by Alana Khan
“Guys.” Even though I whispered, the acoustics are perfect here and my voice sounds almost loud. “None of us even has a weapon.”
And now I hear it, the unmistakable sound of the water approaching. It’s not as loud as when the water was twenty feet high, but it’s definitely water, and there’s no doubt it’s moving fast.
Chapter Nine
Devolose
I stride over and brace one leg behind me, bending the other knee to effectively make a step.
“Thantose, use my leg to climb through that archway.”
He scrambles up the shear wall.
“What do you see?”
“It’s a long corridor, definitely not a natural formation.”
“Help Tawny up.” I motion for her, she steps on my bent leg, and he lifts her to safety.
“Doc?” I pat my thigh and motion for him. He joins the others above me.
I look up to see both the males lying on their stomachs, arms outstretched to assist me. With their help, I scramble up the wall and under the arch just in time to see water raging into the cavern below.
“Hurry!” I shout. We all run up the corridor at top speed.
I’m happy to note this hallway is at a steep incline. Every step higher gets us farther from the water’s reach.
Everyone is stopped fifty fiertos ahead. At first, I assume we’ve reached the end of the line—no more excavated rooms—no place left to run. But they’re at the opening of another arched doorway. The males go through, but Tawny stands paralyzed. She’s looking back at me, the whites of her eyes showing all around her irises. She’s shaking her head “no” as her breath puffs out in clouds.
When I get close to her, she grabs me tightly and shelters under my arm. I understand perfectly. In front of her is a long row of cells opening onto a walkway, just like our little home away from home on Emirus.
The walls are dusty beige rock instead of dark grey stone, but a cell block is a cell block. I’m certain we both thought our days in captivity were over.
“It’s okay, Sprout.” I kiss her brown curls, which are crusted with ice. Pulling her in front of me, I place my hands on her shoulders, then bend to put my face in front of hers.
“Look at me, Tawny.” She struggles to open her lids, then must find reassurance in my gaze, because her tension loosens.
“I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. Everything.”
She nods and her shoulders relax a bit more.
The sound of other voices filters into my consciousness, and I realize I need to pay attention to our surroundings to keep Tawny safe.
Moving down the corridor, I see Thantose and the doctor talking to someone inside one of the cells. Tawny keeps her hand around my waist, not wanting to move from my side.
We arrive at the last cell on the hallway, maybe twice as big as the one we were imprisoned in on Emirus. There are three females cowering there. They look like Tawny's species.
I remember that their race thinks my race looks like devils. I’m certain they won’t believe we mean no harm. They must be scared to death.
“Tawny, try to calm them. We’ll look for the keys.”
Tawny
The males head back to rummage through the cells we just passed, and I step to the bars. My muscles are screaming from all the exertion. I’m freezing; even my t-shirt is frozen stiff. I almost drowned about ten times in the last ten minutes. And the panic of being deep inside this cellblock clenches my stomach like a tight fist.
I push all that into the recesses of my mind as I focus on these women.
“Can you understand me?” I wonder if they’ve been implanted with the subdural translators most people in the galaxy wear.
“Yes,” they say, nodding their heads.
“Speak English?”
They nod again, relief blooming on their faces. Two of them cast their eyes down the hall, perhaps in the unspoken question of who are the scary-as-hell red-and-black devils.
“We come in peace,” I can’t believe I just said that. “The guys are searching for keys.” I take a look at the lock. The cell door is not only secured with what looks like an ancient metal lock-and-key system, but there’s a thick chain wrapped around the door and bars, secured with a more modern mechanism. “Do you know where the keys are kept?”
Two of the girls point to a door positioned directly behind my back. My heart starts beating like a jackhammer as I realize we have no guns and there might be a garrison of well-armed soldiers on the other side of the tall, thick, metal door.
“Where are the guards?” I whisper, terror tightening every muscle in my body.
“I don’t think they stayed on this planet.” One of the girls, a gorgeous redhead, points to a stack of provisions in the corner. It looks like there are enough nutrition bars and water to last three women a month.
“They provide food and water and then leave?”
“We’ve only been here ten days,” a fortyish blond says. “We haven’t seen them since they dropped us off. We have translators.” She points behind her left ear. “From what we pieced together, they were going to find the highest bidders and come back and get us. I’m Carrie.”
“I’m Tawny. The males and I will do everything in our power to rescue you. I don’t know what’s happened to the planet, but the river out there is flowing backward, which means water will be filing this cellblock in minutes.”
“I hope they find the key,” the redhead says, her voice tense. As an afterthought, she adds, “I’m Brin.”
“Tell them to hurry,” the short brunette practically orders.
“Her name is Lexa,” Carrie says.
“Guys!” I call down the hall. They join me, Dev putting his arm protectively around my waist. “The women don’t think there are guards on the planet.” I point to the stack of supplies. “They dropped the women here with food and water, then left to find buyers. We think they may keep the keys through there.” I point to the doorway.
They barge through the doorway. Every cell in my body is on red alert, waiting to hear the sounds of a scuffle or laserfire, but all I hear is their muffled voices as they rummage for a key, perhaps also searching for a way out. When I glance back into the cell, I notice a small pile of clothing near the food.
“Are there pants in there?” Please, dear Lord, I hope there’s something I can wear. It couldn’t be above freezing. My teeth are chattering.
Carrie rummages through the pile and tosses me a tunic and some pants made of soft leather that match what all the females in the cell are wearing. I tug them on, pull the drawstring at the waist and hope they’ll keep me a bit warmer.
“How’d you find us?” Lexa asks.
“We were on the planet for...a little R&R. There was a lovely pool at the base of a huge double waterfall. I’ve watched enough end-of-the-world movies to wonder if somehow the planet’s poles reversed. The waterfall quit flowing. That’s when we initially heard you screaming for help. A minute after, the river started running backward and a mountain of water rushed at us. We found a system of caves behind the falls and kept racing to higher ground until we found you. I assume we’re at the top of the mountain.”
“We came in through that door.” Carrie points to the one directly behind me then passes a few nutrition bars to me.
“Thanks.” I unwrap a bar and eat it in three huge bites. “It’s amazing how terror and almost dying can spark my appetite,” I say before I’m done chewing the first bar, even as I’m unwrapping the second one.
“You’re human? What are you doing with those…guys?” Lexa asks, her tone judgmental.
“They saved my life,” I tell her, still chewing. “They’re busy saving yours.” I spear her with a quelling look. “Don’t judge a book.”
The males barge back through the door. “I think we found the key to the door,” the doc says, holding up a rusty metal key.
Sure enough, it opens the old mechanism on the door fairly easily, considering t
here’s a lot of rust on both the key and the lock. The door is still firmly connected to the adjoining bars by about five wraps of a sturdy metal chain and space-age lock.
After a few moments of inspecting that lock, the males shake their heads.
Carrie shoves nutrition bars at the males when the discussion stops.
“Okay, let’s brainstorm,” I say. “Let’s all try our comms.” Dev holds up an empty wrist—who knows which near-death experience caused that. Thantose, the doc, and I only attempt to hail the ship a few times before we realize it’s a fool’s errand. Seems like even high-tech waterproofing can’t protect from a flood of biblical proportions.
“The ship knows our exact coordinates,” I say. “They knew we were hiking to the waterfall. Shouldn’t they come looking for us as soon as they see what’s going on down here? As soon as we get our hands on a laser we should be able to slice through these bars like butter.”
“You’re right,” Thantose says. “ We can't get them out without lasers.” He shakes his head, frowning. “We can’t count on rescue. If they come for us, they’ll be looking at the bottom of this mountain, not one hundred fiertos up in a hidden dungeon.”
Dev hurriedly retraces his steps back down the hallway from which we entered. “The water’s still rising in the room right outside of here. It will be spilling down this corridor in minimas.”
“We’re almost out of time,” Thantose says as he scratches his jaw.
“The women said it wasn’t a long walk from the entrance to these cells,” I tell him in a rush. “They came in through that door.” I point to the door behind me, where they found the key.
“I’ll find the way out and run to the meeting place,” Thantose says decisively, “After I connect with the ship, we’ll come back to get you all.” Thantose leaves at a run, the door clanging shut behind him.
From what Dev said, the women in that cell don’t have an hour—maybe not even thirty minutes. I was so busy talking to Dev on the way from the dropoff point I didn’t pay much attention to how much terrain we covered to get to the waterfall, but I think it was over half an hour. I’m doing the math in my head, calculating how long it will take Thantose to find the ship if everything goes perfectly. I don’t think we’ll get rescued before the water reaches that cell.
I explore beyond the door Thantose just exited through. As I look one more time for the key, I search down every hallway, making certain I know the path to freedom when it’s time to make a run for it.
I find a thick metal door that leads outside. It opens to what used to be an idyllic scene—we’re on the mountaintop looking down over rolling hills and valleys.
It’s so cold out here much of the formerly-green foliage has already turned limp and brown. I sniff in quickly through my nose to get a sense of the temperature. I read a book once that said if it’s below zero, the hair in your nostrils will freeze. I take a deep breath in through my nose, then squeeze my nostrils together with my fingers. I actually hear a crunch. That’s a big yep—definitely below zero.
When I’m back outside their cell, I ask Carrie, “Any clothes big enough for either of the guys?”
She sorts through the pile and finds two large leather tunics. A moment later, I pull Dev, the tunic stretched taut across his broad shoulders, down the corridor. We look down at the cavern, which is still filling with dark, swirling water.
“Everything’s so cold, any chance the water will freeze solid before it hits the cellblock?”
He shakes his head. “Moving water takes longer to freeze, Tawny. We can’t count on that.”
“Then we’re running out of time, Dev. If Thantose doesn’t come back with a laser, we can’t stay here to drown.”
He looks sad, his eyes involuntarily glance at the ceiling as he appears deep in thought, then he shakes his head. “You’re right. I can’t risk you. You’ll have to leave when the water hits this ledge.”
Devolose
I find three metal bars that completely rusted away from their moorings in one of the other cells. Seneca and I use ours to dig at the stone at the base of the bars in the females’ cage. The vertical bars are firmly lodged in a mixture that looks like stone that was liquified and then solidified around each bar. But this prison was built long ago. By the look of it, hundreds of years. It’s crumbly in places. If Seneca and I put our strength into it, we can chip away where the bars meet the mixture. Perhaps we can pry the bars out from where they’re fastened.
Tawny is using her bar as a fulcrum, repeatedly attempting to dislodge the horizontal bar located about a fierto off the floor.
A few minimas into the task, Tawny succeeds in popping off the bottom bar that the vertical bars attached to. I immediately feel more give in the bar I’m working on, so I redouble my efforts.
Tawny runs down the hall to check on the rising water in the cavern. She returns and gives me a quick shake of her head, her lips tight.
“What’s going on?” the short brunette asks. “How bad is it?”
Tawny came back with an extra metal bar she found on the floor and throws it into the cell. The determined-looking blond grabs it and attacks the crumbling rock on the other side of the bar I’m working on. She’s jamming it into the floor with so much force she grunts with every heave.
“I don’t think we have more than five minutes,” Tawny tells them as she tries to reach around Seneca and me to help. When she realizes she can’t get leverage, she tosses her bar inside the cell, and the short brunette vigorously embraces her task.
“Rock the bar back and forth,” I command. With all of us working together, I feel more play in the metal, the rocky hold giving way.
My bar seems to have more wiggle room than Seneca’s. “Seneca, give up on yours, help me with mine.” I take a moment to appraise each of the females, wondering if their hips will fit through the hole we’re making if we dislodge only one vertical bar.
“Dev!” Tawny’s voice is panicked. I follow her gaze and see fingers of water crawling up the hallway in our direction. Although the water at the points of the little rivulets turns frosty and almost freezes for a modicum, the moving water behind it liquifies it immediately and it keeps marching toward us.
“Drack!” I do mental calculations in my head. “I think we can keep working until the water gets here. We can wade out if we need to. But you need to go, Tawny. There’s no reason for you to stay. Run to the meeting place. Wait for the ship to pick you up.”
Her answer is to reach between Seneca and me, grab the bar we’re frantically working on, and heave it back and forth with all her might.
“Tawny! Go! That’s an order!” The thought of her drowning makes my chest ache.
She doesn’t stop what she’s doing, not even for an instant. If anything she’s now working harder to dislodge the bar from its moorings.
The water laps at my bare feet, I hear one of the females curse, and another start praying to her God.
“Ladies, we need to get in sync,” Tawny barks. “Forward...back...forward...back,” Tawny chants. The females all take up the chant, keeping a good cadence, as the four women push the bar back and forth in unison.
Between their efforts and ours, the bar moves a scintilla further. The freezing water is up to our ankles. We don’t have much time.
“Tawny, please go!”
“I can’t, Dev. We’re close; I know we can get them out.”
We keep working, the water keeps rising. I haven’t been able to feel my fingers on the cold bar for long minimas. The fingers and lips of the females with pale skin are turning blue. I can only work by feel now; the dirty water has completely obscured my view of the floor.
And then the bar slips loose. Just like that.
“Females, slide through the opening! Hurry!”
The water is to our knees, the hole is about one fierto wide and two fiertos tall. The females have to crawl down under the water and shimmy through. They’ll all be drenched completely then have to run back to the pickup
site in the frigid air. Better than drowning!
Two of the women are through the hole and outside the cell when the redhead panics.
“I can’t swim!” Her voice is high and thin. She’s shaking.
“Someone convince her to crawl through that hole. A minima of pain now, or death for eternity!” I put the sound of fierce command into my voice. We have no time for this.
“Now female!” I order her, hating to use the voice I used on Tawny many times in the dungeon. I need to put her worries in the back of her mind and simply have her follow my orders.
She hesitantly comes forward, dives under the murky water and pops up inces from me.