by M. Coulray
“Now cut me,” said Votess. Immediately Krees thrust the spear forward, aiming at one of the deformed scales on Votess’ chest. I felt that was cheating a little, but the spear tip skittered across her scales, not catching even in the grooves where they overlaid each other.
The two wise ones looked at each other again. One of them, I didn’t catch which one, spoke.
“It must die.”
9
“Wait, what?” The words escaped me before I could stop myself.
Votess hissed at me and pushed me down to kneeling again. I tried to rise, but her powerful grip on my head held me down.
“I do not agree.” I looked up as much as I could. It was Telix speaking. “It can speak our language and use magic. It is clearly of the Goddess.”
“It is a perversion, a Scaleless that uses trickery to pervert itself.” Krees filled her tone with contempt. My chances at living through this were slipping away fast, it seemed.
“No Scaleless has ever spoken to us before. Even so, simply speaking to us could be a Scaleless trick, I agree. What else do you know, Votess?” While she spoke, Telix was prodding me. Without my shield, her talons were uncomfortably sharp.
My captor released her grip on my head. “It saved me during the summoning of the lost one. It cast its magic on me and saved me from regrowing my limb, if I survived at all. It ran to me with my weapon and armed me when I was unable to arm myself. I believe that this Scaleless is sent from the Goddess. How else could it speak our tongue?”
“You overstep your position, daughter,” said Krees. “Are you a wise one now?”
“No, Mother. But I was taught by the wise ones, by you, that only the swamp folk know speech and community. This Scaleless knows these things. It saved me from the lost one. I do not believe I would have returned.”
Krees considered me. “I think it saved you to save itself.” I kept my expression fixed. That was pretty much exactly the truth. “It smells like every other Scaleless. Like weakness and warm blood that cools after it dies.”
“Enough. Tell us what you know, Scaleless.” I opened my mouth to begin, and Telix fixed me with the glare of her vertically slit eyes. “Tell us everything. How you arrived in the swamp, why you aided Votess, and why you can speak our tongue when your mouth is the wrong shape.”
“If you lie, my daughter will kill you here and your body will sink to the bottom of the swamp.” Krees clearly hoped for me to give her an excuse to order just that.
So, without holding anything back, I told Telix and Krees everything. I started at the beginning. I told them about my accident, about being crippled, and about the miserable life that had laid ahead of me. I told them about the offer to live a new life, in a new world, and how this was that world. I told them about falling from the sky, and finding my way to the log path, and about how when I'd gotten to what Votess called the ritual circle, I'd met her there.
Here and there, both Telix and Krees peppered me with questions. They asked about why I could speak their language, and I explained my Gift of Tongues ability. They asked why I was armed in the swamp, and I told them that I had arrived in this world armed and didn’t mean them in particular any harm. They asked which God or Goddess gave me the ability to cast spells, and that I couldn't answer. As far as I knew my magical ability was inherent.
Neither of them seemed to understand the idea of the other world, or what I thought of as the real world, as being anything other than metaphor. I gave up on trying to explain it after a few fruitless attempts. Happily, they both seemed willing to accept that aspect of my story.
"Why did you help Votess?" This question came from Krees.
"To be honest, it was as you said earlier. I knew if she didn't win her fight against whatever that was, that I would be next, and I didn't think I could beat it."
"But you didn't fight." It wasn't a question. Her unblinking eyes stared through me.
She had me there. "I didn't, but I'm not really much of a fighter. I know the very basics of knife fighting, but I thought that rather than try to protect myself I’d protect Votess so her chances would improve.” I fervently hoped saving her daughter had won me some points with the unfriendly and untrusting Krees, but I wasn’t holding my breath.
The two wise ones nodded and gestured for me to continue. Only, really, there wasn't much else to say. I told them how I got here, and what I'd done since I arrived, but they seem to want more. I raised my eyes to to them. "I don't know what else to tell you."
Krees slapped the wooden floor with her tail. "Tell us why you are here, Scaleless. Tell us what you've come to take from us.”
"Nothing! I haven't come to take anything. I don't even know what there is to take. Right now I'm just trying to survive the next five minutes.” They had asked me to be honest.
Telix and Krees said nothing. Votess stood beside me, her grip on my head having relaxed long ago. I didn't dare stand, but the tension that had dominated the room had lessened somewhat since I started telling my tale.
When someone did speak, it was Telix. "The Scaleless hasn't told us any lies."
"That doesn't mean it's told us everything," said Krees. The hiss in her voice still carried suspicion.
"What can I do to help myself?" I hoped like hell that the points I’d spent in Diplomacy were working overtime right now.
The two wise ones favoured me with their gaze. Telix spoke. "You are Scaleless, but you speak our language. You do not know our Goddess, but you use magic. Tell me what else you can do."
"As I said, I know the very basics of fighting with a short blade." I drew my knife half out of its sheath, and was dismayed to notice that the rust had spread. By the end of the day, I expected the blade to be utterly worthless. There had to be something magical in these mists. "I also can cast barrier magic, creating protective barriers around myself or another target. I can cook, and I know the basics of alchemy, although I don't have any ingredients."
"What is cook?" The question came from Krees. Curiosity filled her voice.
It was a little strange having to explain cooking to a clearly civilized culture, but it seemed that the swamp folk ate nothing but meat, and ate it raw. The concept of fire as a useful tool for food preparation completely eluded them. However, once I explained that it would be possible to create food that might assist their warriors or healers, albeit in only some small way, they became interested.
Alchemy, on the other hand, was something familiar to them. Both Telix and Krees were rather advanced in the skill, as it turned out. Apparently the lizard folk, being unable to cast magic of their own, had become quite skilled in the use of the products of the swamp to cure ills and assist in healing injury.
I didn't speak right then about my abilities in trade and diplomacy. The former I thought was probably not relevant, and the latter, well, I couldn't think of a good way to describe it that didn't immediately make me come off as manipulative or dishonest, so I kept it to myself. Once I was finished talking, another silence settled over the room.
"Take the Scaleless outside," said Krees. "We will discuss what is to become of it."
"Yes, wise ones," said Votess. She lifted me, not gently, up from my kneeling position and we left the room. The moment we got outside, the five guards that it waited that had previously left the room filed back in. The two guards guarding the door gazed at me with suspicion. It seemed that the inner guards hadn't kept their mouths shut about me.
Votess poked me in the back with the butt of her spear, marching me down away from any other lizard men. Once we she judged we were out of earshot, she turned to me and spoke. "I hope they choose to let you live, Scaleless, although I don't know what you will do in our village.”
"I hope they choose to let me live too," I said with genuine feeling.
Votess tilted her head at me. Then her mouth opened and her tongue flicked out, and she made a strange, chattering hiss. It took me a moment to realize she was laughing. "I like you, Scaleless, and not just because you
helped me with the lost one.”
That wasn't the first time she'd referred to the degenerated lizardman as a lost one. "Can I ask what that was? The lost one?“
Votess's face became serious. "The lost ones were like us, only when our Goddess was taken from us, they lost themselves to despair. We choose to wait for her return, but they stayed underground, seeking her out. When the swamp came and flooded our ancient home, they lost all semblance of civilization. Now there are insane and the strange energies of the underground have changed them. They no longer have language, only anger."
"What happened to your Goddess?"
"Many clutches before I was born, our Goddess was taken from us." Votess opened her mouth and she bared her teeth at me. "It was Scaleless that invaded us, and hid our Goddess from us. That is why we may yet kill you."
Great. Instead of winding up in a comfy house, with a nice warm fire and a shop to run, I'd fallen face first into a swamp and landed myself on the wrong end of an ancient grudge.
“Why were you at the pool?”
“I was sent there. It is not your concern.”
Something, I don't know what, alerted Votess, and she tilted her head as if listening. She turned and poked me in the ribs with the butt of her spear again. "Come. We return to speak with the wise ones."
Oh boy. The jury was back. Time to receive the verdict.
10
Once again I entered the pentagonal room. I wasn’t sure if I should think of it as an audience chamber, a throne room, or what. The guards stood in their corners, silent and still, holding their spears at a relatively non-threatening angle.
Votess moved behind me and I knelt down quickly to spare myself more bruising from her damned spear. A quiet noise from her told me I’d acted well. The prompt I’d received earlier blinked again. I left it alone.
“Do you wish to live in Goddess Watch, Scaleless?”
I looked up despite knowing better. It had been Krees that spoke. Beside her, Telix looked at me.
“I’d rather live here than die, if that makes any sense.” I knew I’d respawn if I croaked, but I also knew from countless bug bites and blows from Votess and her spear that dying was unlikely to be a painless process.
“A good answer. Honest.” Telix nodded at me. “We grant you one month. Find purpose in Goddess Watch. Votess will watch over you.”
Votess hissed behind me. “Yes, Telix. Will it stay in my home with me?”
“He,” I said. “I’m a he, not an it.”
The three lizard folk stared at me. Votess chittered that staccato laugh. “It— he thought I was male until I told him about my time before my name.”
Telix and Krees looked down at me and flicked their tongues. “How could we have known you were male, Scaleless? Your scent is meaningless to us. You will not take offence,” said Krees.
“No, of course not,” I said. “Just, you know, clearing things up.”
“Indeed.” Telix nodded at me and waved her clawed hand in a gesture of dismissal. Votess helped me up, much more gently than before. Something nagged at me.
“Wait. You said you grant me one month. What happens after that? What do I need to do in that month?”
“You must earn a name and find purpose in Goddess Watch. You have forty days. If you fail we will take you deep into the swamp and leave you there.”
“To die,” added Krees helpfully.
Great.
“He can live in my home until he finds his way,” said Votess. “I have room on the floor. The Scaleless will learn our ways.”
Five minutes later, I was in front of Votess’ home. She lived in a small hut, attached to two others and surrounding a sturdy tree. The roof was covered in large, waxy-looking leaves. The door was a sizeable piece of tanned hide that hung from above the frame, weighted at the bottom with wood sewn into it. As usual, the walls were formed of vertical logs, and the whole affair sat about seven feet over the ground level.
Votess pulled aside the hide door and gestured with her clawed hands. “Enter. Be welcome, Scaleless.”
I entered. Votess didn’t go in much for furniture. Her home had a wide bed covered in hides, some of which were furred. Beside it was a rack that I soon saw was to hold spears, as Votess put her weapon in it. The floor was at least finished, with the logs planed down to a flat surface. Two of the ghost lights illuminated the space. I stepped across the room and stood against the wall.
“Where can I put my bed?”
Votess tilted her head at me. “I do not have a bed for you. I will ask the makers to build one, although it may be small.”
“Actually, I don’t need a bed made, at least not yet.” I accessed my inventory and pulled out my bedroll. Votess hissed in surprise.
“Where did you keep that?”
Hmm. Seemed that they didn’t have the same kind of inventory that I had. “It’s… a sort of magic, that keeps things in a hidden space. I can’t cast it or make more,” I said quickly, remembering that the lizard folk seemed especially interested in magic. “It’s something that I was given when I arrived, and I can’t give it away.”
Votess nodded her understanding. “Many gifts are bound to the recipient. This is nothing unusual.” She watched with interest as I spread out my bedroll. I tried to remember what I’d learned in Scouts about protecting myself from the cold ground, but the logs seemed somehow much warmer than expected.
“Thank you for your hospitality, Votess,” I said politely. Before today, I never would have thought of simply sleeping indoors as a blessing.
“The wise ones commanded it,” she replied. Well, that was true, but I still felt I owed her some gratitude.
“Can you please explain something to me? What exactly is so special about being named?”
“Hmm. Your people do not value names?”
“They aren’t earned, if that’s what you mean.” I was careful not to overstep, although something told me that now that I was provisionally accepted, I could get away with a bit more.
“Odd. How does anyone know who is proven and who is not? Never mind, the ways of the Scaleless are of no concern to me.” Votess settled on her bed. “Every one of the people are born nameless. Until then, scent and birth identify the individual. Son or daughter and clutch, and mother’s name.”
“Not the father’s name?”
“It is much easier to know one’s mother than one’s father. It is the mother who births the clutch, after all.”
“What if the mother hasn’t earned a name?”
Votess stared at me. “No one without a name may have children.”
“But what if they did?”
“Exile, or even execution. It has not happened in… I do not know when it happened last, if ever.”
I shuddered slightly. “So if you are an adult and don’t earn a name, you are exiled?”
Votess shook her head. “No. Some adults remain nameless for some time. Someone might attempt to learn a craft, find themselves unsuited, and then take up a different craft after their apprenticeship. Such a person would earn a name later in life, and so would be a nameless adult until then. They are not despised,” she added. “Some die never having earned a name, but they are not despised either. Their line dies out, if they are female. That is a sadness to us all.”
It seemed like I was a special case, and not in the good way. “So most of the people get years to practice and learn and then they have a sort of test?”
“Yes. A Master of the path that the individual walks must decide if they are ready to take up their name. Then their mother names them, or if she is dead, the Master names them. I trained for five years with spear and claw to earn my name. I was slower than most, faster than some. Woodworkers earn their names in two years, three at the most. Others, such as alchemists and boneforgers , may require ten or more years of service before they believe their apprentices to be ready.”
Great. I had a month to do what took a lizardman years. I knew griping about it wouldn’t help my position,
so I kept my bitching to myself and changed the topic.
“Not to be rude, but how does eating work around here? Like, is it communal, or individual, or what?” I was absolutely famished.
Votess tilted her head at me. “If you are hungry, we can get food. Come.” She exited the house and I followed.
[Adjusted relationship with Votess]
Positive factors:
Respectful to the Wise Ones
Accepted the chance to earn a Name
Charisma modifier
Negative factors:
Not of Lizardman Remnant race
Final result: Your relationship with Votess has improved from Apathy to Accepted.
As we walked around, Votess made it clear that as an unnamed Scaleless, I was likely to be somewhat of a curiosity around the village. However, she made it equally clear that no harm would come to me as long as I didn’t invite it. I gave silent thanks again for my Diplomacy skill, because I was going to need to avoid stepping on any scaly toes. Or tails, for that matter.
As we walked I noticed more lizard folk had come out. I kept my gaze down, but Votess forcibly raised my head. “You are not a prisoner any longer. Walk with pride and do not fear to look in the eyes of the people.”
I did just that. Trying to tease out emotional expression from the scaled faces of the villagers was challenging, but none of them seemed to be aggressive. Votess explained that by now, the word of the wise ones would have spread to most of the villagers simply by strength of rumour.
“But I will make an announcement at the place we eat,” she said. “You are to be one of us for a month, at least, so everyone must know.”
As we walked, I called up the prompts that had appeared while we were talking with Krees and Telix.
[Skill-specific experience gained.]
Diplomacy 2: 45% towards next level.
Warning! If this skill is levelled directly with points, partial gains will be lost.
