by Joy Spraycar
Max shrank back against the tree, closed his eyes, and concentrated, erasing from their minds all but the signs of Zalphia.
“She seems to be alone.”
Platy turned, scrutinizing the clearing. “She couldn’t have been. There’s no way she could survive on her own. Look at her. She has no garb. She’s completely naked. Look at the clothing and the food by the fire. She didn’t make either of those. No, he has to be close by.”
Confused, Max peeked at the trainer from his hiding place. She seemed immune to his suggestions.
“Search the area. He won’t be far.”
The trackers crisscrossed the forest, coming within a few feet of where Max sat, but they didn’t see him, discover tracks, or smell his scent.
They returned to Platy. “There are no signs of the man.”
“Very well,” Platy finally said. “He’ll come for her eventually. We’ll capture him then. The Emperor wants them both.” She glanced down at Zalphia. “I’ll make sure he comes if I have to bring her to death’s door to do it.”
Max jumped to his feet. The urge to wrap his hands around the spiky-haired trainer’s throat gnawed at him, causing his whole body to tense. No one would hurt Zalphia, not while he was able to do something about it. He’d taken two steps when the Elder’s mind joined his.
No, Maximillion. You must let them take her.
Body shaking and every nerve taut from the adrenaline pumping through him, Max paused. How can I? You heard what her trainer said. I cannot let any harm come to her. I cannot.”
The Elder’s voice remained calm. You must let them take her back. It will be hard, I know, but we must discover who this Emperor is. He has already discovered Zalphia’s abilities, and he knows that there is another like her. You must ascertain how he found out about the two of you. Stay close to Zalphia but remain shadowed.
Max slid to the ground. He’d promised to protect Zalphia. To keep any harm from coming to her. How could he let her go back? Platy would do anything to get him to come running to Zalphia’s rescue. Send her back to the arena or worse. He couldn’t allow her to return to the horrid life she’d lived before he’d found her.
He gasped as he realized she no longer had the chip in her brain.
How would fighting affect her now? She would suffer, more than ever before. Something he promised to never let happen. Was he now to stand aside and let her go back?
Please, Simeon. Send me back. I will go fight. The Emperor may have me. Please! I cannot stand for her to suffer at their hands. I will do anything. Just do not let them take her. Let me go in her place.
The muscles in his jaw pulsed as he watched Platy and the trackers drag Zalphia to her feet.
No, you mustn’t. It must be her.
Everything in him screamed to race out and grab her, to disregard everything Simeon had said.
You can remain close. Work your way into the circle that surrounds her. You know how to change your appearance. Make them see you, not as you are, but how you wish for them to perceive you. All will be revealed eventually. Until then, be content to know that you are bound to her. You will have your chance to be together. Remember your mission. This entire world depends upon the two of you.
After all the years he waited to find her, now he had to stand by and watch as everything he fought so hard to gain was stolen away. Zalphia was supposed to accompany him to Kilapon, where they would live together. She was to be taught the ways of Selestia, and then together they would march forth, use their combined mind powers, and save this planet.
Maximillion?
The lump in his throat all but choked him. I can’t let her go.
You must.
Platy and the trackers disappeared from sight. Max’s head hung, and his mind fought the growing pain in his chest. He needed her, needed her more than air. But she was gone. Ripped away, taking life from him as if Zalphia was the heart beating within his chest. Now, a gaping hole sat where the life-sustaining organ should be. He couldn’t go on without her. How was he supposed to think about their mission when the one person who could make it come to fruition no longer stood beside him?
***
Night faded from the sky, and dawn found Max still sitting in the same spot, head hung in shame, fists balled at his sides. He thought of a hundred ways to rescue his beloved wife, but nothing he could execute without being caught.
Once the futility of Zalphia’s rescue settled, his mind turned to Platy. Anger and frustration fueled his imagination, and a thousand ways to torture her slowly until she died played across him mind. He smiled as he pictured her last moments. But that, too, faded, leaving him alone with his loss.
Zalphia was headed back to the arena, of that he was fairly confident. How could he remain close to her? He couldn’t go back to being a Glad again. He’d be recognized by the way he fought.
What could he do? Only trainers, Glads, and their physicians traveled, leaving him no way to be with his wife. The realization that there was nothing left but to become part of the masses drove him from the trees.
He returned to the clearing and gathered his belongings.
Gently he lifted the clothing he fashioned for Zalphia and held them close to his face, relishing her lingering scent before carefully folding them.
He shoved everything into his pack as he devised a way to work his way back into the arena. He would be in Halcion when she returned, and he was confident that she would come back. That city was known for the toughest Glads there were. Eventually, Platy would bring Zalphia back there to fight. And when she did, Max would wrap his hands around Platy’s throat and choke the life from her.
CHAPTER 11
Zalphia’s mind cleared, and she could hear Platy shouting instructions. Fluttering, her eyes opened. Her personal Glad doctor came into focus, and she felt him pushing and prodding her abdomen. She was in the infirmary? How? What happened? Where was Max? The last thing she remembered was lying beside him.
Platy ranted from across the room. “That was illegal. Everyone saw it. I want him banned from the arenas, do you hear me? No one can do that to my Glad and get away with it.”
The gray walls of the arena Zalphia fought in when she met Max came into focus. She sat up and swung her arms at the doctor. “Max! Max! What are you doing? Where’s Max? How did I get here?”
A tear slid down her cheek, and fear tightened her chest. The perfect life she had just begun had been ripped away. Or had it all been a dream?
Platy rushed to Zalphia’s side and roughly shoved her back. “Lie down, Zalph. The doctor needs to check you out. That last Glad’s trainer electrocuted you in your cell. I’m lucky you lived through it, although – what do you think, Doctor?”
“It’s not working, that’s for sure.”
“Where’s Max? I need Max,” Zalphia cried.
Platy’s eyes narrowed, and she shook her head. “Who’s Max?” She turned to the doctor. “Do you see what he’s done? Look at her. Tell me she’ll be able to fight again.”
“Take it easy. I’m checking her out.” The doctor’s brow furrowed. “Don’t overdo it,” he said more quietly.
Concern flashed across Platy’s face, and she scanned the area. “No one’s around. As far as they know it all but killed her. What about...?” She jerked her head toward Zalphia.
“Cancel all her matches. Everyone will understand. I’ll say her nervous system has been affected, and she’ll need time to recover. No worse than when she was stabbed.” He glared at Platy. “She’ll heal, but we should get her back to our training center where I can properly care for her. She seems to be imagining events and seeing people that aren’t real.”
Platy stepped closer. “There is no one named Max. He’s just a figment of her brain being zapped. What if she can’t use her powers?”
“It could have affected more than that.” The doctor cocked his head.
Platy leaned over her prone charge. “Zalph, reach out. See if you can read anyone.”
Anger ro
lled from Zalphia’s gut and rushed to her hand, which flew out and caught Platy across the cheek.
Max was not a figment of her mind, nor was he a dream. He was real, and somehow Platy tore him away from her. How could Platy even be alive? How had she survived what they had done to the entire arena full of people? Everyone standing in this room should be dead. And she should be lying with Max beside the fire. How could she be here? How could everything she remembered be brought on by an electrical shock? No! Platy had somehow destroyed Zalphia’s new life. But how?
“I want Max. What did you do with him?” she screamed, reaching for Platy’s neck.
Two attendants grabbed her arms and pinned her against the cold, steel table.
“I won’t fight for you anymore unless you bring Max back to me. Do you hear me?”
Platy’s shocked look only delayed her punch to Zalphia’s gut for a mere second. “Strap her down. No one hits me and gets away with it!” One of the assistants lay across Zalphia’s chest while the others moved to get the straps.
Max’s face loomed before her eyes. She had to find him and get back to their place in the mountains. Somehow she needed to escape. Pulling her legs up, she wrapped them around the attendant to her right, then scissored them and broke his neck. He slumped to the floor, but the other attendant jumped out of reach.
She sprang from the table. She was a Glad, after all, and she’d kill everyone in the room before she let them put her back in the arena and destroy the life she’d found with Max. A flash of becoming one with him flickered across her mind. She dropped to her knees, sobs wracking her body. “Please,” she cried. “What have you done with Max?”
A sharp pain struck the back of her skull, and she caught a glimpse of an attendant with a club before consciousness began sliding away.
Platy stood out of reach. “So help me, if he’s ruined her completely, he’ll go to the crushing stones. And so will she.” She glared at Zalphia. “And you. You will pay for hitting me.”
Darkness played at the sides of Zalphia’s vision, and the infirmary faded into Max’s face. He once more lay beside her. The heat of his skin warmed her, and his musky scent drifted into her nostrils. Once again his essence seeped into her mind. He was hers again, if only for a moment as she slid to the floor and into the blackness.
***
Zalphia awoke to the doctor tightening a strap just above her eyebrows. She tried to reach for him, but her arms were held fast by a strap at each wrist and one across her upper arms. Straps also held her legs in place as well as one across her chest, her abdomen, and her hips. She couldn’t move, couldn’t even twitch the straps were so tight.
“Sorry, Zalph. You never should have hit her,” the doctor whispered.
“Is she secure?” Platy’s voice reverberated off the walls.
The doctor nodded.
Platy leaned over Zalphia, her eyes dark and flashing. “You never lay a hand on a trainer, Zalph. You know that. But since you did, you must be punished.” She pulled a prod, a weapon similar to a small lightning stick, from behind her back. “I want you to remember every moment of this, and the next time you are tempted to strike or disobey me, you’ll get even worse. I can’t believe you don’t remember the lesson you got all those years ago. However, this should remind you of the rules.”
The doctor pried Zalphia’s mouth open, shoved a piece of wood between her teeth, and then taped her lips closed. She couldn’t speak, and terror filled her mind. She knew what the prod did to the animals, and their nervous systems were much tougher than a human’s. Only small bits of air came in through her nose as she tried to shake her head to convince Platy not to do this.
Platy’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll never hit me again.”
She pushed the prod’s button and electricity hummed through it. Platy stuck the end to Zalphia’s cheek. The lightning stick was nothing compared to the pain that pulsed through her from the prod. Her jaw clamped against the wood piece, and every muscle contracted, pulling her hands into fists and curling her toes. If it had been possible, her body would have arched off the table, but the straps prevented it.
Platy took the prod away and charged it again, this time hitting Zalphia’s breast. She thought she’d explode.
Pulling it away, Platy recharged the prod and hit an armpit.
Agony sent tears to Zalphia’s eyes. How could Platy do this? Zalphia tried to use her training to ignore the pain, to set aside the torture. She tried to picture Max’s tree and the babbling brook, but Platy hit every tender spot on her body, and Zalphia lost the ability to control even her thoughts. Everything was about the pain.
Platy continued until Zalphia wished for death. If she’d been able to speak, she would have begged for that release. When she felt there was nothing left and even her body refused to react to the shocks, Platy quit.
“There now.” Platy returned to Zalphia’s head and almost touched noses with her. “Hopefully this lesson will stay with you, and you’ll never do that again, will you?”
Zalphia couldn’t even manage a subtle shake of her head.
“Good, but just for good measure.” Platy laid the prod against one eye.
Zalphia’s vision swam, and thunder rolled in her ears. The prod didn’t stay there long, but Zalphia thought her brain would explode and her eyes would shoot from their sockets.
Torture! She knew this would happen if she and Max were caught, and obviously they had been. What was happening to Max now? She tried to reach out with her mind, but pain crashed in waves over her, foiling the effort. She wished for the oblivion of unconsciousness, but it wouldn’t come.
All she could do was cry for him like a baby. Maaaxxx!
Nothing.
He didn’t come.
Maybe it had all been a dream after all. Maybe Max wasn’t real, just something her clouded brain contrived because of an electrical current. Although she didn’t remember another trainer or being electrocuted. Wouldn’t she remember something like that? Wouldn’t she at least recall someone coming to her cage other than Platy? One thing she knew for certain, she would never forget the punishment Platy just put her through.
When the waves of pain subsided and Zalphia could finally open her one good eye, the doctor stood beside her, an appliance in one hand.
“I’m sorry again, but Platy insisted I replace your chip without putting you out.”
Chip? Max’s face flashed before her. It had been real. Max had removed a chip from her brain. That she remembered for sure, and the doctor just verified it. Max is real.
“This is going to hurt, worse than what she just did to you. But she’ll be back in a moment to observe.”
When Platy appeared, the doctor switched on the thing in his hand, and the whirr of a saw reached Zalphia’s ears. This was the same thing Max had done, but at least he’d used the poison. Five attendants appeared and added their body weight to hold her still.
Platy grinned wickedly. “Now you’ll become my obedient Zalph.”
The trainer nodded, and the doctor began.
CHAPTER 12
Three days had passed since Platy and the trackers hauled Zalphia away. Max followed them back to Halcion, where he and Zalphia had earlier faced each other in the ring. Everyone seemed to be on the lookout for him, so he hovered in alleyways where the downtrodden and drunkards lay amidst filth and slime. At least there if the outcasts of society were lucid enough to recognize him, they wouldn’t care about turning him in to the authorities.
The scene of Zalphia being dragged away constantly played in his mind, exhausting him physically and mentally. Already the joy of their union and the time they shared seemed a distant memory, just out of reach like a dream after waking. Where was the time Simeon promised? The days he and Zalphia were supposed to share on Kilapon. Were the few days Max shared with his love all they would have? Or had it indeed only been a dream? Loss consumed him, leaving his heart and mind hollow and empty.
The many ways he imagined torturing Platy
morphed into debilitating grief, cluttering and muddling his thoughts. Even reaching out for Zalphia’s mind yielded no results, which meant she remained unconscious. He could only imagine what Platy had planned now that Zalphia was again in her custody.
The state of Max’s mind matched the state of his body. He now lay in an alley, nestled on a bed of trash. A tattered blanket covered the rags draped across his massive frame, and he matched all the other castoffs that surrounded him. The overpowering smell of urine filled his nose, and he turned away from the protection of the brick wall to face the street where the breeze could push the smell away. He pulled the cap covering his hair down to his eyebrows and slid further beneath the tattered blanket as a soldier, metal breastplate clinking, marched toward him. The sound of metal against metal stopped, and the man’s raspy breathing reached Max’s ears.
Max closed his eyes, hoping he’d done so fast enough that the soldier hadn’t noticed their color. The one thing that would give him away. Other Afris with skin the color of Max’s didn’t have blue eyes, only the deepest color of brown. Rumors ran rampant about the dark-skinned man with blue eyes and the girl who killed an entire arena of people. The soldiers were constantly on the lookout for the criminals.
A moment later, a foot shoved Max’s shoulder.
“Hey, you.”
Taking a deep breath, Max let his mind flow into the soldier’s before opening his eyes. “Humph.” Sure that the image of brown eyes were firmly set in the man’s mind, Max looked up.
“Nevermind.” The soldier turned and continued down the road, the tinkling of his armor fading as the distance between he and Max grew wider.
He sighed. Laying here had gained him nothing. He was no closer to finding where Zalphia had been taken than he was the first day he’d come to town. He wasn’t even sure Platy would have stayed here. She could have taken Zalphia anywhere. But the fact she wanted to trap him, led Max to believe his love still remained on this side of the ocean.
