by Gail Gernat
Noel looked slightly mollified. “I should sue you for this.”
“How dare you threaten me?” Radhya snarled in a hard voice. “You attacked me! You might expect restraint from human slaves when a Lord is involved, but Kung is a half-grown kitten who has not even started his formal training yet. Be glad Singha wasn’t with me. She would have torn your throat out before I could say a word. Don’t you ever attack me again! I should boot your arrogant ass right off my planet.”
Lord Barone stared, gaping at her as she shook her finger in the startled man’s face, twirled and left the room. Padr, Max, Dave, and Kung followed her.
“Well, I guess she put me in my place. I didn’t think she had it in her, always been an ice cube her,” said a chagrined Noel to Will, “I suppose I deserve that. Can you repair this?”
“Yes, milord. Milady has developed a series of healing bacteria for her own use. Would their use be acceptable to you?”
“This is her own creation?”
“Yes, milord.”
“She uses them on herself?”
“Yes, milord.”
“Will it cause any harm to me?”
“I don’t believe so milord. If you’re reluctant to try them, I can clean and bandage your wounds and let nature take its course.”
“How long nature’s way?”
“Probably about two weeks, depending on how fast you heal milord.”
“And how long your mistress’s way?”
“An hour or less, milord.”
“Very well. Give me Radhya’s treatment. If it is safe why isn’t it on the market?”
“I believe milady said she had enough products now and she wants to save this one for a dry spell.”
“Ho! The day that woman has a dry spell is the day I give training for free.”
Will finished cleaning Lord Barone’s leg. Then he poured a blue gel onto the wounds. It immediately began to fizz. Carefully timing it, Will poured a clear liquid over the bubbling blue. It became transparent. Noel watched in amazement as the flesh regrew and the new skin covered the puncture wounds. A single drop of clean blood remained at the site of each hole. Will wiped them away with gauze. Noel inspected his leg, which was now totally uninjured, without even a scar.”
“Tell my personal servant, 72, to fetch me another pair of pants,” commanded Lord Barone. “He should be with my animals.”
Radhya stormed through the guest foyer, her heels pounding back and forth on the travertine. The feathery shuhan trees growing out of it swayed in the wind of her passing. The tiny scarlet meeps that lived and sang in the trees hid silently among the branches. She wove around the carved blackwood furniture and pounded on the white marble check-in counter. The gorgeous view from the glass front held no interest to her. Her eyes snapped lightning, and her brows were black thunderclouds. Kung nervously followed her. Finally, he began to growl. Radhya subsided into an armchair and took Kung on her lap.
“Poor baby,” she soothed him, “you are so special. You pick up my anger? Poor, poor baby. I’ll cool it down. It’s all right.”
She cuddled the kitten against her. Will hurried into the room.
“Lord Barone asked 72 to bring him his pants,” he said.
Dave whispered into his wrist comp, and then listened. “72 will bring them right over.”
“I used the treatment on Lord Barone,” informed Will. “His leg is as good as new.”
Radhya hung her head in her hands.
“Oh no,” she groaned, “no one was supposed to know about that yet. Why didn’t I think to tell you to treat him conventionally?”
“I’m sorry milady. I figured you would have wanted him healed as fast as possible,” Will apologized.
“Actually, a crippled Lord Barone would have been such a blessing. Pour Kung got that nasty taste in his mouth, all for nothing.” Lord Barone strode into the room. His tunic covered him to the bottom of his hips. He was bare between there and his boots.
“Where are my pants?” he demanded. “Hey you,” he waved at Will, “did I not send you to get my pants? What are you standing around here for?”
Radhya rose from her chair spilling Kung from her lap. The lynxcat bristled and growled low in his throat.
“I’ll thank you not to speak to my slaves like that. If I want them sent on errands, I’ll send them. They take orders from me, not you. I can’t see you tolerating it if I sent your guards on errands. Moreover, your pants have been sent for. It’s only the speed of your own slave that holds them up.” Barone blushed a furious scarlet. He tried vainly to pull the short garment down.
“Milady, I am sorry. I didn’t see you there. I thought the slaves were alone.”
“Yes and I see everything else,” she teased.
Barone blushed more violently and tried vainly to tug his tunic down again.
“You once accused me of not wanting to look, is there now a problem with being looked at milord?” Radhya asked with a tiny smile.
“I only wished to surprise you when we finally set a contract day,” replied Barone with all the dignity he could muster.
“Small enough surprise,” she answered, much to Barone’s mortification. “Come,” she called to her bodyguards, “I must greet my other guests. ”
The five people and the lynxcat swept from the room, leaving a furious and embarrassed Lord Barone sputtering behind.
“I’m going to pay for that one;” Radhya giggled when they were outside. The men returned her grin.
Chapter 6
The noise of another approach caused the five to hurry to the track gates. A very large horse van stopped beside them, and a large imperious lady leaned out of the opened window. Golden, upswept curls framed a pale face with large blue eyes; a small turned up nose and a cupid’s mouth.
“Oh Kirbyson, you may direct me.”
Radhya curtsied very low as the men bowed low behind her.
“Follow the road to the right, milady. The first large building is the visitor’s center. The driver can just continue down the same road to the stable,” Radhya told her respectfully.
The horse van lurched on.
“I never expected her to come,” said Radhya wonderingly.
Max whispered, “Was that Princess Felina?”
“Yes, it was indeed. Imagine a single digit status coming for my first race. This is a miracle.”
Later, Radhya busied herself greeting one arrival after another. Sixty invitations were sent out and fifty-seven accepted.
“Dave go home. Run all the security checks. Get Aninya to send my clothes for the gala to the owner’s suite at the visitor’s center. She might have to help the cooks with this mob. We only expected about half this many. Bring Jemelina too; she can help wait on the tables.”
Dave hurried on his way.
“The usual turnout is fifty percent. I don’t know what happened. Fortunately, I built the visitor’s center for the review, so I have more than enough room.”
“I think milady didn’t take curiosity into account. After all, you’ve been a recluse for many years. They all want to see what you’re about,” said Padr.
“You’re probably right Padr. You’ve done me proud, however.”
Her eyes roved from the rugged, pristine mountaintops down the hillside covered in masses of bright yellow and royal purple blooms. Bracketing the grandstands were the flame trees, flickering in the wind. In front of the stands was the most spectacular flower show on any planet. Every color and every shape imaginable were encompassed in the beds. Most of the species she had altered or created new according to Padr’s vision. Plants and shrubs of total white bordered the burning vibrant colors around the grandstand areas. Beyond this broadband, blooms were pastel, mounded around the paths and shading gradually again, into the rainbow hues around the visitor’s center. Cascading down the rocks to the ocean, the plants shifted to blue and green so that the water and land became indistinguishable. Inside the rings of the track, there were no flowers, but an array of fungi species put on a u
nique display. They appeared as gemstones of unusual shape that were growing from a sheet of solid copper. Everywhere were paths, fountains and flowing water, with benches for visitors to sit and admire the view. Bare patches sported the fuzzy emerald lawn. It was a breathtaking, fascinating kaleidoscope.
Greeting duties over, Radhya returned to the visitor’s center. As she entered, Noel grabbed her arm and pulled her to one side. Will seized Kung by the collar as he crouched to launch himself. Max and Padr followed her, watching to see if she needed rescuing.
“Away with you two!” snarled Lord Barone.
He shoved Radhya beside a tree. The meep inhabiting it cheeped in terror, jumped down and scurried across the floor to another shuhan. The lady wiggled her hands to indicate for Max and Padr to stay close. Will joined them, holding tightly to Kung.
“You made a fool of me,” hissed Lord Barone.
“Nonsense,” replied Radhya squirming in his tight grip.
She drew as far away from him as possible. “You are making a fool of yourself right now.”
“How dare you laugh at me in front of slaves?” he continued shoving his face close to her.
“Don’t be ridiculous. First, why should you, or any of us care what slaves think? Second, everything that happened is because you attacked me. I could report it to the proctors you know. Third, everyone who matters is looking at us very strangely right now. No one was even here before. Fourth, as if the size of a man’s penis should matter to me when I could give him a treatment and have it grow to thirty centimeters in a week. Fifth, you’re hurting me, and I will tell that slave to let Kung go it you don’t stop.”
Noel released her and looked over his shoulder. He noted the curious glances of the aristocracy. He also noticed Kung struggling in Will’s arms.
“Do you mean it?” he asked.
“Mean what?” she snapped back.
“About the treatment?”
Radhya raised one eyebrow and looked at him.
“Let me kiss you,” Noel suggested. “Everyone will think it was a lover’s quarrel. They all know I’ve spoken of a contract to you.”
“On the hand only,” said Radhya extending one.
Noel grabbed her and kissed her hard on the mouth. Releasing her, he swaggered away. Radhya spit and bristled like Kung, eyes like thunderstorms.
“Get me to my suite,” she snapped for all the world like a true aristocrat.
Max cleared the way, Padr, and Will on either side with Kung slinking behind. The royals in the foyer exchanged knowing glances. Some of the women tittered behind their hands.
Radhya slapped her hand on the plate of the lift. It whisked her and her companions to her room, which was large and ostentatious. Everything was black, white, or silver. The walls were white, and the flooring was black and white squares. Ornately carved and stuffed blackwood sofa and chairs circled the room. A silver chandelier dangled from the ceiling not far from a large blackwood desk with a built-in comcentre that occupied one corner. The black draperies opened on a view of the ocean. Radhya stood staring at it for some time, distress in the set of her shoulders and the line of her back. Her men stood like statues. This was not the owner they were used to. Only Kung prowled restlessly, investigating the room. A chime shivered in the air.
Without turning her eyes from the waves, Radhya instructed, “If that is Aninya bring her in. If it’s Dave tell him to check the crowd and dinner arrangements.”
Aninya stepped from the lift carrying many boxes. She stopped short at the tension in the room.
“Milady?” she inquired.
Turning from the window, Radhya shook her head. “You men use the slave’s closet over there.” She gestured to a door on the far wall. “Prepare for the banquet tonight. Don’t, absolutely don’t, let that slime-eating piece of hemorrhoid near me tonight, at all! If Barone gets within ten meters of me, I’ll puke.”
Radhya strode to the large silver bathing room opposite the slave’s quarters. She stripped off her dusty clothes tossing them to the silver-streaked marble floor. The facilities were far more than any single mortal needed but Radhya made use of them to the full. The men hurried to do the same in the tiny quarters they were allowed. Two hours later, she emerged, just before they would have been late.
Her men slaves couldn’t look away. With raven hair was coiled on top of her head giving her much needed height, a gold and emerald tiara confining it, she looked like a woman from a fantasy. She wore makeup, enhancing her natural beauty, and glowing dark green emeralds hung from her ears, a single strand encircling her delicate neck. A low cut gown of shimmering green-black partially revealed her body, generous breasts threatening to spill from the front, while her waist looked tiny enough to span with one hand. From there the gown flared into a bell and flowed to the floor.
“I don’t think I can breathe in this and I certainly can’t bend over,” Radhya said, “I expect you all to wait on me hand and foot like real slaves.”
“Yes milady,” they all chorused.
“More than my pleasure,” added Max.
“Aninya, I’m sorry, I need you in the kitchen,” instructed Radhya extending a hand.
“Yes milady,” the cook replied.
“And thank you. You did a splendid job.”
Aninya smiled and curtsied. Then she vanished into the lift. Radhya gestured to Kung to rest on the sofa and guard the rooms. She, Padr, Will, and Max followed Aninya into the lift. From the foyer, Radhya and her bodyguards went to the banquet room. The doors to the ballroom were folded back giving a beautiful view of a calm, sleepy ocean; blue and green waves feathered with touches of pink and gold from the setting sun. The ballroom was windowed on three sides, the fourth being the doors from the banquet room. The highly polished zebrawood floors glowed in the soft lighting of a dozen crystal chandeliers. Fully utilized, the banquet room itself would seat three thousand.
Tonight, it was set for a couple hundred guests. Many highly polished tables covered with snowy linens, tall, silver tapers rose from baskets of white flowers that graced the area. Their perfume filled the air.
Radhya threaded her way through the crowd, murmuring polite greetings and inquiries to the other aristocrats. Heads turned as she passed. Whispered discussions followed her trail. One whisper was louder than the rest.
“How come Barone was the only one to notice a piece like that?”
Radhya fixed the speaker with a steely glare. The culprit ducked his head and disappeared behind a slave carrying drinks. The slave offered the tray to her.
“Water only please,” she spoke softly.
Will took the glass and tasted it before passing it to her. She absently sipped at it. After an hour of this torture, when the light had faded from the sky, and the stars had yet to appear, the slaves lit the tall silver candles.
“At last,” Radhya sighed.
She threaded her way through the crowd to the top of the head table. It was her banquet, and she yielded pride of place to no one, not even the Princess Royal, Felina. The chief steward escorted that lady to the foot. Other stewards escorted the rest of the aristocracy to their assigned places. Soon all seven tables presently in the room filled with guests. Radhya sat down, everyone followed. She could see Dave by the door. He nodded at her. As the serving girls brought around the first course, savory odors wafted through the room.
“I must admit,” began Princess Felina, “that my curiosity is piqued. I saw one of your new pet cats at Lady Shansea’s house. It was most attractive. I had hoped to see some here, perhaps even buy some.”
“I am sorry milady. Kung, who is just a half-grown kitten, was with me earlier, but he was too excitable, so I left him in my room. Singha, his mother and Ringha, his sister are back at my home.”
“What a charming habit you have of naming everything. Perhaps you can sell me one of your half grown kittens,” said Lady Felina.
Radhya set down her fork. “I offer sincere apologies, Lady Felina. The lynxcat is much more than
a pet. They have as much intelligence as chimpanzees, and they have the hierarchical mind of a dog. That means that at a young age, in their case between six weeks and three months, they bond or imprint on a person or another lynxcat. You cannot change that bonding once it occurs. If you remove them from the people they are bonded to, they will pine away and starve themselves to death.”
“Oh pooh. I am sure you could do something about it.”
“No milady, I could not. The purchaser of Ringha waited until she was three months old. I could not in good conscience sell her once bonding had begun. So now I have three instead of the two that I intended,” answered Radhya calmly.
“But I do so want one of the darling things,” cooed Princess Felina.
“Singha should be coming into heat shortly. Six months later, she will kit. I will let you know, and if you wish, you may purchase one. They are very costly, but I will bump you to the head of my list. I already have over two hundred and fifty names.”
“My, then they will be very common, won’t they?” replied the princess disappointedly.
“I doubt that,” returned Radhya. “All the females I sell are sterile, and Singha breeds only twice a year at most. Of course, not everyone can afford the cost either.”
Radhya named a price that caused the princess to raise her carefully sculpted brows.
“My, my,” replied Lady Felina, “they will be a precious item. You must show me yours.”
“When the banquet is over I will bring Kung down briefly. Please tell me about your entries for tomorrow.”
Felina giggled. “I am afraid you will need all your lynxcat money when my Silver Bullet cleans out your purse.”
The Princess continued bragging about her colt for some minutes. The other royalty joined in the discussion, each pointing out the merits of his or her own stock.
Lord Sutherland asked, “So Radhya, are you entering any of your own races?”
“Indeed I am, milord,” she replied. “I have three racers that are good candidates.”
“Have we seen them race before?” the stout Lord Pehelalatin inquired.
“No,” answered Radhya. “Each one is on his or her maiden race tomorrow.”