19 Ashan 716
The shadow of Nashaki City is dark and far-reaching, stretching across the desert for miles from first light until noon. Deep within its walls a hidden oasis, one of the only major surviving sources of water in the region, is kept under lock and key, guarded day and night by those who have found a means to turn a life-substance into something far more valuable than gold. “You would rather die with empty pockets than—”“Submit to another tyrant? This is our cave, Nera,” Nefere cut young woman off mid-sentence, hand poised above the head of a common desert snake, ready to strike.
Fist clasped tightly around the serpent’s neck, Nefere squeezed, milking the snake’s venom over the point of one of her crossbow bolts. Dispatched, Nefere drew the point of her knife down the length of the snake’s belly and attempted to pry the skin away from her meaty prize.
“Can you eat that?” Nera asked.
Nefere cut away the head and inch down the neck and flicked it away with the end of her blade. “The body should be all right.”
Over sticks they wound the opaque flesh, holding it to the fire Nefere had managed to start using some of the basic survival tools they had been able to get together. The meat hissed and liquid rolled away from the pointed ends, curling and constricting about the stick as the heat of the fire cooked it through. The girls ate and hit the road, but not before Nefere took up her pet corn-snake, letting the serpent wind about her arm.
A gruelling climb to the top of the sand cliffs surrounding the caves let them look out over the desert sands as far as the eye could see, clear for a stretch before the heat in the air distorted their view. “There!” Nera pointed and Nefere scanned the sands, looking for their next target.
“I don’t see, where are you pointing?” She asked.
Nera closed her hands over her sister’s shoulders and whispered. “Left of the road.”
Nefere spotted the lone traveller and smirked, he would do nicely. “Got him.”
Their plan took them off-road, putting the girls directly in the path of the lone wander. Nera’s job was just to lay low with the crossbow, while Nefere took the poisoned bolts and covered them with sand, just enough that they were out of sight but still in reach. The pads of her fingers brushed the stiffened feathers and she lay down on the earth with the corn snake nestled a metre or so from her person.
When and if the man drew near, she would call out in pain as if she had been set upon by the snake. Hopefully the man would abandon his belongings to provide aide, leaving Nera, the craftier of the two, to raid his cart. It was simple but effective and had paid off many times in the past, but recent run-ins had made them cautious and if the stranger got too near or seemed ill of intent, Nefere would take a tainted bolt and stick him in the neck.