The Dragon's Gift

by Anastasia Chase

  “As proof.” Torfan tapped a claw against a horizontal panel and a three-dimensional hologram popped up in the empty air. A soft, blinking green light remained at the center but everything else around it was moving.

  “This is us,” he pointed to the green dot. With a flick of his fingers, the dot grew smaller and smaller as more objects filled the screen. There were names next to each one and it slowly dawned on Jen that it was a map of some kind.

  “How far away are we from Earth?”

  Torfan gave her a look and flicked his fingers again. The hologram grew even more details as the previously large objects grew smaller until they, too, were just dots on the screen. Now, the image was scattered with galaxies. Torfan pointed to one that was the next galaxy over.

  “That would be your home.”

  Jen’s jaw dropped. How fast were they really traveling? That they managed to escape the solar system altogether, the Milky Way itself, in a matter of hours, was astonishing.

  “I think I’m going to be sick.” Jen pressed a hand to her mouth and scrambled out of the room. Only she had nowhere to really throw up and settled on the corner of the hallway as her best option.

  Tears stung her eyes when she heard the door sliding open behind her, and she wiped them away in pride. She hated looking weak in front of anyone, much less another alien species who didn’t care about any of their well-being.

  “You hate me, don’t you?” came Torfan’s quiet voice. She wanted to, Jen wanted to so badly that it doubled her nausea. It would be easy to, remembering the bloodshed that had occurred on her planet. It was the only thing she had left to hold onto from the place she’d called home for so long.

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Hold onto that hatred, because you’re going to need it.” He placed a hand on her shoulder and she shrugged it off.

  “This planet, Cendarth, is filled with amazing creatures beyond even our comprehension. The only reason we’re keeping you alive is to offer you up to them.”

  Jen coughed and spat, then turned to stare at him in disbelief.

  “You’re trading us as slaves?!?”

  “Not slaves,” he quickly corrected. “These dragons are the masters of this domain, it’s only right that we bring you to them. It’s what they requested of us, after all.”

  “Requested? We aren’t some takeout order from a drive-through window!” Jen slapped Torfan squarely on the muzzle. He blinked in surprised and rubbed at the spot.

  “I have no idea what any of that means.”

  Jen didn’t have the patience to explain the finer points of Earth culture since there was practically none of it left anyway.

  “They’re powerful, but they’re benevolent. They’re not going to hurt you, so long as you pay them respect.”

  Jen rubbed at her sore hand and wiped her nose on the shoulder of her shirt. It still smelled like dust from the city.

  “And if I don’t?”

  “That’s for them to decide what to do with you. Once I’ve dropped you off, it’s out of my hands.”

  “Of course it is. I mean, who would want to accept responsibility for the complete annihilation of another species?”

  Torfan growled and turned her around by the shoulder to shove her down the hallway.

  “If you want to go back to your cell, fine. I don’t have the patience to deal with your insolence.”

  She was half-tempted to do so. At least she would be away from him and wouldn’t have to see his face until they docked and dropped her off on this planet— had he said dragons?

  Chapter 4

  “You’re kidding. Dragons?” Jen couldn’t believe the words coming out of her mouth. At the same time, she was talking to a tall wolfman. Alien. Thing.

  “Is that so hard to believe? They’ve been around for centuries. I find it hard to believe they haven’t visited your planet before.”

  Dinosaurs had existed but she could hardly call those dragons. The mythos existed, tales from many different countries about fire-breathing lizards that flew. Stories designed to scare little children or make a tale grander than it needed to be, an impossible task for a knight to complete. Nothing had ever cropped up to lend those stories credence.

  Until now.

  “And why is that?”

  Torfan blinked in surprise.

  “Because they need your kind. They— how could you not know any of this?” He ran a clawed hand over the top of his head and wiggled his nose at the air. The hallway was starting to stink from the smell of her vomit.

  “Need us. There are other species, closer planets, they could use for slaves, right?”

  “You weren’t listening, you’re not slaves. That’s not what they do with human women.”

  The way he said that didn’t make her any less concerned. Her mind ran through all the loopholes as to why any conquering species would want the women and not the men.

  “They need you to further their species. Give them offspring.” Torfan finished her thought before she could arrive at a conclusion.

  Still, even though she knew that was the path she was heading down, hearing it didn’t lessen the shock any.

  “They want breeders...” she mumbled under her breath and suddenly felt quite sick again. Torfan must have noticed the change in her pallor and quickly ushered her into one of the side rooms – thankfully unoccupied – and straight to the toilet.

  Jen dropped to her knees just in case and gathered her hair on the back of her neck to keep it away.

  “I don’t know why all you females react that way. It’s not as if it’s a bad job. Lay there, take their seed, spit out their babies. I’ve heard it can be a pretty cushy life for most.” Torfan chuckled as he crossed his arms. He was waiting for her to finish so he could get back to his work.

  “Would you mind... getting me some water?” she asked after dry heaving once more. She could feel the bite of bile at the back of her throat and the gathering of thick saliva under her tongue. Her stomach was beyond empty – how long had it been since she’d eaten – and she wasn’t sure there was anything else left to give.

  Once she heard him stepping away, she knew she couldn’t stay here. The others seemed swayed, accepting of the fate that had been placed before them. But Jen was never accepting. She’d fought tooth and nail to get to where she was, to defy expectations no matter what people thought of her. Fat and lazy, usually. She was so much more than her appearance.

  And now she was going to be used as a breeding mule to further the generations of some alien race. What kind of life was that? She would rather be left for dead back home, where at least she knew she died fighting for something instead of lying in a bed, being screwed over and over again and pushing out babies.

  The thought promptly made her throw up again.

  “Here.”

  She stared down at the glass that had been placed on the floor and quickly chugged half the glass. She swished it around in her mouth and spat the tainted water into the toilet. It didn’t do much to help the flavor that stuck to her teeth but downing the rest of the water did the trick. Her empty stomach complained with the sudden filling, though it was desperate for something with more substance.

  “Heh, you sound hungry.”

  Jen shut her eyes, her fist tightening around the glass. She couldn’t understand how he could be so casual about all of this; murdering an entire city of people and turning over the last few citizens of a planet to some dragon overlords. Of course he could be: it wasn’t his people’s lives at stake.

  She smashed the edge of the glass against the brim of the toilet and lunged at him, weapon prepared to strike.

  Even he was taken by surprise at her sudden attack but had the reflexes to catch her wrist. The glass stopped mere inches from the corner of his eye. With a huff, he wrestled her wrist back down to her side.

  “Like I said, they like them feisty. You’re only proving my point.” With his free hand, he plucked the glass out of her hand and shoved her back against the wall.r />
  “Your friend was right. You’re lucky the dragons need you so much or you’d already be dead.”

  “What do you get out of all of this? Doing what they want?” She forgot about her own safety for the moment, eager, to discover what Torfan could be getting out of such an insane deal. Maybe she could strike up some deal with these dragons, offer them something that these wolf-aliens could not.

  Other than breeding access, of course.

  “Trading rights. Access to other sectors of this galaxy. Staying on their good side. They’re not the kind you want to have a vendetta with.” He pressed his arm across her throat to keep her in place. Jen glared up at him. She didn’t appreciate being treated like this.

  “So you’re afraid of them.”

  “You would be too if you knew what they were capable of.” Torfan leaned in close, his nose a few inches from hers. This close, she could smell the staleness of his breath, see the speckles of dark brown in his golden-yellow eyes. To think she used to fear those eyes not too long ago. Now she hated them with every fiber of her being. If only she’d had that hatred back home. Maybe then Dennis would still be alive.

  “Are you going to keep me like this all day,” she asked through gritted teeth. She was done cowering in fear, knowing he feared someone else. She could use that to her advantage later on.

  Torfan’s muzzle wrinkled as he finally pushed away, his eyes shifting to the shards of glass on the floor.

  “I’ll have someone by to clean that up. Make yourself at home.” He gestured toward the bed with an apathetic air. “The others will be nearby in their own rooms, should you require their company. Clothes will be brought within the hour in preparation for your new life here.”

  Torfan gave her a sarcastic nod of the head before slinking back into the hallway to take care of business. Why the sudden change in mood and treatment, Jen was paranoid about his reasons. Perhaps he just wanted her to put in a good word for him before they were deposited into their new “home.” Or he was simply tired of playing around with her and her moods.

  Either way, she had a new room to herself instead of a cramped cell to lie in for the next few hours.

  Chapter 5

  The women chose, instead, to congregate in her room.

  “We need to talk.”

  None of them looked happy and Jen wasn’t sure why.

  “You knew about all this?” Samantha jabbed a finger against her clavicle and crowded her space until her back was against the wall.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “That crap you said about the astronauts. Killing their kids?”

  Oh. That. She’d forgotten that Dennis had sworn her to secrecy and though there was no point in keeping it hidden any longer, revealing the true nature of everything made her an easy target.

  “You knew and you didn’t tell us.”

  “What would that have changed? They were still tearing us apart!” Jen wished she still had that glass in her hand to defend herself. The women she’d once considered friends now looked quite unfriendly.

  “No, but we would’ve known to leave your ass behind!” Wendy barked over Samantha’s shoulder.

  “I’m not an astronaut! I wasn’t part of the crew that came back! I didn’t kill anyone! My boyfriend was the one that told me everything!”

  “So it’s his fault! I hope he got what was coming to him.”

  At that, Jen managed to shove Samantha out of her way and lunged at Wendy. She threw her hands around her throat and used her height and weight to wrestle her to the floor.

  Wendy gasped and screamed, clawing at whatever she could reach on Jen’s body to get her off. But just like everyone else in Jen’s life, her strength had been underappreciated and now she had the upper hand.

  “I watched him die right in front of me, you bitch. I saw Torfan rip his head off. I saw the blood. I saw them eating people.” Her jaw ached from her gritted teeth and she felt a small sense of triumph as she felt Wendy grow slack beneath her. The touch of blue to her face was a nice touch too.

  She’d been so focused on paying Wendy back for her statement that she hadn’t heard the aliens barreling into the room.

  It wasn’t until they’d pulled her off and had her wrestled to the bed that she finally crawled out of her daze.

  Another was on the ground at Wendy’s side, checking her over.

  “She’s breathing. But those bruises are going to look nasty.”

  “You think they’ll still take her?”

  “They’re just bruises. We can prove we didn’t do it.”

  “I don’t know, they might not want her at all. And I don’t want her around on the ship.”

  “Excuse us, just because she’s unconscious doesn’t mean you can talk about her that way.” Samantha stepped up to the alien kneeling beside Wendy and shoved his shoulder. “Get out. If she’s fine, we’ll deal with her.”

  Jen was still shaken long after the aliens looked her over for any wounds and left. Without their large hands holding her up, she collapsed to her knees like jelly. She felt hot in the face and her skin felt prickly all over.

  “Are you okay?” Julie’s quiet voice asked. Jen turned on her, wide-eyed and ready to strike. On seeing the Korean woman’s recoil, she remembered herself and shoved her hands into her armpits.

  “No. No, I’m not.”

  “You want some time?”

  Jen nodded silently.

  “Why don’t you go have a hot soak in the shower? That should do you some good.”

  Julie managed to help her up to her feet and guided her to the bathroom with a gentle touch.

  “I don’t have any clothes to change into.”

  “Let us worry about that, okay?”

  Before Jen could protest, the door closed behind her, leaving her to the boring, grey bathroom. A simple pipe stuck out of the wall with a few buttons at eye level. She was half-tempted to just sit in the corner and wait until the feeling passed but she knew Julie was right. Getting rid of the physical grime on her body would help to clear her mind.

  She fiddled with the buttons for a bit until she managed to figure out what each one was for. She allowed the water to run for a bit until it got hot, using those few moments to peel her clothes off. She wrinkled her nose at her own odor and dumped the filthy lot in the corner of the bathroom floor.

  She could hear the other women bellowing at each other through the door but couldn’t make out anything they were saying. Which was fine. She didn’t care enough to want to defend herself if she was the topic of conversation.

  She buried her head under the waterfall and allowed its heat to wash over her. The sound of it filled her ears, drowning out anything going on behind the closed door. It was almost peaceful.

  There was nothing that resembled soap but the water alone was good enough for her. The layers of dust and grime she’d endured for the better part of a day slipped from her skin and down the drain. Her matted hair was clump-free and soft once more, though it could still use a decent dose of shampoo.

  As she scrubbed where she could reach with her hands, that was when she noticed the various bruises covering her body. They didn’t ache – likely thanks to that injection thing – but she hadn’t realized how beaten she must have looked. She wondered if the others fared any better; she hadn’t had the chance or the attention span to really look them over.

  She quickly toweled herself off and wiped a hand across the foggy mirror. There she saw her reflection. She looked tired and a little gaunt. Dried blood still stuck to one ear. She quickly dipped her hand underneath the tap of running water and scrubbed at the stain.

  “Hey, babe.”

  Jen whirled around to find she was still alone. The voice – Dennis’ voice – had felt so real.

  She pressed her hands to her eyes and turned the water on even more to fill the sink. This couldn’t be happening, not when she needed to keep her head in the game.

  “Just talk to me. It’s okay.”
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br />   Once it was full, she dunked her head below the surface and screamed. Screamed and screamed until her throat hurt. And then screamed some more until she had no air left in her lungs.

  Only then did she come up for air and, for just a brief second, she thought she saw Dennis standing in the mirror behind her.

  Jen shut her eyes right and splashed more cold water on her face. She couldn’t be having a mental breakdown, she couldn’t be losing her cool now. There was too much at stake, too many things to do now that there were at this planet.

  Now that she had this one moment to herself, time to think, it all came crashing down around her. Burying her in guilt and self-loathing for leaving him behind. For eating such a fantastic meal when he never had the chance to eat non-astronaut food again.

  For being able to sleep in a soft bed, have a shower, continue breathing. It just didn’t seem fair. He’d done all that hard work to get back to Earth, only for her to be dragged out into the middle of space to be some concubine for an alien race.

  Jen cried hard into her towel to muffle her sobs. She was already growing cold sitting on the bathroom floor, naked, and it was only when one of the others knocked on the door that she remembered she wasn’t alone. She wiped the snot and tears away. This was a problem she had to face on her own.

  By the time she was done, the room on the other side of the door had grown quiet. She wasn’t sure that anyone was still in the room and poked her head out to check. There she spied the women gathering around a pile of fabric in the middle of the room. Wendy was still unconscious, placed on the bed for her comfort and to keep her out of the way. Julie noticed Jen and waved her over.

  Jen tightened the towel around her before stepping out. She couldn’t be sure that this wasn’t some trick to get her out so they could beat her up but the look on Julie’s face looked friendly enough. She inched close enough to peer over the group’s shoulders and spy hat they were so busy with.