Torkel's Chosen: A World Beyond Book 1

by Michelle Howard

  “What if its not lies, Torkel?”

  Torkel realized he’d been muttering the word under his breath. He snapped at Jaron. “What are you implying about my Chosen?”

  “That this is a trap. She’s been working with the Marenians all along.” Jaron shoved a hand through his hair, leaving grooves behind. “She’s a fucking plant!”

  Torkel punched him. The blow staggered Jaron but he wiped the smear of blood from his mouth. “Look at the other tab. There’s video.”

  Torkel hesitated.

  “Do it.”

  His men drawn by the fight closed in.

  Torkel swiped the icon for the video. Razors ripped through his chest as he watched Faye take money to be his Chosen.

  “I need you to select Torkel Alonson during the presentation.” The voice had been distorted and sounded mechanical.

  “Twenty thousand? Alright.” Faye’s voice.

  Faye extended her wrist while the payment processed then smiled. Fucking smiled for taking payment to mislead him.

  “Everything was planned from the very beginning,” Jaron stated.

  Emotions clawed at his gut. Torkel couldn’t breathe as he watched the evidence in front of his face. Faye. His Faye.

  “We have to assume that she wasn’t kidnapped.” Anger flavored Jaron’s speech. He’d been taken by Faye too. “There’s more. Before he escaped, Arlo used his claws to scrawl the word Axan on the table in the detainment room. Jerking us around. Maybe she worked with Axan all along. You have to admit the uproar at the presentation could have been staged. To loosen your guard around her.”

  His eyes closed tight as Jaron’s words slid home. Doubt plagued Torkel. His breath turned ragged as he opened his eyes and hit the replay button. Then again. And again. His fingers tightened until the metal casing cracked. If he ever wondered what he was worth, his Chosen had put a price on him. Twenty thousand dollars to claim Torkel, the unwanted.

  “Are we going or staying?” Kyele asked, eyes glittering with menace.

  Cold seeped into his pores. Anger melted away. Torkel straightened and eyed each of the men who had been prepared to put their life on the line for Faye. For him. Anguish and hurt boiled over. “We’re staying. Let the traitor rot.”

  He walked from the room, unable to endure the pity they tried to hide. He was a Jutak warrior. Faye’s actions wouldn’t break him. They’d make him stronger and when he caught her and the others, he’d make sure she paid.

  Chapter 20

  “What are you doing? You can’t take her,” Faye screamed as she kicked at the one guard.

  The other lifted Lindsey’s limp form in his arms and snarled. “We have a buyer for this one even in her weak condition.” His eyes glittered. “You, we received approval to give to the guards tomorrow. I promise you won’t enjoy it and we can finally show you how we treat Jutak suares.”

  Faye shivered and continued to struggle but the guard punched her in the face. Pain exploded in her cheek and her mouth filled with the sour taste of blood. The guards laughed as they left and locked the gate.

  Faye dropped to her knees and dragged the thin blanket to her mouth where she screamed out her rage and pain. Torkel! Why haven’t you come for me?

  She didn’t get an answer as darkness closed in and her body tipped over. Faye never felt her head crack as it hit the ground.

  Voices woke her. Hushed whispers and the clink of keys. She feigned sleep fearful of the threats the guards made coming true.

  A rough hand covered her mouth as she was turned onto her back. Faye kicked out and sprung into action. If not for the chain on her ankle she would have darted through the open doorway.

  “Shit, hold her,” a masked man hissed.

  Hard arms came around her waist, lifting her feet from the floor. Pain in her bad arm made her woozy. The chain around her leg slackened then fell off. Faye jammed her elbow back into a firm stomach. The man behind her groaned.

  “Hurry,” someone whispered.

  She made out the outline of two other masked men entering. Faye became frantic, kicking and punching. She wouldn’t go down easy.

  “Settle down Lindsey Ferra. Your husbands sent us.”

  Faye froze. She was turned around and the hand moved from her mouth.

  “Can you walk?”

  She nodded then because it was dark whispered, “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  Her head swam. Sickness made her waver on her feet. Something about his voice was familiar. It had been a while since she’d heard anything besides the growling Marenian tongue. Then it hit her. She was being rescued and they thought she was Lindsey.

  She had to tell them. Maybe there was still time to find Lindsey. “M-my friend we have to get…”

  He cut her off with a hard arm around her middle as he half-dragged half-carried her from the cell. They ducked into a shadowed alcove.

  “Quiet.”

  Faye quieted.

  Two Marenian guards marched by them grunting and laughing as they taunted the prisoners in the cells. When the guards passed, the man hustled her back along the path. The three men stayed around her as they rushed through the narrowed tunnels. Faye didn’t remember any of this from when she’d arrived. Rocks and gravel stung her bare feet but she kept quiet until they neared what looked like an exit.

  Hope bubbled in her chest. Escape had only been feet away. Two other men waited for their group. Freedom beckoned but not without Lindsey.

  Faye fought the hands on her until the men finally paused. Blue eyes glared at her from behind the black mask. She swallowed her nerves and whispered, “My friend. We have to find my friend.”

  “Sorry, lady. We’re here to get you out. Your husbands have badgered until they were heard. Our mission objective is to secure your release and return you home.”

  He tapped the small disk inserted in his ear. “Package secured, Team One moving out.”

  Team One. Faye’s heart raced. They were Jutak warriors. Finally. Relief overwhelmed until a half-hysterical giggle escaped. Her rescuer clasped her arms and pulled her toward the two shadowed men at the exit.

  At the end of the passage, one man, taller than the others, focused on Faye. Her breath halted at the familiar figure. Mask or no mask, she’d know him anywhere. She jerked on her arm causing her rescuer to release his hold as she flew toward her target.

  “Torkel. Torkel. I knew you’d come.” Ignoring the pain in her one arm, Faye reached him and wrapped her free arm around his waist and held tight. His scent and warmth seeped into her weary bones. She didn’t think she’d ever be warm again. Days and weeks of imprisonment fell to the side.

  Someone cursed behind her. Faye closed her eyes and swayed on her feet.

  “Faye?”

  The rough inhalation was all she heard as her world darkened and faded away. She collapsed in his arms.

  ***

  Torkel caught Faye’s frail form before she hit the ground. Grime coated her face and the rags she wore smelled of filth as he lifted her into his arms. He turned to Gregir. “The other woman. Did you secure her?”

  His friend stared at Faye’s unconscious form. “There was no other woman. She…” he pointed at Faye. “was the only one in the cell we were told to check.”

  “Fuck.” There time was up. Jaron would only be able to keep the alarms out for another five minutes before their presence was detected. He glared down at the woman who’d ripped his world apart. Distaste filled his mouth. “Let’s go.”

  They filed out in single order behind him and rushed to the transport that waited to take them from this small auction house. Later a raid would be planned to come back for the other prisoners and to end the Marenians running the slave ring here. Their orders had been to bring back the woman Lindsey Ferra. Instead, he held his Chosen and would have to report their failure to two very upset government officials who wanted their wife back.

  Chapter 21

  Dr. Maku and a team of medical professionals waited for them when t
heir shuttle docked on the cruiser. They had expected to treat Lindsey Ferra because no one fared well under the Marenians care. Torkel laid Faye on the stretcher and kept pace as they rushed her to medical.

  His men exchanged strange looks but Torkel’s mind whirled with seeing his Chosen again after all this time. He wanted to shred her to pieces. Tear into her and see if she felt half the pain he did. Many nights he’d planned what he would say to her if their paths ever crossed. Now he was at a lost for words.

  “Cut these rags from her,” Maku ordered as they transferred Faye to another bed once they reached the ships medical center. This bed had sensors located under the white sheets to monitor a patient’s vitals. Sheets which soon turned brown from the dried and fresh blood crusted on his Chosen.

  An assistant in a white jumpsuit used tiny clippers and removed what little Faye wore. Curses sounded throughout the room when her body was exposed. Torkel growled and stepped closer, unable to block his reaction at the sight of the marks on her body.

  One of the machines beeped louder and lights flashed overhead.

  “What’s wrong?” Torkel reluctantly asked as the actions of the medical staff around Faye sped up.

  His friend ignored him, his movements precise and urgent as he ran a scanner over Faye’s body. Another mumbled curse as he switched to a neutralizer to handle the surface bruising. There wasn’t an inch of Faye’s body not covered in dark and colorful bruises. Some old, some new. Torkel moved to the head of the bed and touched her hair lightly. The texture was gritty and gnarled, not the brown waves he remembered.

  An alarm blared louder and this time the rotating light over the bed turned from white to red. Torkel’s pulse sped up. He searched Maku’s face but the doctor never lifted his head. His concentration remained completely on Faye.

  “Get me the injector.” When the assistant moved too slow, Maku yelled. “Now, damn it!”

  A silver device was slapped into his gloved hands a moment later and he jabbed Faye in the neck. Torkel blanched.

  “Come on, come on,” Maku murmured as he stared at Faye’s pale face.

  Torkel held his breath, unsure what he waited for but knew his Chosen’s life depended on whatever reaction the doctor wanted.

  The red light winked out.

  “Good.”

  Maku reached for her right arm. Faye’s scream startled all of them as she arched off the bed. Medics worked to restrain her body, forcing her back to the stained sheets.

  “Bastards,” Maku snarled.

  Torkel tensed. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “It would be easier if you asked me what’s not.” Maku continued to work frantically over Faye.

  At one point, he’d had to stop, using his forearm to swipe sweat from his brow. Maku looked at Torkel and there had been nothing but rage glowering in his blue eyes.

  “Get in the bed and hold her.”

  Torkel jerked. “What?”

  Dr Maku pointed to Torkel’s fingers massaging a spot on her forearm. The only placed not mottled with cuts and bruises. “She relaxes under your touch.”

  Torkel pulled his hand back. Too bad. She was a vicious female who had sold him and his teams out. And for what. To end up like this- as a slave in one of the very auctions Torkel fought to shut down.

  “Torkel that is an order unless you want to see this woman die because I promise you based on her vitals she’s hanging by a thread.”

  Torkel went motionless. He shouldn’t care. She deserved everything she got. His gaze drifted over her nude body. Her skin was still too sensitive for covers. There wasn’t any place unmarked by oozing sores and deep lacerations. Faye’s right arm rested over her stomach where Maku placed it after sliding on a geli cast for the fracture.

  No.

  She didn’t deserve this. No woman deserved to be broken. Careful of her injuries, Torkel climbed into the bed. He lay on his back and eased her weight onto his chest. She curled around him immediately, her head burrowing under his chin. Maku was right. Once settled, the ragged breaths escaping her chest slowed. The monitors in the background picked up a steady rhythm.

  “Good.” Maku bent his head and went back to work on repairing the damage to Faye. Repairing the woman who had once meant the world to Torkel.

  And still did.

  ***

  Even in sleep, the nightmares chased Faye. Maku sedated her twice during the night as the force of the pain brought her to awareness repeatedly. Torkel didn’t dare move. The one time he did leave to go to the cleansing unit, her vitals dropped and she thrashed around in the bed, dislodging sensors and a fluid drip. Dr. Maku paged him and Torkel had come running.

  His feelings were mixed. His heart torn in two. Torkel shifted seeking a comfortable spot on the narrow bed as she whined. He stroked her back with a gentle hand, knowing what came next but helpless to prevent it. The whine turned into broken cries. Cries that ripped him to shreds.

  “No, no, no, noooo!” She ended on a low keening cry.

  “Shhh, you’re safe, Faye. Safe.” He repeated the words he’d said over the last few hours as fury burned in his veins.

  Her hands clenched on his shirt and she burrowed closer to him. Torkel kept his arms securely around her. Gradually, the cries died off as they always did when he spoke but not before they decimated him. A medic peeked in the room Faye had to herself. He waved her off.

  Jaron, Faruk and Rydak came in later that night. His team leaders wore variations of the same expression. Frustration. Torkel stiffened and half sat up without disturbing a sleeping Faye.

  “How did it go?”

  Faruk’s lips pressed tight together and he shot a hate filled glance at Faye. “We got them all except the Senators’ wife. Jaron hacked their records and it looks like she was sold to a miner’s colony earlier in the day.”

  Torkel flinched. Miners spent most of their days and nights deep in caverns panning ore or blasting rocks to look for more ore. No woman willingly went to a miners’ colony. “Which one?”

  “Tulu.” Jaron folded his arms over his chest, his uniform wrinkled and creased.

  None of them had had a chance to change or shower. Jaron’s glare toward Faye was as vehement as Faruk’s.

  Rydak walked to the other side of Faye’s bed and asked, “Has she awakened?”

  Torkel cleared his throat. “No.”

  Rydak removed one of his ever present leather gloves and brushed his thumb over a swollen cheek. Maku had repaired the break but he needed to wait before addressing the swelling.

  “May I?”

  Torkel nodded.

  Rydak ran his thumb over her nose and then up where he planted it at the center of her forehead. Torkel tensed and waited. It wasn’t often that Rydak volunteered to touch anyone barehanded. That he did so now worried Torkel.

  “She suffered,” Rydak said, eyes closed as he concentrated. “She is friends with the Senators’ wife. There is love there.”

  Torkel’s arms pulled Faye near as if to shelter her from whatever secrets Rydak pulled from her head.

  “She didn’t work with Lothar,” Rydak announced and dropped his hand. He stumbled as he stepped back, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth. He slipped the glove back on his hand. “Not directly.”

  An expulsion of air burst from Torkel’s chest. “What does that mean?”

  Rydak shook his head. “Most of her thoughts are dark. Hazy from pain and drugs. Shadows chase her and fear is a constant companion.”

  “Who cares,” Jaron snapped. “She betrayed us. Betrayed Torkel.”

  Rydak’s impressive gray eyes narrowed. “Nothing is as simple as it seems. You spent the most time with her. Did her actions appear full of subterfuge?”

  Jaron flushed and stormed from the room. Faruk who’d been silent during the exchange stared at the door then back at Rydak before his gaze landed on Torkel. “None of it will matter. The whys. Her crime must be reported.”

  Torkel’s stomach clenched but his men didn’t speak
further and left him alone.

  When Dr. Maku came in next, Torkel didn’t even lift his head. “How is she?”

  “The same.”

  He felt Maku’s stare burning a hole in the side of his head but Torkel said nothing more.

  The cruiser would reach Enotia next and Torkel had two options when they landed. Neither of them pleased him.

  Chapter 22

  Torkel sat bent over in the chair and stared at the woman sleeping on the narrow bed in the medical center. He propped his elbows on his knees and wrestled with the uncontrollable anger coursing through his veins.

  The medical team had cleaned her up as much as possible without disturbing her wounds but the list of her injuries had blown them all away. Especially the broken wrist that had healed wrong and had to be broken again before Maku could reset it. He’d almost knocked the doctor unconscious when Faye’s scream tore from her throat during the procedure.

  Sympathy niggled at the back of his mind but he hardened his heart. If you worked with traitors and slavers then prepare to be betrayed by them.

  The thin gown she wore did nothing to hide the weight she’d lost. A dark purple mark lined the side of her face turned in his direction. After being pumped with a slew of drugs to enhance her healing, they had been forced to stop when her blood pressure spiked. The damage had been too much and they wanted to wait until she was conscious before continuing with more.

  Her lashes fluttered before the lids lifted to familiar brown eyes. Eyes he hadn’t seen in six weeks. Torkel straightened. He needed to page the doctor but hesitated. She cried out when she saw him.

  “Torkel.” Ignoring the monitors hooked to her, she tried to sit up in the bed and swayed.

  “You should take your time,” he informed her, resisting the urge to support her efforts. For three days he’d waited to see her eyes open again. Despite his anger, Torkel couldn’t help the relief at seeing her awake.

  Faye smiled and brushed at her tangled hair. The focus had been on cleaning and healing so her hair hadn’t been washed to rid it of dirt. She hadn’t completely awakened since they rescued her from the prison where a dozen sex slaves were being readied for auction. All of them in similar shape to Faye. Now it was a matter of helping to get them back to their homes safely.