He wondered what had happened here since the Nix people and the Lost Kindred blended and settled on Nixelle Prime-Beta. How could a race of people with Kindred blood in them get so far from the Kindred reverence for all that was female?
It went beyond the Nixian sexual practices that his own beloved mate, Solange, had been so interested in—far beyond it. The Nix had mostly kept their perversions to the bedroom but this society seemed to have brought them out in the open and added them to their everyday lives. They—
“Hey! Hey, you can’t do that! Get away from her! Stop that!”
The shouts sliced through the silence of the marketplace like a stone dropped into still waters and cut off his train of thought.
Terex had been driving his jendel almost on autopilot, watching the road as he mused about the strange society he found himself in. Now his head jerked up and he looked to see which one of the Nixians was making the racket.
But it wasn’t a Nixian, he saw with growing horror—it was Elaina. She had jumped off the jendel and appeared to be grappling with a strange male on the street.
* * * * *
At first, Elaina thought the people using sign language in the marketplace was fascinating. Then, when she heard Ambassador Waygu’s explanation for it, she was horrified. What the hell was wrong with these people, passing laws that women couldn’t even speak in public?
Elaina had never considered herself much of a feminist. She would stand up for herself when need be, but she didn’t go to women’s rights rallies or protests or anything like that. The most she did was the breast cancer Walk for the Cure every year. But when she saw women forced to use sign language because the men around them literally didn’t want to hear their voices, it made her angry.
Then she saw something that made her even angrier.
Standing on one of the street corners was a group of three women, all dressed in tightly fitted, black, sheath dresses that went from their necks to their ankles. Of course there were holes cut in the dresses—it seemed to be the standard on this awful planet. The circular holes exposed the women’s bare breasts and, as one woman turned to the side, Elaina saw there was also a larger circular hole in the back to expose her bare ass.
Each woman’s breasts were pierced with small golden rings. From the rings hung tiny silver bells. The nipples themselves were surprisingly dark—a rosy hue much different from the pale, barely-there pink Elaina had seen other women displaying. They stood out starkly against their ghostly skin tones. The three of them wore long black gloves and veils, as though to conceal their faces. Only their eyes showed past the fluttering pieces of black silk.
And their eyes are so sad. Look at them! Elaina thought. Why are they dressed like that? It’s like the only parts of their body they want to be seen are their breasts and behinds—everything else is completely covered.
The women were standing beside a long bench. On a rack beside the bench, hung a row of what looked like black tennis rackets to Elaina. Except that the place where a tennis racket would have mesh, there was solid wood with holes cut into it.
As the jendel trundled very slowly forward, she kept her eyes fixed on the strange, black-clad women, wondering what their story was.
A man wearing a black leather vest with bronze chains on it came strolling up the street, not paying any attention to the women. It looked like he was going to pass right by them when suddenly, one of them jumped out in front of him, blocking his forward progress.
The man stopped, frowning, and the woman cupped her bare breasts in her hands and jiggled them, causing the little silver bells to tinkle. The sound carried surprisingly well, probably because the rest of the marketplace was so quiet.
The man appeared to be considering her for a moment and Elaina wondered what was going on. Was the woman a beggar, asking for money? If so, this was the most unusual instance of panhandling she had ever seen.
It looked for a moment as though the man was simply going to continue on his way. But then the woman jiggled her breasts again, causing the silver bells attached to her nipples to tinkle and jingle even louder.
Suddenly, without any warning that Elaina could see, the man grabbed the woman by the arm and dragged her over to the bench on the side of the road. Selecting a racket—really more like a paddle, Elaina thought numbly—from the hanging rack, he pulled the woman over his knee and began beating her bottom as hard as he could.
The woman wiggled and struggled but the man seemed intent on his mission. He held her down firmly with one arm and continued to beat her, reddening her bottom and ignoring her tears and the muffled pleas that were coming from behind her veil.
That’s it! Something inside Elaina snapped. What was wrong with these people? A woman was being beaten on the street and nobody was trying to stop it. In fact, everyone appeared to be just ignoring it.
Before she knew it, she had jumped off the slow-moving jendel and was rushing over to the bench where the big Nixian male was beating the sobbing female.
“Hey! Hey, you can’t do that! Get away from her! Stop that!” she shouted, trying to grab the black racket-paddle thing from his hand. “Leave her alone!”
The Nixian male looked up at her with a shocked and uncomprehending expression on his face. The muscular arm holding the paddle-racket sagged and Elaina was able to pull the sobbing woman off his lap.
“It’s all right,” she told the girl, who was looking at her with wet, confused eyes. “Everything is going to be okay now.” She used the sleeve of her sweater to blot the girl’s streaming eyes. There were so many tears that they soaked her sleeve but Elaina scarcely noticed. “It’s all right,” she said again. “I won’t let him hurt you.”
“No, no, no! What are you doing?” Suddenly Ambassador Waygu was there, his hands fluttering in agitation like plump white birds. “Master Valdor, I insist you come and control your slave!” he exclaimed, glaring at Terex.
“What do you mean, control me?” Elaina demanded. “I was trying to stop this woman from being beaten and abused. If anything the two of you ought to be helping me!” She pointed at the still-sobbing woman. “Just look at her!”
“The male was not abusing her—she is a Needy One!” The Ambassador sounded exasperated, as though she ought to know what he was talking about.
“A Needy One?” Elaina asked blankly.
“Please—direct your speech only to your Master.” The Ambassador frowned at her disapprovingly.
Elaina bit back a sharp reply and looked meaningfully at Terex. If she wasn’t allowed to ask the questions, he would have to.
“Maybe you would be so kind to explain to El—er, to my slave what you mean by that,” he said to Waygu.
“Ah—yes. She wouldn’t know—nor would you, Master Valdor, as you left before the Need spread over our fair planet like wildfire.” The Ambassador sighed and straightened his turban hat, which had gone askew on his puffy white hair.
“The Need?” Terex frowned. “Is that…some kind of disease?”
“Alas, it is.” Ambassador Waygu nodded sorrowfully. “It afflicts only the female population but it’s very contagious. Which is why those who are afflicted are charged with keeping themselves covered as much as possible.” He nodded at the three black-clad women who had gone back to stand behind the bench again. The man who had been whipping the crying girl had disappeared, apparently wanting no more drama.
“I don’t understand,” Terex said, shaking his head. “What is ‘the Need’ and what does it do? What are its symptoms?”
“It causes females to crave punishment and…” The Ambassador dropped his voice. “And sexual domination.”
Elaina looked at him skeptically and then turned her attention pointedly to Terex. “Is he for real?” she muttered. “What kind of disease makes you want to be abused?”
“It’s not abuse—not to them.” The Ambassador nodded at the three women. Apparently he was willing to answer questions Elaina asked as long as they weren’t aimed directly at him. Which
was silly, but whatever.
“How is it not abuse?” Terex asked, frowning. “Help me understand this, Ambassador Waygu.”
“The Need is a virus which rewrites the neural pathways in the brain so that certain types of pain are felt as pleasure,” Waygu explained. “It also causes the sufferer to crave sensation—much more sensation than she would normally get from her master. Some females with the disease have understanding masters who are willing to indulge and satisfy their needs. Others, like those poor wretches…” He pointed to the three women in black. “Are forced to come seek it outside their homes anonymously.”
“So…she was asking him to beat her?” Elaina asked, being careful to speak to Terex.
“She was begging him to satisfy her never ending lust for sensation,” Waygu said. “To satisfy the Need. Now do you understand that he did nothing wrong? The poor male was simply being charitable—helping a female in distress.”
“The same way a male on your planet might stop to help a female who was having engine trouble or a flat tire, I suppose,” Terex remarked to her.
Elaina frowned. “Since when is stopping to paddle someone’s ass until they cry considered roadside assistance?”
“Since the Need swept over our planet,” the Ambassador murmured. “Everything has changed. Our whole society was restructured to deal with it.”
“That’s…very interesting,” Terex remarked neutrally. “And there’s no known cure?”
“Well, of course there is the little healer that—”
He stopped abruptly, shaking his head.
“The little healer?” In her eagerness, Elaina spoke directly to the Ambassador. “What’s that? Where can you find it?”
Waygu frowned. “It is forbidden to speak of,” he said, directing his remarks pointedly to Terex instead of Elaina. “I should not have said anything. Pray—let us continue our journey to my domicile. We have made enough of a spectacle for today. I fear the whole market will be talking of it for cycles to come.”
“Very well.” Terex nodded.
“But—” Elaina began but the big Kindred frowned at her.
“Not now, Elaina.” His voice was a low, stern growl.
“Fine.” She settled back on the golden cushion at his feet and crossed her arms over her chest, feeling like the rebellious slave she was playing. She was certain the Ambassador had been talking about “the little healer which cannot fail” which the priestess Nirobe had spoken of. If they could just get him to say a little more…to tell them how to find it, whatever it was…
“Later,” she heard Terex murmur.
Looking up, she saw that the big Kindred was gazing down at her with an unreadable look in his eyes.
“I know you’re worried about your sister,” he continued in a low voice meant only for her. “But matters of diplomacy take a little time. You need to be patient, Elaina.”
“I’m trying.” She sighed. “It’s just…not easy.”
“I know. But I need you to trust me. We will find what we’re looking for—we just need to be careful. My people have an expression that translates: 'you can’t ring the front doorbell with a battering ram and expect to be welcomed in.' Does that make sense?”
Elaina let out a surprised laugh. “That sounds like something my Granny would have said.”
“Less talk, if you please.” Ambassador Waygu’s face was rigidly disapproving. “Remember, this is supposed to be a silent market.”
“Forgive us,” Terex said. “I will endeavor to learn the new ways that have been implemented since I left.”
Elaina said nothing but inside she was seething. She wondered exactly how long it would take them to find what they were looking for. If they stayed here any length of time, she might need to learn the silent hand language just to communicate with her “master.”
Ridiculous! It’s—
The jendel wheel hit a rut and jolted. Elaina gasped as a piece of dust flew into her eye. She scrubbed it with the sleeve of her sweater, her eyes watering until she got it out. God, could this awful trip get any worse? Forced to pretend she was a slave on a planet of misogynists where women had to stand on the side of the road and beg for spankings. A place where they blamed their female-hating practices on some weird disease Elaina was willing to bet didn’t even exist.
It’s probably just something the men on this planet made up, she thought resentfully. The way doctors treated women for “hysteria” in Victorian times when they dared to speak up or complain.
At last they left the marketplace and entered a broad avenue with grand homes on either side. Most of them sported black or dark blue marble columns and all had neatly manicured lawns of lush purple grass.
“Ah,” Ambassador Waygu said as they pulled up to a particularly imposing mansion. “Here we are—domicile, sweet domicile. Come inside, Master Valdor, and we’ll find you something proper to wear for your audience with his Supreme Exaltedness.” He cast a disapproving look at Elaina. “And for your slave as well.”
“Don’t do me any favors,” Elaina muttered under her breath. She was pretty sure whatever she was forced to wear here would be both embarrassing and ridiculous. Still, she reminded herself, she was here for her sister. She could bear any discomfort to save Gina.
With a sigh, she let Terex give her a hand up and trailed after him into the huge house.
Chapter Ten
“Oh, you must be the alien slave everyone is talking about! The one who made such a scene in the market—and to think I get to have you all to myself. Welcome!” A girl with coppery red hair and pale skin came forward with a wide smile, holding out her hands to Elaina.
“Um…” Elaina hung back uncertainly. They had literally just walked in the door two minutes ago and she had been shown the doorway to “the women’s quarters,” which appeared to be much smaller and more cramped than the rest of the richly appointed grand mansion. How could this woman she had never seen before know who she was and what had happened so quickly?
“I’m Jessa by the way and you must be Elaina—such a gorgeous, exotic name! And if you’re wondering how I found out about the market, it’s because news travels really fast here,” the girl said, smiling. “Arli, the kitchen maid, was down there getting bitibubs for tonight’s stew and she saw the whole thing! She came tearing back here to let us all know. She’s plump but that girl can move when there’s gossip to spread.”
“Oh, well—” Elaina began again.
“Tell me, did you really try to stop a Need beating?” Jessa demanded.
“Yes, I did.” Elaina raised her chin. “I thought the woman being beaten was being abused.” She frowned. “And I still think that.”
“Oh, my dear! You mustn’t say such things—not even in the women’s quarters!” Jessa’s eyes—which were ringed with blue and green and purple—widened.
“Well, it’s true, isn’t it?” Elaina demanded. “I mean, what is this weird “Need” disease anyway? It can’t be a real thing, can it? It must be something made up by the men around here to hold the women down.”
“You think the Need isn’t real?” Jessa’s eyes widened further and she gave a burst of short, shocked laughter.
“Well…no.” Elaina frowned. “It’s not, is it? I mean, it can’t be. A disease that makes women want to be beaten and abused and dominated just happens to pop up on a planet full of misogynists? How convenient.”
Jessa shook her head. “You’re every bit as amazing as Arli said you were. But I’m afraid the Need is a very real problem. It affects something like one in every five women on Nixelle Prime-Beta. You’re extremely lucky you didn’t have skin-to-skin contact with any of the Needy Ones you were trying to rescue.” She bit her lip. “You didn’t, did you?”
“No—no, they were covered from head to foot almost.” Elaina rubbed her eye, which was suddenly burning. “Excuse me but I got a piece of dust in my eye riding on that ridiculous jendel thing. Do you have a bathroom where I could wash it out?”
“Oh, of
course! Come right this way. In fact, you’ll want to bathe and pick a new outfit as well. You can wear one of mine.” Jessa smiled generously as she looked Elaina up and down. “I’m afraid you’ll need to unless you brought something decent to wear.”
“This is decent where I come from,” Elaina protested, following her hostess into a smallish bathroom. Jessa herself was wearing a golden robe cut into a low V in the front, which showed her breasts, and was split high enough to flash her clean-shaven sex when she walked.
“I don’t see how—it conceals everything your master might want to see!” Jessa exclaimed. “If I wore something like those…” Her nose wrinkled in distaste. “Those garments you have on, how could my Master Waygu see his property?”
“Don’t you feel degraded, putting yourself on display for a man?” Elaina couldn’t help asking. “Don’t you resent being owned?”
“Oh no—not really.” Jessa shrugged. “Of course, I might have been given to a younger man—that would have been nice. But my father arranged for Master Waygu to take me and he has power and wealth and he treats me well as long as I don’t disobey him. Mind you—” She held up a finger. “He still spanks and punishes me from time to time but that’s his duty—he has to keep me in my place. And besides, it’s expected when you visit the palace. Which we do a lot.” She preened. “Because of my master’s title and status.”
Elaina could hardly believe what she was hearing. Could this woman be for real? She didn’t mind being owned and put on display—treated like a piece of property? What was wrong with this place?
She wanted to ask more questions but her eye was really burning now. She looked around the bathroom for a sink, but didn’t see anything like one. In fact, the room was extremely bare with plain stone walls and no ornaments or pictures. There was no toilet either, at least as far as Elaina could see. In fact, all she did see was a faded red circle, about two feet in diameter, painted on the bathroom’s gray stone floor.