The Ride

It took some time to figure out, and while it was not the best solution, it was a solution like any other. She was able to get her body into the carriage, being able to stretch up high as she did at the river, but the problem was where her tail would go.

Trying to come up with ideas and the novelty of never having seen a Lamia before, it was decided that she could lay her tail over the laps of a few people. A strange situation it would be, but she couldn't see another way to go about it. Hanging her tail out the door meant it could catch on something and was unsafe.

Having boarded through the door at the back of the carriage, she then laid her tail over three laps, with Sylvia being one of them. The bandits were happily tied to the back of the carriage that Octavia was in, making them walk at the rear all in a line.

With everything ready, the carriages started to move.

…

It was a long way to get to the town. Having seen it from the treetops, it would have taken a good couple of days or so to reach. Now with the carriage and horsepower helping, several hours were all that was needed.

As they travelled, there were no attacks from animals or monsters, which Octavia thought there would be, being a fantasy world and all. They were just lucky in that she supposed.

While there were no major problems, a few things happened inside the carriage. It was an odd situation, with her tail needing to be over a few people's laps. It also didn't help that since they had never seen a Lamia before, which meant she was seen as a curiosity. This meant that several times during the trip she had to look over at someone, having felt them caress her tail.

It was a strange sensation, given that it felt similar to the wolf bite she had received before. It seemed that while it was able to mute the pain, her tail was still sensitive in some respects.

It happened several times in the journey, a few even coming from Sylvia who was sitting next to her. They did apologise, but the lure was too strong for some people, repeating the action later that day. Even some of the group on the other side of the carriage, reached over to get a feel. All Octavia could do was sit back and try to relax.

As the journey continued, with the safety of the carriage, people started opening up again. They spoke of their lives, what they would do in the town, who they were going to see, all manner of things. Octavia conversed with them as well, answering questions about where she learnt to fight, where she came from, and what a Lamia was. The first two were fine, but she struggled with the last.

"I woke up in a cabin in the woods." She told them. Having just met she didn't want to tell them everything, so she provided the same story of events as she did with Sylvia.

"So why are you travelling to the town?"

"Mainly to meet people. I hadn't seen anyone in the forest until I met all of you. I also need someplace to stay. Sleeping on a tree isn't very fun after a while. Lastly, I need to find a library."

The crowd had some dumbfounded faces to Octavia's response, but Sylvia chimed in saving them.

"Well, there is only a Library in the lord's castle, but there is no way you would be able to get in to see it." She stated outright. "Although, I may be able to get you in. Give me a day to sort it out, I'll let you know when you can visit."

Visiting the library was essential in finding information on other Lamia villages. Even with the potential that a lot of records on Lamias were gone, she may be able to find something. Saying that, even if she couldn't, it would be a good place to find information on this world.

The atmosphere was joyous in the carriage, especially since Octavia was now able to sort out another of her goals, but this was shattered by the cry of, "My love!" from the other carriage.

"Errrhh." Sylvia ran her hand down her face after hearing that.

"What do you want to do about him. He's just going to keep following you once we get to town."

Sylvia shook her head, "Once we get him to his estate, his guards will take care of him. This isn't the first time, so they are used to it. He'll also be so busy with work he won't have time to annoy me… for a while anyway. I can't believe my parents still want me to marry him."

"Is he actually a knight? Also, do they know that's he's so…like that?"

"He's a knight in name only, he has no fighting experience as you saw. Also, the stupid thing is that they do know. They have seen him follow me around, with his ridiculous overacting, but they just say he's a romantic, passionate about his love for me. Idiots." She states turning away with a frown, "I don't mean that are idiots. I love my parents, but the situation is idiotic." She quickly corrects herself.

"Should I go bite him again before he makes a scene?"

"Yes please." She replied pleadingly, fearing what trouble the knight would cause.

Stopping the carriages Octavia hopped out, groans at having lost their amusement rang from the carriage as she did, and then slithered to the knight's carriage. As she arrived she found him stepping off the carriage, likely to look for Sylvia.

"You there, peasant with the snake tail. Take me to my bel-"

Already irked by the start of his speech, Octavia just quickly lunged toward the man and bit him on his hand again. With the help of the other passengers, they got him back in the carriage. For good measure, they bound and gagged him like in the bandit camp. Sylvia assured everyone there would be no repercussions for doing so.

…

On the move again, answering questions and dealing with touches to her tail, after a few more hours and several more bites, they finally made it to town. With all the biting she did, she hoped there were no lasting effects. But only time would tell.

Reaching the gates, like almost all novels they were stopped by guards, checking identification papers and taking entrance fees. It would seem that citizens had identification papers, whereas everyone else had to pay a small fee to enter. While she had some coins and was going to pay, Sylvia quickly paid for her, stating "it was her obligation after having been saved".

The carriages passed through the massive gates into the walled town. As Octavia looked out into the town she could see many stone brick buildings. Cobblestone roads ran through the whole town, all leading to the town square, where a market was being held.

Basic metal posts holding oil lanterns sporadically dotted the streets they were travelling down. She spotted several buildings that appeared to be shops given the signs out front. One showed an anvil, likely meaning blacksmith, another a bottle for apothecary of some sort. There was one with fruit and vegetables, for a grocer, another with some kind of animal, possibly for a butcher. There was one that just had a sack on the sign, meaning it was either a sack maker or something else entirely.

Travelling past several houses, they stopped in front of a very large building, ornately decorated all over. Large areas were open, and some were filled with other carriages. Horses were also in an attached barn having their fill of food and water.

As they parked up, everyone jumped off the carriage, with some help being needed for the bound knight. Once off, the drivers continued on, storing the carriages and horses, probably to then tell their superiors why they are late.

After disembarking, two things happened. The first was several guards rushing over, their blades drawn as they saw several people holding a tied up and gagged knight. Fearing for their life they all dropped him and stepped back, muffed groans coming from the man. Seeing this, Sylvia dashed over to them, explaining the situation.

It would seem Sir Roderick has caused quite the fuss before, as after having recognised Sylvia and been told of the situation, they quickly picked up the knight and walked away.

The second thing that happened was that once the ruckus with the knight was over, everyone in the street stopped what they were doing and just stared.

Stared at what you may ask. Well of course it was Octavia and her tail.

Unsure what to do, she felt as if some were staring at her out of interest, but for others she felt like she was a piece of meat. She proceeded to hide behind Sylvia as best she could.

"Why are you hiding?" Sylvia said to the poorly hidden Octavia.

"Because everyone is staring at me?"

"What did you think would happen." *sigh* "You do recall that until now Lamia's were extinct. To them, you are something new that no one has seen before, a beast kin with a snake tail. The only reason I know what you are is because of my mother's research, to everyone else you are a snake girl."

Looking around, she could see that many were intrigued, but some were frightened, hiding their kids from the strange person. No one was brave enough to go near her though.

With all the staring, thoughts of what was to come came to mind. Would she be able to find a place to stay? While she would have the money from selling the loot, would someone be willing to trade with her? Then when renting a room, she would need to find someone willing to rent to the strange new creature in town.

Thoughts at a mile a minute, unsure of what to do, Sylvia saved the day with her suggestion.

"Well, this won't do. Follow me. We'll sell your loot then I'll find you a place to stay. One where you won't be stared at by strangers all the time."

"Thanks for the help." Octavia chimed out with, thankful for her saviour

"It's just so you don't distract everyone from their jobs," she said looking away from Octavia.

"Just can't be honest can she, she's a good person, yet she makes out she isn't," Octavia thought to herself, sure that saying it out loud would earn her a slap or something.

…

After saying goodbye to the former prisoners, guards came over to take the new prisoners. They handed over a large sack of pica, which did turn out to be the currency in this world. It was not the only currency, though every currency could be exchanged easily with the others. Plus, the exchange rate didn't change here.

With a quick rundown of the currency from Sylvia, she was told that ten copper pica equalled one silver, twenty silver was one gold and fifty gold was a mithril pica. As far as she could tell a loaf of bread was a couple of copper pica and renting a room was generally a few silvers. The price of each bandit was three silver pica each, the leader of the group being a corrupt merchant dealing in slaves was seven silver pica, giving Octavia a good start in terms of funds. She hadn't even sold the loot yet.

Nobles and Merchants dealt in large amounts of gold and even mithril pica on a regular basis. The amount she current had would be seen as a paltry sum in comparison.

As they walked, Sylvia gave a brief tour, pointing out various shops, inns, bathhouses and many other locations. Octavia did notice that a few guards seemed to be following them as well. They were not close to them by any means, but anyone could tell they were following the girls. Asking Sylvia about it she only replied," Don't worry about it."

Thinking about it more, it made sense that they would be followed by guards. For one, she was new to town and a new species on top of that. They would have no idea how she would act, or what she could do. Second, with all the stares, someone may be bold enough to make a move. Whether it was friendly or otherwise, the guards would need to be near to keep the peace, until the novelty of it all died down.

She just really hoped it would die down soon. If she was going to be living here for the foreseeable future, being followed and watched did not sound appealing to her.

Only time will tell.