Bowing my head respectfully, I spoke to the Sovereign in Court Korgish.
“Hello, Your Majesty. Thank you for allowing me to appear before you,” I said, which was what Sir and I had rehearsed. “I am most gratified that you are considering the fate of my home galaxy—thank you for understanding that the inhabitants of the Goddess’s Cloak are sentient beings with a right to our own lives.”
When I lifted my head, I saw that the Sovereign was studying me with what looked like surprise on her face.
“That is most impressive, Sir Barinthian,” she said to Sir. “I’m very surprised that a pet from such a primitive planet is able to speak our language so beautifully.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Sir bowed his head in acknowledgement.
But our moment of triumph was short-lived.
“It’s not actuallythatimpressive, Your Majesty,” Gra’multh said, stepping forward. “Not when you realize that these little Earthlings or ‘humans’ as they call themselves, can be trained to imitate sounds—even the speech of our own language—and parrot it back to us. Take my own pet, Clarissa. Come here, girl,” he added and Clarissa came forward, the same vacant smile on her face. “Speak,” Gra’multh told her.
“My name is Clarissa and I come from a planet called ‘Earth,’” Clarissa said woodenly in perfect Court Korgish.
“Do you see?” Gra’multh spread out a hand to indicate his pet. “She can be trained to say mostanything. Of course, she doesn’tunderstandany of it, but she can repeat the sounds back if you say them often enough to her.”
At this point I was about to explode with anger and irritation. I knew I wasn’t supposed to speak unless spoken to, but this bastard was making it seem like humans were just a race of two-legged parrots—primitive animals that would say anything if we were trained to say it!
“Clarissa might be saying a phrase you taught her, butIam not,” I said, glaring up at Gra’multh and speaking in Court Korgish. “I am here to argue on behalf of my people so greedy bastards like you don’t strip mine my planet and my entire galaxy!”
“Little one!” Sir’s voice cracked like a whip in the echoing space. “You mustnotspeak so to a superior—especially not in the throne room before the Sovereign.” He frowned at me, his face as dark as a thundercloud. “You must apologize before we are removed from Her Majesty’s presence.”
I frowned mutinously. I knew I had broken the rules of the Court, but that bastard Gra’multh had made me so mad I couldn’t help speaking out! Plus, everything he’d been saying was lies—shouldn’tsomeonecall him out on it?
But apparently that someone shouldn’t be me. Sir glared at me until I bowed my head and mumbled,
“Forgive me, Your Majesty for causing a scene in your throne room.”
“And…?” Sir prompted.
I gritted my teeth.
“And I’m sorry for offending Sir Gra’multh too.” Though of course, I absolutely wasn’t.
“Please accept my pet’s words as a sincere apology,” Sir added, in wooden tones.
“Indeed, I donotaccept your apology!” Gra’multh exclaimed. He drew himself up to his full height and glared at Sir from under his bushy white eyebrows. “In fact, I demand a more final way to settle this matter. Your Majesty,” he continued, turning to the Sovereign. “I think you must agree that this issue has now become a matter of honor. I think that Sir Barinthian and I should duel in order to decide the fate of the Goddess’s Cloak galaxy.”
I heard Sir swear under his breath.
“That is truly not necessary,” he growled. “Her Majesty has been given the facts of the matter—it should be up to her to decide the fate of the galaxy.”
“No, I insist!” Gra’multh’s voice rose, high and angry in the echoing space around the throne. “Your rude little pet has besmirched my honor and she and her entire galaxy will have to pay the price for it!”
Well,crap. No wonder Sir had told me to keep my mouth shut! Now he would have to fight for the honor of my galaxy instead of letting the Sovereign decide for herself, based on the facts she’d been presented with. Unless she disagreed?
But when I looked at the Sovereign, I saw an expression of uncertainty on her face. She looked so young at that moment and I could see how inexperienced she was in matters like this.
“Er…very well,” she said at last, nodding her head. “A duel it is.” She raised her voice. “Guards, clear the dais and bring out two Dueling Bands.”
As soon as she spoke, everyone got very busy, bustling around and doing what she had ordered. I looked up at Sir, who had a grim expression on his face.
“Sir?” I said in a small voice. “I’m really sorry.”
“So am I, little one.” He shook his head. “Though I’ll do my best to defend your galaxy, I can’t promise anything.”
“But…you’re so much younger and stronger than Gra’multh,” I protested. “Surely you’ll be able to beat him easily!”