by Emma Vance
Towards the endless desert that stretched out across the horizon like a sea of gold.
I knew I couldn’t outrun the patrol ships. Not with an ancient ship like this. So I didn’t try. Instead, I flew the ship towards the hazy golden cloud gathering on the horizon.
A sandstorm.
If I could get us there, I could lose the patrol ships. I glanced over at Nisha, and our eyes met. She nodded, and warmth spread through my chest. If she thought I could do this, then I could. I gripped the control stick and accelerated. We flew directly into the sandstorm.
The storm hit us with its full force, slamming into the ship and nearly causing us to spin out. The viewing screens were completely blurred, covered in a dirty, yellow haze that made it impossible for me to gauge where to go. But still I flew.
Two patrol ships followed us into the storm. If I concentrated hard, I could still make out bits and pieces of the ground below.
Jagged rock. Swirling sand. Glimpses of black craggy stone.
We were flying above a canyon of some kind. On instinct, I sunk the ship lower, towards the rocks.
“What are you doing?” roared the gladiator with the large snout, coming towards me.
“Losing the patrol ships,” I snarled at him.
“Don’t break his concentration!” shouted Nisha.
“He’ll kill us all!” the gladiator shot back. He advanced on Nisha with murderous intent.
“Get away from her!” I bellowed, still navigating around the storm and the jagged rocks.
“Who allowed her to operate the guns? It should be one of us. Not this weak female.”
The patrol ship shot a stream of blue at us, and I turned sharply to avoid it. I needed to get the patrols off our back so I could help Nisha.
I spotted a rocky outcrop between the swirls of rushing sand. Perfect.
I flew forward, aiming for the stone cliff, hoping this ship had the kind of power I needed for a maneuver like this.
“He’s flying us directly into the rock!” hollered one of the gladiators.
“No, he’s not! He’s saving us!” Nisha yelled back.
The snouted gladiator appeared beside me and launched himself at the gear stick, attempting to wrestle it away from me.
“Idiot!” I pushed him away before he knocked us completely off course. We were still heading for the rock, but the ship had bobbed as the gladiator tried to take control from me.
I pulled the ship up right at the last second, causing us to shoot over top of the stone peak. The patrol ship met a different fate and flew directly into the rock, exploding into a million pieces. It was exactly what I’d wanted. Unfortunately, the snouted gladiator threw himself at me again and managed to dislodge me from the gear stick.
We careened towards a rocky cliff and I shoved the gladiator off, grabbing the gearstick and pulling away from the cliff with all my might.
But it was too late.
The side of our ship clipped the ridge and we spiraled into the sandstorm. We smashed against another piece of rock, and the ship tore open. The snouted gladiator flew out into the open tear.
Everything went flying as we crashed to the ground.
Chapter Eighteen
Nisha
I was thrown from my seat when the ship collided with the ground. I screamed Otun’s name as I fell, but there were so many screams, I wasn’t sure he even heard me. Somewhere in the chaos, and the smashing of metal and bodies, I thought I heard him yell back and my heart leapt. But after that there was silence.
The ship had stopped moving, but I was pinned under something and couldn’t move. I also couldn’t see anything in the pitch black. The ship must have totally lost power. Sand piled in through the opening in the ship, clouding the air. I heard someone crying, and a gladiator shouted in the far distance. I strained my ears to see if I could hear Otun again, but I couldn’t pick his voice out of all the noise.
I tried to lift my arms, but they were pinned to my sides. Something heavy was covering my legs, but I could wiggle my body if I tried. My ears rang from the force of the crash.
“Hello?” I called out, my voice croaky and raw. “Can someone help me?” I desperately wanted Otun to answer, but was afraid if I called his name out, I would have no response.
And then I would truly be alone.
I pushed against the large piece of metal that held me down. A fallen beam had broken its fall, so it didn’t crush me. But if I shifted too much, it might dislodge and kill me instantly.
I tried wiggling myself loose so as not to disturb the beam, but it wasn’t going anywhere.
I was trapped.
Panic rose in my throat. I tried to tamp it down, but my breaths grew shallower. I was never good with enclosed spaces. I was a few seconds away from a panic attack I could not afford to have right now.
“Nisha!” called a voice. That voice. He was so near I felt like I could almost touch him.
I bit back a sob of relief at the sound. “Otun!” I cried. “Where are you?”
“I’m here . . . I got thrown across the ship.”
The ship was tipped on its side so he must have been climbing to get to me.
“Nisha, I can barely see anything. Keep shouting.”
I called his name again and again. Each time he responded, and each time his voice grew louder.
Until finally, I felt his warm breath on my cheek.
“I’m here,” he whispered. He was so close I might be able to touch him if my hands weren’t pinned down.
I wept, unashamedly. Big, fat tears pooled down my face as I cried.
“Shhh, it’s all right now. I’ll get you out of here.” His hands felt around my body, like he was feeling out what was pinning me down.
“I’m not crying about that,” I blubbered, wishing I could wipe the tears and snot from my face. “I’m crying because I thought you were dead. And you aren’t. You’re here!”
“I’m not dead,” he murmured into my hair, and I swear I could hear the smile in his voice. “But I’m trying to make sure you aren’t either. Are you in pain?”
“No,” I said, taking stock of all my limbs. I winced as I bent my ankle. “Well, maybe my left leg. It hurts a little.”
Otun cursed and moved towards the metal covering my legs. I felt him test the weight of it.
“It’s too heavy for you—”
He lifted the metal off my body, grunting with effort. He pushed it so it fell backwards and crashed towards the other end of the ship. I tried to pull myself up, but as soon as I did, I collapsed with a yelp.
“Nisha!” Otun lurched towards me, grabbing my shoulders.
“It’s okay, I just wasn’t expecting the pain. I think I will need your help.” I hoped to God this wasn’t a more serious injury than a sprain. The pain wasn’t bad until I put pressure on it, so I was counting on that.
“Put your arms around my shoulders.”
I swung my arms over his and he helped me stand.
“We need off this ship, now. Before the patrol ships come and recapture us.” His voice was low and urgent. I felt the fear threaded through his words. Otun was never afraid.
I knew why—if we were recaptured, they would throw us into the gladiator pit to fight until we died. I couldn’t let that happen to any of us. “What about the other humans?”
“I’ll get you out first, then I’ll come back for the others.” He looked up at the gaping tear in the ship. Sand was steadily blowing in, and I could only imagine what it was like outside. “We’ll need to cover our faces.”
I ripped strips from my thin dress, and we wrapped them around our faces as makeshift masks. For the first time since getting stranded on this planet, I was thankful for the sheer dress I wore. The translucence meant that we could still see, as much as anyone could in a sandstorm.
Otun lifted me up and slung me on his back. Then he climbed up the ship like a monkey with dexterity I didn’t expect from an enormous male like him. He grabbed onto a hanging bar and a to
ad-like gladiator dropped down from behind a broken beam. He was dead, his entire face bashed in, his features obliterated, and the flesh mangled. I gagged and clutched onto Otun tighter. We were lucky to be alive.
A wail sounded behind us. A reminder that others needed help, and they didn’t have someone like Otun to get them out of the destroyed ship. As if he read my thoughts, Otun looked over his shoulder at me. “I will return for them, but we can only do one thing at a time.”
I nodded. I knew he would go back for them, just as surely as I knew my own name.
We reached the torn opening of the ship and Otun carefully skirted around the jagged edge. He hoisted us up, into the sandstorm beyond.
A wave of swirling golden sand smacked into my face and I gasped, scrunching my eyes closed and ducking behind Otun. I’d never been in a sandstorm before, but I didn’t expect it to sound like it did—endless roaring. I felt the sting of each grain as it sliced through my makeshift mask. Otun must have been in terrible pain to have his shirtless torso exposed to the vicious, whipping sand.
He leapt from the ship and ran, moving at such a breakneck pace that I bounced up and down on his back. Sharp pain shot through my ankle, but I stopped myself from crying out. There was no way I could walk in this.
The ship was wedged into the sand like a child’s bucket on the beach. Otun moved towards the only thing visible—a large boulder sticking out of the ground and rising up over the canyon. Otun ducked behind it, and the force of the sand lessened enough so I could hear my own thoughts without the roaring in my head.
“I thought I saw something that looked like a cave towards the canyon!” Otun shouted. “If there is, I will leave you there before going back for the other humans.”
I nodded, hoping he registered my response, not wanting to scream into the storm.
Otun took off towards the canyon, running fast. So fast I started to get a little nervous that we were going to go right off the edge. When he didn’t slow down, I gripped his shoulders tight. Did he not see the edge?
“Otun!” I screamed, but the sand drowned out my cries. We were only a few feet away from the edge and I was certain he didn’t know there was a cliff right in front of us. I bucked against him and cried out again, but it was too late. Otun leapt forward and we went tumbling straight over the cliff and into the canyon below.
Chapter Nineteen
Nisha
We landed hard on a ledge that jutted out just below the cliff. A scream burst out of me but cut off with an awkward yelp when we hit the ground and Otun collapsed to his knees.
The sandstorm still raged above us, but we were protected from the worst of it by the rocky alcove we’d landed in.
“Forgive me, I lost my balance.” He lowered me to my feet carefully. I tested my ankle out, rolling it back and forth. It was tender, but not impossible to deal with. I pulled the strip of gauzy dress from my face and was relieved to breathe in clean air again.
We’d landed on a ledge that opened behind us to reveal a cave. I didn’t know how large the cave was, but I did know we at least had a place to hide and wait out the sandstorm.
“We don’t know if there’s anything else living in there. Let me investigate first.” Otun walked forward, his fists raised before him, his shoulders tense, like he was walking into battle.
I almost called him back to me as the darkness of the cave swallowed him and he was gone.
Otun
The cave was considerably cooler than the heat-drenched air of the rest of the planet. Scant light filtered in through the cave entrance, and it was enough to show me the rest of the small space.
The cave was bare, but large enough that a group of humans could hide here and wait out the patrol ships searching the area.
My gaze swept the cave, homing in on a small bag in the corner of the cave. The more my eyes adjusted to the darkness the more I noticed. Blankets were piled in another corner, and more bags near them. Someone was using this cave for shelter.
I hoped they weren’t coming back.
A quick peek in the bags revealed a light-stick, some food, water, and clothes stuffed into a bundle.
I walked back to the entrance of the cave. Nisha stood at the mouth of it, wringing her hands, her human mouth pinched white.
I didn’t know how I was going to get her off this planet now, but I knew for sure I didn’t want to let her go. I was fooling myself for ever thinking that this relationship was just about sexual release. I cared for this female. I swore I wouldn’t and now she may end up dying on this planet because of me.
I wrapped my arms around her, tilting her head back and claiming her mouth in a fierce kiss. She clung to me, returning my fevered kiss with her own. I scooped her up and carried her into the cave, laying her down with care on the pile of blankets. I switched on the light stick and handed it to her. The cave flooded with an unnatural white light, illuminating every corner of the dark space.
“I’m going to get the other humans.”
She nodded, clutching the light stick. “Don’t be long.” The crack in her voice shook me. She usually had so much quiet strength, but now she was afraid.
She had reason to be. We’d just escaped Bardoa, but we hadn’t managed to get off his planet yet. He would be coming for us.
“I won’t be.” Not with patrol ships still searching the area. The only positive thing was that the sandstorm still raged on. The ships wouldn’t be able to see anything in this haze.
I climbed back up the side of the canyon and ran back towards the ship. But once I’d reached it, I stopped dead in my tracks.
A patrol ship sat beside our broken ship. They’d found us.
I slid to a stop in the sand, the blowing storm making it difficult to see anything. It was definitely there. I heard shouts, muffled by the roaring of the gusting sand, and then the echo of a blaster shot rang out.
I doubled back and ducked behind the flat rock that Nisha and I had stopped behind earlier.
I considered my options. I could still try and rescue the other humans back at the ship. A couple of guards I could fight. But if more patrol ships came, I wouldn’t be able to fight a dozen guards, and I’d be trapped. More importantly, Nisha would be stranded, alone. I couldn’t allow that to happen.
I looked out from behind the rock again to see if I could make out any more patrols. The sand was blowing so badly that I couldn’t even see our ship anymore.
It was now or never.
Leaving the other females was not an option. They were too important to Nisha, but I also knew what it felt like to be left behind. I wouldn’t leave these females to be thrown into the pit if I could help it.
But before I could sprint into the whirling sand, a sharp pain hit the back of my head. I fell to my knees. I turned, my arms raised defensively against my attacker, but I was already disoriented from the first hit.
By the time the second blow came, the only thing I saw before I passed out was the towering outline of a large beast.
Chapter Twenty
Otun
I woke up to darkness, and the feeling that my head was about to split open. I moved stiffly, and caked sand streamed off me and hit the floor with a hiss. The air was silent and cool.
I was back at the cave.
It took another moment to remember something more pivotal than where I was.
Nisha.
I sat up so fast I felt like my head was going to explode.
I tried to move my arms, but they were strapped to my sides. I kicked out, but my legs felt like they were fused together. I was tied like a beast about to be roasted. Luckily, I wasn’t blindfolded or gagged.
A muffled moan echoed through the cave, and I all but roared. “Nisha?”
Another moan sounded. It was her. My vision almost went entirely black with fury. If she was hurt, I’d destroy who ever did it. I lurched my body towards the sound of her voice, which was somewhere at the other side of the cave. I stopped when I felt her trembling hands on my fur.
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br /> “Nisha, are you hurt?”
“No.” The word was muffled, but I still understood it and my heart lifted in relief.
Her hands were tied, but not bound to her sides as mine were. She ran her hands over my chest, as if soothing herself. She made another muffled sound.
I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
She lifted her hands to the gag at her mouth, trying desperately to free it.
I clenched my hands into fists and used all my strength to burst through the bindings around me. The thick cord cut into my skin. I hissed through my teeth at the pain but didn’t stop. The fabric pulled taut, signalling that there wasn’t much give left. I pushed with all I had, ready to shred my skin if necessary. The ties burst apart with a snap and I roared as my arms exploded out.
I didn’t know how long we had until our attackers came back. I bent over and pulled the gag from Nisha’s mouth. She exhaled in a rush.
“I thought he’d killed you,” she whispered into the darkness. The only thing I could see was the outline of her body, and the gleam of her eyes in the scant light of the cave. “He just dumped you here, and you didn’t move, and…” She broke off with a sob.
I tore the fabric that bound her wrists and feet. Then I gathered her against me.
“It takes a lot more than that to kill me.”
She laughed into my chest, and for a minute we just sat there. If I died, I would have been satisfied knowing the last sound I’d heard was Nisha breathing as I held her against me.
But I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t want her to die either.
I stood, lifting her up with me. “Who did this?” I asked. My eyes scanned the cave for a weapon, a rock, anything.
“I didn’t see much of him, but he looked like a big, hairy beast. Kind of like a werewolf.”