by Melody Adams
I entered a passageway covered with pink and yellow flowering tendrils. The flowers were another natural source of light. For a moment I almost forgot that I had to follow the Jingg and stopped to marvel at the glowing flowers.
As I looked down the hallway, I couldn't see anyone and panicked. I started running until I reached a crossroads. I looked around in all directions and there he stood, in the corridor to my left. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest and gave me a dark look.
"I thought I had to come and get you," he said.
"Sorry," I murmured. "The flowers – I was so ... so fascinated by the flowers."
"Last warning," the Jingg said threateningly. "Next time I will punish you! – And now come!"
Pain
I didn't sleep a wink all night. I could only think of Julia. Where was she now? Was she all right? Was she hurt? Had the motherfuckers touched her? I was wavering between anger and worry. I was relieved when the morning finally came and we left with a search party of twelve Alien Breeds and ten soldiers to free Julia and Diamond.
"Everything all right?" Steel asked, running next to me.
"I'm such a damn fool," I cursed in frustration. "I shouldn't have let her roam the area only accompanied by Diamond. Diamond may be strong, but she is only a female. But I avoided Julia just because..."
"Don't worry about it now," Steel replied. "We don't even know how many Jinggs there were. It's possible that even you couldn't have managed to beat them. We were too careless. We shouldn’t have allowed two females to go into the forest alone, even if they were not far from the village. We knew that the Jinggs were sneaking around our village all the time."
"I found something," a shout penetrated the forest, and Steel and I hurried to the place where Hunter was kneeling on the ground.
"What is it?" I wanted to know.
"This must have been the place of the abduction," explained Hunter, who was one of the best trackers amongst us, if not the best. "I can make out at least five or six different tracks apart from Julia and Diamond’s. In the future, none of us should walk alone here in the forest anymore. We must always be at least four."
"The insight comes a little too late," I grumbled. "If there were really six savages, then the females stood no chance. Diamond must have tried to stop them. Obviously, she told Julia to run back to the camp. She almost made it, if the damn fence hadn't been there, we would have caught the beasts. But because we had to make a detour, they escaped us. We should make more gates into the fence."
"We can decide about that another time when we have the females back," Sturdy answered.
"Where did the bastards disappear to now?" Rage wanted to know.
Hunter looked around the square thoroughly before pointing north.
"They went this way," he announced. "Diamond must have put up a good fight, because the tracks indicate that two of the bastards were carrying her between them and their steps are a little off the track, they probably had to struggle with balance because Diamond fidgeted too much.
"Diamond is tough," Sturdy acknowledged. "She'll give them hell!"
"Let's follow them," I said impatiently. "We won't get the females back if we just stand here!"
Julia
"What are you going to do with me?" I asked when the Jingg took me to a room that was obviously someone’s private quarter.
"I chose you," the Jingg announced and closed the door behind us. A cold shiver made me tremble.
"Chosen? For ... for what?" I asked uneasily, although I was sure I already knew the answer.
The Jingg stood in front of me and put a hand under my chin. I flinched, and my heart raced as he touched me. I had to think of Pain and tears shot into my eyes.
"Why are you crying?" The Jingg asked almost tenderly. "Are you afraid of me?"
I nodded silently.
"I heard what you call us," he said while looking at me. "Savages! That's what we are to you? Savages? You fear I would violate you?"
"You ... You have already said that ... that you would ... you would hurt me."
"I wouldn’t harm your body. There are other ways. And I would certainly not force myself on you. I intend to win you."
"I ... I could never..."
"Why?" The Jingg asked sharply, and his yellow eyes sparkled at me. "Because I am a savage?"
"I ... I already have a mate," I lied. After all, it was only half a lie. Pain and I might have a complicated relationship, but in my heart he was the man I wanted to plan my future with. At that thought more tears ran down my cheeks.
"You have already been chosen by one of your males?" The Jingg asked.
I nodded.
The Jingg let me go and turned away. He began to walk up and down in the quarters, obviously angry. My heart raced anxiously and my stomach was in knots. Had I made a fatal mistake in telling him that I had a mate? Would he kill me now? He looked really scary, ready to commit murder. I swallowed hard. Suddenly he came to an abrupt halt and turned to me, an unreadable expression on his face. He set himself in motion and approached me. Wordlessly he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me with him.
"What ... what are you going to do to me?" I asked in a panicked voice.
"Quiet! You are worthless to me. If you are already spoken for, then I have no use for you!"
"Please, don't hurt me," I begged. "Please!"
He dragged me out of the room, down the hall. We would change from one hallway to the next several times and I completely lost my orientation. Finally we landed in front of a door studded with gems. Two guards stood in front of it and stared at us in the dim light.
"What do you want, Tarrigh?" One of the guards asked.
"I'm bringing a new slave for the Oggrul!"
The guards stepped aside, and Tarrigh opened the door. Pulling me with him, he entered a large hall. In the middle stood a great throne, on which a giant guy sat, surrounded by several women sitting at his feet. One of them was Diamond. I was surprised to find her in such a humble pose until I saw that she was chained with her hands to one of the feet of the throne. She raised her eyes as we entered, murder written in her eyes. When she recognized me, the murderous expression disappeared and made way for one of worry and horror.
"Julia." She shook her head. "I so hoped you would make it."
The guy on the throne looked at me, then at Tarrigh.
"What's going on?"
Tarrigh bowed before he made a statement.
"I bring you the other female, my lord. She fled when we found them in the forest, but we were able to catch her again."
"I heard that another female had been brought," the Oggrul said coldly. "But why didn't you bring her to me until now?"
"Forgive me, my Oggrul. She was hurt. A skirr had bitten her. We had to treat her first."
"He wanted me for himself," I said and pulled myself away from Tarrigh.
The Oggrul's eyes narrowed as he turned his gaze from me to Tarrigh.
"Forgiveness! I was blinded by her beauty and..." He fell on his knees before the throne and humbly lowered his head.
"You fool," the Oggrul pushed out in disgust. "You know I would have given her to you if you had made me an appropriate offer!"
"Forgiveness!"
"If I forgave you, it would be a weakness that I cannot afford – you know that as well as I do!"
Tarrigh was silent and I couldn't get rid of the feeling that he was facing a hard sentence – if not death. A guilty conscience came over me for telling on him.
"What are you going to do with him?" I asked.
"You dare to ask the Oggrrul questions?" The ruler asked in an icy tone.
Diamond looked at me and, shaking her head. She held a finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet, but I couldn’t remain silent when perhaps a man's life depended on it. Even though Tarrigh was a Jingg, and thus an enemy, I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. Since I had betrayed him, it would almost be as if I would kill him myself if he really were to receive such a drastic punis
hment.
"I want to know what you're going to do with him," I repeated.
Two guards stepped right and left beside me and grabbed me by the arm. Diamond pulled on her chains, wanted to rise, but the chain was too short.
"Let her go," she shouted.
"Silence," The Oggrul barked at her. Then he turned to the guards. "Bring her closer!"
I defended myself, but the two Jinggs who held me pulled me mercilessly forward until I stood directly in front of the throne. At close range the ruler of the Jinggs looked even more threatening. Black tattoos not only adorned his body, but also his face. He was broader than the other Jinggs, almost as buff as the Alien Breeds. As he rose from his throne, to my horror, I realized he was even taller. A blue devil with the body measurements of a Titan.
"Let her go or you'll never get me," Diamond turned to the giant in a hard voice.
His gaze wandered from me to Diamond.
"You will give yourself to me? Voluntarily? In exchange for her freedom?"
"I said, if you really want to win me over, it's the wrong tactic to hurt my best friend. Release her or you'll never have a chance with me."
The Oggrul grabbed Diamond by her chin and forced her to look him straight in the face.
"Your deal is not good enough, little hellcat. Make me a better offer!"
Diamond's eyes narrowed as they looked at each other.
"I will bathe you like you wanted. That's my last offer, garden gnome!"
I almost had to laugh at the name Diamond had given the ruler of the Jinggs. But then it sank in, what Diamond had just offered for my freedom. I couldn’t allow Diamond to bathe this brutal savage. He would not be satisfied with bathing alone and I would rather not imagine how this colossus would force himself on Diamond.
"No! Don't do that," I shouted angrily and tried to squirm out of the grip of my guards – without success.
The Oggrul didn't pay any attention to me, but stared into Diamond’s eyes, a sensual grin on his full lips.
"Deal," he said, visibly satisfied.
"No! Keep your dirty fingers off her," I screamed, still fighting fiercely against my guards.
"Blindfold her, and bring her back where you found her," The Oggrul ordered. "And as for Tarrigh – bring him to the pit. If he makes it out alive, he should be forgiven. If not – well, then not!"
Two more guards came to raise Tarrigh up from the ground and drag him away.
"Diamond!" I shouted as my guards dragged me with them.
"Don't worry about me," Diamond said. "I can take care of myself! Say hello to your mate, Freedom, from me!"
When the door closed behind us, tears ran down my cheeks. If this Titan kept his word, I would soon be free, but at what price? Diamond in the hands of a brutal giant. Then I realized what Diamond had said to me when I said goodbye.
Say hello to your mate, Freedom, for me!
Why had she mentioned my mate, and why had she said Freedom and not Pain? An oversight? – Hardly! Diamond must have thought something about it.
Freedom – My freedom. Freedom for her.
Freedom was also our leader.
She must have meant that I should tell Freedom everything I knew so a rescue party could free Diamond. She would certainly try to stall the guy as long as possible. She had bought me means to do what I had failed to do the first time: tell our people what had happened.
Pain
"Over there! Something's moving!" Sturdy shouted and everyone took their weapons.
In fact, it shimmered blue here and there between the trees, and then I could see them! There were eight Jinggs and they had Julia with them. Everything inside me screamed for the blood of the blue bastards, but a rash action could mean Julia's death.
"I don't understand," Steel said next to me. "Why are they bringing Julia back, and why is she blindfolded?"
"I have no idea. But we can't take any chances. They could do something to Julia."
"We have to negotiate," Freedom said, telling the men to stop moving forward. "Let them come near."
"They saw us," Sturdy announced.
In fact, the savages slightly changed course and were now heading straight for us. Seeing Julia in the hands of these bastards was more than I could bear, but at least she seemed unharmed. One of the Jinggs pulled a long blade and held it to Julia's throat, as they slowly approached. The message was clear: no wrong move or I'll slit her throat!
I clenched my hands into fists. A deep growl rose in my throat. I felt Steel's hand closing around my arm.
"Calm down, my friend! We'll get her back, but you have to stay calm. I have the feeling that the savages intend to hand her over to us; otherwise they wouldn’t come to us.
"That's easier said than done," I growled darkly. "All my instincts tell me to slit the bastard’s throats and free Julia!"
"You'd sign her death warrant," Steel said quietly. "You must fight your instincts and use your brain. This is much better than we had hoped. Instead of an entire village full of warriors, we're only dealing with eight of them here and if we do it right, we'll get Julia back without any major risk."
"That's close enough," Freedom shouted and stretched out his flat hand to signal the Jinggs to stop. The guys stopped and one of them pulled the blindfold off Julia's head. She looked around wildly, a haunted look in her eyes, until our eyes met. I nodded slightly to assure her that everything was fine.
Freedom turned to us.
"I negotiate with them. Don't do anything rash!"
Grim nodding followed his words, and then he turned to the Jinggs and bridged the short distance with a few long steps to stop right in front of Julia.
"Hand the female over to us," he challenged and signaled with his hands what he meant.
"Send your warriors back," I heard the man with the knife answer.
"The bastards speak our language," Steel whispered in astonishment.
"Looks like it," I replied grimly.
"We want the female back. She belongs to one of my men," Freedom said.
"First send your warriors back to your village! – Only you stay here!"
"Let her mate stay, too," Freedom demanded.
"No! Only you or we don't have a deal," the Jingg replied and pressed the tip of the knife into Julia's throat until blood welled out.
I roared at the sight of my mate’s blood and wanted to rush off, but Steel and Sturdy grabbed me by the arm. Rage also wrapped his arms around me from behind and whispered warningly in my ear: "Don't do anything stupid! Do you want the bastard to actually slit her throat? How far do you think you would have gotten before she lay dead on the floor in front of you?"
My heart raced like crazy and I felt a raging anger like I hadn't felt since the death of my son.
"Send your men away, or I will slit her throat," threatened the Jingg.
Freedom raised his hands.
"No reason for bloodshed. We do as you ask."
He turned to us.
"Go back to the village! Make sure Pain doesn't do anything stupid." Then he looked directly at me. "I’ll bring her back unharmed. I promise it on my life, Pain!"
I nodded, breathing heavily. I knew I couldn't endanger Julia's life, but a part of me still wanted to rush to her rescue. Especially as the smell of her fear and blood blew over to us as the wind turned. The beast in me wanted to run amok, and it was damn difficult to fight the urge. Steel and Sturdy wouldn't let me go as we gathered to leave. I took one last look at my mate. The fear was written all over her face, but she nodded bravely at me and tried to smile.
Leaving my mate with these savages was the hardest thing I had ever done. I would be happy to have another surgery by Dr. Muller if I could only be with Julia right now. I wanted to hold her in my arms and make sure she was all right. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was. That I loved her, and wanted to spend my life with her.
If you exist, God, then let her come back to me safe and sound, I prayed in silence.
Julia
&n
bsp; Stumbling through the forest with my eyes blindfolded wasn’t a pleasant thing to do. I had no idea where we were going. Would the Jinggs really bring me back? Or were they planning to get rid of me somewhere? How could I trust these savages? And what happened to Diamond? Even if I could get to the village to get help – how could we find the Jinggs' village if I had no idea where it was? All I knew was that it was either underground or in a mountain. I couldn't even estimate the distance because I had no idea how long we had been walking. It could have been a few hours or a day. I was tired and desperate.
Suddenly I felt a cold blade on my neck. Panic rose in me. Now it was over! Now they would kill me. I had known that the blue-skinned barbarians could not be trusted.
Then my blindfold was removed and I anxiously looked around where I was. My gaze fell on familiar faces, a few meters away from us. Alien Breeds. Pain! He was there. Our eyes met and he gave me a slight nod.
"That's close enough," I heard Freedom. He spoke quietly with Pain and the other Breeds and then slowly approached us.
"Hand the female over to us," he challenged as he stood right in front of us. His gaze looked for mine and I read a promise in his eyes. The promise that everything would be all right. That he would not allow anything to happen to me.
"Send your warriors back," replied the Jingg, who held the knife to my throat.
"We want the female back. She belongs to one of my males," Freedom demanded.
"First send your warriors back to your village! – Only you stay here!"
"Let her mate stay, too," Freedom negotiated.
"No! Only you, or we don't have a deal," the Jingg replied and pressed the tip of the knife harder to my throat. I felt something warm running down my neck. Blood! The son of a bitch had actually cut me.
