It was locked, but the new enhancements to his arm allowed him to easily bypass this obstacle. The locks were not very strong and all he had to do was turn until they gave. He made a note in his head to thank Mia again for all her hard work and entered.
Six girls huddled together on one small bed. They ranged from younger than Anadilcia all the way to much older than he was. They shuttered and gasped when he entered, a few even began to cry. He noticed they were dirty and all wore the same white dress, ripped almost beyond usefulness.
Anadilcia was not among them.
Aegion couldn’t believe what he was seeing, this was unforgivable! He wanted to help these girls, do anything he could for them, but he still needed to find Anadilcia.
“It’s okay,” he said as softly as possible. “I’m not gonna hurt ya, I’m not with them.”
An older woman who looked like she’d been here for quite some time stood up and studied his face a few seconds before speaking.
“Y-you’re not here to…to…”
She began to cry and Aegion had no idea what to do.
“I’m here ta help, but Imma need yer help as well. I’m lookin for a girl, she’s young, bout 12 years old, caused a ruckus here a few days ago. They would have brought her back just this mornin or maybe last night.”
“Are you talking about Anadilcia?”
Aegion felt dumb for trying to describe her instead of using her name, but let it pass.
“Yeah, you know where she is?”
“I don’t know if it’s her,” another one said from the bed, “but they brought someone in and locked them up across the way.”
Two of the other women spoke at the same time, “Are you really here to help us?”
He didn’t know what to say, this added a whole new complication to things. He didn’t have time to waste helping them, but he also knew he couldn’t turn his back.
“I am.”
They all cried out and stood, thanking him and singing his praise. He took the time to come up with a plan and quieted them down when he had something.
“Alright, first things first, any more of ya here?”
“Yes, there’s another group of girls next door.”
“Alright, I’ll get them out, too. Now, which one of you can I depend on to be in charge?”
One of the younger girls stepped forward. He hadn’t even seen her until now, and realized that she hadn’t been crying. She looked a bit lost, but strong willed and determined. “You can depend on me. I will do whatever it takes to get us out.”
“What’s yer name?”
“Karina.”
Aegion nodded, “Alright then, Karina. You wait here until I return. I’m gonna send the other girls in here as well. Ya need to stay quiet until I return, ya understand?”
They all nodded.
“Alright, ya might need this,” he said, handing the young girl one of his pistols. “Now don’t go using it unless you absolutely have ta. One shot and the whole place’ll know yer there. Got it?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Alright, just calm down now, I’ll go get the other girls and be back here in no time, just remember to stay quiet till then.”
They all sat back down on the bed, the young girl who took charge hiding the pistol as best she could. He gave them one last nod and left the room.
The situation next door was similar, though the girls here were all children or teenagers and didn’t seem to have been here as long. Aegion took note that they all wore the same white dress as the others, and nothing more. Something more than slave trading was going on here and it wasn’t good.
However, it wasn’t until he opened the third room that he was sure. The smell of blood hit him hard and caused him to gag. The stench of death was so strong, he began to feel dizzy almost instantly. He covered his mouth and nose with a piece of cloth that he used during sandstorms, but it hardly helped.
Once he regained control of his senses, he looked around and was horrified to find a room that looked very similar to Mia’s operating room, each of the metal slabs with a body on top. There were six in all, each held a lifeless woman with tubes sticking out of every part imaginable. They all wore the same white dress, though these were stained red.
He checked to see if any of them were still alive, but was dismayed when none were. He left the room as quickly as possible, closing the door and gasping for fresh air. He leaned against the wall, choking while still trying to stay quiet.
He had been in plenty of horrible places in his life, but this would haunt him forever.
* * * * *
Once he had control of his stomach once more, he turned to the final room, the one that held Anadilcia.
After what she had done during her first visit, he expected some resistance once inside, so he tried his hardest to break the lock quietly.
He cracked the door open and peered inside. There she was, dressed just as the other girls were, but her white dress was clean and elegant. She laid on the bed, eyes closed and breathing shallow.
Her breath wasn’t the only one that he heard in the room, which confirmed his assumption that she would be guarded. However, it didn’t matter how many were in there, he came too far to turn back now.
Instead of some elaborate plan to fool the guard inside, he kicked the door open and jumped in, pistol drawn. Only one guard was inside, his large gun sitting next to him propped against the wall.
Aegion leveled his pistol at the mans head, who was so shocked he hadn’t even tried to reach for his weapon.
“I’m not the killin sort of man, but if ya say a word without me askin, I’ll kill ya. If ya so much as scratch yer head, I’ll kill ya. And if that girl over there is hurt, Ill kill ya. Am I understood?” Aegion said with such authority he surprised himself.
“Now,” Aegion started, moving over and grabbing the gun from against the wall. He had no idea how to use it, so he just discarded it well out of reach, “is the girl alive?”
The man nodded.
“Has she been hurt or touched in anyway?”
He shook his head.
“Ya better not be lyin.”
The man shook his head frantically. Aegion went over to Anadilcia and checked her. She was breathing and even looked peaceful.
“What did ya do to her?”
“I-I didn’t do it.”
“Fine fine, I mean why aint she wakin up?”
“They drugged her.”
“They did what?” Aegion stepped closer to the man and placed the barrel of his gun against his temple.
“Just a sedative! Something to keep her out of trouble!”
“How can I wake her up?”
“H-here, this. Just give her a shot of this and she’ll be awake within a few minutes.”
He took the vial from the man and grabbed the injector off of the table near him.
“Anything else I need to know before I wake her?”
“N-no, just inject that and she’ll be fine. A bit out of it for a few hours, but fine otherwise.”
“Well, I thank ya for tellin me the truth.”
“Does that mean you won’t kill me?”
“Hmm, I told ya I was not the killin type.”
“Thank y-”
Before he got the words out, Aegion hit him on the back of the head with his pistol, knocking him out cold.
“I never said I wouldn’t hit ya tho.”
He loaded the vial into the injector and used it on Anadilcia. Her breathing increased and became somewhat labored and her heart rate increased. She began to sweat and Aegion started to worry.
After about a minute, she sat up with a start. Sweat covered her forehead and dripping down. She yelled out and hit Aegion, pushing him away. She jumped out of bed and readied herself for a fight.
“Leave me alone! I swear, I’ll,” she paused, looking around the room. “I’ll…Aegion is that you?”
Hearing his name from her lips made his heart sink and a smile grew on his face.
She jumped into his arms and held him so tight, he almost couldn’t breath. She began to cry uncontrollably. He put his arms around her and a tear dropped from his cheeks as well.
“I knew you’d come for me, I knew it. I never gave up, I knew you’d save me.”
“Well,” he said, between sniffs, “Yer my daughter and all, can’t just leave ya here.”
She pulled back from him, “Y-you know I’m your daughter?”
“Wasn’t hard once I thought about it. You look so much like yer mother, plus that attitude of yours,” he trailed off.
She laughed between cries, hitting him on his chest.
Then the reality around Aegion hit him, they had a job to do. Now that he had Anadilcia back, he wasn’t going to lose her because of some careless brutes activating an ancient bomb.
“Anadilcia, listen ta me carefully. Where is the item that you stole?”
“They took it from me when I got here, I’m guessing it’s back in the treasure room, but why?”
“We need ta get that outta here. There’s a man waiting for it up top.”
“You met the hooded man?”
“How’d ya know?”
“He is the one who helped me escape, told me not to tell anyone about him though.”
“Makes sense now. Did he tell ya what ya were holdin?”
“Nope, just that I should hide it and not let anyone get their hands on it.”
“Well, from what he was tellin me, it’s bad. What’s worse is they accidentally activated it when they brought ya back here an now we’re all in danger.”
Anadilcia was speechless.
“I-it’s my fault. If I had just ran and hid like he told me to…”
“It’s not yer fault, it wasn’t yer responsibility. Besides, had ya listened, we may have never met, and…”
She smiled and hugged him again, “Lets go.”
Chapter 8
After gathering the group of women, Aegion and Anadilcia moved towards the Treasure Room. At first Aegion had suggested leaving the women in their room until they had grabbed the bomb, but Anadilcia insisted they all go together. He didn’t want to take the time to argue, nor could he think of any good reason to, so he gave in.
The treasure room door was made of metal and had a lock that was much stronger than the rest. Aegion pulled his pistol out and pointed it towards the lock, but Anadilcia stopped him.
“Wait! Are you always so rash?”
“What ya mean? Ya mean on my arm? It’s-”
“No, no. I mean are you always so reckless? Look, I can take care of this, just give me a second.”
She knelt down next to the door and searched the floor and found a long thin piece of metal wire. Aegion wondered how it was that she could see such a thing, as it was the same color as the ground, but then remembered this wasn’t her first time through here.
It only took her a minute to pop the lock, impressing Aegion and also making him question exactly what type of life she had lived up to this point to have honed such a skill. For now, he pushed the thought in the back of his head and opened the door slowly.
As he passed, Anadilcia smiled at him as if to ask if he was proud of her, and he was, probably more than she’d ever know. Although they had only just met, he had a lifetime of pride inside of him waiting to escape. No other woman he had ever met, including Anadilcia’s mother, had been able to brighten a room with just a smile as she had, and he couldn’t help but smile back with a goofy grin.
Behind him he heard her chuckle, but it was time to get down to business and he knew the clock was ticking.
What he saw in the next room made him cock his head to the side in vast underwhelming indifference. There were no stacks of gold or ancient machines, nor were there timeless art pieces or modern day marvels. No, instead, the room was small and held only a few pieces of jewelry, all that looked too cheap to put so much care into hiding, and a wall full of books.
Aegion knew very little about books, so his first thought was that they were the treasure, but then he remembered the way Anadilcia described the room.
“Um, I think we took a wrong turn or somethin? Definitely not what I was expectin.”
Anadilcia had finished helping the group of women into the room, closing the door behind them, and approached Aegion.
“Did you really think they would put their treasure behind nothing more than a locked door, Dad?”
The word lingered in his ears, distracting him briefly.
“Well, I’m not one to hide my goods, everythin I own I keep on me.”
“That’ll have to change when we get out of here,” she said, but didn’t wait for him to reply. She hurried to the bookshelf and started to search along the third row. Finally she found a book that seemed less dusty than the rest and removed it. She reached far into the back of the bookshelf and pulled on something.
He heard a clicking noise somewhere in the wall and then a snap, followed by the familiar hiss of steam. After a few more seconds, the whole wall raised into the roof, revealing a passageway beyond. It was dark, only lit with the oil-fire lamps that lined much of the mines.
“This way, everyone. Should be safe once we get in here and close the secret passage. From what I was hearing, most of the men down here don’t even know about this, let alone know where to find an entrance,” Anadilcia spoke quickly, already guiding the women in.
“There are more like this?” Aegion asked.
“Yeah, all over this place. In fact, the one we’ll take to get out of here leads right into the main hall.”
“And how did you-” Aegion shook his head, “Let me guess, our mysterious friend?”
“Yep! He is the one who showed this to me. He’s the one who told me to take the machine or whatever it is in the first place. I curse him for that because I doubt they would have chased me if I had just escaped. However, he also saved my life, I couldn’t have gotten out of here without him.”
“Sounds like he’s a good man, even if he’s got his own agenda. Lets just hope he knows what he’s doin when it comes to that contraption.”
They traveled swiftly along the tunnel for a few minutes, Anadilcia in the lead with Aegion right next to her. Behind the group Karina held strong, watching to make sure nothing sneaks up behind them. He had a feeling she had practice with a weapon before, which wasn’t too common theses days, with weapons stronger than a piece of wood banned from most settlements.
Anadilcia stopped at an intersection. One was well lit and lead deeper into the ground while the other seemed to slope slightly upwards but had very little light.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just give me a minute, I don’t remember this.”
“Well, I can bet they would put their treasures deep inside this place, lets go left. It stands to reason that they would keep the important tunnels well lit,” Aegion said, starting down the tunnel he selected.
“NO! Wait!” Anadilcia yelled, stopping him in his tracks.
“It’s the other way.”
“Ya just said you don’t remember this.”
“No, but I also don’t remember going further down. The hooded man also told me to be careful, these offshoots are put here and trapped.”
“Traps?”
Instead of explain further, Anadilcia grabbed a rock and threw it as hard as she could down the tunnel. Before it could hit the ground, a beam of light shot out from the wall, disintegrating the stone.
They all gasped and turned to Anadilcia.
“That was not expected. I thought the cave would collapse or something.”
“Right it is then.”
After a few more forks, all with the exact same pattern, they made it to the door of what Anadilcia pointed out as the real treasure room.
“I think it’d be best if ya all waited out here, only take me a moment ta get what we came for,” Aegion whispered to the group.
Karina nodded in compliance while Anadilcia shook
her head, “There are a lot of us, even if we each just grab a hand full-”
“I don’t steal, even if it’s from those who already stole. If we were gonna do anythin, it would be to return everythin to the rightful owners, and unless ya know who they are, no way to go about that.”
“But, Dad, we could-”
“We take what we came fer, and that’s it.”
She paused for a minute and then agreed, “Fine, but if I see anything with a name on it, I’m taking it! At the very least we could get a reward for returning a stolen item!”
He knew she wouldn’t give in, and this was better than just taking whatever they could get their hands on, so he agreed and tried the door, this one wasn’t locked.
This time, Aegion’s jaw dropped, it wasn’t just a few pieces of jewelry and some books, the room was filled with gold and silver and machines of all shapes and sizes. Some looked brand new, while others looked ancient. The room itself was larger than any other he’d been in, save the cavern itself. The roof must have stretched up two or three dozen feet, with some of the larger machines almost reaching it.
“Dad, if nothing else, lets look around and see what is here, chances are we’ll never see anything like this ever again.”
“On that one we can agree. Keep an eye out for that device ya stole the first time, grabbin that and gettin outta here is still somethin we need to hurry up and do.”
They split up, though he made sure to stay close enough to her, just in case. He studied machine after machine, and sat in awe when he realized that most of them didn’t run off of sundust or steam, but rather some sort of portable energy cubes or a three prong cord that plugged into who knows what.
He also realized the further they made their way into the far side of the room, the technology changed. Whoever was keeping these organized did such a fine job, it became obvious where a generation of technology leaped. These were not mere brutes, whoever was in charge was a collector beyond any Aegion had ever heard of.
The Planet Without A Sun (Sinesol Universe) Page 9