Thee Road Less Traveled

The Road Less
Travelled 4 Beta

"Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons,
living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author
holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is
prohibited."

Beta version

The next
time Kinjou woke up was when little Cessnal was trying to silently wiggle away.
He sure as hell wasn’t going to let that happen, and Kinjou lost no time to
catching his little wayward Nagaling again! The older the little one got, the
more trouble he seemed to attract. The human rubbed his still sleepy eyes, when
had the big Naga left? He hadn’t even sensed him leaving. Normally Kinjou
wasn’t that careless around others.

He let the
youth down on the floor and walked slowly behind the curious Naga child through
the large room. Where was everyone? Not even Aoras was around. The last stunned
him a little. Suddenly the shape of a Naga appeared right next to him out of
the shadows of the great hall. It scared the shit out of the youth! Jumping
nearly two meters away from the sudden appearing form, Kinjou made a dash for
Cessnal and secured him onto his arm again. Then he warily eyed the newcomer.

“Greetings!
I didn’t mean to scare you that much! I am sorry for that.”

It turned
out that he was the Harlequin Naga from last night. Beautiful red, violet,
yellow and black scales ran along his long tail. His skin held a yellow tint,
and his eyes were the color of amethysts. The Naga was really a sight to
behold. He held his hands up in front of his body, palms opened, showing that
the Naga was careful to not scare the little Suns caretaker any more then he
already was. You don’t see Blond haired humans very often and definitely not
such cute looking ones! Rial inwardly cursed himself for his stupid tendency to
shock the shit out of others. His breed was known for the impish ways and
feared for them too…not without good reason.

“I am
Rial.” He told the bewildered and still wary youth. “I am here to guard you and
the little Prince since Aoras had to get some sleep, he was here the entire
night. That is an honor, Makshahiarass the high priest, Sheesshkass may bless
him, doesn’t let just anyone guard his sleep!” Rial could see his words calmed
the young man in front of him down slowly. Inwardly fell a weight fall from his
shoulders, the last thing he needed now was that the human feared him because
of his own stupidity.

“I ..I am Kinjou and this is Cessnal, oh how stupid of me! Of
course you know that already!” He watched amused as the human blush at his own
error. The boy was too cute for words! He gave a short nod and watched the
blush spread a little. Yep, he thought, definitely too cute to be left alone.
With that lovely face and body, and his charming behavior, he would end up in
someone’s bed as fast as he could say huh. 
Rial made a mental note to warn the other guards off as soon he could.
The diamond Naga priest had looked darn possessive this morning when he had
come to take on his new daily task to guard over Sheesshkass beloved Nagaling
and his human caretaker! He had picked the guards for the Nagaling and human
himself yesterday. And that alone said something; normally the one who did this
was Keevorass, the second in rank in the temple. Keevorass was the leader of
the temple guards and the army.

Or
Makshahiarass priest second-in-command, Krintan.

But the
lead priest did it himself and he made it very clear that nobody was to touch
the human without his permission. From what Rial had seen last night, nobody
would any longer; the god had made it clear that even he favored the human. And
Makshahiarass sudden stunt to take the two inside of his coils made clear to
all the others that the priest did not share…even if the human had no idea of
what that protective gesture had meant in the terms of Rial’s species. You
could say that the priest staked a sort of claim on the youth this way and his
sleeping together with the two last night had even deepened that claim.

None of the
Naga in his or her right mind would dare to come to near the youth from now on.
But there were always those who would try to challenge the lead priest this
way…

Rial had a
high opinion of Kinjou already. He knew so much more about him then most of the
others, because of what was told to him from his new *roommate* Aoras. The cute
human was a survivor and took good care of the twisting bundle that meant so
much to them all.

Cessnal
choose this moment to try to reach out for the guard. His shiny and deeply
coloring made him an instant prey for Cessnal’s interest. But Kinjou did not
let him loose on the guard until he gave him a surprised and even happy nod.
The young man did not know that not many had permission to touch Sheesshkass
only living heir. That the youth let him hold the little bundle of Nagaling was
an honor for the harlequin Naga. Kinjou was the only one, besides
Makshahiarass, who could give permission to do that. As soon as Cessnal was
into the Naga’s arms he began to pet the pretty scales on both sides of his
face. And the deeply violet colored hair.

Kinjou gave
out a low groan, Cessnal and his fetish for all what was shiny, colorful and
moving! The guard gave him an understanding smile. “At this age they are
notorious for wanting all shiny or colorfully things.” He told the human with
mirth in his deep voice. The young man shrugged his shoulders helplessly. “And
when is he then going to grow out of that phase again?” Rial barely suppressed
a cackle; the almost hopeful look told him volumes. “Sadly, I fear that will
take the next 20 or so years.” He waited. But instead of the anticipated
outbreak of disbelieve he only got a gasp and watched amused Kinjou held his
hands before his face. But it was the next sentence that made Rial finally laughs
aloud.

“I am
doomed!”

The Naga
needed a few moments to recompose himself. “It’s not
that bad, trust me, it gets better with time.” He gave the slightly pouting
youth a wink. “Somehow I’m beginning to suspect that you are trying to fool me
here.” The youth accused the still snickering Naga with his arms crossed over
his chest. This brought out a new fit of nervous laughs from the Naga guard.

“Don’t
trust this troublemaker with all that he would tell you, Kinjou. His kinfolk
are infamous for it to mislead others.” Aoras amused voice came from the side
entrance where they were heading. Rial gave a pout at this but then he laughed
good-naturedly. “I didn’t swindle this time; I just told him that it takes a
while until Cessnal grows out of this period.” He defended himself. It got him
doubting looks from both, Aoras and Kinjou in return.

Kinjou
scratched his head behind his left ear before he suddenly looked over to Aoras
to his left. “Is he always like this?” The Nagablood nodded at this strongly.
“As far I know, yes, I fear so.” Rial just looked from one to the next with
wide eyes. He couldn’t believe his ears. “Hey! I am right here, you
know?!”  Both males in front of him just
nodded and then looked at each other again. “Otherwise he is fairly alright,
you know. As long you think twice over each of his words you should be just
fine.” He calmly told Kinjou. Meanwhile, the Naga next to them shifted the
Nagaling under one arm and reached out with the other to give Aoras a good
knock over the head. Said one ducked down just in time to barely avoid getting
hit.

The Naga
hissed in displeasure at having missed his target. Next to them, Kinjou was now
laughing at the antics of the two. “What are you doing here anyways? Shouldn’t
you be still sleeping?” Aoras gave him an impish grin, and then nodded.
“Normally yes, but the healer wanted to check on me and Keevorass wants you to
meet him” At that the Naga nodded. “I was just asking myself when he would do
that. Oh, Kinjou, Keevorass is the head of the temple guards. He will most
likely make sure that everything is in order and show you the guards that are
in charge of protecting Cessnal and you.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Aoras and Rial exchanged a short glance.

“Kinjou,
another reason for him wanting to meet you, is that he is a little different
from the normal Nagas here. He will want to make sure that you are not
terrified to death if you meet him accidentally. Keevorass isn’t the being in
charge here for nothing. Trust me when I tell you that he maybe look a little
intimidating in your human standards but in truth he is rather nice and
harmless as long he isn’t your enemy. And the last factor he unquestionably
isn’t, understood?”  The human gave Aoras
a nod after a few seconds of thinking. If his friend said that, Kinjou would
trust it to be so. What it exactly was that made Kinjou put so much trust into
Aoras was even beyond him, but he did. It was a strange sensitivity, one of the
feelings he had always lived by.

Without any
further words the young man followed the Naga and Aoras first to his own rooms,
to take short wash, and then to the quarters that the guards of the temple
lived. The area was gigantic; there were so many height ceilings and seemingly
endless corridors. Kinjou had soon lost every sense of direction. He would need
ages to find his way back, Kinjou silently mused. He watched with curiosity the
others along their path, as they hastily moved out of their way when they
spotted them. Slowly it donned on the youth that A, his status was a lot higher
than before and B, that his guards where deadly respected! Many even bowed when
the four went along and it soon made the youth a little nervous.

Sensing
this, Aoras soon took him into the middle of Rial and him, and at last gave him
the Nagaling back. Then he glared at the Nagas in their way, who after that, hastily
made themselves scarce! The message was clear, don’t mess with us. Finally
after asking a messenger, he led Kinjou to a training area. The youth could
barely hold back a startled gasp when his eyes fell onto one of the fighters
inside the arena. He had heard the hunters talk sometimes about this kind of
Naga. Until now he had always believed that they lived in the subtropical zones
of this world. And he never had heard of one like this before.

The Naga
was simply Huge! And the word huge didn’t even fit the
bill fully, his tail alone was nearly 50 meter long and red brown in color.
With swirling lighter and darker colored designs on the upper side. What made
him even more threatening to the human however, was
not his red hair, but his four arms. Even against all the already dangerous,
massive guards he looked extremely large. And lethal, all of his arms held
weapons and he wielded them with a shocking skill! The end of his tail held a
deadly looking thorn and on his sides he had a pair of dangerous looking spikes
too.

“I take it
from your look that the hunters talked too much in the tavern.” Aoras told
Kinjou evenly, seeing that his friend suddenly began to shake, grow pale and
clutch the Nagaling more firmly to him. “I swear to you that he means no harm
to you. Keevorass would rather die as let harm come to you or Cessnal. And yes,
if you recognized him correctly, which I think that you just did, Keevorass is
a Python type Naga. A rock python to be exact.” Next
to Aoras, Rial calmly watched the reaction of the human to the giant down in
the arena. He had already guessed that the youth did know more then he let on.
The tavern owner must have been a complete dimwit, Rial thought.

Kinjou
slowly calmed down again. For this type of Naga he did know that humans
belonged to their main dish list. He shuddered. The harlequin next to him
normally ate fruits as well as flesh, but this kind of Naga nearly ate nothing
other than meat. The fight down there was soon over, as one would have thought.
The huge Naga moved surprisingly swift and agile, and had the guards attacking
him down in only seconds. He watched the Naga calmly count the few who were
down that still tried to stand up again to fight him and then discipline the
rest.

Keevorass
barked some instructions to the rest of the guards in the arena, and looked up
to where the four stood and waited for him to finish his business. Brows
furrowed as he took in the reaction the human had to him. Darn those hunters to
tell that human child so much stupid stuff without them even realizing that he
had listened. That boy could make an excellent spy though, Keevorass thought
with a lopsided grin. Ruffling through his long red mane he made his way out of
the arena. And what in Sheesshkass name did these two morons have in their
heads as a sorry exchange for a normal brain to bring him here to watch him
train the others?!? Didn’t they realize that the human had to be scared
shitless by now? He gave an annoyed snort, Rial’s work, for sure! His deep see
green eyes scanned the tunnel before him, with his body mass he constantly had
to watch out for the new warriors in training to not accidentally squish them.
Curse it this just wasn’t his day!

Meanwhile,
as Keevorass made his way up to the rooms behind the training area cussing, the
four visitors also left the arena to meet him. Kinjou calmed down a little on
the way. Of course his reasonable mind told him that the Naga would not attack
him, but his primal instincts told him to run and hide. He straightened up a
little more and tried to take it as it came, not that he could do much more
anyways. When they finally entered the room Keevorass was in, even Cessnal
began to look a little fearful.

The huge
Naga gave a whimper at this.

Actually
Keevorass loved Nagaling’s just like any other Naga did… sadly most avoided him
at all costs because he was so big. His suddenly sad looking face was a stark
contrast to all that Kinjou had ever thought of him looking like. The giant
even tried to make himself less dangerous looking by bending down. Not that
Keevorass really thought that it would work! To the surprise of all, it did
actually work out better than he would ever have believed it too. The Nagaling
first looked up to his adoptive parent for one second and in the next, he was
already grabbing and wiggling into the direction of the long red braids of the
Naga warrior in front of him.

He startled
Kinjou with his sudden movement a lot. After an awkward exchange of looks
between the Naga and Kinjou, the youth decided to trust the other for now. He
slowly put Cessnal down and watched the little one quickly make his way over to
the stunned looking Keevorass, who eyed the held out chubby little arms with
slight shock. But then he complied and took Cessnal from the floor into his
much too large arms.

The
mismatched pair looked a little bizarre to the onlookers.

It seemed
to Kinjou that the huge Naga wasn’t used to have a little bundle in his arms
and he finally took pity on Keevorass’ almost comically puzzled look. Steeling
himself, he stepped over to the two and corrected the arms that held the
Nagaling until the little one could not slip away again or fall down. Then he
stepped out of Keevorass personal space again. “Hold him this way, or he will
squirm out and fall.” He told the befuddled giant while looking somewhere else
and scratching his head.

He had held
Cessnal far too lax. Kinjou figured, correctly, that Keevorass had feared
accidentally hurting his little bundle if he put more strength into holding
him. Next to the awkward trio the two other guards in the room barely
suppressed their surprise and laughter. Kinjou adapted faster than both had
expected him to, and to see that sort of look on the face of their captain was
priceless! Keevorass’ left eyebrow slowly began to dangerously twitch at the
sight of the two snickering males behind Kinjou.

The python
Naga made a mental note to himself to take the two later by the ears to the
arena and teach them some new tricks of his own. Kinjou, however, partially
beat him to it. He, seeing the look on the big Naga’s face directed at someone
behind him, turned around to see what was there, to only find the two laughing
at their expense to themselves. All of his anxiety from the last few days
erupted into one of his rare fits of anger. And Keevorass and Cessnal watched
astonished as the little human, at least one head smaller than each of the two
warriors, punch Rial and Aoras wherever he could manage to land a blow. All the
while he was cursing them to hell and back. Whoever didn’t know Kinjou well
enough would never have guessed that he could actually get a fit too. All the
fear and anger of the last few days erupted in the same second. With both hands
he simply hit wherever he could reach and soon he had the two perplexed guards
trying to hide from him.

Behind the
still huffing Kinjou, Keevorass erupted into laughter.

The two now
looked a little ruffled around the edges and the human had actually managed to
land a hit or two on each one. Cessnal in his arms, also squeal in glee. One, from
the sight of his parent figure fighting, which lay in his blood to take
pleasure in, and two, the one holding him made funny faces. Then the Naga
finally calmed down again, and looked down at the overjoyed bundle of Nagaling
in two of his arms, and with his other two, began to tickle the Nagaling.

Soon the
laughter of Cessnal filled the room.

“I
apologies for these two pathetic excuses for guards,” with his head, he pointed
in the direction of the two still slightly dazed guards behind Kinjou, “I should
have known that these two troublemaker would try to meddle with my dealings!
Trust me Keiprassel, I will make sure later that the two remember next time not
to go too far…” He let the end of the sentence hang in the air. Behind him
Kinjou could hear Aoras and Rial gulp simultaneously. Keevorass slowly moved
over to one of the typical rest places that here were in the temple, a lot of
big cushions that lay onto a slightly elevated part of the room.

He was
careful not to startle Cessnal in any way with his movements. That made it
easier for Kinjou to relax in the presence of Keevorass. Soon he followed him
over to the cushions and sat down on one of them on the rim. “They told me that
you wanted to speak with me?” Watching the Naga play with the little Nagaling
was really something. It wasn’t actually clear which of the two had more fun
with it, and it made Kinjou smile to watch them. “Huh? Oh yes I did.” Responded
a slightly distracted Keevorass finally after nearly a minute.

He actually
was having a lot of fun right now. Cessnal was one of the few Nagaling’s in his
long life that didn’t shun away from the big Naga. That was a wonder in itself,
if you considered how young the little one was. He was enjoying every second of
this! Keevorass hoped that the human would let him play with the little heir of
his master again in the future. Suddenly Keevorass realize how near the human
had come to him.

In his
mind, he gave the youth credit for his brave attempt to control his fears. You
did not meet many humans who could muster up so much courage. That spoke of a
strong mind and an even stronger soul. The young man was no fighter in general
that much was sure. His body was far too weak for that and the Naga made a
mental note to talk to the healer later. The human had to eat more to gain
weight, he was to thin! Keevorass’ memory told him that the boy had been a
slave before, and that he had not been well taken care of. He looked rather
young to the giant. To judge from what Aoras had told Keevorass, he was actually
not even 20 winters old…half a child even in his own species terms.

The red
head mused a second about the things his guards had told him about the lead
priest of the temple. It was unusual for Makshahiarass to single someone out as
clearly as he had done last night with the young man next to him. He would have
to keep an eye on that devolvement in the future. If the youth, whose name was
Kinjou if remembered correctly, was growing on Makshahiarass, as Keevorass
thought he was, then he had to make extra sure that he was protected.

Diamond
Naga only took a partner once in their lives and it was a permanent one. The
cursed inclination of their species was the most common reason for a diamond
Naga to pass away; they rarely lived longer than their mates. He had seen such
things happen before and so he had an inkling of what was going on with the
priest. Keevorass had seen those signs happen before too and wasn’t so
surprised with Makshahiarass’ behavior as the others in the temple. Not that he
could blame him in any way, the human was exceptional good looking and had a
kind soul as it seemed.

The more
important question now was; did Makshahiarass even realize that he was
attracted to the youth? Keevorass doubted that. The great lord was wise, all
right, but when it came down to his own personal matters, he still reacted like
he had done in their childhood in the past; he ignored the problem until it
came up and bit him in the tail! Not many knew nowadays that he had grown up
with their high priest. From what he could see, the youth would most likely
adapt much better to this all then his long time friend and now superior in the
temple hierarchy. Keevorass barely suppressed a snort…hell would freeze over
before Maksha would learn it! He would have to talk with him a little to see if
he was right. And if he was right, Keevorass would have to find a way to get
that into his thick head!

Not
something he was looking forward too. This time he did snort.

Next to
him, Kinjou made a surprised face at the sudden grunt. That face brought
Keevorass back promptly to the matter at hand. “I didn’t mean to startle you;
your name is Kinjou, right?” At the nod of the young man Keevorass opened a box
next to him at the wall without even have to move too much to reach for it. He
gave the curious Kinjou a paper with a lot of signs on it. Kinjou looked sadly
up to the Naga. “I am sorry, I can’t read this, I can read and write my name
but sadly, that’s it. Slaves don’t have permission to learn to read or write.”
He gave Keevorass the paper back with a clearly unhappy look.

“Don’t
worry, most humans can’t read and most Naga also cannot read. I have to speak
with the high priest about that, you will have to learn it, it’s important and
besides you will need it here.” He wasn’t aware of the reaction his words
brought to the youth until he suddenly saw him smile widely at him. “Really? I can learn how to read?” Kinjou had always wanted
to learn that. His reaction surprised the Naga a little. Most began to grumble
when he told them that they needed to learn how to read and write.

Kinjou was
one of the few who actually wanted to learn and never had the opportunity to do
so.

It pleased
him to see that the youth was smart enough to see the good in that without it
have to be beaten into his head first! “Yes, I will ask for a teacher for you
when I report to Makshahiarass, he will be pleased to hear that. And it will
make life easier for us all if you learn it soon.” For a few seconds the young
man looked as if he wanted to jump up and dance around the room. The reaction
amused the Naga greatly.

“The paper
is a list of the names of guards that have been entrusted with the task to
protecting you and the Nagaling of Sheesshkass. Two of them you know already.”
He pointed at Rial and Aoras who had sat down next to them too. “The others you
will meet after we are finished here. Do not, ever trust any other guard or
Naga than these! Do you hear me? Only they have the right to come near to you
or the Nagaling! No one else has permission and it is better to be wary of
everyone else.” He waited until he was sure that the youth had understood him.
“Not that I believe that any Naga here would betray our master but there are
always ways to make one do the bidding of others against their own will. I have
seen that happen before and your guards have protection against such practices
or are naturally immune against them.”

With that
said, Keevorass sent Rial to fetch the other warriors that Makshahiarass and he
had selected to guard Kinjou and Cessnal.

Until next time. Suryallee