by James McEwan
Gryphon lifted his head and shook his head back and forth trying to tell her to stop. She didn’t listen to Gryphon and Master Magnus wasn’t listening to her. He held up his free hand. “Enough. I don’t care why or how it happened. I cannot let this this go unpunished. So I am going to teach you both a lesson. Normally I would just kill you both and be done with it” he paused to look at Fiona, “However, you and your sister are so rare that you will fetch a king’s ransom in the market tomorrow and my master would skin me alive if I damaged you. Him, on the other hand.” He stated as he walked up to Gryphon, “You know you are not worth as much. After all, the price that she and her sister will bring in will more than cover any loss that you would have brought in.”
He lifted Gryphon’s head and placed the blade to his throat and paused in thought, “Yet, killing you would be like destroying a piece of art. You can still be useful, but you will never again make that mistake again,” Magnus said. He let go of Gryphon’s head and reached down and took his testicles in his free hand, and with his other hand he flicked on the force blade so that it would cauterize the wound as it cut.
Fiona screamed out, “No!” just as Master Magnus, with one quick slice, castrated Gryphon. Poor Gryphon screamed at first then his eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out. His body went limp and sagged supported only by the chains that held him to the wall.
Master Magnus set down the knife and dropped Gryphon’s testicles onto a small silver tray. “Now pick yourself up and get out of my sight. I don’t want to see you again, is that understood?”
Fiona wiped away her tears and waited not moving. Magnus crossed over to her and grabbed her by the arm, “I said get up!”
That was what she was waiting for. She had become so blinded by anger that she didn’t care what the Ralnai did to her now. She was going to kill this son of a bitch. She let him pull her to her feet then she attacked him with a single strike to his atoms apple, crushing it. He was so shocked that he stumbled backward. His hands when to his throat out of instinct and then Fiona kicked him in the chest sending him over on his back. He hit the deck plate with a resounding crash. She leaped over him and grabbed up the knife he had used on Gryphon. She spun around and without turning on the force blade she dropped down on top of Magnus.
She used her knees to pin his arms down then she lifted the blade high above her head. She let out a primal scream as she plunged the blade down into his chest. A look of shock and fear came over his face as Fiona pulled the knife free and plunged it in again. This time she hit an artery and was reward with a spray of blood that covered her.
Gwennan screamed and ran for the door. The two male slaves outside rushed in just in time to see Fiona plunging the blade into Master Magnus again and again. She was bathed in his blood and neither of the guards wanted to come anywhere near her.
Finally, Fiona got ahold of herself and stood up covered in blood, the blade still in hand. She turned to face the two male slaves who took one look at her, then at each other, before turning tail and running from the room. Before she could do anything else the Ralnai Ship and Slave Master entered the room. He looked at the body and then at her. He saw the blade in her hand and laughed a deep belly laugh. Fiona didn’t know that Ralnai could laugh.
He spoke and in hisses and clicks which the translator box he wore around his neck translated for him. “You are full of surprises little one. It is true what they say about your kind.”
Confused she asked, “My kind? What do you mean humans?”
He laughed again, “No, red haired humans, they say that the reason your hair is red is because it is the fire in your belly is escaping.”
Fiona rolled her eyes and thought, “great red head jokes from a freaking Ralnai.”
“Now, little one, are you going to put that blade down or am I going to have to use this?” He held up his control box. Fiona wanted nothing more than to carve up this Ralnai, kill the rest and free the slaves, but she knew he could kill her before she even took steps. She dropped the blade.
“So, now what are you going to do with me?” Fiona asked.
“The same thing I was going to do before. Sell you and your sister, make a fortune and maybe retire with my favorite pets,” the Ralnai said.
She was floored, he didn’t seem upset that she had just killed his slave master. But more than that was the idea of Ralnai retiring. She wondered if there was a place, on some Ralnai world, where the old Ralnai go and play Ralnai games. She imaged him playing shuffle board. “You are not going to punish me for killing him?”
He answered with another belly laugh, “No little one, I like my pets to have fire in their bellies. If you weren’t worth so much I would keep you and your sister for my own. If he was stupid enough to let a little female like you kill him, then he wasn’t worthy of my service anymore. You did me a favor I guess.” He paused then spoke again, “you know, I think you just might have some lost Ralnai warrior spirit in you.”
Yet another idea that shocked her that the Ralnai could consider that the sprits of their dead warriors hanging around and inhabiting others. Gryphon moaned and stirred a little. “What about him?” Fiona wanted to know about his fate.
The Ralnai crossed the room and looked at Gryphon and his injury. “I guess it is not a total loss, he might be a bit old to train as slave master, but he will become my new slave master, and hope he is a better one.” He turned and looked at her, “Now you go get cleaned up and give me no more trouble. Don’t make me change my mind.”
“Thank you master,” she said and she meant it. She left the room and made her way back to the reserve stock quarters.
She entered the room and all of the women there were shocked to see her covered in blood. Freya jumped up and ran to her sister. She grabbed her by the shoulders, “Fie are you okay.” She was looking her over for injuries.
“Frey, I’m fine, the blood isn’t mine,” Fiona said.
“What happened?” Freya asked.
“Magnus is dead,” she answered
“Damn it Fie, I wanted to end that smug bastard,” Freya said half sarcastically but half serious.
“Sorry, it was kind of a spur of the moment thing,” Fiona said fully serious.
Freya laughed and hugged her sister tight. “It’s okay I’m glad he is dead and you are okay. Now let’s get you cleaned up.”
Chapter 4
Masters stumbled through the door of the Gemini’s infirmary cradling his right arm. His wrist was swelling and starting to bruise. The med tech, Foster, was organizing a medical cabinet when he heard Masters enter. “Back again huh?” he asked as Masters sat down on the exam table.
“Yeah, I think Thad is still pissed at me,” Masters replied. Foster grabbed up a med scanner and walked over to his patient, “What? Isn’t this the third time this week?” Masters winced a bit as Foster held his hand out while he ran the scanner over his wrist, “Yeah, Thad is a good teacher, but he is the hardest trainer I have ever worked with.”
After the Gemini had plucked Masters from space, Thad at first wanted to toss him back without the benefit of the escape capsule. However, he knew that Fiona and Freya had risked their lives to try to save Masters and he knew that they would be greatly disappointed in him if he killed Masters. Thad instead chose to train him.
Rod Masters had a lot of fight training for his holo adventures, but it was all on-stage fighting. It was good place to start and he was a quick learner, but unlike other trainers he had worked with, Thad didn’t pull his punches. There were some days Masters wondered if Thad was using him as his personal punching bag more than trying to train him. To his credit Masters never whined or complained about it. He took each hit, break, bruise, or bloody lip in stride. He also spent most of his free time in the infirmary. Masters had become pretty good friends with Foster, which was a good thing as they seemed to spend a lot of time together.
“Yep it’s broken again,” Foster said.
“You think?” Masters replied sarcastical
ly.
“I think that either you are getting better or he is starting to take easy on you,” Foster said as he used a small hand held device that excited the cells in his broken bones and made them heal at an accelerated rate. The device was now standard in every med kit and emergency room in the known universe. It was the precursor to Thad’s Nano protein and other advancements thanks to the late Doctor Hammer.
“What makes you think that?” Master’s asked.
“Simple, this is only the third time this week that you have been in here, as opposed to last week when you were in here at least dozen or more times. So I would have to say that things are getting better at least by my count,” Foster finished with the mender. He switched of the light and started to wrap the wrist in a warm compound.
“Yeah but the week isn’t over yet,” was Masters answered.
Meanwhile Thad walked on the bridge to find Eve sitting in the command chair. One of the pilots was at his station getting ready for planet fall. Eve was checking and rechecking the Gemini’s stealth systems. They were not as good as the Eden’s. However, they had been enough to keep them hidden for the last two months. She looked up and smiled at Thad as he entered. “I see you have been training with Mr. Masters again. How is he?”
“I think I broke his wrist again, but he will be okay, Foster seems to be good at his job and has been patching him up quite nicely,” Thad said.
“Don’t you think you are being a little hard on him?” Eve asked as she pushed the command screen aside so she could give her full attention to him. She didn’t need to, however, since this version of Eve transcended her programing and became a truly sentient being. Her behavior was becoming even more human-like than before.
Thad still gripping the towel around his neck with both hands answered, “No not really.”
“As I recall and you know I have perfect recall of events. I remember you never hurt the twins when you were training them,” she paused and raised an eve brow at him. Thad seemed to get the message, so she continued. “I’m just saying.”
He pulled the towel from his neck and started twisting it in his hands, “That was different,” he argued.
“Oh, how so? Please enlighten me?” Eve said.
“Well to start, I had much more time to train the girls, and second if Rod really wants to help get them back then I need him to be combat ready now. And that means he needs to learn to take the pain,” Thad answered.
“Right, but breaking bones Thad, you don’t think that goes a little far?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer, “I know you miss them and are worried about them, but I really think that you have taken it out on him long enough, don’t you?”
“No, not really,” was his answer.
“Thaddeus,” she said curtly and then she went in for the kill, “what do you think Doctor Hammer would say?”
Thad shifted his weight from foot to foot, a clear sign he was a little uncomfortable with the question. “Low blow, Eve. You know what he would say. However, he is not here and I will not apologize for whipping him in to fighting shape nor will I feel bad about causing him some pain. After all he is lucky I didn’t toss him out the airlock the moment I laid eyes on him.”
“I’m not asking you to apologize nor feel bad. However, I am asking you to tone it down a little as I think the man as suffered enough” Eve said. “Don’t you?”
“No, not really, but it is a moot point as his training is over,” Thad replied.
“Does that mean you are taking him with you today?” Eve asked.
“Yep, this one is going to be a three man operation,” Thad didn’t finish his statement as Eve had given him the look. The look that let him know he just said something wrong. He revised and continued, “Three person operation.”
“Better,” Eve interjected.
“As I was saying, this will take all three of us. I will need the two of you to keep my back clear while I get the info we are looking for,” Thad said.
Before they could finish their conversation the pilot spoke up, “Sorry to interrupt, but we will be entering atmosphere in less than five minutes and you might want to let the rest of the crew know. The trajectory I had to choose to keep us undetected is not the most optimum, so it might get a little bumpy.”
The pilot was not kidding when he said it might be a bit bumpy. The ship was tossed about like a leaf in the wind. The crew had taken the precaution of strapping in so no one was injured. This was the tenth planet fall they had made in the last two months trying to locate Fiona and Freya. Thad had been working his way through a list of old contacts that he once had, back when he was in the business of killing people.
His best information was that the girls would be taken to the slave markets of Qoelara. Which was not really a place per say. It was a traveling market that would come to different planets in the Ralnai corner of the universe. It would set up shop, sell some slaves and then be on their way before anyone could find and shut them down. The Starguard had been trying for years and, with the exception of one time in which they found it, still had failed to shut down the slave market.
The next location of the market was a closely guarded secret known only to a few select buyers and traders. The location was only broad cast to the rest of the buyers a few days in advance. They were only given enough time to travel to the planet where the next market was to be held.
After dangling the last contact over a ledge and threating to drop him, Thad was able to find out that that the man who maintains the list and sends out the invitations was based on the world that the Gemini was now landing. Thad’s contact had told him that the man’s name was Rondell Harkrow, but people just called him The Crow.
The Ralnai, being a warrior race, did not build, innovate or otherwise do anything for themselves. They relied upon the ingenuity of other races for their technology, industry, and just about everything else. For that reason their planets seem to be more like human worlds. After all, they were mostly built by human slaves. Of course the Ralnai did have their unique needs and likes, but basically they enjoyed the architecture and other creations of their slaves.
The Gemini set down on just outside of the town of Ragkurd Gord, in a box canyon that would serve nicely to hide the ship from unwanted attention. Thad didn’t wait for the dust to settle. As soon as they were down he opened the cargo bay doors and punched the accelerator. The Gemini carried a hover car for when the crew or passengers needed ground transportation. Of course it was all black with tinted windows and yes it was armored. The late Sky Marshall Drake had put a lot of thought into the Gemini and Thad was grateful for it.
The hover car shot out of the belly of the ship like a bullet fired from a gun. Masters was in the back seat and had not been prepared for the sudden acceleration. He screamed like a little girl as he was thrown against the back seat. Eve, however, was sitting in the front seat next to Thad and seemed completely un-phased by Thad’s exuberant exit from the ship. She did wonder if Thad had made this type of exit just to aggravate Masters some more.
Less than five minutes later Thad brought the black car to a halt in front of a rather ratty looking square building with absolutely no personality what so ever. There was a glowing sign hanging from the building that read “The Forked Tongue.” Thad powered down the vehicle and said, “Looks like we are in the right place.” The three exited the vehicle and made their way into the bar.
It was typical of Ralnai human establishments; dark, dirty, smelly, and a little on the warm side. There was long bar with bar stools, a few tables and a couple of private booths in the back. The bartender was a fat, balding, man with a thick beard. He was not wearing a slave collar this meant that he was either one of the few freemen in the Ralnai empire, or he was adherent. The tattoo on the side of his neck of three blood red claws identified him as belonging to the Rorcor Rag clan. This made him an adherent, a trusted slave or one who was born into service. Thad’s guess he was second or third generation.
Many human slaves
have been in service to a clan for generations and many of them liked being in service. The Ralnai held serval different races as slaves but they were particularly fond of humans and many of them treated there human slaves as beloved pets. Many of the slaves on this world were adherents as they saw few slave collars. The slave collars were devices that could remotely give a slave a shock that produced a range of pain from simple all the way to killing them. It was used on new slaves that needed to be trained or on slaves that did not obey their masters.
Thad and Eve entered first followed a few minutes later by Masters as to not to appear that they were all together. The few people in the bar were sitting around the tables drinking and playing cards. There were two Ralnai at the bar drinking as well. They however, were playing what looked like a drinking game. They would take a live chibbesh, a small creature that resembled an earth mouse, and place it on the end of their long snout. They would dip their snout downward and jerk it upward with a quick motion that would fling the chibbesh into the air and try to catch it in their mouth. When they missed the offending Ralnai would have to take a drink of Ralnai blood thorn wine.
Thad ignored the two Ralnai as he wasn’t there for them. He instead went to the bar and tossed down a pile of Ralnai credit notes that he had procured from the last few contacts he had interviewed for information. The bartender looked at him then at the pile of notes then back at Thad, “Pick your poison,” he said as he gripped his side of the bar with both hands and leaned forward in an attempt to get a better look at Eve’s breasts as she had chosen to wear a low cut cream colored blouse. She was also wearing two tone denim suede jeans with matching knee high suede boots and jacket. While Thad was sporting his old favorite; all black clothing with his long black leather coat and hat.
