by Anna Hackett
Rage exploded in Blaine. “Bastard.” He lunged forward.
Saff leaped up, pressing her body against Blaine’s to hold him back. “We’re outnumbered.”
“He was there. Almost every night.” Blaine tried to breathe but his chest was locked tight. “He was the one who ordered the drugs. Always more drugs.”
“You are my property, fighter,” the Srinar said.
“I belong to no one,” Blaine spat.
“You made me a lot of money. Money I’ve lost since that high-handed imperator Galen interfered.” The Srinar tilted his head. “You liked the drugs. I’ll have my men bring some in now, and we’ll remind you just how much.”
“You’re a sadistic bastard.” Blaine lunged again.
He broke past Saff’s hold, but three guards rushed in front of the Srinar, swords held out.
“Where are the women? You took them, didn’t you?” Blaine demanded.
The Srinar shrugged. “They are none of your concern.”
Blaine turned his head, his gaze meeting Saff’s. She pulled the chain away from him and was threading it in her hands. She gave him a tiny nod.
She wanted to fight. This wild, fierce woman would always stand by his side and help him take down his enemies. Whether those enemies were inside or outside of him.
He gave her a nod back. Like clockwork, they both spun and attacked.
Blaine plowed into the closest guards, ducking swords and smashing fists into jaws. Every time he turned, Saff was there to plug the gap as he regrouped. They worked together, slamming hard blows into the Srinar’s guards.
Blaine’s blood was singing. He grabbed one guard, gripping the man’s harness, and spinning and tossing him. He landed in a nearby fountain with a splash.
Blaine turned and ducked. Tackling one guard and kicking at another. Beside him, he saw Saff shove a guard into a pillar hard enough to crack it.
When Blaine spun again, raising his bleeding fists, all the guards were down and groaning.
“Blaine!”
The urgency in Saff’s voice made him spin. She was staring at the empty chair ahead.
The Srinar was gone.
Chapter Ten
Saff saw movement at the doorway. A flash of purple.
“That way!”
She and Blaine bolted out of the room. They raced through the house, following the fleeing Srinar. They broke into a large common area. Saff leaped over some couches, and sent some women scattering with high-pitched screams.
Another glimpse of purple. “There!”
She and Blaine took the corner fast, sprinting hard. They stumbled out into a long corridor. The Srinar was running as fast as he could, but he was no match for trained gladiators.
They gained on him, and Saff dived. She tackled the Srinar, and they hit the ground hard.
“Where are the women?” She got on top of the man, pinning him to the floor.
The Srinar’s eyes were wide.
“Where are they?” She slammed his wrists against the floor. She felt Blaine behind her, a big menacing presence. The Srinar’s panicked fear battered at her. His gaze flicked past her shoulder. There was no cockiness or confidence now. Only stark fear.
Saff lifted a hand and pressed it to Blaine’s chest. He vibrated with the need to attack.
“Tell me,” Saff purred, “or I’ll let him loose on you.”
The Srinar licked his swollen, scarred lips. “I don’t have the women. I just dropped the hints that they were here in the desert to lure my champion back.”
Drak. Saff stared at him. Was he lying? She couldn’t tell.
“If you’ve hurt them…” Saff’s hands itched for a weapon.
“I knew you weren’t a slave,” the Srinar said. “As soon as I saw you, I knew you’d be perfect for my fight rings.”
She stilled. “Galen closed your precious rings.”
The man snorted. “Hardly. I just had to move them out of Kor Magna.”
Drak, drak, drak. “Where?”
He shook his head violently. “I’ll never tell you. You’re one of Galen’s toys.”
“I’m no one’s toy, sand-spawn, but that’s right, I do stand with Galen.”
“That doesn’t matter. Everyone can be broken, eventually. Just like him.” He jerked his head toward Blaine.
Blaine didn’t move, just stared at the man.
“You think he’ll ever be whole again?” The Srinar laughed, a harsh, fractured sound. “It doesn’t matter where he goes, or how far he runs, his soul is mine.”
Without thinking, Saff pulled her hand back and slammed a punch into the Srinar’s head. His head snapped back and he cried out.
“No, his soul is his, scum.” She punched the Srinar again, opening a gash. Blood started to flow.
“Don’t hurt me!” the man whined.
“You have no qualms about hurting anybody else,” Saff spat. “People far weaker than you.”
“Please—”
“Why should we grant you anything?” Blaine’s tone was rough, dark. “Why? I heard others beg you for mercy, and you laughed at them.” A harsh breath. “Where did you move the fight rings?”
“I…I closed them down.”
“No,” Saff said silkily. “You said you moved them, and a man like you wouldn’t close down your moneymaker. Where are the fight rings? And where are the women?”
A crazed glow entered the Srinar’s eyes. “You’ll never find it, and you’ll never find them.”
Suddenly Blaine lunged past her, slamming a hard fist into the Srinar’s face. Blood splattered.
Shouts echoed from deeper in the palace. More guards were on their way.
Drak. They’d be overrun, and they had no weapons. “We need to go. Now!”
Blaine gripped the Srinar’s shirt and dragged the man upright, staring him in the face.
Doors burst open at the end of the corridor. Plasma fire splattered the wall beside them.
She knew Blaine was already slipping past rational thought, the wild darkness in him taking over. He wanted answers and revenge, and wouldn’t stop until he got them.
She wanted them, too, but it wasn’t worth his life.
Saff grabbed Blaine’s arm, and yanked him backward. He stumbled with her, dragging the Srinar with him.
“We’ll take him with us,” Blaine growled.
She wanted to, but he’d slow them down and right now, they needed to get out of there. Already the Srinar leader was dragging his feet and shouting.
“We can’t make it out carrying him.” She kicked the Srinar away.
Saff yanked Blaine toward a doorway and pulled him through. He let out a low growl.
“Later, Earth man. Right now, about twenty guards are coming after us. Run!”
Thankfully, Blaine didn’t argue. They sprinted down a corridor, burst through yet another set of doors, and into another rug-lined hallway. She tried a door, and they slipped inside. It was a well-appointed bedroom, with elegant wall-hangings and a huge, low bed. A large window covered only in elegant lattice looked out onto a large terrace beyond.
“There!” She ran toward the window. Skirting the bed, she picked up speed, turned her shoulder and leaped against the screen. The decorative lattice shattered under the force.
Saff tumbled out, rolling on the tiled terrace before coming back up on her feet. Blaine burst out behind her, landing in a crouch. She stood and assessed their position.
For a fraction of a second, her gaze snagged on the stark, yet magnificent, view of the desert. A flat plain of rocky sand lay in all directions, as far as the eye could see.
“We’re on the opposite side of the oasis,” she said. “We need to find another way out.” She hurried to the railing and looked down.
She cursed. Below them was a sheer cliff, leading down to the desert far below. There was no way down from here. The cliff was too steep and one slip would be certain death.
Beside her, Blaine rammed a fist into the railing.
Sh
e spun, looking back along the terrace. They didn’t have much longer before the guards found them. Then she spotted something at the end of the terrace, carved into the rock of the cliff. Stairs. “Blaine.”
He spotted them and nodded. Together, they ran toward the roughly-cut steps. They appeared to lead up above the house.
As they reached the steps, the sunlight glinted off something on the lowest tread. With a frown, Saff knelt and snatched it up. She held the tiny object out on the palm of her hand.
She sucked in a breath, recognizing it instantly. It was an earring—a hoop encrusted with shiny stones.
“It’s Dayna’s,” Blaine said. “She was here.”
The sound of shouts sent them running up the stairs. They came out on a flat platform, and Saff’s heart sank.
There was nowhere to go. This platform didn’t even have a railing. Beyond it was the steep drop of the cliff and harsh desert below. Behind them were the incoming guards.
They were trapped.
“We fight,” Saff said.
Blaine nodded, his face grim.
Suddenly, a loud, earsplitting squawk made them spin. That was when she noticed the tiny overhang in the rock at the back of the platform. Beneath it, a large creature was resting in the shade. It hopped to its feet with a shift of its powerful body. Then, it snapped out its wings.
It was a winged creature the size of a tarnid. It wore a thick metal collar around its scaled neck, and a metal chain kept it anchored to the rock.
Saff wasn’t sure what the creature was. Carthago’s deserts were renowned for its beasts. But looking at it, she felt discordant emotions hit her. It was always harder for her to make sense of what animals felt, but there was one predominant feeling she got from this creature. It wanted to fly.
She glanced at the guards thundering up the stairs toward them, then back at the beast. She hurried over to the creature. “The hook in the wall is old and rusted. We need to break it.”
“What?” Blaine stared at the animal. “Shit.” But he followed her, grabbed the chain with her, and together they heaved.
They strained again, and a second later, the chain broke free of the rock. Saff took a deep breath, and approached the animal. It flapped its wings, but didn’t panic.
“We’re going to set you free, big guy.” Drak, she had no idea how long the thing had been captive. What if it couldn’t fly?
With the guards cresting the edge of the platform, she didn’t have time to worry. She leaped onto the animal’s back. It let out a huge squawk, hopping around on the ground and clearly unhappy.
Blaine jumped on behind her.
Plasma fire spayed the ground, sizzling as it ate into the rock.
Time to go. She gently dug her toes into the creature’s side. With another large squawk, the animal leaped into the air, and extended its wings.
Saff let out a wild yell, gripping the beast as hard as she could. Behind her, Blaine wrapped his arms around her waist, his curse swallowed by the rush of air.
The beast dove a short distance, making Saff’s stomach dip, before soaring out over the desert.
***
The flap of the creature’s wings was loud as they flew through the air. As the animal arced in a wide turn, Blaine tightened his grip on Saff. Fuck, they were a long way up.
He heard Saff laughing as she leaned her body into the animal’s turn. She was enjoying this.
But Blaine was acutely aware that they were flying far from the Srinar fortress. Away from the Gaia Oasis.
The creature appeared to be heading toward a collection of jagged spikes in the distance. Mountains, maybe? In places, the rocks looked like needles spearing into the sky. He guessed that was the winged animal’s home. Blaine sighed. At least it could go home.
He ground his teeth together. The fucking Srinar. They didn’t care about any other species. They caught, captured, chained and caged.
And they had Dayna, Mia, and Winter.
He stared up into the pale-blue sky, and then toward the horizon, where the first of Carthago’s suns was slowing sinking below the edge. Hold on. Wherever you are, we’ll find you.
The animal flew higher, catching some thermals and gliding up and down on the hot air. Who knew how long it had been chained, how long it had been deprived of the pleasure of flying?
Soon, they flew in over the strange, twisted mountains. The rocks here were a dark red, and occasionally he saw spiky trees of a brilliant blood-red. Like nothing he’d ever seen before.
Then the creature started to descend. It soared in lower, the rocks getting closer. Blaine spied a winding narrow canyon through the mountains, and the creature headed toward that. As they neared the ground, Blaine’s jaw clenched. The damn thing was coming in too fast!
With another flap, it contracted its wings in close to its body. It landed on the rocky ground, skidding a little on the gravelly soil.
Quickly, Saff and Blaine hopped off. The creature spun and snapped at them with sharp teeth. It looked at them for a long moment with intelligent eyes, then with another flap of its wings, it launched itself back into the air.
Shit. As the bird grew smaller in the sky, Blaine realized they were now lost in the desert, far from the oasis, with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.
“Do you still have the comms device?” Saff asked.
Blaine dipped into his pocket and pulled it out. He pressed the button and heard a hiss of static. “Galen? Are you there? Are you picking us up?”
More static.
Dammit. “Galen? Come in, please.”
No response.
Blaine’s shoulders sagged. “There must be interference or we’re out of range.”
Saff set her hands on her hips, looking around. She didn’t look concerned at all. “We need to find shelter.”
“It’s not too hot,” Blaine said. “We should start walking back to Gaia. Lore and Nero know something went wrong, and will have contacted Galen. They’ll be looking for us.”
But Saff shook her head. “The suns are setting.”
“Right. It’ll be cooler.”
“Night in the desert brings out all kinds of creatures. Hunting creatures with sharp teeth. Creatures we do not want to run into, especially without our weapons.”
Blaine instantly remembered the huge gates of the oasis. He realized they weren’t designed to keep people inside…they were for keeping dangers out.
“So we need to find shelter.” Saff stared up at the steep sides of the canyon “We’ll hole up for the night, and walk out tomorrow.”
He gave a nod. Together, they headed deeper into the canyon, following the path’s twists and turns. The ground was hardpacked, and he wondered if animals used it a lot. Even though the suns were setting, it was still hot, and he felt like the back of his neck was sunburned, his skin damp with sweat.
“Look,” Saff said.
He looked to where she was pointing. Up the rocky slope to the side, he spotted the mouth of the cave. He hoped to hell that nothing lived in it.
They scrambled up the slope and entered the darkness. Instantly, the temperature dropped a few degrees, and he savored it. As they moved deeper inside, he realized the cave was actually a tunnel, leading deeper into the hill.
The walls were slick rock in shades of orange, and every now and then small bones crunched underfoot. It didn’t look like anything lived here permanently, but it clearly got used for shelter occasionally.
Suddenly, the tunnel opened up into a small cavern.
Saff gasped and Blaine whistled.
The space wasn’t big, and was roughly cylindrical. Faint light trickled in from above, and when he glanced up, he saw an opening in the ceiling. But instantly his gaze was drawn back to the rock walls.
“The rock’s glowing,” he said. The rock pulsed with light, washing the cavern in an orange glow.
Saff nodded. “This type of rock absorbs light from the suns. It’ll dissipate during the night.”
But that wa
sn’t the only amazing thing. He walked closer to the walls and the alien artwork carved into them.
“Incredible,” he said.
“I’ve never seen anything like them.” Saff ran her hand over the pictures. “They look really old.”
They made Blaine think of ancient cave art back on Earth. There were simple images of humanoids and animals etched into the stone. People hunting, building shelters, doing activities like collecting water, dancing, burying their dead.
He heard Saff make a sound and he spun. She was standing in front of more art on the other side of the cavern.
He joined her and his jaw tightened. An arena was carved into the wall. It was crude, but the people and animals battling inside it were clear enough.
“The mythical Zaabha?” he asked.
“It could be.” Then Saff turned and laughed.
The sound made his head whip around. God, he loved the sound of her laugh.
“Hear that?” she asked.
He tilted his head, and caught the tinkle of water.
Saff grinned, her teeth white in the darkness. “Looks like it’s our lucky day.”
They passed through another opening into another cylindrical cavern. Ahead was a tiny waterfall, trickling into a small pool of water.
“Is it safe to drink?” Blaine asked.
“The desert springs are known to be the best sources of water on the planet.” Saff crouched and scooped some water to her mouth. Then she reached down and yanked a few twisted plaits of leather off her dress. He watched as she crouched and grabbed two rocks. With expert skill, she struck the rocks together a few times. A spark flared. She kept at it, striking the rocks near the leather ropes until they started to smolder. Soon, they were burning, and she tied them up on the wall.
“This is molexian leather,” she said. “It burns well, but slowly. It’ll give us some light once the suns set and the rocks stop glowing.”
His gaze fell to her long neck and that damn collar. He wanted it gone. He strode up to her and she stilled. He unclicked the collar and tossed the offending item across the cave. It clunked on the rock.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since I put the damn thing on.” He grabbed her arm and lifted it, turning it over so he could see the ugly brand. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to it. “This should not be on your skin.”