by Jessica Snow
“What do you mean?” I rasp, willing my legs to stay strong. I can stay upright, or I can focus totally on what Neyilla's saying. It's hard to do both. “You want me to be friends with you again?”
Neyilla laughs, tugging on the cable that's now become a leash. “Oh Audra, hardly. Too bad Neyton wasn't able to give you some training before he tripped and fell. How's your pussy, by the way?”
“Sore,” I lie, pretending to be angry and ashamed. Actually, I am angry, but not for the reasons Neyilla thinks. “I'm sure you know that.”
“Don't worry, I'll make sure your ass matches it later,” Neyilla says. She tugs me into the hallway, where two Tamarian servants are waiting. I've seen them before. She uses them for public appearances where she needs extra security. They're thugs, plain and simple, but well-bred thugs who can give Neyilla the proper look when she wants to project strength and refinement at the same time. “Take this human and make sure she's rehydrated and bathed. If she behaves, give her some food as well. I want her strong and ready for this afternoon.”
The guards nod, one of them holding his powerlance while the other takes off my choke collar after Neyilla leaves. They're looking me over, and while I want to hide my nudity, I don't, and instead display my body, wanting them distracted. If they're thinking of fucking me, they're not thinking about my mind or me escaping.
“Will you be trouble?” the armed one asks, tapping the powerlance in his palm. I see the other one is armed as well, basic powerlance models that aren't DNA coded. Interesting.
“No, I'm too fucking tired to be trouble,” I wearily gripe, my strength still fading. Neyilla thinks that the hypnotics worked, but I wasn't trained, and that I'm in need of training. I can be myself with these guards.
“Then we won't have to stun you,” the guard says, pointing with his hand towards the stairs. I walk, actively resisting the urge to cover my body as I walk through the halls, other slaves and staff seeing my nudity. As I approach the slave wing Neyilla uses I even start to square my shoulders proudly again. Take a look, all of you. This is the body and the woman who not only seduced the Crown Prince, but earned his love as well. Take a look at my breasts, at the curve of my ass, at my stomach and the hairless lips between my legs. It is this body, this mind, this woman that he loves, his child grows in my belly, and I will keep the baby safe.
The shower isn't great, barely above lukewarm, but still I take my time, drinking deeply as I wash myself from head to toe, then washing my hair. Feeling it tickle the nape of my neck, I only wish that I'd cut it shorter, so that it would take longer for it to grow out to the length Neyilla likes for her over the top ridiculous hairstyles. When one of the guards taps on the shower stall door, I shut off the water and climb out, taking the offered towel and drying off. “May I get dressed?”
“Yes. Lady Neyilla said that she's provided clothes for you,” the guard says. His partner's left, I guess they've decided I'm tame enough to not need two armed Tamarians for a single unarmed human woman. I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or as an insult. “In your room.”
“I get a room back?” I remark mock sarcastically, and the guard laughs. He points, leading me to an interior room that when I lived here last was just a broom closet. There's enough space for a thin mattress and blanket and nothing else. On a hook on the wall I see a simple shiftless dress with leggings and a thin belt at the waist, similar to what Neyton's sex slaves wore, but with pants at least. “Luxury.”
“Pitt will bring some food as well,” the guard says, standing back while I put on my clothes. The shoes are simple, pull on things that barely cover the feet, but are enough that I can walk outside if Neyilla wants me to. No underwear, but with clothes that look like my future might be as her body servant in more ways than one, and her threat to make my ass sore, I didn't expect any.
Just as I adjust the belt on the smock top, Pitt, the other guard who's been missing, arrives with a foil packet. He tosses it to me, and I can't help it, I laugh when I see what it is. Pitt doesn't understand. “What's so funny?”
“Ration pack breakfast cookie bar,” I chuckle, showing him. “You don't even want to know how many of these fucking things I've eaten in the past few months. Have you guys tried them crushed up in a cup of cocoa mix?”
“I have, although I like mixing in the caffeine supplement too, gives it a pop,” the first guard, who I still don't know his name, says. They're standing in the doorway, watching me while I eat, and I ball up the wrapper, handing it back to Pitt who tucks it in his pocket. “You ready?”
“I could use a nap honestly,” I tell him, looking at the mattress. “Does Neyilla need me right away?”
“She'll call any minute now, but if you want to lay down, go ahead,” the first guard says. “No matter what though, the door stays open.”
“You guys want to perv on me while I sleep, go ahead,” I tease, laying down and closing my eyes. I'm exhausted enough that I can feel myself drifting almost immediately, and it only seems like moments later before Pitt's tapping my leg with an extended powerlance before jabbing me in the hip. “Ouch, I'm awake, I'm awake!”
“Move your tight little ass, Lady Neyilla wants you,” Pitt growls, nowhere near as polite as his compatriot. “I'm to take you to her quarters.”
It's just Pitt this time as we go up the stairs to Neyilla's wing of the estate, to her bedchambers. Neyilla's there, dressed in a sleek gown that I've seen her wear before, it's casual wear for her. Pitt pushes me in, then closes the door behind me. Neyilla turns around, a little glimmer on her face as she brings up a dart pistol just like what Neyton used and shoots me in the leg with it. “Ow! Fuck! What the fuck is it with this family and shooting me with darts?”
“I need you calmed down,” Neyilla says as I pull the dart out, a tiny droplet of clear liquid still inside. “After all, I can't have you helping me to an accident like what happened to Neyton.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, playing dumb.
Neyilla rolls her eyes, staying on the far side of the room while she waits for the drugs to supposedly take effect. “Audra, you think I don't know the effects of both the hypnotic and the libido enhancer? It takes time, especially for someone's who has been a long time between exposures, for the mind's defenses to break down. And I know Neyton disgusted you, my father disgusted me.”
“I always took you for a loving daughter,” I reply, staying still. She's too far away, there's no chance right now. “You're a better actress than I thought.”
“I'll take that as a compliment. You know Audra, that was something I always have liked about you, you are more honest with me than the average slave. I don't know why, but it's also why I dosed you with hypnotics so rarely. So before you think I don't value our childhood friendship, I do. Perhaps too much, considering how you betrayed me. As for Neyton, he was a perverted, disgusting old man who only wanted to fuck and drink the rest of his life away. In all honesty, I think his death was a combination of the two. He wanted a piece of your ass for so long, I even sometimes teased him with it after I'd had fun with you. When you were eighteen, I got a fresh set of Neyla crystals out of just letting him sniff your used panties that I took the night I broke your ass in with my toys. You remember that night?”
“I bled for almost a week,” I reply, trying to keep the anger too much out of my voice. I'm supposed to be slipping under the spell of the hypnotics, not trying to look for ways to crush Neyilla's throat. “I remember. You called it my birthday gift.”
Neyilla laughs, nodding gleefully. “Well, that blood and little bit of pussy juice got me a full new set of Neyla crystals. Neyton was a pig, but he wanted you so badly, Audra. I'm betting he didn't wait long enough to try to get his hands on you, and you reacted. Too bad that's the last time you'll get to do that.”
Neyilla claps her hands together sharply once, and the door to the bedchambers opens, Pitt the guard leading Mathias in. He's naked, and I can see his cock is already hard and surging, his pupils dilat
ed and sweat dotting his brow. I look into his eyes, and he's panting, desperation in them. I turn back to Neyilla, who licks her lips in appreciation of what she sees. “You evil bitch!”
“Mmmm, bitch I can agree with, but evil.... no. You know, you hurt me very much when you took my Mathias away from me, Audra,” Neyilla says. I go to take a step forward towards her, but Pitt grabs me, twisting my arm behind my back and wrapping an arm around my throat. He squeezes just enough to let me know he's got a good choke in, and that if I fight him, he'll break my neck. Neyilla notices, her grin growing. “Hmmm... I suspected, but I didn't think it was possible.”
“What's that, you fucking evil cunt?” I hiss, yelping when Pitt twists my arm more.
“You're immune to the hypnotic. I've heard of it, rumors mostly, of humans that are partially immune to the human hypnotic, but the Tamarian one is effective.... interesting, Neyton said this new batch eliminated that problem. Too bad he's dead, he'd love to experiment on you, make his drugs more effective. Ah well, as it is... Pitt, take this human to my pleasure room. Tie her up very securely, and then I'll see her... after I'm done breaking this one fully. Say goodbye to your former lover, Audra. After this, he's never going to be your Mathias ever again.”
I turn to Mathias, who looks back at me, his chest heaving and his cock bobbing in time to his pulse rate. “Mattie.... I'm sorry.”
“I'm sorry too, Audie. I... I still love you,” Mathias says, then gives me a grin. “Don't worry about me.... it won't be long.”
“Oh how wrong you are,” Neyilla says, reaching for the closure on her dress. Pitt stops, and Neyilla stops, arching an eyebrow. “Well? You're not paid enough to get a look. I don't have all day, I have to get this done before going to the palace for dinner with Tauren, you know. I've got a fucking proposal to get ready for!”
Pitt starts to drag me away, and I try to resist, grunting and struggling as best I can. “Neyilla... I swear to the stars you'll pay!”
“Not until after I get the crown,” Neyilla says, grinning as she closes the door to her bedchamber. Pitt's arm tightens some more, the air cutting off in my throat as he turns me around and starts leading me towards the door to the outer chamber of Neyilla's quarters. Suddenly I hear a bone chilling laugh from inside the bedroom, Mathias' voice, and Neyilla starts to scream, when an explosion tears apart the bedchamber, throwing Pitt and I forward. We crash through the door and into the wall on the far side, the impact causing Pitt's grip to loosen on me. I twist and get to my feet, seeing that Pitt's neck is bent at an obscene angle against the wall. He's dead.
I don't have time to even check on what happened, I grab Pitt's powerlance from his thigh holster and take off running for the stairs. The house is in chaos, and the first Tamarian I see I point my lance at, triggering what should be the plasma charge. They dive out of the way in time and I leap the rest of the way to the ground floor. I have to take advantage of this opportunity, but I can see the way to the transport garage is already swarming with guards. Someone sees me and fires, and I dive out of the way as a plasma ball comes crackling through the air above me.
“Shit!” I grunt, climbing to my knees and taking off in a run. I can see the guards, they're herding me, thinking that I'm the reason for the bomb, which probably makes sense. I know what they're doing, they're trying to pin me in a corner of the estate, where they can then stun or kill me at their leisure.
But they don't know that I know how to operate a powerlance. I look down, and see that while it is an older model than the one I had in the Resistance, the controls are the same. Running around a corner, I quickly set the lance to fire seeker darts. I hate the setting, there's no way to not make the darts lethal, and for a supposedly smart projectile, they are incredibly dumb, tracking any motion that their sensors see and impacting before exploding, regardless if that motion is friend or foe. Tauren explained their limitations to me when he gave me the lesson on how to use them, and I guess for something one-millimeter-wide and five millimeters long, there's not much else you can do. I have to use them though. I can't take time to aim as the half dozen guards come around the corner after me. I squeeze the trigger three times before I take off running again, firing blindly behind me after the first two darts hit something and explode. Hopefully the guards stay back, the seeker darts only have a 50-meter range before their propulsion wears out and they automatically deactivate.
I see a grate in the ground up ahead, and an idea flashes to mind. Another lesson of Tauren's, who gave lectures on urban combat to the Resistance before we were captured. “The capital is one of the oldest cities on the planet, but it's above-ground presence is relatively new,” he'd told us. “When Tamaria was first settled, the region where the capital is now located was too hot and dry for people to live. But, the location was key as it was the site of the best spaceport, and the mineral deposits that were in the nearby mountains were essential to the continued development of the planet. So the city was built, but built underground. Starting at a depth of nearly a hundred meters below the surface, over time as conditions improved they built higher and higher, breaking the surface nearly a thousand years after they first built the city. But instead of destroying the old city, they built on top of it. Tunnels that used to be used for people or machines became sewer or power tunnels. If you're in trouble, and you have to get out quickly.... find a storm drain.”
I see the storm drain cover, and fire at it quickly, blowing the grate off the top. Pointing my lance over my shoulder I fire ten darts as fast as I can, and jump into the drain, glad it hasn't rained in the capital recently. I run, switching my lance to the flashlight option, and go around a curve, heading into the maze that is the city's storm drain system. Hopefully, I'll find an exit somewhere.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tauren
Mother's shaky, her hands fluttering as she comes into the room where I'm strapped down for my afternoon 'vitamins,' but instead of going over to the cabinet where she's kept the drugs she's been injecting me with, she stops and sits down, a tear trickling down her face. “Neyilla is dead.”
“What?” I ask, struggling against my straps. While I'm not sad, I am honestly shocked, especially since Neyton died only a few days ago. Mother notices and hits the release button, letting me sit up. “What happened?”
“We don't know yet, but it has to do with the slaves that Ambaris captured when he recovered you, and a bomb,” Mother says. “I... I'm not sure what to do, Tauren. I mean, keeping the Noble Council entertained is one thing, but this...”
I get off the bed, pulling my undershirt on but ignoring the frilly fashionable shirt Mother had laid out for me. “I'm going to question Ambaris. His estate is close to here, I can be there within minutes and find out what he and his men recovered from the site. Mother, what does Father say?”
“I... I haven't told him yet,” Mother admits. “I was on the way here to give you your shot when I was told by my body servant.”
I nod, and head for the door. “Tell him, Mother. I will be at Ambaris' estate.”
I don't give Mother a chance to answer, and instead run towards the garage area. This might be my chance to find out what's going on and to get Audra back, if she is still alive. Mother said one of the slaves involved in my capture.... the only two I know of that went back to Neyilla were Audra and Mathias. I can't get distracted or let myself entertain negative thoughts right now though, and I run out onto the transport pad, grabbing a guard's hoverbike because it cannot take another passenger. No other seat, none of Mother's spies.
Lifting off, I steer towards Mogar's estate, I can't think of it as Ambaris' yet, and get on the radio. “Ambaris estate, this is Crown Prince Tauren, requesting landing clearance.”
There's a pause on the other end of the circuit, and I'm sure somebody is surprised that I'm calling. “Prince Tauren, this is Ambaris. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I'd rather discuss that in person with you, Ambaris. For security purposes. Now, do I have your pe
rmission, or do I drop my hoverbike into the back yard for fun?”
Ambaris grumbles, but I can hear it in his voice. He's not willing to piss off the royal family, not so soon after getting his long sought after Lordship. He even forgot to be upset that I didn't refer to him as 'Lord' Ambaris. “Understood, Prince Tauren. I will await your arrival on the transport pad.”
It only takes me three minutes to complete my flight, swinging around Mogar's estate in a quick turning maneuver that I learned in the Lancers to bleed away speed before dropping onto the transport pad and jumping off, meeting Ambaris before he even is fully out to the transport pad. With him is a short girl, and I remember her name, Kelbara. She's his daughter, and taking a look at her, I'm glad she takes after her mother. The only similarity she has to Ambaris is that they're both wearing light armor, like mercenaries instead of nobility. “Prince Tauren, it's a pleasure to have you here. May I introduce my daughter, Kelbara?”
“Save the niceties,” I reply, walking past Ambaris and Kelbara and heading for the estate house. “We've got a problem.”
“Of course Highness,” Ambaris says, slightly confused. “What can I do for you?”
“Where's Jensen?” I ask, turning on him. “Neyilla's dead, and the Queen has sent me to find out about activities that some of the Resistance may have been up to.”
Thank the heaven and stars that the full extent of my support with the Resistance isn't widely known, I can play this paper-thin angle as much as I can. I've got no margin for error, and I have to do this right, but at the same time I don't know when I'm going to get another opportunity, and Audra, if she's alive, has never been in so much danger.