by A A Warren
Talon stood up and paced across the smooth tile floor. As the most popular gladiator in Omdura’s stable, his quarters were spartan but comfortable. The refurbished cave resembled a modest apartment, rather than a prison cell.
Dura-plas walls lined the cavern, covering the jagged rocks with smooth white panels. A plush bed protruded from a small indentation in the northern wall. The silk pillows and luxury bedding were a far cry from the tiny cots and frayed sheets given to other warriors. Tapestries and paintings hung from the walls… Gifts provided by his master and other patrons.
He removed a bottle of wine from a rack near the bed, and poured himself a glass. He took a sip, and winced. As Omdura had said, it was cheap swill. Nothing like the fine vintage he had sipped in his master’s quarters.
He spun around and faced the door to his chambers. It was a featureless slab of gray metal. There was no handle or lever mounted to its surface, nor a control panel to open or close the portal.
This place is still a cage, he thought. A few threadbare tapestries and some bitter wine couldn’t change that.
He gritted his teeth and hurled the glass at the door. It shattered into a dozen sparkling fragments. Crimson liquid sloshed across the floor as he roared in fury.
Then he shook his head and uttered a cynical laugh.
Talon the Slayer, He thought. Savage warrior of the outer worlds… Nothing but a circus clown to entertain the crowd. A prisoner. A slave…
“Play,” he commanded. The soothing tones of music drifted from hidden speakers in the ceiling. He closed his eyes and let the music wash over him. His breathing slowed. His anger subsided.
A light flashed above the door. Talon sighed. Rufa said he would have a visitor. He grabbed his rumpled tunic off the bed. He winced as he stretched his arms through the open sleeves. Tiny pink lines were all that remained of the bloody gashes that had crisscrossed his flesh earlier. The medics had fused his wounds clean, but the pain would take a few days to disappear.
“Enter,” he said. He knew it was only a formality… guests of the Arena’s master could come and go as they pleased.
The metal panel slid up into the rocks with a mechanical hiss. A puff of mist belched from the ancient mechanism, obscuring the corridor beyond. A pair of guards marched through the cloud. They flanked the doorway and dipped their lances forward, blocking the exit.
“The Lady Salena Xuval,” one of the guards announced. “Duchess of Phareon Nine, heir to…”
"Please," a woman's voice called out from the darkness. "Let's not waste time with titles and ceremony." A shadowy figure parted the mist, as the vapor seemed to swirl and recoil away into the tunnel outside.
The woman was tall and lithe, and almost seemed to glide into the room rather than walk. Her movements were sleek and graceful, like one of the jungle cats Talon had fought in the blood pits of Saludin Six. Her eyes drifted around the room. She seemed at once hyper aware and yet utterly disinterested in her surroundings.
The guards parted their lances, allowing her to enter. Her long, cobalt-blue hair swished behind her as she stepped forward. A collection of precious metal bands and sparkling jewels bound her flowing, dark tresses in a ponytail that cascaded down her back.
Talon blinked in surprise. Many women had paid Omdura for the privilege of visiting his chambers after a match. Usually, they were the bored wives of absent merchants. Or sometimes noble-women, seeking a taste of savage passion their foppish husbands lacked. But never had he seen a woman like this…
She was humanoid, but not human. She wore a jeweled harness, and a brief wrapping of silk that left little to the imagination. Her exposed skin was a pale lavender, speckled with darker spots around her wrists and thighs. She met his curious gaze and smiled. As she returned his stare, he noticed that both the iris and surrounding portions of her almond-shaped eyes were the same color… A shimmering, sapphire blue.
“So this is the infamous Talon the Slayer,” she purred. Her voice was a golden melody, sweeter than the harmonies drifting from the speakers. “Congratulations on your latest victory.”
“Thank you, my lady,” he muttered. His neck felt hot, and he felt a flush creeping over his face.
The woman flashed her enigmatic smile once again. “No need to be so formal. Please, call me Salena.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the guards. “You may leave us now, thank you.”
The armored men clanked their pikes together in a salute, then marched out of the room. With a loud clang, the slab-like door lowered shut.
The woman called Salena brushed past Talon. He felt an electric tingle as her flesh touched his. She strode along the walls, reaching out to stroke the colorful tapestries. She glanced up and closed her eyes, as her body swayed to the rhythm of the music.
“Lieber’s Final Symphony,” she said, her eyes opening again. “I love this music."
“I… I didn’t know what it was called,” Talon stuttered. “I just like the way it sounds.”
She looked back at him. “So do I. I like the way it makes me feel." Her eyes darted to another tapestry. Its embroidered luminescent threads displayed an endless series of soft, glowing blue waves. They appeared to ripple and flow across the hanging fabric. "And this… did you select this piece yourself?”
He nodded. “The waves of Koral. I’ve always wanted to visit there, to see the ocean covered planet.”
“It’s beautiful,” she remarked, moving on to a shelf of stone sculptures set into the wall. “When the sun sets, the sea glows like liquid fire. You really love art, don’t you.”
He shrugged. “I’ve spent most of my life underground, in buildings or caves like this. No windows. No view. It’s nice to have something beautiful to look at. Sometimes Omdura provides me art, like this. As part of my winnings.”
She paused, and tilted her head as she examined a carved white statue of a human male, holding a flaming bow. “This is a famous sculpture, the work of E’oward of Telluris. It depicts Orion, the hunter’s god. Do you pray to him?”
Talon shrugged, and stepped closer to her. He felt a strange attraction, almost like gravity, pulling him towards this beautiful alien woman. “I worship no gods. I don’t see the point. I’ve never seen a god answer anyone’s prayers in the arena.”
She wiped her fingers across the statue, and held them up for him to see. A chalky white residue clung to her slender lavender digits. “It’s a fake, you know,” she said. “E’oward worked in Caldurian stone. Its dust turns black when exposed to oxygen.”
Talon shook his head. “I should have guessed Omdura would cheat me there as well.”
Again, he felt the tug of attraction, drawing him to her. It was like nothing he had ever felt before. He placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. “But surely My Lady did not visit my chambers to discuss art.”
She turned to face him. Her smooth palms slid beneath his tunic and caressed his chest.
“As you said, something beautiful to look at. But there is one work of art I still yearn to see…”
She pulled open the cloth of his tunic. Running her fingers along the muscles of his shoulder, she traced the lines of a large, emerald-green tattoo, etched into his skin.
The green lines and ancient symbols formed the shape of a grasping claw. It reared up over his back, then dipped down across the slab of his left pectoral muscles.
Her lips parted. Her eyes opened wide, drinking in the intricate design. “Where did you get this mark?”
“I don’t remember.”
She looked up at him. He felt unable to break away from her azure-blue stare. “No?" she asked. "What do you remember? Where are you from?”
“My past, my childhood… I have no memory of it. Nothing at all. The first thing I remember is waking up in a life pod, on Saludin Six. They threw me into the blood pits minutes later. I made my first kill before I spoke my first words. The mark, this accursed mechanical eye… They must have been a part of me before then, but that’s all I know.”
She smiled and slid her hand up his neck. She pressed against his temple, her fingers resting next to the glowing red crystal set into his eye socket.
“Your eye is not cybernetic. I sense dark energy within it.”
Talon chuckled. “Dark energy? You must be joking. I’m no alien mystic.”
“You don’t believe me? Allow me to show you.”
Her other hand touched his right temple. Her lips curled into a mischievous smile. “The oceans of Koral… let me show you.”
Talon squinted down at her… there was a sparkle in her eyes, a faint inner glow. Then they pulsed with light. He tried to push her away, but his muscles refused to move. He froze in place, lost in her glowing stare.
A rush of strange sounds filled his ears… The crack of thunder, and the slap of water. Waves crashing and rolling into themselves. The churning sea…
He opened his eyes. He was floating, hovering in gray, turbulent skies. Another thunder-crack sounded to his left… He turned and saw a bolt of white lightning, slicing through the storm clouds. Following the streak of light, he watched as it struck a vast, churning sea below him. As the electricity dispersed across the water’s surface, a massive wave rose up before his eyes. The wall of water had to be at least a hundred meters tall. He felt the sting of salt in the air, and a cold wet mist sprayed his face as the gigantic wave surged beneath him.
A piercing screech filled the air. Looking up, he saw black shadows darting through the clouds. They were reptiles, gliding on taut membrane wings. The creatures rose on columns of swirling air, disappearing into the purple and gray haze above.
Then, as suddenly as the images and sound had flooded his senses, he felt a cold darkness, rushing in from all sides. A great force tugged at his consciousness, pulling it down into an endless black hole. Once again he was falling, tumbling back through a tunnel of shimmering blue light.
He blinked, and found himself back in his quarters. He was staring into the woman’s glowing blue eyes. As her luminescent gaze faded, Talon gasped and pushed her away. He took a step back, then staggered and fell to one knee.
Salena grabbed his arm, and ran her fingers through her hair. She gave him a concerned look. “I’m sorry, I know it can be disorienting. I wanted you to see… But I didn’t expect the bond to be so strong. I've never felt such a powerful link.”
Talon shook his head, and stood up. He stared down at her, his eyes wide with shock. “I have… only once before. My battle trainer, Orex Griff. He said it saved my life in the blood pits. Sometimes I could see into his thoughts, sense his moves. Mimic his fighting style… " He stopped his rambling speech and narrowed his eyes. "But it was nothing like that. You… What kind of sorceress are you?”
She laughed. “You have much to learn, Talon the Slayer. For now, know that my people can wield dark energy as easily as you wield a sword or axe.”
Talon grasped her shoulders. His eyes were wide, his pupils dilated. “Show me more!" he exclaimed. "More planets, everywhere you have visited. And cities! Have you been to the great cities of the Dominion? I must see them!”
Salena laughed, and wrapped her slim arms around his neck. She leaned in close.
“I will show you many things, young Talon,” she whispered into his ear. “I will give you what you seek the most… your freedom.”
“Who are you? Why have you come here for me?”
She nuzzled his neck, then glanced up into the dark corners of the room. He followed her gaze.
“Say nothing more. Omdura has cameras in here, hidden in the ceiling. To monitor your… performance.”
Talon’s body tensed. “What? Why that bloated, preening, lecherous—”
“Shhh…” Salena held a finger over his lips. Her body pressed against him, and he felt the swell of her breasts beneath her thin silk wrap. Her leg shifted against his… Everywhere she touched him, he felt the electric shock of attraction flooding his senses, stirring his blood.
“I’m not really a duchess,” she whispered. “But Omdura must not know who I am, or why I am here. He must think me nothing more than a spoiled noble-woman of the inner worlds. Someone eager to pleasure herself in your arms. Play along, and by tomorrow this desolate rock will be a fading memory. One last performance for Talon the Slayer.”
She closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his. They fell back onto the bed. He tore the flimsy scraps of cloth and jeweled metal bands from her body, as her fingers darted across his back.
“I want to see more,” he panted into her ear. “I want to see everything, everything your magic can show me.”
“There are some things you don’t need magic to see,” she cooed. She arched her back and moaned as he pressed against her. They spoke no more words. The glow orbs above faded to a dim, fiery orange. The fading light cloaked their writhing bodies in warm, dark shadows.
Chapter Five
Darkness.
A deep rumbling filled the air… the sound of heavy rocks, shifting, moving.
Talon opened his eyes. Everything was a blur. A soft, hazy light cut through the darkness, casting a dim glow over his surroundings. He was confined in a narrow metal tube. He blinked, but still he could not see clearly. Tiny cracks and pops rang out, echoing through the tight confines of his prison.
He reached forward, but a transparent viewing plate blocked his hands. He squinted… He saw movement beyond the clear panel. Falling rocks and debris plummeted down from the darkness above. A large, jagged fragment struck the window. He recoiled from the impact, but the clear barrier held, and did not shatter.
Life pod, he thought. Relax. You’ve been in these dozens of times.
His owners had transported him in life pods many times over the years, when he fought in distant arenas. But he had no memory of this place. The falling rocks, the inky black darkness… None of it was familiar.
Where am I?
Another sound rose over the thunder of the falling debris. A high-pitched cry echoed from the darkness outside the tube. It sounded like a woman’s voice, but he could not make out her words. It rose and fell like the wind, soft and distant one moment, a piercing wail the next.
Who is she? What is she saying?
He shook his head… Her words were like the lyrics of a half-remembered song. A dream that seemed to slip further through his fingers the harder he tried to grasp it.
Another chunk of rock bounced off the pod’s clear panel.
Lines of red light glowed to life inside the tube… A low hum reverberated through the pod. The hibernation field was activating. Soon he would be unable to move, frozen in stasis.
Unable to escape.
He pounded on the clear panel, as more rocks pelted the exterior of the pod. They sounded like the patter of rain on a metal roof. The pops and cracks grew louder. The pod shook, as a large boulder crashed into its side. The woman’s voice rose to a scream, then faded into the shadows.
Bit by bit, the rocks covered the clear panel, blocking the light from outside. Soon, only a tiny, narrow beam pierced through the cracks of the rubble. Then that too was extinguished, leaving only the crimson glow of the humming stasis field.
He felt his limbs go rigid. His eyes fluttered, then rolled into the back of his skull. He clenched his fists, struggling to fight the effects of the field. But his efforts were in vain. His body was no longer in his control.
He could do nothing as the falling rocks buried his pod. He was alone, trapped… lost in a darkness as black and infinite as the cold depths of space.
Talon shot up in bed, gasping for breath. His glowing red eye cast a dim light, and he could see clearly in the dark room. He looked up at the rocks that hung above him. They looked the same as always… Sharp fangs of stone, stalactites hanging in jagged rows overhead. They looked like waves…
Waves, he thought. The oceans of Koral.
With a touch of her hand, the woman sleeping beside him had transported him there. She had bridged unthinkable gulfs of space and time. She could
call it dark energy or alien science, or whatever she liked. Talon knew sorcery when he saw it.
Orex, his old battle trainer, had warned him about alien mystics… Those who could wield dark energy, a powerful force beyond human technology. Such beings were not allowed to fight in the arena themselves, but he had battled their monstrous creations from time to time.
Years ago, when Orex had touched him through the bars of his cage in the blood pits, he had experienced… something. A vision, or a link of some kind. When Orex trained nearby, Talon could sense his motions, learn his fighting techniques. In the pits, every day was a battle for survival. Every match was fought to the death. His link to Orex gave him an edge. It had helped him survive.
But never had he experienced anything like what he had felt when Salena’s hands touched his skin. He glanced over at her… in the afterglow of their lovemaking, she looked peaceful, beautiful. But it was not her beauty that fascinated him. She seemed to know things about him. Things that transcended the empty blackness of his lost memory. She said she sensed dark energy within him.
She said she could grant him his freedom.
But why?
The question echoed through his mind. Why had she come for him? What was he to her, other than a night’s vigorous entertainment?
A deep rumbling filled the room, pulling his attention away from the sleeping woman. His eyes darted around as the chamber shook and rattled. At first, he wondered if he was still dreaming. Then the rumbling grew louder. Tiny rock fragments fell from above, pelting his face. A stalactite hanging over the bed cracked and shifted.
Talon leapt to his feet. Salena groaned as the noise roused her from her slumber. She sat up, clutching a sheet across her naked body.
“Talon? What’s happening?” Her blue eyes glanced up at him through half-closed lashes.
Grabbing her in his muscular arms, he yanked her up from the sheets. She yelped as he spun her body in the air, and backed away from the bed.