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Snake Lords of the Desert 2

For Necross Skywing

By Draconicon

The sands of the Snakelands faded as the shadow of Naos fell upon them. Bulbous sand spires rose out of the earth, narrowing from the base to the middle before flaring out greater than ever at their heights. The effect was much like one of his kind looming over its prey, except the city loomed out over the whole desert.

Lorenus always appreciated the view, and smiled to himself as he was carried over the dunes to it. The slaves carried him downhill, occasionally pausing to slide as the sand shifted from underfoot, but never hurrying or pushing him faster than he was comfortable with. On the palanquin with him was his slave, Jelani, and the jackal was as still as ever, eyes dazed and blank with the power of the naga's hypnosis. He curled himself a little tighter around the smaller male, enjoying the feeling of fur against his coils.

As they entered the shadow the city cast over them, the heat of the day almost disappeared. The naga sighed happily, looking upwards towards the far balconies. On the third tower from the left, he was sure that he saw a hint of another naga, perhaps one of his many siblings, or perhaps his father, looking out on them. The Adelin family was vast, after all, and he had been entrusted with the fortune of the family with this business. They would be eager to hear how the venture had gone.

"Faster, slaves."

The drained men suddenly stood up straighter, their feet beating a quicker pace through the sand. He bounced a few times, but not harshly, nor painfully. It was simply a side-effect of running anywhere through the desert. No matter how hypnotized one's servants, no matter how conditioned, there were some rules that could not be conquered.

At the base of the shifting dunes, the city of Naos opened up before them. The capital of the Snakelands spread out before them in a basin, dipping down and away from the desert towards the sea on the opposite side. Narrow streets and squat buildings spread out before him, forming a network of dessicated veins that led towards the great palaces of the noble families. Even from where he stood, he saw the typical too-steady walk of a man controlled, the sway of a woman with her mind turned off, the unity of step between soldiers that patrolled the districts. Each and every one of them had slipped away, drawn back into their heads to perform their duties, their bodies following the established commands of their owners.

Lorenus didn't take long to find those under the control of the Adelin family, and turned his servants towards them with a twitch of his tail. The shade of the city continued to shield him from the worst of the heat, and the buildings themselves seemed to welcome him in with the close warmth that they always bore, no matter the shading of the towers above them.

Three otherwise normal people broke off from their work, the sight of him triggering commands hidden in their minds. They fell to their knees, and bowed their heads to him as the palanquin approached.

"Lord Lorenus. We praise your return to Naos."

"Heh, I'm sure you do. Gather up five other servants of the family. My slaves are tired, and could use a break."

"Yes, master."

The two lizards and crocodile vanished, heading back into the city. As he waited, his camel servant came to his side, leaning forward so far that his hood fell over the naga.

"Great master, do you mean to tell your family of the bargain?"

"I believed I'd allow you to pass that news on, Ano. Doubtless, you'll give a better picture of it than I can."

"Very well, great lord. What shall I tell your father that you are occupied with?"

"What am I ever occupied with, Old Hump?"

"Ah, yes, sir. I shall ensure that they are informed, oh master of the brilliant eye."

The camel bowed out of the way just as the other slaves arrived. Lorenus smiled at them, watching as they moved expertly beneath the palanquin, at no point shifting them or disturbing his ride as they took over from the slaves that had carried him across the desert. With a whip of his tail, they were soon off towards Adelin Tower, and home.

#

The tower itself stood over five hundred feet above the city. It was one of the greatest in the capital, superseded only by Prince Rebinus Adelin's tower to the west, and the Great Hood's tower to the north. Built only in the last generation, it was filled with every amenity that the nagas had the ability to produce, including water flowing out to the harbor and a connection to the palace itself via the sky-bridges.

Inside, of course, were the real signs of wealth. Ice blocks were placed in the corners of every circular room, moderating the temperature so that the family could keep active and not become sluggish. The walls themselves were lined with great sculptures built into the walls of the tower itself.

The further up the ramps between the walls that one went, the more the tower changed. Sculpture became the coils of a serpent, and ice became servants with fans, standing over those of the family that required fanning or other services. Other services, of course, were given without shame, either on the part of the recipient or the deliverer.

Lorenus had abandoned the palanquin as soon as they reached the ramps, and ascended with his powerful coils. The incline was low, allowing him to make a swift ascent if he chose, but he preferred a slow one, particularly with company. He looked over his shoulder, enjoying the sight of his jackal slave, if not the smell.

That elephant has soiled him greatly, he thought, looking over Jelani with a shake of his head. Covered in seed for days...if he wasn't so appealing, I would have had him cast off for bathing as soon as we entered the city.

But no, he was Lorenus's personal property, and that had to be acknowledged, no matter what.

He ascended floor after floor, enjoying the quiet journey from one level of the family to another. The house servants lived at the bottom of the tower, and the higher he went, the greater ranks of the family he saw. From the lower merchants that had only just achieved their own businesses to the merchant princes that occupied the middle floors, to those with actual titles among the Snakelands and under the Great Hood in the upper ones.

His own floor was third from the top, just under his father's, and beneath Prince Rebinus's chambers, when he was in residence. Lorenus left the ramp as he reached it, slithering down the narrow hallway that separated it from his lesser siblings. He turned, and found that another naga was in his chambers, and slowed to a stop.

"Brother."

It took a simple word to make the tan-colored snake stop and turn, and his older sibling pulled a smile over his face. Too quickly by half, for his liking, but he didn't say anything. It was not the time.

"Brother, you've returned. I assume that you've brought fortune to the family, as ever?"

"I have, Sanis."

"...I'm glad to hear that, Lorenus."

The difference of a syllable meant much in the Snakelands. Three syllables told of a naga that had made something of himself. Two syllables meant a naga that had only the honor and power of his family, rather than anything of his own. He never let Sanis forget that.

His older brother slithered towards the door, and Lorenus allowed him to depart...almost. He stopped Sanis halfway out, grinding his tail against the older naga.

"Why were you in my quarters?"

"I was merely looking for one of your logbooks. Father wished to know where we stood with research on one of your sleeping hypnotic methods."

"I see..."

Liar, he thought. The logbooks were always on offer to their father. Prince Rebinus often kept them, leaving him to have to go and get them back. More to the point, their father never sent a messenger to get what he could himself. Doubtless, his brother was looking for methods that were near completion, hypnotic ideas that might be used to enhance his own grandeur in the eyes of the city and the Great Hood.

Thankfully, a quick glance over his brother's person confirmed that was unlikely to have happened. He put a smile on his face, nodding.

"Thank you for explaining. Please, tell father that I will be happy to make a report later tonight, after I have suitably refreshed from the journey."

"I shall. Be well, brother."

"And you."

Their eyes glinted at each other, a brief clash of hypnotic power before they broke apart. Lorenus had half-hoped that his brother's defenses would be weakened due to the situation and the fact that he had the element of surprise, but it seemed that Sanis was still ready for that. A pity; if he had his brother under his control, it would take him one step closer to having the power to overthrow his father. Prince Rebinus had him under direct orders not to harm him, but that didn't mean he couldn't plot a secondary plan, using patsies.

Of course, it wasn't that he hated his father. Far from it; he respected Prince Rebinus a great deal, and often credited his father with inspiration for his various techniques. Lorenus even smiled as he thought of him, the mental image of the older naga in his head as he slithered into his bedchamber, and from there to the bath. It was an image of a strong, proud naga that had led their family into prosperity.

The problem was, there was no getting out from under the Prince while he remained living. The hierarchy of the Snakelands ran by power, power of the eye and power of the mind. Rebinus, at this moment, still had the power to keep the rest of the family under him, and Lorenus and his brothers had an uneasy truce between them in terms of who was stronger than who. Only in times of agitation, such as when his personal space had been violated, would the siblings make an attempt on one another's minds.

And so it went, as those with greater mental power dominated those below them, putting them in their place and securing their power. Lorenus was well aware of the strictures in his mind, keeping him focused on the profit of the family ventures and away from the work of displacing his father. Awareness, however, did not equal immunity, only a mild resistance. It was a miracle he could even displace this much planning towards it.

He shook his head as he dragged his slave along into the waters of the bathing room, dunking the jackal into the water and watching dried semen flake off and drift away. Up and down, up and down his coils went, dunking the canine four times before Jelani finally dropped the pretense.

"Will you stop that?!"

"Three and a half weeks, Jelani. Three and a half weeks of pretending to be in a trance. I almost believed you this time."

"Nnngh."

"It seems that we still have much work to do."

He felt the squirming in his coils, and it finally stirred his cocks to the surface. The naga leaned in, slowly spinning his body around the twitching jackal until he was wrapped around him from ankle to shoulders, keeping him completely pinned, and he opened his mouth. His fangs dripped, two poisons dripping from them as he looked down at the canine below him. And as he stared down, his eyes flickered, and unlike his brother, there was no defense to his mental invasion.

Slipping through the jackal's eyes and into his mind, he smiled to find the inner space as organized as it had been three weeks ago. Jelani's inner self remained chained to the statue of a naga in the center of his mind, and the books and scrolls of memory hadn't been displaced. Lorenus slithered over to his slave, tilting the resting jackal's head up to face him. Jelani's eyes opened slowly, the jackal looking tired.

"Master?"

"Yes, Jelani. You remember that word. You remember me."

"Of course..."

"You still have that piece of resistance in you, don't you?"

"Yes, master. I'm sorry. He ran off again."

"Don't worry. I'll put that piece back where he belongs. Where is he?"

"In the family memories section, master."

"Good boy."

He ruffled the bound jackal's hair, and slithered away. It didn't take long to find the shadow of resistance that was left in his slave. The jackal was little more than a ghost compared to the body that was chained to the statue, and didn't even see him when the naga was sneaking up behind him.

It took one bite, and the ghostly canine slipped to all fours, humping air as the aphrodisiac venom of the naga coursed through his blood. Lorenus chuckled, picking him and carrying him over his shoulder as the resisting part of Jelani's mind helplessly came again, and again, and again, spurting phantasmal seed all over the ground from arousal.

He brought the ghost back to the statue, and laid him against the chains. They flowed around the cumming canine, and after a moment, the main jackal sighed in relief.

"Thank you, master...I don't like...resisting..."

"I know. Now, sleep...and submit."

Lorenus closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was back to staring down into the real Jelani's eyes. They were glazed over, almost spiraling with his own submission, and the naga chuckled to himself. He uncoiled from the canine, letting his slave fall to his knees, right at the perfect position for his twin cocks to be sucked.

"Show your submission, slave."

And the jackal did.

The End