“I am sorry for the – regrettable – position your daughter has placed your house in,” I said. “It is most unfortunate.”
He nodded. “Thank you, General.”
“And please forgive me for being so crass, but I will need you to sign a contract engaging my services,” I said. “And I must be upfront enough with you to inform you that a search and recovery mission is likely to be – costly.”
He waved me away. “Cost is meaningless,” he replied sharply. “Money is not the object. The longer she is out there, the more damage she does to my reputation. I will pay whatever your fee is so long as you bring her back to me.”
I nodded. “You have my word,” I said. “I will oversee this mission personally.”
“Excellent,” he said as he got to his feet, indicating that this meeting was at an end. “Please have your contracts drawn up and sent over as soon as possible.”
“Of course,” I said. “And rest assured that your daughter will be returned to you with all possible speed.”
He gave me a grim smile and a curt nod before turning and leaving me standing alone in the middle of the library. A moment later, a servant appeared and escorted me to the front doors.
I walked out into the sunshine of the day with a smile on my face. This was going to be a lucrative assignment. And knowing that there would likely be a substantial payday for the girl's recovery, I'd already dispatched some of my best trackers to get a fix on her location. I expected to hear back from my teams shortly.
As I walked to the transport that was waiting for me, I shook my head. I didn't know her, obviously, but I liked this girl. Resourceful. Stubborn. Courageous, even. To not just buck Unduthian society, but spit in its face the way she had – it was admirable. If she only knew how to fight, I would even consider taking somebody like her into my employ.
But women in Unduthian culture could not fight – which was a shame. A woman with her attributes would do well in my line of work.
She was a rare breed. A curiosity. But I already knew that when I returned her, she would not be that same willful girl for long. They would absolutely beat it out of her, bit by bit. They would break her down and bend her to their will – and cultural norms – until there was nothing left of that wild, willful girl.
It was sad. And it was a waste. But it wasn't my problem. I was going to be paid a large sum of money to return her – and return her, I would.
Chapter Six
Hatare
Wyn landed the ship on the pad, setting it down with a gentle thump. He was a lot of things – many of them bad – but he was an excellent pilot.
“Optorio,” he sneered at Hatare. “You're here. Now get off my ship.”
The rear hatch lowered and I looked out into the port where we'd landed. People milled about, hustling this way and that. I looked over at Byr who gave me a small shrug and a nervous smile.
“You ever gonna get these restraints off me?” Wyk snarled.
He'd woken up before we ever entered Optorio's atmosphere, so Byr had helped me get him into a seat – though we'd left the cuffs on him as a precaution. I stood up and set my pack on the seat, digging inside until I found the small bag where I'd stored the majority of my money. Sorting through it, I pulled out five hundred – the price of passage for both Byr and me.
I walked over to the cockpit where Wyn sat glaring at me. “Here,” I said, thrusting the bills toward him. “Five hundred – the agreed upon price of passage.”
“Keep it,” Wyn said. “I don't want your money.”
Wyk chuckled from his seat. “We'll be getting our money out of your hide, little girl,” he sneered. “Don't you worry.”
I shook my head. “We had a deal,” I replied. “And an agreed upon fare for passage. I keep – ”
“You keep your promises,” Wyn growled. “Yeah, heard it before.”
“So, take your money, then,” I said.
Wyn looked me in the eye, his face burning with absolute rage. “I said, I don't want your money. What I want, is for you to get off my ship.”
I sighed, still holding the money out for him to take. I was on the verge of simply dropping it at his feet when Byr reached out and took it from me. He shrugged and gave me a lopsided smile.
“If he doesn't want it, we can always use it,” Byr said.
He was right, we could use it. But not honoring my end of a bargain just felt – wrong. On the other hand, he was right, the brothers were refusing to take the payment.
“Last chance,” I said. “Despite your treachery, I'm still willing to honor my end of our bargain.”
Wyn started to rise and then seemed to think better of it. “I said, get off my ship.”
“Now,” Wyk said from his seat.
I sighed and shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
Byr handed me back the money. I tucked a little bit into the pocket of my pants and stuffed the rest back into the bag, which I then loaded into my pack before slinging it over my shoulders.
“I apologize,” I said. “I never intended for any of this to go down this way. And I – ”
“What part of get off my ship are you not understanding, little girl?” Wyn snarled.
Byr took hold of my forearm and guided me down the rear ramp and off the ship. Barely a moment after we'd stepped off the ramp, it was raised again, locking into place with a solid thump. Byr looked over at me, an expression of concern upon his face.
“They could still call the authorities,” he said.
I shrugged. “They could,” I replied. “But they won't. No, their plan is to capture the both of us on their own. They're greedy and will want the reward for themselves. That makes them predictable. They might hire a bounty hunter to lead them to us, but they'll come for us on their own.”
He nodded and looked at the ship. “Yeah, maybe.”
“Plus, they don't want the authorities snooping around their ship,” I said. “Not to mention their open hostility for authority of any kind. No, they won't be calling anybody. Mark my words.”
Byr let out a soft chuckle. “You certainly seem pretty savvy for one of the upper class.”
I shrugged. “I've had some very good – tutors,” I said. “They've given me a very – well rounded – education.”
“Sounds like it.”
“Shall we go?”
Byr nodded and we walked out of the spaceport and found ourselves in the middle of a very congested, very busy city of Tochasea – the capital of Optorio. The Optorion people looked very similar to Unduthians. The only real differences were that their skin was pale. Very, very pale. Almost translucent. They also lacked the eye markings we did. Optorions could very likely pass themselves off as humans and get away with it.
We walked down a busy, crowded street. Byr stood close by my side as he led me down a street that seemed incredibly similar to the marketplace back on the fringes in Unduth.
“Almost feels like home,” Byr said.
I sniffed the air around us – something smelled absolutely delicious. My stomach rumbled, reminding me that I hadn't eaten in quite some time. I looked over at Byr who had his eyes closed and was inhaling the air as well.
“When was the last time you ate anything?” I asked.
He took one last sniff before opening his eyes and giving me a shrug. “I don't really know, actually.”
“Well, it's been way too long for me,” I said. “Let's go get something to eat.”
He smiled. “Sounds good to me.”
We wandered down the packed street and eventually found our way to a booth that served a bowl of hot noodles, vegetables, and some sort of meat I was unfamiliar with. It was all covered in a sauce that was a little bit sweet, but absolutely incredible. Taking our bowls over to a small table, we sat down and dug in.
There was no conversation as we shoveled food into our mouths like two people who hadn't eaten in weeks. At least for me, that's what it felt like. We finished our bowls in record time – honestly, I didn't think I'd e
ver had anything nearly as delicious back home. Or perhaps, it was just the sweet taste of freedom that made it all taste so incredible. I didn't know and didn't care.
I pushed my bowl away from me and leaned back in my seat. “That was amazing,” I said.
Byr nodded. “Honestly, that might be the best thing I've ever eaten,” he said. “There isn't much you can do to make the government rations taste very good.”
I looked down at my bowl, suddenly feeling bad. It had never really occurred to me that Byr and his family had been forced to subside on government rations and whatever else they could scrounge up. I mean, I'd heard about the plight of the lower classes, those people my family and others called “scraps,” but it had always been an abstract concept.
It was quite different sitting across a table from a man who lived his life in a constant state of deprivation. A man who'd probably never truly had a good, quality meal. It really drove home the point that my existence had been one of incredible privilege. I'd never had to worry about where my next meal was coming from. I'd never had to worry about trying to make bland, sometimes rotten, government rations taste good or make it edible.
I'd grown up taking so much for granted, while people like Byr struggled to survive.
“So, what is your plan now that we're here on Optorio?” Byr asked.
The truth of the matter was that I didn't have some grand plan. I didn't have some master scheme up my sleeve. My only hope was to get an audience with King Jendrish and plead for asylum. If I were really lucky, I could get him to hide us, maybe even get him to put us under the banner of his protection.
In other words, I was winging it and operating on more “maybes” and “what if” scenarios than I was on any sort of concrete facts or plans.
“We need to find a way to get an audience with King Jendrish,” I said. “Come, let's find a way to do that.”
We stood up from our table and walked out into the busy, bustling street as I tried to figure out how we were going to get an audience with the king.
Chapter Seven
Byr
We weaved our way through the busy, congested streets before we found ourselves in an open plaza. A large fountain stood in the center of the plaza, sending plumes of green water shooting high into the air. We walked over and sat down on the bench that surrounded the waterfall, watching the Optorion people bustling by in a companionable silence for a few moments.
“What do you think you'll accomplish if you can get an audience with the king?” I finally asked.
“My hope is that if we plead our case,” Hatare started, “that he will place us under his protection and grant us asylum.”
“What will that do?”
“If King Jendrish agrees to give us asylum, it will prevent my father – or the government soldiers – from taking us back to Unduth,” she said.
“Do you think he'll give us asylum?”
She shrugged. “I do not know.”
I looked at her, feeling a nervous knot forming in my stomach. “What would give you the idea that he would?”
She looked at her hands and then looked up, giving me a rueful grin. “Hope, mainly” she said. “King Jendrish married a human woman – from a place called Earth. He took an alien as his bride. If anybody can understand the importance of choosing your own destiny and not tying yourself down to archaic traditions and customs, it has to be him.”
My heart sank in my chest and that knot in my stomach tightened painfully. Hearing that she was basing this whole quest on nothing more than hope didn't leave me feeling all that great about our chances. But then, what else was I going to do? I was a wanted man on Unduth, so staying there hadn't been a really good option either.
I looked at her and tried to buy into the idea of hope. Hope that we would be granted asylum. Hope that we would be granted royal protection. Because if not – I didn't want to even think about it. There definitely was a lot more to Hatare than met the eye, and I tried to put my faith in that helping see us through this mess.
We sat watching the people of Optorio coming and going for quite a while. I'd never even seen an Optorion before. I'd never really seen anybody not from the fringes before, if I were being honest. It shocked me that we could be on an entirely different planet, these alien beings looked very similar to Unduthians. Aside from the different skin tones and the eye markings – as well as the fact that it appeared the average Optorion was bigger than an Unduthian. Quite a lot bigger, actually.
“I've never seen a woman who could fight,” I said, casting a sidelong look at her. “I've never seen a woman who could handle a blade so dexterously.”
She flashed me a quick smile. “Like I said, I had good tutors. They taught me a great may things.”
“Like how to beat two armed men in a fight,” I asked.
Her smile was soft, but genuine. “One of my father's guards was a man named Lutl,” she said. “He was a lot like me in that he didn't really approve of Unduthian cultural traditions. Thought they were archaic. Lutl wasn't supposed to – he was risking his life – but he taught me how to fight. He showed me a number of different ways to attack somebody – or defend myself. He also showed me how to use a whole host of weapons as well as fight barehanded – in secret, of course.”
As she spoke, I heard something in her voice – almost a sense of longing. I got the idea that there was a definite affection for this Lutl on her end. But I also got the impression that it was unrequited. I wasn't sure why, but I felt a small stab of something within me – something that felt a little bit like jealousy. But how could that be? I didn't know this girl, nor did I have any sort of claim to her. It was a stray, irrational feeling that made no sense to me.
I gave her a small laugh. “You're apparently a very quick learner,” I said. “Because you are really something to see in action. It's like you become a completely different person than this calm, rational girl I'm talking to right now.”
She shrugged and gave me a small smile. “He started teaching me years ago,” she replied. “I had better be proficient by now. And being able to compartmentalize was something he taught me. Take the emotion out of a fight and you're less likely to make a mistake. He taught me that you almost need to turn yourself into a robot during a confrontation so that you don't get in your own way. You essentially become a different person.”
I nodded. It made sense to me – most of it anyway. “Why did you have to learn in secret?”
“Because proper women in Unduthian society do not do barbaric things like fight, or use weapons,” she said. “And we most certainly don't think for ourselves. That's all left to the men in polite, civilized society.”
I nodded again – I was finally beginning to understand Hatare. See where her anger stemmed from. See why she rebelled against Unduthian cultural norms. And see why she ran away from it all.
“And you feel that Unduthian culture is what – misogynistic?” I asked.
“Don't you?”
I shrugged. “I suppose I never gave it much thought, to be honest – ”
“Of course you didn't,” she interrupted me. “Because you're a man and are most definitely not impacted by these rules, restrictions, and expectations they put on us.”
“But then, because I'm one of the scraps,” I said. “I have an entirely different set of rules, restrictions, and expectations. You're not the only one whose life hasn't been – ideal.”
She cast her eyes downward, nodded slowly and seemed like she'd never considered that to be the case before. It was more than obvious she was as ignorant to life as a scrap as I was to living a life of privilege.
“You're right,” she said. “And I'm sorry. I never really considered what life was like out on the fringes.”
We fell into another silence, each of us watching the people walking by – or at least pretending to. A few minutes later, a man sat down beside me on the bench. He was older, his dark hair shot through with gray.
“Unduthians,” he said. “What bri
ngs you to our fair city of Tochasea?”
“Business,” Hatare said quickly.
The man's eyes grew a little bit wider and he licked his lips. “What kind of business is that, then?”
“Our own,” she said, her voice downright frosty.
“Okay, okay,” he said, holding his hands up. “No offense intended. Let me ask you a different question – is there anything I can help you with? I'm a man known to have been of service to a fair few people in my day.”
I looked at him. “We're hoping to get an audience with King Jendrish.”
Hatare cut a sharp look at me, but if we were ever going to get the meeting she was seeking, we had to trust somebody. We couldn't do it on our own and needed some help.
The man ran a hand over his smooth jawline and contemplated us. I could see him trying to puzzle out who we were and what we were about. The longer the silence continued though, and he kept looking at us, I started to get a sinking suspicion that he'd recognized us. My mind was spinning and I feared that he was trying how to best lure us into a trap for the reward.
“An audience with Jendrish, huh?” he finally asked.
I nodded. “Absolutely. We really need to talk to him,” I said. “Urgently.”
The man gave us a small smile. “Just so happens, I have a friend who has a friend,” he said. “Might be able to pull some strings to get you that meeting. But something like that is going to cost.”
Of course it did. Everything cost. Why did it keep surprising me that somebody was trying to turn a profit off of helping us?
“How much?” Hatare asked.
“Five hundred,” the man said without missing a beat.
I felt my stomach tightening painfully. It was a lot of money. More than I'd ever seen, let alone held before in my life. I couldn't believe he'd have the gall to demand so much. I looked over at Hatare. I was obviously, not the one with the money. It was up to her.
She looked up at the grizzled, older man. “Set it up,” she said. “Please.”
Chapter Eight
Mated to a Bear (Legends of Black Salmon Falls Book 3) Page 83