NOVEL NEXT Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen Plans in Motion
Laki walked down the road. A familiar form slivered beside her: the Atarli Mistress. The lady had asked to join her on this trip to town. She was mostly checking on the first batch of women she had convinced to give babies. There were a few of them, she already had their babies but a couple still had young girls with them. More importantly she had been working on breeding them, so she needed to check to see if they conceived. “So, um Mistress, what did you want to talk about?”
“Oh, we’ve known each other long enough and I’m not really your Mistress am I.”
“I do have a Master, your point?”
She giggled, “Call me Qica.”
“Is that your name?”
“Part of it, but I’m sure your master has told you his name?”
She nodded, “It’s rather long, we usually call him Master Asar when we use his name.”
“Well mine is long too. I much prefer Qica especially among friends.”
Laki paused for a moment and felt a flutter, she hadn’t thought of them that way. “I see. So Qica, what did you want to talk about?”
“Babies mostly, but first I wanted to talk with you about our plan to deal with that serpent at Union Point?”
“Right, you went to talk with your sister. How did that go?”
She sighed, “Well she wasn’t happy to see me when I contacted her. She prefers to keep to herself you know, but little Arrieta changed her mood real quick when I told her what I was doing.”
“Oh? That was all she needed to know?”
“Right, she was very excited when I told her that I was doing something to save babies.”
“Does that mean she will be helping us with our plan?”
“Arrieta agreed to help fatten the dungeon up. We just need to go visit Union Point and get things in motion. She said she would personally take care of the dungeon angle.”
That was one item off their list. If they didn’t have to worry about making the dungeon stronger, that left them with time to implement their plan to push the serpent towards that new dungeon. After that things would take care of themselves and she would be able to manage the baby farm in peace. Maybe start a few more in the area. Master would be pleased with all the new babies to experiment on. “That’s great! So when do we push the serpent towards the dungeon?”
“Arrieta wanted a month, so we will head out to Union Point at the end of the month. Don’t think we can risk more time anyway, by then the Serpent would likely be about done gorging on the kids in Union Point and the nearby villages.”
Reaching a door on her list, one she had previously visited with Qerni. This was one of the women she hadn’t taken babies from. Now that she was here it was time to check in on her, take her baby and evaluate her little Flower. The girl had been quite cute and had helpfully opened the door. She knocked, as Qica commented, “So anything special about this house?”
“I have a baby to take and a little girl to look in on. Master mainly wants babies, but I think the little one here might be suitable.”
“Oh? Mind if I have a look. Baby brains are quite special, best to get to a girl when she is young anyway. Makes for better tastier brains that way.”
“That makes sense,” she said just before the door swung open and the young girl from before was there. Flower smiled, calling, “MOM! Laki is here!”
“Oh great! I’ll get your little sister ready to leave.”
Flower opened the door wider and let them in. Her mother came into the room just a couple of minutes later with a very naked baby. “Hey Laki. I stripped her down for you.”
Laki took the baby girl and handed her to Qica. Who cooed at the girl and brought her to one of her breasts. Prompting the baby to suckle which she did. As the baby was starting to suckle she addressed her mother, “Oh, she is lovely. Have you been caring for it properly?”
“Not really. I’ve yet to feed her today. I think she got a little milk yesterday. Mostly I’ve just been giving my milk to Flower here. She is older so she needs it more after all.”
“Oh? How nice. Quite the Amesis outlook, but I would have had you do the same with a girl this young. Easier to get it on my milk instead that way. Mind if I taste her brain?”
The mother frowned, but shook her head, “No, not really.”
Qica let the baby feed for a bit before pulling the little one off her nipple. Laki watched as the baby was taken to the table and laid out on top of it. Qica looked up, “Okay dear pay attention, it's not everyday you get to observe a baby’s first tasting. The brain has never been out of its case, so things are a little different. Now the case is pretty soft, you could try opening it from the top, which works to a degree.”
Qica worked the girl’s jaw open, “But anyone with experience will tell you the best way is to come at it from the bottom. Sure it’s easier to go from the top, but we are after more than just the brain. Besides we will want to air the brain later and it works better if you can hang it out of the mouth. Not to mention hinged skulls just aren’t that pretty.”
“Right,” replied Laki as the Atarli woman proceeded to feel the roof of the girl’s mouth. She was surprised how cooperative the baby was too. “So why isn’t she crying or something?”
“My milk helps keep the baby nice and calm while I prepare her for her first tasting,” she paused and pulled Laki closer, “Now this is a delicate process, the first step is to remove the roof plate. We will replace it later after altering it.”
Laki now closer was getting a prime view of how that was done. A sharp claw was produced and used to cut into the roof of the mouth, along the edges and against the teeth. “Wow, wouldn’t that be painful?”
“Quite if you don’t do it right, but the trick is to use the right amount of magic in your touch. If done right, they don’t feel a thing. If done wrong however, they feel far more than if you didn’t use magic.”
“So you have to be careful when you do this?”
“Yep, that is why I am being so slow. Harder to make mistakes this way.”
For a bit longer she watched how the Mistress cut and eventually the plate came away. Pulled entirely out of the mouth and set aside. “Now we just set this to the side, we will need it again later, but now you can see the brain itself. More importantly we have access to the base of the brain and the stem. We need to get rid of the latter and replace it with a more flexible brain cord. That is easy enough, just inject it with a little venom and cast a little spell.”
Laki watched as her tongue shot out of her mouth to sting the baby at the base of the now exposed brain. Then cast a spell on her. What followed was the flesh seeming to ripple and stretch. Qica waited a couple of minutes and then started to work the brain out. Laki noticed the magic being worked on the brain itself and the new hole in the top of her mouth. Allowing it to come out of the small hole. Exposing the delicate flesh to the air. Qica turned to her, “and here we have it. One newly exposed brain to the air. We won’t be putting it back for awhile. Now I am going to work on the plate, in the meantime,” she produced a knife from nowhere handing it to Laki, “Why don’t you start carving her brain up?”
“Me? I’ve never cut a brain before? What if I...”
Qica giggled, “Don’t worry about it, the brain itself doesn’t feel pain. Well not unless you feel it necessary to add pain nerves to the brain. Even if you don’t the brain still manages to feel to a degree, it may even throb after a harvesting. As for damaging the brain, don’t worry about it. We want to harm it anyway.”
Laki nodded, “Right, so how much do I cut away?”
Qica smiled, “Hmm, I think she can take having most of it removed. I’ll tell you when to stop cutting. Do nice thin slices starting from the top.” then she point at another spot by the base, “and cut this section out.”
“Why?”
“Cause she doesn’t need it. Not at her age, anyway.”
Laki smiled, “um sure,” and then got to work. Cutting away at the young brain as directed. While Qica did something with the removed roof plate. Eventually she replaced it, saying, “and now we have a nice little hatch. We can open it with the right spell any time we need to pull her brain out from now on.”
Laki nodded, not yet done with the cutting. As Qica turned to Flower who had been watching curiously, “hey there little flower, ready for your turn?”
The girl frowned, “Will it hurt?”
“Do you want it to?”
The girl shook her head, “Um, no.”
Qica smiled “and it won’t. Now come here so I can get your brain out of that silly head of yours.”
The girl came closer and Laki watched as Qica repeated the process. Qica was just starting to work the brain out of Flower, when she looked over, “Alright, that should be enough, so take two more slices off her little brain.”
Laki frowned, “Why two more?”
“Well it will be just a tad too much, but it’s going to be worth it.”
Laki nodded and did as directed. Qica then came over and started working on the remaining brain tissue still attached to the girl. Then she grabbed a slice and ate it. Moaning as she did so, “Oh yes! I knew it, she is perfect. I’m sure your master will enjoy experimenting on this one.”
“Oh?”
“Asar mentioned an interest in experimenting on girls who have been brain harvested. I figured that might be interesting.”
“I wasn’t aware you two were talking.”
“Well it wasn’t important. Now let’s get little Flower here finished and then we can leave.”
Minutes later, Flower was following them down the street, her recently tasted brain hanging out of her mouth. The girl was a bit unsteady and somewhat loopy too.
Akula stretched a bit, and lazily regarded the babies in her cell. They had been fun to play with while it lasted, but the three girls she had were all dead now. She figured the Master would show up soon enough to collect them. He usually did not long after she killed them. It was about time for that.
She smiled when she saw the door open and he came in. “Can I eat them?”
“Not this time, maybe with the next batch.”
She pouted, what a waste of a perfectly good dead baby. What else would you do with one? Let it rot?
He collected them swiftly, praised her and then left just like that. He didn’t stick around that long. Must be busy today or something, usually he ran some tests on her or played with her a little before he left. Often there was more, not just an in and out. Oh well, she then glanced at the empty spots the dead ones had occupied. He didn’t even leave her new ones to play with. How rude! Now what was she going to do? It was kinda boring without babies to play with.
With nothing else to do, she decided to start walking around her cell. As she was moving around she eventually came near the door and realized that the Master hadn’t locked it like he usually did. She blinked, maybe he really was more busy today than usual. Her mind flashed back to the other day when she had learned her true nature. Her blood still spoke to her and she was nearly fully mature now. It was about time for her to find some grown females and a proper supply of males.
With that in mind she pushed the door open and looked outside. There was no one in sight, she smiled. This was her chance, remembering when she was brought here she turned left. That was the way she came.
She wasn’t sure how long she spent wandering corridors, but eventually she found her way out of the lab. Passing several pleasantly chilled nurseries filled with defenseless babies. Babies she had been tempted to bite, but she didn’t want to stay around long enough to be caught.
Once out of the lab it was easy to find her way out of the Master’s nest. She could smell the fresh air and used it as a guide. When she saw light at the end of a tunnel she got excited and hurried her steps. Finding her way out and into the fields. She could see many young women tending the fields or watching the area like guards. All of them were about her size, and she found them rather cute. Not that she stayed around, she could smell the Master on all of them, they belonged to him. So with that in mind, she picked a route through the fields and towers out of the nest.
When the smells eventually started to fade, she turned towards the north. Her blood called her that way, she knew it was the best way to go. Even better, there seemed to be a road heading that way. Which she happily took, it would help her travel further anyway. Just in case the Master sent something after her.