“Well, well,” he rasped, leaning down to get a better look at me. “A Pure One, is it? And from the Closed world the Ancient Ones had locked for so long? Won’tyoumake a nice little Sex Pet, girly!”
“You’d better leave me alone!” I exclaimed, backing away from him.
“Oh yeah? And why should I do that?” The gray giant with the extremely questionable fashion sense grinned at me, showing yellow teeth.
“Because,” I said quickly. “I can tell you’re from Korrigon Four—well so is my Master. And he’s the Overlord of the entire Northern Continent!”
“She’s lying!” the barber pole girl—who I had almost forgotten about—sang indignantly. “I found her wandering around the Great Hall alone! I didn’t see any Master!”
The gray giant leaned closer, making me feel even more ill as his rotten-fish odor wafted over me. I held my breath as he wrinkled his nostrils and inhaled deeply, as though he was sniffing me for some reason.
“No,” he said to the barber pole girl, straightening up at last. “This little pet is telling the truth—at leastpartof the truth. I can smell the scent of a HighBorn all over her, though there’s no fucking way the Overlord of the Northern Continent would be traveling out in this Goddess-forsaken galaxy all by his lonesome.”
“Sir istoothe Overlord! He came here just to get me as his pet!” I exclaimed. “You’d better let me go if you know what’s good for you!”
“Oh no, little pet.” The giant grinned at me. “What’s good for me is more credits in my pocket. You see, this means you’re worth evenmore. There’s plenty that will pay extra for a Sex Pet with the stink of the HighBorn on ‘em—especially for a Pure One. So you’ll be coming with me back to Korrigon Four, nice and quiet like, where you’ll fetch a pretty price at the Under Road Pet Auction.”
“What? No!” I exclaimed, but he was already paying the barber pole girl and shoving her out of the caged-in area, apparently having decided I was now his property. He moved too quickly for me to slip out, slamming the metal gate shut behind her.
“You bitch!” I yelled through the bars as the barber pole girl sauntered away, counting her cash. “How can you betray other women like this? What’swrongwith you?”
She didn’t even bother to look back at me or answer me. The last I saw of her, she was disappearing around the corner, her red and white hide shimmering in the dim light.
“All right now, little pet…” The gray giant had turned back to me. “You come here and let’s take off that expensive collar and give you a nice control collar to wear. That should take care of your attitude problem.”
“No!” I backed away from him. “You let me go! I’m telling you, my Master is going to be here any minute! Er, anymern,I mean!”
“Naw—he’ll never find you back here.” He gave a grating chuckle that sounded like rocks in a riverbed grinding against each other as he reached for me. “Come here, now—the sooner we get that control collar on you, the sooner you’ll shut your pretty little mouth and join the herd.” He nodded at the other women, still huddled silently together.
“No!” I gasped, dodging away from the huge hand that was reaching for me. I ran to the far corner of the dark cell to avoid him. He came at me again and again I dodged out of the way just in time.
He was big but he was slow, I thought. Then again, I was locked in with him—how long could I keep up this little game of keep-away we had going?
“I said comehere,you little bitch!” he roared angrily as he lumbered over to try and grab me again.
As he reached down, I ducked between his legs and made a run for the metal gate. Maybe I could get it open somehow and get away! I kind of doubted it but it was the only shot I had. I made it to the gate before he even turned around and started yanking on the metal bars desperately.
“Open up—openup!”I moaned tugging uselessly at the locked gate. “Oh my God, please!Open up!”
“I don’t think so, girly.”
Hard, cold hands seized my shoulders and started dragging me away from the bars. I held on for as long as I could but he was far stronger than me. I could feel the skin being scraped off my palms by the sharp metal as he finally pulled me away. Then he slapped me.
It might have been no more than a love tap to another Korrigon, but it felt like a knock-out punch to me. I fell on the ground, gasping and holding my face. My cheekbone felt like it was fractured and my eye was already swelling shut.
The gray giant named Shadrack stood over me, panting.
“Don’t make me ruin your looks, girly,” he snarled down at me. “It’ll make your value go down at the Pet Auction.”
“Leave me alone!” I gasped, still trying to be strong. But the words tasted like blood in my mouth—probably because my lip was bleeding.
“Can’t—gotta put that control collar on you before you make me ruin the other side of your face, too. You’re too damn aggravating without it!”
He reached down and grabbed me by the arm. He yanked me to my feet with such force, I felt like my shoulder was being pulled out of its socket.
I let out a cry but he paid no attention. Instead, he reached for the golden collar Sir had put on me, pawing at my neck with his big, clammy hand. He got two fingers between the golden collar and my throat and began to twist, cutting off my airway.
“Just…gotta…snap it,” I heard him grumble to himself.