The Mutant World by Darryl T. Mallard Read Free Book Online Page A

clearly specifically designed by nature for killing. Now satisfied, the princess smiled with pleasure and the tips of her own fangs were briefly exposed. Then she grabbed the prince’s hand and unceremoniously pulled him away from his table and plopped him down on the cushions at her own family’s place and right next to her.
    “Barbarian!” growled more than one angry young woman at this flagrant disregard for protocol and total lack of manners. Queen Tana, who was equally shocked by her daughter’s behavior, looked apologetically at the empress whose eyes quickly darted to a curvaceous veiled woman sitting with a large man and even larger well-endowed woman snuggling in the crook of one of his arms at the far corner of the room. These two were also veiled. The first woman’s eyes showed amusement over her veil. She looked at the big woman who chuckled and she then leaned back into the free arm of the large man. Beral then looked back towards the forest queen and nodded that it was alright. This was a very quick exchange, but one that didn’t go unnoticed by Beverly’s sharp eyes.
    “Who are those people over there?” asked President Chambers.
    “I don’t know. The royal family is large with many branches and there are many unrelated nobles and their kin here as well. Whoever they are, they’re not kids. All three have lost their original hair color. I would guess they’re about four or five hundred years old. But then again, it’s difficult to say. Not all mutants with rapid regeneration and longevity age the same. They could be younger…or even older. I’ve even heard of elders that are even a thousand years old.”
    President Chambers thought on this a moment and looked at the man and said, “Then could someone like…say Queen Bellasaris still be alive?”
    “Of course not!” laughed the man. “She would be more than two thousand years old! Even if she was alive, I sincerely doubt that she or anyone who managed to reach that age would look so young. As I said, their white hair is proof that they are aging, and the few elders I’ve seen who were past the five hundred mark looked to be about the same age as someone without regeneration that was in their forties to seventies. In any case, someone THAT old and venerable would not be kept in some obscure corner of the feast hall, but would absolutely be at the empress’s side in a place of great honor.”
    Beverly shrugged. The man was probably right. From what she had read and seen firsthand of Bellasarian values regarding hierarchy, age and women, people of great age, especially women, were treated with great respect and difference on Bellasaria, and expected it. If they were only in their sixties or seventies, thought Beverly with ironic amusement. They would still be younger than the empress and this would explain their inconspicuous place in the hall…but that still didn’t explain the look she gave them. Perhaps it was nothing, thought the president, and she put the matter from her mind.
     
    ******
     
    The feast was well on the way now and wine and other alcoholic beverages was flowing freely and many of the dignitaries, both human and mutant, were loosening up considerably…even some of the folks from Earth.
    In a great hall filled with people with limited to exceptional telepathic ability folks didn’t need to stand up and wander around (although many did) to converse with someone not within easy earshot. Even humans, once the connection was actually made by a mutant, could converse mentally until the connection was broken. President Chambers had to admit that this gathering was almost certainly more fun than the formal one coming up would be where proper and absolute decorum would be demanded because of all the cameras and reporters from Earth . The press were not allowed at this feast, but were being entertained elsewhere in the great palace. Still, the president was annoyed a little by her husband’s wandering eyes and slack jaw. He