Vanished Page 14

  “I didn’t come here seeking your sympathy,” Shad said sharply, breaking her train of thought. “I am well used to being alone in life. I need your help—a repayment of the debt you owe.”

  “Very well.” The Master forger inclined his head gravely. “It has been many years since I had dealings with your fathers, and yet the debt still stands.”

  “Yes, I know—I have their memories,” Shad said. “Which is why I came to you, although what I have to ask may seem impossible at first.”

  The Master’s golden eyes gleamed.

  “I specialize in the impossible. Name it.”

  Shad took a deep breath and Harper had the feeling he was trying to think how to word his request. Finally, he just said it.

  “I need you to work a forgery so elaborate…so real that it will even fool She Who Alters.”

  “She Who Alters?” The Master sprang to his feet in apparent agitation. “But She Who Alters sees through all subterfuge and punishes any who attempts to deceive her.” He melted into the boy and then the panther-lion again—which made Harper jumpy because it was huge—before reforming as the old man once more.

  “Yes,” Shad said steadily. “I know that. But can you do it?”

  “I had never even considered it before,” Master Yll-no admitted. “My life-forgeries are good—the best in the galaxy. But I never thought to fool an All Seeing One.”

  “Who is this She Who Alters, anyway?” Harper asked, wanting to get some answers herself. “You said she can change me—take away the part of me that makes the Hive want me. But how?”

  “Her methods are unknowable but always effective,” Shad said, which wasn’t much of an answer in Harper’s opinion. “And she is a semi-divine being. A Goddess almost as great as The Mother of All Life, whom we Kindred worship.”

  “And we’re going to try and fool her—try and fool a Goddess?” Harper asked. “Why? Why can’t we just go as we are and ask for her help?”

  “Because she is a Goddess—common people can’t even get near her,” Shad explained patiently. “There are many layers of bureaucracy surrounding her that have to be penetrated before she will even lay eyes on us—on you, Harper.”

  “If those around She Who Alters shield her from everyone but only the most important and influential people, then you must have a forgery that makes you someone to be reckoned with. A great power—or at least, someone of supreme interest.” Master Yll-no sounded thoughtful.

  “So you’ll do it?” Shad asked. There was a look of cautious optimism on his face.

  “I will indeed.” The forger nodded decisively. “I have always enjoyed a challenge and these last few millennia as I have reached the top of my skills, there has been little to challenge me.” He looked at Harper. “My dear, we will transform you completely.”

  “Into what?” Harper felt distinctly nervous when he talked about transformation. She kept thinking about the way the Master himself had changed forms so many times, melting from a woman to a boy to an animal to a man. Even now she wasn’t sure if he was showing them his true shape. After all, why should he if he could be so many other things? And what would he turn her into?

  Master Yll-no seemed to read her thoughts on her face because he smiled gently.

  “Do not worry, my dear. You will not lose your lovely shape or any part of your beauty. We will forge a new life and identity for you—not a new appearance. Now let me see…” He began pacing in front of the fireplace, clearly deep in thought. “Someone important…someone influential…”

  Suddenly from the coat tree, the cloak of thorns hissed angrily. A little blue moth-like insect had been fluttering around the fireplace while they talked and then, apparently attracted to the light shimmering on the cloak’s long, rainbow-colored quills, it had gotten too close.

  Harper shivered as she saw the quills come together to form jaws and snap at the intruding moth, which barely got away. For the first time she wondered if she was supposed to feed her new item of clothing. And if so, what exactly did it eat?

  But the incident seemed to give Master Yll-no an idea because he snapped his fingers excitedly.

  “That’s it! You’ll be an empress. Empress Kyreella of Gobesh Prime of the Chavesh-Hie System. You’ve already got the royal cloth to wear—it’s perfect.”

  “The which of the who?” Harper frowned. “You want me to pretend to be the Empress of an entire planet?”

  “Oh no, no, my dear—of an entire solar system,” Master Yll-no emphasized. “But of course, Gobesh Prime is the only inhabited planet in it. I don’t have time to forge more than one world and all its cultures and topography if you’re planning to go to see She Who Alters at once.”

  “We are—as soon as possible,” Shad said.

  “Then one inhabited planet it is. The rest can be ice balls or gas giants.” Master Yll-no closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. When he spoke again, there was an echo of power in his words that Harper had never heard before. “Gobesh Prime a small world, but a rich one,” he said.

  In the air before him, a globe about as big as a beach ball appeared, glowing faintly gold around its circumference.

  “It has oceans filled with fish and unknowable sea beasts in its depths. There are high purple mountains, majestic in their grandeur, and fertile valleys where the common people plant crops of fruit and grains.”

  As Master Yll-no spoke, what he was saying actually came to pass. Harper watched in amazement as the globe colored itself in, the oceans becoming a deep green, majestic royal purple mountains rising, and fields and valleys popping up too. Tiny people appeared as well, working hard with what looked like harvesting and planting machines among rows of crops.

  “There are cities filled with tall buildings, marvelous inventions and rich culture…as well as rural areas with rich farmland and beautiful scenery.”

  Cities appeared over the purple land masses and tiny vehicles traversed roads which unrolled in front of them like silvery ribbons.

  “You, my Empress, live in a golden castle by the sea,” Yll-no continued and a small golden palace with tall spires rose at the edge of the green ocean. “You have been raised to rule but you long for someone by your side. A royal alliance from beyond the stars. But there is something about you—something which must be Altered in order for you to find this love—this is why you are going to seek out She Who Alters.”

  As he spoke, a miniature Harper came out to stand on a miniscule balcony. She lifted her face as though looking out at the night sky. Though she was barely as big as Harper’s pinky finger, Harper could plainly see the look of longing on her tiny doppelganger’s face.

  “This is amazing,” she whispered to Shad. “How is he doing all this?”

  “It is the forger’s craft—to speak things into being. To weave dreams into reality,” Shad murmured back.

  “Is it just an optical illusion?” Harper asked.

  This time it was Master Yll-no who answered.

  “Assuredly not, my dear. It is real, as are all my forgeries. Go on—touch it. I can tell you want to.” Master Yll-no gestured expansively at the globe which still hovered in mid-air before him.

  Hesitantly, Harper raised up on her knees and put out a hand. She didn’t want to hurt all the little pinky-sized people, so she contented herself with dipping one finger into the deep green ocean. It came away wet and she stared at it in wonder.

  “But then…if everything you make is real, why do you call it a forgery?” she asked, looking at her wet finger and then back to the miniature world, perfect in every detail.

  A look of sorrow passed over the Master’s face.

  “Because, alas, they do not last. My forgeries are very good—some can endure for years—but they all, eventually, disintegrate into dust.”

  “Wow,” Harper murmured uneasily. “So how long will this…this new life you’re forging for me last?”

  She was afraid Master Yll-no would tell her it could only last a day or two which would make their schedule extremely tight. She didn’t want to be standing in front of the Goddess they were going to when her new life melted away around her like Cinderella’s gorgeous ball gown fading to rags at the stroke of midnight.

  But the forger’s next words set her mind at ease.

  “With a forgery this elaborate I’m afraid I can only guarantee it for a year and a day,” he said, sighing.

  “A year and a day?” Harper asked, cautiously optimistic. “Like an Earth year—three hundred and sixty-five days?” She knew that years could be different lengths on different planets depending on their size and rotation around their sun.

  “Precisely.” Master Yll-no nodded. “Will that time be sufficient?”

  “It should be more than enough time to get to Pelegiez-R where She Who Alters holds court,” Shad said. “Thank you, Master.”

  “You are more than welcome. Now let me continue—I am just warming to my task.” The Master forger appeared to be really enjoying himself so Harper and Shad were silent as he continued.

  “As an Empress, of course, you have a massive royal ship—golden I think—befitting your rank.”

  A golden ship, about an eighth as big as the globe which represented Harper’s fake home world appeared, gleaming in the firelight.

  “You wear gorgeous dresses—many of which you have brought with you on your ship,” Yll’no continued.

  “Excuse me.” Harper hated to interrupt, but she had to ask. “Talking about the world and the ship and these gorgeous dresses, are they only here?” She gestured at the miniature glowing globe and ship. “I mean, this may be a stupid question but how can we use them if they’re so tiny?”

  “Oh, these are only representations—models if you will—of the actual objects I am speaking into being,” Master Yll-no explained. “Far away in the Raphesh Nine sector of space, there really is a huge planet, just like this tiny one. As for your ship, it and all its crew will be waiting for you, docked near the ship you came in at the spaceport.”

  “Really? Wow!” Harper tried to imagine the gorgeous golden ship blown up to full size and couldn’t quite picture it. It would certainly take up more than one spoke on the landing platform’s wheel. In fact, it might take up an entire landing platform of its own.

  “Yes, really,” Master Yll-no assured her. “And speaking of crew, of course, there are many servants who adore you, also aboard your royal space yacht.”

  “There must be a place for me as well,” Shad pointed out. “I have to be near her, to protect her.”

  Master Yll-no nodded. “As I said, there are many servants but none as loyal as your faithful bodyguard. He never leaves your side, Empress—he attends to all your needs and cares for you both day and night.”

  Beside the tiny Harper figure, a small Shad came out, dressed in black leather trousers and a black leather vest to match which showed off his muscular arms. Harper wondered if the big Kindred would object to being called a servant and relegated to the post of bodyguard but he nodded with apparent satisfaction.

  “That’s good. Thank you, Master.”

  Harper wasn’t sure about the whole “caring for her day and night” thing but the Master forger was going on, adding details to the ship and her fake home planet, spinning the small globe and the golden space yacht in midair which responded instantly to his words.

  What he was doing was fascinating and Harper enjoyed watching as the things he described came into being right in front of them but after a while, she began to have a hard time concentrating. It wasn’t that the things Master Yll-no was doing became less interesting—it was the fact that she had a feeling something was wrong. Not with the scenario the Master forger was creating—something was wrong inside—with her.

  It started as a feeling of heaviness in her breasts. They were big anyway so Harper wasn’t super comfortable going braless as she was now but it hadn’t bothered her quite this much before. Her nipples were sensitive too—and she realized they had been for a while—she’d just been too busy to notice it. Now they were getting so uncomfortable, she couldn’t help noticing.

  As unobtrusively as she could, she tried to pluck the material of her red dress away from her aching breasts, in order to ease the tingling in her nipples. It helped a little—not much—and she shifted uncomfortably, realizing that her nipples weren’t the only part of her that was suddenly and unaccountably tender.

  Between her thighs, her sex felt swollen and hot, her pussy aching to be touched.

  Oh my God, what’s wrong with me? Harper pressed her legs together, trying to ignore the strange aching pull she was beginning to feel.

  The humlock wiggled in her arms and gave a small sound of protest and she realized she had been unconsciously squeezing it.

  “Sorry, little guy,” she murmured, looking down at it as she stroked its fur. But what she saw made her eyes widen.

  Were her breasts getting bigger?

  Surely not—they can’t be. But what if they are?

  Harper bit her lip, trying to look at her chest as unobtrusively as possible but the black t-shirt she was still wearing over her dress got in the way. She needed to get a really good look at herself but she was afraid she was going to draw the attention of both Shad and Master Yll-no. What she needed was privacy.

  “Excuse me,” she said hesitantly the next time there was a break in the Master forger’s speech. “Could you direct me to your ladies' room?”

  He frowned. “I am afraid I do not have a room specifically set aside for ladies here in my home.”

  “Your bathroom, I mean,” Harper said quickly.

  Yll-no raised an eyebrow. “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.”

  Shad was frowning as well, as though he wondered if she was all right. But he only said, “I think Harper needs to relieve herself. Do you have a room for that purpose?”

  “Oh, a personal waste disposal room! Why didn’t you say so?” Master Yll-no laughed. “Of course, my dear. Just take this door to the right, go down the hallway, and it will be the third door on your left.”

  “Thank you.” Harper nodded gratefully and rose, still holding the humlock in her arms. She waited until Shad was watching Master Yll-no’s forgery again before setting it down carefully and walking quickly out of the door. Her breasts definitely felt larger and heavier and she didn’t want the big Kindred to notice if she could help it.

  Chapter Nine

  There was no mirror in the bathroom but there was a kind of silvery fog which coalesced into five flat, reflective surfaces when Harper touched it lightly with her fingertips. The five surfaces reflected her from front, back, and both sides as well as, bizarrely, from above so it looked like she was peering down at the top of her own head. Okay, that was weird but Harper didn’t care at this point—the mist-mirror with its strange angles would work fine for her purpose.

  Taking a deep breath to control her nerves, she slipped off the t-shirt and looked at her chest. Her breasts definitely looked bigger under the red dress. But when she slipped the stretchy top of the gown down, she had to bite back a scream.

  There was no doubt her breasts were bigger—much bigger—but that wasn’t the only upsetting thing. Her nipples, which had always been light brown, just a few shades darker than her skin, had turned a blackberry color—a deep purple that didn’t seem right or natural to Harper at all. Even worse, when she took one breast in her hand and squeezed the nipple experimentally, a drop of pale purple fluid leaked out.

  “Oh my God,” Harper whispered to herself. “The sex-milk! I thought I threw it all up!”

  Well apparently not, hon, whispered a sarcastic little voice in her head. Because you’ve definitely got the same problem all those girls at the nursing tent had.

  Harper stared at her reflection in horror. In the side views the mist-mirror showed, her breasts looked positively huge. They weren’t quite watermelon-sized yet but they still seemed to be growing and filling with the weird nectar she’d seen the girls at the nursing tent pump out of their boobs. What was she going to do about this? She didn’t have a breast pump to use and she couldn’t hide it from Shad forever.

  For a moment, she flashed on the idea of asking the big Kindred to help her. The mental image of him ducking his head to take one of her ripe nipples between his lips sent a flush of heat to her swollen pussy but Harper quickly pushed it away.

  She couldn’t ask Shad for help that way—he didn’t even like her. To him, she was just a responsibility to be taken care of. The key to changing the past and keeping his people from being annihilated by the Hive. Sure, he was gorgeous but Harper couldn’t get past his cold disinterest enough to think of him in a sexual way…or so she told herself. Still, she couldn’t get the idea of him touching her…sucking her nipples…out of her head.

  Stop it, she told herself roughly. He doesn’t like you and he wouldn’t want to help you like that. If he did help, it would only be out of a sense of pity or duty. Besides, you didn’t like the idea of the male customers drinking “nectar” from the other girls, what makes you think Shad would want to suck it out of your breasts? It’s a sick idea—the whole nursing tent and what they were doing there is sick—disgusting!

  Then why wouldn’t the idea leave her head? And why was she getting more and more turned on, despite the desperate situation she found herself in? She ought to be freaking out about this—instead she had the almost overwhelming urge to rub her swollen pussy until she came.

  Two things stopped her from doing it.

  One, she had the very strong feeling that if she gave in to temptation—to this feeling of all pervasive lust that was clouding her judgment—she would never stop. She clearly remembered how willing and even eager all the girls at the nursing tent had been to have sex with complete strangers. Harper had the idea that if she started by giving herself pleasure, she would end by begging Shad to service her as well and she didn’t want that—didn’t want to beg a man she barely knew and who clearly didn’t like her—to help her sexually.

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