by Maia Tanith
She runs in front of me and puts her hands up to stop me. I could push her over and keep walking, but I stop, too. It’s rather amusing watching her try to physically stop me. She’s a little twig.
“You promised.” Her voice is full of accusation.
“What did I promise?”
“That you’d take me home.”
I rub my temples. Crap. I did say that. “I wanted you to stop crying,” I say truthfully.
“It was still a promise.” Her eyes are tearing up now. They are very pretty eyes. Even if the rest of her is still a filthy mess. “You said you’d fly me back to Earth. On your spaceship.”
I smirk at her gullibility. “Sorry to break it to you, but I don’t have a spaceship. It was taken off me when I was arrested.”
Delia’s face drops. So help me gods, I actually feel a little bad for disappointing this Earthling.
I hesitate. I’m going to regret this; I can tell already. “Look, okay, I’ll help you. But if I’m gonna let you tag along, you have to do everything I say. No complaining, no arguing, no loud sniffing, and definitely no crying.”
She nods furiously.
“Okay, we’re set then,” I say. What am I getting myself into? I rub my temples again. I can feel a headache forming. “Right. We need to go find a ship to take.”
Delia swallows. “You’re—you’re going to steal a spaceship?”
“Of course.” I look around us. I’m not sure where the closest space port is here. I’m not familiar with this town at all. I’ll have to ask someone, but I don’t want to draw attention to myself either. I stand out enough as it is, wearing only a pair of light pants and still half-covered with and stinking of warg blood. I frown, trying to decide which way to head.
Delia is tugging on my arm again.
“What?” I snap.
“You can’t steal a spaceship. It’s against the law.”
I start to laugh, then stop when I realize she’s being serious. “You do realize, my sweet little Earthling, that we have nothing but the clothes on our backs? If we are going to survive this shithole and get you back on your merry way to Earth, we are going to have to steal a ship. I don’t see anyone lining up to give us one.”
“But we’d break the law and be sent back into the games.”
I’ve met children less naive than her. “Not if we don’t get caught,” I smile back. “I’ve only been caught once, and I have no intention of repeating that experience.”
She is still shaking her head. “No, no, there has to be another way. I could ask for help. Is there an embassy here?”
“What’s an embassy?” I ask without much interest. I doubt it could help us, whatever it is. I look around again. West is the direction to go, I decide. If I can get to the edge of this town and circle around it, I’ll find the space port eventually. They’re usually built on the outskirts of towns so the locals don’t get smothered by exhaust fumes, and the few bad takeoffs that end in a ball of flames falling into the ground don’t burn down the whole town.
She doesn’t reply.
I look behind me.
She is standing in the same spot with her arms crossed, glaring at me. “I refuse to do something illegal for my own gain,” she says. Her voice is a little shaky, but her glare certainly is hard. “If you’re going to be stealing from innocent people then I’ll find my own way home.”
I sigh with frustration. “Firstly, I’m willing to bet my left testicle that no one with a ship in this town’s miserable little space port is truly innocent. You don’t come to a shit hole like this unless you’re up to some kind of dodgy dealings. Secondly, who are you going to ask? In case you haven’t noticed, the locals here don’t exactly have much. They’re just as likely to sell you to slavers as help you.”
She sniffs and lifts her nose into the air. “Then I’ll ask a policeman.”
I shrug. “I don’t know what that is, and I think you’re being stupid, but fine.”
“Fine.” she snaps back.
“Fine. I’m going to find someone to rob so I can go get a damn drink.” I stride off. Earthlings are more trouble than they’re worth. Even the ones with pretty eyes.
I don’t bother looking back. Let her find her plees-man, and I can get a drink and plan my next move. I’ve been in pickles worse than this before and I find it always helps to start off planning with a stiff drink in hand.
It only takes a few minutes to find a pub. I can hear it before I see it.
A few doors down, I bump into a Kargan women, offer my apologies, and step away with a handful of coins from her purse jingling in my pocket.
I haven’t lost the touch.
The pub may be noisy but its occupied only by a handful of creatures in various stages of intoxication. I push my way to the bar and order a local brew with mint.
While the bartender pours it, I look around. I’m in a bar, about to steal a ship. I’m getting a strong sense of deja vu.
The last time I was in a bar and about to steal a ship, the bartender had been Lila. And I’d been about to make the biggest mistake of my life, to fall for her.
The bartender passes me my drink. He’s an old man, his face lined with wrinkles from a life of labor. I thank him and take a swig.
If anyone is the polar opposite of Lila, it would be Delia. Lila is grace, and confidence, and fierceness. She is also betrayal. Delia is soft, and clumsy, and sweet, and far, far too trusting.
I get halfway through my drink before I make up my mind.
I can’t leave her here alone. She won’t last a day. And then I’d have her on my conscience.
I leave my drink unfinished on the table and stride to the door. I wave my thanks to the bartender and leave, heading quickly back the way I came.
The place I left Delia is not far from here.
Naturally, she is gone. Probably looking for her damn plees-man.
I growl in frustration.
But I’ve come back all this way to find her, and my unfinished drink has likely been scavenged by one of the drunkards in the pub by now, and I have no plans in place to commandeer a new ship yet. Might as well keep looking for her.
I ask a young Kargan woman at a stall if she’s seen a human.
She points down one of the roads. “She went that way.” Then she shudders. “There were Hyaks down there, too.” No one likes Hyaks much around here. They are scavengers. Slavers.
I nod. Great. The daft little earthling has headed right back towards a bunch of slavers. I’d be surprised if there were any Hyaks on this planet that aren’t here for the slave trade.
The Kargan woman smiles at me with all her teeth. “Why are you chasing after a human? Want to stay here with me? I finish work soon.”
She’s quite pretty. I guess my good looks make up for being dirty and half dressed.
“I’ll give you a good rate,” she continues, smiling even wider at me. For a moment I see Lila shining out of her eyes.
On second thoughts, maybe not. I shake my head. “I’ve never had to pay for a woman before, and I don’t intend to start now, no matter how good the rate is,” I reply.
She pouts her lips as I move away.
I head down the street pointed out by the Kargan woman. It’s filled with creatures, mostly Kargans, but as I get to the final few stalls of the market, the crowd melts away. A few streets ahead, clearly highlighted by the large red sun, which is now dead overhead us, I can see the figures of two tall men. They are holding a struggling smaller figure between them.
I take off at a brisker pace. Crap. I had been hoping she’d be smart enough not to get close to them.
She wasn’t.
As I get closer, I can hear her pleas. “Let me go. This is a misunderstanding. You can’t take me back there, you can’t.”
One of the Hyaks laughs. “We can do whatever we want, pretty thing. You’ll be fetching us a good price with those looks and that mane of red hair.” He reaches out and tousles it, ignoring the shake of Delia’s head as she t
ries to avoid his touch. “Best behave or your face won’t stay so pretty for long.”
I walk up behind them and clear my throat. “Ahem.”
They turn around, disdainful sneers on their faces. “Whadiya want, Kargan scum?” one asks.
A bit rich of him really, seeing as this is our planet, and if one of us was more likely to be closely related to scum at the bottom of your boots, I’ve no doubt it would be him.
I wave nonchalantly at Delia. “I’m here retrieve my property.”
Her face has lit up like the booster rockets on a spaceship. “You came back for me,” she whispers. Then she starts crying. Big, heaving sobs, with hiccupping and a lot of snotty tears. The Hyaks glance at her in disgust.
“Stop crying or I’ll change my mind,” I grumble.
The larger and uglier of the two eyes my bare feet and shirtless torso. “She’s our property. Finders, keepers.”
My abs don’t seem to impress him. I suppose it’s hard to concentrate on my abs when the rest of me is dirty and smelly.
“You don’t look like you have two coins to rub together, let alone have enough to own a slave.”
He chuckles, and the other one joins in.
I sigh and rub at my head. The warg blood has mostly dried on me now and my hair is sticking up at odd angles. “It’s been a strange day, gentlemen. My usual attire is much nicer than this, I assure you. I can also assure you that if you don’t hand my property back over-” My voice tails off. I hadn’t thought this bluff through well enough. I’m terribly afraid that it’s a pitiful performance.
The two hyena men are now wheezing with laughter.
Okay, onto plan two.
I extend my claws and straighten my back.
I see their eyes flick down to my claws and to each other.
“I would really like my property back now,” I say, keeping my voice cool.
This is an even worse bluff than the first. I’m not a strong fighter, and definitely no warrior. My claws might be dangerous, but I’d still lose badly against two Hyaks.
The taller of the two Hyaks slowly reaches down and pulls out a ray gun from its holster on his belt. He lifts it casually and taps it against the top of his thigh. “You were saying?”
I swallow.
I’m not about to be on the receiving end of a shot from a ray gun. Not even for Delia. That would be a goodbye to my good looks once and for all. To be shot by a ray gun is incredibly painful. It also leaves intense scarring, if you’re not able to get treated quickly. And with no money and no contacts and my shabby appearance, I wouldn’t be rushed to the front of the line at the local healers’ quarters.
I slowly slide my claws back in.
The hyena men chuckle again.
Delia is still sobbing.
“Alright Kargan, I’ll do you a deal. Because I’m feeling generous, and we’ve had the good fortune of an unexpected gift falling into our hands today. We’ll sell her back to you.”
The second hyena man lets out a wheezy laugh. “For a good price.”
The first one nods. “Yes, a fair price. We were taking her back to the pits. After we have a bit of fun first. They’d purchase an earthling female for a couple of credits. We’ll sell her to you for three.”
I inhale sharply. I don’t like his mention of having fun with her first. “Three? That’s daylight robbery.”
“You seem very eager to have your property back.” He lingers on the ‘your property’, pronouncing it in a mocking tone. “I think you’re bluffing. You want a pretty little earthling for your companion, then you can pay for it. And if what you say is true, which looking at you I wouldn’t believe for a second, then you deserve to have to buy her again. You should have kept a better eye on her.”
I grind my teeth in frustration.
“I’m not for sale,” Delia sniffs. “You are all disgusting. I’m not your property.”
This elicits more chuckles from the Hyaks.
I raise an eyebrow at her. “Delia darling, if you had to pick whose property you were, I’d hope you’d choose me over a trip back to the pits.”
She glares up at me. “I’m. Not. Property,” she hisses.
I ignore her. She’s going to learn the hard way that here, in the slums of Xillian, she’s anyone’s property here that claims her. Unless she can learn to protect herself. Better it be me than these two.
“I’ll buy her off you,” I say, against my better judgement. “Give me some time to gather my funds. I need to make a trip to my—financier.”
The Hyak laughs heartily. “As you say, Kargan. You go to your financier.” He smirks at my bare feet again. “We’ll be waiting for you.”
“Where will I find you, to complete the purchase?”
He grins at me. His teeth are yellowed and filed into points. I shudder slightly. “We’ll be waiting outside the pits. If you’re not there soon, we’ll sell her to the next highest bidder.”
Delia looks at me imploringly. “Please don’t leave me,” she says.
Maybe her predicament is sinking in a bit now. When we are out of this mess, I’m going to ensure she never forgets that she should have listened to me the first time.
“I’m coming back,” I reply. “Just—don’t do anything stupid until I return, will you?”
She shakes her head. “I promise.”
The tallest of the Hyaks spits into his palm and reaches out. I spit into my hand and shake his. His grip is hard, and he squeezes my fingers until my eyes water. “Two hours, or we sell her to someone else.”
“Deal.”
I turn away from them and head back to the marketplace. Shit a brick. I have to get three more credits, without getting caught, and within the next half hour. I don’t trust the Hyaks to wait any longer than that. Likely they’re fiending for their next hit of ciaabans.
I should have kept the credit I stole earlier instead of spending it on a drink that I didn’t even get to finish.
The market is wrapping up now. The place is nearly deserted. Only a few raggedy children running around. No one here looks like they have a spare credit sitting in their pockets.
I grit my teeth. Since when did I care about that? They might miss a credit or two—but the alternative is someone else dying.
Delia dying.
In the pits.
It’s bad enough luck that she got thrown in there once, but twice is too much. No one deserves that. Not even a whiny little Earthling.
I square my shoulders and stride through the marketplace. My resolve is steely. I know who is going to have spare credits close by, if not on her.
The pretty Kargan woman is packing away her scarce wares into worn wooden boxes. I sidle up to her stall and rest my arm against it.
She looks up at me and frowns. Looks like she’s not forgotten my rejection from before. “It’s the earthling lover,” she says, without warmth. “Did you find your little human then?”
I shake my head. “Looks like I missed her.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “I told you which way I saw her go. I wasn’t lying.”
I give her my best, dazzling, teeth on display, smile. “I’m not accusing you of lying. I didn’t come back for that.”
She straightens up and smooths the front of her dress down. It’s a worn and faded dress but fits her body perfectly. I already feel guilty for what I’m about to do. “You said you didn’t pay for women.”
I lean forward to that my face is inches from hers, and stare directly into her eyes, pinning her gaze in mine. “I’ve decided to make an exception today. When do you get off work?”
She smiles back at me this time. “Now.”
“Do you have a place close by?”
She nods. “Come with me. You can help carry these too.”
She stacks two of the wooden boxes into my arms and picks up the third herself. I’d seen her locking it before. If any of these has coins, it’s that one. But I can’t sneak three credits out of a locked wooden chest without drawing atte
ntion to myself.
I follow her down a short street and to the front of a run-down, two-storey dwelling. The paint on the walls was once a yellowish color but is now faded and peeling off in thin strips. The Kargan woman knocks on the door and it opens a few seconds later.
An older man lets us in. He glares at me. Ah, crap. I was hoping she’d be on her own.
“Settle. He’s my customer,” the woman says and waves him out of her way. She motions for me to set the boxes down in the foyer.
The man grumbles as I follow the girl up a set of stairs. The stairs creak and moan under our weight. I eye them distrustfully.
What’s the bet I’m going to die by falling through a set of rotten stairs in a whorehouse? At least it’s a better way to go than the pits.
The woman leads me into a cramped space, with peeling wallpaper and a creaky floor. A red curtain is the only privacy from the hallway, and a single bed is the sole piece of furniture in the room. The bed sits under an open window, where a gentle breeze ruffles the curtains. The fresh breeze is about the only pleasant this in this room.
She puts her box down on the floor, and I hear the unmistakable sounds of coins jangling. “Payment up front.” She puts her hands on her hips. All her sweetness from outside has disappeared. “Payment up front or Tei downstairs will deal with you.”
I arch an eyebrow. “He looked like he’s old enough to be your grandfather. Not to brag, but I do think I could take him.”
She lets out a brief giggle at this. “I’ve had someone say that to me before. He regretted it.”
I stretch and lay back on the bed. “Payment up front, but I want a drink first. I assume you have something drinkable here?”
She narrows her eyes but nods. “It’s an extra credit. I’ll go get something.”
I grin. “Great. Get one for yourself too.” I start shucking off my pants. “I’ll be here.”
She heads out the door, and the creaking of the stairs lets me know she’s on her way downstairs.
Immediately I yank my pants back up and fasten them. I look at the box. It’s fastened with a thick lock. I could probably break it apart, but it might be noisy. And the box is big enough to be a right pain in the ass and slow me down if I try to run with it all.
