01. When the Changewinds Blow (24 page)

Boday went in for eye painting. She had it on herself and the pair in the tavern had it, too. But it was so intricate, so nicely balanced, that Sam had to admit that the tall woman might be a lot of nasty things, but she was a hell of an artist.

Setting it off were large pierced earrings that would hang down to the jaw line were she standing; thick, more brass than gold but impressive all the same, they were in fact stylized butterflies flying toward the front of Charley's face.

The motif continued on the body painting, although it was, as Boday had said, "understated." The butterfly, mostly in outline but subtly shaded so that k still gave the effect of a solid drawing with gossamer thin wings, used the breasts as the upper wing foundation, blue lines coming off from the wing, tips and onto the breasts, circling the nipples and making them appear perfectly round. The wings, outlined in the blue of the eyes, curved down to the navel in which was mounted a matching blue gem, then back out along the hips and back in. The "head" was the pubic hair, dyed to match the new hair color. While it seemed almost an outline, the faint solidity of the wings actually contained hints of many colors, perhaps a very complex pattern depending on how the light caught it or the angle from which it was viewed. The complexion of all the skin, even that untouched by the design, seemed almost wet, glisteny and soft and perfectly smooth. The breasts were the same
C
cup size, but they seemed rock hard, incredibly firm, and far more prominent. Sam's sagged and drooped, which helped with the boy disguise. There was no way to disguise these, though. They were as firm as a-statue's.

There wasn't a sign of body hair anywhere except pubic hair and even that seemed manicured, and even the duplicate of Sam's old appendix scar was gone. There wasn't a blemish on this body. Not any of Sam's freckles, not a mole or anything.

The fingernails were so smooth and long and perfect they had to be artificial; they had been painted to match the blue of the eyes and the butterfly and had to be an inch or more long.

The toenails were also smooth and painted to match, although trimmed.

More jewelry had been added, to match the earrings. Bracelets and anklets of a twisted braid design, loose but firmly on, and with no sign of any seam showing, and a matching, loose-fitting collar.

Sam knew from seeing her back earlier in the morning that there was another butterfly, same color but different style, cape-like on her back, perfectly following the natural curves and folds of the body as did the one on the front. The colors were bright, vibrant, not at all like tattoos, but Sam had to wonder if this stuff came off.

One thing was for sure. Sam had always had a kind of androgynous look to her, very male in the face and female in the body. Charley had not one trace, one hint, of anything masculine remaining in her looks.

Charley was gonna shit bricks when she saw herself.

"Charley," she called, gently shaking her friend. "Charley-wake up! It's me-Sam."

Charley smiled sweetly and moved a little but did not wake up. It had to be some kind of drug. They'd passed some drugs in the wine last night-that was for sure. Probably more here to make her cooperative and not prone to waking up inconveniently and maybe trying to run away.

Sam heard a sigh behind her and whirled. Boday was stirring again, pulling her legs up and rubbing her temples with her long fingers. She stopped suddenly, looked up across the room, and saw Sam.

Instantly a look spread over her face that could only be described as ecstasy. It was the kind of look one might give when seeing God face to face. "Boday loves you," she whispered in a soft, throaty, sexy voice. "Boday worships you. She grovels at your feet. Whip her, chain her, beat her, but she will always worship you."

Well, that settled that. The black bottle was the love potion.

"Command her! Take her! You are her world, her life. Nothing matters but you! The world revolves about you!" Boday continued in that tone. She got on her hands and knees and crossed to where Sam stood, not knowing quite what to do next, and, without any warning, the artistic alchemist started kissing Sam's feet.

Sam felt embarrassed and pushed her away. "Stop that!"

"Yes, yes, Master. Command me! I instantly obey!" The alchemist scurried back and seemed to be almost whimpering with delight.

Holy shit! That was some potion!
was all Sam could think of right off, but then she suddenly began to understand the possibilities.

"What about my friend? What have you done to her?" Sam asked.

"Made her beautiful. That is what Boday does. Creates beauty. She was easier than most. I can see why one of Master's greatness would seek her."

"The way you made her look-that is permanent?"

"Oh, yes, Master, kind Master whom Boday loves. She is beautiful, exotic. One gets so few with fair skin in this region. Do you approve?"

The way the alchemist was speaking and acting Sam thought she was going to have an orgasm all by herself.

"What about-the inside? Have you given any potions to change her brain?"

"No. Well, a few little things to make sure it all remains true. to the artistic vision, but not thought, not memory, not personality. The art must be fixed first. See." She rolled and pointed to a small line of bottles. "These change the body chemistry so the body renews itself in my design. Only then, after twelve hours with nothing else ingested, are the potions for love, obedience, and the rest given. Boday was preparing to do it when you came into her life. The girl is still a work in progress."

Well,
that
was a relief. Charley might not.like the work of art Boday made from her-but maybe she would-but at least nothing important had been screwed up. She'd been in time! Just barely-from the looks of that potion's effect on Boday.

"Do you remember why you feel the way you do towards me? Do you remember?"

"Oh, yes, Master. Boday drank her wonderful potion-as you commanded."

"It don't make no difference that it was that?" "Oh,
no,
lover, God in the flesh. It can never matter how." "And it's permanent?"

For the first time she showed a bit of her old pride. "Of
course,
my sweets. When Boday creates, it
is forever!
Isn't it
wonderful?"

Sam gestured toward Charley. "Can you wake her up- now?" She desperately needed Charley right now to help figure out what to do next.

Boday was on her feet, cat-like, engulfing Sam and kissing her, then over to the workbench. "I obey, Master. Boday lives only for you. Whip her, beat her, she will worship you all the more." She picked up a small jar and uncorked it, then held it under Charley's nose. The unconscious girl made a face, tried to turn away, then suddenly came awake, looking terrified and a little in shock. She stifled a scream.

"Charley! It's me-Sam! It's okay! It's over!"

Charley frowned for a moment, then stared at Sam. "Sam? My God, Sam!" And then she was off the table and hugging and kissing her rescuer like she couldn't believe it and crying all the time. "They were gonna-turn me-into one of
them,"
she sobbed, and Charley let it all come out. Suddenly Charley seemed to see Boday and froze.
"Her!"

"It's all right, Charley." Quickly Sam told her all that had happened up to that point, with one exception. "Uh-I think you better look at yourself in the mirror, Charley, if you're up to it, before we go any further."

Charley froze, then with Sam's help managed to get up and go cautiously over to the three-way mirror as if afraid to look in. The hair tumbled down as she got up and showed not only was it full and colored but it was somehow
longer,
going down to below her ass. Sam couldn't help but think that this was the first hairdresser she'd ever seen who could truly work miracles.

When she did, what she saw took her breath away. "Oh,
man!"
she breathed.
"She
did this?" She wet a finger and rubbed at the thin but colorful design. "It doesn't come off!"

"No. She thinks she's an artist. She says her creations last a lifetime." Sam paused for a moment. "For what it's worth, you are the prettiest, sexiest damned girl I ever saw. It's not really bad at all."

Charley whirled. "That's easy
for you
to say! You don't have a damned butterfly on your body!" She frowned, then approached Sam. "They did something to you, too. Your voice, your manner, even your hair . . . Sam-you're a
guy!"

"Huh? What the hell do'you mean?" She pulled up the shirt revealing her breasts which were still there and, although a bit misshapen and flabbier, every bit the size of Charley's. "Does this look like a guy?"

But Charley wasn't buying. "Your breasts-they're gone! And there's even a little hair on your chest!"

"Such a magnificent chest, my love. So clean and manly," said Boday in Akhbreed.

Sam was so confused she looked down and saw the same old things she'd always seen. "What the hell . . . ?" She pulled the shirt back down and reached into her pouch and pulled out the Jewel of Omak. Sure! The disguise! It worked! Curious, she put down the jewel on the floor and stepped away.

Charley frowned again. "Huh? What the hell . . . ? You're back to normal!"

Sam nodded, reached down, picked up the jewel, and stuck it back in her pouch. "At least I know I'm not the one who's nuts. Man again, right?"

"Uh-yeah. That's like
weird."

"It's an illusion, a fake. The jewel is causing it. Charley-I figured I been real lucky up to now and this is part of it. At least I think it was luck. Nobody could be
that
smart. Zenchujr did a job for Boolean and got this thing in payment. For hypnotizing folks for getaways and stuff like that. But he
really
hired Zenchur for that first one just to give him
this.
It's a lot more than Zenchur thought it was. It's kind'a like, well, like a computer for magic. So long as I have this thing I look like a guy-to everybody, even you. It has lots of other tricks, too; ones that Zenchur never knew. It hypnotized me into thinkin' I was the world's greatest thief and I did things I never would'a dreamed and got here. I just
knew
everything-includin' how to use it. It-
talks
to me, sort of. In my mind."

"Boolean," Charley said flatly. "That's why he didn't answer us. He already had a backup system in place-for you, anyways. And it was in something so handy, so valuable to Zenchur that he'd never let it out of his sight, never sell it, trade it, or get rid of it in any way. Maybe these sorcerers
are
what they're cracked up to be after all."

Charley looked at Boday, who was just sitting there giving Sam the kind of look Sam had only seen girls give to hunks and rock stars. "What about Boday?" she asked. "Is she kidding? Is that love potion really permanent?"

"I think so, considerin' what it was invented for." She looked ruefully at the admiring Boday, who couldn't understand a word of the English conversation, of course. "I just don't know how I'm gonna handle this."

Charley sniffed. "You got a nutty lover, but I get to go through life looking like a member of a fucking freak rock band!" She turned and looked at herself again in the mirror. "Actually, it's not that bad-except I can't take it off!"

"Yeah, well, you got my body by magic 'cause Boolean thought it'd be useful. He was improvisin'. What he can do he can undo, I bet. You got to figure that magic is stronger than chemicals and potions, right? Me-damn it, can't I ever be
normal?"

Charley lost a little of her self-pity. "Maybe not, Sam. I dunno. What did you do with Zenchur?"

"I used the jewel to turn him into the fairy queen," Sam said, chuckling, "with a fear of women in general and a real terror of female centaurs. After what he tried to pull, he deserved it."

"Yeah, maybe he did, but you blew it. You should have ordered him to go back and kill Ladai and then forget everything."

"Charley! I couldn't do that!"

"Well, maybe it's about time we started getting a little ruthless here. Don't you see, Sam? It's them or us. Period. Sure, you took Zenchur out of it, but you also took away her husband, lover, and only friend. She was outcast from her own people, too. You also took away her access to the ruling class, and, really, her only livelihood. You took away every reason she had for living. Now, put yourself in her place. What would
you
do?"

Sam hadn't considered that angle, but she still wasn't convinced that ordering a killing was the way. "Everybody's tryin' to do us in anyways. Why should we be like them?"

"Because now she's the only one who knows us and can finger us. She'll get in touch with the horned guy-bet on it. She'll tell him we came down near here, that we went into the city with Zenchur. She'll tell what we look like, and that you're disguised as a boy. The heat is gonna be on something fierce around here, and she won't rest until she finds us."

"Urn, yeah. But-damn it, I just can't be that cold-blooded. And neither could you."

"Well, I changed a lot more than a nicer bod and butterfly eyes in the past day and a half. You don't know what those bastards are like. Pawing at me, making faces, feeling me up while I was strung up stark naked. They was setting me up for an eight-way gang bang. Only that boss of theirs showing up and ordering them to bring me here immediately, I guess, stopped it-but you don't know how close it was. They all had their goddamned pants down! You better believe if I had
them
and that sword I'd have your nutty friend here bronze eight sets of balls. I have had it with this shit. I may be stuck, but I am sick and tired of being a victim."

Sam sighed and couldn't think of anything else to say. Her eyes went around the room and focused on the now empty bottle of love potion and something else clicked. "Kligos! Holy shit, we forgot about him!"

"Huh?"

"The boss. He was supposed to come tonight so you could take that love juice and fall in love with
him so
he could own you. 'Scuse me." She turned to Boday and switched to Akhbreed.