Vanished:Brides of the Kindred 21 Read online

  The second thing that stopped her urge for self-exploration was the fear that Shad and their host might hear her. She tended to get loud if she wasn’t careful and she had the idea that the sex-milk aphrodisiac she had ingested would make it really hard for her to be careful and quiet. She didn’t need to start moaning and gasping and advertising her problem—what she needed was to get someplace even more private—and preferably soundproof—so she could take care of herself and try to figure out what to do next.

  But where was she going to find someplace like that?

  Then Master Yll-no’s words came back to her…“Do you wish to take a bath, my dear? You might want to wait until you get back to the space yacht I am forging for you. The bathing facilities will be truly sumptuous, I promise.”

  That’s what I need—to get back to the new ship he’s making for us, Harper told herself. I’m sure I can find a way to help myself and get some relief there. After all, how long can this possibly last?

  Then she remembered something else—what Pie-lo had said about hoping she enjoyed her “insatiable cravings.” Was this what he’d been talking about? How long did the effects of the sex-milk last? And was there any antidote?

  I wonder if they’ll have access to the Interweb on the new ship? Harper wondered. She knew Shad did—it was kind of like the Internet but for the entire known galaxy. Surely she could find some information on her plight and how to deal with it there.

  The idea reinforced the feeling that she had to get away from here. Had to get someplace where she could figure this mess out on her own.

  And she had to do it quick before her breasts got any bigger or started leaking.

  “Right,” Harper muttered to herself. She pulled up her gown and pulled down the t-shirt. She’d had it knotted at her side before but now she unknotted it and let it hang loose, which made it considerably roomier. Satisfied at last that her problem was hidden, Harper fluffed her hair and left the bathroom. But she knew her new, larger breasts wouldn’t stay hidden for long.

  She had to get out of here fast.

  * * * * *

  Shad thought Harper seemed distracted and withdrawn when she came back from the fresher unit. But he supposed she was simply trying to digest all the strange things that had happened to them that day. It had been incredibly rough on her, he knew. From the moment he’d grabbed her on the beach it seemed they hadn’t had a moment’s peace or rest. He hoped they would be able to take it easy and catch their breath once they got aboard the fabulous space yacht Master Yll-no was forging for them.

  Of course, they had to get to it first.

  So when the Master forger finally finished speaking Harper’s new life into being, he had a request.

  “Master Yll-no,” he said. “I would ask you for one more thing—a V-copter of our own to take us back to the spaceport. It is a long, weary journey and I would be pleased to get there sooner rather than later.”

  The Master forger’s golden eyes gleamed.

  “As to that, I can do better than a V-copter. I can transport the two of you directly to the ship I have forged for you simply by moving your doppelgangers there.” He gestured to the miniscule Harper and Shad figures which were still standing on the balcony of the palace on the model of their new home world.

  Harper frowned. “But since you, uh, spoke all this into being, will we meet ourselves there? I mean, will there suddenly be two of us?”

  “Naturally not, my dear—that is dimensionally impossible. I would have to merge these doppelgangers into you eventually anyway—transporting you as I do so will simply save time.”

  “So…that won’t change us at all?” Harper still seemed hesitant. She had her arms crossed over her chest in a strangely protective way that made Shad frown—was something wrong with her?

  “You will be the exact same people you have always been,” the Master Forger promised. “Would you like me to instantly transport you?”

  “Yes,” Shad answered for them both. “I think that would be the best and fastest way to go.”

  “Then hold perfectly still, the two of you. And may fortune favor you,” he added, looking at Shad.

  “Thank you. For all of your help. For honoring the debt you owed my fathers,” Shad said, nodding.

  “Thank you for offering me a challenge. These forgeries are the most complete I could make them—I pray for your sake they will fool She Who Alters.”

  “I pray so too,” Shad said fervently. He was well aware of the risk they were taking. If Master Yll-no’s forgeries didn’t fool the Goddess, they would be dead and without enough power in the looper to start again. Still, what else could they do?

  Trust, whispered a voice in his brain—the words of the Mother of All Life.

  I am trying, he told her. Then he felt a strange sensation—a feeling of weightlessness though his feet remained on the ground.

  Looking up, he saw that Master Yll-no had lifted his tiny doppelganger, tweezing his black leather vest delicately between thumb and finger, and was moving him slowly over to the model of the golden ship.

  “Now when I set him down, you will instantly merge and be where he is—right outside the ship,” the Master forger said. “Ready yourself.”

  “I am re—” Shad stared to say but before the words could finish leaving his mouth, there was a swirl of color, a moment of solid blackness, and then he found himself back on the landing platform at the space port, staring up at the immense golden side of a space yacht only the wealthiest could afford.

  On the landing spoke beside it, as though in contrast, sat his own battered craft. It looked to Shad like a sad little stray dog next to a showy peacock. However, it did have one advantage over the beautiful yacht—it was real. The space yacht would dissolve into dust after a year and a day but Shad’s little ship would still be there.

  But for now it was real enough. He lifted his hand and touched the golden side, which thrummed with power. The ship was as real as the clothing he now wore—black leather trousers and boots and a black leather vest to go with them. He was dressed as his tiny doppelganger had been.

  Shad shook his head in wonder. What a pity the forger’s solid illusions couldn’t last forever! If there was anything lasting about them, he could have asked Master Yll-no to change Harper and unmake the part of her that was ten’sora. But eventually she would have reverted back to normal and then they would have been right back where they’d started. Besides, he wasn’t sure if the Master forger would have been willing to work such a drastic change on a living subject. It didn’t seem likely.

  Speaking of that, where was Harper?

  Shad looked around anxiously, wondering why it was taking so long for her to be transported. Just as he was really beginning to worry and curse himself for allowing the Master to send him first, she finally popped into existence right beside him.

  “Oh,” she gasped, and looked around, apparently dazed. She was wearing a new outfit too but Shad couldn’t see it very well—it was obscured by the cloak of thorns which was hissing and spitting at the furry humlock, which she clutched to her chest.

  “Are you all right?” Shad asked her, frowning sternly. “I was beginning to get worried.

  “Sorry.” She gave him an uncertain look and once again he wondered if something was wrong with her. “I, uh, liked the humlock so much Master Yll-no gave it to me. But that meant he had to make a little one to give to the little Harper before he could transport me and well…that took some time. Plus, these two don’t like each other at all.” She nodded down at the angry cloak of thorns and the quivering, whimpering humlock which seemed to be struggling to get away from the threat of the menacing cloak.

  “So I see,” he said dryly. Leave it to Harper to pick up two pets which hated each other. In every path they’d been on together, she was always too soft-hearted when it came to animals. “Here,” he added, reaching for the frightened humlock, “Let me help.”

  “No!” Harper pulled away, keeping the furry creature tight