“I have to go,” he said. “Try not to do anything really stupid before I can come back with more food.”
“I won’t do anything st…”
BAWOOOOOO!
A trumpet sounded, a massive hollow noise which vibrated every roof slate, wall siding, and rivet in a several mile radius. She felt the sound to her bones, and in the core of her teeth.
“What the fuck was that?”
“Not what. Who. That is the call of Konan, the Beast King. His ship must be in port.”
“Konan, the Beast King? That’s a hell of a title.”
“He will distract Dominax. That is good news for you. Now may be the best time to make an escape.”
“Escape? Oh. Right. Yes. Absolutely. I should escape. Nothing for me here, huh.”
“Not if you want to ever return to your world.”
“Yes. My world. Earth.”
Darma tilted his head and looked at her. “You know, you could have been gone about a hundred times over already.”
“Don’t rush me. I’m still preparing.”
“You mean you’re sick.”
“I am not!”
The statement was emphatic, but somewhat undermined when she threw up again and passed out, only narrowly avoiding braining herself on the corner of her pod bed when Darma caught her.
14 The Prodigal Brat
“Dominax.”
“Not now, Darma. Konan just landed. And you know he hates to be ignored. There is no greater insult in his culture…”
“DOMINAX.”
Dominax turned around to face his younger brother, and stared.
“Is that…?”
“I found your human,” Darma said. “She’s sick.”
She was more than sick. She was passed out in Darma’s arms. Dominax hardly recognized the scrap of humanity, dressed in rags, hair matted, a foul odor emitting from he didn’t want to know where.
“What has happened to her?”
“She went feral,” Darma said. “She's been surviving by scavenging on the streets, running from the law, evading all your scouts and spies.”
“How did you… it doesn’t matter,” Dominax said, overwhelmed with relief. He came forward and took Katie from his brother’s arms. He had dreamed of holding her again, but not like this. She had lost weight. Her cheeks were sunken, and her hair looked dull. The streets had not treated her well.
He couldn’t believe that she had actually been found after all this time. He had been on the verge of losing hope, though not even close to giving up. He was ready to tear the entire universe to pieces if it meant finding her. But that was no longer necessary. She was lying insensate in his brother’s arms, a delicate human flower wilting before his very eyes.
“You’re going to need to abduct a human doctor,” Darma said. “She’s been sick for weeks.”
Dominax’s head snapped up, his black eyes narrowing. “How would you know that?”
“That’s what she told me. I found her in one of the transition pods. You know, the ones aliens use when they’re just staying for a few days? Down by the docks?”
“She’s been living down at the docks. Like a scavenging rat?”
“Well, yes.”
“Give her to me and call the royal physician.”
He extended his arms, and was thrilled to feel her weight in them as Darma relinquished his prize.
“I owe you a great debt,” he told his brother.
“Oh, I know,” Darma replied. “I’m going to find the doctor. You might want to get her in a bath. She smells. Bad.”
Dominax didn’t care that she smelled. He was just so relieved to have her in his arms again. Even in her sickened state, she was beautiful. He knew she didn’t understand, but he had truly committed himself to her as her owner the moment he put the collar around her neck. It was still there, he noticed. Nothing else was familiar. She was wearing a pink and green sort of attire, which looked like a suit cut into a skirt. She must have made it herself.
“Come, pet,” he murmured to her insensate form. “We will get you cleaned up, and you will feel so much better.”
She didn’t respond, which was concerning, but he didn’t know how to heal her. He could clean her and take care of her as best he could. And he could try to make sure she never felt the need to flee him again.
Dominax had been thinking about Darma’s rant ever since it had happened. Most of it could be put down to a tantrum being thrown by a young prince, but some of it rang true. He had never tried to make his pet happy. He had simply told her that she would be happy.
He ran a bath and carefully undressed his pet. Her body was still beautiful, but it bore the marks of the harshness of her existence as a free beast.
“The doctor is on his way,” Darma said, appearing in the bathing chamber.
“Good. Tell me everything about how you found her. Someone must have been helping her. I want to know who kept her from me all this time.”
“Uh, yeah. I don’t know. I think she did most of it on her own. She’s pretty smart.”