Children of Steel (45 page)

"That guy must be from one of the noble
families," He said, "A sure sign of power that he can spend so much
on his pet, huh?"

"I think he's got pretty good taste in women
if you ask me!" I replied looking her over. She had noticed me at
that point, and favored me with a lazy smile. "Yep, definitely has
good taste in women," I mumbled.

"You ever sleep with a Jaguar?" Asked Mist
coming up from behind.

"No, why'd you ask?"

"Well," she giggled, "I think tonight’s your
chance."

I looked back at the large litter that had
been bearing the lovely Jag in question, and I saw that she was
talking to her Master and gesturing in our direction. A moment
later, he turned to one of the Monkeys in his entourage, and sent
him our way.

"Greetings Sir" he started out bowing to me.
I noticed that he was better dressed than any of the other primates
I’d seen so far tonight and sported some modest jewelry as well.
"The Lord Hyberius has asked me to invite you to his townhouse
tonight, that you should come as guests to his party for the local
Lords of the city."

"Does that include my friend's as well?" I
asked looking back at the litter.

"Yes," he smiled, "even the Possum. Hyberius
is by no means a man who is skimpy in his largesse."

I smiled at him, and then back at my new
friend on the litter, as it started off again down the street. She
smiled back and I gave her a small bow.

"What is the name of that most lovely
creature at his feet?" I asked turning back and getting into the
act.

"That is Helena, my Master's favorite among
his prizes."

He said the last without any inflection
whatsoever. "What do you think of him? And his prize's?" I
asked.

He looked around to see who might be
listening, "He is a good master to me, I have a good position and
may one day be able to buy my freedom. His prizes are pampered
pets, and I think you're going to be doing, and getting, some
serious pampering tonight."

"Sounds fine to me!" I laughed, "Lead on and
show us where this party is."

We all followed him then, as he led us
through the winding streets to the wealthy section of town. As we
progressed through the streets I noticed that not only did the
quality of the buildings improve, but the size of the blocks they
were made from got larger as well. Traffic decreased some, though
the streets were still fairly busy when we got there. From the
outside the townhouse was huge, cut from granite and marble blocks
that must have weighted several tons apiece, with an interior that
was unbelievably lavish. Gold, silver, and gems decorated
everything, along with tapestries of the finest silks artfully
displayed in a wide variety of colors. The floors appeared to be
made of some very fine wood, those that were not covered in rich
carpets.

"Let me take your things for you," our guide
told us, "Would you like them delivered to your ship?"

Everybody agreed to that, and we gave him our
packages.

"Oh, by the way," I asked before he left,
"What is your name anyway?"

"Bill," he said smiling, "Can you believe
that?"

"Actually, no." I said smiling back, "I'm
Raj, this is Mist and Lyle, and the Possum is my friend Rudy."

We all exchanged greetings, then he left us
for a moment to take care of our things. He was back in less than a
minute and led us to an inner courtyard that was also huge, and as
lavish as everything else we had seen so far. Again there were fine
silks everywhere, fine decorations covered with precious metals and
gemstones, tiled fresco walkways winding around small display
gardens and pools. Once there he brought us before his Lord and
introduced us as we all gave our best bows.

"Thank you for gracing my humble house," he
replied magnanimously, "feel free to enjoy the party, and even to
spend the night if you wish." I could have sworn he was smiling at
me when he said that last.

We thanked him for his hospitality, then
quickly left his presence before we out stayed our welcome. Besides
he seemed busy being introduced to the other guests that were
arriving.

We looked around at the lavish surrounding's,
there were several bars set up in the courtyard and we naturally
gravitated towards one of those. The available refreshments turned
out to be quite a long list. I started smoking something the
bartender recommended, and drinking a nice mild beer, that appeared
to have some sort of mild stimulant in it.

Needless to say, in a very short time we were
all very comfortable and feeling no pain. I began to wander around,
to see if I could find Helena, when suddenly I felt her come up
from behind.

"Why hello," I said turning to face her. "I'd
like to thank you for getting us invited to this lovely party."

"The pleasure is all mine," she purred
smiling at me. "My name is Helena, and I belong to the House of
Hyberious."

"I'm Raj Rakir," I replied giving a small
bow, "And I guess you could say that I belong to the Tri-Star
Mining and Manufacturing Company." I noticed she was giving me a
good look over, and I decided to return the favor. She was still
wearing a lot of gold and gems, though not as much as she had been
on the street. She was in absolutely perfect physical condition,
obviously she didn't lie around all day. "Do you like what you
see?"

"Very much," she replied smiling. "I have
never seen a leopard as big as yourself before."

"And I've never seen a jaguar with so much
jewelry." I smiled back.

"It is mostly for show, though some of the
pieces that I wear outside are more functional."

"Really?" I asked, "They obscure your obvious
charms."

"Yes, they are actually light armor. You see
I am actually my Master's bodyguard."

"Well, he has excellent taste in his defenses
I'll admit."

"He prefers beauty to brawn," she said with a
wink, leading me back to the table at which my friends were
sitting.

"And distracts would be attackers from your
actual purpose?"

"Sometimes, the rest think I am inept because
I am a female, and a pampered pet at that."

We came to the table then and I made
introductions all around as I seated her at the table.

"Thank you Raj," she said smiling warmly up
at me. I got the distinct impression I was going to have a very
enjoyable, if sleepless night.

"So how do you like our humble little
planet?" she asked us.

"Well, one thing's for sure," laughed Rudy,
"This townhouse is anything but humble! As for the planet, it's a
little hot, but not too bad."

"If you could see my master's estate, you
would call this humble, believe me." She moved her chair closer to
mine.

"Just who is Hyberious anyway?" Asked Mist,
"We just got in today, and we weren't here very long last time.
Those of us who've been here before that is."

"My master is the First Cousin to the King,
and his closest advisor as well." She smiled at us again, and I
could feel her hands moving along my thighs.

"Boy talk about moving in the higher
circles!" Said Lyle laughing. "Looks like we stumbled into the big
time tonight.

I thought about that myself and wrapped my
tail around Helena's waist, who had by now undone my shorts. As she
wasn't wearing anything that passed for clothes either, I really
didn't mind. I looked over at her and smiled. "I'm not going to get
in trouble for indecent exposure am I?"

"Don't worry; there isn't any nudity taboo,
especially among animen."

"I'm not worried about that," I smiled, "It's
what your hands are continuing to do that has me nervous."

"I don't think I'd worry about that if I were
you Raj," Said Lyle grinning, and nodding towards the rest of the
party. I turned to look.

The party was going fairly well now, more
than well actually as several people were obviously, if a little
discretely, making love in the shadows by some of the other
tables.

"I thought orgies were a Roman thing," I
muttered turning back to the others.

"Who care's?" said Mist laughing, "We're on
leave, let's enjoy it!" She then climbed into Lyle's lap facing
him, as I could see both of their shorts on the floor, I had a good
idea what she was planning on. Any further discussions were cut
short by Helena doing the same to me.

Eventually, we did move to a secluded area,
namely her quarters, once her Master retired. She was quite strong,
not as strong as Rasha or myself, and had a lot of stamina. I had a
truly enjoyable time and from the sounds she was making, I think
she did too.

I woke the next day, when a servant brought
us breakfast, more like lunch actually as it was about one.

"I've never been served in bed before," I
told her as I started in on the first course, there appeared to be
several. "Except in the hospital maybe, but that doesn't
count."

"Really? Its quite enjoyable, I do it as
often as I can." she speared a chunk of meat off the platter with
one of her claws, which judging from the scratches on my back, she
kept much sharper than most cats.

"What's it like being a ..." I stopped and
tried to think of a better word.

"Pet?" she supplied, "I like it actually. I
have a wonderful Master, who gives me everything I want," she
looked at me and slowly smiled. "I live a life of luxury, I go
everywhere he does, get the best training around, and can legally
kill anybody who lays a hand on him. I'm allowed only to shred
those who touch me, unless they're a peasant of course."

"You like fighting?" I asked curious, I had
always thought Jags were more laid back then that.

"Of course, don't you?" she looked at me
strangely.

"Don't look at me like that!" I laughed,
"Everybody always tells me I like it too much, I've gotten into a
lot of trouble for fighting."

"Are you any good?" she asked, giving me an
appraising eye.

"Better than you!" I smiled.

"Oh?" and she attacked me right there.

It was an interesting fight, I'll say that
much. The sheets and blankets of the bed worked to entangle me at
first, she obviously had fought in bed before, but I had trained a
little with nets, which were much worse. I held her off until I got
clear, then spent a lot of time parrying and blocking. After all, I
didn't want to hurt her too bad. Or get badly hurt myself.

She on the other hand held nothing back, and
eventually I decided to get serious myself, after getting hit with
a good kick to the ribs. The fight ended when I got her pinned to
the floor face down. Of course that started something else and I
told the servant to leave at that point.

Later on, we were down at the kitchen getting
some more food to make up for that which was presently splattered
all over the walls of her room.

"You are pretty good," she admitted as we sat
and ate.

I harumped at her, "I'm the best."

"Modest too." she chuckled.

"Don't forget good looking."

"What about smart?" she laughed.

"Can't have everything." I deadpanned.

"How long are you going to be in port for?"
she asked, standing up and stretching. It was very lovely to watch,
especially the way the light played on the gems in her
armbands.

"Six more days, why?" I got up as well;
looking around to make sure the room we had been eating in was
empty.

"I thought you might prefer to spend them
with me," she said rubbing up against me.

"Sounds like a plan," I gave her a kiss, and
then made very good use of the couch I had noticed in the back of
the room. After all this
was
leave.

I found out later that day that the others
had gone back to the ship earlier that morning. The last thing I
had remembered about Rudy was seeing him with two rather pretty
ladies, a fox and a human. I really wish I knew how he did it!

That day was quite enjoyable. I found out
that the locals usually stayed inside and took naps during the heat
of the noon day. The evening was when the city really came alive,
and after piling me down with a good twenty pounds of jewelry, I
got to accompany Hyberious as he made his daily rounds. I felt a
little sorry for the litter bearers at first, but Helena told me
not to worry, the total weight only came to about eighty pounds
each.

I was quite impressed to be allowed to go,
and lying on the litter in expensive jewelry sans shorts, next to
Helena at her Master's feet was actually kind of fun. She hadn't
been kidding about the gold though. Some of it was actually just
gold platted armor, I could deflect a knife or worse with the arm
or leg bands quite easily. Some of the other items fulfilled very
typical combat purposes as well; they were just made to look like
they didn't.

That first night we accompanied him as he
went on a combined shopping/publicity trip. At least I guess it was
publicity. We would go to places that were full of obviously
important people, and he would shake hands and talk with many of
the locals. I noticed that Helena would act very affectionate
towards him at these times, always seeming to just be fawning, but
actually keeping too many people from getting too near at once. And
always ready to deflect a reaching hand. It was a good technique
and after watching her for a while, I decided to do my best to
mimic it as well. It was really kind of fun, like a game.

"Ah Raj," Hyberious said quietly, smiling
after we left that particular place, "I see you learn very quickly
indeed."

"Well actually, it's kind of fun."

"You see Master?" Purred Helena, "I told you
he'd be worth bringing along!"

"Yes the people will be quite impressed to
see me so obviously in the favor of the Cat god? Hmmmm?" he said
smiling.

I suddenly saw the other big advantage of
this style; the people would see him being fawned over and figure
that he was in very good with the Gods indeed. I could easily
understand why he was the King's favorite advisor.