“Oh!” Harper gasped as the slender, reptilian head plunged, coming nearer and nearer. It occurred to her that the animal had probably just seen a mouse or whatever passed for a mouse here on Juno and she was in the way of its prey. Yes, that must be it.
Or what if it thinks you’re the prey? whispered a little voice in her head. It’s plenty big enough to eat you, Harper—it’s freaking anaconda-sized!
It was true, flying high in the sky overhead, the flying-snakes had appeared delicate—almost fragile. Now that one was getting closer, however, she could see their true size. The one diving at her head had to be at least fifteen feet long from nose to tail and its wingspan was that of a small airplane.
Fear stroked over her spine with an icy hand. She’d been frozen to the spot, watching the flying snake thing dive right at her but now she began to move. If she could just catch up with Shad she should be okay, she reasoned to herself. The snake-things might be big but the Kindred was huge. There was no way any of them would consider him prey.
But when she looked ahead, she saw that she’d allowed herself to fall further behind the big Kindred than she’d realized. He was about half a football field’s length ahead of her now—much too far away to get to him before the flying snake got to her.
Still, Harper tried.
“Shad!” she gasped, pumping her legs, not caring anymore that the dark green cobblestones bruised and hurt her feet. “Shad, help!”
He turned, plainly startled, and his white eyes widened. The snake things were so silent, with only the flap of their vast wings to announce them, that he’d clearly been caught off guard, just as Harper had.
“Harper!” He began to run to her but just then Harper felt something thin and horribly strong curling around her waist. Looking down, she saw it was the flying snake’s long, whip-like tail. It was wrapping around her midsection with frightening speed. Harper tried to raise her hands to push the thing away—off of her—but it looped her four more times, the last loop curling around her upper arms and pinning them to her sides.
There was a jerk and she was rising off the ground, almost as fast as she’d risen when they’d been riding on the V-copter. She shrieked but it came out as a breathless gasp—the snake’s tail was too tight around her for her to get much air.
Shad was below her now, shouting and trying to reach her. With an immense vertical leap, he managed to catch at her foot and for a moment Harper thought he might yank her free. Then her shoe came off in his hand and the flying snake soared upwards, taking her with it.
“Shad!” she managed to gasp. She got one last glimpse of his opalescent eyes—blazing with anger and fear for her—and then they went even higher and he was gone.
This thing is going to strangle me and swallow me whole in mid-air, Harper thought dismally. It’s just like Shad said—the past resists being changed. I wonder if I’ve had a worse death than this in the other time paths we went on?
If there was one, she couldn’t imagine what it could be. What could be worse than being eaten alive by a flying-snake?
But the snake made no move to eat her. Instead, it joined the formation of its fellow flying-snakes, its vast wings beating steadily as they flew on and on. Its tail around her didn’t get any tighter so, while breathing was distinctly uncomfortable and Harper felt like she might black-out at any minute, she somehow retained consciousness.
After some time, she realized they were generally following the green stone road below. Was that on purpose? Where were the flying-snakes taking her? Did they have a lair or a nest somewhere up ahead? Was the snake waiting until it got her to its own place to eat her? Or maybe feed her to its young?
Below, she saw the road was no longer deserted. There were scattered people walking to and fro, most of them headed up the road in the direction she and Shad had been walking before she was captured. Harper’s heart began to pound. Maybe she could get some help!
“Help! Hey, up here!” she wheezed, feeling like an old woman because she couldn’t get enough breath to cry out as loud as she wanted to.
A few of the people looked up but none of them seemed surprised or upset to see a flock of flying-snakes, one of them with a kidnapped woman wrapped in its coils. She saw one little boy tug at his mother’s sleeve and point upward. The mother looked up, right at Harper, then shrugged and looked away again.
Harper’s heart sank. Was this not an uncommon sight? Were these snakes all over the place and people just expected to get captured and eaten sometimes? She wondered wildly what she was going to do—no one even cared that she’d been taken but Shad and he was miles behind on the long green road.
As she thought this, new things came into view below. A few colorful tents were set up by the side of the road. Flags and pennants waved in the wind and there were merchants outside beating drums and shaking tambourine-like instruments to get the attention of customers.
As the flying-snake carried her further, Harper saw more and more tents appear. Soon their numbers swelled into the hundreds and the few road-side pavilions became a vast city of colorful canvas, flags and banners. A sudden thought occurred to her—this must be the Thieves' Market!
How ironic—the flying-snakes were taking her right over the place she and Shad had been trying to get to in the first place. Harper struggled, wondering if she could get free and land on one of the tents. It might break her fall and she could wait for Shad until he could come and find her.
But the grip of the snake’s tail got tighter—so much that gray spots started dancing in front of her eyes.
Can’t breathe…going to die…she thought dizzily and then everything went black for a moment.
When she came to, she found her feet were skimming the ground. The snake’s tail was still wrapped around her waist but it had dropped down into a clear space around one of the tents in the middle of the market. At least, Harper assumed it was the middle of the market. It was impossible to say since she’d lost consciousness for a time.
Sellers and buyers were hurrying all around the cleared area, which was marked off by a long piece of blue tape like a bizarre police line. But no one crossed it and no one seemed to notice a flying-snake was coming in for a landing, dangling a girl from its tail.
“Here now, here now—what have you brought me, Schmendrick?”
The high, flute-like voice belonged to a tiny little woman who would hardly come up to Harper’s shoulder. She emerged from the flap of a nearby blue and yellow striped tent, holding something in her hands.
The snake, which had been perfectly silent until now, hissed and continued to hover, its vast wings beating the air as it kept a tight hold on Harper with its tail.
“Here now,” the little woman exclaimed. She had an incredibly wrinkled face with blue-gray skin.
Like a blue prune, Harper thought faintly.
The woman held up the thing in her hands to the snake and she saw it was raw meat—a huge, bloody chunk of it which oozed and dripped greenish-blue blood down the little woman’s arms.
The snake ducked its head and struck, swallowing the raw chunk so fast the motion was almost invisible. Then it uncurled its tail from around Harper’s waist and let her drop to the dusty ground below.
“Oof!” Harper landed hard, skinning the palms of her hands and her knees. For a moment she just stayed there, head hanging, trying to get her breath back. It seemed like hours since she’d been able to take a deep enough breath and truly fill her lungs, although it was probably more like ten minutes.
“Now then, dearie. How are you?” The little woman came towards Harper briskly, wiping her hands on a length of stained yellow toweling. “How did you find the ride? I hope my Schmendie wasn’t too rough with you?”
“Rough with me?” Harper looked at her in disbelief. “He snatched me right off the road and dragged me up into the sky with no warning! I thought he was going to…going to kill me and eat me.”
Her last words came out choked and she had to swallow back a sob. She di
dn’t usually cry easily but she’d been genuinely certain she was going to die. Just being alive was such a huge relief that she found she was a mess of mixed emotions inside.
“Oh dear! He didn’t!” The little woman’s bright little raisin eyes widened in apparent horror. “You mean you’re not the girl he was meant to bring? You’re not Hoolah from Earls-da-much?” As she spoke, someone else emerged from the tent—a tall, thin male with green skin, only not quite as wrinkled.
“What’s all this?” he asked in a reedy baritone. “What’s wrong, Mother?”
“Schmendrick took the wrong girl,” the old lady explained to her companion. “He snatched this poor girl right off the road.”
“Well, she doesn’t look like she’s from Earls-da-much,” the male said. “Look at the size of her. And that skin—such a creamy brown. You don’t often see that shade. It’s rare, that is—exotic.”
“Yes, it is,” the old woman agreed. “She really doesn’t look a bit like the people of Earls-da-much.”
“That’s because I’m not from Earls-da-whatever. My name is Harper and I’m from Earth,” Harper choked out. “Your pet snake freaking kidnapped me!”
“Oh me! Oh dear!” The woman shook her head and clucked her tongue. “And I gave him an extra large chunk of tennick flesh too, because you looked so big and heavy and I thought your weight must make his tail weary!"
“You’re right, Mother.” The male beside her nodded and frowned at Harper. “I don’t know how he even lifted you off the ground. You’re a hefty one, you are girlie.”
“What?” Harper didn’t know if she ought to be relieved or insulted. So she was alive and the snake grabbing her had been an accident. But to her mind, the little old lady who owned it—or had at least apparently trained it—was still at fault. Also, there was no need to call her “hefty”—it was definitely adding insult to injury.
Too fat for flying- snake-travel? the marketing part of her mind gabbled glibly. Maybe it’s time to try Insta-lose and melt the pounds away. Never make your snake’s tail tired again when you fly!
A hysterical bubble of laughter rose in her throat and she swallowed it down with some difficulty. Was she going crazy? Had it only been a few hours ago she was sitting on the beach and making a New Year’s resolution to lose weight? And now look at her. Stuck on an alien planet with no idea of where she was or how to get away.
Yes, you do know where you are and how to get away, a little voice in her head insisted. You’re in the Thieves' Market—you must be. And the way to get out is to get on the road and start working your way back to Shad. Maybe if you go now you can meet him halfway.
With some difficulty, she rose from the ground and dusted herself off. The flock of flying-snakes were nothing more than wavering black shapes in the sky above and the business of the bustling market continued around her unabated.
She was headed for the blue tape which encircled the cleared area around the blue and yellow striped tent when the little old lady touched her elbow.
“Here now, dearie—where do you think you’re going?”
“Away,” Harper said shortly. “Your pet snake-thing snatched me from my companion and he’s probably frantic about me by now. I have to get back to him.”
“Oh but just look at you. You can’t go like that. Why, you’ve only got one foot-cover on. The road will be the death of your poor feet,” the old lady objected and the tall green man who had called her “Mother” nodded in agreement.
“You’d much better come inside our dwelling tent and have a sit-down and some refreshments with the other girls,” he remarked. “They’d welcome you, I’m sure. And we could find you some proper foot-covers.”
“I don’t think so,” said Harper sharply. “I’m not inclined to trust any offers from people who own kidnapping snakes.”
“My Schmendrick, a kidnapper?” The old lady burst into cawing laughter. “Bless you, dearie! He’s nothing of the kind. He’s a transporter only he transported the wrong girl. He’s getting a bit old, is my poor Schmendie.” She sighed in a melancholy way. “Almost as old as I am—I trained him right out of the egg and he hatched when I wasn’t but ten cycles old myself. Ah, me…how the time does fly…”
“It doesn’t matter why he grabbed me, the fact is that I have to get back,” Harper said. “So if you’ll just excuse me…”
“But we have to make this wrong up to you,” the green-skinned male exclaimed. “Aren’t you thirsty? Come have a cool drink with the other girls before you leave, at least.”
This was the second time he’d mentioned other girls, which made Harper frown.
“What other girls? What are you talking about?”
“Oh, we’re a way-side transport station for nurses here, so we are,” the old lady explained. “Our slidies bring them in from all over so they can meet prospective employers and help males in need, here at the market.”
“Slidies?” Harper frowned. “You mean the flying-snakes?”
“Bless you, dearie—you really must be from someplace else. Don’t know what ‘snakes’ are, but wouldn’t you like a nice drink to cool you down before you go?”
Harper wavered. Could it be that she really had just been taken by mistake? The old lady and her son seemed sincerely regretful about it and appeared to want to make it up to her. Plus, her throat was awfully dry after flying so far while barely able to breathe.
“Well…” she said uncertainly.
Suddenly a young, pretty face with pale purple skin and enormous green eyes poked out from the tent flap.
“Auntie Bru-bru,” the girl chirped. “Come in and tell us who sings more sweetly—me or Titi. We’re having a contest!”
“In a minute, Nandi.” the old lady made a shooing gesture. “Pie-lo and me, we’re trying to fix a kafuffle out here. It seems my naughty Schmendie has brought the wrong girl.”
“Has he?” The girl giggled. “Oh my—what a mix up!” She looked at Harper. “So you don’t want to be a nurse?”
“Well, no. I’m a…a marketing executive.” It sounded odd to speak of her job out here in the middle of an alien world. Would the other girl even know what a marketer was?
“If you like marketing then at least he brought you to the Thieves' Market where you’ll feel right at home,” Nandi remarked. “Still, you must have been scared to death when he grabbed you!”
“Yes, I was,” Harper said shortly. “I thought he was going to kill me and eat me.”
“What? Really?” The girl called Nandi let out a bubbling laugh. “Oh my, how awful. Come in the nursing tent—you need a drink to cool you down and calm your nerves.”
Her easy tone and manner finally convinced Harper. She nodded stiffly.
“Well…all right. But I can only stay a minute.”
“Of course, of course…” Nandi came out of the tent to take her hand and drag her inside. “Now do come on—you’re missing all the fun!”
Harper allowed herself to be pulled towards the tent but she couldn’t help being startled by the other girl’s appearance. Nandi was nearly as tiny as the diminutive Auntie Bru-bru but she had enormous breasts—almost as big as watermelons. A small, pink lace top was stretched tightly over the giant mammaries and she wore loose-fitting, matching pink trousers which gathered at the ankles to go with it.
“Come on now,” she said, tugging at Harper’s hand and leading her into the tent.
Harper let herself be led, trying not to look at the way the huge breasts bounced and jiggled with each step the tiny Nandi took.
She looks like a live-action anime girl, she couldn’t help thinking. That’s the way they draw them—with those big eyes and enormous boobs! How weird. Then again, maybe she looked weird to Nandi too. This was an alien culture and she shouldn’t rush to judgment, Harper told herself.
Inside the tent, several other girls were sitting around on a wide, circular couch sipping cups of pale purple drink and playing some kind of game which apparently involved singing or dancing. Th
ey were an interesting bunch with skin colors ranging from pale, daisy yellow to baby blue to mint green to Nandi’s own lilac shade but they all had one thing in common—they all had abnormally large breasts.
Well, I guess I know what men on this planet look for in a woman, Harper thought dryly. And it’s sure not a good personality.
But if they were all nurses, their breast size shouldn’t matter, should it? Auntie Bru-bru had said they “helped males in need.” Did they all stay here until someone came looking for first aid? Maybe the men of this planet only wanted to be tended by medical professionals with big breasts? But all the women appeared to be of different races—at least, if their differing skin tones was any indication. So how was it that they all had the same huge, watermelon-sized breasts?
It was very confusing but Harper didn’t have time to ponder her questions for long because Nandi was already tugging at her arm again.
“Come over here.” The other girl took her to a small table which held a tall silver fountain—a little like the chocolate fountains you sometimes saw at weddings or on buffet lines, Harper thought. It had four silver tiers and spouted high into the air.
But instead of chocolate, this fountain was spouting the pale purple liquid all the other girls were drinking. A row of gorgeously etched silver goblets stood in a semi-circle around the silver rim. Nandi took one and held it under the flow, filling it to the top, before handing it to Harper.
Harper took it and looked at it doubtfully. It smelled delicious—sweet and light and fruity—and she was really thirsty. But she was still reluctant to drink something that had been given to her by a stranger.
“Um, is this alcoholic?” she asked Nandi. “Will it make me drunk?”
“What? Don’t be silly!” Nandi filled a goblet for herself and took a gulp of it. “Mmm, good! See—it’s not poisoned or anything. Auntie Bru-bru and Pie-lo wouldn’t do that to us. They love us. In fact, everybody loves everybody here.”
“Well…” Harper took another sniff of the goblet and then brought it to her lips. She meant to take just a small swallow but the moment the liquid hit her tongue, her thirst seemed to intensify tenfold and she found herself taking long, refreshing swallows of the pale purple stuff.