Alien Enslaved IV: Spoils of War

by Kaitlyn O’Connor

  And that left them dangerously vulnerable.

  If they could not coordinate their attack with the revolt of the slaves, their chances of success were smaller.

  And that would be difficult when they had no more than rumor to go on, no certainty that there would even be a revolt of the slaves that they could take advantage of.

  As it turned out, he had very little time to worry over whether it would happen or not.

  They had not even reached the outskirts of the community when they heard sounds of battle.

  At first, Aidan was convinced it was nothing more than the bloody gladiator games the aliens entertained themselves with. But Jarek and his group of warriors realized almost at once that they had very nearly missed the chance to join the slaves in rebellion.

  “They have attacked!” Jarek bellowed. “We must hurry or we will lose all advantage!”

  The sound of the stadium collapsing drew them to the heart of the riot. They arrived in time to see the Sheloni, guarded by their metal monsters, heading for their ship as fast as they could.

  As weary as they were from two full days of trekking through the jungle and almost no sleep, none of them wanted to miss the chance to take out the Sheloni and end the threat these, at least, represented to them.

  Unfortunately, they were forced to engage the metal monsters before they could get to the Sheloni even once they’d caught up to them, and they were formidable foes.

  Fortunately, the Satren had no problem bypassing the metal beasts once the Hirachi had engaged them and, as small as their number, the Sheloni didn’t stand a chance. The Satren had decimated them with their primitive weapons before the Hirachi managed to dispose of their metal slaves.

  They paused to catch their breath and make certain the Sheloni were dead and their machines useless and then they engaged the denizens of the slave market—thieves, pirates, pimps, and slavers—that had rallied to fight the poorly armed slaves. Jarek was aware that there were as many who chose to escape, perhaps more, than those who were willing to fight for the spoils of their greed, but he could not spare the time to go after them when faced with a challenge.

  They would deal, in time, with any who fled and were stupid enough to return in the belief that they could recapture the slaves they’d lost.

  For now, they had destroyed those who had taken everything from them. There were surely more Sheloni wandering the night skies, ready to do harm, but these would harm no one else. He did not have to worry that they would come after Lori and the child.

  And that alone was worth any sacrifice he must make now.

  He did not come out of the battle unscathed—although the battle lust prevented him from feeling much pain until he had finally come down.

  None of them did.

  The question was, who among them would get the chance to enjoy the freedom they had fought so hard for?

  * * * *

  Lori had been mildly intrigued the first time Fayn had dragged her down to the great falls where their water supply began. Here, at last, was the source of the constant roar of sound that echoed across their valley and it was a sight to inspire awe. She was certain Niagara was far more impressive, but she’d never seen that in person and this was still amazing, fascinating, and beautiful.

  Until Fayn started dragging her closer, bullying her when she balked.

  It looked way too dangerous to get so close.

  The rocks the water pounded into at the bottom where they stood were covered in some sort of slippery slime that threatened her footing.

  She still couldn’t swim—not well enough to feel comfortable, at any rate.

  He insisted, however, leading her along a narrow path behind the curtain. There, she discovered a half a dozen of the warriors who’d stayed behind were very busy removing rocks to make the shallow cave into a deeper one.

  There were furs and other supplies stacked off to one side.

  Lori stared at them blankly, trying to wrap her mind around the purpose of all the activity.

  “Safe place if Sheloni come,” Fayn said firmly. “You come. Oddur womens come. Stay quiet till dey leabe.”

  Lori gaped at him, too stunned by the suggestion to think of any kind of argument as he led her out again.

  “What are you suggesting?” she finally managed, struggling with the urge to burst into tears as her mind leapt instantly to the fact that Jarek and Aidan and the others had been gone for days now.

  She’d been trying to convince herself that that was only because they had had to make a very long trek even to get to the alien village where the horrible people lived, that they probably hadn’t even had their war, yet.

  Well, she knew it had taken them days to get to the valley.

  Of course, the guys had had a bunch of women slowing them down, but still ….

  And the alien village was further away so even if they’d made better time without them slowing the guys down, it would still take a while to reach.

  Fayn frowned. “No suggest. Say. Lookout see ship, you come straight here!”

  Lori’s lips tightened. It was the first time Fayn had ever spoken to her in that tone, ordered her around.

  He was scaring her and that pissed her off.

  She plunked her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Why? Why would we have to?”

  He shoved his face close hers until they were nearly nose to nose. “I say!” he growled. “I beat ass you no run like hell!”

  Her lower lip wobbled. “I can’t run!” she wailed. “I can hardly walk, damn it!”

  Fayn looked disconcerted and then harassed. “Muss,” he said with far less conviction. “Only hab a few warriors to fight.”

  Lori threw herself against him and hugged him tightly. Her tears had more to do with the sense of hopelessness that had descended upon her than her inability to run to save herself, although that certainly figured into it. “They’re not coming back, are they?”

  Fayn settled an uneasy hand along her back. “No know dat. Know dem not here. I send watchers, den we know if dem Sheloni comin’. Women’s hide. We fight.”

  But he was right. There weren’t many left to protect them.

  Not that she thought the puny Sheloni would be much of a threat, but those monster robots they had more than made up for their lack.

  Wild thoughts of taking up a weapon herself flittered through her mind, but it was terror inspired, not logical. She was in no condition to even try to fight. She’d already been clumsy with her pregnancy when they had escaped and she was barely showing then. In the weeks since, her belly had blossomed into something that protruded so far it took concentration even to balance when she walked. She damned sure couldn’t fight. She’d be a liability not a help. She would be lucky if she managed to waddle her way to the hiding place.

  She couldn’t bring herself to think about the possibility that Jarek or Aidan were dead or dying.

  She just couldn’t.

  She wanted to head back to their cottage and crawl into the bed Fayn had made for her and stay there.

  But there were things that needed to be done if they were going to survive.

  There were always things to be done.

  One look at the women she joined in the center of the village was enough to know all of the women had been shown or at least informed of the plan. Sniffing, she settled between Jill and May and picked up a fistful of the grasses they were beating the seed from.

  This, she’d discovered, was the source of their food on the ship.

  Well, maybe not this particular meadow grass, but something very like it. It certainly tasted like that mush when they’d ground it up and made it into ‘bread’.

  Theirs was better.

  They cared whether it was good to eat as opposed to just edible. Since the men had made them an oven and shown them how, they’d been experimenting until they’d finally come up with a recipe that was actually good.

  The fat from the meat was almost like gold.

  She didn’t like
to think how much they’d discarded before they’d realized just how useful it was, how necessary to their lives.

  They’d figured out how to make soap with it and lamp oil and candles.

  And, of course, they needed it in cooking.

  In a few years, they wouldn’t really have to do without any of the modern conveniences.

  Well, except for the convenience part where somebody else did all the work.

  And TV and videos and music.

  Actually, she amended, they had made music of a sort.

  The guys had looked at them like they’d lost their minds when they’d started tapping out rhythms on whatever was handy, and singing whatever lyrics they could remember, but they’d discovered it was entertaining for all. And it had gotten to be a regular part of their gathering times.

  All in all it wasn’t a terrible life. It was so simple that there wasn’t a lot of room for worries, not a lot of stress. That was almost exclusively tied to the food.

  But they were making progress toward food security and she felt sure they would have it before much longer.

  With the guys.

  Without them …. Well, they were just fucked.

  There would be no point in hiding in the cave.

  They would have to accept slavery or a slow death.

  But she didn’t want to think about that.

  She wanted to believe that Jarek and Aidan would be coming back.

  Even if they weren’t coming back to her.

  They weren’t left in the dark about what was happening long. Just before their main meal of the day was done enough to eat, they heard a sound like distant thunder.

  Everyone stopped and lifted their heads in that direction like a herd of deer, waiting to see the flash of light that should accompany it, to hear another explosion they might more easily identify.

  Instead, after the long, deep rumble, they heard a different sound, one none could identify.

  At least none of the women.

  Fayn snatched Lori off her feet so fast it felt as if her vertebrae separated from neck to tail bone, and then began jogging with her.

  She thought she might have been in pain from the jogging gait if she hadn’t been too shocked to feel anything at all. It almost felt as if time had been suspended, as if she’d been enveloped in a fluffy cocoon that blocked out most of the light and sound and anything else her senses might have picked up.

  It seemed to suspend brain function, as well.

  They had whipped past every tree and hut in the village and reached the clearing near the falls before she managed to verbalize her confusion.

  “Wha …?”

  She bit her tongue and squeezed her eyes tightly together until the pain passed.

  When she opened them, Fayn was leaping from rock to rock like a giant gazelle and she was too petrified to remember she had a tongue.

  He entered the cave and plunked her down. “Stay put!”

  Lori felt her mouth drop open, but she was pretty sure it was just that she was dumbfounded, not an effort to speak. Because nothing came to mind.

  He turned away, but then turned back, grabbed her upper arms, snatched her toward him, and kissed her fiercely and swiftly.

  Her brain didn’t have time to register the kiss before it was over and he’d disappeared.

  She stared after him, struggling to grasp what was going on.

  They’d heard thunder in the distance, but she didn’t recall anything to suggest that it was a dangerous storm or even coming their way.

  It flickered through her mind that it seemed to be the general direction of the slavers’ village, but ….

  As far as she knew the guys didn’t have anything high tech enough to cause an explosion. They’d mysteriously acquired weapons, but those looked like something out of medieval times—pikes and swords and such.

  It was just about the time that other warriors rushed in with some of the other women that it dawned on her that the Hirachi themselves had created an explosion when they’d brought the ship down.

  She hadn’t seen that ‘power’ but once and she’d convinced herself that it wasn’t actually them that had done it, that, maybe, a lava bomb had hit the ship or something like that.

  The other sound that had followed?

  Well, if she accepted the explosion rather than thunder, there would be a lot of screaming and yelling … and maybe war cries?

  Fayn reappeared. This time he had a woman clutched in each arm.

  “Fayn! What’s happening?” Lori gasped when she saw him.

  “Attack. Stay!”

  “Damn it!” Lori snapped, but he was already gone.

  She glanced around and did a mental head count. As far as she could tell, they’d brought all of the women—in too big a hurry to wait for the women to run, she supposed.

  “Let’s hope they get the chance to catch their breath before they have to fight,” May said.

  That hit Lori right about center mass like a lance. She clutched her chest. “Idiots! Oh god!”

  “Yeah,” Jill said a little sickly, her face crumpling as if she was about to burst into tears. “I tried to run, but I guess they just couldn’t focus on anything else until they were sure we were safe.”

  Feeling weak and dizzy, Lori looked around for a place to sit and finally settled, trying to hear above the roar of the falls.

  That was useless.

  The damn aliens could be right outside and they wouldn’t know until they saw them.

  The thought brought her to her feet again, though, and she searched for a weapon.

  Naturally, there wasn’t anything. The guys had made sure there was stores of food—all of which would have to be cooked before it could be eaten—and furs to sleep on, she supposed, or wrap in. But no weapons.

  She gathered a collection of rocks that looked like they might be big enough to cause some damage but were still small enough she had some hope of launching them with force.

  The others, after staring blankly a few moments, followed suit and then they all sat down in uneasy silence and waited.

  The first man to walk through the falls precipitated a shower of rocks.

  Fortunately, they were really bad shots.

  He got hit enough to get his attention and bellowed, “Stop!”

  Feeling sheepish, they ceased fire and watched as he backed in carrying the cook pot with another warrior.

  Everyone surged up to have a look.

  It was less than half what it had held, they saw, and didn’t know if the guys had eaten before they thought to bring the pot or if they’d spilled more than half.

  “Did the guys eat?” Lori asked before she considered touching it.

  She was hungry, but they might have to fight and they’d need food.

  “Yes,” the warrior they’d hit with the rocks responded.

  Setting the pot down, the two men left without another word.

  They didn’t have anything to eat with but their fingers, but they discovered the food had cooled sufficiently that that wasn’t a problem.

  Which meant they’d been in the cave hours already.

  They ate, and then sat down to suck the juices off their fingers and wrap up in the skins. Dim to begin with, it was growing dark in the cave—darker—and they were pretty sure night was coming on.

  Lori missed her bed as she curled up on her fur and tried to find a comfortable position. It took an effort to dismiss the visions flitting through her mind of the guys fighting for their lives, but she finally managed to doze.

  The cave had lightened with coming dawn when she roused up again. She thought if she hadn’t been so miserable that circumstance would have instantly thrown her into turmoil. As it happened, Fayn appeared before she had time to consider all the bad things that might have happened.

  She didn’t rush to him.

  She wanted to, but it was all she could do even to get up after lying on a rock for hours.

  He rushed to her and curled his arms around her. “
Dey gone.”

  “Thank god! Who?”

  He pulled away and stared down at her. “Ships. Alien ships. Dey come dis way, but keep going. Safe now, I tink.”

  She hoped he was right because she didn’t think she could handle more time in the cave.

  Chapter Twenty One

  Days passed. Lori didn’t have to work to find things to do to keep her mind and hands occupied. There was no shortage of things to do.

  Still, the time and worry made it impossible to refrain from comparing her situation to the life she’d left behind. On Earth, there was nothing of any significance that happened anywhere in the world that it hadn’t made the rounds within minutes or hours. Even things that were of no real significance—just juicy gossip—made the rounds in virtually no time at all.

  And here she sat only a few miles from a major battle and no idea of the outcome.

  She could guess, but she wanted to know.

  Before day break on the third day after they had heard the battle raging, the bulk of the warriors left the village to hunt. They had waited as long as they felt like they could afford to wait. They had to have meat.

  They would try to return by dusk.

  But Fayn hadn’t sounded convinced it would be possible. They had had to begin to hunt further and further because the animals were migrating in anticipation of the coming winter.

  Naturally, since none of them were natives to the world they now lived on they had no notion of what they might have to deal with. They could only prepare according to their personal experiences and hope for the best.

  Lori had spent a good bit of the day examining the walls they had built to close in the root system and form their cottage, making certain there were no holes, cracks or crevices where air could seep inside or their heat escape.

  Not that they were likely to have much in the way of heat. Their cottage was a living thing and exposing it to too much might drastically affect the tree that protected them. But Fayn had built a smaller version of the oven the community used to bake and they had some hope that it would produce enough heat to keep them from freezing to death.