Full Figured Chic

Prologue

The chains sat heavy on his wrists, cutting deeply into the fragile flesh. His muscles ached. The effort over the first four weeks of trying to escape weighed heavily, exhausting him. Or was it the air? This place -- this unnatural place filled with the most vile that life had spewed out of its belly could have that sort of effect on the bones. It could rob a man of all he was, all he stood for, all that was easy, natural and good about him.

Now he waited, defeated. The voice taunting him every three hours would be back soon, and here on the thirty-fifth day, he had no more expectations. The first week was filled with questions, attempts at bargaining. The second- nothing but insults; by the third he knew the game involved his mental anguish and though he cried for help at certain points, the inevitability of no answers seeped its way in. At week five, he knew by experience the voice would arrive soon, but he also knew none of his suffering would be relieved. Hunger took its toll. He'd started to become aware of the fact that he was to die in this place, not knowing how he got there, or why he was there.

"Alexander. Can you hear me Alexander?"

The man remained mute. Answering the voice had produced no result to this point. He lay unspeaking now, accepting his fate.

"Alexander. Can you hear me Alexander?"

Then he lay alone in the darkness again.

A worm crawled on his foot; a fat evil looking grub. It was the most persistent of animals or the floor swarmed with them. He'd kept them at bay, raking a space around himself every few hours, brushing them off his skin. Now, in the darkness of this fifth week, he wondered at their victory. When he died here, they'd burrow into his flesh, make honeycomb of his bones and consume his organs. Their patience and persistence would win and they'd eventually get to feed on his rotting carcass. He'd become sure of this now.

"Alexander. Can you hear me Alexander?"

Had it been three hours? The space of time between the voices taunts appeared shorter this time. Or was did delirium own him now?

"Answer me Alexander. Are you so weak that five weeks in hell is the end of you?"

"Do what you want with me. I know you will anyway. Just do it soon, I beg you."

"Do you know why you are here Alexander?"

The man whimpered in a voice filled with resignation and defeat. "No, Lord, I do not." "I am a Daemon, here to take your life. And it will be slow and painful and the worms will eat your flesh."

It didn't matter now. Starving and exhausted, he already knew this. He had nothing to say in return. Even the reason no longer mattered. "You stole from me Alexander. You stole Aoide from me. You took her and she was given to me by the gods."

In his state the man could barely concentrate on the words, but they ignited a flicker of hope. If he could raise himself on to an arm, if he could listen hard to what the daemon had to say.

"I know... this woman... She did... not tell me..."

His voice trailed off, his language slurred with the fat swollen nature of his tongue. The rotten water he'd been putting on it had almost run out, despite his attempts to save it.

"How it warms my heart to see you so close to death Alexander. We'd wanted to punish you for your womanising for so long; you who had been given a beautiful wife, and three strong children. The gods wouldn't let us have you though. You were to simply be punished by losing your family when we arranged for them to find out about your deceitful ways.

"But then you stole Aoide and she was saved to be mine. You took her that night, in the barn behind the house where you'd taken your fill of wine and women already. You saw her there, and you seduced her, taking her to the barn and pouring yourself into her, though so many women loved you. She'll have a child from you Alexander. And that child will be cursed."

"Take her. Have her. I don't want..."

"You only want your life now that it is threatened. But restraint should have come to you earlier. Because you did not think twice about stealing her from me, I don't have to think twice about taking your life in this manner."

"My life... please... don't take my life."

"Your life is gone. And I, who have no reason to return to the earth for my blessing any more, will be sure to curse every one of your offspring through Aoide. Your diseased semen destroyed everything and the gods granted me revenge. It's all the sweetness I have left." The man slumped back to the worm covered earth. "That's right, accept your fate Alexander knowing I have cursed your seed. Die knowing if you are a worm in life, you will be fed to them in death."

The man lay alone in the darkness again.

Chapter One

"The sooner we get you a man, the better."

Sasha looked with horror at her friend, and then around the now silent cafe.

"Keep your voice down." It may have been a whisper but Penny would have no problem noting the command. "I don't want every hot blooded creepy horn bag floating this way in the next ten seconds."

"What if they weren't creepy?" Penny had her mischievous smile on, which told Sasha her mood would outweigh her tact. "Maybe a few cute guys becoming available are just what the doctor ordered this afternoon?"

"Yeah. I could take one back and settle him in under the desk at work."

Penny eyes lit up in a way that told Sasha she'd given her friend and idea rather than a deterrent. She stepped in quickly with her next line she got anymore ideas.

"Are we still on for tonight?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't we be?"

"Just trying to distract you lovey. I'm desperate to change the subject."

"We have to get you a man regardless of the subject matter." This time the statement came out in a hushed tone, while Penny looked from side to side as if a more mystical approach to the topic could make him appear.

"I do actually have a man, and I am bringing him tonight, so it would be nice if you could get your head around that fact, and stop trying to set me up with strangers."

Penny focussed on her friend with the sympathetic eyes Sasha knew meant this lecture would be worse than the embarrassing announcement.

"That's not a man. That's a stop gap till a man comes along and you know it."

"Hey, we can't all find 'Gilbert's' in our lives."

Penny smiled back at her with the same sadness rounding out now and spreading into the rest of her face. Sasha made a mental note to give up that one glass of wine at lunch.

"I know. I have the perfect man. And I wish I could share him with you, but I'm so god damned jealous, I'd have to kill you right after."

"No need for jealousy. Gilbert can't see anyone else. He doesn't know I exist outside of the fact that I'm your best friend. You have no need for any kind of jealousy."

Penny had the relationship everyone wanted. Gilbert worshiped her. Kissed the ground she walked on. And had been doing it now for six years, so they were well out of the 'early stages' that gave you hope it would evaporate like everyone else's romance eventually. Add to that his good looks, his charm and his trust account, and you had the perfect partner. Penny loved him easily as much has he loved her. Theirs was the great love affair, and if Sasha didn't adore them both so much, she would be insanely jealous.

Penny floated off for the briefest of moments, so Sasha had a chance to finish her Swedish meatballs with lingon berries. Today's exotic restaurant was 'Gutfud' - the European specialty store. A little weekly ritual the long time girlfriends shared, to discover a new restaurant each month. Today they munched on European fare while, listening to the soundtrack to the Cabaret movie. Sasha had forgotten how much she loved it.

Struck out of her reverie, Penny looked over at Sasha.

"He's not a real boyfriend. I'm not giving up on this one."

Sasha looked up in a sign of frustration. "I know, I know. He's a 'do for the moment' kind of guy. I'm not going to turn him into a keeper." "Let's hope not."

"Would you prefer I saw no one? Just hung around with you too as a third wheel?"

"To this guy? Yes I would."

Sasha hated this conversation. She looked around the restaurant hoping to distract her friend. "This place is nice. We should come back here."

"If you got rid of Darren the cute ones could get a little closer to you."

Frustrated, Sasha realised she wasn't going to get out of this one so easily. She may have to try being serious with her friend. "Penny, just because you have found the sweetest guy in the whole world doesn't mean that it's easy for everyone to find the person of their dreams. Besides, the guy I want wouldn't be quite so nice to me all the time, if you know what I mean?"

Getting Penny back on to sex was a better idea than having this conversation seriously.

"You just don't know how beautiful you really are."

"No -- you don't know how lucky you are."

The two women smiled warmly at each other and finished up the remainder of their meals. Sasha decided to attempt change the subject again and relieve the tension.

"So, you were serious about coming here again then?"

"Yeah; this meal was good."

"I liked it too. And what is the big surprise you have for me this afternoon?"

Penny downed the last gulp of meatball, excitedly and looked at Sasha with sparking eyes.

"Tarot reading! For each of us. We haven't been for years."

"What? That crap? I thought you'd given up on that rubbish. Rather, I hoped you'd given up on that rubbish."

"Oh stop being so cool. This is great fun and you know it. You don't have to get upset..."

Penny cocked an eyebrow at her. "After all, it's not real you know."

Sasha gave her a vanquished half smile and acquiesced. "Fine, fine. I'll indulge you this once. Where are we off too?"

"Madame Soltar. Two blocks down. She's new. Just moved into the area apparently."

The two women stood on the opposite side of the street to the rickety little shop that seemed to be clinging to the buildings on either side for support, lest it be swallowed up by an unforgiving city. A low thatched roof made a contrast to the cool steel and stone structures around it, as it bent low over the warm wooden stoop. Somehow, in the middle of the city, vines crept up the outside of the small two storey construction, as if they'd sprung up magically out of the pavement in front of the house, altogether giving the structure the impression it'd been swept up from Tudor England and transported strangely in to the heart of the metropolis.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Sasha had never seen a more obvious cliché.

"Oh, it's for show! She probably draws the customers in as much through the outside as she does through the 'call' of her work. C'mon! Let's go."

Penny dived with skill into the traffic weaving and manoeuvring her way like a born and raised in the city pro. Sasha stayed close on her heels. If the outside of the shop seemed a cliché, it was nothing compared to the inside. Sasha had trouble adjusting her eyes to the light at first, which was almost nonexistent except for shafts of dust ridden beams, highlighting precariously piled stacks of books, empty goldfish bowls and small vials filled with florescent liquids in many colours. As Sasha's eyes adjusted, the first thing she was aware of was the dust.

"Man, I thought you said this place was new - Looks like it's never been cleaned."

"She's just moved in. Maybe she hasn't had time to clean it all yet."

"I'm not surprised. It'd take one hundred years for this place to be sorted."

"Shhh... be polite. She may not see us if you are rude."

"There is no one in here -- she's out the back." Sasha slid a long finger through thick dust settled all over a tall pile of books. "And the dust is not the only thing that's laid on a little thick here."

Sasha turned away when Penny shrugged looking disappointed in her. She didn't want to hurt her friend; she just thought this was a lot of rot. However, she didn't think it would hurt anyone, and contrary to most sceptics, she didn't think these people were out to rip off the dull of mind and the unsuspecting. If you wanted to get rich as a con artist there were easier and far more lucrative ways. One thing was for sure, these folk believed their own story.

She worked her way around the strange little store continuing to admonish herself for being so hard on her friend. Soon, however, she stopped thinking about Penny as the variety of bits and bobs in front of her drew her attention. Every wall held, floor to ceiling, a rose wood bookcase. Sometimes the shelves were filled with books and other times they held more of the small florescent vials she's spotted when she first walked in. Large glass jars contained strange fleshy items congealing in pale green liquid, sealed tight. They gave one the impression the seal was to keep the thing in rather than protect it from air and the elements.

"Hey Sasha -- get a load of this."

Sasha whirled around face to face with a wizened hand that looked very much as though it were human. Penny held it at arm's length and at face height so that the yellowed fingernail of the knarled middle finger almost poked Sasha's eyes out. Sasha jumped, landing with heart pounding out through the flesh on her breast.

"Are you crazy? You nearly scared me half to death."

"How creepy is this place?" Penny said placing the weird hand carefully on a small table on the centre of the room. She took her place next to Sasha as co conspirator rather than trying to scare her into having a good time. The two women leaned into the bookcase where Sasha stood; together reading the spines of the large leather bound tomes embossed with gold lettering. Sasha started to read the titles out aloud. "Salem's Martyrs. Practical spells for everyday living. The housewives guide to cursing your neighbours. Wiccan rites of passage. The Cauldrons calendar. I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto." She said turning her head toward Penny directly to her right.

"This must be the witch section. There is this whole section over there where I found the volumes about ancient Greece and then Rome."

Sasha moved a little more to her left. "Yup, that'd be right. And here's ancient Egypt. Wow. This place is good. If I didn't know better, I would swear these books were authentic."

Before Penny had a chance to take a look, they heard the small bell above the door signal the arrival of someone else in the shop.