Anna spotted what looked like a large campsite in the distance as they walked. As they approached, she started to make out figures moving around and saw large racks made from bone spread out in the center of the camp.

They walked into the camp soon after, and she watched as dozens of snake people swarmed over and started to undo the bundle. The snake man hissed at the snake men, and they hissed back. After that happened a few times, he tugged on her rope and led her away from the bundle.

As they walked, she watched as the snake people cut the meat into thin strips before placing it on the bone racks to dry in the sun.

Oh, I bet this is like a deep hunt!

Voekeer had told her that his village would send hunters deep into the forest to hunt the wild game there every few years and that they’d set up a camp there where that game would be processed, making it so they could stay out there for longer. She watched the snake men work as she walked before finally stopping at a hide that had been stretched over long bones making a shaded area.

The area was filled with cages that had all manner of strange creatures inside. The snake man tugged her rope and led her to a rather large one where he opened the door. He looked down at her for a moment before tugging on her dress.

“What is it?” she asked.

The snake man looked at her for a moment before tugging on her dress again, this time pulling it up as if he were trying to take it off.

“Do you want it?” she asked.

He pulled on it again. She held her hands up to show him they were tied.

“Uh, I can’t take it off,” she said.

He clearly didn’t understand her, but he looked at her hands. Then after a moment, it seemed to dawn on him that taking off a dress while tied up was impossible. He quickly untied her hands and took the rope from around her neck before looking at her expectantly. She pulled her dress over her head and held it out for him.

“I didn’t like it anyway,” she said.

He snatched the dress and looked it over for a moment before looking back at her and pointing to the cage.

“Yeah, I know,” she said, having assumed that’s where she was going to end up.

She walked into the cage and sat down. He closed the door and tied it shut with the rope that had been around her wrists before walking away.

“Well, I guess that settles it. I’m their prisoner now,” she said.

She looked at the other cages for a moment.

“Are any of you people?” she asked.

The creatures in the cages just sat there not replying to her.

“Didn’t think so. So, does that mean they think I’m an animal like those things are? No, they can’t. I talk, and I was wearing clothes. They can’t think I’m just an animal. Maybe these are the only cages they have. I mean, it would make sense that they don’t have cages for prisoners being a hunting camp in all. Why am I talking to myself? It’s probably because I’ve been alone too long. Okay, that makes sense. Wait, now I’m answering myself. That’s not good,” she said.

She sighed and went back to watching the snake men work. After they emptied the hide, they poked holes in it all along the edge. Then they fed long pieces of sinew through the holes before tying it to a large hoop made from bone and pulling it tight.

Once that was done, one of the snake men started to scrape the flesh from the hide before they propped it up to dry in the sun like the meat.

As the day went on, more hunting parties returned, and the racks began to fill up with meat. Sometime after noon, the snake man that had tied her up returned. She could tell it was him by the yellow pattern on his scales. He carried a large chunk of meat with him. He passed the meat between the bone bars of her cage, and she took it. It was warm and glistened with blood. She took a bite. It had the same strong gamey flavor the first piece had, though it was much more tender.

“Thanks,” she said while chewing.

He watched her for a moment before walking away. She ate the terrible meat before licking her fingers clean and leaning back on the bars, looking out on the camp with unblinking eyes. The snake men busied themselves drying the meat and preparing the hides. She could hear them speaking to each other and listened in.

This is not going to be easy.

The hissing language was so very different from anything she’d learned before. It reminded her of the way lizard men talk, but it didn’t seem to have anything in common with that language.

Days began to pass, and she sat in the cage, watching and listening. Yellow, the name she had given the snake man who had captured her, came once a day to bring her food. She tried to talk to him every time he arrived, but he never made a sound.

Finally, after nearly two weeks, the snake men started to pack up camp. Everything was broken down and placed onto bundles which were tied up. She was taken out of her cage, her hands were tied back up, and the rope was put around her neck once more. They set out heading east once everything was packed using the same system of half the snake men pulling loads and half on guard.

They traveled by day and rested at night. The desert gradually gave way to a rough, rocky terrain, and after three weeks, they arrived at a strange settlement. The snake men stopped just outside of the settlement and several huge six-limbed creatures walked out. They were around nine feet tall with dark red scaly hides. They walked upright on two legs and had four arms. Each arm ended in a hand that had four fingers. Their feet had four toes as well.

A few of the snake men walked over to the creatures. When the two groups met, one of the snake men held his arms out and turned his palms to the ground before hissing. One of the creatures folded its upper arms across its chest and then put its lower arms in the same pose as the snake man. It made a deep rumbling sound before moving its palms up and then pulling its forearms towards itself as if it were welcoming the snake man.

The snake man responded by lifting his arms up and then crossing them like an x in front of his chest before inclining his head. The creature did the same, and then both groups turned around and went back to their respective peoples.

What the fuck was that?

Once the snake men returned, they started hissing at the rest of their fellows. The other snake men hissed back, and they started to pull the bundles into the settlement. Yellow pulled on her rope, and she started to walk with them, looking around as she went.

When she got closer to the creatures, she noticed that their red skin was covered in tiny glittering scales and that they had a fine layer of feathers covering their heads. Their mouths were huge on their faces and filled with sharp shark-like teeth, and they didn’t have noses, only two slits in the middle of their faces.

The part of their anatomy that surprised her the most was their eyes. They had four of them. Each one was a solid red oval, and they seemed to be able to move them independently from the others. The other thing she noticed was that they didn’t seem to have genitals, though she just assumed they were like the reptiles she’d encountered before and that they were internal. 

The settlement reminded her of a small village with dome-shaped huts made from stone with thick hide being used as a door of sorts. Little paths were worn in the hard dirt leading from each hut to a larger path that twisted through the village and off into the distance far to the east.

That path has to lead somewhere! I wonder if it’s more villages, or maybe a city!

The snake men stopped pulling the bundles when they reached the center of the town. A crowd of the red creatures formed around the snake men and watched as they opened the bundles. Yellow pulled her over to a bundle and picked up her dress before walking a few feet away and sitting down, placing her dress on the ground in front of him, and pulling her arm, indicating he wanted her to sit down. She sat down and watched as other snake men retrieved things from the bundles and went to sit away from the others.  

Okay, this is weird. What are they doing?

The red creatures started to walk up to the snake men and gesture at the things they had with them. The snake men would gesture back, and this would happen a few times before the red creatures would take colorful rough-cut gemstones from pouches they had hanging from rough leather belts, the only thing they had on, and hand them to the snake men.

Oh, I get it. The snake men are selling them stuff.

A few of the red creatures came over to them, each one gesturing at her dress. Yellow gestured to them, and then they started to gesture to him and each other. Eventually, the red creatures started to make deep rumbling sounds at each other, and though she had no idea what they were saying, she could tell it was an argument.

This went on for a few minutes before one of them took the whole pouch of gems from its belt and tossed it on the ground in front of Yellow. All of them paused and looked at the pouch. Yellow stared at it, clearly surprised for a moment, before inclining his head.

The creature that threw the pouch snatched up the dress before zipping away. The others lingered for a moment before heading off themselves. Yellow picked up the pouch and looked inside, poking around in it for a moment before closing it up.

I wonder what that thing wanted with it. I mean, it was just a beat-up dress.

The trading went on for hours, and by the time they finished, the red creatures had bought nearly all of the meat, most of the dried hides, a large number of bones, and about half the animals in cages. The snake men seemed pleased with themselves as they began to bundle what was left back up.

Yellow got up and tugged on her rope to get her to stand. When she did, he looked at her for a moment before taking the rope off her neck. He then untied her wrists and gave her a gentle shove, gesturing towards the path that led out of the village.

“You want me to go?” she asked.

He gently shoved her again, hissing softly.

“You, you don’t want to be my friend?” she asked.

He turned around and walked over to one of the bundles carrying the ropes and his pouch filled with gemstones. She blinked for a moment, trying to keep the tears from forming in her eyes.

Does anyone want me?

She blinked a few more times before turning and walking down the path leading away from the village.