by Viola Grace
Only the Guardians can release an imprisoned honour fencer, and only a Prince can break the bond that holds her.
Meena has found a place in the Nyal Imperium as an Honour Proxy. She fights duels for those who are less than skilled with a blade. When her latest client sets her up, she defeats her opponent, but he doesn’t take to losing. He has her imprisoned until she agrees to warm his bed. Prison is looking pretty good.
Kebril knows what his mate looks like, and when she is brought to his world, he wants to pursue the attachment immediately. Knowing that it may wreck any chance to win her trust, he waits for her to come to him. He really hates to wait.
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Fencer
Copyright © 2013 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-77111-514-8
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Fencer
A Terran Times Tale
By
Viola Grace
Chapter One
Meena flipped the pages of the digital book she was reading. It was a lazy day off and she was making the most of it.
It was her fourth book that day, and she wasn’t planning on stopping anytime soon. Reading High Nyal was tricky, but she enjoyed languages. Her current book was a treaty on the laws of fencing.
Her com beeped from across the room, and Meena looked up. “What?”
Her agent’s voice came through. “I know it is your day off, Meena, but we have an emergency.” Meena sighed and turned her book off. She crossed the room and turned on the visual. “What is it, Noree?”
Her agent looked uncomfortable. “I am on handheld outside your door. Can I come in?” Meena got to her feet and opened the door.
Noree’s butter-yellow features were flashing coral with her agitation. “Come in and have a seat? Can I get you some juice or sugar water?”
Noree smiled. “Juice please. It has been a rough few hours. I have gone through all my books to find the best fighter for this, and it keeps coming back to you.”
Meena got the beverage, poured herself some water and sat at her kitchen table. “Tell me.” Noree gulped at the juice, the sugar an intoxicant for her people. When she was calmer, “A Yinshin lady came to me and asked for one of our honour combat surrogates. I thought of you instantly, but she told me that as part of the combat agreement, if you were defeated, her cousin would take you to his bed in penalty.” Meena coughed as her water went down the wrong way. “What?”
Noree raised her hand, palm out. “I know, I know. That is why you signed with me. I don’t pimp my fighters out. Anyway, I went through the roster looking for female fighters who could fit the requirements set out by the lady. I even contacted a few other agencies and that is when I found out the disturbing part.” Meena winced. “It gets worse?”
“The lady said that her cousin had insulted her and that she wanted a female fighter to teach him a lesson. This pair of cousins has been picking fights with each other for the last ten years. They always get a female fighter, and she always loses.”
Meena was getting suspicious. “That is statistically unlikely.”
Noree finished her juice. “Not when the cousin you will be facing is Lord Makadan.” Meena coughed again. “The Yinshin Lord Makadan?”
“The same one. Master Fencer and general jackass to use your phrase.”
No wonder there were no female fencers that could stand against him. Lord Makadan was two hundred years old and was said to have picked up a blade five seconds out of his mother’s womb.
“If he wants to fuck fighters, why doesn’t he just go to a gladiator world and take his pick.” Noree rolled her glass between her palms. “He wants to humiliate them before he takes them. You can’t do that with a paid whore, but you can do it to an honour fencer.”
Meena groaned and flexed her shoulders.
“When is the duel?”
“Sunset. They even provided a costume for you to fight in.”
It suddenly clicked, “They asked for me, didn’t they?”
“His lordship has heard of your skill, so Lady Bivar agreed to obtain you for him.” Noree’s colouring took on a grey cast as she looked everywhere but at Meena.
“What did you promise them?”
“A duellist equal to or better than you. Unfortunately, I can’t find one.” Meena thought about it. “After this, strike them from the books, are we clear?” Noree nodded frantically. “Of course. You will do it then?”
Meena nodded. “Yes, but is there any sense in defending the honour of someone who very obviously has none?”
Noree grimaced and produced a pack from her bag. “Here is the costume. The terms are he apologizes or it is a fight to first blood. If you win, our lady gets her apology, and if he wins…well, you know that already.”
Meena lifted the arrangement of blue fabric out of the bag. “I am guessing that he is improving the odds by exposing as much of my skin as he can. I am going to need a male practice wrap.” Her agent looked at her with wide eyes. “Can you do that?”
“If he wants a fair fight, he had better.” With that, Meena Colou of Terra signed her name to be the honour proxy of Lady Bivar in a duel against her cousin, Lord Makadan.
She wore a cloak to the duelling field. Her blades were in her transport, just in case. Her client was biting one of her talons and sighed with relief as Meena walked up.
“I thought you would be late.”
“I am never late. Do you have the blades?” It was traditional that the challenger provide the weapons and that the challengee select first.
The woman nodded, her ashy green skin flushed with excitement and her mud-brown eyes bright. “Are you wearing the clothing?”
“The costume? Yes, but as it gives his lordship an unfair advantage, I am insisting on a clothing change for him as well.” Meena smiled brightly, showing teeth and deliberate aggression.
Her opponent left his transport, removing his cloak with a flourish. He had the same marsh green skin that his cousin wore, but his eyes were black wells of darkness.
“Are you ready, proxy?”
True to form, he was wearing a bodysuit favoured by the Yinshin. The tight fabric with dyed musculature was impressive in its warmth and its ability to protect the wearer.
“In a moment, My Lord. You have placed me at a disadvantage, and so I will even the field as much as I am able.”
“What?”
“As you have provided me with clothing. Here is something equivalent in exposure.” She tossed him the workout wrap and waited.
He was stunned, but he grabbed the absurd bright yellow fabric and shed his body suit in a few moves.
Two hundred was not old for a Yinshin and his body was still lithe and fit. He watched her watching him, and his barbed cock twitched.
When he
was properly attired, she removed her cloak and waited for the weapons. Lady Bivar opened a case and Lord Makadan selected a sabre.
Against her normal protocol, Meena selected two medium blades similar to katana. The long grip would help manoeuvre and the sharpness of the blades would assist in the first blood.
As per protocol, she stated. “You may avoid this by apologizing to Lady Bivar.”
“I do not offer apology.”
“Then, this fight is to first blood. The terms of loss are as stated in the contract.”
“So stipulated.”
His erection was pushing against the wrap he had put on, and Meena wasn’t sure if it was the imminent battle or the sight of her in not much at all.
She squared off against him and nodded.
Lady Bivar shouted, “Begin!”
Meena watched her opponent carefully, and when he rushed her, she moved into him, slicing a long mark along his pectoral muscle and causing him to shout in confusion. They parted, and she said, “First blood, Your Lordship. The duel is over.”
He hissed. “It is over when I say it is over.” They collided, parted and collided again.
Meena delivered blow after blow. Dark green blood oozed out of him and dripped to the ground. After every cut, she said. “The duel is over.”
When he went down, she said it one more time.
“The duel is over.”
“Bitch, I will have you for this.” He hissed and passed out.
Meena looked at the bloody mess that was left of the greatest fencer of the Nyal Imperium, and she winced. “I am guessing that you will.” The arrest was unsurprising, but Noree and Meena had planned for it. They had the proof that Makadan kept attacking. The problem was that no one wanted to see it.
Before she knew what was happening, Meena was packed off to Janial Prison to wait for a court date that could all go away if she simply agreed to bear Lord Makadan’s heir. It was the reason that he had sought her out. She was the best, and he wanted the best for his child. It was just a pity that Meena couldn’t stand the smell of him.
So, she waited for her court date and knew that it might never come.
Chapter Two
The women’s segment of Janial Prison was segmented into pods. The pod you were in depended on how dangerous they thought you were.
Meena was in for systematically torturing a noble of the Nyal Imperium. Her pod mates were not pleasant, but she managed to hold her own.
Three weeks in, something peculiar happened.
She was sitting with her back to the wall, drinking a cup of water, and the droplight went on.
She immediately discarded her cup and went to defend whoever was being deposited in their pod.
After her own traumatic entrance, she had taken it upon herself to help ease the new arrivals into Janial.
Sure, they were usually horrible women, but it gave Meena something to do as the days flowed into each other.
Every now and then, women would disappear in the night, and it was thought that they had finally gotten their court date even though everyone feared that they were taken for another purpose.
Meena brushed off her bodysuit and moved to intercept the incoming newbie. The woman that came down was definitely not going to become an inmate unless the dress code now allowed for armament.
The woman was standing calmly, her bodysuit was heavily armoured and knives were strapped to each thigh. Her face was hidden with a mask, and her eyes were a strange mix of gold and red.
Her smile was genuine, though her body was alert to attack.
“Meena Colou? I am here to retrieve you on behalf of the Nyal Guardians of Yacaro. Will you come with me?”
Meena didn’t need to be told twice. She didn’t care if human experimentation was waiting for her, she wanted out.
“I am Hawk, by the way, and you have an appointment with my teammate’s brother.” Hawk reached out and the drop ray reversed, lifting them back up with a metal plate beneath their feet.
As they rose, the plate cut the effect of the beam off. No one could follow.
Meena didn’t say a word until she was scanned out twice and belted into a shuttle. “I have an appointment with who?”
Hawk prodded the man next to her, and the shuttle moved away from Janial at a rapidly increasing pace.
Hawk turned in her seat. “One of your kind is on Yacaro, and she has the peculiar ability to see a person’s destiny and create a piece of artwork depicting the moment it goes from happenstance to locked in. This is the image that she provided for her brother-in-law.”
A screen in front of Meena lit up, and she was standing with a blade in her hand, a man stood behind her, his right arm around her torso and his left holding a matching sword. The shocking thing was that there was a smile on Meena’s face.
She stared at the man’s silvery grey skin and red-on-black eyes obscured by tattoos that ran from forehead to cheek. His hair was black, and his features were sharp and had the look of a mythical demon of Earth. “What is he?”
“A Genaran. The natives of Yacaro. You will learn all about them from Rhoda. I have no doubt that she will tell you all you could possibly want to know.”
Meena blinked. “Oh. Um. Okay. How long until we get there?”
“Under is going to run us through a few jumps, but I would think it will be less than four hours.” Four hours. Not enough time to run, so she had better just see where she was going. She smiled ruefully. A man who was going to slice her up so he could rape her didn’t make her run, but the thought of that man holding her so tenderly and her not knowing anything about him made her want to jump the ship and fly it for Alliance space.
They went through an immigration protocol when they got close to Yacaro. Hawk did all the speaking, and then, they were cleared to land.
“You need a medical workup, but the Genarans will take care of that. They have their own med facilities.” Under finally spoke in a deep, booming voice.
“But I am not a Genaran.” She bit her lip as he turned to look at her with an amused expression behind his mask.
“You will be.”
Hawk elbowed him and not another word was spoken as the shuttle skimmed through the atmosphere into a mountain range, and it skated along the surface until a valley with a smooth base presented itself. Under expertly braked and set them down on the flat plane of stone.
Meena’s hands shook as she unfastened her harness. She rested her face in her palms for a moment and then looked into Hawk’s sympathetic face. “If not for Rhoda’s drawing, you would still be in Janial.”
Nodding at the obvious fact, Meena got to her feet and followed Hawk out of the shuttle with Under walking behind her.
Outside, she breathed in and enjoyed the cold air. The brisk crispness of the atmosphere was so much like home that her heart ached.
“Charm will be here soon to take us home.” Hawk smiled.
“Charm?”
“The third Guardian stationed here on Yacaro.”
“Guardians, like the Sector Guard?”
“No. We remain on one world until we rotate to the next. The Alliance dispatches their Guard to any world that requests it. Ah, here he is.” The low hum of a vehicle indicated that one was close, but there was nothing visible. Meena bit her lip and looked around. Nothing. She jumped when a sleek transport appeared in front of her.
Another Guardian came out, but this one was wearing a full facemask that made him completely featureless. He stared at her and chuckled. “It seems Rhoda is more accurate than we thought. It is precise right down to the scar on her forehead.” She frowned, “There wasn’t a scar in the picture that Hawk showed me.”
He snorted. “Not in that picture. My brother has kept my wife very busy with images of you.”
“Wife?”
“My wife, Princess Rhoda Yaghin now of Yacaro, once of Terra.” He bowed low, and his uniform disappeared, leaving him wearing a comfortable shirt and flowing trousers tucked into boots. “I am Prince
Drehl Yaghin of Yacaro.”
“Um, Meena Colou of Terra. Honour Duellist and Battle Proxy.” She bowed as well.
“Welcome to Yacaro, Meena. Come this way, and I will take you to meet Rhoda. To say she has been eager is an understatement.” Bemused, she joined them on a flight through the mountains, the vehicle skimming so low, she felt she could reach out and touch the granite as it jutted up to sparkle in what seemed to be afternoon sun.
“We are currently invisible. It is part of Charm’s talent. He has a hidden life and takes care that no one will follow us back to his home.” Hawk was being very informative.
“Why do I know who he is then?” Her whisper must have carried, because Prince Drehl turned his head.
“Because I trust my wife’s talent. I know that you are soon to be family. There is nothing hidden from family.” He winked.
She blushed and fiddled with the end of her braid. He was so certain, but she wasn’t. She felt absolutely no attraction to Prince Drehl, so how could she possibly be attracted to his brother?
The trip was short, and a woman was waiting for them when they landed. At first, Meena thought that there had been a horrible mistake, but as the woman with the white hair approached, she could see the marks of a Terran in her features.
“Welcome, Meena. I’m Rhoda Yaghin.” Meena walked up to her and was immediately engulfed in a hug.
“I am so glad you are safe.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You were in Janial. I could tell by the mark on the inside of your arm in one of the portraits. I had to do half a dozen before we could pin down the particulars. I apologize for taking so long.” Meena had her mouth open, and she shut it with a snap. “You have been trying to find me?”
“Well, yes. I haven’t ever tried to do something like this before, so I am pretty impressed with myself.” Rhoda smiled, and her eyes twinkled.
“Let’s get you showered and changed. You must be tired after being confined like that.” Meena jerked. “How did you know?” Sleep had been in short supply when an enterprising inmate could open her cell with only a few minutes of effort. Yes, she could defend herself but only if she was awake.