Chapter One

Krinna stood in the shadows under the second-floor balcony and watched the beautiful, deadly Orange Ba’uu slither across the warm cobblestone floor of the interior market plaza toward its target. Its bright color heralded its deadliness. It marked its enemy, and nothing would deter it. Straight as a well-balanced arrow in flight, it quietly sped toward the man seated in the shaded alcove on the opposite side of the plaza. Death stalked him. Unaware of the danger, he cut the heart out of a large, ripe watermelon on his table. No one would see the strike or his death.

“This is going to be interesting. The fool eats his watermelon and doesn’t know he is eating his last meal before execution,” Abo laughed. “After his fatal bite, do you get it? Perhaps we can refresh ourselves with his cold melon. I hope he doesn’t fall into it.”

“Be quiet, Abo!”

“Be careful how you speak to me. I’ll have your head on a silver platter.”

“Make sure of your position first. Now shut up!” she said, trying to track the viper.

It reached the darkness near the seated stranger. She strained to distinguish its form. She expected the alien to fall face down. I wonder if the paralytic poison will lock his muscles as he puts the knife to his mouth. It would be a crowning touch. She smiled at the thought.

“What happened?” she said to herself. Nonchalantly, the foreigner continued to eat his melon.

Moving around the concealing support beam for a better view, she failed to see the slave serpent. She turned and faced the slave Master sitting at a table near the plaza entrance. He was standing and looking at their target. He shrugged his shoulders and sat down.

"Wait here, I’m moving closer.”

“Krinna, it is against the rules. They can punish you severely for it.”

She ignored Abo’s warning and walked casually up near the back wall of the open restaurant and sat at an empty table near the unwary man. She sat in a position that allowed her to see without being seen, facing the dark alcove.

Shouting and screaming forced her attention toward the market entrance. Terrified, people scattered in every direction. Through the vacated tables and chairs, she saw the Snake Master lying face down on the floor.

She glanced toward Abo. His body lay on the ground. Someone had killed her cohorts. They had searched diligently to clear the open market of any assassins. She didn’t recognize anyone in the vanishing crowd. Their guild's god sent only three of them to perform the assigned chore.

Krinna controlled her rising fear. Who killed them? Where were they hiding? She slowly lifted her eyes to the second floor without raising her head. People surrounded the upper deck. They stood three deep on the restraining rail. Children sat with their legs dangling under the rail support bar. They pointed at the dead bodies on the lower level and made the usual stupid remarks that uninvolved people make. Expressions of awe and the joy of witnessing two murders thrilled them all. Everyone wanted to be part of a show. She searched each face and recognized none of them. She warily turned in her chair and scanned for people behind her.

They timed it perfectly and struck when she was moving and unable to protect her brothers’ positions. Why would they permit her to live? She would have killed everyone. Maybe they were not professional, or something unforeseen occurred to change the balance of power. She looked about and determined that, other than herself, the stranger was the only living person on the lower level.

She didn’t know if she could control her mounting anxiety as it escalated to mammoth proportions of pure, unadulterated fear. She froze in her chair. Chills ran down her spine, and yet, sweat soaked her undergarments. Invisible, the unknown assassin lurked on the first floor. Where were they?

Perhaps they had killed the others to psych her out. She was one against how many? They could strike from any direction, including the balcony. Dead Abo was right. She had foolishly moved to an exposed position in the plaza. An amateur would never have made such a mistake.

Movement in the alcove caused her to tilt her head. The stranger stood and stretched. He walked past her table and went behind the produce counter. She heard coins placed on it. He returned carrying another large melon.

Why wasn’t he dead? What happened to the viper? Was he the assassin? The missing people from the market restaurant didn’t seem to bother him. Did he have others stationed in strategic locations? He sat down. She heard the melon. It split open when he cut into it. The sweet aroma filled the air. Her trained ears detected the splitting melon and an almost imperceptible sound. It reminded her of a Ba’uu’s scales moving on dirt.

Horrified, she recognized the slow movement of the scales, grasping the cobblestones on the floor. Quickly, she looked under the tables before her and didn’t see the viper. She turned her upper body and searched the narrow space to the back wall. Krinna felt sick. Her stomach wanted to rid itself of her breakfast. Her bodily functions rebelled and demanded to have their way. She didn’t want to die with dirty linens. She couldn’t rise and run fast enough to escape. No one outran a Ba’uu. Without moving her legs, she placed her right palm onto the table, bent forward at her hips, and slowly peered under her table.

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She knew her heart had stopped because she had stopped breathing. Venom would not kill her today, but her heart tried. She was not the first to die of heart failure after facing a viper of such proportions. She wasn’t going to be the last one. The stranger would die next, and she would never know if they accomplished their mission.

Afraid to blink her eyes or move a muscle, she stared into a set of black and green diamond-shaped eyes. Fifteen feet of coiled muscle glared back at her. Its head was in line with her face. Fear paralyzed her every nerve, and she focused her eyes on its mouth. A Ba’uu continually flicked its tongue at its victims before striking. The lack of oxygen in her lungs forced her to gasp for air. The snake pulled its head back. She drew a long breath and found it difficult to breathe as she waited for it to strike. She held her breath. Minutes passed. Slowly, she sat up straight and audibly gasped for air while she waited for the fangs to strike her flesh and deposit their poison. If she attempted to run, it would chase her. Forced to make a decision, she chose to end it. If she moved quickly, the viper would strike swiftly. In a second, it would be over.

She held her breath, ducked her head, and looked under the table. It was gone. She broke out in a cold sweat, filled her lungs with air, clutched her heart, laid her head on the table, and silently wept. Whoever heard of such a thing? Ba'uu never allowed a victim to escape. She had to flee while it was gone, but if she ran without knowing its location, she could still die. Where did it go? She sat up. Her body went limp as her muscles released their tension. She slid down in the chair. What turned the snake against its master? The viper masters train them to obey every command or be executed. Why did it strike him and Abo and spare me? I need to let the guild god know it violated its prime directive.

She gave thought to fainting but decided it was too late. She heard a man say from far away, “Rest yourself in the cool shade, and I’ll get us another melon.” She sensed the stranger’s passage and heard the coins drop onto the counter. He returned without her knowledge.

“Here we go," the distant voice said, “I’ll give you this half and eat the other one. I’ll cut it and serve you.”

Krinna regained her faculties and, despite her harrowing experience, moved to another table, sitting where she could look into the shadows. She had to identify the other occupant in the alcove. In the dim light, an impossible scene played out before her eyes. It was too ridiculous to believe. She burst into nervous laughter. The Ba’uu lay on the table with its head resting on one half of a red meat melon. The traveler cut small chunks of melon and fed them to the viper finger by finger.

The picture of them staring at her became comical and deadly. They acted as if they both wanted to sink their fangs into her. Her laughter turned to questioning fear when she looked into his blue diamond-shaped eyes. They ignored her and concentrated on the melon.

She calmed her fears: “That is the funniest thing I have ever seen.”

They faced her. She started to laugh again, but stifled it. Four deadly, unblinking eyes stared at her. They were both extremely dangerous, but she would put her money on the alien.

“Are you laughing at Gorga? She doesn’t like it.”

“No, I’m laughing … I have never seen a viper lie on a watermelon while someone fed melon to it. You must admit it is unusual, or do you always do it?”

“Gorga has been locked in a dirty basket for three days and nights without food or water. The melon gives her liquids, and the sweetness provides energy.”

“How do you know that?’

“She told me.”

“So, you are telling me you are talking with the snake?”

“Her name is Gorga. She is from the Orange Ba’uu family. She is a susceptible creature. The name “snake” is insulting to her species. Please refrain from using it around her. She doesn’t have to tolerate it.”

We were sold out because the stupid snake master failed to feed his slithering menace. She thought.

“I am Krinna. May I join you? My two companions left without saying goodbye.”

He looked at the viper, turned to her, and said, “She says you have to get your own melon.”

“Fair enough, tell her I said thank you.”

Krinna tentatively trusted her muscles to support her body and stood up carefully. Her legs trembled as she walked to the produce counter. The proprietor was still absent. She was afraid to look over the counter.  His dead body might be lying on the floor. With shaking hands, she placed her money next to the stranger’s. She utilized the time searching through the melons to regain her composure. She thumped several melons to check their ripeness before she picked a large one. Refusing to show her strained emotions, she walked to their table. She sat beside the serpent and cut her melon open with a twelve-inch hunting knife. It popped open, and Gorga turned at the sound. Moving her head closer to the juicy flesh, she sensed it with her tongue and bumped Krinna’s knife-wielding arm. She controlled her sudden fear of the reptile and resisted the urge to strike at it and jump away.

“She wants you to share your melon with her.”

“Now, why would I do that?  She didn’t want to share hers.”

“She is trying to be your friend. She will become a true friend if you share a part of it with her. Otherwise, you are her enemy.”

“How large a piece can she swallow?” Krinna asked with a half-hearted smile as she cut a large circular section from the melon’s heart.

“Cut it into two-inch pieces. Finger feed her. She likes it. It proves you are not afraid of her.”

“Why didn’t she kill me?”

“I asked her to spare your life.”

“Why? You don’t know me.”

“A lovely young lady such as you needs to live.”

“I agree with you. After today, I’m going to enjoy life,” she said. Nothing more was said about the failed assassination attempt. “What brings you to our fair city? Are you going to settle here?”

“No, I’m a traveler going nowhere.”

“Do you have a room for the night?”

“We’ll sleep in the brush north of town.”

“We, who are we?” She asked suspiciously.

“I promised Gorga I would take her to a rodent-infested melon field.”

The stinking snake sold us out for a watermelon and a rat. I thought I was worth more. “My place is a two-hour walk northeast of town. It is a big tan-colored house sitting on a small hill. You can both spend the night. I have business to attend to. I’ll be home later.” Between the pieces she fed the viper, she shoved fresh, cold melon into her mouth, and studied her mark. He ignored her and concentrated on devouring his melon. After consuming half her fruit, she excused herself, flashed him a pretty smile, and passed the bloating corpses of her dead companions on her way out.

Are you ready to go? Gorga asked.

We can go if you wish. Do you want me to carry you?

I’m tempted, but I need to crawl it off.