by Elin Wyn
One of the snakes crouched in front of her, and very plainly hissed something that the comm only managed to translate as, “Up.”
She didn’t have to be told twice.
Taryn stood, taking the scaly hand that he offered, and all around him the other men hissed in approval.
“She’s an Eiztar, they all look like hissss,” the one assisting her boasted, and she got the impression that she really didn’t like him. Regardless, he was the one who led her back to the door, where – surprise, surprise – her original captors were waiting for her.
“Hissssss isssss concussion,” the snake told them. They nodded, grabbing her arms and leading her away towards a door that she assumed was the exit. She raised an eyebrow when they walked right by it, the quick pace they forced her at never slowing.
The series of tunnels and stairs they took her through next had her head reeling, even with all the training she’d been put through at the academy. Although, she did feel a little bit better about it when she heard even the aliens arguing over which way to turn next. They finally decided on right, and after a few more feet she saw their destination.
Metal cages, some silver and some bronze, were pushed up against the walls of the hallway, big enough to house even a human adult comfortably. As they got closer and walked past an empty one, Taryn compared her body size to it, and realized that even one of her captors, a snake man, could fit inside. She wondered if perhaps the original purpose of the cages were to hold traitors rather than enemies, then.
“Here,” the snake man hissed, leading her over to an empty cage. Taryn saw something move out of the corner of her eye as they marched, a big something in the cage across from her, though the shadows made it hard to see. With a final shove, the aliens pushed her inside and slammed the door, the clank of metal loud in the dark hallway.
They hissed some nonsense too fast for Taryn to catch, leaving only after taking a moment to laugh – at her expense, she could tell. When they finally turned their backs and exited, the relief she had expected at being free of her captors had a bitter aftertaste as she eyed the cage they’d left her in. She sighed, and moved to sit cross-legged on the steel floor.
It was time to create a plan.
Kanthi
Kanthi smelled her just before he saw her. It was like there was an explosion of comforting scents in the darkness, a gust of breezy summers, sun-kissed fruit, and dirt soaked fresh from a light rain. Kanthi almost didn’t realize that he was getting those happy mental images because of what he was smelling – one moment, he was devising a strategy to break out, and the next, it was like he had been physically filled with hope and optimism, a kind that he hadn’t felt since he was a teenager and his people had finally been free of the Thagzars.
Before they had any knowledge of the toxin that would one day spoil their freedom.
When he found himself breathing deeper, loathed to exhale, he understood that it was his sense of smell, and that it could only be coming from the woman that the two reptilians had just shoved into the cage across from his.
Unlike himself, who was sitting in a silver cage pushed up against a corner of shadows, they had locked her in an antique, a bronze trap of bars strategically placed directly under a light. He could only figure that she was special to them, and that they wanted to keep an easier eye on her more than most.
As Kanthi inhaled another breath, he stared at her, watching her glare at the snakes as they jeered at her from beyond her cage.
“Such a pretty little Eiztar,” one of them hissed.
“A healthy slave,” the other agreed. “And no infection. She’ll make a delicious breeder, when we retake our planets.”
They left to walk further down the hall, their hisses echoing in the quiet. Kanthi, usually eager to be the first to bash in a snake’s head and silence them forever, found himself leaning after them, eager to hear more. What did they mean, no infection? Was this woman immune to the toxin?
He looked at her, leaning against his cage in the comfort of her scent. She shined in the fluorescent light, her olive skin giving off a beautiful sheen against the surrounding darkness. She was tall, for a woman similar to Kanthi’s race, with intelligent hazel eyes that searched the shadows. After a moment, she took to the ground, bending her knees to sit flat and closed her eyes. Strands of her long brown hair fell past her ears, though the rest stayed up, pulled in a high ponytail that kept her vision clear.
If Kanthi had to bet, he’d say that she was some sort of warrior.
He leaned forward, looping his arms outside of his own prison bars and considered talking to her. Perhaps she was even from his own planet, though her appearance was unusual for the women of Eiztar. But then, he hadn’t been home in years. Not since his voyage had begun to find the toxin and bring it home to craft an antidote.
Shuffling feet snapped Kanthi out of his stupor, and he jumped back against the far wall of his cage. He was in Thagzar territory – he needed to be on his guard.
“Well, well!”
Kanthi could tell it was a snake just from the hissing of its voice, but the light above the woman’s cage cut through the shadows to properly reveal it. It was a giant flat-face, jogging down the hallway with narrowed eyes on the woman. He went right past Kanthi’s cell to stop in front of the woman’s, his muscles shaking from the obvious run he’d just put himself through to get there. Kanthi raised an eyebrow as the reptilian clutched a deep plate and a filled glass in his hands.
So. He’d brought trouble in the guise of food.
Juggling the items, the alien pulled a black metallic square off of his belt, hitting a button on it that caused the door on the woman’s cage to pop open. Kanthi narrowed his eyes, already thinking of how to acquire it.
“Food,” the man hissed his offering, stepping into her cage as he did so. The woman didn’t move from the floor, but merely looked up at the intruder. A smart move, as it made her seem less threatening. “Take it,” he ordered, thrusting the plate and cup in her face. Eyes wide, the woman hesitantly accepted them.
“Good girl,” the man hissed, smiling down at her cruelly. Kanthi watched the Thagzar chuckle, a sudden anxiety in his gut. He’d been in his cage for hours before the woman had shown up, and he had yet to receive any nourishment. No, this scum meant harm.
The woman set the plate in her lap without glancing at it, but she eyed the cup, sniffing it carefully before taking a sip.
“You’re an Eiztar, aren’t you? Bet you’ll be real fun to play with,” he chuckled, reaching out a hand to touch her hair.
The woman dodged his fingers, and by the sudden stiffness of her shoulders, Kanthi wondered just how much Thagzar she really understood.
She growled in response, her own language a song punctuated with clicks and hisses. Kanthi didn’t understand a word of it, but her tone reminded him of rushing water flooding through a pebbled bed. Like the creek he used to play in, back before—
Kanthi mentally shook himself, trying to stay focused on the situation at hand. The Thagzar was full on smirking at her now, growing excited by her show of defiance.
“Oh? You sound against it. Yet I highly doubt—” as he reached for her again, the woman leapt to her feet, slapping his hand away as she moved. The snake only laughed, mocking her as he hissed, “You won’t have a choice anyway, my pretty little Eiztar.”
Kanthi felt his heart sink as the woman’s back hit the wall, and she stared at the cup in her hands. She must’ve loosened her grip, because it slipped from her fingers to shatter on the ground near her feet. Kanthi could see the clear liquid that splashed there – it looked like water. She said something then, her tone questioning as she panted slightly. She put a hand to her head, and Kanthi wondered if she had a fever.
She closed her eyes for a moment, and Kanthi moved to the front of his cage again, pressing his face against the bars. The Thagzar just watched her, perfectly content to see the horror and fear written across her face. When she opened her eyes again, Kanthi f
elt his heart stop as she stared straight at him and yelled.
She was calling to him. Kanthi cursed, retreating back into his cage, but the woman persisted, moving to the edge of her own prison. She yelled, her tone growing more and more desperate with every word.
The reptilian scum only chuckled at the scene she was making. “He can’t help you,” he hissed. “He’s the same as you, an Eiztar locked up for good. But if you follow my lead, then maybe you won’t end up the same as him. Maybe you can be spared.”
Kanthi tried to control his temper, doing his best to cling to every word the Thagzar spoke. He certainly liked to talk a lot, more than he’d ever really heard a snake speak, really, but perhaps he was just trying to impress the woman. Not to mention, why should he care what he said in front of a prisoner? Especially one sentenced to death, by the sound of it.
The woman was shaking now, her stress and fear cutting through her original scent of an Eiztar summer to emit a smell of gunpowder and the after burn of a laser – the smells of war. It was driving Kanthi crazy with bloodlust, starting with the fucker laughing at the woman in her cell.
“You can be mine, if you’d like. I could use an Eiztar – need something to keep me entertained,” the Thagzar continued, oblivious.
The woman was still yelling, completely ignoring her attacker as she kept her eyes on Kanthi. She was shaking, with fear or rage Kanthi couldn’t be sure, but her plea for his help couldn’t be misunderstood.
It was irrational, Kanthi thought to himself, to call on the help of someone in an equally pathetic situation as your own. The woman clearly wasn’t thinking straight, but then, neither was he – not with the way he was pushing and shoving at his own cage, desperate to get out and help her.
The realization made him pause, his mind reeling.
Could his body be initiating a bond?
“I can see that you need some time to consider my proposal,” the flat-face smirked, moving to the exit but never turning his back on the woman. “I’ll be back with another drink,” he said, glancing at the broken cup on the floor. “Think quickly, will you?”
He locked her cage with the same device that he had used to open it, and the sight of it calmed Kanthi down, making him refocus. He knew he needed to get that remote, preferably before something happened to the woman.
Taryn
Taryn shut up once the snake left her cell, relieved to see her most recent threat leave. She watched the alien exit the cage, angry at herself for being intimidated by his size. He was huge – much bigger than the two that had brought her in had been, and she wasn’t stupid enough to think that she could take him on alone. Besides, with her luck, he probably had some kind of alien super strength going for him.
She glanced at the cage across from hers, only to avert her eyes just as quickly. She’d gotten a good look at the man over there, and for a moment, she’d been relieved to see a human face. Well, at least, one that was humanoid. You could never tell with aliens, especially in an undocumented solar system.
“Thanks for your help,” she said sarcastically, her tone bitter with anger. It was more of a rage at herself than at the stranger; she knew it was stupid of her to call out for help from another prisoner. She wasn’t helpless, she could defend herself. But something in that moment had made her turn and beg.
It was sickening.
Leaning down, she examined the cup she’d broken. She hadn’t meant to drop it, but she’d gotten dizzy so suddenly – she considered, nervously, that she’d been drugged. Shaking her head, she knelt closer. The cup had felt metallic, yet when it had hit the floor it’d shattered. She picked up a piece, a sharp shard that glittered in the artificial light, and wondered about the weight of it in her hand. It felt heavy, strong – not fragile. She raised an eyebrow and tried scraping the sharp bit across the floor. She froze when it immediately broke in half.
Okay, obviously it was a weak material that was undervalued, therefore (probably) underpriced and used as dinnerware for prisoners. Great, just what she needed for her big break out.
She slumped, tossing the shard behind her, and glanced at the other cage again.
She jumped when her eyes met the other prisoner’s, his golden eyes the brightest light in his little corner of shadows. He was resting against the edge of his cell again, watching her. From what she could tell in the darkness, he had a sharp face and narrowed eyes, his long dark hair a deep black from what she could see.
“Not disappearing this time?” she asked, annoyed now that he was apparently content to stay there and look at her. Where had he been when she was calling for help? “What are you looking at?” At her words, he simply narrowed his eyes more, furrowing his eyebrows. “Yeah, I’m mad,” she continued, looking away. “See if I help you when I break out of here.”
As if at her words, footsteps sounded down the hall. Taryn stiffened, standing up to her full height as the snake man reappeared, walking down towards her.
The man across from her didn’t sink into the shadows again like she thought he would, but merely shifted his gaze, watching as the alien moved closer and closer. The snake ignored him, his eyes only for Taryn, and she shivered, disgusted under his gaze. From his impressive size, she could only assume that he could take a hit and keep on coming. Her escape would rely solely on being able to take him out as quickly as possible, preferably with one good punch.
She watched him, about to shift slightly into a fighting position, when the stranger across the way suddenly moved so she didn’t have to.
The snake never saw it coming. His focus was on Taryn, and as he took his first step next to the man’s cage, he was taken completely by surprise when one strong hand grabbed his shoulder. The man in the cage yanked, pulling him against the bars, and wound an arm around his neck. The snake gasped, dropping the new cup he had no doubt brought for Taryn and struggled against the attack, his legs kicking out as the man tightened his hold.
Getting desperate, the snake seemed to rethink his strategy and moved his hand from the man’s arm to his own hip, desperately grabbing about for his gun. The stranger watched, and silently applied more pressure to the alien’s neck. It wasn’t long before he stopped moving, his green body slumping against the cage.
Whether he was dead or simply passed out Taryn wasn’t sure, but from the way the stranger was grinning at the body in his arms, she had to guess that it was the first one. Releasing the choke hold to grab the creature up by the shoulder, the man reached out a hand through the bars to the alien’s belt, groping for something.
A black device, small and square, dropped from where the man was searching, skidding to a halt across the hallway floor to stop at Taryn’s cage. Taryn glanced at it, and then looked back at him.
They stared at each other.
Taryn weighed her options. She knew that the device could let her out, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted the guy across the way out with her. With a shrug, she bent and reached beyond the bars, just barely touching the device with the ends of her fingers. It was cold, something she hadn’t expected as they were in a desert, and she shivered when she curled her fingertips to slide it toward herself.
The man across from her gripped the cage bars when it moved closer to her, and she watched his reaction as she actually picked it up. His nostrils flared and his jaw clenched, but still, he didn’t say anything. Taryn raised an eyebrow, and took a look at what she’d gotten a hold of.
It appeared to be some kind of remote, though it was much bulkier than any on her planet. Ironic, as it also lacked all the bells and whistles Taryn was used to. No, the one in her hand was silent; a black brick in comparison. But there were quite a few buttons on the device, all soft to the touch and easily pressed. As she stared at them, wondering if any led to her cage or if it would take a combination of buttons instead, she had the sinking realization that she had absolutely no idea what to do with the remote. She looked at the man across from her again.
“You want this?” she said, holding it up t
o shake it in the light. His eyes followed it. “Then you must know how to use it, right?” Still, he said nothing. Taryn sighed. “Here goes nothing,” she muttered, bringing her arm back to toss it over to him with a scowl. It sailed across the room easily and he caught it, possibly with a smile, but then Taryn blinked and he was back in his shadows once more.
After a few seconds, she found herself thinking that maybe he didn’t know how to use it either. But then his cell door suddenly clicked open, a metal creak in the otherwise silent hallway. He emerged into the light with more speed than Taryn was expecting, stepping out of his cage to do a cautious sweep of the room.
“All right!” Taryn ran to her door, almost vibrating with the adrenaline surging through her. Once she was out of there, she could easily find her way back to the ship and awaken her crew. She stood behind the bars, pumped and ready to go, but the big guy wasn’t exactly making any moves toward her. “Uh, hello?” she said, cringing as her uncertain voice echoed down the hallway.
He glanced at her, then looked away, choosing to lean down next to the snake man he’d taken out rather than talk to her. She watched as he moved a hand to the alien’s neck, probably to check for a pulse, then grin and stand back up. It was just as she’d assumed – he’d killed him.
Kicking the corpse at his feet, the man bent back down when he realized that the alien’s jacket had fallen open to reveal a gun. The man seemed to hesitate at the sight of it, but upon closer inspection he seemed to get over his reservations and confidently grab it, stuffing the weapon into his belt.
When he stood up again, he looked at Taryn.
“Yeah, hi,” she waved. “Still locked in here, go figure.” She knocked on the cage bars with her knuckles for emphasis.
The man didn’t even acknowledge her. Rather, he merely shifted his eyes and picked up the legs of the dead snake man, grunting as he began dragging it away in the opposite direction it’d come. Taryn watched him go, frowning as his footfalls grew distant and she could no longer see him in the darkness.
