We traveled through the night and into the next day. "The slaves pulling this cart?" I asked.

"Ah, you haven't seen them before. They fail during birth but aren't taken in as food. We will pass by several farms with creatures like them. Rote jobs that don't require much thinking. They are managed by attendants, often low ranking ones. The high ranking ones serve a snake directly."

"And they are above food," I muttered.

"Indeed. Generations of hypnosis has been used on creatures and selective breeding to obtain desired results. Often the snakes specialize in a specific creature or two," Firefur explained. There was a moment of silence before he spoke again. "I can see you don't like it."

"It makes me uncomfortable. How could any creature accept this? Why doesn't the church fight harder?" I knew they were fighting, a war was planned.

"They are. Just the snakes are too strong. The Covenant Church may have issues, but they don't treat creatures like food. Unfortunately, many creatures buy into this system. The snakes are their gods, and it is their duty to serve and be food," he replied.

"Creatures believe that?" I asked.

"Quite a few. It isn't popular as it could be, but a large group of attendants believe this. Primarily the ones hoping not to be the food. Truly devout believers are either Apostates or eaten." What a truly barbaric system.

The Covenant Church coddled creatures while the snakes unleashed wonton cruelty. Still the Covenant Church was better than this. I might despise their heavy-handed methods of repression, but they also fought against the snakes. It was a lesser evil fighting a greater evil, it was a hundred percent frustration.

We left the more jungle heavy areas of the coast and reached vast tracts of farmland. I saw creatures working in the fields as we rolled on by. Barely any of them glanced at us. That evening we stopped at a small waypoint station by the side of the road. The creature in charge of the way house quickly gave me my own room as an Apostate without question.

The food was simple fair, beans and vegetables. I wanted fish but had to make do with what I had. Travel continued like that for the next two days in a similar manner. It was like going back in time to one of the many slave nations I had learned about in history class.

There was no mechanization, or much infrastructure. At best there were stone roads near major areas, but they were mostly dirt. It was just shocking we were losing to such creatures. But the snakes were just that powerful.

The final evening, we came to a stop at the town Slither controlled, before reaching his nest. I had nicer accommodations and was getting ready to go to sleep when there was a knock on my door. I still had my robe and talisman on. "Enter," I replied.

My heart sped up a bit as another Apostate entered the room. "Greetings Apostate Mittens. I am Apostate Fareye," he said. I noted it was a fox under the robes. He removed his hood after shutting the door closed and I did the same.

"Speak your purpose," I told him. Firefur was in another room for attendants.

"It has been a while since another Apostate has passed through these parts. I am concerned since I don't sense the aura of Jörmungandr around you," Apostate Fareye said.

"A technique I am training constantly to avoid the notice of the Paladins once I depart on my spiritual journey," I replied, using the knowledge Paladin Amberheart had passed onto me. Apostates believed fighting the Covenant Church was a test of faith.

"A useful technique. What brings you to these parts? I ask, since there has been an uptick in rebel activity," he explained. I nodded at this.

"I go to retrieve a prisoner with a useful connection to the Covenant Church for High Apostate Bastet," I replied casually. She was dead, but the news wouldn't have spread so fast. At least that was my hope.

"If that is the case, then I will bother you no more Mittens. May Jörmungandr watch over you," he said.

"May he one day devour the world and all creatures, to be reborn in his image," I replied with the standard phrase. Fareye seemed relieved at this as he left my room. That had been a casual meet and greet. I didn't like it, but there was nothing I could do. I considered rushing, but there was some distance to travel tomorrow from this town.

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I lay down in the bed. I hadn't reached out to Mes, since it was a concern that someone would sense something. I was on my own here until things out heated. I kept my Apostate robes on, but took the snake talisman off. It wasn't active, but it made me feel uncomfortable. I was also grateful that the robe hid my claws for the most part, so the celestial ore coating them wasn't obvious.

Tomorrow would be make it or break it. From what I understood, Slither had a cave as his nest like most snakes. Everything was built into the rock. It also meant escape wasn't easy and everything was snake sized.

The main nest, Slither's place where he slept, was at the far back. Then there was the attendant chamber, where the high ranking attendants managed things on his behalf and saw to his needs. The meeting chamber for guests and if another snake came through. Then at the front of the cave system was the entry hall, with the food chamber and sleeping quarters off to either side.

It was designed like the letter 'T' with the entrance at the top and Slither's place at the back. The prison would also be in the food chamber, off to the side of the main entrance. The town I was staying in supported the surrounding farms with basic materials, handled food distribution, and acted as a hub for creatures to serve the snakes from.

Slither was nominally in charge, but snakes didn't manage the day to day situation very much. They were content to eat, get stronger, and occasionally plot. Only the threat of an invasion by the Covenant Church would unify them. Even then they were content to rule as Lords of their territories and the ultimate power.

Crushing a snake in their cave wasn't possible. They were very sensitive to other smells around their nest, which was why it was at the back of their home. Sneaking in also wasn't possible. The guards and attendants protecting the snakes were the best of the best. They wouldn't be easily fooled or tricked.

There was another knock on my door, I opened it, and it was Firefur this time. "I got news," he said. I shut the door and went back to sit on my bed. He grabbed a chair in my room. "Slither is inside his nest but sleeping. No news or word when he is coming out. No message at the usual pick up spot either," he added.

"That means I will have to go in," I muttered.

"If you go in, you won't be getting out easily. Even if you do, you won't be able to outrun a snake," he added.

"Let me worry about that. I want a disturbance to occur tomorrow," I replied.

"It will happen. Don't worry. A warehouse will burn down, and the risk of the fire spreading will be quite large. There is another Apostate in town as well."

"I know. They stopped by. Just wanted to chat a bit, but they left without issue," I added.

"Well, I will be leaving after you are dropped off. You can make your own way back," he said while looking at me nervously.

"That is fine, as long as that distraction happens in town," I added.

"It won't draw Slither out," he added.

"That is fine, I just want the chaos to be occurring to blame the rebels to push past any opposition to get Shortnose. Where will you be going?" I asked.

"Far away from here. I have a package to deliver. And I have no doubt you will be causing a lot of chaos. Shame about my old group, but you can pass onto Paladin Amberheart, that I will reach out through the secondary channels once I am settled again somewhere else," he replied.

"He will know?" I asked.

"He will. I normally wouldn't do that, but this entire region is going to become a disaster zone. I just feel it in my whiskers," he said.

"Well, thank you for your help," I added.

"Not a problem Mittens. Thank you for freeing me and taking the risk. For what it is worth, I hope you succeed," he replied.

"Me too." With our conversation done, he left. I tried to go to sleep. My nerves were getting the best of me as I lay in my room. There were so many moving parts to everything that was happening. I just had to trust in myself to kill anything that got in my way and to keep moving forward no matter what.

Getting Shortnose out of the prison would be tough, but not impossible. It depended on how well it was secure. Normally it wasn't that bad, since everything was built to take the cave into consideration. Most likely a large room, with double doors, that were locked. There would be other creatures who would be used as food stored there if they were kept in prison.

Or Shortnose could be fine, and I had to figure things out when I showed up. I was going into the situation completely blind, but it was something I just had to deal with. Well, at least the situation was manageable so far, but if Slither showed up, I wasn't sure if I could win.

That was the biggest concern I had. Even if I could win, there was no way I could keep another creature safe or come out unharmed. While my skills would help, and killing Slither would give me a lot of EXP, it wasn't something that could easily be done.

I considered trying to kill Slither while he was sleeping, but everything I had been told, was that this wasn't possible. Snakes were very sensitive to disturbances in their nest. That was why the attendants' room was in front of their next and then the meeting room. It was to keep disturbances to a minimum while they were digesting their food and increasing their power.

A few bombs would have been useful to cover my retreat and create more chaos, but it was too late to complain about that. If I wanted such things, I should have thought ahead about them. If I could complete the entire operation being undetected, that would be for the best.

There was one concern I had. Who was Firefur working for? He had refused to say and that it wasn't my concern, just like I wasn't the concern of whomever he was supplying with that rifle. Perhaps it was another rebel group and he kept silent, so they didn't get revealed. That would make sense in a way. Keep knowledge as limited as possible.

In the end, he had done his part. Him falling under hypnosis at the start was a concern, but something I had dealt with. It had been concerning, but at the end of the day creatures were food for the snakes. That was the one thing that united us. No one wanted to get eaten by a snake. There was a visceral fear to that idea.

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