The Mutant World (48 page)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
LORD TERRENCE
MOVES TO PLAN B

T
he great chamber became so quiet at this that you could have heard a pin drop. The empress and High Lord were speechless. Lady Lana fell down before them and quickly began to relate the events of the night Miko was taken. Watching from a distance with the horrified Barratians, Lord Terrence was secretly thrilled. The bastard had succeeded in undermining the alliance of Barrat and the empire without directly bringing blame on the king or the nation itself. He had saved everyone also by stopping the prince from spurning the princess in favor of that human slave. He had done the council and hardliners a favor as well by bringing down all the heat on himself and fleeing one step ahead of the hangman never to return on pain of death. No doubt the Princess would turn up eventually after the bastard was well ahead of any possible pursuit, but it was genius. Lord Terrence believed correctly that Lord Jawara had planned it all for the reasons just mentioned, willing making himself the focus of the Illyrian’s wrath, not the nation. Princess Sandra had begged to come and be allowed to intercede for her brother. Elder Terrence had allowed this simply to frustrate and thwart Stragg, who was betrothed to the girl even though it was no secret that she despised him. At any rate, Barratia was saved and all was perfect. But even Terrence didn’t realize that Jawara had actually bonded with the big Illyrian and her with him. When Lady Lana had finished all was still quiet. Anything could happen now. Would it mean war after all of this?

There was a long agonizing moment of silence.

“Empress,” said a very distressed Roc, “I…I swear that this deed will be punished and immediately! Are you sure it was Lord Jawara?” asked the agonized Roc, looking at Lana and the others. The girl nodded.

“It was he, Your Highness. He carried her off into the night, but…but well…,”

“I will return home immediately!” cried Roc. “I will rescue the princess myself and punish…,” Roc’s voice trailed off as he noticed the empress looking at him trying to hold back a smile. Then she gave up and laughed merrily.

“Rescue her,” said Beral III. “How honorable, but I don’t think that will be necessary.”

“I don’t understand,” said King Roc. Then he became angry. “Do you imply that I would not do my best to bring your daughter home?! Do you…,”

“Calm yourself, Cousin,” said Lord Talos smiling.

“Tell me again what happened,” said Beral, now looking at one of the princess’s guards.

“He burst into our compartments semi-transformed in half-cat form,” said the man. “He was over eight feet tall. We attacked at once, but our blades made no real impact on his flesh. He then threw us around like children.”

Bellasaris and Gorgo looked at each other and then at the empress and her mate. “This sounds like no common warrior,” said Bellasaris. “Indeed, he has all the markings of one of yours,” she said, looking at Cato who nodded.

“Then what happened?” said Beral.

“Then the princess came out of her private chambers. She hadn’t been feeling well lately. You see, her suppressants were no longer effective. I…We believe she has bonded with Prince Tidor, but he…Well, she was in a very bad mood and was now armed and fully transformed. Lord Jawara confronted her and ordered her to come with him, but she refused. For some reason he then returned to human form and then so did she. I assume that she didn’t want to really harm him and by doing this hoped that he would…”

“No. She couldn’t hold the form,” laughed Gorgo. “A body of stone is useful for many things…but not one. She was in heat, so when this Jawara person appeared her body reacted accordingly. If
Tidor
was the one she was truly bonded to that would not have happened.”

“Prince Tidor was the one she was actively pursuing, Elder,” said the guard. “She only met with Lord Jawara once. Mostly they simply greeted each other in passing. That is all. It
must
have been Tidor she was in heat for.”

Gorgo chuckled and said, “It would seem to
me
that her body was more honest than she was.” The guard looked puzzled by this.

“Go on,” said the empress. Already many of the kings and queens were smiling and nudging one another.

“Well,” continued the guard. “Lord Jawara was determined. Again he commanded her to come to him. When she again refused he began to approach her. I…We thought they would fight, but then the princess threw down her weapon and fled. The Barratian caught her and then ran off with her. He fought his way out of the building and…”

“Wait. Are you telling me,” said High Lord Talos, “that this man snatched up
my
daughter, and in
human
form. And with a struggling mutant woman of her size, strength and
weight
in one arm, fought his way out of a building full of mutant warriors with only one free hand
running?!”

“Yes, my lord,” said the miserable man.

Talos looked sternly at the terrified man for a moment and then threw back his head and roared with laughter.

“King Roc,” said Beral III grinning at the Barratian King, “no one could have carried off my daughter single handedly if she truly didn’t want to go, certainly not with so many
others
barring his way as well.”

“Still,” said Cato looking at Roc, “no common mutant could have done this deed. Who is this man?”

King Roc, Lady Ayala and Prince Pantherus could not meet his eyes. Roc dropped to his knees and his mate and son followed.

“Lord Jawara is my eldest son, Great Ancestor,” said Roc.

“Your eldest son?” said Cato. “Then he
is
of my bloodline as we surmised. So he is really ‘Prince’ Jawara?”

“No,” said Roc. The other rulers looked at one another.

“Why?” said the empress. “What flaws did he have that he should be denied his birthright?!”

“The condition of his birth,” said Roc. “He is a bastard.”

“His mother was human?!” said Gorgo in disgust.

“No!” said Roc quickly and firmly. “His mother was a mutant, but from a tribe we defeated in battle far to the west of us. I took her captive and we…Well, the law forbids any warrior woman taken to be freed once collard. The council of elders would not allow me to free her and make her my mate. Later, she gave birth to Jawara. When I did not defy the council and acknowledge our son and make him my heir, I became despised in her eyes, thus breaking the bonding.”

“It sounds as though he struggled hard in life,” said Cato with sympathy.

“I did raise him up as far as I could under the law,” said Roc. “And he rose higher still by his own deeds. I have always been proud of him and so has his siblings. Were it not for the laws of Barrat, he would have been a worthy, no, exceptional heir and mighty king. But alas, there were many men of very high position who were against this. I could not risk civil war over him.”

“I would have,” said Talos. “You say he has risen high in your country?”

“He has holdings of his own now,” said Roc with pride, “and his mother lives in his house, a free woman. Many of the lords in Barrat disapprove of him, so I gave him lands on our frontier. Since he was given lands there, the raids by the western tribes have been checked considerably. He has served the kingdom nobly and well.”

Angrily, one of the Barratians spoke. “My king gives him too much credit. He flouts our laws and does as he pleases out there on the frontier! Ruling his lands almost as his own nation! He didn’t even bring Queen Shanis back in chains! Instead he made a peace treaty with her in the name of the king that now by our honor we all must keep! Now he does this!”

“Silence, dog!” snapped Terrence. “It is not your place to speak!”

The empress and the other female members of the royal family asked Lady Lana to open her mind to them that they might see this Lord for themselves. They then did the same with the slave Sasha and Princess Sandra. Not everything in their minds was given over to the empress and other high women freely, as would be expected. Indeed, Princess Sandra had much she didn’t want known widely about her brothers and defended this knowledge against them…mostly, but what they saw was enough.

“Impressive!” said Bellasaris. “I see now why Miko fell for him.”

“What? You mean it’s true?” said Roc. He looked at Lord Terrence who was also surprised by this.

“Yes,” said Beral III. “Miko’s logic chose Tidor as the best choice for her mate because of his status. It was a conscious and politically correct choice. However, her subconscious mind and most importantly, her body, chose Jawara. No offense to Prince Tidor, but Jawara IS the superior choice in all but birth status, which doesn’t mean shit here. His mother was a mutant. That’s all we need know. From what I saw in Lana’s mind, Jawara has bonded with Miko as well. Whatever his real motives were,” said the empress, looking at Sandra, “he completely lost all control after confronting my daughter face to face.”

“Did your people pursue them?” asked King Roc, looking at Terrence. “What of his retainers? I know he didn’t come to Dinos alone.”

“He had planned the deed well, Sire,” said Terrence. “Most of his slaves and vassals had left the city two days earlier without much fanfare or fuss. Only his two slave pets, Roxanne and Carrie remained and by the time of the attack they too had fled. But not before incapacitating the gate guards and making sure the way was clear for their master.” Terrence sighed. “It is now obvious that they were mutants and more than just his sex-toys. It would seem that the bastard has taken it upon himself to break another law of Barrat and has taught women to fight.”

Bellasaris laughed.

“We have to find them,” said Talos, “or we may never see our daughter again. Well, at least not for a few hundred years.”

“I agree,” said Beral III. “I have no doubt that Prince Jawara is planning to head beyond the western borders of your domain and set himself up somewhere.” The empress quickly sent out her mind to the other queens and female elders assembled.
“My daughter may have dropped the ball in one area, but she was absolutely right in another. Tidor is a fool and a pervert! Imagine, spurning my daughter for a human! Did the fool think that we would let such an insult stand? Jawara is as wise as he is noble. We can’t let a man like that, especially one of Cato’s bloodline, escape to Goddess only knows where and found himself a kingdom independent of us. We would lose a priceless jewel for ourselves and be faced with a formidable rival somewhere down the line. Miko will never be able to control him herself so far away from the empire. I think we already know who the dominant one is in that house!”

“Fortunately,”
said Bellasaris,
“we still have time to catch up to them before they get too far. Both youngsters are caught in the fever. The only thing they’re thinking of now is mating. We’ll have to catch them and bring them back here as soon as possible. If they get over the Barratian border into lands unknown to us it may be too late.”

“King Roc’s warriors could be on the job immediately,”
said Gorgo, looking at Roc,
“if we teleported him…”

“I want Jawara brought directly to Illia
,” said the empress.
“Not Dinos, not Newport, but directly to Illia. I will make this clear.”
Beral III then looked at the Barratian king, who was busy questioning Elder Terrence. “King Roc,” she said.

The Barratian king looked up quickly, the entire room was buzzing at this new development. Many were shocked by this revelation that a prince of the high bloodline would be labeled a bastard. Many were even more shocked at this because of his obvious superior abilities.

“Yes, Cousin,” said Roc.

“I am surprised and disappointed in you for hiding this boy and treating him in this way,” said the empress. “But, since you and your people don’t want him…please go and bring him to me before he escapes to some impossible place with my daughter. As soon as the humans are properly seen off I will be going back to Illyria. I will expect to see him delivered to me at my capital. I want him unharmed of course. Have no fear. In the empire he will be given all the honors that are his birthright.” The empress chuckled. “He already has my daughter, after all. Oh, and with your permission, I would like for your eldest child to remain among us for a time as well. I understand that she is having difficulty in finding a mate who fills all of her requirements.”

“I have chosen a mate for her already, Cousin,” said Roc. “He is a chief among our people and the only warrior strong enough for the task. The betrothal has alrea-,”

“Been broken!” said Sandra with finality. “I despised the man from the start, but you listened to Elder Terrence and chose him anyway!”

“He was the only man strong enough to be your mate in Barrat!” growled King Roc. “I dislike his ways as well, but I’m counting on you to be able to keep him in line! So…”

“No one can keep that animal in line,” said Sandra with a toss of her head. “He has disgraced the Barratian people with his underhandedness and cowardice.”

Quickly Elder Terrence told of what happened on the night of the welcoming feast for the Illyrian Princess and his shameful behavior and ignoble defeat.

“I wouldn’t accept that swine now,” said Princess Sandra, “even if you gave me a choice of marriage or death!”