Earthdaughter

By L D Gerry

Copyright 1992

All Rights Reserved

 

Chapter Five

DISCOVERY

 

The marketplace was a bustling area of the city, with the mixed odors of the many things offered for sale there.  One stall in particular was filled with animals in tiny, cramped cages.  Instantly sympathetic, Merann made her way through the crowd to the little merchant stall.  Gnarr birds, their normally bright green plumage looking miserable, and exotically marked chuffa stared at her from their prisons.  However, it was a large sack on the counter that moved almost continuously that caught her attention.  Whatever was within was quite large.  The merchant spied her interest and approached.

 

“My lady, I wouldn’t get too close to that bag.  Inside there is a very large and dangerous serpent,” If his words were intended to inspire horror, the merchant was disappointed.  Merann merely looked angry.

 

“Ser!  Are you telling me you have a poor serpent encased in that heavy cloth?  Remove it at once so it may have fresh air to breathe.”  Indeed, the serpent’s head could be seen poking along the bag, apparently searching for an exit.

 

“Very well, Madam, but I warned you as to its great size.  Stand back, lest the serpent attack.” the merchant was certain the young woman would quake in fear at the mere sight of the beast.  Again, he was disappointed.

 

What emerged from the sack was a broad scaly head, some four inches across, decorated in stripes of brown, cream and black.  Its questing tongue seemed to seek Merann out when the merchant grabbed it firmly behind the head.  The serpent stiffened and gave an angry, dry hiss, coils writhing.

 

“See, my lady?  I told you the serpent is dangerous!  That is why it must be so confined!” the merchant puffed himself up self-importantly.

 

“Here!  Let me hold the serpent!  It is you who are making it angry,” Merann declared and took the animal from the merchant.  The serpent slid easily up her arm and over her shoulder, gently coiling itself around her torso.

 

The serpent was easily fourteen feet long, if not more, and draped itself around Merann's body before finally resting its large broad head on her shoulder.  From that perch the serpent glared at the astonished merchant.

 

“The serpent is sacred to my Goddess, and She deals most unpleasantly with those who abuse Her favorite children.  I shall most earnestly pray She sends down Her great wrath upon you!”  The merchant paled at Merann's angry words.

 

“No!  No, my lady!  Take the serpent as a gift!  As a mark of my great esteem and respect for your Goddess, whoever She may be.  Here, take the sack --”

 

Merann favored him with a look of absolute disdain and stalked from the stall, pointedly leaving the sack behind.  When she was far enough away where she knew he couldn't hear her, she chuckled softly.

 

“Now what am I going to do with you, great Serpent?”

 

“Ihssss,” the serpent replied, its tongue licking at her ear.

 

“I suppose you have named yourself, my friend.  Ihssss it is.”

A serpent, Merann?  Whatever are we to do with a giant serpent?  Came Calypsus’ thought as Merann traveled down the long corridor, earning startled looks from everyone, which she did her best to ignore.  People gave Merann and her fearsome looking serpent a very wide berth.

 

“I have no idea, Calypsus.  But I couldn’t let it smother in a bag on a hot day like this one promises to be.” She replied silently.

 

She.  The serpent is female.  Ihssss is her name.  Serpents are very intelligent, beings, as they are related to the great Wyrms and Dragons.  Hurry, finish your errands and return quickly.  Then the bicorn was silent once more.  Merann did as she was bid and hurried along.  The serpent, Ihssss, had some considerable weight, but not so great that Merann could not carry her easily, draped about her body.

 

She sought out the apothecary stall and waited while the crone who ran it completed a sale.

 

"Yes, Mistress?  What are your needs this day?"  the crone asked Merann in a cracked, ugly voice, squinting up at her with rheumy eyes.  The old woman was withered, with a slightly yellowish cast to her skin, which indicated liver trouble.  She gazed with quiet respect at the serpent, who returned her stare.

 

"Holestamp, varebi, sonti, and verrenium.  Twenty ounces of each.  Oh, also mint, cinnamon, comfrey and chamomile.  Ten ounces of each of those,"  Merann told the crone.  Then an idea came to Merann.

 

"Madam, might I suggest a tonic of horrent root and isint twice a day would lend vigor to your life.  Decoct them in a sweet base and it is quite palatable, even desirable."  It would also perhaps put the old woman's liver problem into remission.  The old woman's eyes lit up with interest.

 

"Would it, now?  Horrent root and isint?  A decoction, mm?  I'll have to try that, now,"  she scribbled down the information.  Merann had developed that tonic herself to treat a man in Sweetstream.

 

The old woman quickly prepared Merann's order and knocked off a copper sphere for Merann's information about the tonic, though she didn't admit it.  It didn't hurt to give free information at times, as it sometimes benefited the giver.  Also, quite honestly, the old woman did not look as though she could afford conventional treatments on the small income from her stall.  City healers usually charged very highly for their services.

 

"If you ever come into Sweetstream village, please look me up.  I'd like to see how you've been doing, okay?"  Merann suggested to her.  The crone looked a bit surprised at the offer of hospitality, and nodded wordlessly.  A sweet suddenly appeared beside Merann's package.  The crone slowly put out a hand and gently stroked the serpent’s broad head.  The serpent licked at the crone's hand and the old woman smiled in delight.

 

"Just a little something I like to cook up sometimes.  For my sweet tooth, you understand,"  the crone explained.  Merann ate the sweet and smiled with pleasure at the cinnamon confection's excellent taste.  She thanked the old woman effusively and then went on to the fabric-seller, who was trying to chase Fizzle away from his stall.

"Get out of my stall, vagabond!  You're dirtying my wares, rubbing against them as you are,"  the fabric merchant shouted, brandishing a thick staff at the wizard, who ducked away, protesting a legitimate reason for being at the stall.

 

"Doctor Fitzhugh!  Have you purchased the cloth?  We really should be on our way, you know,"  she told him impishly.  Fitzhugh stared in horror at the serpent draped about Merann, but didn’t say a word.

 

"Do you mean to tell me this ruffian actually has funds with which to purchase something?"  The merchant demanded, clearly amazed at the revelation.

 

Fizzle glared at the merchant, straightened his ratty clothing and stood erect.  He actually managed to appear haughty, even his currently disreputable looking clothing.  He pointed to a densely woven, woolen material.

 

"I thought this might be appropriate to our journey.  What do you think?"  Fizzle asked Merann.  The serpent gazed intently at the wizard, and he had to work hard to keep from fidgeting..

 

Merann peered closely at the mid-weight fabric, which had a plain pattern that wouldn't attract too much attention.  She nodded agreement at his choice and good sense.

 

"Tell you what, Doctor, I'll spring for it this time, as you paid for dinner.  Please measure out nine yards, and some thread to match.  What will that come to, Ser?"  Merann inquired.

 

"A silver, my lady.  Merely a silver."  The merchant told her, a leer on his ugly face.  What he asked in payment was a fortune, and they all knew it.  Merann carefully pulled a silver from her belt pouch and gave it over to the man, who palmed it quickly before handing over the material and notions.  Ihssss hissed for no apparent reason, causing the merchant to back away quickly.

 

As they left the stall, Merann heard Fizzle muttering under his breath.  She looked at him curiously and raised a questioning eyebrow.

 

"Thieving merchant is going to find weevils in his woolens, if that went right,"  he told her.  They suddenly heard a cry of abject horror behind them, but neither dared look back.  It took all of Merann's self-control to keep from laughing.  The merchant had deserved some kind of chastisement for his impossibly high prices, but Merann wasn't sure weevils were the answer.  She wisely kept her opinion to herself.  She was afraid an irate Fizzle might put some noxious creature into her stores.

 

“Where did this massive serpent come from?  And why?”  he asked Merann in awe once they were away from the fabric merchant, who was wailing loudly.

 

“Her name is Ihssss, and she came from an animal merchant here.  He had her closed in a heavy cloth bag where she was having problems breathing.  The Serpent is sacred to my Goddess, Amara.  Serpents warm themselves in Her heat every possible moment they can.  Threats of Amara's vengeance at his cruelty inclined the merchant to make a gift of her to me.  I won’t let her come to harm.  Calypsus already knows about her.  So don’t worry.  Anyway, she seems to like you.  She won’t hurt us.”

 

Unable to maintain his fear of the serpent, Fitzhugh instead began to tentatively stroke her, a caress to which the creature did not seem to object.  She was delightfully marked in a rich brown,  cream, black and white, with lovely blending of those colors along her entire length.  Fizzle marveled that Merann was able to carry what appeared to be a very great weight. 

The fabric merchant had clearly infuriated him, and it was never wise to annoy a wizard.  You might not like the results of your folly.  Too bad the merchant hadn't known Fizzle was a wizard.  He might have saved himself some considerable grief.

 

"On another subject, wizard, try to restrain yourself, next time some merchant offends you.  Remember that you are in disguise while we are here.  Too many unexplained happenings may eventually find their way back to our doorstep,"  Merann cautioned Fizzle for the future.  Then she grinned.

 

"Though I'll admit the ass deserved it entirely.  No one should make assumptions about a customer based simply upon their attire.  I've had clients in the past who looked like beggars, but who had enormous hoards of gold and gems.  Believe me, I've learned not to prejudge people,"  she told the wizard earnestly.  Fizzle nodded, taking her words to heart.  He had learned to respect this woman of slight years.  She had wisdom beyond her time.

 

"I'll listen, Mistress Merann.  I'll try not to let my anger get the best of me, though it seems sometimes that it's the magic that gets the best of me.  It's like a live thing inside of me, and is always searching for a way out.  When I'm angry, I lose control sometimes, and that's when the magic gets loose,"  Fizzle told her quietly once they'd seen to the comfort of the bicorns and returned to their own tiny room at the inn.  Before he had let them return to their room, the proprietor had given them all manner of dire warnings regarding their responsibility for their scaly new ”pet”.

 

"That's the kind of control Polysus is going to teach you, Dr. Fitzhugh.  You wouldn't believe the kind of control a bicorn has to exercise to keep from overloading someone's mind with sheer mental fury.  Bicorns are essentially a gentle people, and dislike hurting anything without due cause.  Calypsus is a little different though, I think.  He loves me as he would one of his own kind.  I've always wondered what would happen if I were ever to take a mate.  I think Calypsus might consider that mate another stallion and try to kill him.  You're fortunate in that Polysus is not only male, but that you met him when you are both adults.  Calypsus is very much my herd stallion in very convoluted ways,"  Merann told Fizzle softly.  Fizzle stared at her in a kind of shock.

 

"You don't know the circumstances of Calypsus' and my joining, so I'll tell you.  At least a little of it, anyway.  Calypsus' mother died defending him from a fangtail snake right after his birth.  It bit her as she was stomping it to death only a few feet from Calypsus.  I heard her screams and ran to help.  She died with her head in my lap.  Before she died, she made me promise that I'd care for her baby until he grew up.  So I did that.  I tried to offer him his freedom once he was old enough to be on his own, but he wouldn't listen.  He has been my constant companion for six years, Dr. Fitzhugh,"  Merann finished.  She had unwound the serpent and had let her crawl where she wanted, which happened to be the sturdy wooden headboard of her bed.  Once she was finished putting the serpent to bed, Merann laid comfortably on her bed and groaned at her sore muscles.  Ihssss slithered down onto the mattress, warming herself along Merann's body.  Enjoying the coolness of Ihssss' scales Merann didn't even flinch.