“So she would.” A second lovely face appeared. This one had charming, curly brown locks and clear gray eyes. “Quick—let’s get her out’o that tubb-o and take her over.”
Tubb-oh—that’s the name of the thing I’m riding in!
Suddenly things began to come back to her. The walk through the marketplace with Need…meeting the half-fish man, Myakk and his strange pink bathtub steed whose name was…
“Velda,” she said aloud. “Her name is Velda.”
There was a strange snorting noise and the shiny pink tub she was in capered a bit, as though in response to her name.
“Whoa—there!” the first lovely visitor—the one with the blond hair—exclaimed.
“Take it easy now, little lady,” the second one with the golden-brown ringlets said. “You don’t want to be injured if that tubb-oh gets crazy-like, now do you?”
“I…I suppose not.” Lan’ara made an effort to sit up and was helped by the two kind strangers who were bending over her.
“There now,” the first one cooed. “You’re that tired, ent you? Have you come a long way?”
“I…I don’t know,” Lan’ara admitted. “I don’t remember much. I…I think I must have bumped my head.” She winced as she touched the back of her skull, which still throbbed painfully.
“Can’t remember much, eh?” The friendly strangers exchanged a glance over her head.
“I’m afraid not,” Lan’ara said. “I think I need to get back to the main marketplace though. Can you help me find it?”
Need would be wondering where she was, she thought. It was a good thing she had ended up among such kind and helpful people instead of with the cloners or slavers he had warned her about!
“Sure we can help you, dearie,” one of the friendly strangers said, smiling broadly to show gleaming white teeth. “But first, wouldn’t you like to go have a nice lie-down somewhere quiet until your head stops aching?”
“You need to get out of the suns’ light,” the other one said. “It’s too bright when you’re head’s poundin’ like a Yertha drum. Leastways, I always think so after I take a drop too much and wake up in it the next day.”
Lan’ara had no idea what a Yertha drum was, but her head certainly was pounding. Still, she had a vague idea she shouldn’t leave Velda. What if the tubb-oh wandered away and got lost? What would Myakk use to get himself around? He was half fish, wasn’t he? Or was she mixed up again about the past? How she wished her head didn’t ache so much!
“Velda,” she said, frowning. “I…I can’t leave her here!”
“Why of course not. A tubb-oh is quite valuable, so it is. We’ll find a good home for her,” the blond stranger promised.
“But she already has a home. At least, I think she does,” Lan’ara protested. “I need…”
But she didn’t get to finish her sentence.
“Come on now, dearie,” one of the strangers said and then the two of them were helping her out of the shifting, snorting tub. “Come on in to meet good Mistress Bigaboo—she’s as kind as can be and she’ll take good care of you.”
“Mistress who? Ohhh!” The exclamation was drawn from her when Lan’ara saw the gorgeous structure they were leading her into. It looked like a great, golden palace with high spires and graceful turrets reaching for the sky. The windows were all of sparkling stained glass and beautiful statues of gods and goddesses adorned the front.
“Did you hurt yourself, dearie?” the blond stranger asked, frowning—which only made his face more charming, Lan’ara thought.
“Oh, no. I was just so awed at this lovely building.” Lan’ara gestured at the golden palace. “Whoever this Mistress BigBoobs is, she must be extremely influential. Not to mention really wealthy.”
“That’s Mistress Bigaboo all right,” the curly-headed stranger said. “And as for wealthy, well, she does all right I believe.” He exchanged another look with his friend and the two of them laughed—a heavenly sound which sent chills of pleasure down Lan’ara’s spine.
Yes, indeed—she was certainly lucky to have ended up in such a nice part of town with such kind and helpful strangers, she thought.
It was just wonderful.
Thirty-Five
“This is fucking terrible!” Need muttered to himself as he surveyed his surroundings. This was where his search for the runaway tubb-oh, which had taken Lan’ara with it, had led, and it couldn’t be worse.
He was in the shady sector of town—the slums near the docks. The buildings here were all crumbling and rotten with age—looking like the least wind could blow them over. There were puddles of filth in the middle of the rutted road and a slaughter yard not far away—he could tell by the stench of offal in the wind.
Also, nobody he met would look him in the eyes. Probably the lot of them were cutthroats and thieves and slavers and whoremongers—and this was where Lan’ara had ended up—if his search was correct, and he was pretty sure it was.