by JD Cole
While in reality nothing had happened, in the slave master’s mind, one hundred thousand marks had just been transferred to his accounts. The Dragon projected that thought repeatedly into the greedy man’s mind until, to Bennett’s relief, it simply became fact. Telepathy became exponentially easier the more he used it; before coming to this planet, he’d only mindspoken twice, both times brief exchanges with Krin Ahgl. In his short time on Nemola, Bennett had gained a better handle on how to look at someone’s mind without them realizing, and now he could even implant suggestions. He fought down awe and excitement from wondering just how far this power could be taken. Kelli would geek out if she could see me, I’m a freaking Jedi!
Satisfied with the imaginary payment, the slave master turned to his lackeys and barked some orders, and the men produced restraints that they began to fit onto the girl’s wrists and neck. Bennett shook his head and waved them away, then scooped the girl into his arms, struggling not to focus on the fact that she was completely naked. She wasn’t bad-looking, but not what he’d call a head-turner. She was really tall, at least six feet, or one hundred eighty three centimeters —Bennett had learned space-faring people used metric-like measurements exclusively. She had big, brown eyes, messy brown hair that did not quite reach her shoulders, light freckles and a button nose just slightly too small in his opinion… and her warm, bare skin was extremely soft and smooth against his arms, in his hands…
My wife’s gonna kill me… over and over again…
The crowd shrank quickly with the close of the auction. A few of the nearby humans patted him on the back for smacking that murien around, and several took a moment to stare at the girl in his arms until Ben’s eerie red eyes flared a warning for them to back away. The girl was mumbling some kind of gibberish, but he ignored her for the moment. They weren’t safe just yet.
~
Whissenia took a deep breath as the auction-winner picked her up. She was stunned by how exotically handsome he was, despite the ugly raider clothing he wore. In another time and place, this was the kind of man she could easily swoon over; any girl would. But at this moment… no, the powerful arms and incredible good looks weren’t enough to mask what he was. She was being taken back to his home, or his ship, where he would rape her then put her to work cleaning or fixing things or any of a hundred other means of slave labor.
“I hate you,” she cried weakly. “I don’t care what you think, you’ll never own me.” It was foolish to provoke him, she knew, but this was so unfair! Her peaceful colony raided, her family possibly murdered… now she was the property of a heartless, lustful monster who would use her like a thing until he got tired of her and killed her. “I hate you,” she cried again. But the man ignored her, like the creep didn’t understand what she was saying.
He carried her down the crowded main street, continuing to silently —but dangerously— warn away men and aliens who got too close. As Whissenia’s mind slowly cleared, she noted that his head turned and swayed almost frantically, as if he didn’t know where he was going. He looked down at her, and he seemed almost as embarrassed as she was when his gaze flickered from her breasts to her face, like he hadn’t meant to add to her shame. She grunted as he swerved into an alley, where he waited for several moments, watching the street. When he was certain no one was looking, he leapt upward…
And they kept rising!
Atop the multi-level building, he gently set her down on her feet, and Whissenia blinked as she realized she was wearing some kind of odd, alien clothing. A short-sleeved blue shirt, and sturdy, but comfortable black trousers with a pair of simple shoes that were just slightly too tight around her toes. Where had these come from?
“How are you, are you okay? Can you stand all right?”
She jumped as she heard a voice in her head, and looked at the man, her mouth agape. Her knees buckled, but the man caught her in his arms, holding her up with large hands more gentle than any she’d felt in weeks.
“Yeah, that was me,” he assured her with a smile that had not spoken a word. “Didn’t mean to startle you. Sorry, but I don’t know your language, so I have to talk right into your head. It’s called mindspeak. Are you okay?”
“Who are you?” she asked aloud.
“I’m Ben. Seriously, are you okay?”
Whissenia stuttered, realizing he had asked her three times now. “Y-yeah. I’m okay. Kinda weak from the drugs, but… how did you- what did-?” She looked down at her new clothes again, then at the edge of the tall building they’d crested. The man —Ben?— laughed softly, and it was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard. He hadn’t bought her; he’d saved her!
“I couldn’t explain it if I tried. What’s your name?”
“W- I, my name is Whissenia. Whissenia Emmiron.”
“Whissenia. Nice to meet you Whissenia and, I’m sorry I didn’t put clothes on you right away. I’m trying to hide my powers… I wasn’t meaning to, you know, keep you naked like that.” He was fidgeting with embarrassment while looking around at the other rooftops as he somehow spoke into her head, then looked out beyond the starport at the surrounding forests, and he pointed. “What do you say we get out of here? I don’t know about you, but I’ve had it with this place.”
Whissenia looked at the distant forest and her mouth moved, but formed no words. Somehow Ben knew what she was trying to say, and he laughed again.
“Yeah, we’ll have to fly. If that’s okay?”
“That… that would be wonderful.”
Disbelieving, she allowed herself to be taken back into his huge arms, coddled like a child —no, cradled like a lover, just like in the romance vids back home— and within moments the starport was hundreds of feet below them as she and her gorgeous savior soared through the heavens, away from that vile pit of slavery. Ben was quiet now… she wondered if he couldn’t speak to her mind while he concentrated on flying, so she also kept silent. But this was ludicrous! Wonderfully ludicrous, yes, but ludicrous all the same.
She was dreaming. Asleep in a cell on the raider’s ship, or passed out from their drugs in the orbital station. She had to be.
And she hoped she would never wake up.
Bennett’s search for Daknanyx continues in The Dragon’s Armada,
Volume 3 of The Dimension Arcana saga!
If you enjoyed this second volume of the THE DIMENSION ARCANA series, please let me know with a quick review at Amazon! It helps to feed my motivation to finish the next book for you!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JD Cole was born and raised in Hawaii, where he enjoyed being a beach bum until he decided he needed money. He went to college where he was bored out of his mind and wrote several amateur comics and short stories that eventually became a novel -- Sen’giza. He then spent over twenty years working in various telecommunication and IT roles across the world, from beautiful remote Pacific islands to Naval bases on the Atlantic coast, all while surfing, scuba-diving and scarfing every bit of seafood he could get his hands on, cooked or not. For a brief time, he worked as a technician fixing giant wind turbines in Iowa before returning the world of IT where his focus became cybersecurity. Somewhere in the middle of all that he self-published the opening novel of The Dimension Arcana series, Sen’giza, and began writing the sequels.
He currently lives in the American Midwest with his wife and daughters.