by Maven, Ella
I turned and ran out of the ship, but her words followed me like a shadow. Erase your past. Was that what I thought destroying the Pit would accomplish? My steps faltered. I’d still look the way I did. I couldn’t change or forget. None of us could. Even Fenix with his poor short-term memory couldn’t forget what had been done to him.
I hid in the shadows until the guards left the supply shed. With careful steps, I crept toward it my eye on the guards walking the perimeter and the others loading the cage. I could hear the din from the prisoners below. They were eager for food. I remembered food drop nights when we all gazed up at the sky while hunger gnawed our bellies.
Breaking into the supply shed was easy. The lock was rusted and a quick pick with my claws had it clicking open. Inside, I rummaged through a mish mash of unorganized crates until I found what I was looking for. The remote detonator. Before I escaped with Rian, I’d found storage crates of explosives hidden in the walls.
The Plikens wanted a way to end the Pit in case anything ever got out of control. They were the ones who would have provided the prisoners with supplies and explosives in their search for Rian and I.
Now that I had the detonator, I cuuld end it now. I flipped off the safety and turned on the detonator. A green light lit the small bulb at the top. Slowly, a series of lights spread across the screen letting me know the detonator had detected the live explosives.
A smile spread across my face as I left the cabin. Except I wasn’t smiling much longer. I walked outside to the blinding beams of several solar lights. As soon as my eyes adjusted, my blood ran cold.
Rian stood in front of a cluster of Pliken guards—more than I’d counted. Where had they come from? Her hands were tied in front of her and the guard behind her held a blade to her throat.
I immediately braced and my machets began to vibrate as I prepared to eject them and lay waste to every flecker here.
“I thought you Drix were supposed to be all honorable and shet,” said the Pliken holding Rian. “But you abandoned her to dig around for an old detonator. Is that what you stand for now?”
I didn’t answer. I only looked into Rian’s wide, frightened eyes as she trembled.
“We knew you’d come back,” he said. “We knew when you escaped, and we knew when you returned. You wanted something, and now we know what.” He gestured to the detonator. “Drop it.”
I stared at the device in my hand. One click of the button and I’d destroy the Pit.
“If you don’t drop that button in the next five seeks, I’ll slit her throat,” he growled. “Five…”
The detonator felt heavy in my hand as I watched Rian’s tears drip from her chin. She made no noise, but her body shook. A single drop of blood slipped down her chest from where the blade nicked her neck.
“Four…”
There was no question what I had to do. And I felt helpless I had no other choice. My hand tightened around the detonator in anger.
“Three.”
“It’s okay,” Rian whispered. “Do what you have to do.”
“Two.”
I closed my eyes. “I’m sorry, Rian.”
“One.”
I dropped the detonator. It hit the ground with a small thump, a weak sound in comparison to the destruction it could have wrought which was within my grasp.
“Collar him.” I heard the Pliken guard say as Rian’s shoulders convulsed on a sob. “If any of my men so much as get a scratch from your spikes, I’ll kill her. Slowly.”
There was nothing to do but comply. A heavy metal collar snapped around my neck and my arms were shackled behind my back. My spikes couldn’t saw through heavy metal.
“Get him on the ship,” the guard ordered. “We’ll use her to keep him in line. We’ll sell her at Rinian II, and we’ll take him to Barzotis. He doesn’t like the Pit? Well, he can have a whole planet to rot on.”
I didn’t give a fleck if they dropped me off on some primitive planet. But if they sold Rian on the Rinian II space station… I couldn’t let that happen.
They led us into the ship, and just when I didn’t think things could get any worse, I heard familiar voices. “York, quit moving.”
“I have an itch!”
“Your claws are digging into my spine.”
“Well, I can smell your breath from here, so I guess we’re both unhappy.”
The hilbobs sat in a cage, dirty and disheveled, their round eyes peering up at us. “What happened?” Crife ask, struggling to stand. “I thought you saved her. Why didn’t you save her?” He rattled the bars as he stared at us helplessly.
I was in an enemy ship with my mate, unable to do anything without risking her life. All because I’d insisted on blowing up the Pit. We could have been gone by now. In space on our way to freedom.
I closed my eyes and did the one thing I hadn’t done in so many, many cycles. I prayed to Fatas.
* * *
Rian
I tugged on the chains holding me in place, but they were strong as shit. There was no budging. I was stuck here and wouldn’t be moving unless I learned how to melt steel with my eyeballs.
Chained to me, yes to me, was Mikko, his arms crossed and locked at the wrist so that if he attempted to eject his machets they would… well they would spear me in the face and neck. Honestly, they’d probably sever my head from my body. I had to hand it to the Plikens, they were smart.
A collar around my neck connected to his wrists with a chain. There was no way for me to avoid his spikes, and even just sitting still, they were dangerously close to my skin. I eyed them cross-eyed until I got a headache. We were in a small holding area below the main cockpit room of the ship.
York and Crife were in a cage together nearby sleeping. I could hear the footsteps of the Pliken guards above us. We were in orbit now, on our way to some space station where I was going to be sold like property. Cool. Great.
Mikko hadn’t spoken a word. He wouldn’t look at me. He sat staring over my head with his jaw tight. I didn’t know what to say to him. I wasn’t angry. The Plikens had told us even if Mikko hadn’t gone for the detonator, we would have been caught. They had suspected we’d try to gain access to the ship and had been watching us the whole time.
“Mikko,” I whispered.
His eyes fluttered closed and he swallowed before opening them again, still staring over my head.
I wet my lips. “They can’t sell me. Promise me you’ll…” I glanced again at his sharp spikes. “Promise me you’ll make it quick.”
A rumbling growl vibrated his chest and his spikes began to vibrate as the colors on his chest shifted rapidly. “I will not kill you.”
“So, you’ll let me be sold?”
He heaved a deep breath. “No.”
“So—”
“I don’t know how yet, but I’ll get us out of this.”
I raised an eyebrow at the chains. “This looks pretty hopeless.”
His head lowered, and his spikes brushed my face before he realized what he was doing and jerked upright. His mouth opened once, twice, three times before he finally got the words out. “I’m sorry. I failed you.”
“You didn’t fail me.”
“I was so intent on bringing down the Pit that I didn’t focus fully on getting you to safety. I was distracted. Maybe if I’d been paying better attention I would have noticed—”
“Mikko, stop.” I wanted to touch him, but my hands were tied at my waist, preventing me from lifting them. “I understand. I can’t stand listening to you apologize. I get it more now after I talked to Fenix. While I don’t agree, I understand. You are trying to deal with your past the best way you can—”
“I don’t care about my past!” he roared, muscles straining against the chains wrapped around his biceps and chest. “The seek I stood there holding the detonator while facing you, the decision was clear. I choose the future. I choose you. And I’m so sorry I didn’t see it sooner. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. I’m so flecking sorry.”
> A sob left my lips. “Mikko.”
“But I’m not giving up. I just need to think. And thinking isn’t my best skill. I usually left that to Rexor and Zecri.”
“How long until we reach the space station?”
He winced. “I don’t—”
“Three rotations,” Crife called out from his cage. I turned my head as much as the chains allowed to find him and York awake and pressed against the bars of their cage. “But it’s hard to tell how long it’s been already in space.”
“What happened?” I asked. “How did they find you?”
“When the prisoners searched for you, they came with digging equipment and explosives,” Crife said. “They’d never had that before, but the guards gave them supplies for the search. They found our entrance and pulled us out. Then York opened his big mouth and asked about you two, so they knew we helped you.”
“We’re being sold on Rinian II as well,” York said.
“Apparently hilbobs are entertainers there.”
“Entertainers is putting it nicely, Crife. We’re basically little jokes. Dress us up and make us perform. Like animals!” York crossed his arms over his chest in a huff. “I will not put up with that indignity.”
“What choice do you have?”
“I don’t know.” York sniffed.
Crife’s big eyes misted. “They’ll separate us.”
“No,” I whispered. The thought of the two friends being apart broke me. “They wouldn’t.”
“One of us could be sold to an elite family as a servant.”
“Oh, Crife.” I was so tired of crying. And I didn’t know when I’d next get some qua. They’d left us no food in the hold. “I’m so sorry.”
He shrugged. “It was our choice to get involved with your escape. We have no regrets. Right, York?”
York’s big paw settled on his friend’s shoulder. “Right.”
“I’m sorry, friends.” Mikko’s deep voice rumbled. “But I don’t intend on making it to Rinian for any of you to be sold. Any ideas on how we can get out of here?”
The two hilbobs shook their heads just as the door to the hold opened and a Pliken guard dropped down holding two small boxes in his hand as well as two canteens of qua in the other. He tossed a box and canteen to the hilbobs and otherwise ignored them as he strode over to Mikko and I.
I recognized him as the one who’d held a blade at my throat, as he had thick hoops pierced through each horn tip. I could still feel the sting of the sharp edge where it had pricked me. I noticed Mikko stared at my neck a lot, likely at the wound.
The Pliken crouched down next to us, and I took in his mean yellow eyes and large horns. He stretched out a long dirty claw and touched the corner of my eye.
I didn’t dare move. One centimeter and he’d poke my eyeball out, but I could feel the utter rage emanating from Mikko. The chains between us rattled and a low growl rumbled.
The Pliken turned his head to Mikko, his gaze a dare, before slowly withdrawing the claw from my face. “What are you going to do about it, Drix?” He sniped. “I could take her up to the cockpit right now and ask her to put on a show. Space travel is a little boring and we’ve made this trip hundreds of times.”
Mikko’s nostrils flared, and I began to shake. While it had just been Mikko and the hilbobs down here, I’d been able to pretend we weren’t in imminent danger but coming face-to-face with the evil that could be my future filled me with a choking dread.
“Leave the food and go, Pliken,” Mikko snapped.
“So, I can take her then?”
“Sure, see what happens when my machets are no longer aimed at her.”
“Ah, and I’m supposed to be scared of you.”
“If you hurt her, yes. Because I got nothing to lose. I’ll take this entire ship down.”
“But aren’t these your friends?” he jerked his thumb behind him at the hilbobs. “That’s how you repay their aide in your rescue?”
“We’re okay going down with this ship!” York called out.
“Yep, it’s all right,” Crife added. “We both have sore backs and York has that bad ankle.”
“I told you my ankle is fine!”
“I saw you limping on it. Pretend all you want, but you’re ancient just like me.”
Their voices dissolved into whispered bickering.
Mikko lifted one side of his brow. “Does that answer your question, Pliken?”
“Dream all you want. I can’t wait to watch while we drag your female away kicking and screaming.”
Mikko’s nostrils flared as his lips curled back to show his fangs. “Mark my words—you will die on this ship.”
The Pliken barely reacted, but I heard the slightest hitch of his breath. He was scared of a freed Mikko, and so he was banking on him remaining in chains. “That’s a big statement for a prisoner in chains.”
“I’m a warrior in chains,” Mikko said with a smirk. “There’s a difference.”
The Pliken rose to his feet and tossed the box and qua canteen at our sides. “As much as I’d love to starve you, we have orders to bring you food.” He shrugged. “Didn’t say we had to put it in your reach though.” With a gross chuckle, he climbed his way out of the hold and shut the hatch behind him.
I stared at the box, which had burst open when he dropped it. A few of the prison ration tubes were the only contents. Still, my stomach rumbled. Then Mikko’s tail slithered across the floor. He hooked the end around the food and canteen, then drew them close enough I could twist my hands to grasp it with the tips of my fingers. “Thank you.”
“Stupid Plikens,” he murmured. “Did they forget I had a tail?”
And that was the first time in a long time I laughed.
Twelve
Rian
Eating proved to be difficult with my hands tied at my waist. I could bend my head just enough I was able to bite the end of a tube, narrowly avoiding Mikko’s spikes. But he couldn’t move his hands at all, so we ended up each eating from opposite ends of the tube like some really messed up version of the spaghetti scene from The Lady and the Tramp.
But we both had to eat and drink. I didn’t want to give up hope yet. I believed in Mikko. I believed in myself too. But as the time stretched on and neither of us could find weak links in the chains, hope dwindled.
The hilbobs were sleeping, and the footsteps above had lessened, which led me to think some of the crew were sleeping. My eyes were heavy, and I let my head fall forward just enough to rest it on the back of Mikko’s hand. He remained awake and vigilant as he studied our surroundings.
I must have fallen asleep because I snapped awake when I felt Mikko’s body go tight. I opened my eyes in the dim light to find him staring at a spot on the wall, his purple eyes glowing.
“What?” I asked, wishing I could wipe the sleep from my eyes. A strand of hair had fallen down the back of my neck and itched like crazy.
“Something’s in here,” he whispered.
“Something…” I went still. “Like what? A stowaway? Some strange space flesh-eating amoeba?”
His gaze flickered to me in confusion before returning to the spot on the wall. “No, it’s—”
A thump hit the floor, and I nearly peed myself. “What was that?” I hissed.
Mikko’s tail slid across the floor around us like a radar beacon. “I don’t know, but—”
A flap of wings caught our attention and then our visitor stepped into a small beam of light.
I gasped, Mikko cursed, and a strangled shriek sounded from the hilbobs’ cage. “Meri?” York whisper-shouted.
Meri stood on her four legs; her wings folded along her back. Wide eyes stared at us before she ran over to the hilbobs’ cage. They both reached through the bars to pet her head, cooing over her, telling her how much they missed her.
Meri accepted their attentions for a little while before shuffling over to Mikko and I. She began to tut over the chains locking us in place as her little paws ran over the links and locks.
“I don’t get it. How did you get here?” I whispered to her.
She didn’t answer—because of course she didn’t—but she did pat the side of my head.
The lock connecting our chains hung above us, attached to the ceiling, and Meri easily climbed the links until she could perch where they all connected. She inspected the lock, making small squeaks and chirps while she did so.
“If you can get my chains loose,” Mikko said to her. “I will get us out of here.”
The determination in his voice gave me chills. “Do you think you can pick the lock, Meri?”
“So, about the dying thing,” York mentioned. “I was mostly saying that for the Plikens benefit. I would actually like to live. I have dreams. Goals.”
“What goals do you have?” Crife tossed a half-eaten tube at him.
“Goals! I want to be a farmer, thank you very much. You wouldn’t understand because you have no drive.”
“I do too have drive.” Crife gasped in offense. “I want to learn how to knit.”
“With those claws?”
“Are you saying I can’t be anything I want to be? My neck needs warmth in the cold season.”
Mikko cleared his throat. “If Meri gets my chains loose, I will get us all out of here. York, you can farm until your ankle gives out. Crife, you can knit us all clothes.”
“Thank you,” the hilbobs said in unison.
“He said my name first,” York muttered under his breath.
Meri ignored us all as she focused on the lock and chains.
I watched her small paws work with a mixture of awe and hope. How had she boarded the ship? I had thought she stayed behind with Zecri. As worried as I was for all of us, I was thrilled she was here.
The Plikens obviously didn’t know about her presence, or they would have done something about it.