Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
“Yes, of course.” He nodded and he and Phoebe followed the other male as he led them through the large, high-ceilinged entryway.
They walked down a broad corridor and came at last to another set of double doors. Y’sfer opened them with a flourish and motioned Sirex inside.
“Please enter. I will introduce you to Lord Thruck.”
The Grand Salon of the palace was a vast room where everything—including the ceiling, the walls, and the floors—seemed to be made of gold. The ceiling was two stories high and the second story was all windows. Red sunlight flooded through them, making the burnished golden floor look like a pool of blood.
Scattered around the area were various richly upholstered couches and chairs. Males from many different planets were seated on these and all of them had females kneeling at their feet. The women were wearing the same kind of clothing and harness that Phoebe had on, though Sirex couldn’t help noticing that many had dispensed with the clothing and were just wearing their harnesses.
It was quite a display of mostly naked female flesh, but Sirex wasn’t tempted to ogle any of them. His attention was immediately fixed on the enormous Trollox at the far end of the room.
Lord Thruck was just as Lady Scornfoot had described him. He was also ten feet tall and grotesquely muscular. Two heads sat on his shoulders—but only one looked normal. Well, normal for a Trollox anyway, Sirex amended to himself. It had two small, piggy eyes, a snout-like nose, and a wide lipped mouth from which two curving tusks protruded.
The other head clearly had something wrong with it. Its hair was long and snarled and it had three eyes—two in the normal areas and one in the center of its broad forehead. This third eye was sunken and surrounded by wrinkles—it was closed at the moment, as though it was taking a nap. The rubbery lips sagged and a silver line of drool was coming from between the twisted tusks of the second head’s mouth. It looked deranged to Sirex but he remembered that Lady Scornfoot said it could be discounted since it only spoke nonsense.
The Trollox’s enormous body was clothed in a golden brocade coat with a ruff of fluffy white lace at the thick throat and tight velvet breeches which ended at the knees and looked ridiculous—at least to Sirex. His hairy, muscular calves were visible and the shoes he was wearing on his giant feet looked like they were meant to be dainty pink slippers—though either one would have been big enough to make shoes for three regular sized males.
The Trollox’s normal head—the one with only two eyes—looked up and saw Sirex studying it. He gestured with one huge paw-like hand, and said,
“New guests! Come forward,” in a surprisingly high voice for such an enormous male.
“Ah, Lord Thruck is beckoning to you. Come, I’ll introduce you to him,” Undersecretary Y’sfer said eagerly.
Sirex took his arm from around Phoebe and led her with the leash, since that was what he saw a few of the other males doing. They walked the length of the Grand Salon and Sirex was aware that all eyes were on them. Well, except for the eyes in the Trollox’s deranged head—the middle eye was still “asleep” and the two on either side of it rolled wildly, not appearing to see anything at all.
“Come, come—don’t be shy,” the Trollox said when they got near. “Y’sfer, do introduce us to this new friend.”
“My Lord Thruck, this is Sirex,” the Undersecretary said, bowing. “He comes from the K’lix system and claims to have valuable wormhole technology to sell.”
“Is that right? How very interesting!” The sane head looked at Sirex eagerly. “We are certain the Shining One would be interested in such technology. Can you give us a demonstration?”
“I’m afraid that I can only give a demonstration for the Emperor,” Sirex said firmly. “I’m told that you are the person to ask for a Royal Audience with him?”
“Yes, that’s correct.” Lord Thruck frowned. “However, many males wish for an audience—in fact, almost everyone here is hoping to meet with the Shining One.” He nodded at the males—many of them from alien species—sitting around on the couches. “In order to see the Emperor, you must formally request a Royal Audience.”
“I see.” Sirex nodded. “In that case, I am formally requesting a Royal Audience right now.”
The Trollox’s normal head nodded.
“Very well—then we will formally appraise you. Let us see your female—bring her forward,” it ordered.
“Phoebe, come!” Sirex gave the metal leash attached to the three-point harness a little tug, which caused Phoebe to utter a little gasp as she came quickly forward.
“Clothing off,” Thruck said, sounding impatient. “We can’t evaluate her properly with anything in the way.”
“I don’t see what my female has to do with my offer to sell your Emperor valuable, one of a kind wormhole tech,” Sirex growled. He didn’t like the idea of the big Trollox looking at Phoebe’s lush curves. It wasn’t that he feared Thruck would want her for himself—for some reason, he didn’t strike Sirex as that kind of threat. But there was something in those yellow, beady eyes he didn’t like.