Charlie awoke to the sounds and the feeling of gentle kisses being planted onto his neck. Dragging his eyelids open, he was greeted by the smiling face of the Chiefess. He couldn’t see her well in the dark, but the firelight from outside gave away just enough details on her face for him to recognise her. Seeing he had awakened, the Chiefess reluctantly lifted herself from him. Standing, she stretched before pulling on her clothes.

Looking at his nude body, she knew either the vultures or Klipesia most likely had them. Sighing, she leaned around the corner of her hut entrance. Quickly she said something to two of the guards. As she did this, Charlie started to mutter and curse Klipesia for taking his clothes. Well, taking his clothes wasn’t the bad part. The bad part was that his jacket (which was in her possession to his knowledge) contained his merchant badge.

This was an incredibly important thing as it showed to all that he was a member of the merchant union and as such was taxed far less than regular traders. He would always get a new one as… oh no, his jacket also had the documents saying he was a merchant and required a badge.

“Shit!” Charlie harshly said as he started to think about how much it would cost to get a new badge and documents, essentially re-registering with the merchant union.

One large imperial gold (about one thousand British pounds or 1,320 USA Dollars). Of fuck, he only had about seventeen coppers (one pound), twelve silvers (one silver being a hundred copper), and ten stripped silvers (ten silver imperial coins, so about the equivalent to one gold). Despite having the funds to buy the membership back, he regretted knowing he now had to pay that much.

Well, he could go back and ask? Shivers ran down his spine at the thought of having to run away from women with spears hunting him, who he wasn’t sure wanted to have sex with him or eat him. Or worst of all maybe they had the intentions to do both… Trying his best to forbid himself from thinking of his loss, the thought still held firm in his mind. Originally, he planned to use that money to try and buy a shop where he would then sell native artefacts that he had traded for along his journey.

Now though it seemed he would have to place his ideas on hiatus until he had gotten a new badge. A pile of clothes landed thrown onto his chest. Looking up, Charlie noticed that the clothes were his clothes. The Chiefess untied him and offered his clothes to him. Charlie frowned at her. It was a little annoying to him that she had probably broken the lock of his caravan, gone inside and taken his clothes; but still, it was better than having to sneak through the village of devilish women naked.

Thanking her in a mixed tone of annoyance and genuine thanks, he dressed. The native who he assumed she had sent to get his clothes hadn’t bothered with his pants or shoes. From the looks of what he was given, they had only brought what they deemed necessary. This being his shirt, trousers, socks and that was it.

Finally dressed, he watched as the Chiefess checked her paints in a large, person-sized mirror with a golden frame. Carefully, she lifted her feather headdress. Slowly she placed the golden base of the headdress onto her head. Dressed and ready to go, the Chiefess moved to Charlie’s side. Looking down at him, she smiled and grabbed his arm.

Somewhat gently, she escorted him out of the hut. Looking around, he could see they were on a large platform that overlooked the village. Before he had always been too distracted or busy to take in his surroundings. But not far from that point, down a short path from the village stood a tall pyramid-based shaped temple. As usual, he didn’t get much time to ponder before he was dragged down the steps of the temple by the Chiefess.

A large smile sat curled on her face as they walked down the steps, her hand still holding a firm grip on his arm. Notching her smile, Charlie felt an ominous feeling grip him. Looking out to the eating area of the village, he quickly saw what she was so excited about. Tables and benches were set up along the sides of the village as normal, the difference now was that a large stage with a stone slab sat the centre of it sat in the middle of all the benches.

Fire torches stood on the sides of the platform, highlighting it from the elevated position Charlie was in as he walked down the steps that led from the village and to the hut of the Chiefess. Looking closely, he recognised the altar to be that of the one that used to sit in front of the Chiefess hut when he first arrived in the village. Waiting for a second, Charlie thought to himself, if this was the Chiefess’s home and the real temple was located slightly deeper in the village down the path of torches, then why was there even an altar at the Chiefess’s hut, to begin with?

Waiting for another second, why was there blood on the alter? Waiting for another second, why was there a bloody altar in front of the Chiefess’s hut? Why was there even a bloody altar, to begin with? It didn’t take many things for Charlie to assume that a tribe that often-hunted people (based on his impression of the huntresses), then it probably wasn’t that wild that they practised human sacrifice.

So, if that bloody altar was there now, what did that mean? Charlie felt his legs tense as he stopped just before reaching the second platform of the three platforms. Turning, the concerned eyes of the Chiefess fixed onto his. Almost immediately she could sense his fear as he looked at her. Yanking him into her arms, she placed a soft kiss on his head. She didn’t know what caused him to be so scared all of a sudden, but it didn’t matter. She was to perform the ritual tonight with him whether he liked it or not.

Reaching the village, she quickly handed him over to the had merchant.

“Ah, so you are alive!” The Head Merchant said, gesturing for Charlie to come and sit with him.

“No thanks to you. Wanker,” Charlie said as he moved past the Head Merchant and over to one of the seats. All merchants were gathered along this bench along the side of the stage. A great view to take in the festivities.

The Chiefess acted as if she wasn’t watching, but the Charlie and any other observers she quite obviously was. After memorising where he had sat, the Chiefess left to go and prepare for the ritual. Sitting alongside the other merchants, Charlie didn’t utter a single word they teased and taunted him for being chosen as the latest sex toy for the Chiefess. Some as well though did congratulate him on surviving this long as most men were usually dead by the second night in the village.

A hand planted itself onto the shoulder of one of the merchants that sat next to Charlie. The Head Merchant nodded to the figure as he got his side of the row to quiet down. The row on the other side of Charlie though, being the one that had teased him more, were all uprooted from their seats as a small group of huntresses took their place. Ourupadia made herself at home next to Charlie, her fierce eyes warding off any more mocking words from the merchants.

She hadn’t understood what they were saying, but from only a single look at Charlie did she understand he was in distress. Now next to him, she decided to sit back and enjoy the ritual. Charlie did the same as he allowed the relative safety of Ourupadia to relax him. Looking up at her face, she didn’t even look the slightest annoyed that he had snuck away earlier. Good, he didn’t want another warrior woman to be pissed off at him.

Drums started to monotonous pounds as a group of women holding poles with large down-turned cups at the end of them, surrounded the stage. Each placed their respective cup on a pole over the flame, dimming the fire slightly. In turn, this all together dimmed the total light around the stage, causing a tone of importance to take over the crowd.

Looking closely at the sides of the stage, he saw a ground or red painted women on his side. Fear paralysed him as he saw Klipesia be the lead of these red-painted women. Their skin was smothered in red paint, as said, but both their hair and hips were ornate with large feathers and long pieces of corded grass that also had the same dark red texture to them.

Klipesia’s eyes seemed to lock onto Charlie as her group started to move around the stage. The only item of clothing that seemed to separate Klipesia from the rest was a large stripe of black paint across the centre of her face that sat under the eyes and over the bridge of the nose. Swaying their hips, the warriors moved along their side of the stage, their large war spears made of wood and that white stone the natives used glistened in the firelight.

A call went up from the other side of the stage in the form of a high-pitched, drawn-out yelp. This was followed by some deep, bellowing growls. Moving his glance to the other side of the stage, Charlie saw the Chiefess, and her outrage of women all dressed in the same clothing as the women in red. The only difference was that the colour of the garment had been changed to a bright white. From the other side of the stage, the warriors there started to fan out as well.

Charlie’s seating arrangement sat him in the centre of the bench and facing the centre of the stage. Just how the Chiefess had instructed the Head Merchant to do. Klipesia and the Chiefess both danced with their war spears and elaborate attire to the centre of the bottom stage. Meaning that their dance landed them both directly in front of Charlie. The rhythm of the drums changed, and as did the dance as both women locked eyes with one another.

Leaping back, they both aimed their spears at each one another. Growls and yelps like wolves came up from either side as they faced off.

“Amazing,” Charlie muttered quietly, completely hypnotised by the movement and grace of the dancers’ hips. Seeing he was interested; the Head Merchant made his move.

“The dance is meant to represent a battle between two tribes and their chiefesses," the Head Merchant said as he leaned over to Charlie.

Charlie nodded as the two sides began to mock battle, much to his amazement and interest, the dancers still kept their graceful flow as they pretended to throw or stab spears at each other. The drums roared again, and the rhythm of the dance changed. A young, tribesman man dressed in ceremonial attire was carried by other young, much more masculine, native men on a large wooden throne up onto the stage.

The men placed his throne down and the dance continued. From the elevated wooden stage, the men started to dance wildly and convince the women to start mock battling between members of their own “tribe.”

“This is meant to represent how a Chief came along and started to make the tribes battle not just each other, but also themselves,” Again the Head Merchant translated the dance to the infatuated Charlie.

Snarling, the Chiefess went to one side of the stage. Klipesia repeated the same bloodthirsty sneer as she moved to her side of the stage. Still shaking their hips and gripping their spears tightly, they leapt up the steps and onto the stage. All dancers along the bottom stopped as they dropped down to squat, their hips still shaking as they did so.

“Fuck, how do they do that and move?” Charlie said, not understanding how this kind of dance was almost natural to the women of the tribe.

A bang and clatter of plates came from the side of the audience he was in. Annoyed at the minor interruption, Charlie looked down the row to see who had caused it. Not in the slightest paying attention to the performance, a bloated, matted haired man sat on the bench. His hands groped and grabbed at any native women that went by. Naturally, since they did very much the same, the native women just chose to laugh and ignore him.

When though he grabbed out and forced a woman onto his lap, did Nolkonoe and Phukomeia, who had sat along the side of the audience watching the dancers up until now, intervene. Even the natives would back off if they thought a man was not in the mood. They would even back off if they thought a man was getting too upset or angry at their advances. So, it seemed they did have some morals of consent as the two began to rub their hips against the man’s legs.

Seductively, the women ran their hands over the man’s chest, giving the young native girl time to escape. Staring at the faces of the two Vulture leaders, Charlie could see the looks of anger and annoyance that the women-only just managed to repress as the man turned his perverted hands onto them.

The Head Merchant noticed Charlie’s gaze but didn’t intervene. Only when Charlie went to stand and put a stop to the obvious plight that the two Vultures’ hands placed themselves into did he finally step in.

“Don’t do anything,” the Head Merchant pleaded as he dragged Charlie into his seat. Charlie stared daggers at the Head Merchant as he was forced into his seat. Again, he went to stand, but this time Ourupadia sat him back down. Looking over his shoulder to her, Charlie’s eyes expressed his shock as they widened.  

"Going against that man is a bad idea,” the Head Merchant said as he took a sip from his drink.

“Well, that fucking pig is molesting those two!” Charlie intensely whispered back.

“Well, that pig, as you called him, is the current owner of the outpost we had to pass to get here. He owns the land around here and is the reason we were allowed to get here and is also the reason the natives get food as he is the one to decide what does and doesn’t get imported in,” the Head Merchant explained.

So that man controlled the food going to the region? No wonder he thought he could get away with this… there was nothing the natives could do without stirring his anger. Quickly it explained to him why not even Ourupadia did anything in protest. It wasn’t that no one could see what was happening, it was just that no one dared to stop him.

Turning his gaze back to the stage, the last Charlie saw of the man was as he led both the two Vultures off into the village. Quietly he prayed for them as they were taken away to do God knows what with that morbidly fat, pig sized man. Watching the dancers once again, Charlie chose to set his mind on the dancers.

The fat man on the throne threw what looked to be money and trinkets onto the two lead dancers (the Chiefess and Klipesia) spewing on their fight. Eventually, after ten minutes or so of the two dancing and acting out this vicious and ferocious battle of twirling, throwing themselves around the stage, jabbing spears at each other, faking being wounded, all while shaking their hips to the rapid drum and when the drums slowed the two did as well. Curiously, Charlie leaned over to the Head Merchant.

“What’s happening now?”

“The two Chiefesses had realised that he was the one dividing them and causing their people suffering, so they are meeting to negotiate." As the Head Merchant said this, the two women leapt onto the alter and started to dance in a circle around one another.

Soon their dance picked up in rhythm with the drums as they pointed their war spears at the man on the throne. War cries went up from the dancers around the outside as they all leapt onto the stage. Together one of the white-painted and one of the red-painted warriors seized one of the men that obeyed the Chief.

The men were dragged on the stone altar as the two women leapt from it. Secretly, women smuggled some bowls of red paint onto the stage. Once they had the red paint, they held a man down onto the alter.

“Because the tribe consisted mostly of men, the Chiefesses decided that to both unite their people and get revenge on the men, they offered all men who served the Chief as sacrifices to the goddesses. This is where their pain comes from. The blood represents the blood of their sisters and that of the sacrifices breeding new life into the tribe by giving their seed to the tribe as well as their blood. The white represents the desert and the future sacrifices they will have to make if need be,” the Head Merchant explained as the last of the mock sacrifices were offered.

Dressing in blood, they then seized the man upon the throne. Subtly, the women smuggled both him the other men off the stage and brought a gigantic, human-sized pig onto the stage.

“What is this?” Charlie asked, feeling a little scared as he guessed the pig had to represent the Chief. And the other pigs followed he guessed were also probably meant to be the other men “sacrificed.”

“They cooked and ate the sacrificed men and women of the tribe as well as the Chief of the tribe.” The Head Merchant explained.

Charlie felt his heart rise into his throat as the women kicked and slapped the pig, making it squeal and plead to them. The centre of the stone was later removed by a few women, revealing a large fire pit under the stone. Placing the pig’s head onto the edge of the stone, there was a loud thud and cut, and like that the pig fell silent.

“The only difference in this ritual is of cause that the pigs would be enemy warriors, and they wouldn’t kill the pig before spitting it and placing it onto the fire…” The head merchant finished as two Y shaped pillars were erected on either side of the flames. The pig was rammed onto a long wooden spit and placed over the flames. Charlie’s eyes were fixed on the Chiefess and the red splatters of paint on her skin. Or at least he thought it was painted, but soon realised it was blood. As she licked the blood from her face, he saw her sharp, wolf-like canines.

This was the Chiefess, the savage queen of the Desert Ghost tribe.