“Why are you so bent on those two becoming mates?” asked Gorgo. She knew her sister well; there was more than just whim to all of this.
“From the time when your son Harold first destroyed that bastard, Tarrack, and freed the region from his iron fisted rule, that nation has been ruled by men…until now. For now, a queen sits in power, but a bonding between a prince of the main house to that little fireball could insure a continued female succession during the marriage negotiations that will follow. Princess Abe has several siblings, but she is the one that is most outstanding among her sisters.”
“She has three older brothers,” said Gorgo with a sigh.
Bellasaris made a face and said, “Her brothers are capable, but I like her. I can’t help it. Male ruled nations make me nervous. And that nation founded a few hundred years ago in the western wilderness hasn’t helped. We were almost too late with that one. It’s STILL a problem to this day. What a nightmare!”
“Hold on now, Sister,” said Gorgo, “the women started that one! And…”
“No, it was one woman who started that shit,” snapped Bellasaris, “and the rest of those idiots followed like sheep.”
“Willingly,” replied Gorgo dryly.
“That bitch!” snarled Bellasaris. “She started something that if gone uncheck for a century or two longer could have undone everything and everyone! Our women could have all ended up on their knees and in collars again! And if anyone could have done it, it was that little ferocious bastard! Of all the males she could have pissed off it had to be one of HIS cubs! Damn that roving tom cat! Did he have to leave his seed in every cave, hut and town he passed through?!”
“That’s not exactly true and you know it,” said Gorgo. “But…Well, we were kind of to blame for that too you know.”
Bellasaris frowned a moment, but then a mischievous grin appeared on her face. “Yeah, we were…weren’t we?” she said with a giggle. “Unfortunately,” said Bellasaris now serious again, “there is only one way to neutralize a dangerous and disgruntled man like that, so it was contained…at the time. If only it didn’t have to come to that.” Bellasaris then made an expression of sadness. “Well, I need to find him if I’m going to that party tonight. I assume you’re going too?”
“Of course,” said Gorgo. “We’ll need to be disguised, but I can’t let you hog it all.” With that both women chuckled and entered the city proper and began to inquire about Cato’s whereabouts.
******
CHAPTER TWO
THE PARTY
“Hello President Chambers, I’m so pleased that you too were invited to this imperial informal gathering. Usually, we Akkadians are not offered a place at such parties. You remember my wife, Jan?”
Beverly Chambers immediately recognized the man speaking as President Henry Kaminski, of the Akkadian Republic. The American President smiled and shook hands with the leader of the only nation represented that had any close similarity to her own. Beverly couldn’t help but to be amused by Kaminski’s appearance. ‘Kaminski’ was a Polish name, but Kaminski looked anything but Polish. He was a medium built dark complexioned man with Asiatic, but shockingly blue, eyes. The man’s face and overall physical appearance showed MUCH mixed ancestry. Still, with that name, and from what Beverly knew of Bellasarian culture and reverence for ancestors and lineage…even the Akkadians, Kaminski’s original ancestor from Earth was Polish. Kaminski’s wife looked equally mixed.
“President Kaminski,” said President Chambers, “First Lady Jan, I and my husband are so pleased to see you here as well, but I am curious. Why are Akkadians excluded? Is it because your ancestors are from Earth?”
Kaminski laughed, “No, dear lady! After all, technically all our ancestors are from Earth. The people of the empire exclude us not out of spite but…er…respect for our sensibilities. They see us as stiff, prudish and overly self-conscious. They don’t want us to be uncomfortable or offended. On the other hand, if they did invite us and we refused, for the same reason, they would take this as a direct insult and trouble could come of it. So they simply avoid the problem altogether and usually party like hell among themselves and then fellowship with us at a later time and under conditions more acceptable to our sensibilities.”
“I…see,” said President Chambers. The president had read Dr. Susan Kline’s old reports of her very first visit to Bain thirty five years ago at the old capital when Bellasaris was queen and swallowed. “They…They don’t still have…well…um…That is, former Presidents Hill and Torres said that aside from heavy petting, they did all that other stuff …well…privately. And why invite us? We don’t care to see that sort of thing either. I…”
“Can’t refuse, Mrs. President,” said Kaminski, cutting her off. “This is the first time any leaders of our origins have been so honored. I believe this is the empress’s way of trying to make us feel like family. If either of us does not at least show our faces and eat and drink with them we could cause an incident…and this would prompt Beral III to send you back and cut ties again with the Earth.”
Beverly Chambers couldn’t help thinking that perhaps this was what the empress was hoping for, or to make a statement, probably both…and she was right. But she was wrong about one thing. It wasn’t Beral’s mind that had laid this trap, but a much, MUCH older former ruler, one with much more experience and cunning than the empress, who had only lived less than a century.
“But don’t be too stressed by the possibilities of what might happen,” continued President Kaminski with a wink. “I’ve never been to one of these feasts personally, but there are certain other Bellasarian ambassadors and travelers who have. It is very possible that nothing beyond what your former presidents witnessed will happen at all. However, if someone does set it off…and that has happened, I don’t think anyone will object to us leaving… providing we excuse ourselves properly. Well…let’s hope for the best.”
The feasting hall was huge and representatives of every major nation and tribe was either already there or arriving. Many of the assembled mutants were dressed much more revealingly than earlier, but to Chambers’s shock, the rulers of Melmoria and the Forest Kingdom were near or completely naked aside from their jewelry, and their children and aides as well. The Melmorian queen, Queen Tabitha, looked defiantly at the American President and especially the Akkadians. The president remembered what she had been told when she was being entertained at the prime minister’s estate. The Melmorians, Tabonese and to a degree, the people of the great forests, have been the most resistant to alien ways and influences of all the known major Bellasarian peoples. They have little love for the Akkadians who have been vocal on occasions about Melmorian indecency and the barbarians of the western forest. Queen Tabitha smirked and bounced her rather sizable, well-formed and very exposed breasts at President Kaminski in defiance. His wife (whose own chest was not nearly as impressive) glared at the woman, and immediately begged that they be excused from the gathering, and the Americans too, before the worse happened.
“Honey, these barbarians are making Bellasarians look like immoral and shameless savages. And I’ve heard about these traditional parties! If they should…”
The poor president was forced to remind the infuriated woman that this was impossible at such an early time without insulting the empress herself. But he assured her they would leave as soon as they had observed the basics in courtesy. This gave little comfort to the Akkadian First Lady and it was about to get worse.
If the First Lady of Akkadia and the American President were made to feel conscientious by the Melmorian Queen, they were about to reach an even greater low as Empress Beral III, her husband and their now curiously overdressed son, entered the room and moved to their proper place. President Chambers was speechless. The empress was wearing a two piece dress (if you could even call it that) that left her midsection entirely exposed from just below her huge breasts to below her naval riding low on her hips
. The ankle length skirt had two splits on the sides exposing the empress’s legs as she walked. The separate top could barely contain, much less conceal, what was in it. But although certain parts of the empress’s anatomy bounced and jiggled, other parts were quite firm and solid. Beverly Chambers, having only seen the empress in her heavy robes, once believed Beral III was a fat exception to the exquisite Bellasarian rule. But now Beverly realized that she was completely mistaken. She also saw immediately that the empress was noticeably shorter now. Obviously she had been wearing raised shoes beneath her robes when they first met. Now however, she was wearing casual flats. This loss of some height made her chest seem even larger, but her body more properly proportioned and even more curvaceous and powerfully made. My God, thought the speechless president, Look at the size of those things! But then again, look at the rest of her!
“Mama!” whispered one of President Chambers’s staff. The president gave him a blistering look and the man swallowed and looked away. Many of the foreign women were looking at the empress’s consort with equal awe. The man now wore only a loincloth and a sleeveless open vest that went past his waist. He looked like he was carved from a block of solid ebony. There was now as little of his form left for the imagination as his wife’s. However, the man still wore his veil.
“The empress likes black men I see,” said an African American aide looking at the High Lord and his wife, jealousy dripping from her voice.
One of the Akkadians chuckled at the disapproval in the woman’s voice. She had read about the humans of Earth and their issues with so-called “Race” in ancient history class as a child. Fortunately, mutants on Bellasaria, and even most of the humans, had done away with that stupidity long ago. Now the new stupidity was “Human” or “Metahuman”.
“Look there,” said the mutant woman to the Earth human. A woman even darker than High Lord Talos walked up and embraced Beral III and kissed her. She was a bit taller than the empress, but her face and form were equally impressive.
“Who is that?” asked the human aide.
“That is the retired empress,” said the Akkadian woman, “Lady Dido, Beral III’s half-sister. I assure you, the empress has ancestors as dark as she is fair, and the same goes in reverse for many here. In fact, many of these kings and queens, despite what they look like outwardly, are related to some degree.” The American woman said nothing more on the matter.
The president was curious about the prince though. His parents were practically naked, but he was covered almost from head to toe. The little princess from the western forest was looking daggers at the boy. She was wearing a brief white animal skin garment around her waist and aside from the animal teeth decorating it and other such jewelry…that was it! She had a head of black hair that partly covered one eye, but her face was beautiful. Her form was curvy, well-formed and (annoyingly to the Akkadian and Earth women) typically Bellasarian, meaning, more busty than average, but not excessively so. The girl looked as wild and savage as the country she came from, but several of the young and not so young men couldn’t take their eyes off her…except one. The president jumped a little as suddenly she heard a voice in her head. The amused Akkadian First Lady had telepathically begun to converse with her. President Chambers had forgotten that the Akkadians were mutants too.
“Hmmm, a loincloth of white nameth fur, jewelry and…Do I see a hint of lipstick?!? Princess Abe went to all that trouble to pretty herself up and that boy doesn’t even notice her.” To be fair to the prince, he was so furious about having to wear those clothes that he didn’t see anything or anyone, but angrily held his peace. Finally, Princess Abe stormed up to the empress’s low table and stood over the boy defiantly with her hands on her hips. Several of the American and Akkadian men…and a woman or two looked hungrily at the girl’s figure. Her hips, thighs and everything else were very well-formed and that animal skin didn’t hide much. The prince finally noticed her and angrily stood up.
“What?!?” growled the already annoyed, Tabba. “What do you want from me?”
Abe said nothing, but quickly reached up and ripped the veil from the startled youth’s face. There was a shocked pause followed by pleased gasps from many of the young women in the room…and their mothers.
“My goodness!” said President Chambers. “He is a handsome one!” A small smile appeared on Abe’s face. Then her face became serious again and she reached up and pushed up the still shocked prince’s lips exposing the boys teeth which were clearly specifically designed by nature for killing. Now satisfied, the princess smiled with pleasure and the tips of her own fangs were briefly exposed. Then she grabbed the prince’s hand and unceremoniously pulled him away from his table and plopped him down on the cushions at her own family’s place and right next to her.
“Barbarian!” growled more than one angry young woman at this flagrant disregard for protocol and total lack of manners. Queen Tana, who was equally shocked by her daughter’s behavior, looked apologetically at the empress whose eyes quickly darted to a curvaceous veiled woman sitting with a large man and even larger well-endowed woman snuggling in the crook of one of his arms at the far corner of the room. These two were also veiled. The first woman’s eyes showed amusement over her veil. She looked at the big woman who chuckled and she then leaned back into the free arm of the large man. Beral then looked back towards the forest queen and nodded that it was alright. This was a very quick exchange, but one that didn’t go unnoticed by Beverly’s sharp eyes.
“Who are those people over there?” asked President Chambers.
“I don’t know. The royal family is large with many branches and there are many unrelated nobles and their kin here as well. Whoever they are, they’re not kids. All three have lost their original hair color. I would guess they’re about four or five hundred years old. But then again, it’s difficult to say. Not all mutants with rapid regeneration and longevity age the same. They could be younger…or even older. I’ve even heard of elders that are even a thousand years old.”
President Chambers thought on this a moment and looked at the man and said, “Then could someone like…say Queen Bellasaris still be alive?”
“Of course not!” laughed the man. “She would be more than two thousand years old! Even if she was alive, I sincerely doubt that she or anyone who managed to reach that age would look so young. As I said, their white hair is proof that they are aging, and the few elders I’ve seen who were past the five hundred mark looked to be about the same age as someone without regeneration that was in their forties to seventies. In any case, someone THAT old and venerable would not be kept in some obscure corner of the feast hall, but would absolutely be at the empress’s side in a place of great honor.”
Beverly shrugged. The man was probably right. From what she had read and seen firsthand of Bellasarian values regarding hierarchy, age and women, people of great age, especially women, were treated with great respect and difference on Bellasaria, and expected it. If they were only in their sixties or seventies, thought Beverly with ironic amusement. They would still be younger than the empress and this would explain their inconspicuous place in the hall…but that still didn’t explain the look she gave them. Perhaps it was nothing, thought the president, and she put the matter from her mind.
******
The feast was well on the way now and wine and other alcoholic beverages was flowing freely and many of the dignitaries, both human and mutant, were loosening up considerably…even some of the folks from Earth.
In a great hall filled with people with limited to exceptional telepathic ability folks didn’t need to stand up and wander around (although many did) to converse with someone not within easy earshot. Even humans, once the connection was actually made by a mutant, could converse mentally until the connection was broken. President Chambers had to admit that this gathering was almost certainly more fun than the formal one coming up would be where proper and absolute decorum would be demanded beca
use of all the cameras and reporters from Earth. The press were not allowed at this feast, but were being entertained elsewhere in the great palace. Still, the president was annoyed a little by her husband’s wandering eyes and slack jaw. He (along with many other human and mutant men) couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off the empress for very long, and it was now pissing the president off.
“Dear,” said Beverly through smiling gritted teeth, “if you don’t take your eyes off that woman’s tits I’ll rip them out.” Mr. Chambers immediately looked away and took another gulp of the Bellasarian ale he had begun to take a liking to.
The empress looked over at her guest from Earth and sent her mind out to the president. “Are you enjoying the feast, Lady President?”
“Why yes, Your Highness,” quickly replied the startled president with her thoughts. It had taken a little while for the president to get used to not trying to respond verbally, but she had gotten used to it now.
The empress nodded and smiled. The American President was to her immediate left. The Akkadian President was on her right just on the opposite side of the giant, Lord Talos. “My son and the little forest princess seem to be getting along very well now,” she said. It was true. The young people were now laughing and joking with one another much to some people’s displeasure…and for different reasons. A hulking young man, who was obviously from the forest kingdom, was looking daggers at Prince Tabba.
“Um, I hope this is not too forward, and I mean no offense, but…Do you get back pain, Your Highness?” asked the American President, now sensing that Beral III was now in a very relaxed mood.
The Mutant World Page 4