s just stay calm and have a nice breakfast ok? The other guy didn’t seem to hate me too much so we just have to convince them to let me live, how hard can that be?” 

 

Shassala didn’t look to convinced by that but she started a small fire while Khallax, Renther and I started gathering some of the fruits and vegetables with Khallix and Renther for breakfast. 

 

Before long breakfast was simmering in my pan and I was scooping some of it into other dishes. I had wanted to wait for the elders but Renther had started eating almost as soon as it finished. By the time the elders joined us  I had to stop him from eating it all and set him to gathering more food. 

 

“Is this your hospitality, forcing our people to do your work?” Hallice asked venom dripping from her voice. 

 

“I wanted to wait for you to arrive but Renther was too hungry so he ate everything I had made.” I said, Renther looked down an embarrassed expression on his face. “If I didn’t give him something to do, I was afraid there wouldn’t be any food for anyone else. Please eat, its simple but I think it tastes good.” I said handing them each a small plate.  

 

I kept cooking for them and everyone kept eating, by the time they were finished I was finally able to eat something myself, although I found myself not hungry I still managed to choke down some of the food. 

 

When we were all sitting around the fire our breakfast finished and plates stacked on the ground we all seemed to be waiting for someone else to start talking first. 

 

I was sipping water from one of my pots, my cup and bowl being in the hands of the elders. When the silence dragged on long enough finally Jax spoke up. 

 

“You said before you see things, what exactly do they look like?” 

 

I took another sip to give myself time to consider what to say, deciding to stick with the truth I spoke. “They’re hard to describe. They are blue, but I can see through them and they tell me about things that I ask.” 

 

“Do you know what they are?” 

 

Nodding slowly I said. “I asked what one of them were and I got another one that said they were part of my connection to Gaia, the spirit of the planet.” This finally broke his poker face and he leaned back a flicker of excitement on his face. 

 

“Then you know who we are?” 

 

“You are Jax, you are your tribes historian, and you are Hallice, an expert potion maker.” 

 

At this Hallice had an inscrutable expression on her face and Jax actually looked a little shocked. Damn, looks like I just dropped a bomb on them. 

 

The two shared a quick look before Hallice started speaking. “If what you say is true and not an elaborate lie then we may have some way for you to make up for your transgression to our tribe.”  

 

Jax took his turn “Long ago when the Tribes of the Lamia were united in a vast kingdom our tribe was little more than slaves. Then the ancients came. The stories say they crossed the ocean in flying ships, looking for something and when they found the kingdom they destroyed it in a single day. Then they came here and freed our tribe. They created the sacred pool, this city for our ancestors to live in and they lived under the mountain. We lived in harmony with them for centuries. They taught us much, how to control the elements, how to work with steel and other metals. It was a golden age for our people. Until something the ancients found under the mountain killed them all. Our people tried to live here for some time, but attacks from monsters become more and more common. 

 

Eventually we were forced to flea, and the monsters stopped appearing. But we lost much of what the ancients had taught us. Many still believe that if we were to reclaim this place we would be able to relearn what was forgotten.” 

 

I had a terrible idea of where he was going with this but decided to keep my mouth shut and let him get there. 

 

Jax stopped talking and seemed to consider his next words carefully “All peoples have a connection with Gaia. For Lamia we understand the plants and the animals on an instinctual level. We can find food where others cannot, refine plants into healing salves or poisons easily. I am told that outlanders have their own gifts. The ancients, they could learn. They could learn the other peoples gifts and other skills as well. What would take a Lamia decades of practice they could learn in weeks or months. It was said that Gaia herself favored them above all others” He finished looking at me. 

 

“You think I am an ancient.” 

 

“You are an Ancient, unless you’re lying. Which is it?” Hallice asked a smug look on her face. 

 

Looking at her smug smile I really wanted to punch her but instead said. “I am what I am, and I can do what I can do but I’ve never been called an Ancient. So, what does all this have to do with me?” 

 

“Whether you knew it or not you are trespassing on our sacred lands. Many in the tribe wish to punish you for this. However, if you complete a quest for us and help the tribe we will welcome you into the tribe as one of us.” 

 

Unsaid was the threat of what would happen if I didn’t help the tribe. 

 

“What do you need me to do?” 

 

“Deep in the mountain the Ancients were looking for something, something to save their people. We do not know if they found what they were looking for, or if they had found something else. Whatever they found it ended up killing them. After they died out whatever they had found is what has been creating the monsters. We need you to enter the mountain and seal away or destroy whatever it is that the ancients uncovered.” 

 

Thinking about I really had no choice. Even if all they did was exile me to the jungle by myself that was basically a death sentence on its own. I had no illusions about my ability to survive out there, even without giant cats or hostile Lamia it would be a challenge. 

 

“I accept your quest.” 

 

DING