The Harem Master
Garroth paced furiously up and down the middle of the room, pulling at his long black, hair. Lotor almost had to stifle a laugh; he was not used to seeing the always perfectly coiffed man in such a shambles. The man was the epitome of elegance and grace, capable of soothing aristocracy and whores alike. Truth be told, Lotor was enjoying this display, not particularly thrilled that the man had been called back to his father's palace of late. Somehow, the rebuilding of his father's harem, reminded him more and more of his mother's death. His father murdering her had been one thing...but to let these lesser women into his life, no matter what carnal need was fulfilled, was somehow sacrilege.
"Your Highness, you have gone mad." The man glared at him. "I am the keeper of many secrets, but this one is too much to bear."
"What secret are you referring to?" Lotor asked innocently. Garroth sighed.
"Do not take me for a fool, I have been doing this for what seems an eternity at times. She is from the Castor region, that of which I can guarantee." Lotor nodded in agreement. He had nothing to deny on that point.
"So, there is nothing unusual about that. I saw her and I wanted her. No law says a Drule cannot take an Arusian. They are legal game to acquire." Lotor grabbed an ottoman and pulled it up close. Garroth shook his head.
"The girl is a Carris. I know that facial structure anywhere. The man paused and grimaced. "Hell I am looking at it right now." Lotor tried to contain his smirk as he watched the man become more and more flustered.
"Why Garroth, that would be committing incest. How dare you accuse your prince of such an act? My request is simple. ..Can it be done? Or perhaps I should go to that rival of yours, what does he call himself...Telopis. I believe." Garroth grumbled as he looked at the smug prince.
"My Lord, Telopis will send you straight to the infirmary. If you are looking for the experience of pissing fire be my guest. I can get what you want...but it will take longer than a week." Garroth shot Lotor a defeated look.
"I only require a couple of girls for the moment. You can procure the majority of the compliment when I am away...it makes no mater to me. As for the girl, I want her trained properly. Like you did with my mother. I am looking for you to make her strong enough to survive my father's court." Lotor called a serving girl over who poured a glass of wine. She was dressed skimpily and he had already made plans to use her for the night.
"I did nothing of the sort, I just guided her. She was capable of taking on your father and his court from the moment her feet were dragged in. I just taught her the finer points to manipulating Drules, your father, in particular." Garroth had an odd smile on his face as if he has just shared an illicit secret.
"And why would a harem master do such a thing? You forget that your loyalty should remain with the client and not the merchandise." Lotor shot Garroth a look of concern.
"Not my habit, I assure you." Garroth gave an ingratiating smile as he smoothed his hair back into place. "But no one could refuse Althea Carris anything...she was bewitching when she wanted to be. It is no secret that I am an opportunist. When she first arrived, she had no idea that she was his lotor or how much power it gave her, I enlightened her. Her effect on your father was preordained by the gods themselves. Having said all of that, she still intrigued me. The woman, who hated him the most, wanted him to fall passionately in love with her."
"That makes no sense." Lotor practically growled. He had never put Althea on a moral pedestal, even as a child he knew her to be flawed perfection, but still it hurt him to hear Garroth's words.
"Makes perfect sense. She was determined to survive Doom." Garroth practically snorted back at him.
"In the end, she did not. Nothing as beautiful as she was could have." Lotor mumbled.
"If you really believed that you would not have brought her look alike here." Garroth called the serving girl over to bring him a glass of wine. Her demure smile did nothing to entice him, few women could. There was nothing overtly special about the woman, only her youth masking for beauty. He knew his prince wanted better than a firm body and a woman with unyellowed teeth before his departure.
"Psssh. She is just a girl that amused me." Lotor looked up at Garroth, a hint of menace in his eye.
"Yes, my prince. I see amusement but no lust. How long do you think we can hide her from your father before he spots her? I assure you, she will not go unnoticed for long." Garroth said as he considered the vintage before him. Lotor watched as the man almost gingerly inhaled its fragrance...something he would have found to sweet had he done so. Lotor shook his head wondering what it must be like to so critically judge everything one's senses encountered and counted himself a lucky man not to have such a failing. "I am, however, impressed with your plan to hide her among a bevy of beauties. That is what we are doing...is it not? Best to admit that she is a relation, and therefore, he might view her untouchable."
"Do you think that would stop Zarkon?" Lotor sighed.
"Not really, she is your relation not his. Still, out of consideration for your dead mother he might relent. It would cause too much gossip in the court. She is a lovely creature, but looks aside, she is no Althea Carris." The man sighed and moved to leave. "Well, my prince, I must beg your leave as you have presented mw with an unusual assignment. I must say, for once you resemble your father, he also has exotic and exceptional taste in his women." At that remark, Lotor shot Garroth a look that was bordering on homicidal. Garroth shook his head.
"Prince, do not take offense at that statement. It was meant as a compliment. In the end, he possessed the finest jewel on Korrinoth." Garroth bowed deeply as he called the girl over to take his glass.
:And destroyed it." Lotor mumbled back.
"At a great cost to him, I assure you. A lesson best you might learn. These women I provide are more than mere toys for your amusement. A concept few warlords seem to grasp." Lotor noted the slight tinge of venom in the man's voice.
"Yet, you have no problem providing them to the highest bidder. Garroth, al of our hands are stained."
"Tell me, before you leave. What advice did you give Althea that caused him to install her into his chambers.. Lotor alone would not have been enough to cause everything that to happen." Lotor had the girl pour him another glass.
"She managed that herself." Garroth paused and looked at Lotor and gave him a sad smile. "I do not think this knowledge would be helpful to you." Garroth looked at him uneasily. A smirk spread across Lotor's face.
"Humor me. As I have become older I have spent much time trying to dissect happened between them...but all I have to consider it with are the eyes of a child." Lotor leaned forward, intent on the words that came out of the man's mouth.
"They say that you can tell when a man is lying." Garroth said with a sigh followed by a nervous laugh." Do not repeat this to Zarkon, it is worth my head. "I told her to deny him what he wanted most...it was for her to figure out what that was. Your father only lusts for what he cannot have." Garroth shrugged, Lotor noticed the slight shift in his feet. The man would have been far more useful as an intelligence officer rather than the vile career he chose for himself. Lotor say Garroth as useful but thought little of him, he was a man who had no honor. A stink clung to him that no manner of expensive cologne could ever mask. Under the civility was a monster worse than his father.
Lotor looked at the man and wondered how many sordid plots he had insinuated himself into. He was a slick one with the ear of all his well placed girls. He knew all the secrets that his clients let out in the afterglow of passion as they tried to unburden their heavy hearts with some beloved whore they thought they somehow truly possessed because she came with a receipt. Garroth was always buzzing around someone's court...keeping a good eye on his girls. Lotor thought most of the aristocracy was a fool to employ him...but now, he was there bartering with the devil himself.
"It was bad advice in the end." Lotor sat back in his chair. "It may have been her undoing. You were correct. It has no value for me. There is nothing he wants from me." Lotor let out an insane, deep laugh causing Garroth to jump.
"My Lord, you are wrong. He wants the one thing you will never give him." Garroth said with a shrug.
"Enlighten me, and I'll double your fee. You, who are known to be such an excellent judge of the Drule psyche. Tell me that he is desperate for my love and I shall slay you on the spot. It would be a lie" Lotor said with a snort.
"No, that is not what he craves. He wants your forgiveness." Garroth walked over and gathered his well tailored cloak. "Every time he looks at you he sees Althea. It makes no sense...she was human and you were Drule, but it is there in the line of your face and the curve of your lips. It is not love he seeks, he had that from her. It is forgiveness,"
"She never loved him." Lotor screamed as he tossed the wine glass at the man. "She hated every fiber of his being."
"No, Lotor you do. She loved him. I do not know what happened during those last months, but I can tell you that from the time she came back form the Imperial Court pregnant with you to the time that Leannara left, she adored him. Something or someone interfered. There were dark forces at play. Look elsewhere to direct your anger. Put that keen mind I have heard so much about and try to discern the truth from the lies. I want justice for her too. I adored Althea and I miss her horribly."
"Do not tell me you were in love with her too." Lotor threw back her head and sighed.
"I am incapable of loving anyone...that is why I am so valued, but I too was infatuated with Lady Althea." Korrinoth cried when Althea died. I shed a tear or two myself." Garroth headed for the door. "Do not judge Zarkon so harshly, it was not all his fault. I cannot prove it but she had changed during the last year. She was not her right self."
Garroth quickly left wondering why he had said this to the prince. He knew there was a seething warlord under those delicate features. He was no longer looking at a boy but a man in only a few years would be coming into his prime. His mind went back to that final year when the woman that had indeed had caused him to fall under her spell had become irrational and uneasy, even paranoid. He had never detected a mental defect in her, she had a backbone of titanium. His mind went over who had a motive to see her gone and the inalterable conclusion was the witch. He almost wanted to shout it to Lotor, but he woman was as dangerous as she was clever and he had no desire to come under her radar. He was not an honorable man, even for those he claimed that he loved.
Garroth's mind began to focus on the girl that had taken up residence with Lotor at the Keep. She really was an enticing creature. She had Carris written all over her. She looked him straight in the eye with a bearing that screamed fearlessness. They stood there for almost a minute, sizing each other up and he knew as well as she did, what was standing before her. With a merchant's eyes she had totally appraised him and all she was waiting for him to do was speak so she could finish her analysis of what she was up against. He would do his best to give Lotor what he wanted, which seemed to be no more than a companion. He would try to keep her under wraps and away from Zarkon's gaze, if not for the girl or Lotor, but for a long dead friend. He, just like everyone else, could never deny Althea Carris's requests and somehow this had become one of them even though they had been uttered by Lotor, her lotor.. In his head he heard that lilting Arusian accent leaning into him and whispering those words when she wanted some information out of him. He could see her now, the slight tilt of her head as she looked at him with those impossibly colored eyes. Garroth, my dearest, my oldest and truest friend, it is such a little thing I ask. She had taken that Drule phrase and made it her own, because as everyone knew, Althea never asked for anything small.
Garroth slipped into his car and told the driver where he wanted to go...there were certain people he needed to see. Unfortunately, he would have to probably send a transport with some men who would have to go and pillage the Castor region for what he sought. The women, no doubt, would be terrified. He did not like to focus on the image of them being hunted down like animals but that was a dirty part of his business. It was his job to make the terrified captives feel safe again, convince them that he could make it better for them. He would tell them that he could spare them a horrid life as a house slave or the quick, untimely death of a lazon mine worker. He would treat them like gold...providing them with all the comforts that Arus had not seen in more than a decade. And then, he would sell them like livestock...pampered and primmed...but livestock nonetheless. And then, the cruelest act of all, he would pretend to be their friend and confident as he tried to pry the secrets of their sometimes lovers from their lips...their masters putting up with him because his continued interference because of his ability to keep a harem under control was legendary.
The man had taken out a brush and did his best to contain his long, dark hair. He was a vain man and he always wanted to put forth his best appearance, even though the men he was going to see cared not for these things. His fine clothes, expensive colognes, and perfectly manicured appearance were his armor for the ugliness he harbored inside. Even the men he was going to see had no illusions that he could make each and everyone of them disappear in a heartbeat if he deemed them hazardous to his well being. Make no mistake, many warlords and nobles would be happy at his demise, but he did have his uses. He bartered in two things, women and information; the later being more highly valued.
His mind kept wandering back to the day he met Althea Carris. He was not there when she had been dragged into Zarkon's court, though he had heard the account told countless times. A part of him was actually sorry he had not seen it because it was said that for the first time Zarkon was stripped bare of any pretensions. For one moment, he was a smitten schoolboy laid low by a goddess. He had the look of the totally vanquished upon his face when he looked into those luminous eyes and uttered the word that sealed both his and Althea's fates. Another part of him rejoiced that he was not there, it was said that was the only day that Althea ever publicly gave into Zarkon as he threatened the life of the man rumored to be her lover. The thought of the magnificent Althea capitulating to Zarkon made him cringe. He knew she must have behind closed doors, but never in front of the court. It was she that quietly controlled him, this unspoken fact was what kept the nobility in check. It kept her alive, for there was not a nobleman or noblewoman that would have shed a tear for her departure. She was the creature that brought the human hybrids to being one step from the throne. A weak, broken Althea was not one he wanted to even contemplate. It was the last time the court would ever see her as anything less than she was, his equal. She was a queen of the Denubian Galaxy, in spirit if not in title, long before she ever met Zarkon.
His mind went back to that day, or more importantly, that night when he was summoned to Zarkon's chambers to bring her down into his harem. He walked gingerly into his King's bedchambers and his eyes came to the tattered remains of a dress on the floor ripped to shreds by the Drule's claws. He was surprised to find Zarkon lying in bed clearly exhausted and barely speaking above a whisper. Garroth had tried to temper his thoughts as he looked at the figure next to his King, bruised and bloodied. His claws marks raked on her back and he knew if he moved aside her hair he would find at least one set of teeth marks if not more. Zarkon's voice and demeanor was of a man who had recently mated and she had the look of a ravaged human. They were not Drules and took no pleasure in this type of joining, finding it to be nothing sort of torture.
He walked to Zarkon's wardrobe and took out a robe that she would be swimming it and laid it on the bed next to hapless woman. He heard her groan but she said nothing more as he made his way into the bathroom. He rummaged around and brought back a basin with washcloths, some ointments and bandages and carried them to the bedside. At first there was no reaction as he moved to pull away the bed linens that had half-hazardly gathered around her. He was sure the girl had been traumatized by the day's events and was practically catatonic. Instead, a strong and firm hand stopped him cold.
"I am not an invalid." She spoke out in Arusian. She looked up at him with clear, violet shaded eyes which focused on the paraphernalia in his hands.
"I did not mean to imply that you were." He answered back with a stilted accent. The woman shot him a surprised look, almost curious.
"You speak Arusian." She said. It was more of a demand than a question.
"My name is Garroth. I speak many languages. I thought you may need some help. You have been through quite an ordeal." Garroth was thankful that Zarkon could not speak Arusian.
"It was nothing." She said with some confidence in her voice. He gave a small smile. She had already learned the first lesson of Korrinoth, never show any weakness. She sat up and grabbed the robe. "You lie well." He said.
"Arusians are incapable of lying." He was surprised when she mustered up a small smile to add to her response.
"May I use the bathroom?" He nodded and took her wrist, gently leading her to Zarkon's bath. She looked around he noted , for what must be the first time, her eyes noting the workmanship of the luxurious bath. The room was a testament to gold and marble, between the faucets and the gilded ceilings...the room seemed too opulent to perform something as simple as a shower or bath. Later on, she would confess to him that she had grown up in the second richest residence on Arus, and she could not even remember one room in her grandfather's villa that even compared to Zarkon's personal suite. Not even the Castle of Lions, she told him, had such rooms.
"Hiro, I mean the others I was with, what happened to them?" She hesitantly said.
"I do not know." He remembered responding back, studying her intently. Her words already betrayed the truth of her concern for the one that those said seemed to be her mate.
"The king said he would spare their lives if I went with him." She said coldly, the look of a feared miscalculation was apparent on her face. She caught his look and knew she had given too much away. In an instant, a cold iciness descended on her visage.
"If he said he would spare them, he most likely did. He can be generous when the mood suits him. It is a small thing to do and they meant nothing to him. May I ask your name?" He had already known it but he was trying to soften up the conversation. "It is polite to offer it when I have told you mine."
"I am Althea Carris." He smiled at her answer, her tone brimming with assurance when she uttered it. "No other titles of importance, you have the bearing and beauty that marks a noble birth." He said expecting more to follow.
"Not nobility, I assure you. I am from a family of merchants. They have all married for love, not position." The woman said in proud but sad voice.
"Unlike the nobility of your world? I sense tension there." He walked over and turned on the showers.
"They have their failings" She murmured as she dropped the robe and stepped into the shower. He noted that there was no false modesty as she disrobed in front of him. For a moment, he admired her hourglass figure and her perfect shin, the way that her hair cascaded like a waterfall down her back, and the small smirk she gave him as he watched. He also knew that if she had her dithers he would go away and let her have a long deserved cry. He had come up here looking for a distraught, ravished maiden and instead had found a warrior goddess.. He looked her over once again, he had brought Zarkon more classically beautiful women, but none that had such a spirit.
"I am going to step outside, and give you some privacy." He shouted over the water. He stepped out of the bathroom only to hear Zarkon call him over. He sighed to himself, not really wanting to deal with the difficult monarch.
"Are you sure she cannot hurt herself in there?" A slightly weak but concerned voice came out of nowhere.
"My Lord, she is not the suicidal type." He stiffly answered almost insulted that his king would even consider that of her. He shook his head, angered that he was letting is opinion of this woman cloud his interactions with his most prominent client.
"Then what is she? " Zarkon said with a laugh half expecting some deep insight into the woman he had just bedded.
"A bitch." He remembered answering with no humor in his voice.
"I have never heard you call a woman that before." Zarkon laughed softly. The amusement in his previous question slightly tempered by Garroth's tone.
"Because I go out of my way to avoid dealing with them. They do not make good harem girls." Garroth roughly answered. "They don't make good harem material."
"Thalia is a bitch." Zarkon offered up. "She has the other girls running scared.
"No, she is not. She just thinks she is. That one, Althea Carris, is a real one. You should not have mated with her already." Garroth said in a matter of fact voice and looked at Zarkon disapprovingly.
"She was no virgin. She handled it surprisingly well. Most humans would have been sobbing in the corner." Zarkon answered back with a smile.
"Humans handle it better than you think. They take no joy in it but neither are they destroyed by it either. They do not understand it...but it meant something to you and you still have no idea of whom or what you are dealing with." Garroth said with a deathly seriousness causing Zarkon to stiffen up in annoyance,
"You do not know your place. You have no right to judge what I do or who I do it with." Zarkon lifted himself to a full right sitting position and practically shouted back at the man; before collapsing into his bed again.
"She is your first human, they are addictive under the best of circumstances and she is more to than that to you. The whole court heard you utter the word when you saw her. And now this, mark my words, you will lose your soul to that woman. Your desire for her shames you." Garroth threw Zarkon his pants. "Best you send her home or to the mines before it is too late."
"I cannot. The gods speak otherwise, they meant her for me. She will bear me a son." Zarkon looked at Garroth and wondered why he had just confessed this to a man who should be told no secrets.
"I have brought you so many woman and they have all proved incapable of bearing you a child and you think this human, whose genetic capability with our species is so in doubt, will bear you a child. You are insane." Garroth had taken to a divan facing the bed.
"I am not. She will bear me a son. He will be an invincible warrior. You will see." Zarkon slipped on his pants.
"Why did you mate with her? You usually show a little more self-control with your women when they first arrive. It is not like she is in season." Garroth asked more out of curiosity than anything.
"You did not smell the estrogen on her skin. She is fertile right now...of that, I am sure." Zarkon half mumbled out. Garroth did not know if his king said the words to slight him or not, as his majesty well knew, he was incapable of smelling anything. No Drule woman would ever excite him.
"So this is not about sex but procreation." Garroth said with a laugh. Zarkon shot him a glare.
"Yes, it was. Still is." Zarkon mumbled back. "Bring her to the harem...do not treat her any different than the rest. :Let Thalia put her in her place." Zarkon folded his arms behind his bed and smashed his body into the sheets.
"I do not think that is the best course of action but as you wish, so shall it be." Garroth went back into the bathroom. For a moment, he stood there mesmerized by Althea brushing her hair. Another woman who have looked defeated, instead she looked rejuvenated. Her skin glowed and for a moment, the look of sadness that crossed her face, was banished to some far away place. As if she had the ability to compartmentalize her suffering. She even flashed him a smile.
"I hope he does not mind that I borrowed his brush." She said. Garroth recalled just standing there, shaking his head. She had just mated with a warlord. The bandage she had placed on her neck was already turning red as it tried to absorb the blood still welling up. She was acting as if nothing had occurred.
"Are you on birth control?" And for a moment, he saw the color leave her face,
"No...I was not." She said. "Can a Drule get a human pregnant?" She asked in a matter of fact way.
"It has happened." He said. No use in trying to deny it. "Not often, but it has happened."
"And the children, are they normal?" She looked at him, again a hint of worry in her eyes.
"Exquisitely beautiful. The females, in particular, are highly sought after as bedmates." He answered with a smile.
"But not as wives." She shot back.
"No, the children are looked on as less intelligent than an average Drule." He said softly with a smile.
"Is that true?" She said, her eyes stared at him intently.
"Not at all, they just think differently. Our people do not understand humans, that is all." He said with a smile.
"And you do." She said. "Or at least you think you do."
"I thought I did until today Althea Carris. You are a very dangerous human." He took her hand and led her to the door. "We need to become friends."
"Why?" Althea looked at him, already knowing that a bargain was to be made.
"Because you need someone around here and I can always use a friend in high places." He whispered.
"Me, I am just his slave. He made that clear today." She snorted back.
"Slave...hardly. He fell in love with you today. You do not understand. You have conquered Korrinoth. First, let us take you to the doctor. Those scrapes can easily become infected." He softly said. "That's good that you handled him that well...it will not usually be like that."
"Are you telling me it gets weirder than that?" Garroth shot her a look. "It is a sacred thing...do not mock it. "They walked out of his chambers. Some of the passing people and guards shot them, actually her, a strange look as they saw her neck bleed. She did not know why, but she felt she should cover up the wound with her hand as it seemed to be getting much attention and some odd leers.
"I am never leaving here. He is never going to let me go." She said with a sigh.
"You do not know that. He has released several women from his harem, usually with their freedom." He said to her, trying to offer a glimmer of hope.
"Not me. You cannot believe the things he said while we were..." Her voice trailed off. "I hate him." She said. He heard the venom lace her words.
"It was just the madness talking, that is all. Hold your tongue. He will not allow you to disrespect him." Garroth whispered back to her.
"Will I see my friends again?" She whispered.
"No...they will be either sent to the mines or shipped off world. They are as good as dead to you. Mentioning them to him again will only make whatever fate they have in store for them worse. He has no more use for them." He said slowly as they continued down to the infirmary. He was surprised to see Zarkon's witch waiting for them. In her hand, she held an elixir and she told Althea to drink it. He whispered to her that the witch would give the harem girls birth control as she was also the king's lover and wished to bear him heirs. Althea protested but Garroth shook his head no and told her best not to get on her bad side and do as she says. The beautiful witch looked desperate as she drank the bitter mixture, even crestfallen as her heart seemed to be ripped out with every drop that Althea ingested. He heard the witch murmur it is done as she hurriedly left the room. The doctor treated her wounds and Garroth continued the seemingly endless walk back to Zarkon's harem. The guards nodded as they entered and he walked her to a back room. Unlike the suite she had just been in, this room was almost bare save a bed and an armoire. Even her quarters on the ship had been more luxurious.
She sat on the bed until he returned. She commented that he was surprisingly good at judging her size as she slipped on the clothes. She then did something he never expected. She sat down and called him over and placed her head in his lap and cried. She was no longer a proud woman, but a scared teenager. It was not a small cry but one that went on for hours as he gently stroked her still damp hair. It was the cry of someone who had their heart wrenched out and did not know where to place it. It was the cry of a goddess who had lost something incomprehensible. It was epic in nature and it shook him to the core. In that moment, a man who felt no lust or want, fell madly in love not with the person he held on his lap but the overwhelming passion of Althea Carris. She was a force of nature, even in her keening. And then, she stopped.
"I know it sounds hard to believe, but you will forget the man you loved. Time will lessen the pain." He tries to say convincingly.
"Hiro...he was not who I thought he was." She said sadly.' The man who deserves my love would willingly die to keep me from another. He stood there as your king manhandled me. It did not raise a hand or a cry in protest." Althea's lip was stiff as if she was trying to suppress a cry.
"He would have been killed instantly. He had no choice." Garroth spoke reassuringly.
"It did not matter. I am a woman worth dying for. I accepted a fate worse than death so that he could live. He chose wrong. I should have refused the king at least one more time but my heart grew soft." To this day Garroth remembered that look of ice on her face. He had seen her give hundreds of icy glares to Zarkon and the Court but none ever matched this intensity.
"You are a heartless creature, Althea Carris, You will do fine here," Garroth said with a laugh. She did not return an amused look.
"How do I make him fall truly fall in love with me? How do I make him want no other?" Garroth shook his head, not quite understanding what she wanted.
He already is desperate for you, silly girl. You are his lotor. The thing he cannot live without. You already own him body and soul." The man smoothed her hair.
"He denied me my happiness, I want to deny him his. What Zarkon does not know is he has fallen for a terrible person. It was said that I was the most selfish woman on all of Arus." She said with a small laugh. A smirk filled her face as she wiped away at her reddened eyes.
"Were you, my dear?" She nodded. "Selfish enough not to let my companions die today. It was my greatest sin to date." Her words fell softly around her like a shawl, a veil to hide her perceived sin.
And to this day, Garroth thought, I am the only one who knows why Althea Carris refused to marry King Zarkon. She denied him the one thing that would have made him truly happy, to call her his wife. The one thing he could not make her do. The entire Court, including Zarkon, thought it was in respect to her lost love but she had already buried him with little fanfare. What love she had for him died during that long cry, It had become apparent to Garroth that she had felt her sacrifice had been in vain. Part of her, he was sure w, wanted to die with him at her side, and he had somehow disappointed her. He became some sort of unworthy coward to be despised, not loved. Garroth mused that after she had fallen in love with the Demon King, she somehow tortured him with the memory of her Hiro – the man she should have married. In the end, she got her wish He paid dearly for what he had stolen from her that day. Zarkon's mourning for his lost Queen had surpassed anything she had felt on that day, his passion even greater than hers and unlike the Ice Queen he had no where to put it. Truly, the gods had cursed them both.
The glider stopped before an immense mansion that rivaled any warlord's. the gates opened and soon he was ushered into an office. He was here to make arrangements. The man in the chair was the foremost flesh peddler in human exotics. He could easily produce a few high class specimens now and then, he would send a hunting party to Arus to secure the rest. His fees came high but who better than a human to trick the girls into capture. The man was tall for a human, standing well over six feet, with a startling smile and boyish looks that made him seem more an angel than the monster he was. He could have long made his escape from Doom; but the likes of him flourished in the underbelly of Korrinoth society. It had made the man rich beyond his wildest dreams and he took no shame in the dishonor of his career as a professional kidnapper, slaver and rapist. He was a cruel and sadistic man and most of the women that he released to Garroth were grateful to their deliverance. Garroth looked him over; thankful that Althea had died shortly before his name became well known in certain circles.
"Garroth, what brings you here?" The man leaned over, flashing his wolfish smile. "You usually avoid my wares."
"A client has a special request. Hw would like fourteen attractive human blonds, preferably Arusian." Garroth said. His voice seemed anything but pleased when he delivered the request.
"Even though they are my specialty, I do not keep that many on hand. It will require a hunting expedition. Can he pay?" Garroth nodded as the eager man returned a cruel smile.
"He has the resources." A cold tingle passed down Garroth's spine. This man was the worse slaver in the quadrant.
"Well, it has been some time since I visited home. I can get together a team in two weeks. I require 75% of my fee up front for such a job." The man slipped a bank account number over the desk. "You know the routine. I have some choice girls for you to look over now I do not think your client will be disappointed. I certainly enjoyed them. I assure you, I thoroughly broken them in." The man got up and motioned Garroth to follow.
"You always do, Hiro. You were never very good at leaving the merchandise alone." Garroth grumbled.
"Let's face it, that is all women are good for anyway. Even the great Althea Carris was no more than merchandise in the end. "When I first went after her I was looking to get my claws into the Carris wealth, who would have thought it would have lead me to all of this with no ring on my hand. Lucky I got to escape that bitch, she would have made my life a living hell. You know, there were times, I actually pitied Zarkon for having been stuck with her." The man said with a laugh. "Though she did have one or two redeeming qualities if you know what I mean." The childish grin re-emerged on the man's face. He looked oddly at the Drule who was doing his best to keep a growl supressed.
"Oh I forgot, you two were friends. I meant no disrespect, Althea was quite a girl in her own way. I just found her a bit too demanding at times."
"She was not particularly thrilled with you either." Garroth responded.
"I beg to differ, they say she was heartbroken at my demise. But I cannot say that I regretted her death. My niche was not exactly possibly until she met her untimely fate, was it? Zarkon had outlawed human slavery while she lived....hence my own freedom. And he kept his hands off of Arus too in deference to his Queen. So as long as Althea lived, my hands were tied as far as developing my boutique services." At that he opened a door and presented a room of chained, scantily clad females.
"Garroth, does anything interest you?" Garroth looked at Hiro and sighed. Althea Carris never did have much luck with men that chose to love her.
In the prince's residence, known as The Keep, a young man sat on the floor with a younger girl. In his hands was a pad as he kept making her repeat common Drule phrases. He happily noted that she was a quick learner and had a facility for the difficult, harsh tones of his people. A few times he reached over and touched her hair and sighed. It was so much like his mother's but she seemed uncomfortable as he did so and would quickly pull back his hand. In a few days he would be gone and she would have to learn to navigate Drule without him; he shook his head and worried what he had been thinking. He shood have been in his chambers making love to the serving girl. She seemed more than willing as she poured his wine all day; instead he was sitting up all night with this girl knowing that Garroth would find her an acceptable tutor. But in all honesty, he preferred the girl's company to another fruitless night of rutting with a stranger. He laughed at his preference. Garroth was right, he was totally insane.