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Chapter
6
Desert
Kara gasped in
relief. The now familiar wrenching
agony and blackness had ended. She
had passed through the portal once more.
For a few seconds she was
disoriented. She was not standing
in the grasslands as she had expected.
Instead she was perched dangerously close to the edge of a sheer
drop. A few feet away Dodson
lay on the ground moaning. He
apparently had not endured the pain as well as
she.
She was naked as she expected, but so was
Dodson. The thug sat up, holding
his head and staring about him in
bewilderment. What the
hell? Wheres my
clothes? Wheres my
gun? Then he caught sight
of Kara and his expression changed, regarding her in lascivious
satisfaction. Well, things
arent all bad, I guess.
He got slowly to his feet.
His expression changed
again. You knew this was
going to happen didnt you?
Thats why you wouldnt tell Larson
anything. He stepped toward
her menacingly. I ought
to beat the shit out of you, but maybe Ill just have a little fun with
you instead.
That was as far as he
got. Kara stepped forward and
with three well-aimed blows knocked the thug to the ground in a semiconscious
heap. Yes, I knew this
would happen. And you are through
violating helpless women. I may not have my superpowers, but Im more
than a match for scum like you.
She stepped back and surveyed her
surroundings. The best thing
was probably to get away from Dodson.
He was completely untrustworthy and would probably try to attack her
as soon as she was not on her guard.
The problem was where should she
go? The place where the portal
had opened this time was completely unlike the grassy plain where she had
expected to be dropped.
She was standing on the edge of a deep canyon
in a region that was clearly desert.
All around her was broken rock and scrub vegetation and a blazing
sun beat down on her. But it
was the same sun that she knew from before and she was quite sure that when
night fell she would see Zhims double
moons. She regretted that none
of the equipment had made it through the
portal. It would have been nice
to at least have had enough clothing to provide some protection against the
sun. Also she suspected that
since she appeared to be in a region of relatively high elevation it might
cool down quite a bit at night.
Well, she didnt have much
choice. The first thing she needed
to do was find out a bit more about where she
was. In the opposite direction
from the rim of the canyon was a steep
slope. Perhaps if she climbed
it she would be able to get her bearings.
She started up the slope, wondering at the same time what happened
to the items that seemed to simply disappear when Larson created the
portal. She shook her
head. There was no point worrying
about it, and at least the tracking collar that Larson had forced her to
wear was also gone.
Sven Larson, studied his
instruments. Perfect, the tracking
collar was emitting a steady signal.
When he had given Supergirl and Dodson enough time it would be easy
for him to bring them back. This
time his studies would obtain the expected results.
On a planet so far away that no human mind
can comprehend the distance, Glohp studied the strange heap of objects that
had suddenly appeared in front of her.
She had never seen anything like them, and therefore, they were to
be treated with the utmost suspicion.
As a result she simply studied them for a few hours until she was
quite sure that they were not harmful.
Then delicately she probed them with her
tentacles.
At first she was
disappointed. None of the objects
appeared to be food or at least not food that she could
eat. Most of the items were so
foreign that they were beyond her
comprehension. She had
certainly not come across anything like them
before. One by one she picked
up each of the objects and studied it intently and one by one she put each
one back where she had found it.
All except one. This one
intrigued her. It was a gleaming
circlet composed of some strange shiny
substance. If nothing else it
was rather pretty. Sliding it
over one of her tentacles she found that it just
fit. She would keep it for the
time being. She could always
put it back later if she got tired of it.
Now, however, she was hungry.
She headed off into the swamp, her dozen or so eyes searching for
prey, with the exception of one that was fixed admiringly on the glittering
circlet about her tentacle.
Kara panted as she clambered to the top of
the ridge. Several hundred feet
behind her Dodson shouted for her to
wait. She wanted nothing more
to do with the cowardly thug, but apparently he was terrified of being left
alone in this strange new world.
The climb had been a bit tougher than she
had expected. Again her lack
of shoes was an important factor in her
progress. Her feet were already
bruised from clambering over the stony
ground. Now, however, she had
a better view of her surroundings.
Behind her was the long slope back to the edge of the
canyon. It stretched east and
west as far as she could see. There
seemed little point in following it for any
distance. In front of her was
a wide expanse of desert. Directly
ahead there appeared to be sand dunes and beyond them a range of
mountains. There was some hope
there. The mountains were snowcapped,
and where there was snow
there was probably running water.
The problem was the mountains were probably at least fifty miles away
and to trek that far across the desert without water seemed not only foolish,
but hopeless.
This isnt good, she
muttered. Im in the
middle of a waterless wasteland, totally nude and without any food or
water. How as she going
to get out of this one? Had she
survived so much just to die a horrible death in the middle of some unknown
desert? She almost wished that
she still wore the collar. At
least Larson would be able to bring her back to Earth.
Shading her eyes she scanned the
horizon. Far away she saw a small
flash as if sunlight had reflected off
metal. The focused on it and
saw it again. There was something
there. But
what? She didnt have a
lot of choices. Without waiting
for Dodson she headed toward where she had seen the
flash. An hour later she wasnt
sure she had made an intelligent
decision.
There were about thirty riders, mounted on
large ungainly creatures that seemed more suited to water than
land. They looked somewhat like
hippos with the necks and heads of giraffes and they seemed a strange animal
to travel the desert, considering that they must have used a lot of
water. Even more bizarre was
the fact that they seemed to have large fish-like gills running he lengths
of their long necks. They lumbered
toward her at a steady pace and it was obvious that she had been seen by
the fact that the caravan had swerved toward her.
Riding on the backs of the beasts were heavily
robed men. At least she thought
they were men. They were so
completely swathed in dark cloth that they could have been either
sex. In any case, they had seen
her and were headed precisely in her
direction. As they neared, the
several riders detached themselves from the column of animals and maneuvering
their ponderous animals with seeming ease, formed a semicircle about
her.
Kara stood still, suspecting that she was
being evaluated, but feeling extremely vulnerable in her unclothed
condition. She noted that they
all held weapons, but considering that had also been the custom in the other
region of Zhim she had visited, it was not particularly
alarming. No doubt the desert
could be as dangerous as the Attalan empire had
been. It did serve, however,
to remind her that she was almost
defenceless.
The animals loomed over, her each one the
size of an elephant, the strange gill-like apertures in their necks working
like bellows. This close Kara
could hear the air as it was sucked into the openings and the animal smell
of the huge beasts assailed her nostrils.
It was the riders, however, that were the
most important. If they decided
she was an enemy she doubted that she could survive an attack from so
many. Their faces, however were
shielded from her eyes by the heavy dark robes that each wore, allowing her
to see only their dark eyes. She
was able to determine only that the riders were much shorter than the
Attalans.
Dersha stared at the incredible women who
had materialized out of the desert.
He had never seen anything like
her. Where she had come from
or what she was doing in the middle of a trackless waste he had no
idea. But he was taking no
chances. It was possible that
she might be a demon and demons were dangerous beyond
imagination.
The problem was he had never seen a demon
before, although of course he had heard a great deal about
them. But this strange woman
might certainly be a demon. For
one thing she was completely naked in an environment calculated to blister
unprotected skin in a very short time.
For another, she was beautiful beyond anything he had ever
imagined. He had never seen a
woman with breasts so high and proud or a face and figure so
exquisite. And finally her skin
and hair were of a colour he had never seen
before. In the desert sun, her
shoulder-length hair shimmered like gold and her white skin was almost
dazzling.
It was for these reasons that he studied her
so carefully, his eyes traveling up and down her body, noting the sinuous
curves and smooth musculature that seemed to denote great
strength. If the woman was not
a demon what an addition to the harem of the Shukla she would
make. His eyes finally came to
rest on the silken triangle at the apex of her smoothly rounded
thighs. Surely a creature that
seemed so inviting could not be a demon.
But still he hesitated, until with some surprise, he realized that
there was a second naked figure.
This one was male and seemed quite disoriented,
stumbling and crying out as its feet stepped over sharp
stones. Whatever it was, it seemed
too pathetic to be a demon and since it seemed to know the gorgeous creature
in front of him that absolved her as
well.
She is a woman, he
cried. We will take her
to Trakhan.
She is certain to be a valuable prize.
Kara realized that she had passed whatever
test it was the riders were concerned about when several of them dismounted
and approached her. And she was
not altogether surprised about what they did
next.
She sighed as a leather collar was strapped
about her neck. A short chain
was attached to it and the other end was fastened to a heavy ring set into
the saddle on one of the huge
beasts. It was the very
least that she had expected.
Interestingly, they made no effort to bind her hands and actually
assisted her as she was boosted into the saddle of one of the great
beasts. It was actually more
than a saddle, consisting of a leather platform large enough for two or three
people and sheltered by an awning that rose on wooden poles, forming an effective
barrier against the rays of the sun.
Kara settled into it in welcome
relief. Dodson was not so
lucky.
The thug was similarly tethered, but he was
not allowed to ride. Instead
he was towed along behind the animal that Kara and her guard
rode. He was provided with a
loose fitting black garment as protection against the suns rays, but
that was all. Whimpering in pain
and cursing in protest he was forced to follow as quickly as he could or
else risk being dragged along the rough
ground.
Serves him right, thought
Kara. Still the sound of the
mans cries of pain as his feet were further bruised became quite
distressing. Kara did not like
to hear the sound of any creature in pain, not even a brutal thug like
Dodson. Apparently her captors
got tired of it too because after awhile they stopped and hauled him into
the saddle of another beast.
The journey across the desert took another
five days. In that time Kara
learned quite a bit about the people who had rescued (captured?)
her. They called themselves the
Twarg,
and as Kara had already determined, were people of the
desert. The huge beasts they
rode were called
kaperts and were truly
remarkable animals, suited to a desert environment beyond anything Kara could
have imagined.
The kaperts never
drank. They didnt need
to. Instead they extracted water
from the air by means of the incredibly efficient structures in their necks
that Kara had mistaken for gills.
These organs were so effective that they actually produced more water
than the creatures could use, thus providing water for their
riders. The first time Kara had
witnessed this, however, she had been more than a little
shocked. After all, she had never
seen anyone drink from a bucket of what she supposed was
urine. However, after seeing
the Twarg drink it, and having no other way to quench her thirst, she gave
in and was surprised to find that although warm, the fluid she was offered
was pure water.
Dodson was harder to
please. He was experiencing severe
culture shock as well as suffering physically from the heat and trials of
the desert journey. Not surprisingly,
he exhibited very little adaptability.
Im not drinking monster piss, he exclaimed when
first offered the beverage. The
Twarg offering him the water shrugged and drank it
himself. A few hours later, at
the next rest stop, a badly dehydrated Dodson was considerably less fussy,
almost spilling the precious fluid as he drank it.
Other than the collar and chain, little effort
was made to make sure that neither she nor Dodson
escaped. At night, when huge
tents were erected she and Dodson were actually allowed to wander the camp
without escort. It was a bit
confusing for Kara. Had she been
rescued or was she a prisoner? The
collar and chain certainly indicated the former, but the almost complete
lack of security indicated the latter.
However, it wasnt hard to figure out that the Twarg realized
that even if she or Dodson did try to leave the encampment, there wasnt
anyplace for them to go. Neither
would survive long in the trackless
desert. They had little choice
but to remain with the people who had found them.
Five days after encountering the Twarg the
desert changed. They were close
to the mountains and suddenly small flowering shrubs and grasses
appeared. The vegetation thickened
as the moved closer and then suddenly, rising from the base of the nearest
mountain was a walled city. In
spite of its desert location, the city was impressive, its walls and towers
stretching for more than a mile and then climbing the mountainside behind
it. The
Twarg whose beast she rode pointed and said,
Trakhan.
Kara knew the word. It
was the great desert trading centre at the heart of the
Twarg
empire.
Kara stared in amazement at the magnificent
vista. It was like something
out of the Arabian Nights with dozens of towers, domes, and minarets rising
one upon the other up the mountain slope.
A well traveled road crowded with hundreds of peoples and animals
swung down from the mountains and looped around to the massive front
gate. Karas caravan crossed
the intervening miles and joined the flow.
Kara wondered what to
do. On all sides of her were
hundreds of people and numerous strange
animals. If she was ever going
to make a break for it now was the time.
However, despite the collar and chain she did not feel like a
prisoner. She had not been treated
harshly, far from it, the Twarg acted toward her like she was some sort of
royalty. While she hesitated
the chance passed, provided there had ever been a real
chance. Even if she had tried
to escape what would have been the likelihood that she could have
succeeded? She was surrounded
by strange people in a strange land and with her colouring and physical size
what chance did she have of successfully getting
away. If she had wanted to escape
she should have attempted it long before the Twarg reached the exotic
city. Now it was much too late,
she would just have to see where the Twarg were taking
her.
She settled into the saddle and tried to be
optimistic. She remembered how
she had been welcomed by the Attalans when they had rescued her from the
Bermaghi. Perhaps the same thing
would happen here. Not really
having much choice she could only hope for the best.
The swaying caravan of kaperts entered the
gate and wound through the streets of the
city. In spite of the crowded
streets the huge animals had little difficulty in making their way as anyone
in their path quickly moved aside.
In this way they moved through the streets until they reached an open
square. It was here that the
Twarg halted their huge beasts and began to unload the cargo each one
carried.
Kara too was unloaded, one of the
Twarg escorting her to a small building at the
side of the square. It was only
as she entered the building that she realized it was a
jail. Too late she turned as
the door was closed and bolted behind
her. Outside she heard a low
laugh and then a voice.
Well, are you happy now you stupid
bitch? Youre going to get
your sweet ass fucked again.
It was Dodson, his foul mouth as usual spouting
filth. During the five day trek
across the desert she had made a point of avoiding him whenever the Twarg
stopped for the night. Since
he was always chained away from her that had not been
difficult. But now for some reason
the Twarg had placed her in a tiny cell and chained Dodson right outside
the barred window. Ignoring his
foul language Kara spoke.
What do you mean? What
is this place?
This is the slave market,
bitch. Didnt you learn
any of the language of these people or did you not bother to ask where we
were being taken?
Kara had learned quite a bit of the language,
but she had not pressed any of the Twarg for details of where they were
going. When she had asked they
had only told her that they were on the way to a trading centre and that
by sheer good fortune she had stumbled across
them. If she had not she would
probably have died in the desert.
How do you know this? she
asked.
The black hoods told me all about where
we were going, said Dodson referring to the
Twarg. This is the capital
city of the dude that rules this area and this is the slave
market. You thought the Twarg
were rescuing you, but they were just transporting another valuable piece
of merchandise to market. Pretty
soon youll be up on the auction block being offered to the highest
bidder.
What about you? Kara
asked.
Oh, me too, of
course. But at least Im
not going to be sold into sexual
slavery. He chuckled and
then went silent.
Kara did not ask any more
questions. Instead she sat on
a small bench inside the cell and waited.
Outside she could hear people and animals moving and
talking. Finally she peered through
the small bared window. She could
just see part of the square and it was now crowded with
people. She sat back down
again. There was no point in
becoming too anxious about the situation.
Perhaps Dodson had been lying, but if he hadnt there was still
nothing she could do about it.
She sat there for another hour waiting and
wondering. All the while the
square outside continued to fill with
people. Finally the door
opened. Two of the Twarg were
there. Stepping into the cell
they attached two chains to the collar she still
wore. Something about their actions
and their eyes told her all she needed to
know. Dodson had not been
lying. With a feeling of resignation
she allowed the two men to tow her out of the cell and into the waiting
crowd.
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