Kendraha wakes to find herself alive, and if she can reach safety she will have to reconsider her survival strategy again. However first things first, how to get out of Rome. If she can do that, then she has to decide where to go next in this barbaric alternate past Earth.
Stranded in Alternate Time 10-12,
by Py, (c) 9/4/2000,
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The history of the Goddess Kendraha is without parallel in the world. It seems to have begun somewhere in the Mediterranean area between 200 BC and 50 BC, we can't calculate it any closer at this time. From there it spread slowly at first, then more quickly, until sometime around 230 AD it popped up in a totally unconnected country geographically speaking. Also about this time the Goddess changed from a Goddess of war and fertility, an odd combination in itself, to a Goddess who still represented those things, but also became the Goddess of commerce and revenge, 2 more odd traits to put together. This suggests that perhaps a small group of merchants were carrying the religion to new places by boat and over land. Perhaps also soldiers, or those on some sort of quest for revenge. This could explain the way the religion tended to move around as it did, although not the slurring of name and image over time, which is probably a simple result of linguistic and artistic blurring as most learning was oral, and the few drawings on various forms of paper and walls were poorly preserved and degraded easily. The Kendraha serpent religion only existed in large numbers for about 800 years, then it was replaced by others after a slow decline over about 200 years. Still though, it didn't die out completely, a few pockets exist to this day, and some still claim visitations from Kendraha, although no disappearances have ever been linked to the temples in any official police reports.
Throughout all of those first thousand years, the Goddess always remained the giver and taker of life, as her fertility role partially suggests. Women who had trouble conceiving often traveled to a Temple of Kendraha to pray along with those who prayed for other reasons. It is said that some women received their children after such a trip, although if this is true it surely is coincidence, or perhaps the woman had an affair before going home to her husband. Perhaps such affairs went on regularly inside the temples to Kendraha, the evidence only suggests so.
On the darker side, Kendraha is supposed to visit her temples from time to time, very infrequently of course, but most temples have at least one ancient story of such a visitation. These stories are handed down through mythology, telling of how Kendraha arrived one day in all her glory, tempting and mesmerizing a man or woman into her coils, where after toying with them she crushed the person to death and devoured them, or on occasion let them go unharmed accept for markings on their body. A few modern Kendrahaites claim to have seen Kendraha, been so mesmerized, and been given the markings on their body, but none so far has been willing to produce a camera image or other evidence of these temporary markings, claiming that they are too Holy to be displayed in that manner. Likewise no clear images of the Goddess manifesting herself taken by independent sources exist, only a few blurry shots and controversial images that computer enhancement suggest are computer manipulations.
Excerpt from Gods and Goddesses and their religious connections,
Marion Z. Bradshaw P.H.D. Westerton, (2062 AD)
10. Kendraha slowly became aware of darkness all around her, and the fuzzy feeling as if ants were marching through her head by the thousands. She began to sit, and a sharp pain seemed to split her head, and she fell back moaning. "Shalann, she wakes, come quickly!" calls a male voice, but she barely hears it. As she tries to bring herself more slowly up on her elbows, Kendraha stops at the site of a blade in front of her nose, and following it with her eyes finds it attached to the rest of a sword, and a stern looking gladiator in partial armor. Her first instinct is to reach out with her mind to his, but that attempt meets with the ants in her brain growing more vigorous, and she falls back in a swoon.
Footsteps enter the room, and a female voice snaps, "What did you do Torkus?!" "I did nothing." he replied. "She sat up twice, each time falling back with a moan, the second time after seeing my blade." "You did not have to let her see it so soon." the female snapped. "I will not remain defenseless around it!" he growled. "She is not an it!" the female growled back. "She is Kenfa if that is her true name, and an Amazon warrior regardless, or was one for a time!" "She is a demon, or under some God's curse, who knows what enchantment she might put on us!" the male voice insisted. The female voice softened, "Now Torkus, we at least owe her time to explain herself, she did live with the elite class for all those years without putting a curse on anyone, and the Emperor did try to have her killed." Kendraha heard the sword being put away, and the definite sounds of a kiss, "Very well Shalann, some time but I will keep it handy and you will at least keep your dagger with you at all times." he said in an equally soft tone. Another kiss sound was heard, "Absolutely." the woman whispered. Kendraha wondered what was going on, the last she remembered she had died in the Coliseum in the coils of that giant snake.
She tried using her mental touch again, and met with less pain but still plenty of ants. "What happened?" she said in Humalli, then at their blank stares she repeated in the local language. The woman came close, and Kendraha saw it was the female Gladiator who used to be an Amazon, "I am Shalann, daughter of the Azon valley tribe of Amazons which were destroyed 2 years ago by the Roman armies invading Greece. You died in the arena, but the serpent did not swallow your body afterwards. I was sent out to help remove the remains, and when I insisted to the other gladiators that I alone should deal with your body because you were female and had claimed to be an Amazon, they did not argue much, and the one who did has a bruise to keep him company at night for a few days." She paused, "We must know, are you truly an Amazon, and are you cursed by the Gods?" Kendraha tried to smile, "I am an Amazon, Rasgni Hill tribe in the North of Greece where I was born, but I left after falling for someone." That story was one Kendraha had rehearsed in case she ever needed it, and the location was a tribe Shalann shouldn't have had any direct contact with, and she complimented herself on still being able to think straight. Then she wondered about the cursed bit and tried to sit up again, this time with no pain or new ants, but finding resistance to sitting as if her legs were tied down. She peered through the dim chamber at her legs stretched out on the bed she lay upon, but saw only a Green and Black serpent tail stretching along it and off the edge, and she cursed 3 times in Humalli as she fell back on the bed.
"What is that foreign tongue?", Shalann asked. "And please explain to us why we should not kill you and dispose of the body as commanded?" Kendraha sighed then spun a half prepared story of how she had been born with her tribe of Amazons, having passed her right of passage challenge at 15, fallen for a man from a far distant land at age 17, and left the tribe for him naturally learning much of his native tongue over time. A couple of years later he had died, and she had fallen for Radus almost immediately. As to the serpent tail, that had been done when for her right of passage ceremony she had been sent out with no weapons to survive alone for 7 days, and during that time had slept in an old abandoned temple to the Furies. I did not believe in them as I'm sure you don't, spiteful goddesses with serpent hair and bodies, but Tisiphone woke me and they laid this curse upon me. The 3 of them were angry because I dared sleep in their temple, and now whenever I sleep I must become a monster, and I cannot change back until I have eaten well." Kendraha hadn't been sure they'd believe the story, but they were primitive and superstitious, and couldn't think of another explanation so believed it all. "I am good, I've never hurt anyone with my tail, it's just a shameful annoyance to me, and Radus my husband being a good man understood completely, and helped me to conceal the fact. It must have happened now because I was recovering from unconsciousness which is similar to sleep."
Without being able to read their thoughts or emotions, Kendraha guessed that they both believed her story, although Torkus seemed to have some reservations about her possible danger to them. "I need to recover my strength before I can be rid of this tail." she said in as cheery a voice as she could. Shalann smiled, "Of course, Torkus, go get some food and water." "I will not leave you alone with her." he said stubbornly. She frowned and rose, "Fine, I'll get the food and water." Over the brief meal they explained to her that after she had been declared dead, Shalann had draped her body over her shoulder to carry it from the arena. She thought on the passage that the heart and lungs had begun working again, but wasn't sure. In the rooms underneath the Coliseum she had checked and found a heartbeat and breathing although they were very weak, and she explained mostly for Torkus that sometimes serpents didn't fully kill the prey they constricted before swallowing, and they could recover if not swallowed. Kendraha didn't want to tell her how rare that was, nor how it hadn't happened here. How could she explain to the woman that her Humalli biology had saved her from dying because she could go much longer without air than they could, so she let Shalann believe whatever she wanted to explain it. She also couldn't explain that the reason she couldn't return to her legs was indeed food, but not the ordinary type. She didn't think they'd let her kill, soak up the life force, and then eat someone, and her mental powers were still scrambled anyway. But she wasn't too weak and only needed some energy from emotional feeding off of them as they spoke to her, and fortunately she could do that even with ants crawling around in her brain. She didn't want to tire them out too much though, but needed to get back to legs if she was going to have a chance to escape the city. "And I brought you here to this chamber under the Coliseum where few ever go, and just in time as you began transforming as soon as you were in here. Fortunately it takes more than that to shock me, and I got Torkus to help me keep others away. Now it's nighttime, we still take turns watching, but no one is likely to come to this place now. We must get you out soon though, the dawn will come, and others will arrive and see too much.
After a brief but tense period of eating the bread and water that Shalann had brought, the whole time Torkus eying her loops of tail on the floor with suspicion, Kendraha announce that she thought she could transform now. She made faces as if straining or in slight discomfort, and after a few moments allowed her tail to dramatically and slowly shrink to a pair of legs to resume her fully human form. After discovering that she was still quite weak and had trouble standing, they bundled her in a dark and heavy hooded cloak to cover her and the slightly torn and dirty cut-off gown she had worn while fighting in the arena. Shalann helped her to walk as they made there way through the rooms under the Coliseum, Torkus usually walking ahead to check for others, and seemingly more relaxed now that Kendraha looked like a normal human female again. When they reached a door leading to the streets, Kendraha first noticed that it was night as she had been told. Quietly moving with Shalann's aid, they came to a pair of horses, and being physically stronger Torkus sat her in front of him on his horse in case she had trouble staying on it herself. Shalann then did the scouting ahead to make sure they were not seen, and together they rode out of the city.
Several hours out of the city of Rome as the sun was rising, they stopped in a wooded area near a mountain, and there in a cave Kendraha finally rested. Torkus dropped a loaf of bread and a water container to her which he had kept on his horse during the ride, "It may be a few days before we can return with more food." he said. "I can survive on my own thanks." Kendraha replied in a grateful but confident tone. "You have no weapons, we will bring food and weapons as soon as we can." Shalann said in a commanding tone. Kendraha sighed wishing she could control minds right now, or at least read them, "Have you both considered what you've done? That is, someone eventually is going to figure out that my body wasn't burned, and they'll learn that Shalann had the body last. Someone will remember you working together and spending time in the underside of the Coliseum that night. It might already be too dangerous for you to go back!" They thought a while as they looked at each other, "She is right." agreed Torkus. "We could be fine for days, or arrested before the sun is at it's peak." "We cannot return, I feared as much when we began this." Shalann replied.
Kendraha swallowed some bread, the emotions were low right now, and both Shalann and Torkus displaying minor signs of fatigue from the feeding. She decided to stop feeding on their emotions and concentrate on the bread, solid matter without making a kill first was better food than starving. Eventually they agreed on a plan, they would leave Rome, but they needed things first. The 3 of them would risk sneaking back into the city, they would drop Kendraha off before arriving so she could walk in without them being seen with a 3rd person. There were no gladitorial games for a few days, and the Coliseum would be empty, and 2 gladiators would not be stopped. If anyone asked they had disposed of Kenfa's body as told, and hopefully luck would be with them. After letting Kendraha off just outside the city, Shalann loaned her a dagger to wear on her thigh so she would not be completely weaponless, and they shared the Amazon salute and a hug.
Kendraha was feeling much better now. The small loaf of bread and water had done wonders for her physical strength, although she knew her skin still retained marks from the pressure of the python's squeezing her, but she didn't want to use the extra energy that would be required to shift the wounds away right now. The mental feedings on the emotions of Shalann and Torkus had helped a lot to return strength to her body, and her mind felt almost clear of ants as well. Kendraha figured that by the time she arrived at her destination, by feeding off the emotions of those around her, she would be strong enough to do what she planned.
The first thing she did once alone was change her hair color to a dark and less noticeable one than Kenfa's blonde. She wanted to take away some of Kenfa's curves, but didn't feel strong enough yet. She fed off the emotions of the couple driving a cart she had gotten a ride into the city with, but they were too positive all the time and not very nourishing. Her biggest problem she knew was getting rid of her gown, it was in bad shape and stuck out like an announcement that she was somebody special. She could cover it with the cloak, but that also stuck out in it's own way. Kendraha had them drop her off a short way into the city, then backtracked on foot to a temple to the Goddess Venus. Along the way she saw a woman very similar in size to her, and gave her the compulsion to go to the Temple to Venus also. She watched the woman from a distance, giving her the idea that she wanted to go alone, that something important there required solitude, while staying a discrete distance away, and always knowing she could lose the woman at any moment because her mental influence was so weak right now. She entered the Temple behind the woman, and luckily no one else was present. Kendraha tightened her mental grip slightly, and led the woman to a small private chamber off to one side. Once in private with the woman undressed and lying on an alter, she cut the woman's throat, and drank in all the fear and ultimately the escaping life force. When done she removed her old gown, cleaned the dagger with it, being sure to get rid of all the visible blood so Shalann wouldn't notice later, then put on the woman's discarded clothes.
As Kendraha left she shut the doors to the little chamber so that people would think it was occupied. She felt much better even though she hadn't fed on the flesh, the life force was the main course of any Humalli meal. She estimated that she could wait a month before needing to feed on flesh, if she didn't feed on a human's flesh the next time then the intervals between would rapidly get shorter, but for the near future she was fine. Kendraha had been forced to trim her body slightly to fit into the new outfit, but except for her face no one could guess she was Kenfa, and even that not likely with the dark hair. She would let the humans come up with whatever explanation they wanted for finding the discarded gown and the woman. They would not open the closed chamber in the temple of Venus for some time, because some couple could be in communion as they called it. By the time someone noticed how long the doors had stayed closed, then looked and found the body, Kendraha planned to be far away.
Near the Coliseum she removed her cloak and dagger, hiding them in a spot where they were unlikely to be seen, then she continued on to the palace. Kendraha used her newly refreshed mental ability to convince the guards at the front entrance that she was a trusted servant, just returning from delivering a message for Caesar, producing an illusion of a rolled up scroll with a wax seal as a return message for him. In the halls she didn't have the luxury to adjust everyone's mind, so radiated a sense of belonging here, and if they inquired used the same trick on them as with the guards, including the scroll illusion if necessary, and hoping not to have to fool more than 1 or 2 at a time.
Finally she managed to get to where the scrolls were kept, took a blank one, and sealed it with wax, using a small piece of wood to make a pattern in it. She blew on the wax and it didn't take long to harden and cool, and then she was off to find Magnus Caesar who she learned was in the garden right now. She found him there with Senator Radus, her mind told her that he was still very upset about his wife Kenfa's death, but still very accepting of anything Caesar wanted. That made her angry, but she was more angry at Caesar, he thought of it as having been nothing more than a way to secure his power, as well as a way to vent his frustrations because of his less beautiful wife, not to mention having enjoyed the sight of his recently acquired python killing someone. Two fully armored guards stood nearby, as well as a pair of women who sat near a fountain. Kendraha was glad she had stopped for a scroll, she couldn't have fooled them all with an illusionary one, and as it was projecting the thought that the seal was real to anyone who saw it would take some mental fancy footwork.
After opening the scroll to read it, Kendraha getting Caesar to break the seal so as to make it unrecognizable, she took full control. Caesar said nothing, rolled up the scroll, ordered Radus and the 2 women to stay in the garden, and ordered her to follow him. Everyone in the garden assumed something important had occurred, and Magnus Caesar was leaving to dispatch a return message with the woman, which is just what Kendraha had planned. Along the way Caesar fought wildly, but Kendraha had a good grip on his mind, and didn't have to think about anything else. Caesar stumbled a few times as he fought to control his own actions, mumbled curses and unintelligible phrases, all interpreted by the guards as evidence that the scroll he had just received was very bad news. At his room Caesar went in first, commanding Kendraha to follow, and ordering the guards not to disturb him. Kendraha entered behind him, and the door to his private chambers closed, the guards taking their places standing to either side of the door.
Kendraha wasted no time in having Caesar lay on his bed, then began the work she had done once before, adjusting his mind to paralyze all of his voluntary muscles permanently. That took several minutes of standing next to him, his confusion easily felt, although he knew something was controlling him and that she was the source. When done Kendraha sighed, "That took a lot out of me Magnus, but I can relax now your not going anywhere." She smiled, "I considered letting you stay this way until you died, but I have to meet someone tonight and leave soon, so we'll have to finish this now." Kendraha walked around a bit looking for gold, finding it in Caesar's mind, and pulling a small purse full out of a hiding spot along with a decorative dagger, "This will help." Her hair began returning to the blonde of Kenfa, and she felt the recognition and fear in Magnus's mind. Kendraha drank in the emotions and laughed rather dramatically, "You killed the wrong woman Magnus, the goddess and I have this special relationship." Her legs began to form into a serpent's tail, "You might even say we're so close we're like one person." Magnus was nearly hysterical and managing to move slightly as Kendraha slid over to him on her serpent's tail. Then ever so slowly she placed the dagger near his throat, then swiftly cut a large slash across it. As Caesar jerked and blood bubbled from the wound, Kendraha backed off in mild amusement at his will to move. Then she began shifting back to human form, then into the form of the dark haired woman who delivered the scroll, all the time drinking in the panic of Caesar as he died, then as he lay still she got close enough to absorb his life force as it escaped. It made her feel a little bloated having drained life force twice in one day, so much that she barely noticed that little extra bit that always got away from her, but after having used so much mental energy getting into the palace to kill Caesar, and having not fed on the flesh either time, the multiple feedings so close together didn't make her feel too bad.
Upon leaving the room the guards acknowledged her, noting a scroll in her hand and assuming that it contained orders from Caesar for her to take elsewhere. Neither saw the purse of coins in the folds of her tunic, nor would they have cared being as well trained as they were to be palace guards. At the Coliseum she regained her cloak and dagger, discarded the blank scroll, and stopped to steal a horse, making sure no one saw her do it or which way she rode off in. Stopping at Senator Radus's home, she altered her face to fool servants who knew her better, briefly left her horse in the stables, and using various mental tricks went into the building to recover her Time Core bracelet. At the cave as Kenfa again she found Shalann waiting, and the 2 of them worried all night as Torkus didn't return. Torkus did finally arrive soon after the sun rose, explaining that he had encountered some difficulties in getting away that involved having to assist an Imperial horse deliver a foal. Kendraha saw no deception in this, and Shalann was so relieved and happy to see him that jumping into his arms she almost knocked him over. Kendraha smiled, she didn't need to feed right now, and tried to enjoy the moment as an ordinary human would.
Days later they were at a port city, having traded there horses for passage on a ship and some supplies, including weapons and clothing. Before they left news reached them of the death of Caesar in his sleep, Kendraha never bothered to tell Shalann and Torkus what she had done in addition to simply getting a horse and a tunic as she had told them. Several days West of Rome the 2 disembarked, and Kendraha sailed on, confident she was strong enough to handle the crew on her own.
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11. Kendraha didn't like the idea of leaving Shalann and Torkus so soon, but had to travel on a bit, and discard the Kenfa disguise which she couldn't do with humans around. Eventually she disembarked and resumed the more universal dark hair color. From here she began walking on foot a lot, occasionally taking a ship for long distance travel, sometimes borrowing a horse or stealing it, and learning to make herself look enough like an older man at a distance sometimes, that she reduced the hassles of a woman traveling alone, and drew fewer comments when seen riding a horse.
Kendraha had learned that not only power and powerlessness had it's pitfalls, but so did being close to power, and she realized that basically there was no safe refuge to survive in, only safer ones. Her Amazon days had been dangerous but the most rewarding, however she wouldn't consider returning there while the Roman Empire ruled the land. First she rode West until she reached Espain, which was a nice place, rather peaceful compared to other human societies she had seen, but still barbaric. After staying in that general area for twenty years or so, playing things day by day and trusting her own resourcefulness and wariness for survival, she decided to move on.
First she went North by sea, which turned out to be a mistake for her. The weather was tolerable even in winter in her human form, but less so in her hunter form, and intolerable in serpent form. Before feeding she had to make sure that the place she was in was warm enough and would stay that way for at least 24 hours. This meant that caves and such outdoor places were out of the question in winter. She managed but found life difficult here, and similarly bad in nearby Ireland and Scotland. Kendraha read in there minds of people farther North, but had no intention of going that way. She managed to survive in this area, and thought that going further North would be intolerable. On the boat ride South she had some insights, thinking of Jessin's Earth and her own. With a new understanding of the problems of cold weather, she thought she could understand the difference between the two. In both worlds primitive humans could hide in the cold regions from primitive Humalli. Then on Jessin's Earth they somehow became friends and learned to live together, while on her Earth the groups lived separately, Humalli keeping wild human farms as they had in primitive days, until eventually they developed the weapons to eradicate the wild human problem. Two Earths with the same problem, each with a different answer, and this Earth with no Humalli at all, only the primitive snakes that were still little more than beasts. Kendraha wondered if an Earth might exist without humans, only Humalli, but immediately realized that was unlikely as Humalli needed to feed on a mentally developed species such as humans, so they had to be around or else some other species would need to become suitable as food, or Humalli couldn't exist at all.
Kendraha stopped at a small city on the Northwest of Africa, and spent many years there. It was warm and life was relatively easy, but there was nothing there worth staying for, so in degrees and over many years she traveled South along the coast, sometimes by ship and other times on foot. The wildlife and the natives were so different here, except the lions and pythons, she knew them well from either similar species or at the Coliseum. Kendraha didn't like the cold breezes during the winter of South Africa, but it quickly improved as she went North again. Elephants were new, they had no such beast on her world, and she found that the huge ears made them seem comical while their size made them appear threatening. She adapted her clothing to each new place as much as she could, buying what was necessary even if it made her hot, but most of the animals seemed to know she wasn't quite human. They would either run in fear when they normally didn't run from a lone human, or they threatened when they normally didn't threaten humans, and she'd have to either chase them away by trying to put fear in their minds, or she would use her sword. She had long ago stopped hiding her sword most places, and simply made those who questioned her slowly change their minds one way or the other. This had led to her abruptly leaving a place a few times, but after 300 years or so of survival she decided having a good visible sword and being rejected some places was better for her own survival, than a smaller and more difficult weapon to bring forth.
Kendraha was all this time keeping track of the planet's geology. That wasn't her specialty but all Time core agents had to know some basics. So far everything seemed the same to her, continents, even islands as far as she could remember. Her teachers at the Academy had said that in most human centric time lines and some non-human centric, geology of continents, islands, rivers, etc., all the main features would be the same, except where an asteroid strike may have occurred or not occurred. However, things that were changed by living creatures such as humans, the fossils that make reefs, etc. can be radically different, and these differences can greatly change the local environment such as a reef protecting a shoreline from the sea, or not. Animals they had told her would be pretty much the same on all Earth's in the main line, but could radically change elsewhere. The non-main time lines were horrible places to go. In most of them this solar system didn't even exist, which was considered theoretically impossible until it had been discovered that these radical time lines did exist, others had methane or ammonia atmospheres, double gravity or half even. These were anomalies though, rare and fortunately hard to reach by Time core agents, and robot probes always went through first, so no agent was going to accidentally find themselves on one of these worlds, or empty space either. The stars too were always the same in the main line worlds even when Earth's geology was different, the scientists theorized that the differing Earth geology that occasionally occurred, were caused by minor fluctuations in the cooling gas that made the solar system billions of years earlier. Kendraha didn't care much for all that geology stuff, but wished she had paid a bit more attention now. Knowing it better could have helped her predict some things faster, and likewise knowing the history of other similar Earth's might have helped her more here, but she had goofed off in human history of other Earth's like a lot of others did. "Why know more than the basics?!" she and her friends had complained. "We get a full briefing on each time line before we go." Now she knew at least one good reason, she hardly could have learned all human history from all time lines, but a little more knowledge clearly would help here and now.
On her travels Kendraha visited a few temples to the goddess Kendraha, they tended to pop up at or near sea port cities, partly due to her own mental encouragement of a few captains or people of wealth from time to time, and partly through normal channels that religions followed. Wherever a new temple went up there was always some who wanted to believe in something new, and if she made an appearance as the Goddess it was only in controlled circumstances, and never more than twice in a row in one place, nor in areas where the religion of Kendraha was not in good standing with the local government. Every temple to Kendraha had to have a ceremonial pit with a door leading out the back way, and a hidden stairway to the ground level also, both that could be barred from inside the pit or she wouldn't appear. These were structural designs she had encouraged early in the religion, but she had never expected it to become as big a religion as this. She had seldom fed in the pit outside Rome, even with it's 2 escape routes to appear often would've courted disaster. She actually had only appeared 5 times in that particular pit, having only killed 3 times there, the other 2 escaping via ropes, lowered down when it had become clear that the Goddess Kendraha had toyed with the sacrifice but wouldn't kill them. This also seemed good to her for the religion as sacrifices need not fear certain death, but instead might survive to continue worshiping. However, if the priests threw down any unfortunate souls who had been captured and brought against there will, they died in her coils if she were there, and usually by other means if she were not. Kendraha knew that at many temples if she weren't there when they had a reason to get rid of someone, a priest would use props and an execution would be carried out in the Goddess's name. A few temples had been destroyed by angry mobs when they had gotten too bloodthirsty, a few others had become powerful and had been set upon by their host government, but most went on without a problem.
A few temples had slurred the name or changed it entirely, usually due to either local speech patterns or biases. Kendraha didn't mind, she went along with it. At one stop in India, a country she disliked as it seemed even more primitive than most right now, she found old deserted stone cities, with images of Humalli type Gods and Goddesses. She wondered if this was evidence of a past stranded Humalli who might still be alive, or if it was simply coincidence. The humans seemed to create a lot of half animal gods, so it seemed the latter was the most likely explanation.
Kendraha came to a sea port city on the Southeast of Asia, and learned of an entire continent further South and East called Austrailli. It was supposedly inhabited by savages who were not unfriendly, but had no desire for trade at all. The trip was not difficult, but few had been there because they had found nothing worth sailing there for, and the trip was a long one. It was much safer and more profitable for them to sail along the normal trading routes.
Kendraha changed her form and reentered the city as a dark skinned woman of reasonable wealth. She spent a week becoming known locally, few questioning the idea of a woman traveling alone, possessing wealth and roaming in places men normally did. She had learned that in a crowd she generally only needed to adjust the thoughts or emotions of a few key individuals, give off a general feeling of acceptance and well being, be generous with money, and she usually had no problems. It sometimes struck her as ironic that she stole money in one place just to give it out in another, and getting what she wanted as a result.
Kendraha didn't know what she might find in this Austrailli if it existed, but it was shown on many local charts, and apparently was well known in many countries in this part of the world. She had never before looked at a detailed ocean chart for this area, and no sailors she had read the mind of had ever thought about it in surface thoughts. She rarely delved deeper into people's minds, and Austrailli was not well known beyond Asian ports. Kendraha had known Australia existed of course from basic Academy studies of the worlds geology, which strongly suggested so on Main Time Lines, but she had assumed it would be just as developed as the rest of the world. Kendraha didn't like the idea of ocean travel away from shoreline areas, but this seemed like a simple and short trip, and could supply her with a long lasting food supply, without possibly endangering the development of this Earth's time line, or if she chose perhaps giving her a base of operations from which to make major changes to it. So she chartered a ship, hired a captain, ate well before leaving, and spent all her time in her private cabin as they sailed to the new continent. The captain and crew couldn't understand what she wanted there, so she gave them a story that she had heard rumors of great wealth, and they'd get a share if she found it. With that and lots of time to work on their minds, they became a crew who would do whatever she asked, go wherever she wanted,, and she had complete confidence in.
They sailed around the continent, managing to find their way around the uncharted reefs and rocks without too much problem, mostly by being cautious, and partly by getting whatever help they could from locals. Kendraha set up no new temples here, the natives were uninterested as they were too set in their own ways. Their minds showed a slightly higher degree of resistance to her mental controls in many cases, and Kendraha had to pick and choose more carefully. Fortunately the crew did not question her disappearances from the ship for days or weeks at a time, these times were when she explored on her own, or fed on locals.
She found the primitive forms of life such as the kangaroo interesting, the serpents tended to be too small to be man eaters, but she had heard of a few large ones, and there were plenty of poisonous creatures. A few poisonous snakes bit her making her feverish and ill, but fortunately her differing biology kept her alive to recover fully. In the end Kendraha decided there was nothing here fore her, and after checking out nearby islands and picking up some nice crocodile hides and animal pelts to make the crew happy, they began their journey home.
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12. Miku and Nentoo were fishing in there little bamboo boat after a big storm had swept across the island. The boat was barely large enough for the 2 women, their net, and the fish they caught, plus the waves were a little rough. However, the little craft was designed so that swamping was unlikely if they took precautions when getting in and out, hauling in fish, and if the waves didn't get larger. The anchor was a good sized and well shaped rock, a rope looped tightly around it and tied to the boat. Either could lift it to the surface and aboard, but generally both of them worked together to lift it once it was out of the water. They both could have stayed on shore until the seas calmed down a bit more, but the time directly following a storm was usually good for fishing, at least for them in this special spot. It was a place where nobody came to live on the shore, there were tall cliffs, the land above them offered no protection from winds, and the ground was poor for farming. Likewise the hunting was equally bad, only the fishing here seemed good, and only Miku and Nentoo knew this. The island was one of the smaller ones about a half days sailing distance from the 4 main islands of Japin. There was only a small population here, but they lived a relatively peaceful life, the problems of the many warlords seldom reached them, as they had little to interest any of the groups that ruled there and occasionally fought.
The women were dressed in simple coverings made in 2 sections from various animal hides, thin, lightweight, able to dry easy, and not restricting their motions when they swam. However, although the garments were perfect for them to fish in, they exposed much skin and would be shameful at any other time, unless only seen by one's husband, or intended husband as was true for both of them. Japinese sailors on ships occasionally saw them, but everyone pretended that they were not there as was correct, the women would not want the shame of having been seen by them, and the sailors would not want the dishonor of having seen them.
Miku lifted the small net revealing the whole they had found after having just pulled it up from the water, "Fewer fish today." "I'll mend it later." said Nentoo. "I'll finish folding it up and join you with the spears." Without a further word, Miku stood and dives into the water, only to surface and reach into the boat for her spear, then duck under the water again. Nentoo finishes folding the net and putting it to one side,, then makes sure the 2 fish they already have will be safe from birds while they are both away. She then looks up at the clouds to gauge the stormy weather while tying her long dark hair into a tail with a small clasp she has for that purpose. She first decides that the weather does look nasty still, but it seems as if the recent storm will continue to dissipate. She stands and dives in, returning for her wooden spear, then going under.
The 2 island women like spear fishing side by side. They feel that they catch just as many fish as they would separately, and can surface at the same time to talk, or signal with hand signs. However, sometimes they split up, then later find each other again. After catching a number of good size fish, Nentoo returns to the boat, noting the weather is continuing to clear up, and the waves are a bit less than before. She briefly wonders as she climbs in why Miku doesn't restrain her long hair in some manner, instead allowing it to float around and get in her face sometimes, when Miku abruptly surfaces. "Nentoo, Nentoo! I saw a dragon down there!" "What?" says Nentoo skeptically. "A dragon, are you sure?" Miku quickly pulls herself into the boat, "Yes, it was huge like a dragon, all long and terrible looking, I swear it was a dragon!" Nentoo always being the calmer one tried to get Miku to slow her breathing, "Describe it, more slowly and with some detail please." Miku sighs, "It'll get away, come look!" Before Nentoo can say anything Miku dives under, so Nentoo decides she might as well follow, but brings her spear and the one Miku left behind.
Following Miku to a spot while holding there breaths, they surface for air then dive and change course, Miku clearly looking for what she had seen before. As they reach an underwater hill, Miku stops and points, and Nentoo sees the long serpentine form gliding along the bottom. It's a reptile, some sort of snake she believes because it has no visible feet. But it's so huge, 5 or 6 times one of their own lengths she estimates, with green and black colorations. It doesn't seem to her to have detected them, but they retreat towards the surface facing it with their spears ready, each checking that the knife on their hip is secure.
In the boat Nentoo tries to hush the mild hysteria of Miku, "It's not a dragon, it has no legs." Miku begins to object and Nentoo continues, "I know, but the head is too small also." "What else?" asks Miku. Nentoo considers, "It could be a sea snake, but it's far too big. The biggest I've ever heard of is only half my height in length. Maybe an eel, but I saw no gills, and I've also never heard of an eel bigger than a man is tall." Silence passes, then Miku looks towards shore, "A python?!" she asks. Nentoo shakes her head, "There are no pythons that big on Japin or it's outer islands, the warlords made sure of that on the main islands, and the smaller islands never had enough food to support anything but smaller ones that can't hurt people. That thing could kill 2 maybe 3 people at a time if it got a good grip on them, so it can't be a python!" Nentoo pauses to consider, "Either it's a dragon without legs, a python that somehow got here from the mainland, or some sort of gigantic sea snake, but it's definitely not an eel. "So, what do we do?" asks Miku. "Run and tell the others?" "I think we ought to follow it." Nentoo says, then quickly adds. "At a safe distance and we'll keep our spears ready and have our knives with us also." Not liking it one bit Miku agrees to follow Nentoo, only because her friend is a little older and wiser about such things. She trusts Nentoo's opinion, but doesn't have to like it.
Following the serpent at a safe distance, it begins heading for the surface so they retreat a little. It takes in air, then changes course slightly, heading for the shore and a cave mouth. Standing in waist high water they watch the serpent crawling slowly out of the water. "Definitely a python!" says Nentoo. "I saw one once on the mainland, although that was much smaller, only about a fifth the length of this one. That one had different colors to, lots of triangles, but I was told they come in many colors and patterns." Miku sighs, "It's vegetarian right." she says hopefully. "No, it's a meat eater." Nentoo says. "Just like the little ones that eat monkeys." "Slow in the water?" Miku suggests. Nentoo shakes her head, "Faster than us." Miku scowls, "And you had us swimming with it, I thought you knew what you were doing!" Nentoo sighed, "We had to see where it went. If we left to warn the others then returned who knows where it would have gone. You want a giant python roaming around the island with us unable to find it until it grabs someone?!" She paused. "Now it's on land, it'll be easy to avoid it as long as we stay out of it's striking range." "Which is?!" says Miku sassily. "I don't know exactly." says Nentoo. "Just stay a good distance away from the head." "Is it poisonous?" Miku asked. Nentoo frowned, "No, I told you it kills by squeezing the life out of it's prey like the tree snake and the monkey." Miku shivers, "That's horrible!" Nentoo takes a few steps forward as the last of the serpent crawls into the cave, "I think it's hurt." "I hope so!" Miku says emphatically.
Kendraha in her serpent form hurts all over, mostly due to the cold water she guesses and the serpent form's cold blooded nature allowing the temperature of the water to get to her. It's not really too bad, but she thinks that by sheer bad luck she had been in a cold water current. The storm had come from nowhere, and after her ship had been blown far off course it had broken up. Kendraha had barely escaped with her life, and her body being too dense to effectively swim in human form she had been forced to shift. The human form would spend nearly all it's energy remaining afloat without a good flotation device, while the hunter form did better but not good enough for a lengthy swim. So, Kendraha converted to the full serpent form, was able to stay under for very long periods of time, and was able to move fast with little problem, swimming West as her best memory of their position indicated she should. A long swim and the unexpected chilly current had been a problem though, and she was on the point of giving up when she caught a glimpse of the island. Once close she saw the cave, and thought that the sun probably wouldn't be out due to the clouds left by the storm, therefore she'd hide in the cave out of sight.
The last thing she expected was a hand touching her body near the end of her tail, but she couldn't move. The mental ants were crawling around inside her head again, she couldn't project fear or any other emotion, and she hurt too much and was far too tired to start moving now that she had stopped. "What are you doing!!" cried Miku. "It's hurt." Nentoo said. "It's cold, might be dead, it didn't move a muscle when I touched it. You go get help, tell someone it's here, the men will want to kill it before it becomes dangerous, or if someone wants to capture it our families will profit handsomely from this. I'll stay here and watch it." Miku paused, "Not while your so close to it!" Then she shrieked as Nentoo began moving towards the head, "What are you doing, the head is the dangerous part?!" "It can't move Miku." she replied. "It's safe, and we must know if it is at all alive, now if your not going to leave stay there in case it grabs me." Miku began to protest, but then moved onto the shore a safe distance away so she could run for help faster.
Kendraha felt herself automatically feeding on emotions coming to her. They were emotions of curiosity, compassion, hope and some minor feelings of greed, and at a greater distance emotions of fear and concern for a friend. The emotions helped a lot, but not enough, Kendraha felt that death would claim her in serpent form before she could absorb enough of the emotions to do any good. She considered changing forms, but that took energy, serpent to human, or that shift in reverse taking the most. The hunter she reasoned might not survive, but she had enough energy combined with the emotional energy she had just absorbed to do that. She slowly shifted, taking much longer than usual, and making even the curious one back off in fright. Already though Kendraha could tell she had done the right thing, the half human form should recover from this cold given time.
Miku came a little closer now, and Nentoo over her momentary shock return to the python, but it wasn't a python anymore, or at least not where the front section had been, which now was a human from the lowest ribs up, and serpent everywhere else. The human half lay face down, and the dark human flesh was cold to Nentoo's touch. She thought it was a woman by the long black hair, and rolling the body she confirmed this fact to Miku, pointing out the large breasts, easy to see since the human half had no more clothes than the serpent half did. Miku's first reaction was how disgusting, her breast were so large, not the small and firm ones her people generally preferred, and even bigger than Nentoo's, she had come to ignore Nentoo's large breasts, it simply was unimportant to there friendship, but had caused her friend to get stuck with a less desirable husband to be. Even without the serpent tale and the dark skin, she didn't think this strange woman who had washed ashore could attract any man with those breasts or those funny eyes and face. Nentoo's thoughts concerned things such as who was this woman, how did she come to be this way, and guessed that perhaps a sorceress had done this to her. Thoughts of money and telling the men fled her mind, now she just wanted to help this woman.
When the woman regained some measure of consciousness, Miku ran for an old blanket to cover her with, while Nentoo collected wood and built a small fire in the cave. Miku had managed not to be seen taking the blanket, and the 2 women went about cooking meat from some of the fish they had caught stuck onto the ends of sticks, held over the fire so that the sticks would not burn. Kendraha couldn't read their minds to learn the language with the ants still crawling around in her head, but it was similar in some ways to others she knew, and with hand gestures they managed. When Nentoo suggested a sorceress had cursed her, Kendraha agreed, explaining as best she could how in her country she was considered beautiful, so the jealous sorceress had done this to her. Then some men had kidnapped her and were taking her far away to be sold into slavery, when the storm had sunk the ship. She had no trouble explaining the idea that she could transform since they had witnessed it, but didn't mention anything about having a human form also.
As they talked Kendraha wove a tale to satisfy their curiosity, and to enthrall them while gaining their trust. The return to a measure of warmth along with the fish was helping her to recover, dispelling most of the ants in her head, but not all of them yet. She had to use all the skill she had learned in such verbal communications with humans to do so. The blanket was long, and by curling her tail she managed to keep it covered and still have the blanket reach up to her neck and arms. Between the blanket and the fire, she was feeling better all the time. The 2 Japinese women had brought enough firewood to last the night, Kendraha didn't need to read their minds to know something was up. It was all smaller pieces, sticks and small chunks of wood that could be burned without further chopping as they had no large cutting tools for that. Kendraha was trying to work out a plan fast, if either of these women returned home they would tell others, and she'd be caught or killed. She could've simply let them leave and transformed into her human form, except she wasn't close to being capable of doing that yet, the last transformation had taken her final reserves of strength. Since then she had recovered a lot since mostly the effects had simply been from being cold, but she had to have a life force feeding now, or else feed on emotions for a few days or weeks depending on the strength of the emotions. There was no guarantee the latter would work even if she could manage it, and she wasn't sure she was strong enough to kill one human never mind both of them. Kendraha finally remembered that she didn't have to kill with her coils, she just had to be close enough when the victim died, and she scolded herself for her slowness of thought, although softening the blow by remembering that the cold was still getting to her. Still, it was more satisfying with the coils, she could prolong it and soak up the fear and other emotions before death came. If she simply killed them she got little more than just the life force, the fear and other emotions were a bit like what the wealthy humans called desert, or more precisely like an appetizer, with the life force feeding the main course.
Nentoo was kneeling next to her preparing and stacking wood, and Kendraha flexed her tail to see how it reacted. It was slow to respond but the strength was there. The ants in her mind were few and far between, she thought with some effort she could manage to use her mental abilities. It was going to be difficult getting both of these women, but the attempt had to be made, and now as they obviously planned to leave soon. She refused to risk letting them go with a mere promise not to tell, and if nothing else she needed at least one feeding to transform before nightfall, it was too damp and cold in this cave to risk the night in this form.
Miku came to the mouth of the cave and Kendraha seized her chance. Her mind reached out to Miku who stiffened briefly, "I'm going to see if I can find some more firewood." Nentoo turned her head, "Good, we've almost got enough to last all night, but a little more would help." Miku left and Nentoo returned to cutting the leaves off branches, "The leaves will smoke too much if they burn." she explained again. "Yes, you mentioned that earlier." said Kendraha with a smile. Nentoo smiled back, then was going to put her knife in her belt loop, but placed it on the ground instead, not realizing Kendraha had made her forget. Nentoo then picked up the leaves and took them deeper into the cave so they wouldn't be in the way.
Returning Nentoo knelt back down again and reached for her belt loop, "Where's my knife." Kendraha pulled it from hiding under the blanket and plunged it into Nentoo's bare belly. The woman gasped in shock, but had no time to scream as Kendraha pulled her over by the hair and cut her throat. Kendraha continued to cut the barely struggling woman, trying to get her to die as quickly as possible. She didn't like the mess it made, she had always been essentially a clean feeder, but she was in a hurry because Miku would return soon, and she needed the life force to replenish her mental ability. Miku might come close when she saw Nentoo's body and the blood, but most likely would run. The killing takes little time to accomplish, and finally Nentoo lays on her back lifeless, her body covered in blood as Kendraha drinks in the escaping life force.
Miku didn't know what exactly she was doing, she had just felt a compulsion starting at the cave entrance to go get wood, then after leaving to instead begin swimming. She reached the boat that she and Nentoo used for fishing, then she used her arms to pull herself out of the water at the boats weakest point, her weight dipping the edge under and allowing water to fill the boat. When it was full it still didn't sink completely, but full of water inside and out it would in time. Then she cut the anchor rope as well, and turned to swim back to the island. On shore and approaching the cave, she jerked briefly as her compulsion ended. Miku looked out to sea and was a bit upset that she couldn't find the boat, and rushes to the cave to tell Nentoo.
A few steps into the cave her eyes adjust to the dark, and she see's Nentoo lying there covered in blood, the serpent woman looming over the body with her eyes shut and a bloody knife poised as if to strike again. Miku lets out a short shriek, and as the woman looks at her she turns to run. "Stop!" commands Kendraha. Miku hesitates. Then several ants crawl across Kendraha's mind and Miku moves. "Stop!" she says again, focusing all that she can into the command. Miku turns, "Come here, and drop the knife." Kendraha says. She doesn't need to speak these commands, but does anyway since it can't hurt and might help." Miku hesitates to approach, fights to hold onto the knife, but ultimately loses both battles.
She kneels as Kendraha indicates with her hands and thoughts, "Don't kill me!" Miku manages to say in a small squeaky voice. Kendraha pauses as if weighing the request, "I must, I can't risk discovery, and you know my secret." "You can make me keep your secret." says Miku hopefully. Kendraha shakes her head, "You'd eventually talk after I left when the conditioning wore off, and people might believe you, especially with your friend being dead." Miku fought against the mental bonds in a panicked frenzy as the serpent coils began to slide up her body, encircling her at chest and waist. Miku struggled for breath and to escape while kneeling before Kendraha, Eventually the mental bonds releasing her completely. Her forearms came up to push on the coil which gripped her chest and upper arms, but all her strength couldn't move it. Her mouth hung wide and lack of air began to make her sag as the coils relentlessly crushed her, and she murmured, "Please donnnn't." Kendraha felt an odd sadness for this woman who had saved her life, and as the woman toppled over it grew. With no further thought Kendraha used the knife to cut Miku's throat, "I'll settle for less, you deserve that much for saving me.
After shifting back to a human form, and altering herself to look similar to Miku only taller, and cleaning and wearing Miku's damp clothes which required reducing her breast size considerably, she was ready to leave. Her clothes would do, and by the time she reached the nearest village it would be night and she could steal some daytime clothes for a taller person. She had learned from conversations and comparisons to the 2 Japinese women that everyone here tended to be shorter than her human form, but some island women came close, a few taller, and she'd find something that fit. Whatever, she planned to leave the island immediately. With such a small isolated population there would doubtless be a search starting early in the morning, and Kendraha didn't want to be around when they found the bodies, probably not for a few days at least, but there was no point in risking discovery. In retrospect she decided that not devouring Miku's body had been a good thing, she might have been discovered while digesting in serpent form. Now she could influence someone with one of the larger fishing boats to take her out and drop her off on one of the main islands.
To be continued
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By Py