Part 26 (2/2)
Salix held up a hand to stop him.
”She already has.”
”What? How?” Sylvan demanded.
”It seems that Maggie has a protector-a male slave she helped escape right out from under Lady Pope'nose's...well, nose.” Salix grinned, clearly amused. ”Anyway, he came looking for her and found out what her ladys.h.i.+p had done. According to one of her other slaves, he cornered Lady Pope'nose and made her tell him everything.”
”And?” Sylvan prompted.
Salix shrugged. ”And then they both disappeared. I don't know what happened to Pope'nose but nothing pleasant, I'm sure. As for the escaped slave, I'm pretty sure I'll find his trail at the Flesh Bazaar.”
”Isn't anyone mounting a rescue mission for Lady Pope'nose?” Sylvan asked.
Salix shrugged again. ”You'd think so, as rich as she is. But apparently she's a nasty piece of work-none of her slaves were too sad to see her go and all of her 'friends' seem content to wring their hands and talk about how awful it is that she disappeared without actually doing anything about it.”
”You think he killed her?” Sylvan asked directly.
”Who knows? It's possible-he was none too happy with her for what she did to Maggie and he's not a male you'd want to meet in a dark alley.”
”How so?” Sylvan asked.
”Korexiroth-The Demon as he was known in his time on the Blood Circuit-is an eight level felon. He killed his own master which is why he was sentenced to death. Pope'nose bought him instead and held him for a good long time before Maggie helped him escape. I would consider him extremely dangerous.”
”But Maggie didn't-or she wouldn't have helped him escape,” Sylvan said thoughtfully. ”Do you think he has her best interests at heart?”
”Hard to say,” Salix said blandly. ”I guess I'll find out-my guess is that when I find him, I'll find her.”
”All right, very good.” Sylvan nodded at the bounty hunter. ”Keep following the trail-oh, and do you have the long distance transmitter I sent?”
”I do.” Salix patted his pocket. ”Right here.”
”Good. Maggie's family is standing by-I want them to be able to talk to her as soon as you find her. Call me again when you find out what happened at the Flesh Bazaar.”
”Will do, Commander.” Salix gave him an overly elaborate salute that bordered on sarcastic and one last, mocking grin before the viewscreen went dark.
Sylvan sighed and stood there for awhile, thinking. He didn't like having to use Salix but he had to admit that so far it had paid off. The male had come closer to finding Maggie than anyone else and that was saying something.
Sylvan was glad about that-he felt personally responsible for the little Earth female as he had been one of the Council members who voted to let her go on her mission to Gaia in the first place. He had also been in constant contact with her family and her fiance for months-although honestly, her parents seemed much more worried and distraught than the male who was going to join with her. Sylvan hoped to give them all good news soon.
”Please, G.o.ddess, let her be found. And let her be whole and well, unharmed by what has befallen her,” he prayed softly. ”She is in your hands now-do not let her come to harm.”
Chapter Twenty-six.
”Why do you want me to wear this?” Maggie came out of the bedroom, walking carefully in the tight black leather clothing Kor had found for her at the back of Lady Pope'nose's closet. The top was a black bustier that cupped her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s lovingly. On the skinny Lady Pope'nose, the cups might have covered her nipples. Maggie was better endowed, however, and her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s were spilling out of the cups, her nipples completely on display.
A pair of leather, crotchless panties that barely covered the top of her mound and left her p.u.s.s.y lips completely bare went with the bustier and high black leather boots completed the outfit. It made her look like a G.o.ddess as far as Kor was concerned-he got hard just looking at her like this. But he wasn't sure how Maggie would feel about it-especially once he told her where she was going to have to wear it.
”Well?” she said, putting a hand on her hip. ”Because I know you wanted me to wear clothes with easy access but this is downright obscene. It's like the outfit I had on in that tree dream times ten.”
”I need you to wear those clothes because this is our last day in this s.h.i.+p,” he said, sitting down on the couch to admire her better. The past solar week that he'd spent just being close to the little female had been the best of his life. He was reluctant to see it end but it was necessary to keep going if they were going to get the implant out of her.
”What? Why? Are we at the Maw Cl.u.s.ter already?” Maggie walked carefully across the living area, only wobbling a little in the black leather boots, and sat down in his lap without being asked. With a little sigh, she snuggled against his chest. G.o.ds, she was so warm and soft and sweet-Kor loved the way she fit against him, almost as though they were made for each other. And the way the bustier pushed up her full b.r.e.a.s.t.s and put her tight pink nipples on display was almost too hot to stand. He s.h.i.+fted, trying to make more room for his c.o.c.k in the tight leather pants he wore.
”Afraid so,” he said. ”But from here we have to find a way to get to the Dragon's Mouth.” He slipped a hand into the half-cup bustier and palmed her breast, thumbing the tight little point of her nipple. Maggie moaned softly and pressed her breast more fully into his hand.
”How...how do we do that?” she asked a bit breathlessly. ”And why can't we just fly there in the s.h.i.+p we have now? And why do I have to wear this?”
”The Dragon's Mouth isn't really a planet-it's a bunch of really large asteroids...o...b..ting a red dwarf star called Helios,” Kor explained, twisting her nipple gently until she squirmed. ”And it's jealously guarded, both by the males who work there and by their patrons. You have to be the right kind of person to get in...and out.”
”What kind of person is that?” Maggie seemed to be trying not to moan.
”The kind who wears what you're wearing now.” Kor took a deep breath and stopped touching her for a minute. ”You mentioned the outfit you wore when you accidentally touched the black leather tree in the Dreaming Woods. Well...”
Maggie sat up and looked at him. ”Well, what?” she asked. ”If you're trying to tell me that you want me to act like...like that huge leather giant guy wanted me to act-”
”Maggie...” he began but she shook her head.
”Kor I told you-I don't want to be anybody's mistress-especially not that kind of mistress. With the whips and the floggers...” She s.h.i.+vered. ”Ugh, it's just not me.”
”You don't have to worry about that,” Kor said in a low voice. ”Not being the mistress, anyway.”
”Then what?” Maggie demanded. ”What are you saying?”
Kor sighed. ”Most of the people who go to the Dragon's Mouth are interested in controlling and taming their slaves-and they're all males. Males are dominant in the Dragon's Mouth and I'm afraid females are considered little more than property to be bought and sold. The only way to get there is to go as someone who would have a legitimate reason to visit.”
”So...we'll pose as a rich Master and his slave girl?” Maggie asked softly.
”Yes.” Kor blew out a breath. ”I don't know how you feel about it but that's pretty much the only way we can get in. We'll just take it easy and stay in the background.”
”The background where?” Maggie asked.
”I've booked us aboard a junket at the edge of the Cl.u.s.ter-we'll travel with a bunch of other masters and slaves. I'm thinking we'll say that your implant is defective somehow and I want to get it fixed. We'll take the junket straight in to the Dragon's Mouth and hopefully find the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who engineered your implant and get him to take it out.”
”That doesn't seem too difficult,” Maggie said slowly. ”Except...how long does the trip take?”
”One solar day and night tops,” Kor said. ”But we'd have to be playing our parts the whole time.”
She frowned. ”I don't mind pretending to be your slave-after all, you did the same for me back on Yonnie Six. But do we really have to travel with a bunch of other people?”
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