POV Tabia
Despite everything, Tabia believed that she would be able to quickly resolve the issues that had arisen.
"I'll come back, dear," she promised her husband, "And we'll continue. It won't take long."
However, the sphinx was right, and the anubis was wrong. For the next five days, Tabia ran around like a madwoman, seeing her husband only in passing, throwing him onto the bed without a word, and relieving her tension through passionate but brief unions.
The tasks took up a lot of time. And while she was able to negotiate with the sandworms by mobilizing the sphinx and the other anubis, who explained to the massive underground creatures with a mix of magic what was required of them, things turned out to be more complicated with the girtablilu. The scorpions reacted aggressively to any attempts at negotiation and often simply hid or fled.
Furious at their stubbornness, Tabia armed her servants—lamias and mummies—with nets and organized a full-fledged hunt. Soon, the ruins of the defensive tower were filled with bound monster-girls, and the surroundings shook day and night with the loud curses of the captive mamono and the angry snapping of pincers. Tabia stationed mummy guards by the girtablilu and created a feeding schedule, along with detailed instructions for potential incidents.
Anubis was about to breathe a sigh of relief when new difficulties arose on the seventh day. In the daytime, Tabia went to check that everything was going as planned and was horrified. No, the monsters had arrived as instructed. The girtablilu were neatly arranged in the back rows, and the sandworms' mouths were sticking out of the ground, with beautiful girls' tongues hanging out.
But the gathering of the demon realm's inhabitants resembled a disorganized crowd rather than a beautiful formation worthy of such an important event.
The girls chatted, happily embraced as they met friends, argued, cursed, and moved around from place to place. Some of the mummies had their wraps slip off, and now, disturbed by accidental touches, they lay on the ground, barely moving from unbearable ecstasy.
The lamias showed each other their jewelry, bragged about their breast sizes and hair lengths. Here and there, such conversations ended in arguments, screams, and sometimes even fights.
Upon hearing one lamia behind her remark that "these earrings don't match the color of her eyes, and with her sense of style, her husband won't find anything that suits her," one of the snakes attacked the offender. Now, both were desperately crying and trying to fix the torn wraps on their chests and hips. Their friends immediately rushed to help.
The two sides exchanged angry glares, but they still made sure to stroke and comfort the injured. After much difficulty, Tabia managed to separate the opponents. Overcome with emotion, she hurried to her husband, and when she returned, she began counting the assembled again.
"The girtablilu are in place... I hope the lady won't notice that it's not everyone... can't catch them all. Worms, mummies, sphinxes, anubis. Lamias. One, two, three..."
Anubis sighed heavily as another lamia slithered to the other end of the crowd, thus being counted twice or even three times. But even with such errors, Tabia soon realized that part of the monsters were missing.
"Where have you been? Where are the other lamias?!" she asked sternly as she passed by Euvs. "There's at least a quarter missing!"
The sphinx pretended not to have heard anything. The cat nearly slipped away, but Tabia grabbed her by the tail and stopped her.
"Ouch! That hurts!" cried Evs, jerking forward. "Let go!"
Tabia released her hand, and the sphinx fell, though without much consequence—the cat landed gracefully on her paws.
"Well," Evs said dejectedly, brushing herself off. "Time to clean up again."
The cat sat down and began licking herself.
"Where are the lamias?" Tabia repeated sternly. "They were just here! I told you—keep an eye on them so they don't scatter while I was away..." Tabia's tail twitched slightly, "...on business."
"I kept an eye on them," the sphinx lazily replied, still licking her pads.
"And?" Anubis asked impatiently.
"They left."
"How? Why?"
"Meow. The hunting party returned, meow, just in time for the announcement," Evs explained sweetly. "With prey. A few camels strayed from some caravan, carrying bales of sherbet and a couple of drivers."
"They were such beauties, purr!" the cat purred. "Too bad they're already taken. I would've played with them... As for the lamias... Some went to check out the boys and eat. I already looked, and I don't really like sweet things."
"Where are they?" Tabia quickly asked.
"Over there, on the other side," Evs waved a paw in the direction of the pyramid. "If you want sherbet, hurry up. When I left, almost half was gone."
Tabia raised her staff above her head and ran towards the pyramid at full speed. She needed to get the girls back to the gathering point quickly.
Anubis wasn't angry with the lamias. Every wedding was an incredibly important event in the lives of the local mamono. Men were catastrophically scarce. So much so that a captured man often ended up with a harem of a dozen monster-girls, who would keep him in their embrace all day long.
Of course, an incubus had enough energy for each wife, but there were still only twenty-four hours in a day, so seeing the guy outside the bedroom was a rare miracle.
The neighboring human kingdom—Emirat—knew how to protect its subjects. Constant patrols, well-armed caravan guards, and punitive squads made weddings a complicated task.
'How lucky I am to have a high rank,' Tabia thought on the run. 'And my husband is only mine! Like most important mamono...'
Tabia sped through the gardens surrounding the pyramid, kicking up earth and grass beneath her paws. Skirting the ancient tomb, which had been converted into something resembling a city, Anubis nearly collided with a crowd of lamias. The snakes hissed excitedly, jostling each other, grabbing sweets from the torn-open bales, and quickly devouring the treats.
"You already took some!"
"No, it's my first time! And you, where are you going? Your face is covered in sherbet! You definitely ate!"
Anubis pushed her way through the lamias. Nearby, two naked men lay, squeezed into tight, hot rings of wives. Both were in a semi-conscious state, their heads held up by the snakes.
The men's faces were frozen in expressions of bliss and exhaustion. The lamias, now married, rhythmically squeezed their rings, never letting their husbands leave their embrace, and hissed angrily at the other mamono.
"You're my friend! We agreed—whoever marries first will share the boy with the others!" one of the lamias, who hadn't gotten a husband, said angrily.
"Shhhh! He's mine!" the lucky one hissed in response. She eagerly pressed her lips to the man's, slipping her flexible tongue into his mouth. The lamia began to lick the man's gums, demonstrating the depth of her love.
Another snake, who had gotten a husband, moaned with her eyes closed, squeezing the last drops of semen from the man.
For a while, Anubis watched this blatant disregard for order, then sighed and wearily asked,
"Everyone eaten? Everyone seen enough?"
Her appearance was finally noticed. The lamias moved away from the remaining sweets. Disobedience meant punishment. And who wanted to spend a whole month cleaning the pyramid from dust and sand?
"Go back, and do it quickly," Tabia ordered. "As for the married ones... May your union be blessed! You can stay here. You'll be told everything later..."
Pushing the snakes along with impolite prods of her staff, Anubis returned them to the gathering point. Just in time, too. Music could be heard from the pyramid. Harps, sistros, and flutes filled the air with a captivating, sweet, and majestic melody.
The mamono grew quiet, entranced by the music, which soared upwards, sending shivers down their spines, and then descended, deep and tender.
"It's starting," Tabia breathed out.