...

Soon enough, Salamanca and Sirikana arrived at the cliffside burrows where the Dunefang tribe resided. A serpentine woman wielding six swords of her own slithered over to greet them.

<Why is this Duneland man with you?> the serpentess asked.

<He is my prisoner.> Salamanca lied, <Did you not see a white haired man pass by here with two human children? He is my husband.>

<I saw him.> the serpentess admitted, <You may pass.>

<I must get permission to enter my own domain?> Salamanca questioned.

<Saphirina's orders.> the woman replied, <We are to kill any unaccompanied Dunelanders on sight.>

Sirikana tried not to make eye contact as the serpentess hissed at him. He slowly followed behind Salamanca and grabbed onto her tail, holding on as she slithered up the cliffside. She soon reached her own burrow and let Sirikana down.

"Do you know her, that woman?" Sirikana asked.

"No. She is not normally in this section of the dwellings." Salamanca explained.

Sirikana suddenly rushed down into the burrow, searching for his own children.

"Madiji! Bihali!" he called out.

<Wait!> Salamanca warned, <My husband will kill you!>

No sooner had she said this than Sirikana was suddenly tacked by six arms, four wrapped around his waist and two wrapped around his neck.

<Lecherous human scum.> Serotolo hissed.

Sirikana struggled for air as Serotolo strangled him, but he could not wrest from the serpent man's grip. Serotolo then felt something press against his own neck, a sharp metal blade.

<Let him go, Serotolo.> Salamanca warned as she held a sword to her husband's neck, <Now.>

<Are you going to kill me?> Serotolo questioned, <Your own husband? Do you want to plow with this sand man that much?>

<Think, Serotolo.> Salamanca said, <Think of our daughter. Is this what Seratala would want?>

<Seratala is a child.> Serotolo replied, <She is too young to understand what she wants.>

At that moment, little Seratala herself slithered up with a look of horror on her face.

<Mama! Papa!> she called out, <What are you doing?!>

Serotolo could not help but release his grip and Sirikana gasped for air.

<Get out of here, Seratala!> Serotolo warned, <It is not safe!>

<No, come here.> Salamanca contradicted, <You need to see this.>

Seratala heeded her curiosity and slunk over to her mother.

"Where are my children?!" Sirikana demanded.

"Papa! Papa!" called a familiar voice.

Madiji, still bloody and bruised, but not permanently damaged, rushed out from behind a boulder and collapsed in front of his father. Sirikana hugged him and checked him for injuries.

"Where is Mama?" Madiji asked.

"We will find her." Sirikana assured his son, "Are you hurt?"

"No, I was playing with that girl." Madiji replied.

Madiji pointed at Seratala and Sirikana shook his head.

"Where is your sister?" Sirikana asked.

"Bihali is being mean." Madiji said, "She pushed me and won't play."

Sirikana followed his son to a small corner of the burrow where Bihali was huddled alone, shaking and wiping her tears. Sirikana motioned for his daughter to come to him but she shook her head.

"You love the snake demon more than you love Mama." Bihali said.

"That is not true." Sirikana lied.

"It is true!" Bihali screamed, "You are an infidel!"

"Who do you call infidel, girl?" Sirikana warned.

He raised his hand to slap his daughter who cowered in fear but then stopped himself.

What am I? he wondered, I really am an infidel.

"I want Mama!" Bihali sobbed, "I want to go home!"

Sirikana turned away in shame as Madiji reached out and clutched his sister's hand. Bihali started to brush him away but then patted his hair and attempted to smile.

<Die, wretched human!> a faint female voice shouted in serpentine.

Sirikana recognized the voice as belonging to the serpentess sentry and ran as fast as he could out of the burrow. Salamanca and Serotolo just barely had time to catch up with him as the human man managed to skid down the cliffside by himself.

The serpentess sentry raised her six swords to strike down a belligerent human woman, Liyahara, who had finally caught up to her family. Sirikana jerked one of the snake woman's arms.

<Get away from my wife!> he ordered in the serpent's tongue.

<Unhand me!> the serpentess shouted as she flung Sirikana to the ground.

Sirikana and Liyahara, husband and wife, grabbed the snake woman's wrists in unison but they could not stop six blades at once. Just as the pair thought they were about to be cut to pieces, the snake woman herself screamed and crumpled into a puddle of blood, crushed by a large falling boulder.

The two Dunelanders looked up, grateful that their lives had been spared, only to find Salamanca looking down at them. She had loosened the boulder with her tail and now appeared to be trembling in shock.

<I killed her.> Salamanca repeated, <I'm a murderer. I killed her.>

This was the first time in Salamanca's life she had ever killed a fellow serpentine.

<What have you done, woman?!> Serotolo realized in dread, <Saphirina will kill us all!>

Salamanca slithered down the cliffside as fast as her tail could manage and headed toward the sunset, paying no mind to anyone around her.

<Mama!> Seratala called out, <Come back!>

<Stay inside, Seratala.> Serotolo instructed, <Mama will be back in a little while.>

Serotolo caught Bihali and Mahdi in his tail again and brought them gently down off the cliffside into their parents arms. He stared down Sirikana intently, who merely stared back, and both men made a silent agreement to never see each other's families again.

As night fell on the desert, Salamanca was still wandering around in guilt and confusion, not realizing how far she had trailed off. She was a great distance from the serpentine caves and could faintly hear the sound of shuffling footsteps in front of her. She peered into the distance with her snake eyes and saw what she thought to be a great crowd of Rosemarblian knights.

<The army of Rosemarble?> she questioned, <Do they seek to conquer Duneland at last?>

Upon closer inspection, Salamanca realized that the knights were not from Rosemarble at all. As the crowd of soldiers stepped into the moonlight, the serpentess saw that they were all tan skinned males in crested helmets. They wore a puffy yellow uniform with a brass breastplate and most of them had thick facial hair. The men all wielded large pikes and seemed to be infinite in number. Salamanca attempted to flee but found herself frozen in fear and facination. As soon as the first man caught sight of her, he gasped and defensively aimed his pike at her. The other men soon did the same and Salamanca found herself surrounded.

"What are you, monster?" the first man demanded in a language Salamanca did not understand.

"Is that a woman?" another man questioned.

"It has six arms." yet another man observed, "And scarlet hair. How unnatural."

"It is a serpentine." a fourth man said, stepping forward, "They were driven from Mancanan lands long ago."

The fourth man stepped forward and sneered at the serpentess. He had a piercing bronze gaze and a moustache that curved all the way up to his hair. He seemed to be in charge of the others as he wore a full suit of elaborate armor and his helmet held a red plume. At his side was a weapon that Salamanca did not recognize, a flintlock pistol.

"I am Horatio Valdez." the man announced, "Captain of the grand Mancanan Empire. You do not understand me, monster?"

<Stay away from me!> Salamanca hissed, baring her fangs.

Valez instinctively reached for his already loaded pistol and cocked back the hammer. Salamanca swiped at him with her tail, spraying dust in his eyes. Valdez fired and smoke and spark rang out. A small ball of shot hit Salamanca right in her upper left shoulder. The serpentess snarled in pain as blood gushed out. She clutched the wounded limb with all three of her right arms and collasped in the dust.

"She is our prisoner." Valdez decided, "I would like to study her. It is a rare thing to see a live serpentine."

"Are they going to attack us?" a soldier asked.

"Even if they did, they are a primitive folk, few in number." Valdez assessed, "We could easily overpower them. And besides, we are on a mission from God."

"What are you orders, captain?" another soldier inquired.

"Chain up the prisoner and drag her along." Valdez said, "She may be of use in negotiating with these creatures."

"Yes, captain." the soldier said.

A large group of soldiers retrieved chains and shackles from one of their several carriages. All six of the serpentine's arms were chained at her back. A soldier acting as surgeon poured part of a bottle of wine into Salamanca's wound and the other part into her mouth. She spat it back out at him and he slapped her, taking a small set of pliers from a pouch and ripping out the small iron ball from her shoulder. The serpentess snarled again and tried to bite the surgeon but yet another soldier forced a horse's bit into her mouth. Salamanca could now not even swallow and a mixture of spit and tears ran down her cheeks. The surgeon crudely wrapped up the wounded shoulder with rags as the other men dragged Salamanca by her chains.

The Mancanan soldiers made camp for the night, each small unit of men forming their own campfires with kindling and flint. Salamanca was confined to Valdez's own unit. He had already taken to drawing a sketch of her as part of his study notes, analyzing her anatomy.

"Six functional arms that all work independently, three on each side." he mused, "Two where a normal human's would be placed, two jutting out beside the ribcage, and two jutting out beside the stomach. A complex, flowing spine and ribcage, much longer than a human's, ending at the tip of a tail. A viper fused with an almost human, certainly one of God's stranger creations. What say you, creature?"

All Salamanca could do with the bit still in her mouth was hiss and sputter defiantly until Valdez retired to his tent and the serpentess cried herself to sleep. A short time later, before she could even dream, Salamanca was violently awakened by a fierce-looking soldier with a knife to her throat.

"Keep quiet, she-creature, or I'll slit your throat." the man threatened, "I've been with many a woman, but nothing quite like you, and I intend to find out what it's like."

Salamanca did not realize what the man meant until he began to disrobe and she writhed in fear and fury. No one, not even a Dunelander, had dared try to rape her and had she not been bound she would have torn the man open from groin to throat.

Even in chains, Salamanca managed to beat the man off of her, cutting his lip and eye. This only made him angry enough to kill her and he raised his knife.

"I'll carve out your slit viper eyes, perra." the man whispered.

The rapist was about to make good on his word when he felt a knife at his own throat. He started to turn around and saw that it was a fellow soldier.

"You would kill me over a woman, Soto?" the man wondered.

"Not me." Soto said, "Captain's orders."

Valdez had been awakened by the commotion and was standing behind Soto with his pistol drawn.

"I've loaded another shot." Valdez warned the rapist, "I have not yet decided whether to shoot you or the woman."

"Captain...captain..." the man pleaded, "I was just having a bit of fun. We've scarcely even seen a woman for weeks."

"I do not know what other captains allow, but as for my men, we serve God and king." Valdez said, "Not our base desires."

"But she is not even human!" the man argued.

"All the more reason then not to know her." Valdez said, "Flog him."

"What?!" the man shouted, "A flogging?!"

"Speak out of turn again and I'll have you hung." Valdez said, "What is your name, soldier?"

"Vasquez. Penyo Vasquez." the man scowled.

"Well, Señor Vasquez..." Valdez announced, "As penance, you are to be flogged ten times. If such behavior repeats itself, you will be either emasculated or hung, depending on the severity. Is that understood?"

"Yes, captain." Vasquez said, "Soto?"

"I'm sorry." Soto said as he stripped Vasquez of his clothes and retrieved a whip.

Vasquez screamed with every crack as the whip cut into his back, leaving it raw and bloodied. When the ten stripes were over, Vasquez sulked as Valdez stepped over to Salamanca.

"My apologies, mujer." he said, "Do not think this is what I allow of my men. I believe in faith and discipline, not indulgence."

Salamanca could not understand Valdez's words but still considered them insufficient. She imagined a far more severe punishment for the man who had dared touch her as well as what she would have her fellow serpents dole out to all of the arrogant strangers.