[CHAPTER 13.1: THE SNAKES]
"Return to the Snake Castle with me."
"Whaaaat...?!"
"We are still in Ra's territory. If I expose myself in this state, I will die immediately. The safest way for me to return is bringing you along. That tiger will not attack recklessly knowing you are still in Moro's hand," Tayen explained calmly, "I can guarantee your safety. My people will not do you harm and you will be treated as my honorable guest."
"And you won't let me leave after that."
"You may leave when I am fully recovered. I give you my word. I will have my people escort you back to the Ra border."
That sounded too good to be true. But can she trust a snake?
"On one condition," Bella responded after considering for a few minutes, "you will not engage in any war with Gaharu while I'm there. Halt all attacks on Ra."
"Deal."
*****
"My lord!"
Gaharu turned around with an annoying look on his fierce handsome face. He was discussing matters with Sora and several other subordinates in the meeting hall when a messenger brought news from the east border.
"Lord... Lord Gaharu..." Bane, the ox soldier was panting frantically.
"Speak." Gaharu said coldly.
"Tayen... Tayen has returned!"
"What?!" Sora was also shocked to hear the news.
"Here..." Bane handed over a scroll of animal skin to Gaharu.
As he was reading the letter written on the animal skin, Gaharu gritted his teeth in anger. He growled furiously then smashed the animal skin onto the floor.
"My lord..." Sora went to pick up the piece of animal skin on the floor and read it. He gasped as he read the content.
"What does it say, general?" Satria walked over and asked.
"Lady Bella is in their hands. No attacks should be made between our tribes during this period. They will escort her to the border safe and sound after three full moons." Sora murmured in disbelief.
Apparently, Tayen had returned to the Moro's main with Bella beside him. Tayen proposed a temporary truce with Gaharu, and would guarantee Bella's safety during her time there.
"I do not understand... What tricks are they trying to pull?" Satria asked again, shaking his head. His eyes were full of worries for Bella. He wished he could just barge into the Moro's main and rescue her right now.
"Summon Abnaki for me." Gaharu said in a restrained breath.
"Yes, my lord."
*****
Snake Castle
Bella was quite surprised that Tayen actually did what she had asked. From what she had heard about him was that he was a cold-blooded snake, cunning and couldn't be trusted.
Bella's eyes widened as she stared at the huge gatehouse guarded by several soldiers and giant komodo dragons. She had agreed to follow Tayen back to the Moro's main. They were escorted by many beastmen soldiers in black armors.
"Welcome back, Lord Tayen!"
As soon as Tayen walked into the castle with Bella, several rows of servants and guards bowed their heads in the grand hall, welcoming Tayen.
Unlike the Tiger Palace, the Snake Castle was a huge stronghold, with giant stone walls and guarded by hundreds of giant komodo dragons. There were ten times more servants and guards too compared to the Tiger Palace. The stronghold also had a modern touch to it, where the interior was close to the medieval era interior she used to see in historical movies.
The grand hall was filled with pale skinned beastmen, wearing black leather armors and fine dresses. Bella noticed how most of the females there glared at her with hatred filled eyes. She guessed that her days here would not be as simple as she thought. The females, similar to the ones she had seen back in Ra territories, all have manly facial features. Very skinny compared to males, and their breasts were small, hardly noticeable. Bella also noticed that there were only two kinds of beastmen, lizards and snakes. All the females in fine dresses were snakes, all the soldiers and servants were lizard-headed.
Tayen sat on the throne at a raised dais, he was going to make a short announcement before going straight to rest.
"This here is Bella, my benefactor. She is my honorable guest and will be treated with full courtesy and respect." Tayen announced, his hand pointed at Bella.
There were harsh whispers after that, but no one dared to disobey.
"I expect everyone to do as they are told."
"Yes, my lord!"
The crowd bowed. Bella glanced around and saw Mihaje at the front row. He was glaring sharply at her.
"But my lord, she..." Mihaje wanted to say something but was cut off by Tayen,
"I did say 'everyone', did I not? Mihaje." Tayen said coldly. His tone of voice instantly changed as he glared down at Mihaje with his murderous gaze.
Bella immediately felt the tense between Tayen and Mihaje. Strangely enough, although they were brothers, they seemed to dislike each other.
"Yes, my lord." Mihaje bowed his head, yet the look in his eyes was filled with wrath and hatred.
Bella gulped when her eyes met with Mihaje's. Although Tayen and Mihaje looked somewhat similar, Mihaje seemed more menacing with that leather mask he was wearing, and his eyes were even sharper than anyone she had seen so far. It felt like he could kill her with just one glance. His blood red irises were filled with darkness that no one could understand. Amongst the crowd, Mihaje stood out with his tall perfect slender body, his red hair, and his black leather mask.
Seemed like Tayen and Mihaje were the only male snakes in here, and only the two of them have red hair. There were mostly brown haired snakes. Bella thought to herself as her eyes scanned everyone in the grand hall.
Tayen then ordered the servants to show Bella to her bedchamber.
"I will see you later during mealtime, Bella. If you need anything, the servants will attend you." Tayen said to her.
"Um... Is there a place to bathe?" Bella asked.
"There is. I will have the servants to prepare for you."
"Thanks." Bella flashed a smile at Tayen. The only thing she wanted now was to shower and change into some clean clothes. She was covered in dirt and dried blood.
Bella pursed her lips when Mihaje walked past her, following Tayen through the corridor. His eyes glared briefly at her before facing forward.
"Follow me, Lady Bella." A lizard-headed female servant spoke with her head bowed. There were other female servants there as well, ready to serve her.
The servants showed Bella to her room and told her that her bath water will be ready soon.
Bella looked around the spacious room. It was like a fifteenth century castle bed chamber, with a huge wooden bed frame and huge wooden furniture. There were huge windows and long curtains too. There were also tapestries and wall hangings. Bella touched the bed. Although everything looked grand, the bed was nothing but a thin futon. Bella scoffed. I guess people here like their beds hard, huh?
The servants came in bringing a wooden tub into her room and placed it on the floor. Several servants began to fill it with water, pail by pail. After they were done, the servants placed clean clothes on the bed and left the room, shutting the door close as they left.
Bella went to touch the water. The temperature was just nice, not cold and not too warm. Bella took her dirty clothes off and soaked herself into the water, washing away the dirt and dried blood on her face and body.
As she bathed, she thought about both Ra and Moro's differences in residential areas and all. The Moro seemed more advanced in a lot of things. The image of Gaharu suddenly appeared in her mind. She hoped he wouldn't act recklessly and just focus on keeping his tribe safe.
Bella closed her eyes as she exhaling long. Her mind recalled seeing Gaharu in his saddened state once. The way he gazed blankly at the sky on that lovely morning at the mountain top garden. There was sadness in his eyes. Would he have that same sad expression on his face again, now that she's no longer beside him?
"I guess you must be missing me right now..."
*****
Mihaje grasped the hand that was clenching on his throat. He was pinned on the wall with force by that hand.
"Were you scheming against me, Mihaje?" Tayen questioned. His bloodlust orbs were entirely different from before. It was sinister, vile, and heartless.
"I... I dared not, m-my lord..." Mihaje was gasping for air. The hand around his neck choked even tighter. Even though Tayen was in his weakest state, Mihaje dared not to fight back. He was fully aware of how dangerously malicious and savage Tayen could be. It wasn't his safety that he worried about, but of others.
"I thought if I could bring Gaharu's female back and use her..." Mihaje said in a restrained breath.
"That tiger is the least of my concern right now. Where were you this whole time? Did you even try to look for me?" Tayen questioned again.
"You... were in Ra's... territory, my lord..." Mihaje could hardly talk.
"General did all he could and had searched everywhere for you, my lord. Our search party was-" One of Mihaje's loyal subordinates, a lizard soldier, spoke on Mihaje's behalf. While he was talking, Mihaje glared sideway at the soldier, his eyes were signaling the soldier to stop talking.
Zlash!
Before the lizard soldier could finish, Tayen spat his venom at him and the soldier immediately wailed and trembled vigorously. The venom spread and melted his flesh and killed him almost instantly. Mihaje watched in terror as his subordinate died horribly. The other soldiers kneeled down and apologized,
"We are incompetent, we are useless! Have mercy, my lord!"
"I was wrong, my lord... Have mercy..." Mihaje forced the words out. He was suffocating that his face turned purple.
"If I had not shown mercy, you would have long died, brother of mine." Tayen let go of his grip on Mihaje's neck.
Mihaje fell on his knees as he coughed and gasped for air. His eyebrows frowned in anger as he silently hissed  and his body trembled slightly. It wasn't of fear, but of wrath and hatred. His harsh breathing sounded louder underneath his mask.
"Get out of my sight." Tayen said coldly.
"Yes, my lord."
Mihaje's jaw clenched, his sharp eyes narrowed over to the dead lizard soldier lying on the floor, his hands clenched into tight fists. His eyes were filled with unspeakable hatred. He left the room without looking back, followed by his fellow subordinates.
*****
The temperature of the water was comfortable, it soothed all her aching muscles just by soaking herself in it. After she was done cleaning herself, Bella stood up and glanced around. The servants didn't leave any towels for her. Only a clean dress on the bed.
Bella tiptoed towards the bed and picked up the dress to wear. Bella stared at it before sighing.
It was a thin white dress.
How was she going to wear that? With no bra and no panties? At least back at the Tiger Palace, she had sewed her own bikini bras and panties.
Perhaps the females here didn't feel the need to wear any, since theirs were small. But hers weren't.
Bella sighed again, putting on the white dress. The size was quite big and the neck area hung loosely over her small shoulders. She was glancing around to find a cloth to dry her wet hair when suddenly her door flung open. Bella gasped when Mihaje strode in, kicking the door close behind him.
"You wretched female...!" Mihaje dashed towards Bella and threw her on the bed. His big cold hands strangled her small neck as he hovered above her.
"Wha..." She couldn't breathe. His cold hands were clenching her neck tightly.
"Mi... Mihaje... Why..."
His snake irises were gleaming with wrath towards her. What did she do to make him want to kill her so badly?
Bella's face reddened due to lack of oxygen. She would die if she doesn't do anything.
"...!"
Mihaje immediately loosened his hands around her neck when he felt the intense pain in between his legs. Bella kicked him again on his abdomen and pushed him. She stretched out her hand to pick up her dagger that she had put just by the bed side when she rolled him over and successfully pinned him under her.
All the training with Satria had actually paid off.
Bella pointed the dagger to Mihaje's throat, she was panting and her chest was heaving. She sat on top of him with one hand holding the dagger to his throat and one hand pressing against his chest.
"Why did you try to kill me?" She asked.
Mihaje gasped. His eyes avoided her gaze and Bella realized he was staring at her chest. The moisture from her damp hair had wet the neck and chest area of her thin white dress. Her rosy nipples were visible under the wet fabric and Mihaje's hand was pressing against one of her breasts. She heard him scoff before his widened eyes gazed back at her reddened face.
"You pervert...!" Bella raised her dagger up high and screamed, "Crazy motherfucking perverted snake!!"
Mihaje snatched her wrist and pulled her down so that she fell on top of him. His other hand wrapped around her waist as he leaned upward. Bella widened her eyes when Mihaje's face was too close to hers.
"So is this how you gained Lord Tayen's trust... by seducing him?" Mihaje hissed. His hand twisted her small wrist and the dagger fell off her grip.
Bella furrowed her eyebrows in pain, she felt like he was going to break her hand. She was no match for his strength, Bella realized that Mihaje had no intention of killing her at all. He wasn't using any strength when he attacked her just now, because if he did, she would probably be dead by now.
"Did you think that trick will work on me...?" Mihaje's muffled laugh sounded devilish underneath that mask of his.
"This would." Bella headbutted him hard, causing Mihaje to instantly release his grasp.
"Why you...!" Mihaje hissed long, his pale face was now pinkish. He must've been really mad, Bella thought.
"Didn't you say that trick wouldn't work twice?" Bella snickered, walking away from the bed.
"You can't harm me. I'm an honorable guest of your brother." She reminded him.
Seeing Mihaje's frowning face, Bella smirked.
"Even if I really want to seduce someone, that someone will definitely not be you. Wearing a mask all the time, you must be fuckin' ugly. I don't do ugly guys." Bella smirked, purposely saying nasty things to irritate him.
Mihaje scoffed, slightly shaking his head.
"Do you think you can win his favor? When he has no shortage of females? Do you think you are so valuable that he will choose you over his wives?"
Wives...?
Mihaje came up to Bella, his tall figure cast a shadow on her petite figure as he leaned close to whisper in her ear,
"I do not know what your real intention is for entering Moro's main, but I will expose you," he hissed, "and when I do, you will die in my hands."
Bella gasped when she felt the vibration of his hissing in her ear. Her eyes widened and her mouth pursed tightly when she saw his eyes narrowed down at her chest again.
"Perverted snake!" Her cheeks blushed red as she yelled at him.
Mihaje cleared his throat before he left the room hurriedly. Bella glared angrily at Mihaje's back until he was out of sight.
"What the fuck is his problem?!"
*****
Mihaje rushed into his own bedchamber and slammed the door shut. He leaned his back against the thick wooden door, panting hard. Fortunately, he got out of there before she could notice it.
Darn female...
He gazed down in between his legs. There was an erection that he could not simply ignore. She somehow managed to trigger the sexual excitement in him that he thought had long died.
That darn female...!
*****