“Challengers,” he addressed us. “Your odds have increased as Daleon has forfeited. I trust the four remaining teams will prevail and do Calixtus proud. Show us your strength and skills as noble warriors as you strive to reach the end. As you know, there can be only one victorious pair. The winner will be granted his boon. The losers will remain on Taleon to live out the rest of their days. Beware warriors. Those former players left to the mercy of this planet are now your enemies.” The screen zoomed back to give a full view of the room Baynar was in. Behind him were the other members of the council I’d seen on the deck of the ship. Baynar raised his hand. “Remember. We will be with you every step of your journey.” Whether that was meant as an implied threat or friendly encouragement, I had no idea. I knew all eyes of Calixtus would be watching the event unfold.
“Each of you have already selected your preferred weapon,” Baynar continued. “Be careful with it. You will not be given another.” With a nod of his head, weapons suddenly materialized in front of us in a neat line. The warriors stepped forward and picked them up. Ayres held a deadly looking long metal staff resembling a double-sided scythe that glimmered as the sun struck it. The other three warriors had chosen metal medieval-like weapons; each of them would be lethal in the right hands.
I noticed the females hadn’t been given any weapons. When I remarked on this, Ayres smiled tolerantly as though I were a dolt. “You would have difficulty lifting any of the weapons here, and you would not know how to wield them.”
“Give me a .45 automatic, buddy, and ask me where your balls are.” Not an idle threat, I rationalized. Uncle Mick had been a marksman and had taught me how to shoot.
Ayres wasn’t impressed.
The speaker crackled and all eyes snapped to the screen. “Once again, good luck to you all. And may Tanit watch over you.” The screen went blank and the spider-robot crept away.
“Who’s Tanit?” I asked, figuring it was perhaps a god or goddess of Calixtus.
He gave me another ‘you’re a dolt’ look, and didn’t bother to respond to my question. All his attention now seemed focused intently on the tournament. He appeared drawn as tight as a bowstring, his hands holding the metal scythe in a death grip. My sweeping glance took in the other contestants. The alien-warriors all stood alert and eager.
“Get ready,” Ayres said. His weapon fit nicely onto his back in a harness-like contraption he strapped on, leaving his hands free. He reached out and laced his fingers through mine, then bent down and shifted his stance as though about to start a race.
“Oh, shit.”
The loud horn sounded once more and everyone took off. Ayres moved so fast he practically dragged me behind him. Instead of slowing down he swept me up over his shoulder in one fluid motion. My head jostled against his back beside his weapon, which he wore diagonally across his other shoulder. At least I had no worries of the sharp blades cutting into me. Lifting my head I saw that along with Ayres and I, one other couple had also darted off and continued to barrel toward the sanctuary of the jungle. The other two couples had stopped soon after take-off. Now they appeared to be battling. From my precarious position I saw flashing white and red lights that looked to be coming from the aliens’ weapons. I could hear screaming too, growing fainter and fainter with every stride Ayres took. I was glad to see Oro and Lissa were the other couple that had run off like we had. A glimpse of bouncing black curls over Oro’s back confirmed it. I guess Lissa’s alien thought she ran too slow as well.
Ayres didn’t slow down until we reached the jungle. Even then he dodged, leaped, and ducked the many obstacles he encountered while still maintaining a swift jog. Finally he slowed enough to swing me to my feet. He kept hold of my hand and tugged me along, keeping to his pace. I knew this was mainly a race to the finish line. Ayres had said we’d be here for a week and I hoped he didn’t plan on running the entire time.
A few minutes later he finally slowed right down and then stopped. I noticed he’d barely broken a sweat and his breath was steady. I was puffing like a locomotive and had to lean against a tree for support. Ayres began grabbing at vines and fastening the ends together.
“What’re you doing?”
“Slowing down the others,” he answered. “We must all keep to the same route. Not the same trails exactly, but the way is laid out. They will be close.” He cocked his head and listened. “We must hurry.”
He’d fashioned the vines into a crude rope across the trail we were on. The ends still hung high from the treetops. It was clear anyone coming this way would see the barrier and simply go under or over it. Ayres pulled the scythe off his back and aimed it up high at one end of the vine. I jumped when a dart of green light flashed out of the end of it and hit a heavy limb dead center leaving a black scorch mark. I’d seen marks like that before—on the cottage door. The limb cracked and fell slightly but remained where it was.
“Come,” he said. I realized that if anyone touched the vine even slightly, the branch would swing down in a deadly arc and land right in the pathway—and into anyone unfortunate enough to be standing there. I suppose I should have been impressed, but I shivered and felt slightly sick instead. The reality of the game had set in. Here we were going to have to do things—uncomfortable things—and make life and death decisions. It was clear Ayres played to win, and if anyone got in his way he would fight and possibly kill. I didn’t relish the idea. The cruel Ayres of my Episodes was but a pale shade in comparison to the machine that marched me through the jungle. I shivered again and hurried to catch up. Machine or not, he was the only thing standing between me and death.
We marched for hours it seemed, pausing only when Ayres deemed it safe to rest for a moment or two. We’d been given no provisions, but along our journey I could see the trail was ripe with an abundance of fresh fruits—weird looking, but tasty—and several small running streams to provide drinking water. Ayres seemed knowledgeable about what was good to eat and drink and what was not. When I snagged a purple plum-like piece of fruit off a tangle of short wiry bushes he smacked it from my hand before I could pop it in my mouth.
“You will writhe like a snake, foam at the mouth, and die within five Earth minutes if you eat that,” he informed me.
“Well, thanks,” I said sarcastically.
The jungle went on forever. I’d never actually been in a real jungle before, but this one was similar in many ways from pictures and movies I’d seen to what I’d expect to find on Earth. Except for those giant ever-present moons in the sky I almost felt I was on Earth. Where were all the dangers we’d been warned about? There’d been no sign of dangerous wildlife or Varlings anywhere. In fact, everything was unnaturally silent. There were some strange looking birds squawking and chirping, but those were the only living things I'd laid eyes upon up to this point.
Ayres stopped suddenly, and since I was looking up, I ran right into his back. He didn’t seem to notice. His head was cocked at an angle again so I figured he was listening to something. Whatever it was I had no idea—I couldn’t hear anything unusual.
He reached back suddenly and pulled me off the trail several yards and then stopped to lean against the trunk of a thick tree. Strong arms wrapped around me and held me so that my back rested against a mass of chest muscles. I became acutely aware of the heat of the body I was pressed against. I stayed still and silent, part of me enjoying the contact.
A rustling sound came from the trail, followed by heavy footsteps and a great sigh. “How much further?” asked a female with a whiny voice.
“Silence,” her companion warned her. It was several minutes later before the footsteps faded away and Ayres deemed it safe to return to the trail. I guess they’d managed to avoid Ayres’ swinging limb of death.
To keep the tedium at bay, I began to badger Ayres with questions. He indulged my curiosity with cryptic answers as long as I spoke to him in whispers. Conversing like this I had to keep close beside him.
“Do you know what happened to those guys at the
cottage?” He’d supplied all the answers to various questions about Taleon and the tournament. This question, however, was a tough one. Part of me wanted to know while another part of me didn’t. When Ayres didn’t answer right away I elaborated. “You know, the ones in white coats I was with? There was this beam of light coming out of the bedroom and Danny got sucked right in. I dunno where Jack...”
“They’re on the ship.”
“Come again?”
“They are on the ship,” he said with slow pronunciation.
Relief flooded me. “So, they’re alive?”
He smirked. “We do not make a habit of transporting the dead.”
“What are you going to do with them?”
“If you had refused to participate in the tournament I would have used them to coerce your assent.”
Since I’d thought this entire affair was a coma-induced nightmare, it hadn’t been necessary. No. I’d strolled down this path to hell all on my own.
Chapter 9
“What will you do with them now?” I asked.
“Depends,” Ayres replied.
He was exasperating. “Depends on what?”
“If we lose and must remain here, their fate will not be ours to decide.”
“And if we win?”
He pondered for a moment. “Then I shall grant you a boon. If you wish them returned to Earth then I shall have it arranged.”
“How generous.” Considering he’d taken them in the first place I didn’t bother to hide my sarcasm. “Just how long have you been planning for me to be in this tournament?” Since we were laying our cards on the table I wanted to know if he and his kind were responsible for things that had happened to me and my family. Could it be possible he’d had his eye on me ever since I was a child? My parents had died under mysterious circumstances, making my aunt and uncle my guardians before I’d even turned three. Then they had been killed. I remembered that Event. Weird things had occurred, such as tremors and bright lights.
Ayres stopped suddenly and faced me. “There are things you do not know. Those people you called family—they’re not what they seemed to be.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Some people on Earth are actually from Calixtus. They make their living seeking out recruits, young females and sometimes males, to be used in tournaments, selling them off to the highest bidder. I had nothing to do with you being chosen.” He sounded defensive.
“Are you saying my aunt and uncle were from Calixtus?” No frigging way.
“Your aunt, yes, your uncle, no. He had no idea. They rarely do. The Trackers—as they are called—are masters at infiltration and manipulation. Your parents were disposed of when you were young.” It wasn’t a question, but a fact. “She would have been responsible for that.”
My legs felt shaky all of a sudden and I moved off the trail to sit down on a moss-covered rock. Ayres came and stood by me, his eyes shifting about the area, always on guard. If he saw from my expression he’d revealed too much information, he didn’t let it stop him from continuing.
“You had been set in place for another.”
I stared at him as if he’d grown another head. What did he mean? Another alien?
He nodded his head at my unvoiced question. “Another meant to take you, but I intercepted. There was a battle and...”
“And my uncle was killed in the crossfire?”
“Yes. It was unfortunate and I didn’t mean for it to happen that way. It was not me who killed him. It was she.”
“Aunt Erin killed my Uncle Mick?”
“Yes. And she would have killed you too, but I didn’t allow it. She would have rather seen you dead then to have me mark you for my own.” He looked away.
“Who was I meant for?” Did it really matter? Whether I’d been marked for Ayres or some other alien I was still nothing more than a plaything to be used. All for a stupid game.
Ayres didn’t answer and when I glared at him he finally faced me. “My brother.”
“Your brother?”
“But when he got into trouble you were put back onto the block and the highest bidder was the one who had the right to claim you.”
So I was bartered and bid on, all without my knowledge. It took me a moment to control my fury. Ayres didn’t seem to notice the inner battle that raged within me.
“My brother owed a great deal of money. He figured he could enter into the tournament with you, win, and then be granted a boon of forgiveness of the debt. But you were too young and he’d run out of time. He decided to clear his debt in another way and unfortunately got himself into more trouble. He was incarcerated on Drone—Calixtus’ fourth moon—and will soon face death.”
“So you intercepted me and decided to play for his life?”
“Yes. It cost me a great deal of money to secure you. But the Tracker—your ‘aunt’, had a personal vendetta against Kenix, my brother. She was furious when I told her my plans. That is why she wanted you dead.”
“Is this the part when I’m supposed to thank you for my life?” I stood up and began to pace. “According to you, Calixtus has used Earth since the beginning of time. Not just our planet but our people as well. We’re nothing more to you than game pieces. Never mind that we have lives of our own.”
He shrugged. “It is the way things have always been. We need to keep moving.” He gestured for me to come with him. I had no choice but to follow.
I watched his back for a while along the pathway. The weird birds continued to shrill, oblivious to our presence. “You know I’ve seen you since I was sixteen.”
“I know.”
“Weren’t you concerned that your future partner was crazy? You know I was put in an asylum after the hell I went through at the cottage.”
“You’re not crazy. A little disturbed after what happened, perhaps, which is only natural for a frail woman.”
“Wow, all this flattery is gonna go to my head. And I am crazy. I saw you a lot, had realistic episodes of a life we had together and everything.” I wasn’t about to tell him about the wild sex or how he’d gone postal.
“It’s not your fault. It is the device in your head.”
I stopped walking. It took him a moment to notice before he stopped as well and turned around. “What device?”
“An implant. So I could keep track of you. Sometimes it messes with the mind. It’s all right. The device was turned off once I took you.”
“You put an alien implant in me that made me nuts?” What a fucking asshole.
“Yes. I had to make sure I could find you when the time came.”
“This just keeps getting better and better.”
It seemed my whole life was a lie. I’d been nothing but a hostage, really, to the whims of Calixtus. Every major event had been controlled and manipulated by an alien race waiting to claim me. Though it hadn’t been Ayres at first, he’d been the one to take his brother’s place, and he’d even implanted me—made me think I was insane. Images of Aunt Erin flashed in my mind. I’d always wondered why I’d catch her watching me sometimes with a strange look in her eye, a look I now figured was calculation.
“Why did my aunt—or whoever she was—have it out for your brother?” I asked. Ayres slowed so that I could keep pace with him. “Didn’t she find me and spend years pretending to be something she wasn’t, all for him? Or was it about the money?”
“She did what she did, not just for the money Kenix gave her, but because she loved him. He cared for her, but he did not share her infatuation. When he went to prison she was furious. I saw him on Drone and he told me about you and what he’d planned to do originally. He wasn’t sure how Vara—the Tracker—would handle things. I discovered that she had put you on the block after Kenix was imprisoned. I was able to purchase you from that warrior.” When he saw he had my undivided attention, he continued.
“When I went to let Vara know you were now meant for me, and how I planned to use you to help me free Kenix, she grew irrational. She wanted re
venge on Kenix. She’d given up years of her life for him, she said, and all for nothing. That he would foolishly risk everything, and wind up on Drone anyway, told her that she meant nothing to him. So at the cabin she tried to kill me.”
“Why don’t I remember any of this?”
“Vara stunned you and your uncle just before I arrived. She thought it was the other warrior coming to claim you. We battled, and she and your uncle were killed. I was wounded and I had to return to Calixtus. Before I left I implanted you.”
“It took me three days to wake up. They found me surrounded by body parts.” Thank God I didn’t remember seeing that.
“As it was you were still too young for the tournament. I had to wait until you were twenty Earth years—part of the rules. A good thing the judicial system on Drone takes so long to carry out a sentence.”
In some twisted way I could relate to Ayres’ logic. He was driven by the need to save his brother. Although it didn’t excuse what had happened to me, nor what his people did to mine.
Chapter 10
Night was falling and everything around us took on a shadowy, sinister tinge. What had seemed beautiful and calm in the daylight hours now became creepy and dangerous. Our day of trudging had been uneventful, and except for the couple we’d seen earlier, no one had crossed our path.
When Ayres showed no signs of slowing down I glared at his back. “How much further?”
“One hundred of your Earth miles.”
I halted in my tracks. “Say what?” He couldn’t possibly be serious. He stopped and turned around. With a great sigh I continued walking.
“From start to finish, we will travel one hundred miles,” he clarified.
“In one week?” He nodded. “How much further do we have to walk today?”
“Do you grow tired?”
More like exhausted. It didn’t help that the fruit he’d been feeding me had cramped up my belly and I’d had to dive into the bushes every hour or so. He’d complained about the delay, which was no doubt why he drove us on relentlessly. “Yes, I’m tired.”
Survivor Planet Series 2-Book Box Set Page 5
