“Greetings, Overlord of the Northern Continent,” she said in a sweet voice. “My Master has told me much of you.”
Sir frowned in apparent confusion.
“Wait…you have a Pure One pet from Earth as well?”
“Did you think you were the only one?” Gra’multh gave him a mocking grin. “I’ve been training my dear little pet, Clarissa, for this day forages. Come all the way out, my dear,” he added to the girl. “And meet a new little friend—another pet from your home world.”
The girl named Clarissa came all the way out from behind Gra’multh’s voluminous black robes and nodded at me. She was naked except for a golden collar and leash and she didn’t seem to mind it a bit. At her waist she wore a gravity belt just like mine, though hers had a curving scabbard clipped to it. I could see the jeweled handle of what seemed to be a knife sticking out of it. Was it some kind of ceremonial thing? If so, why hadn’t Sir given one to me to wear as well?
In addition to being completely and unashamedly nude, Clarissa had long, black hair and big blue eyes and she was built like a super model. It was obvious that Gra’multh didn’t share Sir’s love of women with curves, I thought.
“Say hello, my dear,” the Overlord of the Southern Continent prompted his pet and Clarissa came towards me, smiling.
“Hello,” she said in that same sweet, low voice. “I am Clarissa of Earth. And who might you be?”
“I’m Elli. I come from Virginia,” I said. “Are you from the US too? Or maybe the UK?” She had an exotic kind of beauty that made me think maybe she was European.
“I come from Earth,” she said, still smiling woodenly. “From the Northern Continent.”
“Which continent?” I asked, frowning. “Do you mean North America?”
“Yes. The Northern Continent,” she repeated and I noticed that her eyes weren’t quite meeting my own. In fact, she seemed to be staring off into the distance behind my head somewhere. What was wrong with her?
“Hey,” I said to her. “Are you okay?”
“That’s quite enough now, Clarissa, my pet,” Gra’multh put a proprietary arm around the girl’s bare shoulders and pulled her back behind his robes. He was almost twice as tall as she was, the same way Sir was twice as tall as me, yet the other differences between them made my skin crawl. It was difficult to know how Korrigons aged—I hadn’t thought to ask Sir about it—but I judged that Gra’multh must be a good fifty years older than Clarissa. If he was using her as a Sex Pet…ugh!The thought nearly made me gag.
“Well, I think it’s time we made our assent to the throne so that we can plead our separate cases before the Sovereign, don’t you?” Gra’multh said to Sir. “Let us climb the stairs and seek her wisdom.”
“Yes, let’s,” Sir said shortly.
Then we all walked to the bottom of the last hundred steps and began to climb.
FORTY-SIX
ELLI
Itried my best to climb all the steps myself, but they were built for a Korrigon,nota human—which meant they were twice as tall as any steps I’d ever climbed back on Earth. So with every step up, I felt like I was trying to climb into the cab of one of those ridiculously jacked-up pick-up trucks you see driving around in the country sometimes.
It only took a few steps for Sir to notice my trouble and offer to carry me. But I didn’t want him to. Looking around Sir Gra’multh’s swishing black robes, I could see that Clarissa was navigating the golden steps with ease—probably because she was so tall and graceful, she seemed to be half giraffe.
“Little one, let me carry you,” Sir murmured, leaning down to me.
“No,” I panted stubbornly, climbing yet another too-tall step. “I…can manage.”
“No, you can’t,” Sir said frowning. “But if you don’t wish to be carried, use your gravity belt to make yourself lighter and give me your hand.”
I did as he said and sure enough, it worked! Before I knew it, I was bounding up the steps, feeling like I was in one of those bouncy castles or maybe a trampoline. Only Sir’s hand in mine kept me from shooting up much higher than a single step, but he kept a firm grip on me and before I knew it, we had finally reached the top.
The golden throne was a huge piece of furniture that was big enough for three Korrigons to sit on side by side. It was very grand with lots of carvings and gems, but it didn’t look very comfortable. There was no padding and no cushions as far as I could see—just hard, cold, gold, which the Korrigons seemed to have an endless supply of.
The Sovereign who was sitting on the throne was clearly a woman, though to be honest, she didn’t look very different from a male Korrigon. She was tall and thin with short black hair and short, stubby horns that sprouted from her temples.
She looked younger than Sir, I thought, andmuchyounger than Gra’multh, though it was clear from the serious look on her face she was trying toactmuch older than her age.
The Sovereign had the same full-black eyes as the others of her species and she was wearing the most elaborate golden robe I had ever seen. It was sewn all over with diamonds and rubies and emeralds and other precious jewels that were crowded so close together her entire outfit seemed to be one gleaming, many-faceted, gem. But again, though it was grand, it didn’t look very comfortable.
“Your Majesty,” Sir said, bowing his head low and I did the same. Beside us, I could see that Clarissa was also bowing low. Gra’multh, however, was barely inclining his head, which seemed disrespectful to me. But since the Sovereign didn’t say anything about it, I kept my mouth shut.