by Maia Tanith
“I did not see,” he admits. “Someone pushed me and put my aim off.”
“You were lucky that I did,” I snap back. “Or you would be a pile of smoking fur on the ground right now.”
He laughs in the eerie semi-darkness. A rusty laugh, but still a laugh. “You’re lucky it didn’t hit you instead. But I will thank you for your well-timed push every day for the rest of my life.”
The lizard women are huddled in front of us. “We are headed for the space port,” one of them says. “The sooner we can get off this vile planet, the better.”
Taark nods in agreement. “To the space port, then. There are vehicles there. I will be able to find what I need.”
We stagger our way towards the lights in the distance that the lizard women say mark the space port. I didn’t pay enough attention when I was brought here, and I am grateful they are confident of the way.
The walk seemed endless when the guard dragged me over to the arena, and I was still in shock at my abduction and terrified of what was to come. Now, parched with thirst and weak with hunger, and accompanied by four others with a variety of injuries, I am not sure we will make it back.
My bare feet are soon bruised and aching, and I have cut one of them on a sharp piece of metal or glass. I stop to pull it out of my foot and then hurry after the others, dripping blood as I go.
The shadowy side of a building gives us shelter for a rest. Taark looks grim-faced and he moves as stiffly as an old man of ninety. He drops onto his haunches and closes his eyes in exhaustion. He is favoring his right shoulder. Only sheer willpower is keeping him going.
One of the lizard women drops to her knees, panting. Her face is grey with fatigue and her scales are dull and lifeless. I do not know how she has made it even this far. And the space port is still so far away.
It feels like a cheesy chase scene in a movie. Any moment now, I expect to see searchlights, men with dogs, sniffing us out. Calling us with loudspeakers to get on our knees and drop our weapons. Shooting at us. Throwing us back in a cell.
The tallest of the lizard women leans against the wall and looks searchingly at me. “Are you coming with us?”
I shuffle my feet doubtfully. To tell the truth, I have not thought much beyond getting out of the cell and away from pursuit from the guards. “I have nothing to offer for a ride home. I don’t have money here, and nothing to barter.” Heck, I don’t even have any clothes. I’ve gotten so used to being naked that I don’t even notice it anymore.
She spits. “I’ll not be striking any bargain. I’ll not take the chance on a pilot I don’t know. He’d be just as likely to sell me off to another slaver, and I’d be no better off. Worse, probably. The way I look, he’d sell me straight to the mines and then I’m dead for sure.”
The woman with the damaged face mutters in agreement. “We don’t need a pilot. I can fly anything. Give me the biggest bucket of rust and bolts, held together with spit and hope, and even half-dead, I’ll fly it. Whatever we can find, we’ll steal, and I challenge any of those hairy ball-lickers to catch me.”
“We’ll drop you off on your planet on our way home,” the third one offered. “I’m sure we’re all in agreement on this. It is the least we can offer you for saving our lives.”
“And for giving me the chance to slit the belly of that snake, Grud,” the first woman adds. She turns to Taark. “And we will take you wherever you want to go, too. We all owe you more than we can ever repay.”
Taark doesn’t speak. He only looks away. Where would he go, when this planet is his home?
At the thought of going home, I feel tears well up. I want to go home. Back to Earth, to my safe little house and to my job as a vet taking care of a never-ending parade of pampered cats and over-excited dogs and indifferent rabbits. I want to wake up in my own bed and be able to tell myself that this episode was just a bad dream. That aliens do not exist. That I did not kill a lizard man, slitting open his stomach like a rotten melon while he lay pinned to the ground by my fellow victims. That I did not gut a guard to allow me to escape
I want to forget it all.
I’d give anything to get home.
I open my mouth to take up their offer. Then I turn to look at Taark, at his golden eyes, and his face still handsome despite the blood and dirt.
Do I really want to go home and leave him here? What else is there for me to do?
He reaches out for me, his eyes pleading mutely with me, and takes hold of my arm.
Then there is a flash of blue, and a pain in my shoulder, and I am crumpling to the ground and into blackness.
Chapter Seven
Taark
The kit is hit. It’s all I have time to comprehend before the shouting breaks out all around me. There are flashes of blue going off, to the left of me, to the right. We jump behind the corner of the building, and I practically throw the kit’s body behind mine.
The lizard women are crouching, and two of them take off running, scrambling to get away, and moving as fast as they can while bent over double, hugging the meagre shadows the wall offers.
The last one looks at me, one final frantic look. She can’t carry the kit. I can see her shaking with the effort to merely stand.
I won’t go with them. I won’t leave my home, no matter how bad it gets here. I shake my head. “I’ll take care of her.” I’m already scooping her into my arms. “I’ll get her home.”
She gives me the briefest of nods, her tongue flicking. “May we meet again, if our gods will it. You will always have a friend among us.” She blinks, and then she, too, is gone.
They do not have far to go to the space port. In the flashes of gunfire, I can already see the outlines of the individual ships. They will have places to hide, and if they are quick, and their luck holds, they may just get away. The port isn’t guarded as well as it could be since the Emperor recently cut wages to the port workers.
I am not in a good hiding place here. I may be slightly hidden in the shadows, but if anyone comes close enough around this corner, they will see us.
I cradle Hannah’s body close to me, and feel her chest rising and falling far too quickly. She still breathes.
I risk a look around the edge. The lizard women are barely distinguishable from the shadows of the buildings around us, flitting from building to building. The guards that were pursuing us are following them now.
If I were stronger, I would try to distract the guards to help the women get away. But with Hannah in my arms, her blood oozing onto my chest, I force myself to start sneaking away as quietly and as quickly as I can.
Running makes me feel like a coward. Without honor. I only hope the Galgog women are desperate enough to get to safety, despite their wounds.
I should be strong enough to help them, I should be strong enough to fight the guards off and save all of us.
My legs are on fire and my lungs burn. My vision is blurring. I have no strength left to spare for them They are on their own now, the lizard women.
And I have the kit, little Hannah, to protect.
There is nowhere in the city that will be safe for us, and that leaves us only one option. The forest. The huge tract of wilderness that borders the farmlands past the western side of the city and spans hundreds of miles deep, right up to the base of the Western Mountain Range.
With my success in the Games, and the need for secrecy around the attempts to assassinate me, I can only hope they won’t openly hunt me down but will just forget about me. Out of sight, out of mind. If I am not a thorn in their side, then they have won all they need for now.
If I can get us deep enough into the woods, I can protect both of us. We will be hidden well there. Safe. Until…
I don’t know what will happen after that. Until can come later.
My legs move quickly and surely as though they have a mind of their own. My fingers are gripping the tiny body of the kit far too hard. I’ll have bruised her. But I can’t risk dropping her. My breathing is labored now, each inhalat
ion burning like fire. I haven’t heard anything behind me yet, and it still stays quiet save from my rasping breaths.
Her body is sticky. The blood is oozing from her shoulder and dripping down my arm, leaving a trail behind us as clear as day. I can’t stop to worry about it, or to try and hide it. The trail might not be noticed until daylight. And by daylight, we will be far away.
If we are still alive.
I know these streets well from my childhood, and it feels strange running down them just as I did as a young cub. I was carefree then, and so was the city. The curfew was enforced only a few years ago when peaceful protests against the Emperor turned violent and were outlawed.
Tonight the streets are empty. Each window in the buildings that stretch up alongside the cobbled streets is dark.
I never thought I’d be grateful for the curfew. Tonight I am.
I have reached the scooter park on the edge of the space port when I hear it. A low humming noise that increases in volume, until it is ringing so loudly that I flinch. There are reasons rules are enforced on the speed you can travel within the atmosphere of a planet. The noise can be so loud that glass shatters, and your hearing is lost if you are too close.
The lizard women aren’t taking any chances. They are full throttle by the sounds of it.
I sneak a quick look back. They’ve snaffled a decent ship, one of the Lightforce models. If the Galgog is even half the pilot that she claims to be, no one is going to catch them.
Most likely no one will bother to chase them, either. Out on space, there are too many places to run to, and a universe to hide in. If a chance patrol doesn’t run across them, they are home free.
A weight of guilt falls off my shoulders. They didn’t need my strength. They had enough strength and cunning of their own.
I just need to save Hannah now. Her breathing is shallow, and her skin feels clammy. She needs help. And fast.
The scooter park is illuminated by a faint glow from the overhead lights. A swipe from one of the claws and the strands of razor wire fall apart. The barriers weren’t ever built to keep out full grown adults from breaking in, but to prevent youngsters for taking the scooters out for a joyride. Our claws don’t fully harden until we are well into adulthood, and some have claws that never harden properly.
I always considered them weaklings. That is, until I met Hannah and realized that strength can come in many forms.
A quick glance around and I see that the scooters are mostly utilitarian, probably owned and ridden by the space port workers. None of them are two-seaters, so I head for the biggest one in the lot. It should carry us both. The kit is only small.
Hacking into the controls takes a couple of precious minutes. I don’t dare to put Hannah down in case I can’t pick her up again. I seat her in front of me and clasp her to my chest. With my other hand I work the controls.
The engine coughs and splutters into life. I give the fuel a burst, and we are off, up into the air and over the fence and away.
In moments, the guards are far behind us. With a decent flyer, they could catch us in minutes, but I know how bureaucracy works around here. It would take three voice transmissions and a request in writing before someone with enough superiority would approve their request to take out a vehicle to follow us.
Sure, they could steal an air scooter themselves to follow us, but that would land them in more trouble than if they just let us go. It’s easier to swear blind that we all left on the spaceship. I would bet my life on them doing just that.
I am betting the kit’s life on it, too.
Even on an air scooter, the forest is a couple of hours away at full throttle. I kick the engine as hard as it will go, but scooters are built for sturdiness rather than speed, and it is carrying a heavier-than-usual load. It shudders and shakes along, and I fight to keep it stable against the air currents. My shoulder throbs from the venom, and my hand doesn’t follow the instructions from my brain as readily as it should. No matter. I do the best I can to steer with my bad arm.
I have to use my good arm to keep Hannah close.
We fly over acres and acres of ciabaans plantation. Its heady smell tantalizes me. It’s been an age since I have tasted any. Ciabaans has made the rulers of the Arkon Empire wealthy, but it is too costly to waste on prisoners. I could do with some now to lend me some energy and to dull the pain of the venom in my blood.
I cannot drop her. Not now that I have a taste of freedom once more—thanks to her.
Barely yards from the first tall shadows that mark the first trees on the fringes of the forest, the scooter begins to misfire and lose altitude. The fuel level is hovering on empty.
There’s no time to second guess myself. I drop down to just above ground level and skim along the ground until I am just into the cover of the trees.
I grit my teeth as I struggle off the scooter and step under the shelter of the first tree.
We are in.
Hannah’s breaths are faint and fast. The blood doesn’t seem to be flowing as freely. I need to bandage her. I don’t know how much blood a human can lose. I don’t know if the shot will main her for life, or if she will recover. I do know that if I lose her now, I don’t know what I will do.
Under the tree branches it is darker, and I take each step as carefully as I can. It would do no good to break an ankle, or fall down a bank, when we have come so far.
Every muscle in my body hurts and the venom in my system makes every nerve ending fire. The pain is intense and all consuming. Still, I hold the kit tight to me, and I keep going.
Eventually I’m no longer running. I keep going until I’m no longer walking, but shuffling, inches at a time. I keep going until I can’t anymore, and I drop to my knees. I think I might die, right here.
I lean forward and my brain has no control over my fingers. I try to place Hannah down, but she tumbles from my arms. I try to reach out to her, but I am falling to the side, and my eyes close. The darkness consumes me, welcoming me into its embrace.
When I awake, it is to the sound of a low moan coming from Hannah. Above me, through the dense foliage I can see streaks of sky, illuminated with pink. Its dawn already. I roll onto my side and reach out to touch her. Her delicate skin is hot. Too hot.
I crawl to her side and see the wound for the first time. It is small; on me it would be nothing. But on her small frame it is significant. The wound is gaping open still, with burn marks across her shoulder. The blood has congealed at least, but she is burning with fever now.
A branch cracks in the undergrowth.
Shit.
A male is standing half concealed by the trees, pointing a gun at me. He is bigger than me and wears a soldier’s uniform that looks as though it has seen better years. I’d have been on double duties for half a turn if I had ever turned up to the barracks in something that stained and shabby.
I push myself up onto my knees. Even that takes effort. I won’t be able to fight him off. I look around for a weapon—a stick, a branch, something I can throw. My claws will be useless this far away.
“I wouldn’t even think about it. I have more men with me. You’re surrounded. If you try to fight, you will be shot five times over before you even get to your feet.” His voice is level. No emotion there at all.
I turn back to face him. I do not detect the rank smell of fear on him. Or any particular desire to hurt me or Hannah.
I do not let down my guard though. His lack of emotion is almost as dangerous as fear or bloodlust would be. He might recognize me and kill me anyway. Or he may simply choose to kill us if he decides that we pose an unacceptable level of threat to him or to his men.
His eyes narrow as he assesses me and the unconscious kit. “We thought you were dead.”
I laugh now at the absurdity of this situation. To have made it so far, only to be shot by some second rank soldier who’s not important enough even for a decent uniform. “I thought I was, too. Are you going to kill us?”
“It depends.” He doe
sn’t lower the barrel of the gun. “Who are you and what are you doing in our forest with a human female?”
“Your forest?” Soldiers don’t live in the forest. Soldiers live in their barracks, in the huge sprawling masses of barracks that houses the half a million strong army. Soldiers don’t even go into the forest.
I pause.
Soldiers don’t ever go into the forest. Even when fugitives escape here, they send lower ranked officials in here, like the guards. Or paid mercenaries, if they really want to catch someone.
By nature, our kind don’t like the forest. We prefer open spaces, where we can run. If someone escapes to the forest, they aren’t ever seen again. So the Emperor doesn’t waste his precious military resources to find them.
He looks at me, his expression unchanged. “Yes, our forest. And we won’t hesitate to remind you of whose land this is, if it comes to that.”
Not a Government soldier, then. That would account for the ragged uniform.
I decide I have little to lose by telling the truth. “I was in the Games. We—we were in the Games. We won, but I was to be killed anyway. The Emperor doesn’t want me alive. So we escaped and made it here. To hide.”
His eyes widen at my words, and his gaze briefly flicks up and to his left. Another of the soldiers must be hidden there. I don’t bother looking. I know I’m already talking to the one in charge.
“And the human?”
I put my hand on her body, my protective instincts kicking in before I realize. “She’s hurt. The guards shot her before we got away. I couldn’t let her die at their hands.” I couldn’t leave her. I will honor my words to the lizard women to get her home when she wakes. But until then, I’m not letting her out of my sight.
He almost smiles now, but it is humorless. “She is a different species to you. To us. Smaller. Weaker.”
I growl at him, deep in my throat. She may be a human, but she has proven her worth to me. She has the heart of a fighter.
