Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. -John F. Kennedy

Titus and Karl were escorted to a hut that stood on a small hill overlooking the village.

“Wait here.”, one of the guards gruffly ordered before slithering into the hut, leaving the man and dog outside.

“I hope they aren’t cooking Locust right about now.” Karl said, only half joking.

“This is not the time to worry about him.” Titus replied.

Karl hated to admit it, but Titus was right. Unless they came up with a good reason for the elders to let them live, they all were pretty much fucked… perhaps a bit more literally in Saqatuwa’s case.

Any further thoughts on the subject were interrupted by the lead Skôkak slithering back out of the hut and motioning them to enter, which they hesitantly did. The inside of the hut was mostly bare; only some rough-looking carpets with pillows strewn about upon them, a few crude shelves, and in the farthest corner, a large bundle of blankets presumably serving as a bed.

In the middle of the room stood a black Skôkak, most likely the chief if his adornments were anything to go by. He was wearing a chest plate that matched the colour of his scales. Atop his head rested a headdress made up of opalescent rods that tapered to points. If Karl were to guess, he would say they looked like massive porcupine quills or stingers.

”Greetings, travellers. I am the chief elder of this village. Who are you?” the Skôkak asked, although it was more an order than a question.

“I am Titus Publius Severius of the Diamond Dog Confederacy.”

“I am Karl Kempf from the Everfree Forest.” At this the Skôkak made a movement that would be the same as perking an eyebrow, without having an eyebrow.

“The Everfree, huh? Now what would bring a beast from the Everfree into the Cáqash?” The Skôkak demanded looking Karl straight in the eyes.

“I seek passage to Ironhoof.”

The Skôkak grinned maliciously.

“Why face hazards you don’t know rather than the ones you do know?”

Karl realized the Skôkak was referring to the fact that Karl could have simply gone through the Everfree forest to get to Ironhoof rather than through Cáqash.

“Because I only knew I needed to go through Cáqash when I was already too far from the Everfree and going back would have wasted too much time.” Karl replied as calmly as he possibly could, although he bet his voice cracked.

“What are you after that is so urgent that you dared to cross the land of the Skôkak without permission?!” the elder asked.

“A girl and vengeance.” Replied Karl.

‘And why the hell do we need your permission?’ he asked himself. He considered voicing his perturbation, but figured that it was not in his best interest.

The elder actually grinned at that.

“That’s one I haven’t heard in a long time. Most excuses are about money, glory and adventure and other crape like that. Perhaps you’ll be interesting enough to listen to for a while before I kill you.”

“Does that offer also count for my companions?”

“Yes: neither you, the Changeling or the dog will end up as dinner tonight.”

Karl didn’t care for the open-endedness of that statement, but it was a start.

“And the Nāga?” Titus questioned urgently.

“Oh, she was never in real danger, why would we kill a Nāga that the rest of us can amuse ourselves with?”

Karl cringed.

Shaking off his momentary disgust, Karl pressed on.

“Could you enlighten me about that last statement of yours?”

“It’s quite simple; your Nāga companion is part of a special order. Members of that order are believed to bring good fortune and fertility to those who engage in intercourse with them.”

“Well I suppose that explains a lot.” Titus mused thoughtfully.

“And rules out the possibility of getting similar treatment.” muttered Karl under his breath.

“Indeed.” continued the elder, apparently not hearing Karl’s remark. “She shall be used to bless all the women of the village and after that she is free to go.”

As much as he found the prospect of a friend being subject to forced ritual group sex a bit irksome, Karl’s arousal couldn’t be helped.

“I will spare you and your companions for now because you have managed to catch my interest and because you were so kind to bring back something that was stolen from us. I would like to invite you and your companions to attend our feast tonight.”

“We gladly accept.” Karl replied. He wasn’t thrilled at the prospect, but he supposed that feasting was superior to castration.

“Splendid. I will have my warriors escort you back to the village. Your Changeling friend will be freed. You can freely walk around the village as long as you behave yourselves and don’t wander off to far. Or else I may have to… recant my offer.” the elder finished dangerously.

Karl and Titus shuffled out of the hut more than a little rattled.

“Well, we’ve still got our balls and our lives, so I guess that counts for something.” Karl said, relieved that the negotiations had gone fairly smoothly for the time being.

“Yeah… I wonder how the Changeling is doing.” Titus mused.

****
Locust was not having a good day.

If it wasn’t bad enough he’d been stuck slogging through a dangerous swamp, now fate had decided to let some Skôkak put him into a potato bag! He was a Wing Commander, dammit! Okay; former Wing Commander of the Changeling army. Either way, getting stuffed into a damned potato bag was degrading!

Like that wasn’t bad enough on its own, he was also in the claws of some cannibalistic overgrown snakes.
And he was alone.

He was alone for the first time since Karl had found him back in the forest. Granted, he thought Karl had a screw… no, scratch that: *many* screws loose on more than one level, but still he trusted him. Why wouldn’t he? So far, Karl had given no reason for distrust and had even allowed Locust to feed on his love, and that was something Locust had never heard of before.

There was a reason Changelings needed to change forms: no-one voluntarily gave their love to the eerie-in-appearance Changelings and the few that did were certainly not enough to feed all of them. That would be like expecting one little bakery to feed an entire metropolis.

Besides, it gave him an excellent opportunity to get some good old-fashioned revenge on the ponies for blasting him with a love shield and hunting his kind like animals.

Well, technically, they were animals, but that’s beside the point.

He felt his bag getting grabbed. No, not like *that*. Get your mind out of the gutter.

‘Oh, great. What fresh hell is this?’ Locust asked himself as he began to panic anew.

The bag turned upside down, dumping him straight out on the sandy ground, only to be gripped by his neck before he had a chance to stabilize himself.

Locust quickly scanned his surroundings. He was definitely not anymore anywhere near the shack. The killing ground he’d seen before his capture had been replaced by a tribal village. The village didn’t look very impressive: mostly wooden houses with leaves as roofs. Much to his horror, the place was lousy with Skokak (he didn’t honestly expect much else, but it was still disconcerting).

He was being carried by the scruff of his neck by a green male Skôkak with black strips like a cub by its mother; definitely degrading for someone of his position. He was quite uncomfortable in the Skôkak’s grip, but he knew he would have to endure it out of fear of somehow irking them.

After a couple of minutes of utter silence, Locust saw Karl and Titus being accompanied by some Skôkak themselves.

“Th’ hell have you guys been?!”

“We managed to convince their big boss to keep us alive. Temporarily, at least. What have you been up to?” Karl replied.
“Oh, you know; just hanging around a bit. What the hell do you think?”

Perhaps if they hadn’t been surrounded by giant hostile snakes Karl would have laughed at that.

“Where’s Saqatuwa actually?”

Titus and Karl fell back into an uncomfortable state. On one hand it was actually pretty funny and sexy to think about, and at the other hand there was still the thing about it being sexual harassment.

“I hope she doesn’t get any trauma from that.” Karl said to Titus, ignoring Locust.

“It’s not unlikely that she’s gone through worse than an involuntary all-female orgy, and she’s gotten through that just fine.”

“True.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?”

****

Karl, Locust and Titus were sitting in the small hut the Skôkak had put them in after having given them a small tour around the village. Their nerves were killing them. The feast was in twenty minutes, give or take, and all three were fairly convinced that whether or not they got out of here alive was riding on their conduct at said event.

Karl and Titus had told Locust about Saqatuwa’s situation and immediately the Changeling had started whining about all of the love energy he’d missed out on.

A large snake entered through the large curtain that served as the hut’s door.

“Dinner time.” He announced brusquely.

Titus stood up, Karl and Locust silently following suit. The walk to the Elder’s hut was a bit too quick for their liking.

They were led across the same path as earlier, with a view of the same stones where the captured pony guard had lost his balls earlier that day. Karl’s crotch began tingling uncomfortably at the thought of what would happen should dinner go badly.

The three were led into the Elder’s house. Three cushions had been placed on one side of a low table which contained all kinds of foods and a plate with a silver lid over it. The Elder and a female Skokak that the trio didn’t recognise had already taken their places on the other end of the table.

“Ah our honoured guests! Welcome again to my humble home. I must apologise for not introducing myself sooner: my name is Sôqum and this is my mate Nuwikco. Please sit down.”

All three men immediately took a seat. Karl sat straight across from Nuwikco on the left side of the table, Locust sat in the middle and Titus sat across from Sôqum on the right.

“Please; take what you want!” Nuwikco said kindly.

Karl studied the female Skôkak and realized that she showed much resemblance to the first female Skôkak he had encountered when he was still with the caravan. Her scales were also an obsidian black striped with fiery red.

‘Oh great: I am in the same room as someone who can pretty much suck your life out. No pressure.’

If she recognised him, she didn’t show it. He decided to start eating so as to not appear rude, even though he hadn’t the faintest clue what was eating.

“You have to try these!” Sôqum stated enthusiastically as he held a large bowl filled with what looked like eggs.

There are moments when Karl would have politely declined the offer. However, this was one of those moments when he was desperately trying to prevent his bladder from emptying out of fear. He politely accepted one of the eggs.

They didn’t exactly have the same texture as any egg he had eaten before: more like some kind of meat. He just put it in his mouth and started chewing. Titus and Locust had done the same.

‘This egg tastes strange. *Bad* strange.’ Karl thought, trying to prevent his disgust from showing on his face.

Sôqum took another of the egg-like things in his claws, whilst munching happily on another.

“Ah, testicles! Aren’t they just amazing?”

Karl felt the blood leave his face. He was still chewing on a bit of the organ and was forced to swallow it despite his most visceral objections.

Sôqum swallowed the testicle in his mouth before bringing the next testicle that he was holding in his claw to his mouth, obviously enjoying the flavour, his mate following suit, both of them closing their eyes to savour the taste. Karl took the opportunity to glance over to see the reactions of the others. Both of his friends’ faces were utterly blank.

After the tensest small talk Karl had ever experienced, the main dish was presented. Nuwikco lifted the silver lid. Much to Karl’s relief, it wasn’t a disembodied pony head that greeted him; rather something that looked like a wild boar.

“Ah Wild boar. Good meat. Scarce too. Makes it that much more delicious when you can eat it, you know?”

Karl, Locust and Titus nodded their heads rapidly in affirmation.

The wild boar was, in fact, quite delicious. Actually, minus the testicles, the entirety of the meal was the best Karl had eaten ever since he had arrived in this world.

“Now you three probably wonder why I’ve kept you all alive for so long, right?” Sôqum asked after everyone had finished.
Titus, Karl and Locust nodded in confirmation.

“Don’t get the wrong idea: this is most definitely not the normal way of business. Normally we like to dispose of intruders as quickly as possible. However, when we captured you… well, let’s say it’s been a long time since I have seen such an interesting bunch. We do not get a lot of groups wandering in Cáqash composed of a Nāga, a Changeling, a Diamond dog… then there’s you, Everfree, we don’t know what the hell you are, but somehow, you ended up with a tablet that had been stolen from us by thieves.” Sôqum stated.

“With all of that in one small group, you caught our attention. Would you care to explain how your little group came into existence and what you are doing with our tablet?” Nuwikco asked calmly and with a small hint of curiosity.

Unfortunately for Karl, both Titus and Locust looked at him with expressions that said “It’s all you, bro.”

Karl let out an almost inaudible sigh. He truly hated it to be the one explaining this to a couple of Skôkak that decided whether he and his companions lived or died.

****

Over the next half an hour Karl told most of the story about what he was doing in Cáqash, how he met his companions and why he needed to get to Ironhoof (the parts he wanted them to know, that is), answering whatever questions the couple had, occasionally getting assistance from Titus and Locust. The Skôkak couple remained silent mostly only breaking the silence to ask a question every now and then.

“That was quite an interesting story, wouldn’t you agree?” Sôqum asked after Karl finished.

“Very true. I do want to ask what this Union of the Snake is planning on doing with the tablet.”

“I am sorry ma’am, but I do not know the answer to that question. You know as much as we do.”

She nodded at this answer and then seemed to start thinking about the answer.

“Hmm… you three are particularly difficult cases. I like this little plan of yours: it puts a thorn in the ponies’ side and perhaps creates even more division within Equestria than you realise. Here’s the deal; you are all allowed to leave Cáqash with our tablet as a gift. Does that sound acceptable?”

This offer shocked all three men, they had expected to debate and pray for their lives and yet everything they wanted had just been handed to them on a silver plate. This had to be too good to be true. Perhaps the Skôkak just wanted to give them a fall sense of security.

Or maybe they really did have a taste for Realpolitik.

“Definitely. I… *we* thank you for your more than generous offer.” Titus tried to say with the least amount of stuttering possible.

“Excellent. I suggest you leave tomorrow: nights in Cáqash are quite… tricky to survive.”

“That’s probably for the best.” Locust polity accepted the offer for all three men.

“Your female companion will be prepared for travel by tomorrow morning. I shall see to that personally.” Nuwikco added, for which all three men profusely thanked her.

After saying their goodbyes to the Skôkak couple, they were escorted back to their temporary quarters.

“Well… that went a lot better than expected.” Karl said allowing a small smile on his face.

“Yeah… a bit too easily if you ask me.” Locust replied, making sure their guard couldn’t hear it.

“I’ll only be happy when I am out of this swamp.” Titus replied.

Locust and Karl wholeheartedly agreed.

****

The next morning came faster than expected. The three men were finally reunited with Saqatuwa, who was having trouble hiding her embarrassment from them and was obviously eager to get out of the village. Titus asked her a couple of questions to which she gave some short replies that Karl couldn’t understand. Titus spoke to her in a kind and comforting tone and asked another question to which she nodded her head.

The Skôkak treated them to some breakfast (which thankfully did not include severed gonads) and gave some rations to them.

Right before they left, the trio saw Sôqum and Nuwikco slithering their way.

“We’ve come to wish you good luck. I hope that you all make it out alive.” Sôqum said in possibly the least inspiring pep talk in history.

Nuwikco just rolled her eyes at her mate.

‘Titus is right.’ Thought Karl. ‘This *is* way too simple. I don’t suppose we have many other options though.’

When the little group was walking back towards the swamp, Karl’s eyes fell upon a snake that was staring at him with an almost sapient intensity. Karl brushed off the strange notion as a fabrication of his imagination.

****

As the little group disappeared from sight, the snake’s eyes glowed a dim green.

“I bring the Serpents!”

The faint glow then vanished and the snake slithered quietly out of sight.

Author's Note

Greetings everybody!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you did please leave a like, comment, favorite or a follow (preferably all four, but I take whatever you guys want to give, whilst praying it isn't the negative stuff.) Not that I don't want criticism, but let's be fair all good writers want that like bar above the story to be as green as a field of green grass and to have people be happy.

If you got ideas of which you think can work out in the story, and the comments have proven that people do have those types of ideas, then don't hesitate to tell me about them and perhaps you helped the story become better.

Btw. Like you guys pobably already know, Fimfiction has changed a bit. I would like to know what you guys like about it or what you don't like about (preferably both).

I for example like the new function that when you look at a story it shows you stories you might be interested in.

I am going to need some time getting used to the new search function and I certainly hope they fix his one; When I copy my chapter from word or google doc (has the same problem when attempting to import it from there) to Fimfiction, I need to manually set all the spaces in it again and whilst not too big of a nuisance it is quite annoying.

Once again I hope you enjoyed the chapter and are enjoying the story as a whole and I will try to get you guys more in the future if the story keeps doing well. One more thing chapter twenty-one will contain at the very least princess Celestia, so we can see what she is doing in her comfortable castle in the meantime.

Editor: Vlasislas32
Author: TheShadowOfZama