"Oh my," Riley said with a huge grin as she took in all the different stalls selling their wares. "Do you think Vox has credit here?" she asked hopefully.
One of the guards chuckled. "You may purchase whatever you want, my lady. Lord Aryeh instructed us to make sure you had whatever you desired. He said he would deal with Lord Vox if he should have a problem."
"I knew I was going to love that adorable old hairball once he realized I was the best thing that ever happened to his son!" Riley declared with a royal wave of her hand.
Doral and Tamia dissolved into giggles while the two guards chuckled. Riley tossed her wayward curls over her shoulder and raised her arm. "Charge ladies! And I truly mean charge! We are going to do some major shopping. I swear I was going through withdrawal!" Riley said as she sashayed her ass right through the middle of the crowded market in excitement.
She spent the next half hour exclaiming over one find after another in the food market. It was when they continued onto the merchant's market that she thought she had truly died and gone to heaven. The silk scarves, unusual handbags, and other accessories outdid the little overpriced boutique Tina worked in during high school. Riley moved rapidly from one stall to another, picking up scarves, hats, bracelets, and handbags with a critical eye.
"How much is this?" she asked one merchant before turning to another and pulling another item up and showing it to other merchant. "And this? Tamia is that too much for this? Doral, what do you think? Does this make me look too pale? Oh my god, look at this! I have to have it! Do you think Vox will be upset? The guy says it is seventy-five credits. Is that a lot?" Riley asked, having no idea the worth of a credit. For all she knew, it could be the equivalent of a thousand bucks back home. "Damn! I should have had Viper tell Tina to clean out my account back on Earth. She has access. I might have been able to convert it or buy stuff at home to cash in here. I really, really want this bag. It will go perfectly with several of my outfits," she added, biting her lip in indecision.
"Lady Riley, seventy-five credits is very inexpensive," one of the guards assured her. "Lord Vox would not be upset at all if you purchased the bag, especially as you like it so much."
"You really think so?" Riley asked anxiously fingering the beautiful beaded bag with the tips of her fingers. "It is the most beautiful handbag I've ever seen."
"Please package the bag for my lady queen," the guard called out to the merchant.
Riley grinned at the merchant as he handed her the carefully wrapped purchase with a low bow. "It is a pleasure doing business with you, my queen. I will inform my daughter you admired her work."
"Tell her I have never seen anything as beautiful as this, and I will take very good care of it," Riley responded to the beaming man.
"Riley, there are only a few more stalls to go. Do you want to see them before we return?" Doral called out from across the way where she had found a scarf she liked.
"We might as well as I don't know when I'll get a chance to return," Riley answered with a contented sigh. "This has been the best day of my life-well besides the day I met Vox, even if I did knock him on his ass."
Tamia laughed and moved to the next stall. Riley felt a sense of unease as they approached the last stall. It was a little further away from the others, and there were only a few shoppers down this way. That wasn't what had the hair on the back of her neck standing up though. There was something else, as if she was being stared at. She let her eyes wander around the area, pulling on her skills as a bail bondsman to help her. In the shadows near an alley a cloaked figure was standing in the shadows. Riley stopped, focusing on the figure with a frown. There was something vaguely familiar about it. The frown on her face turned into a surprised gasp as the figure emerged from the shadows and lowered the hood covering its head.
Antrox 157 stared with hatred at the female who had destroyed everything he had worked for. He motioned with his hand. Four figures converged on Riley's small group. The two guards went down with blasts to their backs as they moved closer to Riley when she gasped and froze. The other two females screamed in terror. Within moments, Riley's unconscious body was being carried past him. He stared in distaste at the limp pale figure as the mercenaries he had hired walked by him. He would receive a king's fortune in credits for the female. He had sworn he would make her pay for ruining his reputation within the Antrox mining operations. He would have been lucky to hire on as a pactor supply clerk after what she had done. Now, he would have enough to buy his own mine. It would be small, but it was a start. He quickly followed the mercenaries out of the marketplace, ignoring the calls for help from the women as they bent over the still forms of the guards.
"We need to get out before they shut down all leaving flights," the huge merc carrying Riley snarled. "You didn't tell us she was royalty."
"She is nothing but an escaped acquisition. You were given the credits to capture her. I will give you the other half due you once she is delivered," Antrox 157 replied coldly. "Otherwise, you get nothing."
"Damn bug," another one of the mercs muttered under his breath. "Move it, Garl. I don't want to stick around for any of these damn cat-shifters. They like to rip you open and watch as you try to shove your guts back in."
"Prepare the ship for liftoff," a third merc yelled out. "We leave hot and fast."
"Grun, go ahead and make sure the way is clear," Tril snapped at the husky red-skinned creature who sped away on four legs. "You better hope she is worth the credits you promised," he said as he shifted Riley over his shoulder.
"She accepted five mates; three were Sarafin warriors. I have no doubt she will handle whatever the pleasure house sends to her," Antrox 157 replied, hurrying down the narrow alley.
Nothing else was said as the five figures moved rapidly down the narrow alley and up several flights of stairs until they reached the top of one of the taller buildings in the city. Grun was removing the cover camouflaging the small transport. It was a tight fit, but all five plus an unconscious Riley piled into the small ship. Garl shoved at the controls, and the specially modified ship rose rapidly before turning and shooting up through the atmosphere. The group was used to retrieving difficult and dangerous merchandise. This mission was especially challenging because none of them wanted to be on the wrong end of the Sarafin warriors who were bound to try to retrieve what they had stolen. They were there to retrieve and deliver, that was all. After the delivery, they would disappear for a few months before regrouping in a different star system.
Riley came to slowly. Her head ached and her stomach churned. She could feel that she was about to lose what she had eaten for lunch.
Being pregnant sucks, she thought darkly, keeping her eyes closed and breathing steadily through her nose in the hopes of not tossing her cookies. I think this should be a totally male thing since they are the ones who want to brag about how potent they are. What the hell do they suffer from? Puffing their chest out too far? They pop the load and sit back while I get to be sick, gain even more weight, and have bigger boobs to carry around while they strut like a damn peacock!
Riley continued listing all the disadvantages being pregnant entailed, hoping it would help calm her wayward stomach. After several minutes, it appeared to work as she felt confident she could open her eyes without them being crossed.
She turned her head cautiously, studying where she had been taken. Her heart jerked at the idea of her friends or the guards with her being harmed because of her. Her eyes blurred with anger at the thought of the senseless act.
"I'm going to smash that oversized bug when I get my hands on him. I'm going to feed him to the first Venus flytrap I can find. Or better yet, I'm going to find a really huge spider and watch as he squirms in its web before it sucks all his guts out," she muttered out loud.
A dark chuckle drew her attention to the door of her cell. She stared in fury at the grotesque creature standing on the other side of it. "What are you laughing at, you overgrown fleabag?"
"Antrox 157 said you had spirit. I am glad he did not lie. You will bring more credits on the auction block. Many of the more selective guests like a female with a little spirit. They want to see how long it takes to break her," the snarly voice replied.
Riley slowly sat up, putting a hand to her head to still the spinning. She glared at the creature. It was shorter than she, probably about five feet eight inches, if that. It was covered in gun-metal gray scales and had two red, beady eyes, no nose, and thin lips covering small, sharp teeth.