by Maia Starr
“Come, human; let’s go.”
Sudden, rough hands were on me, and I was being tugged, forward and forward into the darkness, until we reached an underground bunker that was dimly lit by old-fashioned light sources from early in Helna’s development. Greandol had been using the same crude technology when he had been allowed to tinker in the lab with me.
The thought of the young hybrid boy brought a lump to my throat, and all I could think was that I would have done anything to be back on Earth with him now, giving him the cure to his disease so that he might grow into a strong, healthy young man and escape his fate as a sickly hybrid boy with nobody to love.
“This is the human?” a male voice said from across the room. He was clearly unimpressed, and I bit back the urge to sass him, but only because for some reason, whether I liked him or not, I trusted Pyre. I knew I shouldn’t, and I didn’t want to, but I did. And so I held my tongue as the group of Verian men gathered around me to speculate on my worth.
“She doesn’t look like much, does she?” another man said, reaching forward to poke at one of the golden curls draped over my shoulder.
“Well, if Pyre says she’s valuable, then she’s valuable. We need to make sure she doesn’t get hurt. Who here is the best at driving a thuse?”
About three out of six men raised their hands, promptly ensuing in a macho pissing contest until finally, I was handed off to a tall Verian man with cool, cloudy eyes. It was the first man I had seen, from across the room, who hadn’t been impressed by me at all.
“You best not move even an inch, human, or you’re going to find out the meaning of pain,” he said, looking above my head as if staring right at me were a chore he wasn’t willing to do.
“Yeah, and Blaithe isn’t even threatening you. Road rash from falling off a thuse can make even the bravest of yul cry.”
The men sniggered, quiet sounds that echoed through the small bunker. They abruptly stopped laughing when Blaithe turned away from me and began to walk. The rest followed, including me.
I pursed my lips, doing my best to obey Pyre and say nothing as the men led me down a dark corridor. I suddenly caught a whiff of fresh air – well, as fresh as the air could get on a dying planet – and knew we were close to the entrance.
Finally, we were outside, and I saw that it was twilight. There were no lights for miles, and I had to strain my eyes to find Blaine in the crowd, making his way toward a line of crafts resembling the motorcycles on Earth. As I continued to walk forward, a small patch of dirt road came into view, and I sighed as Blaithe mounted his thuse.
“Sit behind me, human, and don’t you dare let go. You will regret it; I promise you that.”
I didn’t doubt it. The engine began to rumble to life as soon as I settled in behind Blaithe, and I held onto the little railing that was beside my seat. The thuse took off quickly, and I let out a little yelp of fear despite my vow of silence. One by one, the other Verians caught up to us on thuses of their own, surrounding Blaithe’s completely so that nobody looking in at us would be able to tell that there was anybody in the center of the group.
They were disguising me, I suddenly realized. But they hadn’t exactly been treating me well either. Was it possible that they were going to help me get back to Earth? Or were they breaking me out for some other reason that I didn’t understand yet? What did they want with me? And could I trust them to be any better than Arke had been? There was no way of knowing. All I had to hold onto was the small glimmer of hope that maybe Pyre wasn’t as evil as I imagined.
“Get off the thuse, human, and under this blanket. We’re going inside.”
I was a little bit disoriented once the thuse came to a stop and a man draped a heavy brown blanket over me. It was the same agitating material of the blanket in my cell, and I couldn’t wait to get it away from my face.
But it remained in place as I was led, basically blind, into a cool building. I shivered despite myself, and when the blanket was taken away from me, I was standing directly in front of Pyre.
He looked handsome in his casual wear, his silver hair now tied away from his angular face and his eyes much less angry than they had been in my cell.
“You are safe from Arke now, but you are going to have to stay here with me.”
“With you?”
“We are in opposition to the Doyan’s regime. Yoltaz is a cruel man, with little regard for anything outside of his own interests. That being said, you are too valuable to leave in the hands of the Doyan’s men.”
“Where am I supposed to sleep? I don’t really feel very well,” I said. I had been trying to keep my composure, but the fact was that ever since arriving on the planet Helna, my health had begun to deteriorate. It was going from bad to worse, to be honest, and even though I was a leading scientist, I was bewildered by my body’s rebellion to the planet Helna. It was, perhaps, the conditions of the prison cell I’d been left in, but I couldn’t be sure.
“In here,” Pyre said, leading the way down a dark hallway to a room that was outfitted with metal bars just as the shack in the prison had been.
“What the hell…” I mumbled. So they were breaking me out of one prison and had apparently ended up taking me somewhere else I would need to be rescued from. Why couldn’t they just take me back home?
But I was too worn out to fight. All of this had just been too much.
“Come, human, and drink this that you may find peace.”
I walked wearily into my new cell and took the clear mug from Pyre’s hands. It was full of a warm, comforting-smelling substance; one that made me want to smile just from smelling it.
“Lay and sleep now, human. You have earned a good night’s rest.”
I sank down onto the cot, relieved to find that the blankets here were silky and soft. I took a deep drink of the substance in the mug and before long, I was sound asleep.
***
“No, let me go!” I was screaming. “Don’t hurt Greandol!”
But the men in the Verian armor were dragging the young boy away, injecting him with a serum much like the one that had been in Pyre’s needle when he had appeared in my cell to save me.
“Don’t let them take me!” Greandol shouted to me. I reached out, just able to touch his small fingers against my own, but as soon as I did, his fingers turned to sand. The enemy had injected him, and he was crumbling right before my eyes.
“It is time to wake, yula,” Pyre said, his voice breaking into my dreams. When I opened my eyes, hot tears were streaming down my cheeks, into my hair, and Pyre was smiling an oblivious but charming smile. “Are you well? You look disturbed in some way. Human dreams are quite peculiar. Verians rarely have such visions in the night.”
I sat up quickly and covered my body with the soft pastel colored blanket, averting my eyes away from Pyre’s. I had no idea whether this man was a friend or a foe, but from what I understood, most of the time, friends didn’t lock you up in their houses. It just wasn’t done.
“I understand. You do not have to answer me just because I ask. It is your personal business.”
“How considerate of you,” I grumbled, daring to venture from my cot and stretch to greet the morning. I had to get thoughts of Greandol out of my head. It was just too painful. The nightmare had felt all too real.
“Did you sleep well?” Pyre asked, a knowing smile flickering across his face.
“Does it look like I slept well?” I asked, knowing my face was still blotchy from crying. I had always been the kind of person who got red and splotchy when overcome with emotion, and I turned away from Pyre, embarrassed for him to see such a display of emotion on my face.
“It looks like you have had a hard time being abducted,” he said decidedly. “But don’t worry. When you have told the opposition all you know, you will be free to go.”
“To go where? To breed with the other females like you told me before? No thank you.”
“Well...it wouldn’t make sense to send you there. The council thinks
that you are dead.”
“Dead?” I asked, looking sharply at Pyre. “Why would they think that I’m dead?”
Pyre’s eyes glittered from the other side of my cell. I could have smacked him. But I kept my composure and instead chose to hold his gaze until he told me what he knew.
“There was only one way to release you without the Doyan becoming suspicious. Besides, they already got what they wanted from you. Arke told me that.”
Pyre’s face fell as he seemed to contemplate the implications of the Doyan knowing what I knew, but it was all the same to me. They were both alien enemies as far as I was concerned. Whether he had a group of rebels or not, he had stolen my freedom from me. There was no more despicable act in the world than that. I would never find it within myself to forgive him for it.
“Well, that doesn’t mean that you’re going to get any information from me,” I said, setting my jaw.
“Maybe not,” Pyre said, his optimism returning. “But that will never keep me from trying.”
“What are you going to do? Beat me up for it?” I asked, furrowing my brow at Pyre.
“Not yet,” he said, shoving a small bag through the bars of my prison. “But if we have to, we will do what it takes. Our mission in the world means everything to us. Believe it or not, the opposition does not agree with the destruction of Earth to serve Verian purposes. It’s foolhardy.”
I looked in the bag and my heart skipped a beat. “My clothes…”
“I had them cleansed. You will probably find they smell of the altar, but it is a small price to pay for comfort. I figured you might want them back. At least until we can find you something more suitable to wear.”
“These are more than suitable!” I snapped. “Now get out of here so I can change. I don’t need you out there staring at me.”
Pyre grinned but did as I requested, and soon I was left alone in the privacy of my cell. It is impossible to describe just how much better I felt wearing my own clothes again. The familiar white lab coat draped over my arms made me feel snug and secure, even though I was obviously in a bad position.
I took the chance to examine the room I was in; it was more like a bedroom than the cell in the shack, and definitely about twice as big. At the far end was a small writing table, and a metal door that I assumed led to a bathroom. The bed was a real bed, granted a small one, and above it was a window with curtains that were bolted to the wall, so that nobody could see in or out. Other than that, it was quite homey.
“Mealtime!”
I jumped at the sound of the little Pelin’s voice, especially since I had been gazing right out the opening of the cell when he spoke and yet I hadn’t seen him creep by.
“Thank you,” I finally managed to stammer.
“Human isn’t feeling well,” the Pelin said. I could feel him studying me from behind his thick brown hair, but I couldn’t see his eyes or any features except his large, lanky hands and feet. “I shall bring the broth. You will certainly see a difference.”
“It’s all right,” I said, holding my hand up. I didn’t want to trouble the little man; after all, he was yet another slave of the barbaric Verian race. But my protest was ignored, and soon the little Pelin was trotting down the hallway, out of sight.
I took the tray he had slid through the bottom of the door and carried it to the little writing table. I longed to enjoy the sustenance, to feel it strengthening my body, but there was something so difficult about being on the planet Helna. It seemed nothing could make me feel better. Whether it was an illness or a result of the injuries, or just the simple fact that I was trying to survive on a planet that was nearly dead already, something just wasn’t right.
“Human! Please, take the broth! Drink it now, and then lie down. You will be troubled no more this day.”
I readily trusted the little man and walked to him, taking the broth gratefully. I could tell without seeing his expression that this pleased him, and he gave me a funny little bow before scattering away.
“Are you ill?”
Pyre’s voice agitated me immediately as his tall form appeared in front of my cell’s door. He sounded concerned, but I knew he was only concerned for his own well-being. My health meant nothing to him if it didn’t mean that he would be able to get the information he needed to outsmart the Verian government.
“I’m fine,” I said stubbornly, drinking the broth down as heartily as I could without gagging. Frankly, it was hard to keep anything down, but I was managing. I had always been a stoic, especially when it came to illness, but with the way I was feeling on the planet Helna, it was difficult to hide how I felt.
“You look pallid,” Pyre said. “Much paler and you’re going to resemble a Verian.”
I glared at him as he chuckled at his own bad joke. “Drink the broth; the Pelins have healing hands. They will care properly for you. You’re going to need to be in good health.”
“How else would you further your damn cause?”
Pyre was quiet, his golden eyes reflective and still as he studied me. For a moment, I felt exposed in a way I never had been before, which was ridiculous considering I had finished dressing long ago. Still, it had caught me off guard for a moment as I considered what that look might possibly mean. Did he see me just as a prisoner? Or was there more to it than that? I couldn’t dare hope for kindness. He had been pleasant enough, yes, but I had dealt with enough men to know that pleasant and genuine weren’t always the same thing.
“I understand you feel ill. Please just lay down and rest. We will see to it that you get better before we ask you any questions. Nothing is more important than your health.”
I glared up at him, but my features softened when I saw the strained expression on his face. He seemed to want to say something else, and for just a moment – a brief blip of time that came and went before I could barely register it – I wanted to believe that he meant what he was saying.
I opened my mouth to reply, but before any words had the chance to escape my lips, he was gone.
***
“The human…I’m afraid there is little hope for her now…”
I tried to open my eyes, but my vision was bleary. All I could see were little blurry ovals, one pale, a Verian, and one much smaller and full of brown. A pelin.
“Don’t say such things, Barvaa. She will pull through. Ariel is a fighter; aren’t you?”
I tried to open my mouth, to try to tell Pyre not to speak so familiarly about me. He was my captor, not my friend, but no words were able to pass from my throat through my mouth. A small, strained gurgle sounded, and the two men backed away in alarm.
“She is conscious,” Pyre said, his masculine voice a hushed whisper. “Do you know what that means?”
“She can hear us,” the Pelin said, waving his hand in front of my face. I followed it with my eyes, but still, it was a blob-like circle that was impossible to see clearly. “Can’t you human? You can hear us?”
I gurgled again; I liked the Pelin man genuinely. Maybe I felt like I could relate to him, feeling as if he were forced to serve the Verians. The Pelin and Pyre exchanged looks, but I couldn’t tell what they were meant to signify, and suddenly my body was weightless, cradled against the broad, muscular chest of Pyre as he lifted me and carried me down the hall, out of my cell.
At first, I was overjoyed to be free of my confines at last, but soon I began to feel fear. Where was he taking me? Why couldn’t he just leave me alone in my bed to die? Was this some last-ditch effort to get information from me before I passed away?
“The ceremonial bath will help you, Yula,” Pyre said, his voice a gentle rumble in my ear. I was helpless as my clothes were stripped from my body and my naked form was dipped into sweet-smelling warm water. It felt nice, I had to admit, and my head tilted back involuntarily as I sank toward the bottom.
But soon, my body was being cradled close to Pyre’s again, and he was behind me, supporting me so that my head did not get submerged. It was shockingly intimate, and if I
had enough strength, I would have fought him. But I didn’t. I was forced to endure his firm grip upon me as the warm water washed over me.
“This will cleanse away the impurities, Yula,” Pyre said into my ear. “It isn’t just mythical nonsense of spiritually minded Verians. There is a science to the cleansing.”
The mention of science perked me right up, and, perhaps sensing that he had my full attention, Pyre continued.
“The waters here are charged, just as they are on Earth. There is a magic in water; some people with little education might say that it is deeply magical and magical only, while others simply know that it is one of the key building blocks of life. But you know that already, don’t you?”
I wanted to nod, but still, I could barely keep my head above water.
“A lot of the illnesses that are spread on Helna are caused by tiny metals that are absorbed through the skin. The pollution on the planet has become severe, and the scientists are still working on figuring out what causes the erosion. Still, we see this often enough. People getting ill in this way. Toxicity.”
So I was sick from the dying planet? In a way it made sense, but now I just wanted to get right to the root of it all and figure out what was breaking down and why the Verians thought this ritual cleansing would help anything.
“Humans may be more vulnerable; most of the time they are not permitted outside of quarantined areas, like the prisons and breeding camps. This is because it protects the humans from injury, illness, and death. Females from Earth are very valuable.”
I shuddered as Pyre’s long finger traced up my arm, spreading a trail of water over my exposed flesh. It sent heat thundering through my body, but I had to ignore it. What else could I do? I was practically paralyzed!
“The sacred water has been blessed and taken from a spring which they say has healing properties. The fact of the matter, scientifically speaking, of course, is that it is charged enough that it attracts the metals that are lodged in the skin and pulls them out; they are used to continue to add to the charge of the body of water that extracts them.”