Fayette scurried down the hallway to the prison cells.
She knew what was coming, and she knew better than to
try and avoid it. She’d been
given the ducks’ leaders’ brother to torture and
kill, and she’d failed in eliminating him.
But Fayette hadn’t been able to bring herself to
kill the young duck, NoseDive. The
Saurian was intelligent enough to know her brother wouldn’t
be pleased with her, and that
her reluctance to kill would be considered as a weakness
by her brother.
The longer she stalled, the more impatient her brother
got, so she decided to go on and
get it over with, and entered the dark, dismal prison room.
The prisoners all turned their attention to the young
female which had entered the room,
and for once that morning she was glad to see her brother.
She knew they knew better
than to make any comments toward her with him in the room.
She cringed at the sight of him and slithered over to
where the Overlord stood waiting for
her, but she sighed in relief when she saw Sheeba standing
beside him.
“I. . uhh. . .” Fayette began, but was quickly
silenced with a low growl. “You won’t
speak unless spoken to.” The Overlord snarled, and turned
his attention to the duck in the
cell.
Fayette cringed as he continued. “You were specifically
given this duck with the orders
kill him when you were through, were you not?” She nodded
her head in misery. “Then
why didn’t you do it?!” He demanded, grabbing her
and picking her up by the shoulders.
She screamed and struggled to get free. “I want and
answer, Fayette!” He snarled.
“Dragaunus, spare her the details, she’s your little
sister, not one of your war generals,
not to mention the fact she’s only ten years old.”
Sheeba sighed. He glared at her and let
Fayette go. “Shall I wait until I have to tie her down
and beat her to get order from her?”
He hissed, and started towards Sheeba.
“Oooh the Lizard Lady is gonna’ get in now!”
NoseDive laughed from his cell. “Silence,
slave.” Sheeba growled bluntly. “I’m no slave.”
Dive shot back. “You belong to our
Empire, so by definition, you are.” She replied.
“Sheeba, would you prefer to deal with him?”
Dragaunus asked, interrupting the
argument between the duck and the Saurian. A savage smile
spread across her face and
she nodded. “And I trust you’ll kill him after
you’re through?” He asked, glaring at
Fayette, who scrambled to leave the room. “Yes Sir.”
She replied, still eyeing the young
drake. “It’s settled then, he’s yours.”
“Trading your own prisoners like their animals is
a sure way to gain public appreciation.”
Someone commented from the cell across the hall.
All attention turned to the prisoner, Duke L’Orange.
“Another duck that should have
been killed long ago.” Sheeba growled. “No, he’s
too valuable to me alive.” Dragaunus
answered. “What ever it is, forget it. Death would be
better than working for you,
Lizard!” Duke snapped, still glaring at the two. “
“Have it your way then. Sheeba, as far as I’m
concerned, they’re both yours to do with
as you please.” The Overlord answered, glaring at Sheeba
and fading out of the room.
“I’m almost afraid to ask . . .what about me
. . .” an unfamiliar male voice called from a
cell down the hall.
“Not Phil. . .” Dive groaned and sank back against
the wall. “Pomfeather. . Phil
Pomfeather. . the duck’s manager?” Sheeba questioned
thoughtfully, and started down
the hall.
“Now Ma’am, before you start with your tortures,
just let me say I may be of more
assistance to you alive than. . not alive.” The human
groveled. “Spill your guts, or I may
just do it for you.” She growled back, deactivating
the energy bars across the cell and
dragging Phil out by the shirt collar. “Well, I know
the scum of the Earth. You need
spies; I can get you spies. You need scum bags. . well, I
know lot’sa lawyers!” He
replied and stumbled to his feet.
“Maybe so. . .” She sighed and released slowly.
him, unsure of herself, and her vision still
being fairly blurry from the attack a few weeks ago. “Maybe
I should meet one of these.
. possibilities for spies you speak of. .” She continued,
shaking her head
Phil smiled to her “Sure thing, Princess.” He
answered. “Lady. Lady Sheeba of the
Saurian Empire.” She interrupted with a smile, which
made him a little uneasy.
“Now. .” She said, teleporting them both to
the control room, “Give it your best shot, and
it may just save your pathetic, meaningless little life.”
“Romero Tunis.” He replied.
She turned her head in a quizzical stare.
“An old acquaintance of mine, before the invasion,
he was makin’ a living in New York
City as a sales men, and I know he’d like the opportunity
to get back at who he thinks
had betrayed him . . .” “Enough said, I’ll
get the henchmen on it right away.” She
interrupted. “But until then, is there anything I can
get you. .I understand life in a work
camp isn’t all that grand.”
After a few minutes of thought, he smiled “A new
suit would be. . .” and was again
interrupted by Sheeba “Clothing or armor?” “Well.
. clothing. . I guess, just not wool.”
He replied.
He watched her go to the keyboard and type something that
brought up a view-screen
showing a young female duck. “We have a guest whom needs
to be taken care of
properly, Farosa.” Sheeba commented, and within minutes,
Phil found himself being lead
away by the same duckling.
* * *
It was a few hours later before Phil was standing before
Sheeba again. “I must say, you
look amazingly better. .” She said with a smirk “Like
one of the MiB.” He smiled slowly,
a little shocked that a Saurian would make a comment of the
sort to him. “Your species
watches box office hit movies with special effects too?”
“Yeah we do.” A male voice answered, and Phil
looked up to see Nafaud standing over
him. “Who-who’re you?!” He asked, shocked.
The Saurian-Hybrid sighed. “Nafaud de'Tolinna, immortal
advisor and protector of the
descendants of Taraq.” “Uh. . impressive!”
The human smiled nervously and backed
toward Sheeba. “He doesn’t bite. . too hard.”
She smirked.
Silence fell over the three as they continued waiting for the arrival of the suggested spy.
Atoka, Siege, and Chameleon all teleported into the control
room at the same time,
struggling with a human, and trying to avoid being kicked,
bitten or otherwise hurt by the
creature.
“I DEMAND to know what the f*ck is going on here,
and who in the hell are you
freaks?!” The human demanded to know, and nearly managed
to bite Atoka.
“Calm down, Rom. . .” Phil smiled and started
towards. "Pomfeather?" The human
coughed and quit struggling. "If this is your idea of
a joke, it sure isn’t a very damned
good one!" "No joke, Romero, these lizards can
give you whatever you want, you’ll be set
for life, if you’re interested . . ." "Yeah,
I may be interested, if you can get this damned
beach ball with legs to put me down!" He snarled and
glared at Siege.
"Fine, put him down." Sheeba ordered.
Romero found himself dropped, literally, on the floor, and staring up at Sheeba.
He was a dumpy, fat balding human, in a dirty and cheap
plaid suit. To her, he was
interestingly different; she wasn’t used to members
of his species, and his appearance
was humorous.
"We need a spy; someone to snoop around the work
camps and report to us what the
slaves are up to, and Phil suggested you." She smiled
and started toward him. "And just
why should I work fo’ a bunch’a lizards?"
He demanded. "It would mean getting revenge
on everyone that’s ever cheated you . . ." Phil’s
voice trailed off and he smiled. "I’ll do it
then." Romero replied, glaring at Atoka, Chameleon,
and Siege.
"Deal with it." Atoka ordered to Siege and Chameleon,
who reluctantly lead the human
out of the control room.
"Atoka, can you show Mr. Pomfeather to his new abode?"
Sheeba asked sweetly and
smiled at the drake. "Sure, Sheebs." He replied,
grabbed her around the waist and kissed
her playfully on the cheek before teleporting away with the
human. She rolled her eyes
and teleported out of the control room.
***
Immediately upon entering she and Dragaunus’s quarters,
she pounced on the Overlord
and was able to knock him off balance and send him to the
floor.
"What?" He snarled and pushed her off by her
shoulders. "Temper, temper!" She laughed
and pushed him down again. "I got great news. . ."
She answered. "Well, let me up first,
and then tell me." He replied, still struggling with
her.
She anxiously scrambled to her feet and into bed; still smiling with her gaze fixed on him.
"Have we won the war over Sector 35 in Limbo?"
He asked anxiously, suddenly
concerned with the obviously good news she had.
She slowly rolled onto her back and stared at him from
an upside angle, and began. "The
report is back from the testing I had ran yesterday . . .
you will have an heir to your title,
soon, Dragaunus. I’m pregnant."
. . .To be continued