by Kate Rudolph
Some queen she was.
No one was giving her any information, at least not beyond the basics. There would be some kind of ceremony on the solstice, a coronation, and a champion would be chosen by some means that no one had bothered to explain. What would happen after the coronation? No clue. What was the champion supposed to do? Who knew? The ignorance was putting her on edge, and though the Beznens were being very careful with what they said, Quinn could tell that something bad was coming. Whatever queen meant on Beznifa, it bore no resemblance to monarchy on Earth.
She was pretty sure they were going to kill her. And life had gotten so crazy in the past handful of days that the worry about her impending death was only her third or fourth most urgent problem. For one, she wasn’t sure how long it had been since she and Kayde had landed on this damned planet. Since first waking in her quarters, she’d gone through three days, but she hadn’t been able to look out any windows to observe the time of day or the location of the building she was in. There were no clocks or other timekeeping devices anywhere around her, and it was only her attendants who told her where to go and what to eat and went to sleep. So either it had been three days, or they were purposely fucking with her perception of time to keep her off her game. Quinn wouldn’t put it past these manipulative little shits.
Well, not little. Most of the Beznens she met were taller than her, but they sure as hell were manipulative.
In the time since she had been taken, doubts had begun to creep in. Doubts about Kayde. She’d already suffered through imagining his death, or imprisonment, or injury, but by the third day another possibility occurred to her. It was possible he wasn’t on the planet at all. He could’ve taken off at any time, could have sold her to these aliens for use in whatever ritual they were about to undertake. The fact that this possibility had not occurred to her almost immediately showed her just how much she had come to trust her stoic Detyen.
And the fact that she almost immediately rejected the possibility that he had abandoned her told her that maybe her feelings ran a little deeper than trust. A lot deeper.
Feelings. She scoffed at herself. She didn’t have time for feelings, certainly didn’t have time to consider what it meant that she had been imagining what it would feel like to taste Kayde’s lips and press his body close, until every bump and ridge of his hard muscles was imprinted on her mind. Yes, she had found him attractive before, but this was more, this was deeper. And it wasn’t just because she was worried for his safety. These feelings had been growing since she climbed aboard his ship and decided to stay with him. Maybe they had been growing for even longer than that. When she had first caught sight of him, she’d been in no position, mentally or physically, to contemplate an attraction to any man. But she had come a long way in the months since then, and it wasn’t like she had much else to do right now. The Beznens left her alone with her thoughts much of the time, and they couldn’t even spare a book or an entertainment tablet to leave her occupied.
Escape. Kayde. What she could do with Kayde. Those were the things her mind kept circling back to every time she was deposited in her room or left alone for more than a few minutes. And she really needed to stop thinking about what she and Kayde could get up to together, not just because it would complicate things once she had to face him again, but because there was no way in hell she was going to try to relieve her sexual frustration by herself when the Beznens surely had her under constant surveillance. She didn’t see any cameras, but that didn’t mean anything. Mara had dropped enough subtle hints to make it clear that there wasn’t a moment when Quinn wasn’t being watched. That made using the bathroom and showering especially nerve-racking, but she knew how to survive with a lack of privacy. The slavers on Fenryr 1 hadn’t exactly been sticklers for it.
Quinn was undertaking what she was beginning to think of as her morning routine. She rolled out of bed and began to pace. If she’d thought she was cooped up on Kayde’s ship, she never could have imagined what it would be like to be confined to a single huge room, only let out when strangers deemed it necessary. Energy thrummed through her veins, the need to move, to run, to jump, or to get into plenty of trouble with her missing alien. But she couldn’t do anything but pace. She had covered every square centimeter of the room, sometimes walking a straight line back and forth, other times making a square, other times a circle. It could be a while before Mara came to collect her, she knew. So Quinn paced and she thought.
Was today the day they were going to explain what this whole coronation thing was? Was she going to find out what happened to Kayde? Were they going to admit this was all a giant ruse and lead her to the slaughter? She had plenty of questions to think about, and no answers.
When she turned around to begin another lap of the room, Mara was standing there, haloed in the familiar light, having made no noise when she opened the door that Quinn had still not figured out how to operate. Quinn didn’t jump, not like she had on the first two days. She was growing used to this, and she didn’t know whether that was a good or a bad thing.
“Good morning, your majesty,” said Mara with a smile. “Are you ready for your coronation?”
“I thought that wasn’t until the solstice,” Quinn replied. Not that she knew the exact day of the solstice, seeing as she hadn’t been offered a calendar or anything like that. She didn’t answer Mara’s question, pretty sure her answer wouldn’t make any difference.
Mara clapped her hands together once, her expression like that of a proud owner of an especially precocious pet. “You’ve been paying attention! How delightful.”
Quinn didn’t respond; she had decided early on that she would speak to the Beznens as little as possible. Unless they were going to give her information that led to her and Kayde’s release, she wasn’t willing to play their game.
Mara was undeterred by Quinn’s silence. She held up both of her arms and Quinn noticed the piles of fabric she was holding. “We must dress you for the ceremony. We have no time to lose. Strip.”
That order sent a dark wave of memory crashing over Quinn and her hands shook a little as she reached for the hem of her nightshirt. No one had touched her inappropriately on Beznifa. They had held her prisoner and controlled her every move, but they hadn’t taken those liberties. That didn’t mean that the possibility didn’t live in her mind. She knew what it was like to live under the absolute power of a group of sadists who saw her as a thing to use rather than a person.
“Hurry up, we don’t have all day,” Mara urged while Quinn hesitated.
The urging only made it worse, only dragged up memories that she was doing her damnedest to suppress. Her tongue darted out and she licked her suddenly dry lips. “Can you just leave the clothes in here?” She hated to hear the tremble in her voice, hated to make any request of these aliens and prove just how much she was under their power. But she wasn’t sure that she could make herself fully undress in the presence of her captor.
A look that Quinn couldn’t quite describe flashed briefly across Mara’s face, but it was gone between one blink and the next. “Of course, your majesty,” she said, as if there was no problem with the demand. “I will return when I see that you are ready. Do not tarry.” Quinn didn’t care about the reminder of her constant surveillance. She could ignore a camera, could pretend it wasn’t there. She couldn’t ignore Mara.
The Beznens handed over the outfit, a surprisingly dark ensemble in browns and reds made of a tough fabric that reminded her of leather. Whatever this coronation was, it was just about to happen, and she had to survive it. Hopefully, she’d have a bit more freedom once it was done. She knew that as soon as she found Kayde, they’d be able to come up with a plan, something that would get them both out of here quickly. One more day of survival, she could do that. She had already lived her life by stealing one more day despite the horrors visited upon her, despite the freedoms she was deprived of, and despite the hope that had been stolen from her. Whatever this coronation was, she would survive it too, and w
hen it was done she would find Kayde, and they would escape. She was placing all of her faith in that belief. She needed something to hang on to, and faith in a stoic alien warrior was the one thing she wasn’t going to give up.
Chapter Ten
“SO WHAT IS IT EXACTLY that I’m supposed to do?” Mara and a fleet of attendants were leading Quinn down a narrow hall towards the coronation chamber. Or at least that was where she assumed they were heading; she still didn’t have much information to work with. She’d put on the outfit that Mara gave her and had to keep pulling her arms back from where they crossed over her stomach, trying to cover up her naked skin. The outfit covered the important parts, but except for a series of straps that had taken quite some time to figure out how to put on, more of Quinn’s skin was exposed than she would have ever allowed. She kept telling herself to be grateful that she wasn’t naked, but that wasn’t much of a reassurance.
“When it is time, you will do what you need to do,” said Mara. That wasn’t helpful at all and Quinn couldn’t quite suppress the sound of frustration that tried to escape her throat.
“I can’t—” She clamped her mouth shut to keep from saying anything that could get her beaten. The Beznens had not resorted to physical abuse, but she didn’t know if that was because she had been cooperative, or if they were morally opposed to it. She didn’t want to find out until it was absolutely necessary.
The coronation seemed to be taking place in the same building that she had been housed in for the past several days. She hadn’t been placed in any sort of vehicle, and they had not gone outside, so she didn’t see how they could have gone anywhere different. They arrived at the end of the hall which was blocked by a large metal gate. The place smelled almost like a fairground, but with an underlying scent of blood and violence. Quinn didn’t like it, not that she liked anything about this situation.
“Face me, please,” Mara instructed.
Quinn waited several seconds, trying to get a look through the gate to figure out what was going on. Before Mara could get fed up with her hesitation, she turned. “What?”
“Hold out your hands.”
No, Quinn really didn’t like that idea. She kept her hands steadily at her sides. “Why?” Not that asking questions had done her any good thus far.
“It is part of the ceremony,” Mara explained. “Hold out your hands,” she repeated.
“That’s not an explanation, tell me what you’re going to do.” It was one thing to dress as instructed, and eat when told, but whatever this was, Quinn didn’t want to go along with it without understanding exactly what they were asking of her.
But Mara wasn’t about to be refused. She looked towards the two guards flanking Quinn. “Hold her,” she said. It happened swiftly, before Quinn could try to run, or could try to twist, they had a hold of her arms and made her stretch out in front of Mara, palms up like she was some sort of supplicant. Mara produced a heavy set of manacles embedded with fine jewels and carved with details that spoke of a delicate craftsman. They were almost pretty, if one didn’t pay attention to the chain. When Mara let go of her arms, Quinn’s hands fell, not expecting the heavy weight of the metal and jewels.
“What kind of people treat their queen like this?” Not that she expected pulling rank to work, but it was worth a shot. Anything to delay the inevitable.
“You have not yet been crowned,” said Mara. “First you must make it through the coronation. Choose your champion, bring him to heel, and once it is done, claim your crown. The governor awaits his entertainment.” Mara flicked her fingers, and that must’ve been a sign. The gate in front of them began to rise and Mara and the rest of the attendants fell back, one of them giving Quinn a push through the archway.
The roar of the crowd almost knocked her off her feet. It was like something out of an ancient movie, where gladiators battled lions and tigers for the entertainment of the Roman masses. A high wall made it impossible to climb off the floor, even if her hands hadn’t been bound. Seats in the stadium went up and up and up, and there must have been thousands of people gathered to watch the spectacle.
A voice was saying something, and as it spoke the crowd cheered even louder, too loud for Quinn to make out the details of the words. The ground was covered in sandy dust, and the killing floor was so big that she could just barely make out the outline of another gate on the other side of the arena. A beat reverberated through the arena as the spectators stomped their feet in anticipation of what was coming. It echoed around Quinn’s head and for a moment her heartbeat pulsed in time before the spectators sped up their rhythm until it lost all definition and burst into a chaos of applause and stopped.
Her eyes darted around madly as if she could find a place to hide or escape, but just like the past several days, the Beznens showed complete control of her environment, leaving her not so much as a shadow to cower in. The sound of metal grinding on metal had to be an effect. When her own gate opened, the door had slid easily, as if the hinges were oiled every day. The gate was too far away for her to actually see it open, but she saw the shadows of a dozen beings walk out into straight lines. Had her heart been beating fast before? Now death was marching toward her and all she could do was meet it with dignity. She stood up straight and pulled her elbows back, holding her arms as if she meant to display her manacles, as if she were not bound by them, but help them proudly.
A flash of blue caught her eye, a tall man standing behind an alien that looked like some mix of a dog and a tree.
Kayde. Her champion.
AFTER HE HEARD THE Beznens speaking about the coronation the fights got harder and Kayde grew more determined. He took out his enemies with a single-minded focus, and ended the fights with no flourish, knowing the less time he was in the arena the less likely he was to sustain a life-threatening injury. It must’ve been a challenge for his captors. After he flattened an Oscavian in under two minutes, they had taken to sending two or more opponents at him at the same time. Kayde did not lose, he adapted. And he did it well. He did enough to make it onto the champions roster.
He was among a dozen warriors, none of whom he had faced in battle before. But if they were here, they must have all faced similar challenges, and he could not underestimate any of them, not even the bright orange alien who barely came up to his hip.
A Beznen guard stood before them, his blaster holstered, but his hand resting on the gun. “Today is the day of our glorious coronation,” he announced, practically yelling over the crowd which roared in the distance. “There are two ways to gain your freedom.” A murmur went through the group at that announcement, and even Kayde’s posture straightened. “Become the queen’s champion, and if she is crowned she may grant you a reprieve. Or take her out and prove that she is merely a pretender to the throne. If that is your goal, only the one that takes her final breath will be granted freedom. The battle begins when the gong sounds. Move before then and you will be put down.”
Kayde had his goal, and the rest of his competitors were his only obstacle to freedom. The choice of what to do with the queen was obvious. If he killed her, he would be free. If he protected her, she might choose to keep him as a slave. From the murmurs around him, and the unsettled movements, Kayde could tell that his competitors were coming to the same conclusion. With twelve warriors determined to see her end, the queen didn’t stand a chance. But only one of them would gain their freedom tonight, and it would be a battle to the death to see who claimed the honor of killing the queen.
That was Kayde’s plan until he stepped through the gate and the roar of the crowd washed over him. It wasn’t the crowd that captured his attention, though. It was the woman in jeweled manacles standing proudly in the center of the arena. Quinn. Alive. For now.
His plan shifted between one second and the next. Even if the coldly logical, soulless part of him knew that it would be easier to escape this planet without Quinn slowing him down, he didn’t for a second consider doing anything but protecting her. That was why he was he
re.
A breathless air of anticipation surrounded them as he and his competitors stood calmly into lines, waiting for the gong to sound. They all thrummed with energy, waiting to explode. Kayde darted glances around, making and discarding plans of attack. He had not seen any of these warriors fight and could not begin to guess what strengths and weaknesses they were hiding. He had his claws and his skills in the determination to see Quinn safe, but he had seen enough of the universe to know what kind of tricks these other aliens could be hiding.
It was a comfort to know that all of them had been held prisoner and forced into the arena, just like him. It meant that whatever tricks they possessed, it wasn’t enough to overcome the guards and find a way out by themselves.
Now there was an idea. Twelve warriors all strong enough to survive a handful of arena battles could easily overpower the guards and find their way out of here. But the idea dissolved almost as quickly as it formed. Given time, and with a better ambassador than himself, Kayde might have been able to convince some of these men and women and beings of indeterminate gender to fight by his side, but the gong sounded before Kayde could even try to catch anyone’s eye and communicate his plan through looks and gestures.
The tree dog jumped for him first, but Kayde was already rolling before his opponent’s paws had left the ground. Dust burst all around him in a cloud of violence, obscuring his opponents and filling his lungs, thick enough to make him cough. Kayde used that distraction to his advantage, taking off running towards Quinn and closing half the distance between them before anyone realized what he was about to do. He expected an attack from behind, so when the ground erupted in front of him, a shower of fire exploding from nowhere, he was almost too slow to avoid immolation. Almost.
The fire was a wall, cutting him off from getting to Quinn and keeping her safe. But in its own way, it was a blessing. If he could not get to her, then neither could anyone else. Not unless they could fly. Kayde spun back around to make sure that no one was attempting to get to her by air, and was relieved to see that already half of his opponents lay dead in the dust.
