by Amy Miles
Hyde’s eyes widen and then he lowers his head and chuckles, deep and throaty. His long black hair falls over his eyes as he begins to cackle. “Oh, that is rich!”
He slaps his knees and stomps his foot against the ground. Though he continues to laugh I can feel waves of anger flowing off of him. I wait impatiently for him to look at me once more. When he does raise his gaze to meet mine I am surprised to see tears glistening along his lower lashes. “Do you have any siblings, Queeny?”
“No.” I could tell him that Eamon, Toren, Zahra and Aminah are the closest people that I could call to a normal family, but I don’t. The information and the feelings attached to them are far too personal to share with a guy like him.
“Didn’t think so.” He wipes his arm under his nose. “You see, a brother has a solemn duty to always protect his kin, no matter the cost. Sometimes he can do his job without too much trouble but others...well, let’s just say sometimes it can get messy.”
I blow out a deep breath and draw my legs up toward my chest, preparing for what I assume to be a rather lengthy lecture on why and how this has anything to do with me.
“That guy over there seemed like a nice enough guy at first. Heck, in the beginning I even approved of him. My little sister was thrilled to have finally found her genetic match. I gotta admit I was a bit concerned when I found out that he was not only from Earth but he was my commanding officer. Contrary to what you might think, I used to know how to take orders.”
“Somehow that doesn’t even seem possible.”
He smirks. “Yeah, well I did. I was a good soldier. I did my work. I fought enough battles to lose count. Life seemed good. Niyah was happy; at least I thought she was.”
“So what happened to change all of that?”
His gaze hardens as he raises a hand to point at me. I scoff and roll my eyes. “You can’t seriously be blaming me for this now too.”
Hyde’s grim nod sends chills racing down my spine. “You may not remember your life back on Earth as well as you think you do, but my memory is just fine, Queeny.” He spits to the side again but this time I think he does it out of disgust rather than necessity. “That guy over there up and ditched my sister for you and that’s the truth of it.”
My mouth gapes open. I blink rapidly, trying to decide if Hyde is just pulling a sick prank on me or not. Judging by the vein pulsating down the center of his forehead and the ruddy tint to his cheeks he is not in the joking mood.
“I have never met that man before last week. What you say is impossible!” I protest.
Hyde pushes out his lower lip and runs his finger along it. He pushes up off the floor and rises to his full height. It’s the first time I’ve seen him stand and I realize that he is probably a few inches taller than Vondran and certainly taller than me. “Just cause you don’t remember him doesn’t mean I’m lying. You nearly tore apart Drakon’s city because he tried to kill Bastien. Rumor has it you snatched him back from death on the night you killed Aloysius. The way I figure it, if he hadn’t done some sort of voodoo magic on that brain of yours you’d be shacked up with Bastien instead of your current husband. Funny how things turn out, huh?”
“I don’t see any humor in that insinuation at all,” I growl.
He tilts his head to look down at me with a knowing gaze. Goosebumps rise along my arms. “Question you gotta ask yourself now is that if you do get those memories of yours back, how you gonna live with yourself knowing that he’s lying right there because he was fool enough to throw himself in harm’s way for you again?”
I sit with my head turned away from Hyde as I curl in upon myself. Sleep refuses to come. There’s no way it could after what the things he implied earlier. It’s not like I can’t read between the lines. Hyde believes that I’m a home wrecker, but that’s insane. I don’t even know his sister, and I sure as heck don’t remember Bastien even being near Drakon’s city. I went in to save Eamon, period!
A groan from behind me captures my attention. I roll over and feel my breath catch as Bastien shifts. Hyde throws me a knowing gaze as I start to rise but decide not to feed into his fantasies. Instead I cross my legs before me and call out to him. Bastien doesn’t move again but his breathing has changed. It is still labored but in a different way...in a more lucid, pain laced way.
I watch him for several minutes, silently begging for him to pass out again. Despite my burning need for answers I know that the merciful thing would be for him to black out and wake once his wounds are healed.
“Seems a bit odd that they would leave him like that, don’t you think?”
I glance over at Hyde to see him picking his teeth. I have no clue what on earth he’s digging for since he hasn’t had a meal in over a week but maybe it’s a force of habit. Something normal amongst all of this craziness. Although I would love to be able to combat his observation I know that he’s right.
“He won’t be of any use to them in this condition,” I whisper.
Hyde nods in agreement and flicks something off his fingers. “Seeing as how they healed up your boy Reyes over there I’d say that they have different plans for Bastien.”
I grit my teeth, knowing that snapping at Hyde for speaking the truth isn’t going to make me feel any better. I turn my gaze toward Satal and find him watching me again. He seems to be intrigued by me, though I have no idea why. He meets my gaze fully for the first time and I realize that although his eyes hold a shine in them like a feline at night, there is a light deeper within. A light surrounded by nothingness. No emotion. No soul. No humanity.
“Where are you from, Satal?”
“Oh, don’t bother,” Hyde remarks, waving his hand toward Satal. “Guy doesn’t talk much. And when he does it’s not about anything useful.”
“Seggrern.”
Hyde and I turn together to look at Satal. “Seggrern?” I repeat. He nods slowly. “Is that a city? A planet?”
Satal says nothing more and I find myself nearing the desire to tear at my hair and scream. Why do these people have to be so difficult?
“Told you,” Hyde smirks.
Another moan from Bastien has me holding my breath. This time his fingers curl into fists and his back arches. He is in pain!
Having fallen several feet away from me, he is out of my reach, but as I lift my gaze from over his right shoulder I see that Hyde is well within distance. “Help him.”
“Why should I?” he scoffs.
I purse my lips, almost grateful for having the collar to prevent me from tearing into him. “Because it’s the decent thing to do.”
Scratching his beard, Hyde seems to think it over. I fight to control my rising temper as he tilts his head to the side. “Nah. I think I’m good right where I am.”
The pounding in my head intensifies as my fingers curl into fists so tightly that my nails dig into my flesh. The lights around us flicker. Hyde glances up, surprised. “Hey, did you--”
A sudden intake of breath from my right startles me. Marius bolts to a sitting position, his hand pressed to his chest. “Marius? Are you ok?”
He turns slowly to look at me with eyes still haunted by his dreams. “We are here.”
TWELVE
As I am thrust through a wide opening in the side of the D’Hatil ship and out onto a grated platform, I realize that the sauna-like conditions of my cell were far better than what lay in wait outside. Sweat drips from the end of my nose and trails down my forehead to sting my eyes. My hair feels heavy around my face, plastering to my cheeks in the stifling heat. I wish that I could tie it into a knot so I could experience some amount of relief.
My hands are manacled before me, chained together so that my palms crisscross each other. A matching chain runs between my legs, latching me to my cell mates. Reyes and Vondran shuffle before me in a slow, halting gait. Hyde walks directly behind, stepping on the backs of my heels from time to time. Marius pulls up the rear.
I have seen no sign of the girls, nor of Bastien. He screamed in pain as he was
thrown over a Roamer’s shoulder and hauled out before us, his head hanging so low to his chest that it appeared broken. I take a small amount of comfort in knowing that at least he is alive...for now.
I squint against the brilliant white light all around, dazzled by it despite the fact that a thick canopy of green hangs high overhead. The light seems to not come from above but from everywhere. As if the trees and vines themselves were the source.
“How is this possible?” I whisper, staring about me in wonder. Bugs of varying colors shimmer as they fly past. Some are no larger than a fingernail. Others are the size of my fist. They all have a fluorescent color to their shells and seem to let off a small amount of light. I blink to make sure that the shimmery trail of light behind them isn’t just my imagination.
Hyde leans forward and whispers in my ear. “Enjoying the view, Queeny?”
I grit my teeth and resist the urge to slam my foot down on top of his, but only because I know that it would cause me to stumble. “I have a name, you know?”
“Course you do. Don’t mean I fancy using it though.”
I choose to watch Vondran’s lank hair swing to and fro before me instead of responding to Hyde. He would like that too much. He seems to take extreme pleasure in riling me up. Guess he’s trying to get back at me for being mean to his little sister, I muse sourly. Apparently the fact that I have no memory of wronging his sister counts for nothing!
A scent hangs on the air that reminds me of rotten garbage. I sniff twice, trying to place it. “Gas,” Vondran calls back over his shoulder. “It’s rising from the swamp. Try not to breathe too much of it.”
“Sure,” I mutter, feeling the sweltering heat beginning to wear my patience thin. I can almost see moisture droplets hanging in the air before my eyes. My clothes rapidly drench with sweat. I peer over the railing at the ground and see a dense off white fog hovering over the ground. The scent of rot and decay sits heavy in my nose. “I’ll just be sure to hold my breath the entire time we are here.”
I cast a glare back over my shoulder at Hyde, knowing he won’t be able to resist that set up. He shoots me a toothy grin and I roll my eyes. “Grow up.”
“Nah. Life’s way more fun this way.” He groans as a hand swings out and catches him in the ribs. I hear him cough, wheezing slightly. I look over at the Roamer guard that stomps beside me and imagine that the grunt that rises from its throat is a laugh of approval. I almost smirk...almost.
The metal grate beneath my feet tears at my flesh. It doesn’t take long before I am stumbling more than walking. Blood coats the bottom of my feet, but as I glance down I can’t tell if it is my own or from the prints left from those before me.
When we reach the end of the long ramp and level off onto normal ground, I realize that I prefer the feeling of the metal over the slimy surface of this foreign planet. Each step is arduous as I am forced to yank my foot free only to sink back into the stinky sludge. It feels like tar against my skin, hot and tacky. We only move half a dozen steps before I begin to weary. The problem with being chained to other men is that I am forced to keep pace or risk being walked over.
I search the canopy above for any sign of a sun or moon but find none through the dense covering. The trees here are enormous, towering well over a hundred feet above my head. Their trunks are large enough that it would take five of the Roamers to stretch around them, standing hand in hand. Wild vines of varying colors of green and blue dangle from the trees. Some of them sway despite the lack of breeze.
In fact, now that I think about it, I haven’t felt a single gust of wind since I emerged from the ship. Nor have I heard a cry of a bird or a flap of wing apart from the flying insects. It is almost as if nothing can survive on this wretched planet but what I suspect to be carnivorous plant life.
I lower my gaze and glance at the Roamer nearest me. It has donned a full breast plate of bone and rock. The stones are purplish in color, dark and veined with black. The bone is slightly yellowed and judging by the one stretching across its chest, I suspect it to be human in origin.
The great giants move effortlessly through the sediment, their claws digging deep to give them traction. They hold great wooden clubs with spike-tipped ends over their shoulders. Some have a belt of cloth tied about their waist to keep them from being exposed to the naked eye. Others seem far less concerned with modesty.
I glance at a Roamer nearby and feel my cheeks flush before darting my gaze away. Hyde was right about their proportions. Those poor girls!
Hissing up ahead brings my face around to the front once more. Our small group comes to a stop and I am thankful for the brief rest. Without needing to glance back over my shoulder I know that we have not traveled far and yet I feel as if I have been forced to run the length of the entire planet.
“What’s going on?” I ask, unable to see over Vondran’s shoulder.
His hair seems to move in one sweaty mass as it sways along his back when he tries to look back at me. “We just met up with the other groups.”
“Groups?” My stomach drops at the thought.
“Yeah.” I can tell by the tension in his voice that’s it’s not good. “Seems like there were a lot of pit stops along the way. Some of these creatures aren’t exactly human.”
The desire to shove him out of the way so that I can see is strong, but I resist. A part of me doesn’t want to know just how bad it really is. “Can you see the girls?”
“No.” The finality of his words makes my hopes plummet. “Can’t see any, to be honest.”
“What do you mean?”
This time Vondran shifts, tugging on his chains so that he can turn just enough to look at me. “You’re the only female that I can see.”
The trek across the swamp lasts for several hours by my best guess. Only the occasional curse from Hyde or muttered complaint from Marius breaks the stillness. The farther we trudge into the swamp, the worse the terrain becomes. I sink all the way to my knees several times and fear that I will never be free again. Two Roamers stay close to my side, yanking me free when it becomes clear that I am not able to escape on my own.
The air in the swamp is thick in my lungs, making it hard to breathe properly. My arms grow tired from the near constant swatting at swarms of bugs that buzz about my face, attempting to enter my nose and through my mouth. I spit to the side, disgusted by this foul place.
Despite my mounting annoyance with Hyde, I have to admit that his random outbursts are comforting. Whether he is being irate over a particular smelly bog or flapping his arms at an enormous winged bug with a full set of teeth, he keeps me alert. I would never come right out and thank him for it, but I think he might be the only reason why I actually make it to the other side.
Days without water paralleled with the arduous trek leave me near collapse when I finally claw my way out of the muck. My hands and legs are coated in the filth. I tremble from exertion and when a unified hiss sends everyone collapsing on to the ground to rest, I willingly go with them. I don’t even care that Hyde is pressed up against my back. At least I know I’ll remain upright.
“Are you alright?” I look up to find Reyes watching me. The weight of the neck clamp feels nearly unbearable now and the concern in his eyes touches me. I smile and nod, too weary to speak.
“Course she is,” Vondran smirks, tossing a hefty rock that he just dug out of the ground into the mire pool behind us.
I cry out as a great finned creature rises from the mud and sinks back down only a few feet from us. “Those things were in there with us the whole time?”
Hyde laughs, shaking his head. “Leave it to a Queen to assume a swamp wouldn’t be filled with all sorts of nasty things.”
I straighten my shoulders in defiance. “Why didn’t they attack us?”
“Maybe they prefer eating rocks instead? Probably a much tastier snack than you.” What I wouldn’t give to wipe the smirk right off Hyde’s face right about now.
“Ease off, Hyde. She’s been through enough.”
Reyes warns. I noticed that his grip on his chains has tightened. I doubt even at this close distance that he would be able to throw a punch without taking Vondran and me out in the process, but he looks tempted.
“Why? Because she’s a girl? Please,” he scoffs and rolls his eye. “If she isn’t tough enough to deal with me there’s no way she’s making it off this God forsaken rock.”
“He’s right.” I sigh, closing my eyes and wishing that they could remain closed. I haven’t caught more than a few moments rest since I awoke from my nightmares on the ship. Sleep deprivation, hunger and dehydration are things I can deal with even if I can’t control them at the moment. “I should have expected it.”
“No,” Reyes shakes his head. “Don’t even think of agreeing with him. He’s being a prick on purpose.”
I laugh and find that once I start I can’t stop. Tears stream from my eyes, clearing trails of grime from my face. My companions look at me as if I have lost my mind but I don’t care. It feels good to laugh even when there is no apparent reason for it.
“It’s in his nature,” I say, wiping my eyes. “He may be a full-fledged pain in my backside but at least he is consistent.”
“Well, golly. That almost made me feel special,” Hyde mutters sourly. I pick up a clump of mud and toss it at him. It hits him in the neck and slowly slides down to the edge of his sweat stained collar. “Did you really just throw a mud pie at me?”
“Sure did,” I grin. Vondran chortles while Reyes and Marius grin openly.
Like it or not I am stuck with these guys. Might as well accept that fact, Hyde and all.
Hyde shoves me off him and I slam into Vondran. He reaches out his bound hands and helps to steady me. “Lean on me. I can support you.”
I offer him a grateful smile and press against him. “How long do you think they will let us rest?” I ask, laying my head against his shoulder. The only solace I find in being this close to Vondran’s sweaty hair is that the swamp just behind us smells far worse than he does at the moment.