Chapter 4

George was making his way through the tangle of palm trees and dead growth. He had been following what appeared to be a trail of sorts when he noticed what may have been a shelter. Looking closer, he realized that it had been fashioned by bending and tying the palm fronds together. Rocks and a log had been set up to sit on by the long vanished occupants and at one time, it was fairly civilized. George was taking photos of the abandoned camp when he thought he heard a faint scream, he paused... there it was again! An inner voice suddenly shouted in his mind, "That's a kid in trouble!"

Without thinking, George bolted towards the screams now so very apparent to him. He tore frantically through the growth, heedless of the scratches left by the dried palm fronds, the childish voice was crying now and getting nearer as he ran. Hearing the yips of jackals mingling with the childish screams, George ran even faster towards the sobbing child. He leapt over some low growth and nearly landed on top of the jackals. Feverishly, he tore off his shirt and waved it around while shouting, "Get out of here!" The jackals lost their nerve and took off, leaving George and the sobbing child alone. He turned towards her and said hoarsely between gasps,

"Are you okay? Are you badly hurt?" The girl lay with her legs tucked up under her long dark skirt, her amber eyes were huge at the sight of him standing there, scratched, shirtless and gasping. Her own garments were torn from the jackals tearing at them, but other than a few scratches and a bad scare, she was unhurt.

George hastily put his shirt back on, smiled at her and said gently,

"I heard your screams and came running, thank God you're not hurt!"

The girl smiled at him shyly and George chuckled as he said ruefully,

"What was I thinking? Of course you wouldn't understand me, you probably don't speak English!"

The growth suddenly parted and a woman rushed into the area easily brushing him aside, she cried frantically.

"Natalie?!" The girl cried, "Mommy!" and she swept the girl up in her arms, squeezing her tightly and frantically kissing her on her tear streaked face.

George brushed himself off and stood there smiling idiotically until he saw the coils of a large python wrapping around the woman's waist and he realized they came from beneath the girl's long skirt!

Stunned, George stood stock still as the woman's own serpentine portion coiled around beneath her and she sat on her own coils to hold her daughter tenderly. His mouth suddenly went very dry, he wanted a drink, a strong drink, actually, several strong drinks more than anything else right now. His legs suddenly grew weak and he sat down awkwardly, gaping at what he was seeing.

Two lamias were right there in front of him, a mother and her daughter and they were very much alive!

He began weeping joyfully and futilely wiped away his tears, leaving streaks on his grimy face. He recovered enough of his composure to slip his camera out of his pocket and surreptitiously take a number of photos of the two before hiding it again.

The woman suddenly looked right at George, her slit pupilled amber eyes narrowing briefly and after a few bad moments on his part, she smiled at him, her eyes now radiating warmth as she said happily,

"Thank you! You saved my youngest daughter's life!"

George was thunderstruck, she'd just spoken very passable English!

"Wh...What?!" he stammered, "You speak English!? What? How? Where did you learn English?"

She smiled at him again, the warmth of her smile making his heart flutter and she said merrily, "From my husband, of course!"

Now the girl smiled at him too and she said in a girlish voice,

"Thank you for saving me, mister!"

The woman rose up on her coils and she sinuated away in utter silence, carrying her child. Leaving a very happy George Bryce, field agent for the Museum of Cryptozoology.

He laughed heartily for several moments and when his joy could not be contained anymore, he jumped to his feet and spontaneously danced a jig. He took numerous photos of the tracks and the marks where the mother lamia had coiled up to sit, he checked his camera to see how the pictures he'd taken looked, they weren't perfect, but he could plainly see the huge pythonic coils of the mother lamia as she sat with her child and the girl's own coils wrapped around her mother. George did a fist pump in the air and laughed to himself as he started back towards camp, his precious camera stashed in its carrying case now.

It was near dark when George emerged from the greenery around the oasis, he was covered with scratches and his clothing was torn in many places, he was utterly filthy and he was grinning from ear to ear.

Roger gaped at him and blurted out,

"Where the hell have you been and what happened to you? You left your satellite phone and I had no way to raise you! What if you'd gotten hurt? And what is with your face? You're grinning like an idiot!"

George just started laughing like a man possessed and he yelled exultantly,

"Rodge! You won't, fucking, believe, what I saw! I still can't believe it and I was there! There were two of them!"

"Two, of what?" cried Roger, trying to make himself heard over George's enthusiasm.

George suddenly stopped laughing and pulled his camera out of its case, holding it up he cried triumphantly.

"I saw two live lamias, Rodge! Two of 'em, a mother and a daughter, and I got pictures!"

Roger gaped at him and cried, "What?! Y'saw two of them? Lamias? Where? How?" George handed his camera to Roger and declared, "See for y'self, I'm taking a shower!"

After George had washed up, dressed his wounds and changed his clothing. He emerged from the tent to see Roger sitting at the camp table with an older man seated across from him. The man was clothed in the flowing garments of an Arab, but his blue eyes and sandy hair betrayed his European ancestry.

George stopped short and looked at Roger, Roger grinned at him and said, "He lives here and he wants to talk to you."

The man stood slowly to his full height of well over six feet tall, he looked at George for a long moment before speaking, then spoke in a baritone voice.

"I am Phillip Dexter and I want to thank you for saving my youngest daughter today. She told me how you scared off the jackals that were attacking her. My wife and I cannot express our gratitude properly, we lack the words."

He extended a hand and George shook it warmly. George smiled at him and said,

"Would you like some coffee and a bite to eat? We have much to talk about."

Phillip smiled again and said gratefully,

"I haven't had coffee in decades! And I'll take a meal and I'll try to answer some questions."

Roger grinned at him and said,

"You do realize, we've probably got a million of 'em, questions that is." as he poured a generous mug of coffee and broke out some MRE's for their guest, he said with a hint of an apology, "Military ration's, the best we can do I'm afraid!"

Phillip chuckled and said,

"And why should I care? I love my wife beyond compare and she takes very good care of us, but to open a can and eat something I haven't tasted in almost thirty years? I'm not about to whinge about the source!"

Roger laughed and declared,

"I like you already! George and I loathe the stuff, you're welcome to whatever we don't take back with us."

Phillip sipped at his coffee and remarked,

"It's a poor substitute for real coffee, but the caffeine is divine!" after he had finished his MRE's and his first cup of coffee, George refilled his mug and Phillip looked at both of them for a few moments, then he asked,

"How much has the world changed since I've been here?"

George sighed and replied,

"A helluva lot I'm afraid. In the west, society has become more tolerant of those that are not mainstream. The Soviet Union is gone and capitalism won the ideology war. The middle east is not so sunny, religious ideologies have become more rigid and intolerant, some long time dictatorships are gone but radicals have taken their places. Roger and I came in search of a legend, we had traced its source to an abandoned oasis and village. We came back here on a hunch and it paid off beyond our wildest expectations!"

Phillip smiled and remarked,

"I know the place you speak of, the village of In Azboua. It was there where I first met my wife, it was a small oasis even then and the village was nearly deserted. I was a young oil prospector for Shell oil and had never heard of lamias. You can only imagine my amazement when I saw her weeping at the recently dug graves of her parents."

His eyes took on a far away look at the memories and his weathered face softened.

"She was so beautiful and was so vulnerable then, and I fell hopelessly in love with her at that very moment! I didn't even notice her serpentine portion at first and by the time I did? Well, it was too late, we were already totally committed to each other."

He glanced over at the digital voice recorder and asked, "Is that thing like a tape recorder?" George nodded a 'yes' and Phillip chuckled, "What else have they miniaturized?" he asked.

Roger replied, "Practically everything! That, over there is a computer, we use it for record keeping and storing data. With the satellite dish up, we can send reports right to our department heads back at the museum."

Phillip admired the open notebook and grinned as he said, "I guess I'm a bit behind the times, eh?"

He shrugged and resumed his tale,

"We stuck around that oasis for as long as we could, Ayesha wanted to make sure her parents graves wouldn't be disturbed or found by anybody. Eventually, she became pregnant and we left to end up here. You've already seen our first home, I put that up in a hurry because she was about to have our first child. Later, after Mia was born we moved to a cave complex I'd found while exploring the extent of this oasis, I used the tools from the truck to smooth and level the cave's floor and to knock some of the stalagtites from the ceiling 'cos I kept knocking my head on them! I taught my girls to speak English and used some of the field note books to give them something to read and practice their writing in."

George chuckled and declared, "That explains how she spoke English! I don't know what amazed me more, them being lamias or their speaking English. I was pretty close to being floored by then!" Phillip chuckled and remarked, "My oldest girl Mia, saw you at the oasis when she was there gathering freshwater clams. Lamiae can hear really well and your vehicle is a bit noisy, she hid herself and watched you two until you left again."

Roger laughed and said cheerfully,

"See George, you weren't losing it after all, a lamia really was watching you! Though, I can't imagine why?"

George just ignored Roger's jibe and he asked Phillip.

"We would like to see and meet your family, in particular your wife. We'd like to talk to her and record any old legends or tales of her people, maybe get some recordings of her native language, if she remembers any of it."

Phillip looked thoughtful and replied,

"I will ask Ayesha if that would be all right with her, lamiae were hunted in ancient times and they have very long memories."

George thought for a few moments and said, "Hold that thought!" he got up and spent a few minutes rummaging through the truck, when he reappeared he had a cloth bag that he'd placed some things in. He handed the bag to Phillip and said,

"Give these to your wife and daughters. I think they'll like them."

The bag held a couple of tins of hard candies, some colored pencils and a pad of paper, a couple of hair brushes and a plastic hand mirror. Phillip hefted the bag and said,

"Thanks! I think these will go over quite well, particularly the candies!"

They shook hands with him and he said,

"I'll be back tomorrow and let you know what she thinks. Thank you again for the coffee and the nibblies, it almost makes me homesick!"

They watched as he disappeared into the darkness beyond their lantern's glow.

"So..." Asked Roger, "Was she as beautiful as the legends claim?"

George replied softly,

"What I saw was beauty all right, but not the seductress of legend. I saw a mother greatly relieved that her child was safe and unharmed. Yes, my heart skipped a beat when she smiled at me, the warmth in her smile was incredible!"

He sighed deeply and murmured,

"Woe to anyone who harms a lamia's child!"

Roger smiled and said quietly, "You've got it bad George, real bad."

Shortly after dawn, Phillip appeared with the child by his side. While he walked straight towards them, she swayed slightly from side to side, her serpentine lower half gliding smoothly over the gravelly surface. She almost appeared to be kneeling and sitting tall at the same time, her skirt ended just above where her ankles would be if she were a human girl. George could plainly see the broad belly scales going down and curving under her as she came closer, he waved his hand and called out.

"Good morning, Phillip, hello Natalie!"

He held up a coffee cup and asked, "Would you like some coffee? I have some orange flavored breakfast drink for you Natalie, if you'd like some?"

Natalie slipped behind her father a bit and peeked shyly around him, Phillip chuckled and replied. "Let her get used to you, I'm the only man she's ever seen. Of course I'll have coffee, and let Natalie have a small sip of juice and we'll see if she likes it."

Phillip sipped at his coffee and Natalie looked curiously at the orange colored liquid in her cup, her long, forked tongue dipped into it briefly and she smacked her lips for a moment. Her face broke out into a wide smile and she said enthusiastically, "This is good! It's different, I like it!"

While Phillip and Natalie were enjoying their drinks, George held up his camera and asked politely, "May I take some photos of you two?"

Phillip nodded a 'yes' and George started snapping away happily, he took many photos of Natalie with Phillip, by herself or capturing her clothing, her face and hands, her tail as it was coiled beneath her for her to sit on. Or as it moved sinuously while she explored their camp site.

Phillip was looking curiously at George's camera until he finally asked,

"What kind of camera and film are you using? I haven't seen you advance a frame yet."

George laughed and said apologetically,

"I'm sorry! I should've explained it to you last night, most cameras today are digital, the pictures go into a digital memory chip instead of onto film."

He shut off the camera and popped out the chip for them to see,

"This size chip will hold almost 4,000 photos depending on how big you want the images to be, I prefer the largest size image for more detail when making an enlargement."

Phillip whistled and he said to Natalie,

"When I lived in the outside world, these things didn't even exist outside of a laboratory."

George then took a few more photos of Phillip and Natalie together, smiling at the camera.

Roger called out suddenly, "I've got a satellite feed, take a look at this!"

Phillip and Natalie closed in on the computer screen and saw a video of a street scene coming from London, England as the reporter was describing the festivities for the the queens sixtieth year of rule celebration.

Phillip said softly,

"She's still the queen eh? I haven't been gone as long as I thought then!"

Natalie looked up at her father and asked,

"Daddy? Who is she? And why is she the queen? Isn't mommy the queen? You're always calling her the queen."

The two Americans chuckled as Phillip flushed slightly and replied artfully,

"Mommy, is the queen of our family and she rules my heart without question. Queen Elizabeth is the queen of the country my ancestors came from and she rules their homeland. Does that answer your question?"

The girl nodded an emphatic 'yes!' and happily finished her drink.

The two Americans followed Phillip and Natalie back to their hidden dwelling, this time they took a fairly direct route to save time. During their hike, George noted melon vines and squash plants carelessly strewn about, growing seemingly without any care, as if the seeds had been cast by nature instead of a guided hand.

Roger asked,

"Where did the seeds for these plants come from?"

Phillip smiled and said,

"After I brought Ayesha here and Mia was born. I went back to In Azboua one last time, I picked up every kind of vegetable seed I could find. I got some chickens and a couple of roosters. By the time I returned home, the truck was a regular Noah's ark! It was then that we stripped it and hid it away from view. This oasis has become a paradise, we're far enough from anywhere that we are quite safe here, we've deliberately avoided any sort of order in our planting just in case someone looks down while flying over." he patted his tummy and quipped, "We eat well!"

George commented wryly,

"Yesterday, I walked right through this area and never noticed the plants. In fact, it was right about here that I heard Natalie's screams."

He grinned at the girl and said cheerfully,

"I'm really glad I did now!"

Natalie smiled back at him and said happily, "Me too!" then she sped up, her tail wriggling rapidly from side to side as she dashed away crying excitedly, "Mommy! They're here! Come see!"

George and Roger both halted in their tracks as four other lamias emerged from hiding, Roger whistled softly and said quietly to George, "Would'ya look at that? They're beautiful!"

The oldest lamia sinuated forward, her lean waist and hips swaying as her tail sinuated along the ground, she had dark brown skin and her reptile portion had a geometric pattern for blending in. Her black hair was wrapped in a beautiful scarf and it cascaded down her slim backside. Her face was hauntingly beautiful, with a longish nose, a slightly narrow chin and triangular patches of finely patterned scales accentuating her high cheek bones. Her ears were a bit long and distinctly pointed, while her catlike eyes were a golden amber color and radiated warmth, particularly towards George, who had saved her child only the day before.

Her full lips curved into a smile that made both their hearts flutter and she said,

"Welcome to our home!"

She sinuated up to George and extended her hands to take his in her own, she held both of his hands and gazed at his face for a long moment before she said softly.

"You have no guile in your heart, there is no darkness there, yours is a pure heart!"

She leaned forward and gently kissed him on each cheek, then she straightened up again while George blushed crimson.

She squeezed his hands and said, "Thank you once again for saving my Natalie!"

Releasing his hands, she sinuated away from him and rejoined Phillip, leaving poor George to endure Roger's chuckling.

He clapped a hand on George's shoulder and said cheerfully, "George my boy, someday you'll get married and then you won't blush so easily!"

The other mature lamias reacted to Roger's comment by whispering to each other excitedly and Ayesha smiled at George as she asked,

"Would you like to meet our other children? I think they would like to meet such a brave man as you."

She gestured and the oldest of the girls sinuated forward. Unlike her mother, she had light brown skin and long, dark brown hair that was a torrent of rich, chestnut tresses cascading down to her swaying hips. Like her mother, she was also hauntingly beautiful, with her mother's longish nose, narrow chin, full lips, high cheekbones with a light sprinkling of tiny scales, pointed ears and amber, catlike eyes.

She smiled shyly at George and spoke softly, "Thank you for your bravery in saving my sister." Ayesha said pleasantly, "This is my eldest daughter, Mia."

Mia flushed and turned her face slightly away from George.

George blushed and smiled at her shyly too, then he said. "It is a great pleasure to meet you Mia, I look forward to learning more about you and all of you."

Ayesha gestured to the other girls and said,

"These are Katherine, my second oldest and Rosalind, my third oldest. Natalie you've already met." They smiled at him and said almost in unison.

"Thank you for rescuing Natalie!" Then broke into a fit of giggling.

Like Mia they too, were real beauties with the exotic features of their mother and the lighter skin and hair of their father.

Roger then spoke up, declaring, "We are from the Museum of Cryptozoology in the United States. Our mission is to seek out the world's legends and the truth behind them. George and I have traveled over much of the world collecting folk tales and stories of the elder days and if we can, the languages they were told in."

He glanced over at George who, taking his cue, spoke up himself,

"We came here seeking the truth behind the tales of the lamiae that once haunted the oases of the Sahara desert. "

He shrugged helplessly and said cheerfully,

"We did not expect to find out that lamiae really did exist, do exist and are so very much alive!"

Roger held up the various recording devices and announced, "With your consent, we would like to photograph you and your home. Record your voices and hear your own tales and legends and if possible, hear and record your native tongue."

Phillip glanced over at his wife Ayesha and after a moments thought she declared,

"My mother told me of our history, where we came from and how few of us are left. I've thought about this eventuality for a long time and I have decided that we will cooperate with you, to ensure our survival in this world."

Ayesha looked over at Roger, smiled and asked him,

"We already know that George is unmarried, now what about you?"

Roger chuckled and replied,

"Ma'am, I've been married twice now and both marriages ended in divorce. I gave up on the idea, it just doesn't work for me."

She smiled and said,

"Thank you for your honesty, you needn't worry about any of my daughters pursuing you then, a lamia prefers to give her virginity to the man who will give her his in return."

Both George and Mia flushed crimson, causing Roger to chuckle and reply to Ayesha,

"It's quite all right ma'am, I'm more of a leg man myself!"

They spent the next few hours taking videos, photos and voice recordings of the lamia family. Roger stayed at the home photographing and recording Ayesha and the middle sisters, while Mia and Natalie showed George around the oasis. Mia climbed a date palm and picked dozens of ripened dates for them to eat while Natalie selected a ripe melon to eat beneath the shade of a huge date palm beside one of the clear pools of water. Completely forgetting that his lovely companions were beings out of legend, George laughed and talked and showed both of them the photos he had taken of the lamias and their home. While skipping back through photo files, George overshot the beginning of the lamia expedition and a photo of him wearing heavy outer garments and standing in a whitened world appeared on the view screen.

George muttered hastily, "Oops! Went too far."

Mia and Natalie both cried at once, "Wait! We want to see!" and so, George was obliged to show them some pictures from his Himalayan expedition.

Natalie impetuously asked,

"What is that white stuff all around you, and why are you so covered up?"

George smiled at his young friend and said,

"That is snow, it's something that happens in colder, wetter climates and is sort of like a frozen rain that falls from the sky. I was very cold there in the Himalayas and wore all that clothing to keep from freezing to death." "What is frozen?" "Frozen is like those ice cubes that I put in the juice drink I gave you back at camp." Replied George to Natalie's question.

He slowly realized that Mia was now resting her head on his shoulder while he talked, he smiled to himself and decided that he liked the feeling. The warm, drowsy afternoon worked its magic on them and they all fell asleep together in the shade of the huge date palm.

George woke up abruptly and realized that it was now dark and that he and the two lamia sisters had fallen asleep beneath a huge date palm and now it was late. He pulled out his satellite phone and saw that it was after 8:00 P.M. He gently shook Mia's shoulder, she stirred and sat up, in the dim light he could plainly see her amber eyes blinking in surprise as she looked around, she cried, "Oh my?! We fell asleep!"

George shook Natalie awake too, while the younger girl rubbed the sleep from her eyes. George punched in Roger's phone number and heard it ringing, the girls watched in wonder as they heard Roger's voice answering.

"George?! Where are you three? What's happened to you guys?"

George replied lamely,

"I was showing the girls some photos from the Himalayas and we sorta fell asleep."

"Whaaat?!" was Roger's incredulous response, "Whaddaya mean you sorta fell asleep? Are they awake? Their mom wants to talk to Mia!"

Looking uncertain, George handed his phone to Mia and said,

"Your mom wants to talk to you!" Mia took the phone as if it would bite her and she held it to her ear like she'd seen George do. "Hello?! Mom?"

"Are you alright?" came Ayesha's voice.

"Y,Yes mom, we're fine."

"Did he touch you?" She asked sternly.

"N, No mom, he didn't touch me!" Mia replied a bit testily. "He was showing us pictures from the Himalayas, and the next thing I knew, we were waking up just now."

Ayesha's voice laughed and she said merrily,

"I knew he was a good man! You slept together and he didn't try to take advantage of you? That's a good omen!"

Roger came back on the phone and declared firmly,

"We're staying here tonight! I've got hours and hours of Ayesha speaking in lamian and telling the tales of her people. You oughtta see these women dance, belly dancers have nothing on these ladies! I feel so privileged right now, the videos I've taken really don't do them justice!"

George chuckled and replied,

"That's fine by me, it's a little dark out for stumbling around in an oasis, I'll be there shortly!"

George looked at his two lovely escorts and said amiably.

"Nice night for a moonlit stroll, shall we?"

The girls laughed and Natalie took the lead while Mia sinuated alongside George and they enjoyed each other's company immensely. All too soon, they arrived back at the carefully hidden home of the family and George felt a pang of regret that his soiree with Mia was at an end, so soon.