Much later as the sun was going down, he was awakened rather rudely by a firm shake to his shoulder. He blinked and came alert in a second, sitting up so swiftly he startled Gutiare who jerked backward and hissed under his breath.
"You need to get ready for the evening meal." Recovering his aplomb and being bossy again.
"Has the King returned?" Feral asked as he climbed easily to his feet. The nap he'd taken had revived him significantly. Seeing the waning sunlight, he realized he must have slept the whole afternoon away.
"No, but the Lord Yentar's lady is in residence and expects you to appear for dinner." The mouse frowned at the grass covered consort. Shaking his head, he made the now familiar clothing gesture.
Feral looked down and was pleasantly surprised to be dressed in non-revealing clothing that was actually comfortable. A richly embroidered gold vest covered a red silk shirt over his broad chest while a comfortable pair of soft gold slacks graced his long legs. Long, black, soft leather boots shod his feet up to his knees and around his wrists were the ever present vambraces. Encircling his neck was the moonstone necklace and the thin metal band that was his crown, sat far enough down to cover his forehead. The final touch was a short blood red cape.
"Well this is certainly a change!"
“You are required to be discreetly covered when in the presence of a lower vassal’s court. The King has no desire for others to see his consort in his usual attire when he, himself is not around. Besides, the Lady Elena would be offended by it."
"Whatever the reason, it's a pleasant change." Feral was more than happy with the temporary attire. It made him feel nearly normal again.
Gutaire gave him a bland stare before turning and walking back to the castle’s main entrance, Feral and his guards trailed close behind him.
As they entered the great hall, they could hear and see quite a large noisy crowd seated at long benches before many long tables. On a dias another long table was placed and this was where Gutaire was leading him.
Unlike King Bloodnor's court, most everyone except servants were welcome at table together. Conversation only quieted a little when he was escorted to a seat next to the Lady of the castle. On his other side sat a fox and a ferret dressed in simple every day clothes, both male. They were upper aristocracy by their manners but what their position was within this court, Feral was never told. They nodded at him genially but didn't engage him in conversation.
The Lady Elena was a different story, however. After ensuring all were served, she turned her attention to her guest. She was a bear like her Lord and her beady brown eyes studied him avidly.
"I am told your name is Feral. I’ve been hearing a great many things about you sir, especially, about your....uh...uniqueness compared to normal males.” A faint hint of disbelief was in her tone which Feral firmly ignored. What she believed or didn’t believe about him was of no concern to him.
After waiting for him to respond to her rather veiled insult that he was a liar about what he supposedly was to the King, she tried to satisfy her curiosity with more probing questions. “So, Feral, how do you find our world?”
"It's beautiful and wild," he responded diplomatically.
"True, it is that, but I was looking for a more.....definitive description from you. Is it very different from your own world?” she persisted as she took a bite of her food but kept her eyes on him.
"Yes, it is.”
Frowning, the lady was becoming mildly vexed by this creature’s short, uninformative answers. It seemed he was actively trying to avoid saying anything about himself at all.
"I find your behavior very odd, sir," she huffed, annoyed. "Most who come to our world love to talk on and on about how terrible their lives were on their world and how much better it is here. You, however, seemed reluctant to express any opinion one way or another and that just wont do. I insist you tell us how you find living here compared to your home.”
Sighing inwardly, Feral felt trapped. If he told the truth he would be insulting her and her court. However, if he kept trying to dodge the question, she was going to get even angrier with him. It seemed he couldn’t win no matter what choice he made.
Desperate to avoid the issue altogether, Feral tried one more time to get Lady Elena to back off. "Forgive me, my lady, but I would not wish to upset you with my true feelings on this subject nor make my King angry with me for voicing them."
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. She had never dealt with any newcomer who simply refused to say anything about their former home. She felt anger rising within her but kept her voice mild though there was steel in it.
"Nonsense, sir! The King would not mind at all so....again...I insist you stop dodging the issue and answer!" She told him firmly.
Frustrated, Feral finally said with a great deal of care, "Very well, my lady as you order, but remember, you did insist.” He took a deep breath then let it out slowly before saying, “I hate it here! I don’t like using magic. I much prefer my more modern world of science to your world that resembles our medieval past.”
He hoped that would be enough to distract them but instead it caused a shockwave of disbelieve and anger. Okay, big misstep there, he thought miserably.
Scandalized, Lady Elena dropped her fork which hit her plate with a clang. The room fell silent as everyone gaped at Feral. Now he felt like he was under a microscope and wished he could be anywhere but here.
“You hate it here? You prefer science to magic?” She snorted, her voice dripping scorn and disbelief much as Carthmore’s had when he’d told him that very same thing. “How can you compare living on a world of science as desirable with all that noise and confusion to our world’s quiet serenity? Explain yourself sir!” That last was a firm command.
Feral had learned from Aumire that, although the people of Galanon didn’t use science at all, they had learned of it from viewing worlds that used it when they stared into their scrying pools. With their long lives and excellent memories, they had accumulated much information about many worlds over the centuries and developed a distinct disgust and revulsion for places that eschewed magic.
Angry at being so trapped, he nearly refused to answer her but knew that would earn him swift punishment either from her or the King, when she complained to him, or both. Now that was a miserable thought.
Bitter inside, he maintained his stone face and said bluntly, “I make no apologies for the choices my world has made, Lady. We like our modern world, noise and all, and don’t care for magic at all. But the most important thing I miss about my home is the freedom to speak our mind, live as we please, and elect our leaders.”
“Oh yes, democracy I believe that’s called,” Lady Elena cut him off. Her manner haughty and scornful. “Such chaos allowing the people to pick their own leaders. How dreadful and you prefer that?” She shook her head in disbelieve. “I still don’t see how that is more alluring to you than the lavish treatment the King bestows on you in his bed. Many would trade their very lives to be in your place and yet you spurn that for a home that is so chaotic. The ones that come here marvel at the ability to do magic and yet you obviously don’t like that either. Why is that?”
“It’s unnatural. And being the King’s consort is no honor nor pleasure. I am no ones broodmare but a military leader in my own right. I was responsible for the protection of my home city from dangerous criminals and I loved it....it is my life. This is nothing more than a prison and will never be a home to me, madam,” he told her coldly. He carefully didn’t add that he considered the King’s attention rape. That would cause an even greater uproar than what he already told them.
The room had gone still as he spoke and by the time he finished there were shocked looks everywhere. Lady Elena could only stare at him as if he had two heads.
"What a strange and ungrateful creature you are, Feral. I’m glad you don’t reside here. I don’t envy the King his ownership of you but it seems he is very smitten with what you are.” She shook her head then gave him a warning. “Best learn to like it here, Feral, or you will always be miserable and I wouldn’t displease your King if I were you or you might find yourself in King Warkil’s paws.” She shuddered delicately at the mention of the insane King on her border. “Accept your new status as you will never see home again.” This final statement she said with almost malicious delight before turning her attention away from him as if he was beneath her notice and began to eat again which signaled everyone else to do the same.
Excited conversations sprang up as everyone voiced an opinion on this novelty of a newcomer who hated being on Galanon and using magic plus being a warrior which was unheard of. None of the newcomers had been that prominent on their worlds so this made Feral doubly unusual. Tongues wagged relentlessly around him but no one cared to ask him anything more but they did point and stare at him relentlessly throughout the meal making the whole process a nightmare for him.
His appetite had disappeared during the questioning but he pushed himself to eat something. He glanced around as he picked at his food and caught Gutaire’s angry stare from across the room. He returned it with a cold one of his own.
He cared nothing for how Gutaire felt and only wanted to get out of here and be alone for a bit before the King returned and demanded his attention. So it was with a grateful sigh that his torment ended an hour later and he was being escorted by an angry Gutaire to their temporary quarters.
When they were safely behind a thick door in a well appointed bedroom with a fire roaring in the hearth, Gutaire lit into him. “You weren't supposed to air your grievances here!" He fairly spat. "You could have found a way to be circumspect about your dislike for your situation. The King will not be pleased with you."
"How was I supposed to lie about it? I did try to put her off but she insisted. You could have instructed the Lady that such questions were not to be asked."
"It's not my place to do so!" The mouse hissed angrily.
"It's not mine either but as even you plainly saw, the lady was insistent. What did you expect me to do....lie? That would have gotten me into more trouble. As it is, I tried only to answer what she asked and nothing more. Besides, the King does know how I feel so how can I get in trouble for voicing it?” he growled hotly, ready to throw the annoying mouse head first out the window nearby.
"The King will be vexed about this!" Gutaire muttered as he flicked night clothes on Feral. "I will be staying in the attached room to this one. You are not allowed to leave these quarters," he warned, then turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Feral sighed irritably and looked around. The room was richly decorated, naturally, since a King was visiting. He wasn't sleepy since he had napped earlier so he went to the window and looked out at the gathering gloom. He wondered vaguely where the King was now. He realized suddenly with growing alarm that he missed Bloodnor's attention.
'Oh God! The spell is binding me tighter to him. Now I miss his sexual attention despite all my efforts to hold myself apart in my mind.' He thought, horrified. 'No! I can't let him beat me like this, I've got to harden my resolve. As soon as we get back, I've got to dig deeper to find out how to escape his magical trap when I'm sent home. At least I did find out how to break the magical binding between the King and I. The only catch is finding a male as strong and dominant as Bloodnor.'
He had been lucky one day when he perused a book he’d taken from Aumire’s library. It was on the kings of Galanon and how they bound their consorts to them. He had been thrilled to find out the chapter was thorough in its description on how to make and break the spell. What disturbed him though was the part about how dominance played in setting the spell. As near as he could determine, the only way to break the spell was for another male to dominate him and supplant the present spell. The problem with that was magic wasn't used on his world and he wasn't certain if the magic he possessed now would stay with him when he returned.
The other bad news was if he did manage to break the spell but didn't find a way to break the trap spell and was still taken back to Galanon, Bloodnor would be brutal in reestablishing the bond. The thought sent shivers of desire and fear through him. That's where the book he'd just stolen from Carthmore came in. He prayed it would tell him what would break his tie to Galanon.
When he came out of his deep thoughts, he realized his butt was cold which told him he’d been thinking and sitting on this window shelf for far too long. Shivering, he pulled his stiff body upright, stretched the kinks out before going to the big bed and sliding under the covers.
As he settled his body his mind briefly remembered his triumph over that damn tiger....payback had been sweet. Fortunately, the tiger never appeared at the dinner table so he wasn’t forced to see the others angry eyes throughout the meal. He yawned. ‘Kat’s alive. I’ll be so glad when we get out of here,’ he thought as he slipped into a light sleep.
It was probably well after midnight, when a heavy body slid into the bed with him. He came to full awareness and froze until his nose picked up the scent of the King.
Just as that registered on him, Bloodnor reached a powerful arm around his waist and drew his consort close and tight. The King sighed tiredly and nuzzled Feral’s neck, muttering something Feral couldn’t understand. He continued to stay tense until he could feel the King relax, his breathing slowing as sleep stole him away.
It was obvious to Feral that the King was far too tired to press his consort for sex so it was safe for him to get some more sleep. Sighing, he relaxed and let his mind go, sleep rolling over him very quickly after.