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Serpentine Adventure

S hriszra lounged on her bed of ruby corals, pondering on how far she came since that day at her father’s palace. She remembered the fear that slithered through every part of her being on the way to the shimmering gates, the intimidation as she swam towards the looming walls that surrounded the crystal palace, the apprehension when the waters grew colder once she entered inside the home of her father.

And the freezing terror that gripped her when SeaLord laid out his plans for her. Even now, months after she saved hundreds of humans from the clutches of death, the same fear churned within her gut, as if it was a living entity that never truly left her. SeaLord, against all other expectations -save for Shriszra’s- recognized victory when he saw it. For him, an alliance with the HighPrince of commerce yielded far more than years of lost lives and closed trade routes.

Through her selflessness and compassion for the human race, Shriszra placed the first stone in the foundations of peace when she stood up against the commanding officer of his father’s killing squad, an unruly serpent named Nagash who made himself scarce after his defeat. He had been forgotten, while Shriszra reaped the laurels of her victory. As a boon for her newfound strength, her father dissolved all the threats, the deals, and the curses he unleashed upon her during that fateful day. Shriszra was no longer forced to mate with a male serpent against her own will. She did not even need to renounce her affections to Edward, provided they kept their love secret.

Life had been good since that day. Too good. In moments like these, when peace of mind kept her sailing in a cocoon of perpetual happiness, Shriszra wondered how her life would have looked if she bowed her head before Nagash.

The female serpent rolled onto her back, allowing the corals to spread around her sapphire scaled back. The gentle nubs of the ruby corals rubbed along her scaly hide like the touch of her beloved mate. Why think of what could have been, when she could focus on better prospects, like Edward’s presence deep within her cold, needy body?

Shriszra let out a whine filled with longing. Her mate’s presence had been sorely missed for the past two days. Love had no place in war, her father would say. Feelings distract you from your true purpose. They make a warrior hesitate, and on the field of battle, even the slightest hesitation leads to death.

Much as she disagreed with her sire, Shriszra understood the importance of focus, especially now, when she was a step away from climbing further onto the path to peace.

But it was hard. Too hard, when her mind so easily flew back in the warm embrace of her mate. The feel of Edward’s deft hands slithering down her body, the hard embrace of his muscular arms, and his hard, throbbing member lodged deep inside her cold pussy lips made Shriszra shudder with pleasure even in the absence of a partner. The mere thought of Edward’s hot seed pumping through her vagina, sending ripples of living heat along the tense, nerve-packed surface of her flesh made her puff up and wetten in an instant. Shriszra found the tip of her tail gently glide within her receptive crevice, not as warm as his mate’s cock, yet good enough to relive some of the best moments of her life.

Shriszra thrust. Her eyelids fluttered over her amber colored eyes. The sensation felt far better than she expected. Her sensitive pussy found no shortage of stimulation upon the various ridges of her tail tip. Trapped from all sides like a dragon whining within the wet depths of his first mate, she throbbed, and throbbed, and throbbed, stoking the fires burning within her enlarging clit.

“Merffff,” Shriszra clenched her jaws. She was so close. So incredibly close to pour her love in the suckling jaws of her mate.

“Your brightness?” A voice called.

Shriszra whirled. The image of Edward suckling onto her clit dissipated as corals snapped and broke around her clumsy body. The voice. It was too loud to be a whisper of her mind. Too coarse for Edward’s gentle lips.

“Brightness, the rest of the group is almost assembled. We request your-“

“Yessss, yessssssssss.” Shriszra waved the gray serpent off with a flick of her tail. “Give me a moment to prepare. The plan…I had a big plan ssssstuck in my tail. Head. In my…head.”

The serpent left before he was able to finish. Storms! He probably did not even care for an explanation when the commander of his pod, one of the HighFather’s own daughters, lay with her belly up and her tail tip deep within her own gender.

“I shouldn’t have done that. I should not have done that.” Shriszra wandered around her room with her flushed pussy still leaking wisps of inner pleasure. The mantra followed along with the efforts to coax her unwanted arousal back from where it came from. There was nothing more effective than coarse sand to rub lust off. With gritted jaws, Shriszra pushed her vent up against the seafloor and thrust herself gently back and forth along the soft sand, enduring the waves of rippling discomfort that saw her lips harden and become even with the rest of her underside again.

“Nofu,” she called to the young grey male as she rushed after the messenger. She had met Nofu a handful of times in the coral market. He was a serpent of scant years with simple ambitions, certainly not deserving to catch his princess like…that.

“Nofu, wait.” Shriszra’s voice grew more desperate.

The serpent slowed down to allow her to finally catch up with him. “How many arrived?” Shriszra deviated the topic to the mission at hand.

“All of them, apart from the two of us.” Nofu’s blue eyes gazed in the distance, to the outlines of about a dozen serpents clustered together. “Tharg was supposed to grab your tail, but he started challenging us at tail wrestling, and you know how I feel about losing to a fellow kelp nibbler.”

Shriszra sketched a wry smile. If it wasn’t for his dull color, the young serpent could’ve passed for one of her younger brothers. “Nofu…I must know something before we join the others. How much did you see?”

“Of your home?” The youngling smiled. “It looks tidy. My bed is twice smaller than yours. Father says that sleeping coiled strengthens your muscles so he abhors comfort. We’re also saving for a moonsilver enclosure. They’re starting to move into human controlled waters, and my father thinks the only ones that remain will be bred in captivity.”

“No, I meant…how much you’ve sssseen of…me.” Shriszra stuttered a bit. She hated asking something in such a blunt way, though with Nofu, one could not simply beat around the bush.

“I…I just came to tell you that-”

“Never mind.”

“Are you well?” the curious leviathan cocked his head. “You do look a bit tired now that I look at you. Was that why you lingered in your bed? Are you feeling ill? That why you said your mind is… never?”

Shriszra smacked his head with a flipper. “No, that’s a term humanssss use when they wish to get out of a ssssstrange conversation. I am more than well, my friend.”

“Oh, like let it swim away from your mind. Why couldn’t you say that instead?”

“Exactly. My point precisssely. I have been doing extenssssive reading on human customssss for the past yearsss. I sssometimes forget not every sssssserpent is accustomed to their verbal habits. But let us not waste time any further. We must join the otherssss, and on the way there, perhaps you can tell me how a Chaddsm Dweller managed to entangle that witty tail of yoursss.”

The two serpents shared a few brief tales on the way to the small group that awaited their arrival. Twenty five serpents SeaLord had granted for this journey. The first group that swam forth to greet Shriszra were the warriors. Garbed in metal armor inscribed with the green runes of a novice, these aspirants were led by Tharg, a serpent who too was beneath the rank of a crystal armor bearer. Though he was black in color, with a grey belly and white stripes along the sides, concealed under pristine metal plates, very little of Tharg reminded Shriszra of Nagash. Neither cocky nor with a mind for war, Tharg was actually the first male serpent that befriended Edward, and he insisted to accompany Shriszra on this journey on account of the close ties with her human mate.

“Shriszra!” he said with his scruffy voice. “It’s good to finally receive you. If we waited any longer, we would’ve found you fused with those damned ruby corals you fancy.” The serpent grasped Shriszra’s tail tight in his serpentine embrace. Shriszra expected a warm greeting, but not a thorough embrace. “The body of a warrior, eh?” Tharg nuzzled her neck fondly, slowly climbing towards her ear, where he dimmed his voice to a mere whisper. “This how you slapped that loud-mouthed bastard Nagash over the head? By stuffing his vent with your tail?”

That jest made Shriszra redden from snout to tail. Fortunately, nobody else seemed to have paid attention. After she parted ways with Tharg, the rest of the warriors moved in to greet her in turns, shaking tails, and, to those she knew personally, Shriszra also nuzzled them under the jaw, a sign of both trust and fondness for their loyalty. With that done, the warriors took positions around the caravan made of floating crates filled to the brim with corals of all colors, dull spheres, kelp, crystals, and other serpent goods. Tribute, her father called it. Shriszra preferred to look at the goods more as an investment towards lasting peace.

“Where’s the princess? Come on. Sod off. Up you go. Outta my way.” A burly serpent pushed his way through the crowd until he came face to face with the surprised Shriszra.

“Orzen?”

The dark green beast whose name she mentioned scoffed. “Heard you’d be leadin’ this bunch of miscreants, but I never figured you’d have the stomach for it. Come on now. Suppose you’d want to take a look at what my crafters put in these crates.”

Shriszra followed the largest serpent of the group to the back of the caravan.

“So? Wha’d ya think?” Orzen had a weird accent for a serpent. After living part of his life in human waters, the old male acquired a couple of their mannerisms, the most obvious being the way he chopped words like human sailors.

“It’s…brilliant,” Shriszra said. “Fine work. The besssst I have ssseen.” She mumbled praise after praise before the brightening eyes of the other, younger crafters, though that did little to lift Orzen’s spirits. He pulled Shriszra by her tail behind a boulder, where he pressed his much larger snout against hers. “Listen here, lass. Stuffing my ears to the brim with sweetness won’t change my mind about these humans o’yours. The bastards are going to put their greasy, stubby hands on these crystals with the intent to twist ‘em against us.”

Shriszra nodded her head. “I understand the risk.”

“Do you?” Orzen’s snout pressed her back against the rock. “There is a spark of courage in these eyes, and fear. I suggest you listen to the latter. Humans. Can’t. Be. Trusted.”

Shriszra conceded for the time being. There was little use to debate that point. The grumpy craftsman had been one of the most illustrious metal shapers in the employ of SeaLord until age dulled his mind. Or so it had been said among the serpents. A few rumors spoke of a more tragic story, of betrayal and loss. Either way, Shriszra hardly expected to see such a rugged veteran here on a simple mission he did not even believe in. Why not retreat towards warmer seas to live the rest of his days in peace, like other elderly serpents?

“Don’t pay mind to Orzen’s blabbering. He’s got a hide as tough as the metals he works with.” The voice of an approaching male distracted Shriszra from her musings.

“Ferlian,” she eyed the bare, brown body of the young male.

“Surprised to see me?”

“Not at all.” Shriszra pulled him into a coily embrace. Ferlian was one of Kernan’s youngest, and a gentle soul with a mind for peace, both between serpents and humans, and between SeaLord’s youngest and the kelp collectors. After Shriszra entered back in her father’s good graces, Kernan was quick to express his innermost regret for tarnishing her name. And what better way to atone for his sins than to entrust his own son to this journey?

“You’re welcome amongst ussss, Ferlian. How are the coralsss looking?”

“Fresh and brilliant, grown under the caring eyes of my family.”

“Good. We need to make an outstanding impression if we are to open back the trade routessss closed by my brother’s conquestsssss.”

Ferlian nodded. “The man that will meet us. This Tharazim. Is he as open minded to an alliance as they say?”

“The White Dove has maintained peace among the HighPrinces for more years than some of us lived. He will not falter now when the future of his town is at sssstake. Come. All of you,” Shriszra addressed the rest of the group. “We have a long journey ahead of ussss, and we should make haste if we are to reach the port by midday.”

The magical brightspheres blazed with power as the carts they were encrusted upon settled into motion. Shriszra swam at the front of the caravan with the other leaders at the sides. She imagined her father would have been proud to see how much she evolved from the fearful serpent that bowed at the foot of his throne. Their destination was Khar’Valeigh, a coastal town that fell under the jurisdiction of the HighPrince of commerce. The HighPrince himself had an audacious mind for trade, so SeaLord did his utmost to obtain an audience with the next best man in line. Tharazim. A man whose family was the town of Khar’Valeigh itself.

“My princess, look there. Serpents, in the distance.”

Shriszra perked her head up. Two scouts blasted their way through the water like arrows, their camouflage making them almost invisible among the vegetation of the seabed.

Something felt wrong. They swam too fast, with bitter purpose. “Wait here.”

Shriszra swam ahead of the caravan to avoid spreading panic amongst her followers.

“Princess, you need to turn back right now.” One of the scared leviathan warned.

“Why?” Shriszra inquired.

“Because…” the two scouts stared into each other’s eyes. “You are going to treat with Vegrauhn, scourge of the blue seas.”

Vegrauhn. Captain. Admiral. Conqueror. Pirate. There were many words to describe the man. Kind was not among them.

“You musssst be misssstaken. Vegrauhn has a mind for war, not for peace. Why would-”

“The White Dove has been summoned to the King’s Keep to attend urgent matters. Khar’Valeigh is not safe. Not when it fell into the hands of a beast that-“

“I know what he did to our kind, my friend. Believe me, I fully underssssstand your concerns, but I can not tell my sssserpents to turn tail now when we are so close to mend the rift that’s been bleeding the heart of our seassss.”

Shriszra surprised herself. Was it really her who spoke such brave, emboldening words? Images flashed through her mind of terrified humans screaming for help amidst the wreckages created by Nagash’s bloodlust. Then the tide shifted. She saw the future, her own serpents perishing under the tridents of Vegrauhn’s army.

What had more power? The past, or the present?

“Princess, pardon for interfering, but the words that come out of your mouth are those of a warrior. Put this matter to vote. If your followers share your confidence, then we will obey with whatever course of action you decide.”

Shriszra took the scout’s warnings to heart. She conferred with her pod. She knew the warriors would stand by her side, but she was surprised to see the kelp collectors and even the crystal crafters support her risky decision to press onwards. The serpents had their own reasons to see this task reach its end. Only Orzen wrinkled his snout in dismay.

“You are going to regret this, lass.” He swam to the tail of the caravan, making himself unnoticed, as if he refused to be part of the events set in motion.

To Be Continued...

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