by Kate Sander
Tory took a step back and loosened her shoulders, ready for a fight. One guy, should be easy enough hand to hand. She just needed to...
Shit.
The cracking of twigs behind her made her heart sink. She was surrounded.
"What have we got here, boss?" a man behind her yelled. Another two or three cackled. "Looking like it's a good time for us."
The man in front of her smiled. "It does, indeed. I have to say, it's been a while." He stepped closer to her and raised his hand to brush her hair.
She may not be a Zoya, but Tory could fight. Grabbing the back of his hand and twisting hard, she knocked him off his balance. Using his momentum against him, she lowered her hips and whipped her foot around, throwing him into his cronies behind her.
She didn't look to see the outcome, instead trusting her speed. She turned and ran.
"GET HER!" the man yelled behind her.
Yelling and hollering, the group gave chase.
Tory was fast.
They were faster.
The book and the stupid gem slowed her down. She couldn't bail on the pack, that would just be giving the Ampulex the Remiel and the Book of All. It slammed into her back as she tried to make her escape. Powering ahead, she didn't get far before one of them grabbed the backpack and pulled hard, ripping her off her feet.
Cackles of laughter surrounded her.
"Awww, is the little lass hurt?" a voice sneered at her as she struggled to catch her breath and find her feet. A boot landed in her stomach and pain seared across her belly, making her lose her breath again.
Coughing, she rolled back to her side as the men around her laughed.
Four of them, she thought, looking at the number of feet. C'mon, Tory, you can take four. You've always been able to take at least four.
She tried to get up to her feet again, but another one kicked her in the stomach again to torrents of laughter. Collapsing, she felt an emotion creep up that she'd never felt before: helplessness.
These guys had gotten the drop on her and, though her fighting skills were vast, Tory didn't know how she was going to get out of this.
"Let her up," the leader said.
The men cackled. When Tory didn't move, one grabbed her by the hair and lifted her to her feet.
The embarrassment was worse than the pain.
How had she allowed herself to be in this situation?
They roughly ripped her pack off her back and tossed it away. The leader was smiling a cold, disgusting smile as a massive asshole held her arms behind her back.
She stopped struggling, terror ripping through her.
At least the book and the Remiel will be safe, she thought as the leader stroked the side of her face, sending chills down her spine. They will do what they want with me and hopefully leave the pack.
"See, boys. She's not even fighting anymore." The leader put his hand around her neck and squeezed. His other hand began ripping clothes and grabbing at her.
The laughter around her, the smell of the guy’s breath holding her, the sheer disappointment at how this could ever happen to her rocked her to her core. How could she ever allow this to happen to her? She was smarter, faster, stronger, better, than to allow this. The leader squeezed her breast and shudders went through her spine.
"See." he laughed in her face. "The bitch loves it. You love it, don't you, bitch?"
Tory wanted to spit in his face, but she couldn't.
How could this happen to her?
He squeezed her neck tighter.
"Tell me how much you like it," he whispered. His breath stunk and made her want to vomit.
Be quiet. Don't say anything. It's the only power you have left.
Helpless.
Tory, daughter of a Zoya, general of the Melanthios army, commander of the Remiel and keeper of The Book of All, was laid helpless by one asshole and his three goons.
"Oh tell him how much you like it," the asshole holding her laughed. She could feel how hard he was as it poked into her back. It made her sick.
"I asked you a question," the leader said. He leaned forward and squeezed. Tory was starting to black out.
Good. Death was better.
His face began to blur. He reached between her legs and Tory tried to focus on something else, but she couldn't. She was useless. She was nothing.
Just die.
But he let up on her throat. And Tory's insides twisted. It wouldn't be that easy.
It never was.
She closed her eyes.
A sudden scream and a hot liquid splashed on her face.
She knew that smell.
Blood.
Tory wasn't sure where it came from. Suddenly, the goon holding her dropped her roughly onto her stomach. He stepped hard on her back, knocking the wind out of her. Something happened and the goon yelled and ran, taking his weight off her chest.
Wiping at her eyes she took deep breaths, trying to return oxygen to her brain. The sounds of battle and yelling echoed around her. Swords clashed, men yelled and swore. Tory managed to clamber to her knees.
Three were dead lying around her. The giant asshole and the leader were locked in battle with a girl.
Tory had to do a double take. She was maybe fifteen or sixteen years old. Copper skin, long brown hair, flourishing a khopesh style sword. She spun quickly and dispatched the big guys head from his shoulders.
"TRAITOR," the leader yelled at her. "I will tell the Queen Mother and King Father of your ways." He attacked with a vengeance.
"Go ahead," the girl spat, "I will tell them of yours. You think they want you out here raping women when you should be tracking? You're a disappointment, Camora. And I will have your head."
Camora screamed and attacked with a flourish. The girl dodged easily and spun, swinging low, lopping off his leg at his knee. He screamed as blood spurted and he collapsed to the ground.
The girl stood over him.
"You," she said to Tory, not looking up from the wretched man’s face. "Will you do the honour?"
"Gladly."
Tory walked over and the girl stepped away and held out her curved sword, hilt first. Tory nodded and grabbed it, taking the girl’s place standing over him.
Camora was going white and shaking. Tory smiled.
"Tell me how much you like it, bitch!" She said, raising the sword over her head.
His eyes went wide.
Tory swung down hard, lodging the sword deep in his brain.
Tory stepped back, elated.
"Thank you," she said. "I can't repay you."
"Not asking you to," the girl said. She leaned into the sword and had to rock it back and forth to dislodge it from his brain. "I may be a traitor, but the Ampulex aren't an army that does this shit. If I hadn't defected I would be killing him anyway."
Tory shook her head.
"Eris," the girl said with a grunt, finally getting the sword free. "And you are?"
"Tory."
"Cool. Nice to meet you. I have no family or friends. Want to team up? I've been following these guys, hoping they'd take me to the enemy so I could join up with the resistance or whatever. Guess it was a good call."
"Sure," Tory mumbled, numb from the events.
"Awesome. Where we off to?"
Tory looked around at the carnage and tried to think, but nothing would come into her brain.
For the first time, she didn't know.
She didn't know anything anymore.
20
Senka
"I HATE BOATS!" Senka yelled, between heaves as she puked over the railing. Kai continued to lick himself in the sun, ignoring her completely. Ujarak sat by the mast, whittling a piece of wood. The sailors quietly laughed to themselves at the sight. They were smart enough to know not to piss off the woman with the jaguar.
"The captain says we are almost in Anzen," Ujarak said, not looking up.
"That's what you said yesterday," Senka snarled as she returned to her usual position, when not hanging over t
he edge puking, of sitting on the ground with her head between her knees trying to breathe to keep the nausea at bay.
"The sea sickness should pass soon," Ujarak said.
"You said that last week," Senka said. "Still hasn't passed."
Ujarak didn't respond, wisely choosing to keep his eyes on his work.
"Fuck fuck fuck!" Senka said. She dry heaved and leapt to her feet, running to the railing to vomit some more.
Ujarak smiled to himself knowingly.
"LAND!" the lookout in the crow’s nest yelled. The sailors cheered. Senka managed a weak thumbs up between heaves.
It didn't take long for Senka, Ujarak and Kai to be on a small rowboat, heading slowly to the distant shore.
"Tell me why they don't get any closer," Senka said weakly as Ujarak rowed.
"They do not go to shore. It's too dangerous."
"Heartening. Why is it too dangerous?"
"The captain wouldn't say. I feel as though they are smuggling and their presence is not well received by the current government."
"The Ampulex?"
Ujarak shook his head. "They would not say. But yes, I believe the Ampulex are involved in some way. The Captain highly suggested that we not go to shore."
Senka huddled in a coat, trying to keep the nausea away. Kai gave her a friendly lick on the cheek then went back to his nap.
"Yeah you're all nice and cuddly since Ujarak and I saved your ass," she said affectionately as she rubbed his neck. "You feeling better?"
Kai purred his response. Senka lay her head back and closed her eyes.
How does Freudman have anything to do with the Ampulex? Better question, how did Freudman know that Tomo's pills created Zoya. There's no way to tell from her world, especially since the person was dead. That was the whole point, creating Zoya that couldn't be killed in her world.
Why did Freudman care so much about that? Was that a threat to the Ampulex somehow? Killing Zoya in her world? That still didn't answer the question of how Freudman knew that the pills worked.
Unless...
"No," Senka breathed out loud.
"No?" Ujarak asked, barely breathing hard while rowing.
"He can fucking talk to them," Senka said. "That's how he knew that the pills worked. Freudman can talk to someone over here."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Excited, Senka sat up. "I have to text Carter and tell him-" She stopped herself. She couldn't text Carter. She couldn't even speak to Carter. She was dead in that world. There was no waking up. There was no seeing Carter or her mother or brothers again. The weight hit her, pushing on her chest.
She could never see anyone she loved ever again. There was no waking up from this one.
A surprise to everyone in that tiny rowboat, Senka started crying. Big tears fell as the weight of never seeing Carter or James or her mother or her other brothers pressed in on her.
Ujarak looked at Kai in a panic. Kai stared back, both unsure of what to do. Ujarak had never seen Senka cry. Senka was a tough, emotionless, killing machine.
Her sobs crackled and she couldn't lift her head, tears streaking her face. Finally, decision made, Ujarak made a potentially deadly move. He let the oars fall quiet and took Senka into a massive bear hug.
Thankfully Senka didn't kill him. Instead, and surprisingly, she buried her head into his shoulder as sobs wracked her body. Kai nuzzled her shoulder, unable to really move and get closer due to the small size of the rowboat.
It took a while, but Senka managed to calm down and pushed Ujarak away.
The incident would never be mentioned again.
"I need a fucking drink," Senka muttered as she sat back in her chair. Kai put his heavy head on her shoulder.
Ujarak started rowing for the shore. "That makes two of us."
They pulled the rowboat into the bushes a few hundred yards away from the docks of the small coastal village. The style of building reminded Senka of Feudal Japan, with many peaks on the roofs, multiple floors and sharp edges.
"Kai, go scout," she said.
Kai bounded away through the trees, barely making a sound.
"Handy," Ujarak grunted.
Still queasy from the week and a half at sea, Senka gave him a weak smile.
"Stick to the beach?" Ujarak asked.
"Easy for you to say, you actually have a weapon you like." She spun the two short swords that Ujarak had given her. They weren't balanced properly and it was hard for her to know exactly where the edges were. Plus, the fight with the giant wasps had done a number on the sharpness of the edges, and despite her best efforts on the ship, they remained dull enough to run her finger over them.
Ujarak shot her a big smile and started jogging on the beach towards the town.
Senka sighed and ran to catch up. Her legs were weak and it was hard to run straight. The nausea remained and she burped in her mouth, tasting bile.
Still much faster than Ujarak, she easily caught up to him, and they jogged quietly together on the beach.
Senka felt strangely at peace. It really was beautiful. The waves hit the beach softly and the sunrise made the water a beautiful pink and gold. The salt air went deep into her lungs, and instead of making her vomit as it had on the ship, it cleared her head. The beach jog was a good idea. It was annoying how right Ujarak usually was.
They approached the village and slowed at the same time, Senka remaining slightly ahead of Ujarak. Just like the old days. The village looked abandoned. Doors swung in the wind, banging eerily. No one walked the streets. Old laundry laid in the middle of the dirt roads, trampled and filthy, ground into the grit. The docks were empty and pottery lay shattered.
The village had been abandoned in a hurry.
A low rumble greeted her from the left. Kai was there, watching the village from the trees.
"There's someone here," Senka said quietly. "Only one person. But something is wrong."
"How do you know?"
"I can feel it. Kai is telling me."
"Threat?"
"I'm not sure," Senka said. There was nothing worrisome. They could easily defeat one person in the abandoned village.
"This place is a disaster. Wonder why the sailors were afraid to come ashore?" Senka said as she walked out of cover to the street. Ujarak followed, careful to watch the windows above them. Senka held up one finger and Kai stayed in the trees.
A shadow passed a window above them. Ujarak caught the movement out of the corner of his eyes. By how Senka's shoulders relaxed ahead of him, he knew she'd caught the movement too.
"I'm sure they had good reason," Ujarak said, carefully avoiding the broken pottery. They went up the road, away from the shadow. "They must know something we don't."
Footsteps behind them. Quiet, but easily discerned in the silent and depressing surroundings. Senka tapped her index finger on her thigh three times.
"I wonder if there used to be Ampulex here?" Senka asked loudly. Ujarak nodded.
Senka turned swiftly, raising her swords. Kai swooped in from the shadow of a small house along the street. Ujarak turned as well, as fast as he could, but laughably slow compared to the Zoya and her panther.
The man following them had no chance and dropped his bow with a scream as Kai launched himself at him and pinned him to the ground with his front paws.
"No no no no no no!"
Senka let out a low whistle and Kai bared his teeth and held his jaw an inch from the unarmed, weeping man.
"I wouldn't move," Senka said with a smile, while walking slowly up to the man. He was skinny, with long brown hair tied into a ponytail behind his neck. He looked as if he were in his early forties, but his weeping reminded her of a child. It was disgusting to watch.
The disgust crossed her mind, then she was reminded of her breakdown in the boat. She pushed it away. Maybe she cried, but she'd never begged for her life.
"We don't take kindly to someone pointing a bow at our backs," Senka said as she reached the man’s hea
d. He was trying to look at her while simultaneously keeping an eye on the giant cat’s fangs a foot from his face. The result was comical, as his head bobbed from side to side, and his mouth moved silently like a fish.
"I'm just protecting myself," he mumbled.
Senka wrinkled her nose as the smell of urine hit her.
Disgusting.
"Kai," she said. "You can let him up. This snivelling mess won't hurt us, will he?"
"No no no. I promise I won't hurt you."
Kai stepped off and sat a few feet away. Ujarak gave Senka a sidelong glance and pushed past her, grabbing the man's hand and helping him to his feet.
"Sorry, friend." Ujarak grunted. "My companion can be a little... aggressive."
Senka shot him a glare and spat on the ground.
"Why were you going to kill us?" Senka asked pointedly, completely ignoring Ujarak. The man looked around himself in terror, catching Kai's eye. Kai growled lowly and the man let out a little scream.
"What's your name," Ujarak asked gently.
"T-t-t-Tang."
"Alright, Tang," Ujarak said. "My companion and her furry friend there won't hurt you. We just have a few questions we need you to answer."
Kai raised his hackles at the insult and anger fired through Senka. Ujarak felt the rage, yet didn't care.
"What happened here?"
"They came," Tang sobbed. "They came and took everyone."
"Who came?" Senka snapped.
"The Ampulex. They came and they took everyone. There were hundreds of them. They took them."
"When?" Senka asked.
"A year ago," Tang said.
"You've been here, alone, for a year?" Suspicion crept up on Senka. Something wasn't adding up.
"N-n-not alone," Tang said, refusing to meet her eye.
Senka and Kai heard it at the same time. The slow scrape of metal on rock. Senka knew that sound. She'd spent enough time in prisons to know that it was the sound of someone shackled to a wall.
Tang reached for her as she pushed passed him and ran into the nearest house, Kai on her heels.
"No!" Tang yelled after her. "No! It's not what you think!"