by Lula Monk
It was the Glim who spoke next, his outrage evident and barely restrained. “You injured her for fleeing?”
“On the contrary,” countered ignis. “I inadvertently deprived her of oxygen. Those idiot Cephalopods were shooting at her, you see. Phase blasts landing mere inches from her feet as she fled. I neutralized the Cephs long enough to reach her, but there were too many. I had to make use with a dome of my flames.” Mentioning his fire, thin tendrils of flame snaked out to swirl around him. “I deprived the Earthling of oxygen, it would seem.”
Samantha stared at the flames dancing around Ignis’s body with awe. “Is... is she alright?”
Ignis blushed again, his flames growing brighter and more intense.
Dredge pulled his woman to his side once more, subtly orienting his body in front of hers. Protecting her. From Ignis.
“The Quadra said she would recuperate in due time.” Ignis sighed. “I’d hoped to get this mating business done and over with as quickly as possible.”
Samantha dove back in front of Dredge, her eyes hard as steel. “You must give the woman time to acclimate to life on the Hub. On our planet, being a slave is no small thing. And being a sex slave... It’s a lot with which to cope.”
A moment of silence passed between them all.
“Any other details you can recall about her?” Samantha asked, prompting. “I’m sure you would benefit from at least knowing her name, when you go back to retrieve her from the medical bay.”
“She was in sleeping garments. Pants and a loose shirt,” said Ignis. “And her hair was arranged in thick braids. Long. Down to her waist, at least.”
“Ah,” said Samantha with a smile. “Clea. She seemed very spunky, during orientation.”
“I don’t know the term,” said Ignis. “But she’s a fighter.”
“And a fleer too, it would appear,” said Dredge
Ignis nodded proudly, but the Earth woman Samantha stiffened.
“We have to fix that,” she said softly.” Chief Officer Slep will not abide any insurrectionary behavior. With the orientation initiative so new… I would hate for the insectoid to go back on his word, if he thinks women like Clea might be a liability.”
“I will break her,” said Ignis confidently.
He’d meant the term in the way commanders broke in new troops, asserting their will over the emberous soldiers until they learned to channel their flames and contain themselves. But something about the phrase must have stricken a chord in the red-eyed Earth woman, for she gave him a severe glare.
“You will do nothing of the sort,” she said sharply.
“Samantha, manners,” said the Glim, his hand resting firmly on the Earth woman’s shoulder.
She shrugged him off, the small mound of her belly pulsating with a bright, crimson light.
“You will treat Clea with respect.” She narrowed her eyes at Ignis. “She deserves it, as we all do.”
“I have no intention of doing anything but respect the dark woman,” said Ignis.
“Then what is all this talk of breaking her?”
“Samantha,” chastised Dredge again. “It is not our concern.”
“Every woman on this space station is my concern,” Samantha said, cutting her eyes at the Glim. “I will hear from his own mouth that he has no intention of hurting Clea. I’m not afraid of him, flames or no.”
His fire flared brightly, hearing the challenge in the woman’s voice. He closed his eyes for a moment, asserting his will over the flames that begged to lash out from his body and set the woman before him in line, the way a true commander should.
But the red-eyed Earth woman wasn’t his to command; besides, she was carrying a lifeform within her. Not even Ignis was so callous as to endanger that.
“I have no intention of hurting Clea,” he said, opening his eyes. He called his flames back in, reveling the way they swirled around his waist, licking at the small of his back. They wanted to be released, wanted to flare to life and consume. To destroy. But now was neither the time nor the place for such things.
Ignis looked the crimson-bellied woman in the eye. “Is that sufficient reassurance, Earth woman?”
“It will do.” she said warily. “For now.”
Ignis gave a small laugh but clipped the sound in his throat at the look on the woman’s face. She was just as fierce as his Clea, it would seem.
“Let’s get you to bed,” said Dredge gently, wrapping his arm once more around Samantha.
As if the mere mention of the bed drained all her energy, the woman sagged against Dredge, all of the fight within her reduced to smoldering ash.
“That is a good idea,” she said weakly. “I need rest before the next excursion.”
“Excursion?” asked Ignis, finding the prospect of getting off this gods-forsaken space station appealing beyond measure. “What excursion?”
“The breeders,” said Dredge, as if that was supposed to mean something to Ignis.
“And the entertainers,” added Samantha quietly, her eyes already closing as she laid her head against the Glim’s chest. The Earth woman looked exhausted.
Ignis turned away, thinking it best to leave the pair to retreat to the solace of their room.
The couple turned to walk away, but the Earth woman held back.
“Look over the reading material in your room,” she said, her eyes barely opening to thin slits. She wore her exhaustion like a heavy mantle; it was obvious speech was even becoming too much for her. “All you need to know is there. And I will make time to speak to Chief Officer Slep. Perhaps your Earth woman can take her first turn around the Rim with me. I will do what I can to assuage her further attempts to escape.”
“I would be most grateful,” said Ignis tightly.
With that, the Glim and the crimson-eyed woman departed.
Ignis turned to the smooth wall of metal to his right, placing a hand upon the slickness. The usual green light permeated out, and he stepped through the portal that appeared.
In the room, he shucked his clothes and went to the hydro chamber, an ill-named device if ever there was one. Sure, the pipes issued forth treacherous torrents of water if so programed, but it also let out combustible fuel. The walls of the chamber were made of unmeltable metal, and as Ignis adjusted the settings and stepped inside, he reveled in the pending release that was to come.
He closed the chamber tightly and let his fire out full force, filling the small space with swirling, thick fingers of flame, the fuel drizzling down on him adding intensity to his fire.
A primal scream clawed its way up his throat, and he crouched, pushing the sound out with every drop of energy he had in his body. His flames flashed, growing to lick at the knobs of the hydro chamber, their colors changing from orange and red to white and deep, deep blue. Sweat beaded at his brow, and he let out another scream, all the pent-up rage and sorrow and restlessness releasing from his body in great, rippling waves of heat and fire. A third and final scream did the trick. When the last sounds of the yell died on his lips, he reached up and turned off the combustible fuel.
The fluid stopped flowing, and Ignis pulled his flames back into his body. He sat on the floor of the hydro chamber, willing his sorrow to disperse.
His rage and restlessness had been somewhat abated by the cathartic burning away that he had just done, but the sorrow . . . that beast persisted to live on in his heart and mind, tormenting him. He felt tears brimming at his eyes.
Squeezing his lids shut so tightly spots bloomed in his mind, his lashed out with his fist, slamming against the walls of the hydro chamber over and over and over again, until his knuckles stung and the threat of tears was removed, the moisture retreating back into his body.
He climbed from the hydro chamber, knowing full well why his sorrow refused to leave him.
Soon, the medical may would notify him that Clea the Earth woman would be ready for transportation. She would be here, in this room, and soon he must confront the sordid reality of what his purchas
ing of her meant.
They would have to mate.
Ignis had been coming to terms with the notion for a long time. He knew he would be required to take a mate again, to breed and have offspring. Though the generation of offspring was only a recent concern; the Smolds had reduced the Ardans’ numbers to such a degree that he could no longer put off producing an heir. But he had always imagined Gylenda would be the mother of his offspring, would be the queen to rule by his side.
But the Smolds had taken Gylenda from him, and there was no bringing her back. Some flames once extinguished stayed dark forever.
Ignis pulled his human clothes back over his body, loathing the lightness of the material. He missed the plate armor and chainmail of his daily regalia back on Incenda. These human clothes did not give the comforting weight of protection. In them, he felt too exposed. Too vulnerable.
He looked over at the bed and grimaced. Much too vulnerable indeed.
His gut turned, and he feared he might be sick. The prospect of mating with the Earth woman, of lying with her the way two beings are meant to lie together, made the sorrow surge back up his chest. Like bile. Like heartache.
Like longing.
He had not slept with another woman since Gylenda had been struck down before him, the molten spear of the bastard prince bursting through her chest in a rain of blood that had soaked Ignis from head to heel.
Just the thought of sleeping with any other female felt like betraying Gylenda, and the sadness of that notion washed over him like wave after wave of sweltering heat. Like the memory of their joined flames, turning his heart to ice.
Stomping across the room, he gathered the bundle of papers the red-eyed breeder had ordered him to read. He needed something to occupy his thoughts, to help the dragging hours of time speed by. And yet, he did not want them to speed by. He wanted them to crawl on for all of eternity, so the day that he had to lie with another woman would never come. So he would always be faithful to Gylenda.
After a few minutes of flipping through the pages but being unable to concentrate on any of the words, Ignis tossed the papers to the floor disgustedly and went to stand at the exterior wall. The morphmetal was in its solid state, making him feel caged in. Trapped.
He put both hands on the smooth metal and drug them outward, changing the wall into its transparent form.
The starfield was littered with a million points of shimmering light. He knew that somewhere out there was the Adrasta Galaxy, each of the seven planets lying still. Recuperating. It would be many years before another battle was fought on the surface of any of the war planets. At least a battle between the races in the bloodfeud. Civil disputes were bound to erupt; fights for power could not be avoided. But the Ardans would hold Incenda in good hands until Ignis and the human woman Clea could return, hopefully with a babe at the dark woman’s breast.
Ignis pressed his forehead against the cool metal, staring down and out at the stars beyond.
Gylenda had been his queen. His lover. His shieldmate.
He knew the Earth woman Clea would never replace her. Could not, despite the fiery spirit the woman contained.
Life does not always go the way one might wish, his father had once told him as a boy, the night his own mother’s fire had fizzled out in childbirth. Ignis felt the weight of those words now, so closely echoing Gylenda’s last words.
He’d always thought Gylenda would lead Incenda by his side. But that was not to be.
He straightened his spine. The Ardan throne needed an heir, one of his bloodline. He was duty-bound to provide the planet of Incenda with its next leader. And so he would.
He would lay with the woman Clea, would plant his spark in her womb and watch it quicken. Perhaps the dark woman would even give him a son, one he could offer forth to one of the other Ardan high families to strengthen bonds and reshape alliances. Maybe they would have many offspring, if the Earth woman was fertile.
He banged his head on the metal, longing to beat the thoughts that persisted in his mind away.
Gylenda would have given you daughters, his mind whispered. Shieldmaidens to rival the strongest bitches on the enemy side. She would have birthed you sons, too. Strong, pure-blood Ardan lads who would have grown to be as you are. Strong leaders. Noble kings. Warriors.
He banged his head on the metal again and again, begging the thoughts to go away. To leave him in peace.
Gylenda was gone, and there was no bringing her back.
The Earth woman Clea was going to have to suffice.
Chapter 5
Clea
The first thought to enter Clea’s mind when her eyes fluttered open was how hungry she was.
Remembering the last time she’d opened her eyes, she reduced her lids to slits an surveyed the room. Seeing no one she, opened her eyes fully and glanced around, content to find no four-armed alien or fiery man with flames swirling around him. She was blessedly alone.
She tried to regroup, to gather her thoughts and make a plan for escape.
But that red-eyed woman, Samantha, already has a plan.
Clea scoffed to herself. Like she was going to follow some uppity woman’s hen-scratch plan. No thanks.
She was going to get herself out of this mess, one way or the other. She didn’t need that woman or anyone else to help her do it, either.
The door opened, and Clea shut her eyes quickly, pretending to be asleep.
“Sit up,” commanded the Quadra.
Clea lay perfectly still, feigning sleep. Perhaps if the freaky thing thought she was asleep, it would just leave.
“I know you are awake,” it crooned. “Your brain patterns have altered. You are no longer in delta phase. Please rise.”
Clea groaned and opened her eyes. “Do I have to?”
“You must,” said the Quadra. It had a strange, flat device in its hands, punching in a series of letters and numbers. “Your owner commanded that a notification be sent to your chamber upon the instant you awoke.”
“Can you just wait to tell him? Please?” Clea desperately need some time awake to herself. She needed to come to terms with all that had happened to her, and she didn’t think she could do it scared shitless around a moody, fire-clad alien.
The Quadra clucked its many tongues. “Too late. I sent the correspondence as soon as your brain patterns changed.”
Well, shit.
Clea had no hope of time to herself, it would appear. These creatures – the whole lot of them – seemed to have the upper hand at every turn, even the breeder Samantha. Her status as a human was still iffy in Clea’s mind. Maybe they were all aliens, and Samantha was meant to be a subterfuge agent, gathering intelligence to take back to the real human women’s owners.
That would be about right.
“Please rise,” requested the Quadra again.
Clea did as it commanded, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She was pleased to find that she did not feel nauseous in the slightest.
The Quadra reached up and removed her oxygen mask. It waved the thin computer in front of her face. “Your oxygen levels are at 99%. Please stand.”
Again, Clea did as the creature told her to.
“Bend and touch your feet.”
“What for?”
“I need to test your vitals at variant extremes.”
“Like a tilt test?”
“I am unfamiliar with the term,” said the Quadra. “Please bend.”
Fearing this was some weird sexual thing masquerading as a genuine medical test, Clea dipped down and rose quickly, her head only slightly surging as blood shifted in her body.
The Quadra scanned her again, clucking its approval. “Oxygen saturation is the same. Blood pressure is normal for female humans meeting your specifications.”
“Good,” said Clea, not knowing what else to say.
A knock sounded on the wall. A moment later, another portal appeared and in stepped the muscular man who had purchased her.
Her new owner.
> The words sent bile coursing up her throat. She almost gaged, but the prospect of having the four-armed alien shove more meds into her mouth ceased the sensation.
The large and powerful alien thankfully had his flames contained. For now.
“Is she ready?” he asked the Quadra.
The four-armed creature nodded, two of its hands hastily punching notes into the thin device. “She is recovered to the condition she was in prior to arriving at the Hub,” it said nodding its head.
Then, surprising Clea and Ignis both, the creature added, “I took the liberty of injecting fertility hormones while she was sleeping.”
“You did what?”
“I did not authorize such an injection!”
Clea and Ignis looked at one another, each showing a great degree of outrage. Clea didn’t know what the alien was pissed about, with his flames popping up around his neck already, but she was furious the Quadra had dared to put something in her body without her consent. She felt violated, defiled…
Wait a minute.
“Fertility hormones?” she asked slowly, feeling the words make an awkward exit from her mouth. She’d never said those two words together before in all her life. They felt unnatural here in this sterile room, with the two strange and foreign aliens standing feet away from her.
“That is accurate,” said the Quadra. It stored the screen in a large pocket on the front of its lab coat. “A quick examination revealed you finished your ovulatory cycle a few rotations ago. Instead of having the Commander wait for your next cycle to begin, I simply sped the cycle up.”
“Hold up now,” said Clea, her outrage building. “What kind of exam did you do? I was asleep!”
“I would be interested to hear that was well,” said the alien with the scruffy jaw. Thick, angry flames danced around the collar of his jacket, the tips flicking with savage blue light.
“Well...,” said the quadra slowly. “Chief Officer Slep sent the directive down a few rotations ago... The product being sold heretofore should be inserted with fertility hormones, to insure mating results in the generation of offspring the first or second time. He is under the impression that such a thing will make the orientation initiative run more smoothly.”