As Eli expected, it wasn’t long before they encountered a czarikk patrol, though it was more of a hunting and gathering party. The lizard-folk watched Kari and Eli from a distance, obviously nervous that the two were leading griffons into the marshlands. Eli raised his hand in greeting and Kari called out to them in their tongue; it was clear they weren’t expecting either. Kari motioned for Eli to follow her, and continued to approach the band of lizard-folk. She kept her pace slow to seem as non-threatening as possible.
When they drew closer to the lizard-folk, there was a change in the czarikks’ demeanor, and they approached quickly, putting their javelins into the leather straps on their backs or shouldering their bows. The party was made up of both males and females, and Kari got her first good look at the sulrassa up close.
These stood slightly hunched over, and their thick, heavy tails served to counterbalance their posture on bent legs. They had frilly crests and thicker, heavier scales than their mulrassa counterparts, though their colorations were similar, trending toward deep greens, browns, and tans with pinkish colorations on the chests of the females. Like the mulrassa, they wore no clothes since their reptilian heritage hid their gender, but they did wear leather sheaths, knife straps, and pouches for carrying what they were able to forage.
Owing to their bent posture, the sulrassa were shorter than their mulrassa cousins; nose-to-tail they were longer, but they were about the same height as Eli. Kari was surprised when the lizard-folk ignored her, even after she’d spoken their tongue. Instead, they gathered around Eli and gave him a warm welcome, despite the fact that he didn’t understand their words. Kari translated their words of greeting, and then spoke on Eli’s behalf to the czarikk, who then took a great interest in the terra-dracon woman who could speak their sibilant tongue. Though their accent was different than that of the Tsalbrin-based mulrassa tribe, the language was the same despite the vast difference in geographical location.
Kari didn’t need to introduce her companion, who the czarikk remembered well from the work he’d done for Bosimar. She introduced herself. It was then Eli’s turn to be surprised, for when Kari spoke her name, the eyes of the lizard-folk went wide, and they began bowing before her. The half-corlyps wondered at the display, and stood by while Kari asked the czarikk to not bow before her. She spoke to them for a couple of minutes, and two of them volunteered to lead the visitors to the village, even with the griffons in tow.
“What did you say to them?” Eli asked. “What was with all the bowing?”
“I might’ve forgotten to mention when we were at the earl’s table,” Kari said, “but Sakkrass… adopted me when I met him on Tsalbrin. Word spreads fast among his people.”
The half-corlyps regarded her with an even stare for several minutes, and Kari wondered what he was thinking. They began to follow the two czarikk back to the village, and the others departed to continue their hunting and foraging. Eli muttered, “You’re just full of surprises.”
Kari took the comment with a half-smile.
Mandar-Czar was a broad village that sat atop the higher ground in the marsh’s center, where the hills stayed somewhat dry and the czarikk had built many wooden homes and animal-skin tents. Sheltered among the trees on the hills, Kari was impressed with the homey feeling of the village, much like she had been with the one on Tsalbrin. This one was a bit different: The homes were built to accommodate the more reptilian forms of the sulrassa, but with the memories Sakkrass had imprinted upon her, Kari still found it a comforting, familiar place. In the cities of her people, Kari knew the importance people put on ownership of land and privacy. Here, though, the czarikk homes were close together, figuratively and literally.
The guides informed everyone who Kari was as they led the pair into the village. She had to ask them all to not bow before her, just as with the hunting party. Many of them also recognized Eli, and made it a point to greet him warmly as well. Before the guests passed into the village proper, a couple of czarikk came to take the reins of the griffons from Kari and Eli. To their surprise, the lizard-folk had no issues greeting the beasts; while they didn’t verbally greet the griffons the way Kari had, the griffons responded well to the czarikk. The lizard-folk already knew how to approach and handle the animals with the same sort of respect Charles had instilled in Kari and Eli, and soon Muireann and Dougal were led away without incident.
Does that have something to do with Sakkrass and that bird-man? she wondered.
Kari and Eli were escorted into the presence of the tribe’s chiefs, and Kari was surprised that this village had two. Unlike their cousins on Tsalbrin, even the chiefs of the tribe of Mandar-Czar wore no clothing, and only a few baubles, woven necklaces, and bracelets adorned their reptilian bodies.
Beside the chiefs there were two shamans who also wore little in the way of clothing, instead relying on bright, colorful painted markings and tasseled walking staves to denote their positions. Kari made brief introductions, and though the czarikk were curious about her accent, they were impressed that she spoke their tongue so well.
“You honor us with your presence, Daughter of Sakkrass,” said the first of the chiefs, called Alissis. “We welcome you to the Hill of Scales, and likewise, we welcome friend Eli.”
“It is an honor to stand among my father’s children,” Kari returned in their tongue as she bowed her head. It was an odd feeling for her to say such a thing: to speak of her father in a positive way. In doing so, Kari felt a bit of the pain that had broken free after giving birth go dim again. She found an untapped strength in speaking of Sakkrass as her father, and based upon the way the czarikk looked at her when she spoke, it was clear that they saw it. “I am curious why your family has two chiefs?”
“Friend Eli has not spoken of this with you? It is thanks to him and his companions; perhaps he will tell you when we share the evening meal. Will you stay long among us, our lady?” asked the other chief, introduced as Saliil.
“Just the night, unfortunately. We have business to attend to elsewhere, hunting a deadly demoness,” Kari answered.
“As her father before her,” Alissis said.
Kari’s brows rose when the shamans said the czarikk equivalent of Amen in unison and then gave a shake to their tasseled walking sticks. She thought of her dream at the earl’s castle.
Soon, she and Eli were led to wash up and prepare for the evening meal. The marshlands became even livelier once the sun went down, the air filled with a cacophony of calls from birds, amphibians, and insects. The village was warm and the air was relatively free of bugs. They sat amongst a communal gathering and shared their supper, which consisted of a number of different fish, a curious but tasty meat, and several types of roasted insects. Eli ate everything presented to him without complaint, and Kari found it refreshing and amusing.
Kari wondered if the czarikk would perform a fire dance like their mulrassa cousins were so fond of doing, but during the meal, the people mostly left Kari and Eli to their food and their thoughts. It was apparent they’d been instructed not to impose upon their sacred guest, so Kari took the opportunity to ask Eli about why the tribe had two chiefs.
The half-corlyps fixed her with that quiet, measured gaze, though it seemed funny when he was crunching on a roasted dragonfly. He drummed his fingers on his armored thigh for a few moments, and the sound drew the curious gazes of the many czarikk until he stopped fidgeting under their stares. “Who are you?” he asked at last.