by Emma Vance
“Wit?” My friend, the one who had run my fights in the pits and who had helped Nisha carry me to my room when I’d been poisoned. We’d been in guard training together. His eyes snapped to mine.
“Otun?” He looked from me to Nisha, his mouth drawing down into a frown.
“What is the meaning of this?” He homed in on my hand, gripping Nisha’s. Then, understanding dawned.
“You are escaping. With the human.” His eyes widened.
I still held the knife. Wit was my friend, but I would kill him if I needed to. If it helped me protect Nisha, I would kill anyone standing in my way.
“Yes,” I said with a growl. Nisha gasped. I didn’t bother to deny it. He knew the truth. If he wanted to stop me, he knew what he had to do as well.
He swallowed, his hand hovering over the blaster at his side. Then, he dropped his hand.
“You are no fool, Otun. I hope you know what you are doing.” He looked sidelong down the hallway. “You don’t have long before more come. I just happened to see you. You need to be quick.” Then he unstrapped the sword from his belt and handed it to me. “You may need this if you are going to disable the locks.”
“Why are you helping us?” Nisha demanded beside me, not trusting him. He looked to her, then back to me.
I knew why. He didn’t need to voice it. But he still did.
“Because we are brothers. Reborn in this place as slaves. If my brother has found a way to escape, I will help him if I can.” He lifted his chin up, and I nodded.
“My thanks, Wit.” My throat felt thick. I pounded my fist to my chest, once. A sign of respect for the Kenari.
“You haven’t escaped yet. Thank me when you are halfway across the galaxy.” He looked behind us down the corridor. “Go. You don’t have long. I’ll direct others away from here.”
I didn’t hesitate. I pulled the knife from my belt and threw it at the soldier standing guard at the control room.
It sailed through the air and buried itself into the guard’s chest so fast the others didn’t even have time to blink. I didn’t want them reaching for their blasters. The last thing we needed was blaster fire to bring all the other guards on our heads. Nisha bent down and retrieved the knife from the guard’s chest, yanking it out with a fierceness that surprised me.
I’d lost the element of surprise and I had three more to kill. Unsheathing the sword, I roared and charged forward, arcing it across the air to slice off the other guard’s head. I needed to be quick. One tried to pull his blaster, but I spun the sword backwards, slicing his hand off. I rushed towards him, the tip of my sword piercing his chest. He fell to the ground beside the other guard. I whirled to the other two, and one held his hands up, backing away from me.
“I won’t tell anyone you were here,” he said, moving away. “I just want to make it out of here alive.”
I nodded and lowered my sword.
A stream of white energy hit him in the chest before I had time to react. The guard slumped to the ground. I whirled to see where the blaster shot had come from. A guard stood, his blaster in the air, Nisha gripped to his side.
My body stilled, and blood roared through my veins. I gripped my sword, ready to hurl it across the hall at this male who dared to touch her.
But I stopped when he held his blaster up to Nisha’s temple, a smile splitting his face.
“Why did you kill the other guard?” I asked, gesturing to the dead male on the ground. “I would have let him go.”
“Because he was a coward. You’ll both be dying in the pits today with the rest of the escapees. Come,” he gestured down the hall and pressed the tip of his blaster harder to Nisha’s temple. “Unless you want me to kill your female,” he snapped. I growled in response.
He yanked Nisha forward, but then froze, a startled expression etched across his face.
Nisha pushed away from him, and the guard fell to the ground, my knife buried in his side. He writhed on the floor, moaning and clutching his side.
She stared down at him, black blood coating her hands. “Oh my god, Otun!”
I gripped her arm. “We don’t have time, Nisha.”
She was shaking, but I pulled her along. The control room was now unguarded. We ran towards the door, and I pushed it open with a lurch. Various screens dotted the walls in the room, and a lone male sat staring at a viewing screen.
“What—” He shot to his feet and lunged towards something. A large blinking button jutted out from the centre of the panel, waiting to be pressed.
An alarm.
I got to him before he pressed it, slamming the pommel of my sword into the back of his head. He slumped to the ground.
I whipped my gaze around the room, searching. I’d volunteered to guard the control room numerous times so that I could learn the layout of the room, and what I needed to do to get us out of here.
Get a ship. One that’s fast. Get off this fucking planet.
It wasn’t a complicated plan, but it was one I knew I could execute. My previous plan involved putting Bardoa out of his misery so he didn’t come after me for the next twenty seasons. But right now, the best plan was just to get us off this planet and as far away as possible. The rest we could figure out later.
I just needed to make sure there was a later.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Otun
I needed to find the Dragorian’s ship—the Jewel of Votarnis. I didn’t know if looking for a specific ship made escaping easier or much harder.
I ran over to the main viewing screen and brought up the database of ships in the docking station. I scanned through, looking for the Dragorian’s ship code.
“Dock seventy-five.” My weighted gaze met Nisha’s.
The same dock we’d tried to escape from a year ago.
“Let’s make sure we do it this time.” I felt the strength fill her voice, the power we would need to get out of here shoring her up. My Salana was fierce.
I typed on the data board, trying the various access codes I’d memorized. I needed to disable the locks on the Dragorian ship so I could fly it.
The first one I tried was denied. I tried again, trying to get around the back of the system and hijack the controls. I’d studied this for years, going over the codes in my mind every time I’d guarded the control room.
It worked.
I exhaled heavily.
I’d unlocked the ship. Temporarily, but I’d done it.
“How do you know all this?” Nisha asked, awe filtering her voice.
“My father,” I said proudly. “There wasn’t a ship system he couldn’t break into. He showed me what I needed to do.”
“He sounds like an amazing male,” she said with a smile. “I wish I’d met him.”
I smiled back at her, “I wish you had too. He would have liked you.”
I knew it was true.
She laughed. “He would have liked a human slave who has no discernible skills at all? I doubt that.”
“Skills? You are the bravest female I know. You are risking everything to save your people, for the second time. And did you see the way you stabbed that guard back there? Yes, my father would have liked you. Immensely.”
The smile lingered on her face, but we didn’t have time to waste. “How long do we have to get to the ship?”
“Not long. I’ve disabled it. But as a safety measure, it relocks automatically in a few minutes. We have to get to it before then. I’ve also disabled the lock on the ship’s weapons and shield.” I swallowed. “I just hope the humans can hold on. They will already be in the ring by now and they won’t be armed.”
“So, they may already be dead?” whispered Nisha.
I clasped my hand to her arm. “Dragorians are fierce warriors. They will fight for as long as they can to keep the females alive.”
That’s what I was hoping anyway. Who knew if Bardoa would give them a fair fight, or simply kill them all with a torasit beast. But Bardoa liked to make money, and he liked sport. He’d toy with
them first to eke whatever he could out of their life before it ended.
We ran back to the docking station. It wasn’t far from the control room, and we saw minimal guards on our way there. Once we got to the docks, things were a different story. It was crawling with guards.
“Get in front of me,” I muttered to Nisha, and she complied. I held her roughly, as if she were my prisoner, and marched her ahead of me.
Some guards gave us a curious glance, but I stared back imperiously at them, as if I had somewhere important to be. Nisha played the part of the meek prisoner perfectly—her gaze turned down and hands clasped in front of her. She even quaked with fear occasionally. I almost grinned at her play-acting and would have if it wouldn’t have given us away. We marched towards dock seventy-five. I paused at the entrance.
This one would be trickier to handle.
Two guards were at the gate. I thought there would be more, but even two would be hard to deal with. I could fight them easily, but if they raised the alarm, we would be surrounded in seconds.
“I have orders to take this prisoner aboard,” I said to one of the males, nodded at the sleek Dragorian ship parked at dock seventy-five. He was a stocky guard, and the color of the chalky clay that Bardoa mined on the other side of the planet. The two guards exchanged looks with each other.
“By who?” asked the stocky guard, raising up to his full height, which was only to the middle of my chest.
A beat of silence passed. A muscle ticked in my jaw as I looked down at the guard, and the male nervously clutched his spear. Good. I wanted him uncertain.
“Bardoa himself.” I curled my lip, letting the distaste roll off me, acting like a commander who didn’t have time to deal with dregs like these two.
The guard shook his head, but I saw him look to his fellow male for support. “But this ship has been commandeered,” he squeaked.
The other guard walked forward. He was Gorathie, and had their wary, narrow eyes and maroon-colored skin. His red Gorathie arms flexed, and he drew to his full height, which was closer to mine. This one would be a more challenging match. But he would still lose.
They all would, if they stood in the way of Nisha and I getting off this planet.
“The ship’s crew were thrown in the pits. From what I hear, it’s been a good battle, if it’s still going.” His gravelly voice was like the scraping of a spear against stone. “No one is allowed on this ship. Especially not females.” He looked pointedly at Nisha, and his gaze stayed there, eyes roving over her body as he licked his lips.
I stepped in front of Nisha, forcing the angular-eyed male to look at me. I was about to growl at him when Nisha placed a hand on my forearm.
“I think they know what we are doing, Otun.”
I started at the husky, deep tone of her voice. It made my cock jump to attention too.
As it did to the other males, it seemed. The Gorathie male smirked, and moved closer to her, his face smeared with a greedy smirk.
“And what is that, pretty human?”
Nisha leaned towards him, her breasts spilling forward in her filmy dress, her eyes big and wide. The red-skinned guard licked his lips again.
“I wanted to be fucked on a spaceship, and we knew this one was available. I’ve never really been on one before, at least not while conscious, and I thought it would be totally hot to have a filthy, against the rules fuck right in the control room.”
I wanted to protect Nisha from the gaze of the guard, who looked ready to tear her dress off. But I recognized what she was doing, and it was a good plan, even if I didn’t like it.
It took everything in me to remain still, for my face to stay impassive. Nisha could talk all she wanted, but if it came to it, I wasn’t letting these males lay a hand on her.
The Gorathie male stepped forward, his smile more lecherous than it was before.
“I knew you were lying Kenari. But I understand why. Of course you didn’t want to share a female like this.” His smug gaze didn’t drop as he continued. “But you’re going to have to if you want on that ship.”
The stocky guard behind him sputtered. “We can’t go on that ship! If Bardoa found out—”
“Bardoa’s not going to find out,” the Gorathie guard spat at him. “Unless you tell him. Do you plan on doing that?”
“No,” he stammered.
I almost felt sorry for him, knowing I was going to kill him.
“As long as I get a turn,” he added.
Never mind, I’d have no problem killing either guard. “Fine, but I get her first.” I forced a grim smile.
Nisha winced and I resisted the urge to apologize. Instead, I hauled her against me and marched towards the ship. The weighted steps of the two guards followed behind us.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nisha
I wish I could have said I was used to males speaking about using my body as if I had no say in the matter, but the truth was, it never got any easier. But I tried to focus my mind on what we had to do, and the fact that we were racing against time to get the humans out of the pits—if they were even still alive.
We entered the spaceship and I didn’t even have to fake my awe. The Dragorian ship was beautiful. The interior was a molded liquid black, clean and sleek. The floors were like a polished black river and had the feeling of walking on plush carpet.
“Where do we go?” asked the short guard, his voice edged with nervousness.
“This way, idiot,” said the other guard, with bright red skin the color of a stop sign. I recognized him. He often guarded the tents at the luxury gardens, leering at us on the dusk lit pathways. He was the kind of male that would grab the females roughly as we walked past, and who got away with manhandling the females whenever he wanted.
Sometimes it was reported to Clio, but often we just let things like that go. Getting noticed on Stryxx wasn’t advised. If you rocked the boat here, it rocked you right back.
I kept my distance from him as we walked down the halls and was grateful Otun kept me close. I felt the guards’ gaze on my body and wanted to gag. Luckily, Otun seemed to know where he was going, and guided us through a well-lit hall until we arrived at what I assumed was a control room.
It was like all the spaceships you’d seen in movies and TV shows, only shinier. There was a large viewing screen that surrounded the front of the room, and intricate panels of lit up buttons and knobs. I didn’t have a clue what anything was.
Otun, on the other hand, had his hand placed on one of the panels and was looking down with almost reverence. His mouth turned downward, and it almost seemed like he was . . . praying.
I knew his father had taught him to fly ships and I knew Otun was taken at a young age and enslaved to Stryxx. We’d all lost something to end up on Stryxx, but right now, in the quiet of the Dragorian ship control room, it felt like Otun was finding something again. I placed my hand over his on the panel and he looked up at me, his eyes bright in the black room.
I never would have been able to escape without him. The thought jarred me, and it was almost felt like a physical jolt. Not just because of his ability to fly a ship, which I also wouldn’t have been able to do without him, but also emotionally. I’d become who I was because of him, was made stronger because of his strength, more confident and powerful because of his faith in me.
Now, I would have faith in him.
“Fuck her already,” came the growl of the red-skinned guard behind us. I’d almost forgotten he was there. “Or I will go first.”
“We should be quick,” the short guard said, his eyes flickering around the room nervously. “I’ll be very quick,” he added, and I didn’t even try to stop my grimace. Of course he would.
I whirled around and pointed at the disgusting red guard. “I want you first.”
His grin widened and he walked forward, undoing the weapons belt at his waist, his fingers fumbling at the leather lappets. I watched the weapons belt slide to the ground and tried to school my features in mock aro
usal. Making a come-hither motion with my fingers, I jumped up on the control panel and spread my legs slightly. He was in such a hurry to fuck me, he didn’t notice Otun step neatly behind him, scooping up the weapons belt and unclipping the guard’s blaster.
“I’ve wanted to taste human flesh for so long, but you whores would never pick me. We should be gifted females like you, it’s us that are protecting you. You should be grateful to spread your legs for the guards,” he muttered, his eyes glittering with sexual frenzy and something darker. Something a lot like hate. I wanted to recoil from him and snap my legs shut, but I maintained my same blank smile, watching Otun move behind him.
“Right now, you should be grateful for a quick death,” Otun said, the click of the blaster echoing through the room.
The guard spun around, his lappets at his ankles, his pitiful erection shrinking.
Otun pulled the trigger, and a stream of white light shot into the guard’s chest, burning a hole straight through. He fell to the ground, his legs crumpling beneath him.
The other guard gaped at us, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. He groped for his weapon but Otun turned and pointed the blaster at him. The guard threw up his arms.
“Wait!” he yelped, his face clenching in fear.
“I don’t hesitate when I kill cowards,” came Otun’s cold reply. He pulled the trigger.
Otun moved the bodies into the hall, conscious that someone may have heard the sound of blasters from inside the ship. I was nervous too, but more so about the next part of the plan. Flying a spaceship into the middle of the gladiator arena to rescue our friends didn’t seem like the easiest thing to do. Factoring in that we likely had to dodge all of Bardoa’s patrol ships on the way there and then get us all off this planet made it seem nearly impossible.
Otun typed in a few more instructions on the control panel and the ship glided forward. Elation rose in me. We were escaping. It didn’t seem real. Tears pricked my eyes as I held on tightly to a smooth metal bar at the edge of a control panel.
