FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Snake Lords of the Desert 6

For Necross Skywing

By Draconicon

Prince Lorenus Adelin had never expected his plans to go this far off the rails, but since they had, he knew that he had to make do. The positives were still somewhat on his side, as long as he didn't make a mistake as big as the one that got him kicked out of the snakelands in the first place.

Can't believe father noticed a difference so quickly, he thought, leaning his arms on the railing of the ship. I suppose that's how he managed to rise to his position...

It still didn't make him feel better about the fact that he'd lost his own position, becoming a prince in exile at the very best. If he didn't find the hospitality that he expected in the Sizwe lands, then he would be truly fucked.

The ship that had carried him across the northern sea and onto the east coast of the Sizwe empire had been swift enough, though he had hoped that it would last longer in sight of the desert. Without the sands that were familiar to him, the prince found himself wondering just how long it would be until homesickness overwhelmed him. He knew that it was entirely possible that it would happen at the worst possible time. It seemed to be the case for his life in general. If something were to happen, it would happen when he could least afford it to.

His old servant, the camel that had followed him from the homeland, was standing at his side as the gangplank was rolled down. Old Hump patted him on the shoulder.

"Things will look better soon, my lord."

"You've ssssaid that every day ssssince we left."

"Yes, but now I know for sure."

"How?"

"Gaze before you, lord."

The naga lifted his eyes, looking past his arms down towards the docks. Standing there, in damaged states of various sorts, were slaves.

It was the entire reason that he'd made his way to the Empire rather than to one of the other kingdoms that littered the southern lands. There were other places that might have picked up a naga and given him a place. There were kinder lands, richer lands, and even more powerful lands, but none that were as accepting of the slave trade as the Sizwe. The elephant-ruled empire was one that had been trading partners with him and his father for decades, and now...

Well, he hoped that Prince Dumisani and the other royal figures would respond to his requests. He had a great deal of favors to call in.

The gangplank was finally settled, and he started slithering his way down, his eyes still flicking from one slave to another. There were many different species, both for sale and being used on the docks. Many species served as masters. Hyenas, crocodiles, and more all carried slaves at their backs, using them for laborers, soldiers, and more. But it was the eyes of the slaves that held his attention and made him curious.

The last time that he had met with Prince Dumisani, there had been a monkey slave that the elephant had brought along, one that had been damaged in mind. He had been vaguely sympathetic to the primate at the time, leaving him some sense of instructions in his mind of how to rebuild himself, but he had been curious to see if such mistreatment was common in the Empire. The city of the snake lords was filled with slaves that the nagas kept for themselves, but such property was at least treated with care, so that it would not lose its value.

Not so, here.

He stared at the various states of the slaves that walked hither and yon on the crude wooden dock, seeing that most of them were at least bruised, while others were limping along in shackles that had been applied for far too long. He hissed under his breath, his hood flaring out for a moment before coming back in.

But it was the eyes, the eyes that revealed the mind behind that left him the most frustrated.

"There'ssss nothing behind their eyessss, Old Hump."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"They've taken their mindssss and ssssold them away, just like their bodiessss."

The naga shook his head. There was a limit to what the snake lords did. It was one thing to bind a mind, to hold it in check and leash it to the purpose of another. It was what he did to his own slaves, and it was what his father had done to him over time. It was the whole plan that he'd put together with his siblings as he'd begun his conquest of them. That was just how it worked in naga society.

Here, though, among those that had been not just bound, but destroyed, it was clear that the Sizwe took no pride in the breeding and cultivation of their slaves. They were all utterly disposable, something - rather than someone - that they could replace at any given point.

This is beyond reprehensible, he thought.

Nevertheless, there was nothing he could say about it. He had come to this land a beggar, and the last thing that he could do was criticize the ruling regime. At least, not yet.

Prince Lorenus slithered through the crowd, eventually coming to a crude wooden cart that was waiting for him at the edge of the port. Standing on either side were panther guards, marked with collars around their necks as free-thinking slaves. Perhaps they were too valuable to simply eliminate, or perhaps there was something that the Sizwe royal family held over them. In either case, he could see intelligence there.

The naga looked between them, chuckling.

"Issss thisss all that Prince Dumisssani could ssssend for me?"

"It is what the prince asked us to bring. You will board?"

"I will."

"Sir, shall I?"

"Yes, Old Hump. Join me."

The aged camel followed him into the cart after a moment or two, the pair of them getting comfortable in the cart before it took off. The two panthers ran ahead with ease, dragging the bed of the cart behind them. The prince was rather impressed with their speed, but said nothing as they hurried down the road.

It was a long trip away from the coastline, lasting several hours, but eventually they reached the city. Lorenus lifted himself up from his coiled state, shading his eyes to get a good look at the settlement in the distance.

It was not comparable to the spires of the capitol back home, but it didn't have to be. It spread out in a squat, flat way that surprised him, conquering the land with buildings. A rough wall divided the city into three different rings, giving a sense of status and permanence that only the core of the snakelands had. Various guards patrolled the tops of the walls, drawn from the free-thinking citizens of the empire, as far as he could tell.

The cart came up to one of the gates - made of some sort of white wood - at the edge of the outer wall. Hyena guards stepped forward, threatening with their spears and insane laughter, but were quickly placated by some whispered words from the felines below.

Lorenus, for all his confidence, had to hide his fears as the hyenas approached him. Though the two guards weren't that much a threat to him, he knew that there were hundreds more in easy earshot. If they had decided that he was a threat, their spears would put them in easy reach of his body, and he would be hard-pressed to stop them before one got in a lucky shot or two to his body.

I am truly alone out here, he realized. The Old Hump hardly has the power to shield me from injury, and my authority only extends as far as the local royals say it does.

It was the first time in his life that he had ever felt as powerless as that, and the last, if he had any say in it.

Whatever it was the panthers said, it opened the gate for him. Further and further into the city they went, making their way down rough roads past rougher houses, with men and women alike tending to themselves and the slaves that the conquest of the empire had brought them. There seemed to be at least one per house, and the closer to the center of the city they went, the more of them there seemed to be.

Soon, they were past the third and final wall. The streets were no longer simple packed earth, but rather stone that had been lumped together and crushed underfoot so often that it had begun to fit together. The cart had to be stopped there, and he was told to get down.

Lorenus winced as he hit the ground, shaking his head. The rough stone was not pleasant to his scaled body, not least because it was chilled. The sun had begun its fall, and the heat of the day no longer came out from the ground. The snake slithered forward slowly, not enjoying the rough scratching of the stone beneath, nor the heat-sapping quality of the road itself.

"Thissss issss beneath ussss," the snake muttered to his advisor.

"It is, sir, but please, bear with it. We are almost there."

"We had better be."

Thankfully, they were. It took perhaps five minutes of slithering before they reached the great walls of the Sizwe palace. A rough structure compared to the spires of his homeland, it still had a more polished look than any other building in the city. The double levels of the great palace and the pillars that adorned the outside were, again, rough and small compared to what he was used to, but the empire was his best chance. He kept reminding himself of that. He did not need wealth, nor power, nor kindness.

He needed freedom, and the people of the Sizwe were most likely to give it to him.

The guards stopped at the front door, opening the double doors for him and allowing him in. Lorenus looked inside, waving his hand back and forth in front of his face as the fumes of some sort of incense poured out.

Aphrodisiacs, as well as will suppressants, he thought at the first little taste of the smoke. Not an issue with the broken ones, but around those with a clear mind...

Must be why the air was so polluted with it. The naga knew that he would be hard-pressed to keep his head clear when he was wandering through that. He shook his head, though, and slithered forward anyway, hoping that he could keep this first meeting brief. The last thing he needed was for the elephant to have that advantage, too.

The throne room was warmer than the air outside, probably due to the various braziers that dotted the walls and burned constantly. As Lorenus looked around, he could see that most of the nobles and elephants that wandered from one place to another in the smoky room had reddened eyes, likely under the influence of the fog that had replaced the air in here. He glanced to his left, looking the camel in the eyes, and saw the same color starting to tinge the older man's eyes.

"Breathe sssshallow," he whispered.

"I will try, sir."

The snake did what he could, working through the knowledge of a lifetime of hedonism to pull the smoke in through his mouth, hold it, and then exhale it out through his nose. The feeling of the drugs in the smoke were still hitting him, but at a more controlled rate, since he held it in his throat rather than down in his lungs. As long as he didn't get surprised, he would be fine.

He slithered up to the throne, where the familiar, rotund figure of Prince Dumisani was lounging about. The elephant held out one hand in greeting, the other rubbing the head of a familiar monkey.

Prince Thulani, he thought, remembering the primate's name. He glanced down at the slave, no more than a cursory twitch of his head, but their eyes met.

Heh...he always was an intelligent one, from the stories. I'm glad that they were right.

It was not a full restoration, but there was awareness when he turned away. Even though the monkey's face was half-covered by the elephant's cock, there was no denying that he knew what was going on around him, now. Feeling encouraged, he brought his attention back to the prince, lowering his upper body.

"Prince Dumisssani. I appreciate your hossspitality."

"Ah, it is easy to give hospitality to someone that has been such a boon for my father's kingdom. And if you were to give us greater ways of gaining slaves, heh, I imagine your welcome could be extended to something greater."

"You honor me, Prince. I asssk only for good chambersss, ssso that I may continue my work in peace and privacy."

"You will have them. And slaves, of course. Slaves aplenty."

The naga nodded, trying to ignore the slow growth that was happening towards one end of his coils. His cocks were slowly growing outwards, getting bigger with the power of the aphrodisiacs in the smoke. He hadn't realized that the Sizwe had drugs of such potency; he would have to do something to test them out.

It didn't take long for the prince to see him enjoying himself, and the elephant chuckled.

"I see you are embracing our culture already, Prince Lorenus. Here."

Dumisani shoved the monkey off his dais, sending the primate to land in a heap in front of the naga.

"Take him. He seems to remember you. Heh. Must have made a good impression on him with your dick, huh?"

"Yessss. Mussst have."

"Go on. Fuck him. We can talk of business later."

Knowing that there was little way out of it - though appreciating the ease with which the Sizwe embraced their public sexuality - Prince Lorenus coiled around the monkey. He remembered that the last time he had used the primate that he'd had to do all the work, and this time felt like it would be much the same.

Still...it was a start.

The End