by Nina Pierce
Pausing at the door of the well-check, Jahara listened for any woman having an unscheduled birth in one of the delivery rooms just down the hall. She heard nothing. No living soul knew what she intended to do and she wanted to keep it that way. Jahara crept into the waiting room, grateful for the portable holograms casting a feeble light on the chairs sitting in silent judgment of her actions. Ignoring the uneasy feeling, she hurried past them, through the arched door, into the exam room.
Though she was sure it was only a figment of her imagination, the red door at the end of the hall cast a sinister glow, increasing in size as she neared it. It beckoned her to tempt fate. Laying her palms on its smooth surface, Jahara was sure she touched the heat of Hades and wanted nothing more than to run from this most unpleasant task. But the thought of her true love being tortured on the other side of the door propelled her forward. She pressed the button and listened to the hateful hiss as it retracted. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins, preparing her to do battle with whomever was on the other side.
Only darkness greeted her.
Stepping through the portal, she let the door hiss shut behind her. Locks clicked in rapid succession and she turned, pounding on the exit, immediately regretting her decision. Bright lights flared, momentarily blinding her.
“Wait for the others.” A disembodied female voice blared down at her from the ceiling. “We will heal.” The last word dragged out until it became a high-pitched whine that pummeled her as if it were physically in the room.
She fell to her knees, covering her ears in a futile attempt to protect them from the pain searing through her head. Rising exponentially, the volume became a throbbing sound that blurred her vision and stole the air from her lungs.
The agony surrounded her until all that was left was a black vortex of pain, draining the life from her body.
* * * *
Kylie moved through the Ginia women, trying not to let the fear show. She had no idea so many would congregate in the bowels beneath the healing facility of the Garden. Perhaps this is where they always stayed, but she thought probably not.
“I don’t need anyone to accompany me.” Looking at the one in charge, Kylie hoped her voice sounded strong and self-assured. It had been years since she’d tried to deceive someone in authority. Even then, her Dame had seen through her machinations.
“He’s a prisoner. It’s for your own safety.” The guard stood two heads taller than Kylie. Her bulky arms folded beneath breasts that were not softly rounded like most females but fleshy mounds over hard-packed muscle. Only the oversized nipples gave any hint the guard was female. Her hair was braided in tiny rows of her clan, elaborately pulled back from the flat face staring down at her. The tattoo on the side of her neck danced as she flexed her thick neck, sizing up Kylie. The guards were much more intimidating when one was on the wrong side of the law.
She didn’t argue. No sense raising suspicions now. Besides, if she remembered correctly, the corridors of the complex were a labyrinth of hallways. It was better to follow the two guards who had offered to escort her.
The noise of the jovial gathering in the front room diminished as they turned the third corner, walking into the bowels of the building. Only the light padding of their bare feet slapping the cement floors echoed in the deep chambers where Brenimyn was held. The ghoulish orange lights did nothing to brighten the gloom.
It took them several minutes to reach the cubicles. The white glow of the electrical field around the opening cut through the darkness, illuminating the stark features of the guards. No wonder they had a tendency to remain in shadowed hallways.
At her first sight of him, Kylie had to bite her tongue not to cry out and give herself away. Naked and bleeding, Brenimyn lay on his side in a broken heap on the floor. Drool oozed from the corner of his bloated lips. His eyes were nearly swollen shut. One arm wrapped around the bruised ribs, no doubt holding the shattered bones together. The other lay on the floor at an odd angle. Never, until this moment, had she wished she was a healer.
“You’ve done well by your duties, I see.” Kylie held herself tall despite the nausea rolling cold and hard in her gut. “Dr. Bresilee will be pleased. Did he give you problems from the government building to this place?”
“No, but he harmed a woman. It is the worst offense. It was the least we could do for you, Kylie Devereaux.” Tipping her head down at Kylie, the guard could not hold back her smile.
They’d done it for sport—not her honor.
“Then I thank you for defending my reputation.” She bowed low to the woman. “You’re a great leader among the guard. Now, as a member of the Governmental Body and victim of the accused, I seek the right to face my attacker. I choose to be alone. Open the shield and leave me now.”
“We cannot let down the shield and leave him to run.” The guard let out a horrendous cackle. “Though I’m not sure how far he’d get like that.”
“Then open the shield and I will go in with him. You can close it behind me and leave us.”
“But he may harm you again.”
“You dare argue with a government official?” Kylie pushed out a laugh. “Besides, you said yourself he’s incapacitated. Leave me one of your communication devices and I’ll call you when I am done meting out my own justice. I’m tougher than I look.”
“But—”
“Shall I contact Dr. Bresilee and tell her of your defiance?”
“That will not be necessary.” The guard stepped forward and punched in the code. The electrical field dissipated.
She took the communicator the guard offered and stepped into the small chamber. Brenimyn had neither moved nor uttered a sound since her arrival. After the current hummed again, she spoke to them. “Go back to the other guards. You’ve all done well. They should be rewarded. When I’m finished here, I’ll talk to Dr. Bresilee about sending some food and spirits for a celebration.”
“Thank you.” The women bowed and Kylie held her breath until their laughter and congratulatory back slapping no longer echoed in the hall.
“Brenimyn.” She knelt next to him, still he didn’t stir. “It’s Kylie. Are you conscious?” She wanted to touch him, but the bruises on his entire body seemed to be aging into good wine before her eyes.
“Hrere to grloat?” His words slurred. They’d loosened some of his teeth. “Hraven’t you done enough hrarm?” One eye focused on her. The other was too damaged to work.
She pushed herself up and looked down at him with contempt. “I have a right to face my assailant.”
He tried to laugh but coughed up blood instead, spitting it on the floor at her feet.
“I demand you stand and face me. It’s my right.” She watched him roll to his stomach, fighting to bite back his cries of pain. Even in his brokenness, he maintained his air of nobility. The crowds had been right to believe in him. It took all her self-control not reach down to help him.
He shoved himself up on his hands and knees, the effort making him retch. He used his hands to haul himself up the wall until he was standing, albeit crumpled in the corner. His shaky knees barely held his weight.
“Wrhere am I?” he mumbled.
“In the isolation section of the healing facility in the bowels of the Garden where you belong. These cubicles were originally built as disinfecting units. I’m not sure they’ve ever been used to cage anyone.”
“Suchan honor. Grarden’s frirst prisoner.” He wheezed as he pulled air into his lungs. Kylie wondered how much internal damage had been done by the beating.
“Breeder, you’ve gotten nothing less than what you deserve.” She shot a glance up at the camera, feeling the mechanisms click beneath her unyielding gaze. “You’ve broken the first law and you shall pay.” The red light blinked one last time then went black. Satisfied, she flicked her gaze back to Brenimyn.
“Breeder, can you walk?” Her mind focused on the control panel for the electrical field. “I want you to stand before me so I may dispense my own form of justice. The
guards aren’t the only ones who want a piece of you.”
* * * *
“You’re nothing if not predictable, Jahara.”
The words echoed in her head from a distant place. Jahara tried to open her eyes, but the bright light overhead brought back memories of the pain. Though it hadn’t killed her, the remnants of the agony it caused still throbbed in her temples.
“Wakey. Wakey. I don’t want you to sleep through all the fun.” Bresilee slapped her cheek several times. “If the light is bothering you, I can shut it off. I’d like you to see where you are.”
She dared open her eyes as the light dimmed. Bresilee stood over her, the woman’s features full of contempt as she tightened the restraints at her wrists and ankles.
“It’s no surprise you’re so desired, Jahara. You have a beautiful body.” Flattening her hand, Bresilee ran her palm slowly over Jahara’s naked flesh, from her knee, over her thigh, stopping to splay her fingers in the thick triangle of curls. “It’s really such a shame you prefer men. There’s so much we could’ve done together here at the Garden. My intellect and your healing power.” Bresilee’s hand moved over Jahara’s belly and she only hoped the woman wouldn’t feel the life growing within her. But the director didn’t pause as her fingers moved up to fondle Jahara’s breast. “You could’ve been part of something big, Jahara. A new era of women is about to begin. There’s so much more going on here. But you chose poorly.” Bresilee emphasized the statement by painfully twisting Jahara’s nipple. “Alas, it’s such a waste that I must eliminate you also.” Sighing, the woman bent over Jahara’s face.
The spit flew from her mouth, finding its mark just below Bresilee’s left eye. A hulking shadow moved into Jahara’s peripheral view but stopped when Bresilee lifted her hand. “Leave her.” Bresilee’s eyes never left Jahara’s. She swiped at the spittle running down her cheek. “I would’ve expected nothing less from you, honorable healer. Bound, stripped and held prisoner like your lover, still you waste the last hours of your miserable life fighting a battle you cannot win.”
Leaning in close, Bresilee’s hot breath flowed over her face, her nails digging angrily into the soft flesh below Jahara’s chin. “Lie here and think how your breeder has been emasculated by my knife, never to give you the offspring you desire. He lies outside the walls of the Garden, bleeding. If the wild animals don’t tear him apart, surely he will die of exposure.”
Even as her heart stopped beating, Jahara kept her stare fixed on Bresilee.
“Your eyes betray you, Jahara. I see how that has broken you. Think about him and your own pitiful life. Your Dame, the great Ryniah Khateri, will not even mourn your accidental death.” Bresilee’s tongue ran the length of Jahara’s cheek and she leaned in close to her ear. “I wonder who will remember you when you’re gone. I have guests upstairs celebrating the demise of the new world order. It’s time their hostess joined them. There’s nothing left to do for you here at the Garden, Jahara Khateri. Do think about that while I celebrate.”
* * * *
Brenimyn hobbled through the dimly lit corridors. Time was not on his side. Kylie would only be unconscious for a few minutes before the guards were alerted. He’d slipped away as the electrical field had shorted out.
Now he dragged himself through the odd labyrinth of hallways, not sure he was making his way out of the catacombs, but having no choice but to press forward. The whir of an approaching vehicle echoed off the walls and he searched in vain for a place to hide. Though the cubicles had given way to cement alleyways that crisscrossed in odd intervals there’d been no side hallways for a long stretch. His only hope was to stand and fight. In his battered condition, Brenimyn didn’t fool himself into believing it would be little more than a skirmish.
The vehicle rounded the last corner. Its lights focused on him. There was no running now.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“I keep telling you, I don’t know where he went. He knocked me unconscious.” Kylie sat on the floor where they’d carried her, useless tears running down her cheeks. But the pain in her face was all too real. She ran her fingers gingerly through her hair. There was definitely a knot forming on the crown of her head and the wrenched muscles in her neck screamed in protest as she rolled her head from side to side.
“That breeder will pay for what he has done to you,” one of the guards said. The party atmosphere in the front room of the isolation complex had been replaced by a grave hunger to avenge Kylie’s honor.
“He won’t get away with this.”
“That breeder won’t be able to walk, let alone attack another woman when we’re through with him.”
The guards spoke over one another.
“Without knowing which direction he headed, even an injured breeder could escape through the various tunnels. There just aren’t enough of us to cover the labyrinth of hallways.” The Ginia woman’s brow furrowed in defeat. “I have no choice but to contact the director and let her know the prisoner—”
“No!” The word burst from Kylie’s lips with a little too much emphasis. “Can’t you see I am in need of medical attention?” Her voice softened. “Get me back to the mansion. I have no doubt Dr. Linsig is there and she can treat my wounds.” Her chin trembled and tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’ll tell Dr. Bresilee the prisoner has escaped. After all, it was my fault for not listening to you.”
The woman next to her, gently helped her to her feet. “We are also culpable. We should never have left you alone with such a violent criminal.”
“You shouldn’t have to shoulder the responsibility of the breeder’s escape. It is I who will take the brunt of Dr. Bresilee’s disapproval.”
The guards nodded. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of one of Gabriella’s tirades.
* * * *
Brenimyn leaned heavily against the cement wall, his fists in front of his face. He wouldn’t be taken again without a fight.
The vehicle came to a stop several yards from him and two people jumped from the back. He could see nothing of their shadowed faces through the slits of his eyes.
“Brenimyn, what in Hades did they do to you?”
At the sound of the familiar voice, relief flooded through him, buckling his knees. Only the strong arms of his friend kept him from crashing to the cement floor.
Xylice’s hand cupped his cheek. “Dear brother. My dear brother …” Even without seeing her, Brenimyn heard the emotion in her words.
“And they say males are animals,” Kaeden mumbled as he took Brenimyn’s weight and dragged him back to the vehicle. A gasp of pain escaped his swollen lips. “Apologies, friend. Time is of the essence.”
They stretched him out in the back of the vehicle, his head cradled in Xylice’s lap.
“Can you heal him while we’re moving?” Xylice asked.
“There’s so much damage.” Kaeden sounded overwhelmed. “I’ve never had to fix broken bones. Jahara had no reason to teach us how to do it.” Even through the slits in his eyes, Brenimyn could make out the feeble light glowing from the healer’s hands as the vehicle turned and headed back in the direction it had come.
“Do what you can.” Xylice’s voice was gentle, her hands brushing the hair from Brenimyn’s face. “Dearest brother, you are so brave—” She bent and kissed his forehead.
“Shahara?” He forced her name through swollen lips.
“Don’t speak, dear friend.” It was Lukiam talking to him from behind the wheel. “All we know is that she left the government building alone. We can’t find her.”
“Kylie, shre’s—”
“We know, Bren. She’s our ally.” Xylice continued to stroke his hair. “It was she who called and told me where to find you. I think she figured out I did something with the cameras at your residence.”
“Doesh shre know?”
“We’re siblings? I doubt it. I think she just figured I was a supporter to the movement.”
The warmth of Kaeden’s healing flowed through him, making it easier
to breathe. His hands moved over Brenimyn’s face, easing the pain and swelling.
“Kylie’s technokinetic. She manipulated the mechanisms in the cameras and the electrical barrier and shut it all down. She wanted me to hit her.” Brenimyn sucked air. “I couldn’t. She flung the communicator at her own face hard enough to knock her out. I watched her crumble to the floor.” He tried to sit up, but the pain in his torso was too intense. “I wanted to take her with me, but she made me promise I wouldn’t.”
“The woman was protecting you.” Xylice’s voice trembled with the emotion she worked to hold in check. “With her still there, we have time to get you to a safe place.”
“Bresilee will figure out she helped me. Kylie’s not safe,” Brenimyn said. “Promise me you’ll go back for her.”
“After what I saw on the cameras today, I’m thinking Kylie’s strong enough to hold her own against Bresilee.” Lukiam shot an amused look over his shoulder. “I don’t think telekinesis is her only talent.”
Satisfied with his face, Kaeden’s hands moved lower to repair Brenimyn’s broken ribs. The cement ceiling of the tunnel gave way to the twinkling stars of the night sky and the vehicle turned sharply on the main road, heading toward the agricultural section of the Garden.
“No, not there. Lukiam, turn around. Take me home.” Brenimyn forced himself to a sitting position, impatience driving him to ignore the pain. “I can’t do what I need to at the barns.”
“What you need, dear brother, is to heal. Not run into the flames of a dragon.” Xylice’s tears shimmered in the moonlight. “When Bresilee finds out you’ve escaped, that’ll be the first place they’ll look. You won’t be safe.”
“I’m not worried about me.” He cradled his sister’s face in his palm. “It’s Jahara. The prophecy has always been about Jahara.”
