Story 18

Seven months ago…

“And so, ladies and gentlemen, the sedimentary botanical and geological evidence clearly points to the presence of water in the Aguamar Plains no later than four million years ago, the river probably having dried up three point eight million years ago. With this established, we'll be considering a further expedition to locate conclusive signs of a dried riverbed, and hopefully even the source of the river.”

Professor Raina Sangh's voice carried to the far end of the large, squarish room in Jambaku University's Natural Sciences conference centre. Her tone indicated these were her closing remarks, and the audience applauded politely. Sang smiled, stepping back from the microphone and gesturing at her colleagues, Professors Jid Galeg and Tarath Omund. The applause increased for a brief while, then died down, as audience members stood and began to make their way towards the exit. Sangh, a smallish, dark-haired woman in her late forties, picked up her glass of water, and drank, then breathed in quietly.

“Well… That's that done. Goodness knows when we'll get the finances to return to Aguamar.”

“Prehistoric hydrology doesn't seem to be much of a budget priority, does it?” Galeg agreed. The tall, rather thin botanist in his sixties had thick grey hair, and a short, neatly trimmed beard. His pale blue eyes surveyed the emptying room with a look of wry humour and calm intelligence.

“It doesn't catch the headlines,” Omund grumbled. Half-way between his colleagues in age, the geologist was only a little taller than Sang, and far more heavily built than either of them. His somewhat gruff appearance concealed an often surprisingly shy personality. “They want sensationalism. Rivers that dried up millions of years ago don't stir their imaginations, even if they may have been the heart of a complex ecological niche…” He trailed off as he noticed that one member of the audience, far from moving out with the others, was coming towards them. A pretty young woman with dark blond hair, in her early thirties perhaps, she was neatly dressed, giving her a serious appearing - belied by the faint smile tugging at her lips. The others noticed her too, and turned towards her.

“Can we help you?” Sangh asked.

“Professors. Yes, if I may…” The woman stepped up onto the the podium. “I'm Patisha Lachad, of the Jambaku Sciences Review.”

“Oh, somebody who is interested in dried up rivers.” Galeg smiled approvingly, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “I'm glad to see we shouldn't lose hope the younger generation.”

“Actually…” For a brief moment, Lachad looked a little embarassed. “That's not what I wanted to talk about.” She paused. “I'm sure you've heard of the Chordoni waterfalls.”

Sangh's eyes lit up for a moment.

“Oh, yes. They're in Felarya. One of the great mysteries of contemporary hydrology…” Her voice trailed off, almost dreamily.

“Exactly.” The reporter nodded. “And they've barely been studied. At least, not by New New Symphonian scientists.”

Galeg frowned, curious. “Why are you mentioning them?”

Patisha Lachad smiled, brushing a strand of her long hair off from over her face. “The Review would like to know whether you'd be interested in mounting a scientific expedition there. All expenses paid for by our journal.”

The three scientists looked at one another, surprised. This was unexpected.

“Sensationalist science,” Omund muttered. “The Chordoni falls are a curiosity catcher.”

“Yes, but it is science,” the young reporter emphasised. “There's a mystery to be uncovered. A massive waterfall, bigger than anything anyone knows of, on any world, tons and tons of water, coming from… nowhere? It's one of the great unknowns of your fields of research. Particularly yours, Professor Sangh.”

“Hmmm…” the latter mused, thoughtfully. Judging by the expression on her face, she was clearly tempted. “We'd need equipment.”

“We'll pay for it,” Lachad said promptly. “We can afford it. Any article published about Chordoni would be immensely popular. Within the scientific community, of course, but it would have popular appeal too.”

“Hmmm,” Sangh said again.

Galeg scowled. “Felarya is not a safe world.”

“We'll provide security.”

Galeg's eyebrows rose faintly. “You want us to walk around there accompanied by guards?”

“Just a few,” Patisha assured him. “Enough to keep us all safe.”

“Us?” Sangh echoed sharply.

“Oh, I'd be coming with you,” the journalist said, casually. “Someone will have to report on your fieldwork.”

“Hmmm,” Sangh said, for the third time. There was a long pause. “It's tempting.”

Patisha grinned. “Of course it's tempting.”

“We had been planning to continue our research in the Aguamar Plains,” Omund remarked, hesitating.

“Yes, but we won't get the funding for that,” Sangh pointed out. “At least, not just yet. I assume you'd want us to head to Felarya quite soon?” she asked Patisha. The young woman nodded.

“As soon as we've got all the details sorted out.”

“We haven't said yes yet,” Omund reminded her.

“No, but I think you will.” The reporter smiled. “And you definitely won't regret it.”

* * *

Four months ago…

“Are you doing it just for the money?”

Facing the glare of his short but imposing, hard-faced superior officer, Farkan Gezet stood strictly to attention, gazing fixedly straight ahead.

“No, sir. It's not about money.” He was in a small, sparingly furnished office, poorly heated for the time of year.

His superior, affectionately known to his subordinates as Square Face, walked round the desk briskly, and peered at him.

“You think that going private will be more relaxed.”

Gezet held back a sigh. “No, sir, it's not that either. I don't mind the hard work and discipline, at all. I just…” He allowed himself a glance at the man. “I want change. Call it a failing, but I can't keep in place for long. I've tried; that's why I joined the military… But leaving the army to become a private guard, it'll… Well, it's the change I need.”

Square Face observed him for a long while in silence, then gave a curt nod, and stepped back, returning to his side of the desk.

“You'll have no steady income. You'll have to find work. Knowing you, you've been looking around already.”

“Yes, sir.” Gezet kept his gaze fixed on the wall. “I read an advertisement. A scientific expedition to Felarya. They're looking for security…” Square Face interrupted him with a brief, dry, incredulous laugh.

“Felarya?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I thought you were looking for a change in career, not trying to commit suicide.”

Farkan looked at him at last, surprised and a little concerned.

“Sir?”

Square Face sighed, his harsh features softening a little. He rubbed the side of his head.

“Kid, how old are you?”

“Twenty-three, sir. Well, next week.”

“Twenty-three… Have you got a girlfriend?”

“Yes, sir.”

“But you're not married?”

“No, sir.”

“Then you won't be leaving a widow behind,” he said curtly. “Good. What do you know about Felarya?”

Gezet grimaced, briefly. “Not very much, sir. But…”

“But what?” his superior asked sharply.

The young man stiffened further. “With full respect, sir, what I do after I stop wearing this uniform…”

“…is none of my business?”

“Sir,” Gezet nodded, tensely.

Square Face sat down.

“This may be difficult for you to understand, kid, but I don't want you to die. If you go to Felarya, you won't be coming back.”

“Thank you for caring, sir,” Gezet said, stiffly. “Will that be all, sir?”

His superior sighed.

“Yes, yes… You can go. Go and get yourself eaten, and don't complain when it happens.” He gave the young man a look of sharp, weary annoyance. “At least you'll have left the army, so I won't have to write the letter to your next of kin when you die.”

* * *

Three months ago…

“Felarya? I haven't heard of it.” Twenty-two year-old Ashana Ti looked up from her seat in Professor Sangh's office, intrigued. Her long, very pale blond hair shifted over her shoulders, and her pale green eyes gazed upon her research supervisor with unconcealed curiosity.

“It's pretty obscure,” Sangh explained, looking over the shelves stacked with books on her office walls. “Not many people go there, and… a-ha.” She pulled a book off the shelf. “There's an article about the Chordoni waterfalls in here. It doesn't say much, and it's mostly speculation. But it'll give you two a few basics.”

Ashana and her fellow hydrology research student Reny Immot looked at each other. They had been called in by Professor Sangh, who had promptly invited them to accompany her on a research expedition into virtually uncharted ground. Naturally, both of them had immediately felt excited.

“As you'll see, we'll be dealing with an unexplained phenomenon. A waterfall with no obvious source. There'll be a reporter,” -Sangh sighed faintly- “no doubt snapping away pictures, but we should get some interesting work done. Are you both interested, then?”

“Oh yes, definitely!” Ashana said with obvious enthusiasm, skimming through the pages of the book to the index. Sangh gave her a slight smile. Ashana was one of her most promising students - bright, eager, hard-working, very serious yet refreshingly curious about every aspect of research she undertook. She was an exchange student from a university in one of the planet's most northerly lands, a frigid island trapped in permanent ice; her appearance and accent both made her stand out as foreign. Her build was slim, almost frail, and everything about her -white skin, whitish-blond hair, light green eyes- was disconcertingly pale. And yet there was a liveliness to her which surpassed those traits, and gave her a strong, vibrant presence in any setting.

“Reny?”

“Yes, I'd be interested.” The dark-haired male student smiled. He tended to be far more quiet and discreet than Ashana, keeping his thoughts to himself until he had mulled them over and formulated them in a manner that satisfied him. Despite supervising his research, Sangh knew very little about him. From what little she did know, he was a pleasant enough and definitely intelligent young man, but not one who cared to socialise much with anyone, preferring the solitude of his own thoughts.

“I'll give you papers to read,” Sangh said.

“What's Felarya like?” Ashana asked, as she looked through the book.

“The area around the waterfalls is mostly jungle. As for the weather, we're not sure. We have too little information to know how the seasons match up to ours.”

Ashana looked up. Her pale eyes seemed almost to be shining.

“Into the unknown, then…” She smiled. “It sounds like an experience I'm not likely to forget.”

* * *

Present time.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we will be landing outside Ur-Sagol shortly. Local time is late morning, the temperature is 29° Celsius, the air is warm and moist. Please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened until we reach a complete stop. There are no customs procedures in Felarya, so you may proceed at will upon disembarking. The next flight back to New New Symphonia will be in four days. On behalf of Felarya Express, we hope you've had a pleasant flight.”

Reny Immot fidgeted a little in his seat, and returned the in-flight magazine to its holding slot. It had been a brief flight, through the portal to the ruined city just beyond it. He glanced at Ashana, who had the window seat beside his, and they exchanged a brief smile. The unknown… It was going to be quite a trip.

The ship came to a smooth stop, and he got up, making his way dutifully towards the exit. Most passengers remained seated; Ur-Sagol, a dead city, was not a popular tourist stop. He did notice a few unfamiliar people getting off, though.

His first sight of Felarya was of a narrow, grassy clearing between a fairly thick forest and the crumbling edges of the overgrown, lifeless city. Its ruins towered as far as the eye could see, majestic in their ancient, alien architecture - otherworldly despite being, apparently, the work of humans.

“Wow!” Ashana breathed.

“`Wow' just about covers it,” Reny agreed. He looked around slowly, until he noticed Professor Sangh motioning them over. He drew Ashana's attention to her, and the two of them walked over to join the professors.

“All right, is everyone here?” Sangh, the expedition leader, asked, and performed a rapid headcount. “Hmm, hmm, hmm, four, five, six, seven, eight, and me. All here. Tarath, have you got the map?”

“Right here.” Professor Omund reached into his bag and produced a folded sheet of paper, which he shook into form. “We're, ah… on the north-western edge of Ur-Sagol. We have to go through a stretch of forest, mostly due west and slightly to the north. Once we see a river to our right, we'll know we're on the right track. It's simple enough.”

Reny nodded quietly. It did seem simple. The only thing that worried him a little was the presence of armed guards on their team. It's a sensible precaution, he told himself. We're in an unknown land. As it was, the team consisted of three scientists -hydrologist Professor Sangh, botanist Professor Galeg, geologist Professor Omund-, two hydrology research students, the reporter from the Jambaku Sciences Review, her cameraman, and the two guards. He glanced at the latter. The male guard, Farkan Gezet, seemed to be about his age, and was apparently a former soldier. The female guard, red-headed Liliya Voone, looked a few years older. They both carried some sort of heavy automatic rifle.

“Right,” Sangh said brightly. “Let's get moving, then.”

The Felarya Express ship was lifting off, resuming its flight. Reny looked back over his shoulder at the other three people who had disembarked. Two men and a woman, one of the men in camouflage clothing. The other man was very tall and almost bald. They were heading for the ruins, and Reny briefly heard one of the men mentioning something about a hotel.

A hotel? In Ur-Sagol? he wondered, puzzled. Surely not.

“Hey!”

He turned, and saw that his team was on the move. Gezet was motioning for him to keep up. He nodded, and hurried to join them as they made their way into the jungle…

* * *

“Average rainful… Must be quite high.” Ashana looked around with a contemplative yet eager look on her young, uncommonly pale, attractive face. “I wonder whether there's a dry season.”

She was trailing a little behind most of the group, although Reny had fallen back to keep her company. Only Farkan kept behind them both, the armed guard bringing up the rear of the expedition while his colleague Liliya walked up front.

“You should be able to work it out, Ashana,” Professor Galeg called, without looking back.

“Yes, I suppose… Well, it's an alien climate, but there are no signs of any vegetation that might thrive in a dry period. And I can't imagine the forest being lifeless for several months, so that would mean rainfall stays pretty high most of the year round. Oh, good!” She smiled, and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with fresh air. “A world full of life!”

Behind her, Farkan grunted quietly, remembering his army superior's warning. The two students glanced back at him.

“You don't like it here?” Reny asked him.

“It's the unknown,” the guard said, simply, looking off to the side, between the trees. “I'm just being careful.”

“Quite right, I suppose,” Ashana said idly, and walked over to a bush graced with the most exquisite blue flowers. “Look at these leaves! Like needles. And, mmmm, the scent…”

Galeg chuckled.

“Your student seems to have a budding interest in botany,” he remarked to Sangh. “Maybe I should try and steal her off you.”

“Oh, no, hydrology is my one true passion,” Ashana joked, straightening up and hurrying a little to keep up with the others. “I just like pretty flowers.”

* * *

The little team had walked steadily for hours, slowed by their many impulses to examine and catalogue curious examples of plant life. They had eaten a pre-packed dinner, and slept in tents, blissfully unaware of their own luck in having escaped local predators for so long. Come morning, they had pressed on, guided by the map and the scientists' estimate that they were not far from water, now. The distant rush of water reached their ears at about the same time as more peculiar sounds.

Leading the team, Liliya slowed, and motioned for the others to do likewise.

“What is it?” Galeg asked. His hearing was not quite as good as that of his younger colleagues.

“Shh,” Liliya urged in a whisper. “Quiet. Listen.”

Like the others, Reny did so. He looked up, into the dark canopy of the trees, swaying gently in a warm, peaceful breeze. Sunlight caressed his bare cheeks. The breeze bore the sounds of the jungle… and, very faint, a soft, musical giggle. It was echoed, almost imperceptibly, from all around him - so faint that he wondered whether he was imagining it. It was as though several girls, hidden in the forest shadows, were watching them, unseen, laughing. Their whispers crept into his ears, soft, playful and excited. He frowned, troubled.

The whispers were gentle, relaxing, yet there was something eerie about them too. Without knowing why, he felt suddenly unsafe. He bit his lip.

“Maybe we should keep moving,” he suggested, careful not to raise his voice too much. Seemingly unfazed, Cal, Patisha's cameraman, switched on his camera.

“That seems like a good idea,” Sangh agreed, her tone wary. “I see no need to-”

There was movement, small blinks of motion reflecting the sunlight, darting out from between the trees and rushing towards the assembled humans. There was no mistaking their intent; their angle of approach was close to a straight line. Whatever `they' were, too small to see, they were coming straight for the expedition.

“Behind the trees!” Liliya shouted. Reny froze for a moment. The creatures, as they came nearer, so very fast, seemed to have wings -delicate and translucent-, but their bodies…

Like tiny people, he thought, awed. Like fairies…

“Trees!” Liliya snapped. “Go, go!” Farkan added, urgently. Sangh grabbed a startled Professor Galeg by the arm, dragging him out of the way. Ashana and Professor Omund hesitated for a moment, then moved for the closest trees, too. Patisha and Cal stayed where they were - too curious, or too surprised to leave. Cal was filming. Reny found himself staring at the approaching creatures, as though mesmerised.

Like darts of light, the fairies flew between the humans, and past them. As they did so, a haze seemed to envelop the cameraman, for a fraction of a second, and he vanished.

“Cal!” Patisha yelled, horrified. Coming to his senses, Reny shook himself into motion, and snatched the journalist by the arm, pulling her to cover. The two guards armed their weapons, with an ominous click-clack. The others were already hiding behind the meagre cover of the trees.

“What the hell were those?” Patisha gasped, breathless, as Reny pushed her against the trunk of a large tree, hopefully out of the fairies' sight. “Where's Cal?”

“Shh!” he hushed her, and looked out. Farkan and Liliya were holding their ground, rifles up. The buzz of light that were the fairies turned, several metres from them, and headed back towards them, chanting and laughing playfully. Liliya crouched down, taking aim. Farkan remained standing, aiming too.

“Now!” the male guard shouted, and the two began firing, bullets streaming out to meet the fairies in mid-flight. A moment later, the tiny beings were upon them, and Farkan vanished in a shimmering haze. The fairies flew past them, and, just like that, were gone.

Only a faint, lingering giggle drifted back to the humans on the Felaryan breeze, followed by a girlish burp.

Reny stood very quiet, leaning against the tree for support, and stared into empty air.

* * *

“We have to go back. Back to New New Symphonia. We need to get help, organise a search…” The group had moved on to what they hoped was a safe distance from the site of their encounter with the fairy-like creatures. Ashana sat with her back to a tree, shivering a little, too stunned and shaken to speak. Professor Sangh sat beside her, giving her what comfort she could. Galeg, Omund and Reny stood, a short distance from one another. Patisha was pacing the small clearing where they had stopped; at that moment, she was the only one talking, tense, agitated and frightened. Liliya, the surviving guard, said nothing, but her eyes darted from shadow to shadow.

“We can find them,” Patisha went on, her voice trembling a little. “Whatever happened back there, it's never too late…”

“There's no point in going back.” Sangh, her voice sombre, was the first who dared cut into the reporter's anguished monologue, and Patisha whirled round to face her, angry.

“What do you mean, there's-”

“The next flight home is in three days. We know nothing about this place. The ruins may be just as dangerous as the jungle. We would have to stay in one place. I think we're safer on the move.”

Patisha's eyes narrowed. She could tell where this was going.

“You think we should keep on. That we should go forward.”

“Yes,” Sangh said simply, meeting her gaze.

“To the waterfalls,” Patisha said, her voice strained. “Where you can conduct your precious scientific studies.”

“Yes.” Sangh's voice hardened, just a little. “The studies that you asked us to come and-”

“To hell with that!” Patisha shouted, scared and furious. “Cal and that guard may be dead-”

“Since there's no point in going back,” Galeg put in reasonably, “we might as well do what we came to do. We'll make sure we're back at the ruins in time to catch Felarya Express. And then, when we get home, we'll report that two members of our group are missing. If anything can be done to find them, it'll be done.” He paused. “But there's nothing we can do ourselves. We have no idea where to look. We don't know how they were taken, why, where to… or by whom. There are no local authorities we can go to. We're completely in the dark.”

Patisha glared at him, and, for a long time, everyone was silent. The journalist looked as though her trembling legs might give way beneath her at any time. Finally, she sat down, slumping onto the forest ground, and lowered her head.

“Do whatever you want,” she muttered, defeated. “I'll just have to come with you.”

Galeg gave her a gentle, reassuring look.

“I'm sure they'll be all right. After all, who here would want to hurt them?”

* * *

Farkan felt dizzy, and confused. Everything had happened very quickly. One moment, he had been firing at those small, winged creatures - whatever they were. The next moment, he had felt a strange tingling, and had found himself hovering in the air, then falling. Everything had become huge.

Or, he had realised when his startled brain caught up with what his senses were experiencing, he had become tiny.

Tiny enough for the fairies to be visible, so much bigger than he was now, flying straight at him.

The one who caught him was beautiful, her long, light green hair teased by the soft, warm breeze, her blue eyes twinkling merrily, her wings so perfect and delicate - her mouth wide open in a lovely smile, and laughing. Her hand had closed around him, and, before he could react, he had found himself thrust into her mouth. The warm, pink flesh surrounded him, her breath enveloping him. Then darkness, as she closed her mouth. Darkness, warmth, and the wetness of her sticky saliva, building up and gushing over him in her hungry, eager mouth. Slosh, slosh, slosh, then - gulp. Down her warm, tight, wet, pulsating throat.

She was still flying, and he was jostled inside her stomach, utterly disoriented, his mind screaming in soundless confusion, unable to understand or accept what had just happened. The fairy's stomach groaned, and gurgled, beginning to work on the human inside it, a tasty, filling meal. One of the fairy's friends poked her full tummy, playfully, and the girls giggled. The fairy who had eaten Farkan rubbed her tummy, then pirouetted happily in the sky, darting through the air, singing to herself in her beautiful, crystal-clear voice as she began to digest.

Inside her stomach, Farkan screamed. Her tummy gurgled loudly. The girl smiled, gave a dainty burp, and flew up high into the treetops…

* * *

They had heard the waterfall long before they saw it. Mindful of their recent (and still baffling) misadventure, the small expedition had slowed down as the rush of water became louder, and Liliya had volunteered to go ahead, scouting the way to the falls, making sure it was safe.

“Safe,” she muttered to herself, appreciating the irony of that concept. At that particular moment, she would have preferred to be almost anywhere other than in Felarya. She brushed her hand through her red hair as a lock of it fell across her forehead, sticky with damp beads of sweat. The vegetation had grown thicker, and seemed to press down upon her; she pushed her way through as best she could. It seemed like an eternity before a fine mist of water droplets, hanging in the air, bathed her face, cool and refreshing. She exhaled a quiet sigh of relief. Surely the waterfall could not be far now…

She forced her way closer. She could hear it, a roaring rush of water, projecting spray inland, wetting her skin. Forward still more, her steps quickening, as though some irresistable force now drew her towards the waterfall. She pushed past a low branch, thick with dark leaves…

…and froze, mesmerised.

A smile filled her view, high above her at first, then coming closer. A beautiful smile, so perfect it made Liliya's heart ache.

The smile spoke.

“Hello, little human,” it whispered, sensuously. “Would you care to join us?”

* * *

When Liliya had not returned, the remainder of the expedition had been gripped in renewed fear. Yet, they agreed, there seemed little to be done other than proceed as intended - if only so as to help the guard if she had run into trouble. Unarmed and unprotected now, they forced their way through the thick undergrowth, guided by the sound of the waterfall.

Why did I ever imagine this was going to be exciting? Reny asked himself bitterly, as he tore with his bare hands at a bush obscuring the path ahead. Sweet birdsong filled the area, together with the enticing scent of fresh fruit, an aroma drifting in the pleasantly warm air. It did little to cheer him up, however. He had fallen a short distance behind the others; only Ashana was trailing further still, her uncommonly pale, bare arms scratched by wild plants, bleeding slightly. He stopped, and waited for her to catch up. She gave him a faint smile of gratitude.

“These waterfalls had better be worth it,” she said.

“They should be.” He tried to sound optimistic. “Remember what the book said? Higher than any others known to man, and their source a complete mystery. In a few moments, we should discover something truly wondrous.” He managed a smile of his own, but Ashana's face was, once more, filled with worry.

“Do you think Liliya is all right? And the others, who disappeared?”

Reny's smile faded.

“I don't know,” he admitted. “But if anything can be done for them…” He trailed off. “Come on,” he said kindly. “We're almost there.”

They struggled forward a few more metres, until the vegetation grew a little more sparse, and they quite suddenly found themselves stepping onto open, damp grassland, a narrow stretch of it bordering a lake, which meandered off into a wide river. And feeding water into the lake was…

Reny gasped. The waterfall was like nothing he had ever imagined, let alone seen. It poured down from the cliff face, a tremendous rush of water dropping in a roar from an almost inconceivable height, crashing into the clear waters of the vast lake. A light mist hung in the air, perpetually renewed droplets of water suspended all around him, partly obscuring the waterfall in a liquid haze or sheen. The sunlight, catching the airborne water, was refracted in shimmering light, giving the mist a warm, magical glow. Brightly coloured birds swooped through the haze, far above. The scent of damp grass seemed suspended in the air with the water, mixing with the gentle aroma of alien fruit trees. It was beautiful beyond description - almost beyond belief.

“My… god,” he whispered, awe-struck. And yet, already, his gaze was tearing itself away from the scene's natural beauty, drawn inexorably to the two women who occupied the water's edge. They, too, were gigantic, at least twenty-five metres tall from head to ground, and that was not counting their incredibly long… tail. For, although they appeared mostly human from the waist upwards, these stunningly beautiful women were snake from thereon downwards.

And, like the snakes of ancient lore, they had cast upon him the charms of their all too human beauty.

Reny stood mesmerised, utterly subjugated, barely able to breathe.

A few metres ahead, with their backs turned to him, were the rest of the expedition - Professors Sangh, Omund and Galeg, and the reporter, Patisha. None of them were moving. They were all staring up at the snake women, as though in a trance.

One of the nagas, her skin a soft hue of teal, her plum-coloured hair tinged with hints of pink, smiled excitedly.

“Oh look, more of them! Do you think there are others, hiding out there?”

“Why don't we ask them?” The other naga, her light blue hair and soft purple skin shining gently in the diffused sunlight, slithered forward, towards the humans. She seemed to be looking straight at Reny, her deep purple eyes warm and playful, wildly enchanting. “Are there more of you, little human?” she breathed, seductively.

Slowly, almost without thinking, Reny shook his head. His mouth was dry, his mind sluggish; he could barely move, barely think. He knew only that this woman was beautiful, so beautiful, and that he yearned for her with every fibre of his being. She smiled, and his heart melted with a fiery joy.

“Then we can have a little fun,” she said, and he smiled too, just because she was smiling. Beside him, Ashana stood similarly entranced, but he was barely even aware of her. Nor did he notice Liliya's automatic rifle, discarded on the grass nearby. Of the young guard herself, there was no trace. An ominous sign, if Reny had still had his wits about and were able to interpret it.

But he was not, utterly captivated by the naga Vivian's charms.

The plum-haired naga, Namesta, licked her lips.

“I have a few ideas,” she said, and winked at Vivian. With feigned casualness, she slithered over in turn, and plucked an unmoving Ashana off the ground, lifting her up. Reny watched, but did not react. He could not. The shiver he experienced at that moment may have been fear as well as pleasure, but he was not aware of it.

Vivian -surely the most gorgeous woman in creation, he thought, her thick, long hair framing her perfect face and cascading over her soft, bare shoulders, tickling her large, round, naked breasts- gave a lazy smile. She slithered closer to Namesta, and slipped her arms round her, a slow, sensuous gesture which the other naga responded to with a shiver of delight. Their bodies pressed together, their hands slowly exploring each other's bare skin. Vivian moaned, very softly, tilting her head back, and Namesta pressed her lips to her neck, kissing her. Vivian shivered in turn, and her grip on her lover tightened, Vivian pulling her into a closer embrace. Their faces met, their lips brushing together, so very softly at first, teasing, a whispered promise of pleasure to come. Then, Namesta kissed her hungrily, passionately, while Reny watched on in a daze.

Vivian held the kiss for a long time, rubbing her hands with little moans and gasps over her lover's skin, before pulling back gently. Namesta grinned, and licked traces of Vivian's saliva off her lips. She held up Ashana, and dangled her in the air playfully. The young human seemed passive, offering no resistance.

“Would you like the little human?” Namesta teased, and observed her prey for a moment. “She's not struggling at all… That's really amazing, you know.”

“Not really.” Vivian smiled. “But we should eat them before the magic wears off.”

“Fine by me.” Namesta giggled seductively, and held Ashana over the other naga's face. Vivian opened her mouth wide, winked at her, and waited. Slowly, ever so slowly, Namesta lowered the human into her lover's mouth, inserting her legs between Vivian's lovely lips, all the way to her waist… before pulling her back with a laugh. Vivian let out a small gasp, and pouted.

“Tease!” she said, with a mock scowl.

“My human!” Namesta said, with another giggle, and held Ashana away from her. Watching on, Reny could see a somewhat dazed but happy smile on his friend's face. Oblivious to any danger, she seemed to feel quite content in the naga's hand.

“Oh, give her here!” Vivian said, playing along, and made a swipe for the human. She missed, as Namesta held her out of reach. “Come on, stop teasing!” she laughed.

“Make me!” Namesta whispered.

“Ooh!” With a mischievous smile, Vivian launched herself at her, tackling her, and the two nagas went down onto the grass in a tangled heap. Deftly pinning her lover below her, Vivian began kissing her, hard. Namesta squirmed with delight, putting up a mock struggle while relishing every moment of the kiss. Vivian finally paused for breath, pulling back with a little gasp, her lips still parted. With a playful smirk, Namesta made the most of it to shove her human into her lover's mouth.

A little startled, Vivian straightened, releasing the other naga. She tilted her head slightly as she savoured the taste of the human Namesta had just fed to her. After a few moments, she swallowed, and smiled. Reny watched as Ashana disappeared inside her, a brief bulge going down her throat.

“That was fun! Your turn now.” Quickly, she picked up a motionless, enchanted Professor Sangh, and began to slither away. “You'll have to catch me, if you want her!”

“It's you I want!” Namesta said with a playful growl, and hurried after her. Catching up, she slipped her arms round her waist, holding her back, and pressing her body close to hers. “Gimme, gimme!” she laughed, and opened her mouth. Half-turning, smiling, Vivian fed the human to her, and Namesta gulped her down with relish. With growing excitement, the two gorgeous nagas fondled each other for a while, rolling together in the grass, kissing and caressing, seeming almost to forget the remaining humans - although Namesta did grab Professor Galeg with a lazy sweep of the hand and feed him to her lover.

So enthralled were they with each other that they did not immediately realise Vivian's magical charms were wearing off. Slowly, Patisha was beginning to stir, shaking her head as though emerging from a deep slumber, her dark blond hair tumbling slightly over her forehead. She blinked, stared at the nagas in their intimate embrace, and took a slow step back, a look of shock on her attractive face. Professor Omund was beginning to blink, too, rubbing his eyes and muttering to himself in confusion. Only Reny remained frozen to the spot, still locked in a powerful trance.

Patisha looked from one man to the other, her gaze finally meeting Omund's. Her eyes were filled with urgency, and he nodded, slowly. It was not yet clear to either of them what had happened, but they recognised the danger now. One of the nagas let out a thrilled gasp of pleasure, paying them no attention. As quietly and as quickly as they could, they made their way towards the edge of the trees, away from the lethal waterside. They tried, together, to snap Reny out of his trance; when that failed to work, they grabbed him by the arms, and dragged him.

They had just made it back into the forest when the undergrowth between the trees sprang up in a thick, writhing tangle, snatching at them and latching onto their limbs, the vegetation itself clinging at them, holding them back and impeding their progress. Patisha stifled a scream. Desperately, she pushed on. There was no sense in trying to understand; she just needed to escape.

She could not have known that Namesta's magic included a powerful control over plants, and that the green trap writhing around them was a clear sign the nagas had seen them. All but paralysed by the plants, the unfortunate humans were easy pickings. Vivian plucked Omund and Patisha out of the twisted vegetation, holding one in each hand and leaving a fallen Reny where he lay. This time, Patisha did scream, struggling in her grasp.

“Let me go! Let us go, you horrible thing!”

“Can you charm them again?” Namesta asked casually, looking at the wriggling, frightened humans. Vivian shrugged.

“There's not much point now.” She glanced down at Reny, who was getting to his feet and heading back to the waterside, as though sleep-walking. “Besides, it still works on that one. We'll leave him for last. Open up!” she added playfully, holding up a squirming Patisha.

Namesta grinned, and opened her mouth wide, thin strands of saliva connecting her moist, pink gums. Slithering up closer to her, Vivian dropped the flailing, screaming human into her mouth. Namesta closed her lips, sealing Patisha inside, and released a soft, deep moan of enjoyment. Vivian put her arms round her once more, gently trailed her fingers through her lover's hair, and kissed her, softly, on the lips. In her other hand, she still held a desperately struggling Professor Omund.

Namesta returned the kiss, then sighed with pleasure, pulling back just enough to gaze into the other naga's eyes. A mischievous look worked its way onto her lovely face. Parting her lips slightly, she began to push Patisha out, feet first. As Vivian and Reny both watched, fascinated, Namesta pushed her human out all the way to her waist, her legs dangling and kicking from between her gorgeous lips. Vivian giggled, and leaned into Namesta, bringing her mouth closer to her lover's, as though to catch Patisha's legs between her own lips. But before she could do so, Namesta sucked her human back fully into her mouth with a wet slurp. She began to shift her around her mouth, a teasing smile on her lips, still gazing into Vivian's eyes.

Vivian laughed.

“I like it when you get playful,” she breathed, sensuously, and caressed the bare skin of her arms, very softly. Namesta shivered and moaned with delight, enthralled by her lover's touch, while still savouring Patisha's taste. Vivian kissed her neck, little kisses which made the other naga tremble and gasp, gripped in lustful throes of anticipation. Gently, she placed her fingers under Vivian's chin, guiding her face back up towards her, and winked at her. Slowly, purposefully, she began to push her human back out of her mouth once more. Patisha's legs, soaked in saliva, emerged from between her lips, while her upper body remained invisible inside the naga's mouth.

Vivian laughed again, knowing exactly what to do. Her gaze locked with Namesta's, she opened her mouth and took the human's legs between her lips. Patisha squirmed wildly, thrashing inside both their mouths. The nagas held each other close, their bodies pressing together in a gentle, passionate embrace, their full breasts pressing into each other… Vivian closed her eyes, moving her face closer and closer, sucking Patisha's legs into her mouth. Namesta began to let the human slide out between her lips, closing her eyelids part-way, still gazing into Vivian's lovely face…

Then they both closed their eyes, their mouths moving closer, closer, ever so slowly, in the tantalising promise of a perfect kiss. Their breaths mingled, warm and excited, the air they breathed caressing each other's lips. Patisha's face slid part-way out of Namesta's mouth at last, as Vivian sucked her in, her lips pulling at her chest. From far below, Reny saw the look of terror on Patisha's wide-eyed, saliva-soaked face, just for a moment.

“Help!” Patisha squeaked.

The nagas' lips met. Patisha vanished inside their kiss.

“Mhhh…” The beautiful nagas kissed, softly, deeply, a lingering instant of sensuous bliss - so gentle and yet fuelled by the fire of their feelings. They moaned, savouring the moment, savouring each other, savouring Patisha, the human trapped between them, inside them, as their tongues played with her and with each other. Lust and emotion, touch and taste, passion and joy, filled them all at once; the moment lasted forever…

Then, smiling, they pulled away ever so slightly, a strand of their saliva still joining their wet, parted lips. Vivian opened her eyes, and watched Namesta, eyes still closed, savour that moment a few seconds longer. The look on her face was one of pleasure - pure, simple and deep beyond words. She swallowed, with a loud gulp, and Patisha vanished forever, a lump passing briefly down her throat. Only then did she open her eyes, shining with emotion, and gaze into Vivian's.

They giggled, together. Laughing, Vivian draped her arm round Namesta's shoulder, as the plum-haired naga placed a hand on her belly and exhaled a satisfied burp. Both nagas now had rather plump, well-rounded tummies, filled with the humans they had shared in playful intimacy. Their stomachs now groaned and growled, beginning to digest the humans trapped inside - a pleasant meal to accompany the thrill of their shared pleasure. In Vivian's hand, Omund still struggled, but neither of them seemed to pay him any attention. Nor did Reny, enraptured by the snake-women's beauty, still utterly enthralled by Vivian's charms.

“Aaah…” Namesta sighed, content, and rubbed her full tummy. “Mmm, Vivian. You know just how to treat a girl.” She giggled. Vivian grinned, and lifted up Professor Omund with barely a glance at him. With a flick of her fingers, she tossed him into the air.

“Catch!”

They both laughed, Namesta's mouth gaping wide to catch the screaming professor in mid-fall. Clamping her lips down on him, she sucked him in quickly and gulped him down, licking her lips with relish. Vivian smiled, and placed a hand on Namesta's belly, stroking it. Namesta grabbed her with a little shout, and pulled her closer; the two of them went down once more onto the grass, their bodies pressing close as they lay atop each other.

“No more playing around,” Namesta moaned, in a gasp of pleasure. “I want you, now!”

“So says the queen of tease.” Vivian grinned, and began to cover her with kisses, her expert hands moving over her lover. Namesta responded exquisitely to her touch, writhing beneath her, her own hands moving to excite Vivian's perfect body.

“We've still got one human left,” Vivian whispered, into Namesta's ear, her breath warm against her lover's skin, her throaty whisper filled with the promise of so much more to come.

“Forget him!” Namesta gasped, in the throes of rising passion. Her stomach gurgled loudly, digesting her humans. “I can't-”

“Mm-hmm,” Vivian teased. “Foreplay isn't over yet.” She straightened up, and Namesta moaned in protest. “I have an idea. I think you may just like it…”

* * *

Reny was in seventh heaven. Never had he felt so blissfully excited. He could not keep his eyes off the breathtakingly beautiful nagas - and particularly Vivian, whose soft skin, luscious hair, soulful eyes and full, perfect breasts filled him with shivering awe. His lust for her raged through his body, fiery adoration burning through him and rooting him to the spot. Her charms -beauty and magic combined- held him utterly in her power. His sense of danger was irretrievably muted; even the sight of his companions vanishing into the nagas' hungry mouths could not alert him to his imminent fate. The suspended droplets of the waterfall bathed his face, warmed by the sparkling sunlight. In a place of such beauty, how could there possibly be any peril?

Vivian stretched, lazily, her slender arms stretching out, her chest jutting forward as she arced her supple body. Her stomach growled and rumbled, digesting its contents. She smiled at Namesta, whispering: “Wait here.”

When she slithered off some distance towards a tree bordering the grassy area near the waterfall, Reny began to walk, following her, his steps those of a sleep-walker, his eyes a little dazed. Namesta noticed him, and laughed, amused. Vivian glanced back over her shoulder, and smiled. This one truly was smitten!

She stopped at the crunierlon tree, and, carefully, broke off a scab of hardened sap from a cut in the bark. She brought it back towards Namesta, Reny still following dutifully. Namesta gave a slow, excited grin. She knew exactly what this was. Winking at her, Vivian held the sap out in her hand, extended into the spray of water from the falls, until it had become soft with dampness, a partly liquid paste. Then, to Reny's delight, she turned to her last remaining human, and looked down at him.

“Take off your clothes, and rub this over yourself,” she told him, her voice a sultry whisper, irresistably enticing. Emotions burst through every inch of Reny's body, and he hastened to do as he was told, stripping down and eagerly accepting the sap. While Vivian went to fetch some more, he rubbed it over his bare skin.

The effect was electric, stunning beyond anything he could have imagined. As soon as the sap began soaking into his skin, he could feel his body become hypersensitive to the slightest touch, and he gasped, shivering with the shock of unexpected pleasure. Namesta smiled, and picked him up, finishing the job for him, rubbing the sap over him with her fingers - an exquisite massage, intense beyond his wildest dreams. He gasped and trembled, almost sobbing with pleasure. When Namesta set him down once more on the grass, he fell, his legs shivering too much to carry him.

Breathless, he watched Vivian return with more sap, and hand some to her lover.

“Rub this over your lips and tongue.” She smiled. “We're going to have a bit of fun.”

* * *

They say that being captured by Vivian is one of the most pleasant ways to die in Felarya. At least until you enter her stomach. Reny, already overwhelmed by the naga's magical charms and the initial effects of the crunierlon sap, had never heard anything about it. But he was about to experience it for himself.

Vivian, her soft, sensuous, smiling lips glistening with a coating of sap, plucked him gently off the ground. His body responded to her fingers' touch, the warm press of her soft skin on his ultra-sensitive skin. He squirmed between her fingers, not with fear but with pleasure, a breathless moan escaping him.Vivian's eyes, however, were on Namesta. Slowly, playfully, she lifted the human up, and fed him to her lover, who closed her eyes just as slowly, her lips parting to receive the tasty treat. Reny gazed into her mouth, a pink cavern of warm, glistening flesh, wet with saliva, before the dark chasm of her throat. His pleasure numbed out all other feelings. If a tiny corner of his mind warned him of possible danger, he could not hear it. He was beyond fear. Namesta's breath embraced him, welcoming him in advance into her lovely mouth. He braced himself, gasping with delightful anticipation, barely imagining the pleasure to come…

The meeting of Reny's body and Namesta's lips, both layered with crunierlon sap, was an explosion of sensual bliss, intensely overpowering, so great that Reny felt his heart might stop. Namesta gasped, and moaned softly with pleasure, as she sucked him in. His body slid between her lips, flesh pressing against flesh, the sap of their two bodies mingling, further intensifying its effects. A gate of sensual paradise, unimaginably perfect, the naga's lips sucked him towards his doom, towards oblivion, the satisfaction of her appetite. Reny entered her mouth, and her tongue was a whole new world of pleasure.

They shared in it, their gasps mingling inside her mouth, panting in the throes of lust as they breathed the same breath.

Reny was almost delirious with joy. His mind was numb with it, the outside world fading with his memories; there was nothing, nothing other than this moment, pure, raw feeling and the experience of the naga's mouth.

Namesta's body burned with fiery desire, shivering with passion, but it was not directed at Reny. He was only food, a morsel that she savoured on her exquisitely sensitive taste buds - an aphrodisiac food like none she had ever experienced. Her lust was for Vivian, and she gazed at her lover with blazing emotion in her eyes. Shivering, the two nagas met, holding each other tight, and carried each other down, onto the soft bed of grass. Their hands explored the other's body, their lips drawn to each other, and they knew that, when they kissed-

The kiss of lips coated in crunierlon sap almost brought them to an instant climax. Breathing together in shuddering moans, they rolled with each other, locked in a passionate kiss, exploring each other and their shared desire, the passion that consumed them both… Their tongues met, crunierlon sap and saliva flowing freely between their mouths, Reny trapped in their ecstatic kiss, pushed, sloshed and passed from one naga's mouth to the other's, again and again, a crescendo of pleasure so great that his pumping heart threatened to burst inside his chest…

It was Vivian who swallowed him, in the end, almost without realising. Soaked in sticky sap and saliva, he slid down her throat, the muscles of her oesophagus pushing him down inexorably towards her belly. She did not spare him another thought, her pleasure-drenched mind focused only on Namesta, and the perfect bliss of their shared passion…

Plopping into her stomach with a splash, startled back into reality, Reny felt the magic of her charms begin to fade. There was an ominous groan, the liquid in her stomach sloshing around him, working to digest the beautiful naga's food. A raw tingling itched at his hyper-sensitive skin. Confused, frightened, yet still partly gripped in a daze of irrepressible pleasure, he tried to sit up. Vivian rolled on the grass, in the arms of her lover, and the human in her stomach was tossed and jostled, churned in her active belly. Eyes wide with sudden realisation, Reny screamed, his hands pressing desperately against the inner walls of her stomach, pounding at them. But there was no escape. She barely even felt him.

Later, much later, Vivian lay on the grass by the waterfall, catching her breath, her eyes still shining with delight, while Namesta curled up close to her in post-coital embrace, her head resting on Vivian's gurgling tummy. Sunlight, filtered through the sheen of water, warmed their bare skin - a scene of perfect contentment.

Close by, Reny's clothes lay discarded, forgotten. He would not be using them again.

* * *

By the time a ship from Felarya Express set down in Ur-Sagol three days later, Professor Sangh's team had been quite thoroughly digested. Upon realising that no-one was coming aboard, the pilot did not wait. He took off again, guiding his ship through the portal, and leaving the many dangers of Felarya far behind.

THE END