Slave of the Scorpion

**Slave of the Scorpion** is the tenth episode of *Primal* and the final episode of the first season.

## Synopsis

Spear and Fang are confronted by a human much more evolved than they have ever seen before.

## Plot

Spear and Fang are fishing in a shallow lagoon when a bald-headed homo sapien woman with a wooden collar around her neck, a scorpion tatto on the back of her head and metal cuffs on her wrists, suddenly bursts out from the water, followed by a Liopleurodon. As the two battle and eventually kill the sea creature, the woman disappears into the woods, though Spear gives pursuit. They come to a brief moment of peace before Fang appears and scares the woman away. Determined not to let her escape, Spear resumes the chase and cuts the stranger off, leaving her cornered. After a short stand-off, Spear lowers his weapon and himself in a peaceful manner. He notices that the woman is cold and makes a campfire for the night before going to sleep. The woman wakes up in the middle of the night and begins praying to the moon as Spear watches.

The trio sets off in the morning and travels through various landscapes, such as a volcano range, some grasslands, jungle, and mountainous terrain. They settle down to eat, but the stranger has difficulty (Or unwillingness) eating the raw meat provided by Spear. Instead, she forages local plant matter and a turtle shell to make an impromptu stew pot, the smell of which seems to attract Fang as she grabs a carrot-like vegetable from the woman almost immediately and swallows it. Spear does not share the same appreciation for it and later again prays to the moon that night.

The woman wakes up the next morning in discomfort from the large wooden collar around her neck. Spear uses Fang's powerful bite to destroy it, then uses a rock to break off the two iron cuffs on the woman's wrists. In appreciation, she speaks her name to Spear,: "Mira" though he seems not to take notice or does not fully understand what she is saying. Travelling onwards, Mira gathers local materials which she eventually uses to make a bow, killing a medium-sized avian dinosaur Spear and Fang failed to kill. Feasting on their latest kill, Mira illustrates her backstory in the dirt giving narration in her language, explaining that her people were enslaved by invaders led by tyrannical warriors represented by a scorpion image, but she was the only one who managed to escape. Spear seems to understand somewhat what she drew and looks unnerved by the scorpion image. The group later cross a deep river by riding on Fang's back as she swims under the water.

The party arrive at a cave surrounded by loose rocks which Fang struggles to climb up, but Mira successfully uses food as an incentive to climb. At night, Mira prays to the moon again, which drives Spear's curiosity enough to enquire about it. Mira gives a short explanation (In her language) before going to sleep, as Spear gazes longingly at the moon.

At dusk, Spear and Fang are awoken and ambushed by a large group of monkey-men, who have captured Mira. Spear and Fang inflict heavy casualties using Mira's bow, Spear's spear and the monkey-men's own weapons against them before attempting to search for Mira in the foggy forest. They use her screams for help as a guide and come across a number of monkey-men corpses littered with arrows, something Spear has (At this point) only seen Mira use. He finds footprints in the sand, and using Mira's screams, pinpoints the direction to run in. They reach the coast, only to find they are too late as Mira has already been taken onto a boat whose sail bears the same icon Mira's head does. With the boat disappearing over the horizon, Spear utters his first word: "Mira" while Fang roars in sadness.

## Characters

* Spear
* Fang
* Mira
* Monkey-men
* Liopleurodon
* Vikings (Drawing)

## Trivia

* This is the first time in the series where Spear spoke a word.
	+ This also marks the first time any form of spoken language appeared in the series.
* The idea of the existence of an evolved civilization in a prehistoric world is reminiscent of *Paraworld Games*, a real-time strategy PC game released on September 25, 2006 where prehistoric life thrives alongside various human civilizations that are not technologically advanced (The Viking-like Norsemen, the nomadic African Dustraiders, and the Asian Dragon Clan).
* Mira's language may be an older dialect, or the Lebanese dialect of Arabic.
* This is the first episode where feathered dinosaurs and different pterosaur species appear in the series.
* Though Spear (being a primal Neanderthal), didn't like cooked Vegetables, he developed a liking for roasted meat.

## References

 "Sea of Despair" • "Shadow of Fate" • "Dawn of Man" • "The Red Mist" • "The Primal Theory" • "Vidarr" • "The Colossaeus, Part I" • "The Colossaeus, Part II" • "The Colossaeus, Part III" • "Echoes of Eternity"