by Cheree Alsop
“Luck is on our side,” McKy said quietly. “But there’s no telling how long it will last. Let’s go.”
“How do we know where we’re going?” Nova asked.
“We don’t,” her brother replied. “But the arena was dark and damp. Did you see the rust along the walls? I’m guessing it’s near a water source, and the only water source on Akrul is the river that flows near the core. I heard the guards talking about it. Apparently, the core is getting hotter and they’re worried the water will soon all evaporate.” He shook his head. “Forbidden indeed. I vowed to never set foot on this place again if I ever escaped, now look at me. I’m back in less than a day.”
Nova gave him a grateful look. “You’re protecting me just like you used to do when we were little.”
“That was against Lady Crowser’s hounds,” he said with a small chuckle. “They just wanted to lick your face; it was always sticky. This is different.” His expression darkened. “There are soldiers here who will kill us the moment they set their eyes on us. You’re going to have to be ready to kill them first.”
He pulled two guns from his vest and handed her one.
Nova took it and tried not to look as nervous as she felt. She had fired into the onslaught of Raths on Lorv and had probably killed one or two, but there had been no way to know for sure by the time Kovak slayed the rest of them. She told herself she could handle it.
McKy watched her with a doubtful expression. “You do know how to shoot, don’t you?”
His lack of trust in her abilities made her angry. After all she had been through, he dared to second-guess her? She was half-tempted to shoot at something just to prove to him that she wasn’t a worthless ninny about to swoon like so many of her Lady friends would have done in the same situation.
“Yes, I know how to shoot,” she replied shortly.
He lifted his hands. “Sorry. I had to ask. Both of our lives are on the line along with this Smiren’s.”
Guilt filled her. “I know,” she replied. “I’m sorry I’m on edge.”
He gave her a half-smile, looking at that moment so much like the big brother she had always tried to keep up with back in Evia. “Keep that edge, sis. I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”
At that moment, the door swung open. Two guards stepped into the storage room. McKy and Nova ducked behind their crates before they were seen. Fortunately, poor lighting appeared to be a trait of a forbidden planet. There were more shadows than not within the metal confines of the planet.
“You heard the Corporal. They’re going to kill him. It’s only a matter of time,” a woman said in heated tones.
“And why does that matter to us? If we interfere, we’re dead, too!” the man replied. “You know the law.”
“I know,” the woman said, her voice softer. “But the law isn’t fair.”
The man gave a scoffing noise. “You work on a forbidden planet. You should be used to that by now.”
“That’s the problem. We’re too used to it. You and I are stuck on this planet until the day we die. We’re no better off than the prisoners.”
“Really? At least we have our freedom.”
“To make the decisions we want?” she challenged. The fight was gone from her voice. All that remained was sadness.
Nova’s heart went out to her. She knew that kind of sadness. She had felt stuck many times in her life with no way out. She couldn’t have imagined commiserating with a soldier on Akrul. The thought made the ‘Verse feel just a bit smaller.
“I wish we could,” the man said. “Suez, you know I would marry you if it was allowed.”
“Then let’s get off this planet, Linc. I can’t stand it anymore.”
“It’s death and you know it. The Corporal doesn’t take anyone deserting well. We’ll be thrown in the arena for the gladiator to destroy, if he lives.”
He’s alive. Nova’s heart sang. At least at that moment he was still breathing. She didn’t know how it was possible, but she had to get him off the planet and to a healer as soon as she could. But how would they find him on this huge metal monstrosity?
Nova jumped when McKy spoke.
“I have a proposal for you.”
Both guards drew their guns and spun to face him. Nova stood slowly and held up her hands as the weapons moved from her brother to both of them.
“Who are you?” Linc demanded.
McKy drew up to his full height. “I am Count McKy Loreander of the Loreandian System. I have come to rescue a friend and will handsomely reward anyone who can offer assistance.”
“A count?” Suez replied. “What is a count doing here? It makes no sense.”
“It does if I tell you I was a prisoner here and I was traded for someone.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “The gladiator.”
He nodded.
She shook her head quickly. “Linc, we have to tell the Corporal. We can’t get caught up in this!”
The man lowered his gun.
“What are you doing?” Suez demanded.
“We’re already caught up in this,” he replied. “If this man really is a count, maybe we can help each other.”
“Or get each other killed,” Suez muttered.
Linc gave her a searching look. “Honestly, I can’t take it anymore. I was ready to steal a starship for you.”
Shock showed on the woman’s face. “You were?”
He nodded and desperation showed in his gaze. “I can’t live like this any longer. I can’t love you in secret. I want to shout it to the world and not be decapitated because of it.”
To Nova’s surprise, Suez smiled at his words. “Decapitation is a bit much, don’t you think?”
“I do,” Linc replied.
Her smile deepened. “I do, too.”
Linc took a deep breath and turned back to face them. “We know where the gladiator is.”
Chapter Nineteen
KOVE
I could feel my lifeblood staining the floor beneath the dirty pallet. The Corporal had thrown me back into the cell with his own two hands. His disgust at the turn of events was plain on his face.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll die tonight,” he said after he had closed the door and locked it.
I couldn’t find the strength to reply. Inside, the part of my mind detached from the fact that I was bleeding out came up with quips of its own.
If you know what’s good for you, you’ll eat a stinging sparion.
If you know what’s good for you, you’ll jump out at Thrul naked.
If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go kiss the drezian.
If you know what’s good for you, you’ll wear orange to a Pedonian party.
I rolled my eyes at the last one. Pedonians were huge bull people known for their hatred of the color. It would be a violent death to be sure.
“Are you rolling your eyes at me?” Corporal Thaymes demanded.
The key turned in the lock. He charged into the cell and kicked my stomach. I curled inward to protect my organs. He kicked my legs and my arms. His foot caught on the broken pallet and he fell against me. He quickly pushed himself away so he wouldn’t be tainted by my blood and glowered down at me.
“Don’t you mock me, gladiator!” he yelled. “Do you know what you’ve done tonight? You ruined me! You absolutely ruined me!” He kicked me again; this time the blow caught me in the head. “The odds were stacked against you to point that I stood to collect billions of marks! A lone Smiren against the Quartet of Darkness. You had no chance! And then you had to go and slay them all.” He kicked me in the ribs. “What am I supposed to do? I can’t pay them, Sunder! I don’t have that kind of marks. The ‘Verse itself doesn’t have that kind of marks.”
He had stopped kicking me. It appeared the confession of what he had lost had taken the fight from him. He hung his head and regarded me for a moment.
“What have you done to me, Sunder? You’ve ruined me. I hope you die where you lay.”
&
nbsp; He turned and walked out of the cell, slamming the door behind him as he did so. His jaunty march was gone, replaced by the dragging steps of a man who knew he had just signed his own death note.
I waited until his footsteps had faded away completely before I looked down at the metal object in my mangled hand. When he fell, I had managed to slip the keys from the Corporal’s inner jacket pocket. Luckily for me, his aversion to my blood had kept him from noticing. I had no idea how long that would last; also, I had far bigger problems than the door to the cell.
I was losing more blood than was healthy.
No blood loss is healthy.
Fine. I was losing more blood than I could spare. The battle arena was colored in it and now more was dripping through the cracks of the pallet with enough zeal I knew I would have nothing left in minutes.
Maybe someone would save me.
I grimaced inwardly. Nobody was coming to save me. I had no friends, no allies, and no one who was that loyal. Those who watched the battle had probably cheered at my apparent demise. I could understand the Corporal’s attitude. Not only had he lost his Quartet of Darkness, the name alone which probably brought thousands upon thousands of wealthy viewers, but he had also lost the gladiator who slayed them. There was no saving me. He and I both knew it. My wounds were fatal and he was right, I should just let myself drift away to Elyrria, the perfect and beautiful heaven of the gladiators.
They would welcome me there. As much as my slaying of so many in the ‘Verse appeared immoral to Nova and the others, it was my job and my destiny. There was a place waiting for me, a place without judgement and filled with the friends I had lost in the arena throughout the years of my life. Maybe my sister was there. My heart hurt to think of it, but the thought of seeing Ayana’s smile again felt like a balm to my wounded soul.
Perhaps it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to let go. Even now, the rush of a tide sounded in my ears. My head ached fiercely from the Corporal’s abuse. I knew my wounds should hurt, but they didn’t at all, and that was terrifying. The lack of pain meant I was already on my way. I closed my eyes and willed death’s lullaby to sweep me from this world.
Nova’s face surfaced in my mind. She didn’t smile. Instead, she looked down at me like she had the night she had found me passed out on the bathroom floor after performing the Essen al Tirin. Her green eyes were filled with a myriad of emotions, confusion, compassion, concern, and the hint of something my heart recognized but I didn’t. I knew it now as the beginnings of love. Somehow during our interactions, our quarreling, and our adventures together, she had begun to feel something. Why hadn’t I seen it then? Would I have done anything different?
It was too late to contemplate regrets. Nova was long gone with her brother. We had accomplished everything she had set out to do when she bought me on Roan Seven. I had thought I was a bodyguard, but I was an easy plant, a switch to get her brother off Akrul. It was a smart plan, and I couldn’t blame her for not telling me. If she had, perhaps I would have escaped on Lorv or the Trayshan. Anywhere was better than being shanghaied on a forbidden planet.
A begrudging smile touched my lips at the thought of Nova’s brilliance. She was beautiful and deadly because of her ability to hide her thoughts. She was a mystery. My heart went out to her for falling for the gladiator she had bought to put to death in her brother’s place. Poor, strong little Cadonian; how I loved her minxy ways.
My thoughts grew fuzzy. It was hard to remember what I had been thinking about. The rushing sound was becoming louder in my ears. Why wouldn’t the pain in my head stop along with the rest of it? It wasn’t fair to die feeling as though a knife had been plunged behind my eyes. I wanted to smile wryly at my own whining, but my lips had gone numb and refused to respond.
Something pressed at the back of my mind, something that refused to let me slip away in peace. Lady Winden had been so accommodating to Nova. Granted, she had ordered her men to kill Nova in an effort to catch me murdering them on tape. But they had appeared like old friends, confidants who had experienced much together. So why did Lady Winden give Nova fake marks when she purchased me on Roan Seven?
It was so hard to focus. I nearly lost the train of thought until Lady Winden’s reply to Nova’s accusation surfaced in my mind. “You’ve proven to be more resourceful than I would have guessed. You may pull this off yet.”
My eyes flew open. Lady Winden had never expected Nova to be successful. That explained the ambush at Lorv and the woman’s quick apology of the attack. It was a second attempt to kill Nova or at least stop her, but why? What did Lady Winden accomplish by keeping Nova from freeing her brother?
I had to find out. Nova’s life was on the line. She and her brother were both walking into some sort of trap. How far away had they flown from Akrul? I had to warn them!
The fire of determination burned in my belly, and with it sparked a smaller but very familiar flame. The skull beetle! There wasn’t much left at all. I had burned some when Chauxer the Gold tried to throw me in the pit. Triggering the impetus of my strength tattoo had allowed me to shove him in instead. He had almost pulled me over with him when he upended, but I managed to roll free. I hadn’t thought any of the skull beetle remained.
Yet there it was, a mere kernel to be sure, but I could feel the power of it just the same. Of the trinity of Smiren tattoos I bore, strength and shield were what I used the most; even those had only been used a few times due to the scarcity of the beetles. Healing, symbolized by the ancestral tattoos that swirled across my chest, was the hardest to control. Given the power, the body wanted to heal everything at once. But there wasn’t enough beetle left for that. I had to find the most lethal of the wounds and hope I could focus the skull beetle’s power to keep me alive.
Precious minutes ticked away as I made a full assessment of my injuries. My hand hurt after being crushed by Cutie the Red’s bone club. The bone showed in places and my fingers refused to work; but even though it bled more than I liked, it wasn’t deadly. Multiple slashes from Stoxon’s knives and Leanda’s swords made me feel like a skewed roell. The gash on my head was certainly annoying because it constantly bled as head wounds tended to do, and my headache was getting worse with every beat of my heart. Was that the worst wound? It was certainly the most demanding.
A fast drip, drip, drip caught my ears above the roar. Where was that coming from? I willed my arms to hold as I pushed up to look at the pallet beneath me. It was covered in blood. More of the dark fluid had leaked completely through the ragged blanket and pattered to the ground below. I could hear the skittering claws of kixon as the blood-driven rodents fought for every drop. Why was it the creatures were everywhere in the ‘Verse? It defied reason. I could remember cutting my finger on a glass shard at the Palladium. The moment a drop of blood hit the ground, the kixon were there quarreling over it until I kicked at them and sent them back to their holes.
Focus.
I was stalling. I knew where the blood was coming from. I gritted my teeth and pulled my injured hand away from my chest.
Leanda’s sword had gone completely through the right side of my torso. It was the reason my breath came in short, painful gasps, the reason my ears were ringing from blood loss, and the reason I would die if I didn’t do something about it. Sheer stubbornness had kept me alive this long; unfortunately, that also had an expiration and that expiration was drawing closer with every beat of my heart.
Hearts were fickle things. Why is it that the object that drove the lifeblood through the body was also the symbol of love? Was life and love so inextricably tied? If I never got Nova back, if I couldn’t save her one last time, was there a reason to live? If my heart was torn from my body, why should it keep on beating?
What was I doing again?
Concentrate, Scat Brain, or you’re going to die.
Maybe I want to die.
You don’t or you’d be dead already.
I had a point. I hated when that happened.
There were only s
econds left. My breaths were too short to send oxygen to my brain. Black spots clouded the air in front of my eyes. I heard the first strains of death’s melody as I fell onto my back on the pallet.
I pressed my good hand to the wound in my chest to help me focus on it. As the last breaths gasped past my lips, I willed the skull beetle to burn.
“Entun,” I whispered with all the strength I had left.
Fire flared within my veins and flowed to my chest. I could feel the burning of my tattoos, but I wasn’t able to lift my head to see them turn from black to color. I hoped it was red; anything less wouldn’t close the wound. I felt the power hesitate, uncertain as to where to begin. It would fizzle out without direction and I would lose the last chance I had.
I clenched my jaw and slammed my fist against the wound in my chest. Pain made my cry out, but it worked to focus the healing energy to the right wound. I gasped as the fiery healing burned deep within the wound and worked its way outward. There was no way to know just how much it would heal. I could feel the beetle burning out. The fire in my stomach was receding. But the blood still dripped to the floor.
The spots in my vision increased at the healing pain. I could feel myself slipping away. Unconsciousness swarmed, and this time I was powerless to fight it.
“Kovak! Kove, are you in there?”
Nova.
Stop tormenting me.
Nova’s calling your name. Listen to her.
Liar.
“Kovak! Say something!”
My eyes opened of their own accord. I stared up at a rusted metal ceiling. The sound of kixon had faded to leave only brief scuffles beneath the pallet. That meant something; I just couldn’t remember what.
“Kovak, are you alive?”
That was it. I was alive.
I coughed to clear my painfully dry throat. The answering pain told me it was a bad idea.
“N-Nova,” I forced out.
“Kovak, thank goodness,” I heard her whisper with what sounded like a muffled sob. She raised her voice, “We’re trying to find the keys so we can get you out of there. Just hang on, alright?”
