Prison Moon_Ice Heart

by Alexandra Marell

  “And the people, the dragon worshippers?”

  “Wiped out long ago. Janie, when the hatch opens we’ll fall. If we’re lucky they’ll use an energy net and grant a soft landing. I will cushion your fall as best I can.”

  “And if you’re badly injured? If either of us are injured so we can’t walk, what then?”

  “Game over. But I told you, the Corporation paid too much to let that happen. My guess is that with my fighting skills, we’ll be given a good chance.” He would rather have been silent as they waited, but let her talk if it distracted her from the horrors to come. Janie stood shoulder to shoulder with him, flush against the slick walls of the hatch. Her body trembling.

  “Dragons shifters. Have to tell you I’m having a hard time with that one, Kelskar.”

  With her limited understanding of life outside her small planet, he could hardly blame her. Were they even now broadcasting her fear across the sector? The Corporation Vidi View usually went live at this point, with constant replays of the action when they added new blood to the schedule. If they survived prime time eventually he and Janie would become a part of the background entertainment while the cameras focussed on the new waves of inmates or females brought in to stir rampant male hormones.

  “You’re right. They wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble to kill us off. Oh hell the doors are opening.”

  Instinctively he pulled her in, curling an arm about her waist. No problem with her weight, he could easily hold her. A strip of green between the rattling doors rapidly grew wider. The ship ploughed on, dipping and slowing to home in on the chosen drop target. A procedure he’d witnessed all too often on the Vidi View in the Ludus Maxim barracks.

  “Get ready,” he said, watching the canopy of trees swooping beneath them. Longer grass now, bending like a supplicant to the energy downdraft of the cyber net. Thank you.

  “See the vegetation bending? That’s the energy net. They say it’s like falling through thick honey, but it will help us avoid injury. Do you understand?”

  “Not really.” Janie leaned out to look into the void. Swayed sharply back. “I’ll take your word for it.”

  The hatch doors rattled to a stop, fully open, the landscape bowling along below. Now trees, now short vegetation, the changing greens of a mountain lake sparkling with late day sun. Lengthening shadows told him the day waned, giving them the benefit of coming night cover. An advantage they sorely needed.

  Janie clung to him, fingers white with the effort of keeping her balance on the narrow strip of remaining floor.

  Concentrate, he must give this all of his attention. He must... The thought died on a sparking pain at the base of his skull. His head jerked to the left. The spark formed a charge, greedily seeking neurons, forging a pathway across his brain.

  Blank, everything went blank. His mind emptied, confusion overtook him. What was he doing here? He was to meet with Madame Lakmi after the betrayal of Janie Roberts and continue in her service.

  Janie Roberts. The woman at his side. The woman he was sworn to protect. Marshalling every drop of will, Kelskar forced that vow to the fore. Hit his head. He must bash the chip into submission or he could not protect her. It had worked before.

  The numbing fog of obedience would not take him. Not now. Not now.

  “You’re Kelskar Vespasian. Listen to me.” Janie’s voice, steady and sure cut through the dimming fog. Small fingers squeezed his cheek, turning his face to hers. “You had a wife, you had a son. A life.”

  A red light blinking from the corner of the small room. A landscape unfolding beneath them. The crack of metal on metal. Blood, warm and sticky, filled his collar. Sensations flashed in and out.

  “I need you, Kelskar. Stay with me.” The plea ended on a rising sob that cut right through him like a twisting blade. He swallowed the nausea souring the back of his throat. Janie needed him and dark gods, this thing in his head would not rule him. He’d never be a slave again.

  Another crack at the wall might take his skull bones. But what else could he do?

  She needed him. Needed Kelskar Vespasian, the free man.

  Another sob. The crack of rending metal hitting the wall. Mercifully Janie did not attempt to stop him. Curved slivers of his implanted skull cap, the remaining cheek plate spiralled away through the open hatch.

  “I’m back,” he said and heaved in a lung full of warm air. His sharpened vision dimmed to normal. “Not leaving you. Never leaving you.”

  “I won’t let you go. But Kelskar, don’t injure yourself for me. I’ll keep you sane. I’ll help you remember.” She spoke with such fervour, he could almost believe she’d defy the gods themselves to keep him with her.

  “Oh hell, I think this is it.”

  The narrow shelf, barely wide enough for his boots tilted. A screen in the wall flickered to life with the head and shoulders of the older Corporation executive.

  “A good performance will be rewarded. Poor ratings will see you abandoned. The cyber net will provide cover for a short while.”

  Kelskar’s left hand curled on the heavy, studded mace. To his amazement, he still had Janie fast in his grasp. A good sign if he’d retained sufficient control to hold onto her through the blanking.

  “As required by legal statute, I remind you both that you stand tried and convicted of the murder of the grand Pakma of Feremani. A death sentence purchased by the Corporation to administer as they see fit. Know that the bounty of quara quou tekshi which converts to fifty million credits for your retrieval was duly paid to the master of the hunter vessel Karam Ximan and that the Corporation now own all rights to your lives. We reserve...”

  “You talk too much.” With a mighty swing, Kelskar aimed the mace at the screen, beating a dent in the cover, cutting off the grand speech in a tangle of static. The floor tilted abruptly, pitching them both into empty space. A keen wind tore at their garments, fighting him for Janie. The rushing air shrieked in his ears. Grimly he held onto her and the mace, the only weapon not securely attached to his body.

  After the initial jolt of the fall, the cyber net caught them like a trampoline, jarring their insides, pitching them for a few heartbeats back up towards the hovering ship. Then they were falling again, the ground coming at them in a whirling rush. Janie screamed something, but the wind caught her words and flung then away.

  He pressed her head to his chest, one large hand cradling her skull. Tried to make sense of the reeling landscape below them. To spot attackers in the long grass, the huddling trees. The window of protection from the cyber net wouldn’t last long.

  “I can’t breathe.” Janie twisted her face away from his suffocating embrace. At this speed it was hard to drag air into their lungs.

  “Relax,” he yelled above the shrieking wind. “The energy net will hold us.”

  Above them the bounty hunter ship lifted, circling into the cloud-streaked sky glowing the colour of rusting metal shot with hues of gold and red as the sun sank into the horizon. A place where night fell quickly by the swift dimming of the light. A place that held more than one way to die.

  The thick, syrupy feel of the cyber net intensified on the landing approach, surrounding them in a protective cocoon. Shielding them from the approaching trees, the rocks scattering the hillside and the weapons strapped to their bodies.

  Directly below, a sloped meadow of grasses dotted with purple and yellow flowers swooped towards them. The landing, directed from the bounty hunter ship or a Corporation central command put them down on the springy turf with expert precision, crushing perfume from the petals and air from their lungs. Kelskar took in three heaving breaths and flipped upright, extending Janie a hand.

  “The cover won’t last long. We have to go.”

  She made it to her hands and knees, hampered by the wadded clothing. Hooking a hand under each arm, he hauled her to her feet.

  “Give me a moment.” She leaned forward, hands on her knees, crushed flowers clinging to her hair. “I need a moment to catch my breath.
”

  Time they didn’t have.

  “Janie, don’t think. Just listen and act.” Kelskar checked the swords at his back, strapped to his hip, thankful neither of them had impaled themselves on their own weapons. One knife in his left boot, the right boot was empty. Lost in the drop. From what he could see, Janie had retained all her weapons. They’d done well.

  “I don’t think my legs will hold me.” She tipped her head to the sky, squinting against the flashing gold of the setting sun. A rain of purple petals fell from her hair. “Oh, it’s beautiful. Not what I expected.”

  “It’s a place of great contrast, from what I’ve heard. Beauty and desolation. Darkness is coming quickly. We must move and find shelter.”

  “Where? It’s so open here.”

  The slopes fell in gentle undulations to a flat plain, glimmering faintly with a sparkling expanse of water. Mountain peaks made jagged shapes against the sky. Upwards, the flowers gave way to scrubby bushes and spindly trees, the grassy terrain scattered with loose rocks and shale. A fast-flowing stream of water tumbled from the higher slopes, making its furious way down the mountain-side.

  “We must secure water. Food and shelter.” Honing all his senses, Kelskar swept the landscape, listening and watching for attacks. Though the chip enhanced reaction time, sharpened his vision and hearing, it took away the crucial element of free will. Now, with those senses dulled to those of a normal man, he understood free will to be his greatest weapon.

  Free will forced him to care. Caring for Janie would keep them both alive. He would not squander his life and leave her to fend alone.

  She straightened, flashing him an over her shoulder glance, the long plait hanging at her back. So fragile, but females of shorter stature than she had fought in the arena and confounded everyone by prevailing against much larger foes. Size had nothing to do with the will to live.

  “Up or down? Won’t all the best places already be occupied?”

  “Possibly, but for the moon’s size the population is very small. There will be shelter a plenty. We must seek it out before night falls. Does the dark frighten you, Janie Roberts?” A loose strand of her long, flower-scented hair brushed his cheek in the snapping breeze. Memories from his past edged into knowing.

  The curves of a woman’s skin. A child crying in the night.

  “It’s not the dark that frightens me, it’s what it hides. What will they look like? The people on this moon?” Janie moved closer. “The people who took us, I’ve never seen anything like them. Tell me it won’t be worse than that.”

  “Janie.” He ghosted a hand over her perfumed hair, lightheaded from the heavy, drugging scent, the residual effects of the crushing cyber net. She must be feeling the same. “It’s worse,” he said, kissing the top of her head. For now, she saw only the beauty of the place, but she should know it all. He could no longer protect her from that.

  “It’s such a beautiful place. Why would anyone want to turn it into a prison?”

  “Greed. Let’s go.”

  “No different to Earth then.” She sighed and fell in step with him.

  Kelskar moved with careful purpose, keeping a brisk pace, his gaze sweeping above and below. Every few minutes he stopped, raising a hand in warning and listened. Then he waved her on and struck out up the slope. Janie kept up with his long stride, listening to the soft crunch of their feet on the loose stones, determined not to hold them back. After what she guessed to be an hour, she could no longer match him and wanted only to sink to her knees and rest.

  Let them kill her. Her legs didn’t have another step in them. Kelskar’s large shape hunkered beside her, no doubt to deliver another of the rallying speeches that had taken her this far. He was good at those. A born leader in some forgotten life.

  Fear of impending attack propelled her up the mountainside. Nothing like the thought of monsters in the dark to get a body moving. But a body had limits and she had a horrible feeling she’d just found hers.

  “We can’t stop.” Kelskar touched the back of his fingers to her cheek. “Dig deep and I promise we’ll find shelter soon. There are caves a little higher up and these bushes lining the path may yield berries for food. Come on, just a little more.”

  “How do you know the caves are empty? That no one’s living in them? What about wild animals? A hibernating bear?” Her voice wavered on a note of rising hysteria. So dark she could barely make out the winding stony path. A steep cliff to her left, a sharp drop to her right. A stiffening breeze playing with her balance. One wrong step and she’d be over the edge.

  “Food,” she said with desperate longing. Her stomach clenched, reminding her they last ate at waking on the ship. In the passing hours, nausea had displaced hunger but now with her energy reserves so low, she was starting to hallucinate cupcakes and roast chicken and luscious, velvety hot chocolate swirling in a mug.

  “I’ve seen creatures moving in the underbrush. I will catch and kill us something to eat at first light.”

  Wearily she held out an arm and allowed him to haul her upright. He steadied her while she swayed and found her balance. “You sure know how to show a lady a good time.”

  The dark slashes of his eyebrows drew together in question. So many things that puzzled him. The way he referred to planet Earth as something outside of him, for one.

  “I did indeed please the women who paid my master to lay with me.”

  He said it almost absently, as if the random thought had wandered into his head. She could feel him looking at her in the dark, burning her with his ice-clear eyes. Not a boast, he spoke with a conviction that made her skin heat despite the growing chill of evening.

  “Okay, but I tell you, if someone or something attacks us, I just about have enough energy to scream.”

  “There’s more inside you than you know. There always is. Janie, should the worst happen try not to scream and broadcast your presence. Hide and get away if you can.” He leaned close, lips touching her ear. “And remember, there’s always hope. Even a caged animal has hope.”

  “I’ve never decided if hope is a failing or a strength. Hope has a habit of leaving a person in limbo, waiting years for things that will never happen. Sometimes it’s sheer despair that moves mountains.”

  “You have a fine mind, Janie Roberts. But your body right now is tired. Let me help.”

  Before she could protest, Kelskar scooped her up and struck out again for the path. She struggled in vain, guilty for giving in so easily. His arms were two rigid bands holding her to his chest. The hilt of his short sword pressed into the small of her back.

  Fine mind indeed. It sounded so patronising she wanted to kill herself walking that slope to show him exactly how despair turned to action.

  “Put me down.” She might as well have tried to knock down a wall with her bare hands. “I can walk.”

  “And I can carry you. Let me.”

  He showed no sign of fatigue or discomfort at the extra weight. Tempting, so tempting to let go and let him do his manly thing. Pride wouldn’t allow it.

  “No, seriously Kelskar. Put me down. I have to be able to do this.” Their faces were so close she felt his breath warm on her cheek. Could just about make out the dark smudges of crusty scabs covering his cheeks and one side of his head where the plated armour had worked loose, revealing him to her by degrees.

  An oily, faintly musty smell from his long coat reminded her of the waxed, wind proofed jacket she wore for long walks on the beach back home. Other, unfamiliar smells hung on the night air. A sweet cloying scent wrapped in a sharp acid tang. Musty notes like something rotting.

  Where were they?

  He took a long moment considering her words. “Yes,” he said. “You must build up your endurance after so long in that cage. We’ve both lost condition.”

  He set her down carefully, grasping her hand to keep her with him. Appalling how the small climb almost defeated her, physically and mentally. Too much to take in at once. Muscles weak from disuse.

>   “I know. I’m sorry to give in so easily. It’s been a long day.”

  “I believe the solar days here are somewhat comparable to your planet Earth.” Kelskar scanned the slope, sniffed and lifted his chin, listening to the sighing wind, the crackle of leaves on the spindly trees clinging to the slopes. A sharp chittering then the swish of wings made her duck instinctively. A lonely howl from somewhere in the valley below prickled her skin, making the hairs rise. She crept closer to Kelskar, hoping the soft rustle near to the cliff side of the path wasn’t a snake.

  Beautiful in the light, this mountain slope turned downright creepy in the dark.

  “It’s a figure of speech,” she said, straining her eyes to adjust her vision to the dark. “Too much happening too fast. Too bizarre, my brain is having trouble keeping up.”

  “You will adjust, Janie Roberts. You’re a strong woman.”

  She found herself beaming into the night at the compliment. Standing taller, striding out and digging deep to those reserves he was so sure she harboured. A born leader, this man. He squeezed her hand as if reading her thoughts. She touched her cheek lightly to his arm.

  He kissed the top of her head, a response that seemed so natural to her now. They’d learned each other slowly in the long captive days of the cage, using gesture and touch when words proved inadequate. Dependency, she supposed and not real. Feelings that would evaporate and turn to stilted awkwardness when they escaped this hell for their former lives.

  Still, being with Kelskar already felt more natural than her three fraught years with Justin.

  “So, we’re on a moon, right?” She stumbled over a boulder and steadied herself on the winding rock face. Nothing like the sky she knew, the canopy above them glowed with darkening blues smudged with pinks and reds pricked with pinpoints of light from unfamiliar stars.

  “Can moons have moons? I’m not big on astronomy but none of those star patterns look right. Am I seeing two moons up there? Three?”