by Tina Donahua
Arez pressed against him, her fingers squeezing his. “What is that?”
He spoke as quietly as she had. “A drawing of the Palace, showing which way we need to go.”
“You can read the symbols on it?”
“Letters,” he corrected. “Words.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” She sounded more ashamed than afraid. “Where did you get the drawing?”
“Meelo gave it to me. He’s the scientist who created us.”
Arez asked no more, following Lukan into the left hall.
It was longer than he’d expected, stretching into the distance with no end in sight, not matching the map’s scale. Had Meelo been incorrect in his memory of this place? Lukan’s steps slowed, then stopped. He glanced behind them. His and Arez’s shadows wavered with the flames’ flickering lights. A musty scent permeated the air, along with the fragrance of jasmine oil and leather.
“What’s wrong?” Arez whispered.
Lukan shook his head, knowing he had only two choices. To doubt Meelo’s directions and try to find his own way out, or to trust the man who’d risked everything to help him. Images of Meelo’s injured arm and scarred face flashed in Lukan’s mind. He heard Meelo’s worried pleas for Lukan to be careful. He could still feel the man’s and Damir’s last embrace.
The map, not his own sense of direction, had to be correct.
“Come.” Down the hall, he and Arez ran, decreasing the space between them and freedom. Minutes later, he saw it. Ahead was another intersection, the same as shown on the drawing. He hadn’t made a mistake in following it.
His feet pounded the stone. He sucked air through his teeth to avoid making any unnecessary noise.
To his side, Arez made a strangled sound as her steps faltered.
Lukan heard what she did. Voices came from the left. In a moment, the guards would appear around the corner.
He shoved her into the shadows near a door, protecting her with his body. Not daring to breathe, he listened, expecting to hear men running this way, because they’d learned of his and Arez’s escape.
She whispered, “What are they doing?”
The mild tapping noises revealed their unhurried pace.
One of them spoke. “Which room is she in?”
Lukan recognized the guard’s voice. In the past, he’d taken Lukan with as much force as possible to prove his power, demanding Lukan welcome pain, thank him for every humiliation and punishment, bow to his authority more readily than he would a ruler’s.
Never again. Hatred swept through Lukan, rage so deep he could barely keep still. Arez grabbed his arm, keeping him from doing anything foolish.
The other guard spoke. “She’s in the last one at the end of the next hall. We go to the right when we reach it.”
They were coming this way. To get to the room they wanted, they’d have to pass Arez and him.
Lukan turned, gauging the distance he and Arez would have to run in order to reach the previous hall and hide there. It was too far. They’d never make it.
Arez pushed against him, trying to get free.
“Stop it,” he growled. “We can’t run now. They’ll see us.”
“Not you. I want them to see me.”
“No.” He used all of his strength to keep her to him. “You’re not sacrificing yourself for me.”
“I wasn’t planning to. I can distract them, Lukan, if you’ll only let me. You can use your weapon on them.”
From the other hall, their footfalls sounded louder.
“I take her first,” one of them said—the guard Lukan hated most. “She’s yours after I finish with her.”
“She’ll be of little use to me then. We’ll take her together or not at all.”
He grumbled, “Very well. But I get her cunt before you do. You’ll have to content yourself with her mouth.”
“And her ass. I’ll stretch her so she’ll be able to accommodate even the largest of our rulers.”
The other guard’s laughter rang out. “Stretch her we will. We’ll give her a night she’ll never forget. One she’ll thank us for while begging for more.”
Arez whispered, “Let me do this. It’s the only way. The moment they turn the corner, they’ll see us. They’ll shout for the others.”
Lukan knew she was right but couldn’t bring himself to release her. Arez argued no more. Ramming her elbow into his side, she used her body’s weight to knock him off balance.
He muttered an oath and reached for her, his hand gripping nothing more than air.
Freed, she ran in the direction of the guards. Still discussing the slave they intended to enjoy, they came into view, striding down the hall, though not for long.
Both men stopped, staring at the unexpected sight of a liberated slave. As Arez bolted past them, they turned, their backs to Lukan.
No more than a yard away, Arez halted, facing them, her color high from the run and her quick look of lust. Legs parted, she cupped her breasts, drawing her thumbs over her nipples.
The guards exchanged a glance. The crueler of the two asked, “What are you doing here? How did you get out?”
Arez slid one hand down her torso to her belly and then her cunt, her fingers separating those soft folds. “A guard released me,” she said with the greatest deference. “He told me to come here to find you.”
“Katar,” the other guard blurted to his companion. “It must have been him. He wants to get back at you for the trick you played last week.”
“Does he? And did he think we’d chase this girl without having some fun?”
His colleague laughed.
“Come here,” the cruel one ordered her.
With her face tilted down, Arez obeyed. With little pause, the guards sandwiched her between their bodies, one of them nuzzling her neck, another cupping her mound, his fingers seeking her cleft.
She moaned.
Lukan bolted toward them, his first attack reserved for the man he hated most. The familiar crackle and blue light from the stun gun brought a gasp of surprise from the kinder of the guards. The one who’d used Lukan so mercilessly gaped in shock and stumbled. Lukan punched him twice in the face. The moment he hit the stone floor, Lukan gave him another jolt from the gun, this time between his legs.
His eyes rolled up in his head just as those of countless slaves when he’d abused them into unconsciousness.
Never had Lukan enjoyed a moment more.
He caught up with the other guard, who’d decided to flee, ramming him into the stone wall.
The man clawed it on the way down to his knees. On all fours, he tried to crawl away, blubbering, “Please, don’t hurt me.”
Lukan’s mercy matched what his captors had given to him and countless slaves. One jolt from the gun and a well-placed blow to the guard’s neck made him still and silent.
Arez grabbed Lukan’s free hand. “Are you all right?”
He nodded, too winded to speak. Retrieving his backpack, he shoved it on his shoulder and squeezed her fingers. Together, they raced down the hall. At the end of it, they took a turn to the right as the map dictated.
On and on they ran through the Palace’s maze, constructed this way so no slave would ever find the way outside.
“There,” Arez gasped, pointing.
Lukan swallowed, unable to believe what he now saw—the metal door no more than ten yards away. It was just as Meelo had described, a solid sheet of gray gleaming dully in the candlelight.
Stopping short of it, Lukan gulped air.
Breathless, Arez cried, “There’s no handle, no place for a key. How do we open it?”
“With this.” He slipped on the clear glove Meelo had designed for him, having explained that this door was the same as those on E2, in his and Nikoli’s labs.
“It allows entry to authorized personnel by reading their fingerprints,” Meelo had said. “I’ve encoded Vakar’s into this glove. With it, you can leave the Palace at will with no one stopping you.”
Lukan pressed his palm against the cool metal, exactly as Meelo directed. Next, he rested his fingertips lightly on the surface.
Arez kept watching to see if anyone was coming down the hall. “Open it, please,” she whispered.
He tried, but nothing happened. There should have been a faint buzz, then the sound of the lock releasing. Should he pull back his hand and try again? Would that set off some kind of alarm, alerting those inside that an impostor was at the door?
Panic made his hand jerk. He gave the stun gun to Arez for her to hold, then gripped his wrist to keep his hand steady and waited.
A moment passed, followed by another and—
The buzz filtered in between his and Arez’s noisy breathing. With a mild whoosh, the door opened, showing what they faced outside.
Arez stared at a world she’d never seen and hadn’t known existed.
Dark golden rays drizzled down from above, with some of them penetrating the brownish shadows on the ground. Within the small circles of brightness, similar to what the flame of a candle might reveal, were odd objects.
Instinctively, she took a step back.
Lukan clasped her hand. “There’s nothing to fear from the growths. The tallest are trees. The others are plants. Their leaves keep the sun from reaching most of the jungle’s floor.”
His explanation had no meaning, the words unknown to her. What he’d referred to as trees reached so far up, she couldn’t see where they ended. They bore the same yellowish color as the shafts of light trying to filter through. On the ground, what he’d called plants were no less daunting. Were the leaves he’d spoken of those large growths protruding in all directions?
Arez sensed they were. Each leaf was as wide as her and Lukan combined and far taller, dwarfing them.
It didn’t stop him from pulling her outside. The door swung closed behind them. At a run, Lukan led her into the jungle and away from the Palace. Beneath her feet, the ground was slimy, so unlike the hard, smooth stone she’d known all of her life. The air was warm and muggy, similar to what she’d experienced in the place of bathing. There, the scent of lavender, vanilla and jasmine permeated everything. Here, the fragrances were cleaner, less sweet.
She flung out her arm to keep the leaves from striking her face. Despite their size, they were as soft as velvet and silk, their mild swishing sounds convincing her that Lukan was right. They wouldn’t harm them.
A piercing shriek rang out from behind.
Abruptly, Arez stopped, breaking the hold Lukan had on her hand. Turning, she gaped at a creature flying above them with feathery protrusions where arms should be. It was four times Lukan’s length, its plumage pale, its eyes as large as basins, the irises milky, telling Arez it couldn’t possibly see them.
As if to contradict her notion, the thing dipped its crested head and swooped down in their direction slowly, almost lazily, its screech cutting through the damp air.
Lukan shoved Arez to her hands and knees, his body shielding hers. Leaves rustled as the creature passed over them, low enough for her to smell its musty animal scent and for its movements to stir the leaves. Her fingers dug into the sticky ground.
Again and again, the thing circled, swooping and rising, its cries shrill.
Arez shuddered.
“Keep still and it’ll go away,” Lukan advised. “It’s just curious about us.”
“Then why is it making that noise?”
“That’s its means of finding a way through the jungle so it doesn’t run into anything. Much like a bat uses sound to navigate.”
What was he talking about? She blurted, “How do you know these things?”
“I learned them when I lived with Damir and Meelo.”
“The scientist who created us?”
“I was his first,” Lukan said. “Come. Don’t let go of my hand again.”
He pulled Arez to her feet and continued their run. She raised her face, expecting to see the creature above them. A canopy of leaves dappled with golden light remained undisturbed, proving the thing had moved on. Unless it was behind them again.
She looked and felt the blood drain from her face.
In a clearing within the jungle, the Pleasure Palace sprawled in all directions, its size unbelievable, its black stone shimmering dully within the drab gold light. No matter how far she and Lukan ran, the structure didn’t seem to grow smaller. For one wild moment, Arez wondered if it was somehow following them, flowing in their direction like liquid, prepared to wash over and trap them once more. Keeping them prisoner, used and abused, until the rulers decided it was time for them to die, either hunting her and Lukan or leaving them to starve.
A burst of terror increased her pace, though only briefly. Her lungs burned and her sides ached. Within the slime, something sharp kept biting into the soles of her feet. She fell behind, causing her and Lukan’s arms to grow increasingly outstretched.
He glanced over and slowed his pace. It wasn’t enough. She needed to stop and catch her breath to keep from falling down.
Lukan slowed to a stop and released her hand. Peering in all directions, he pushed his satchel off his shoulder and shoved the flesh-colored glove into it, then pulled several items out, extending them to her. “Put these on.”
She made a face at how difficult it was to swallow. Light-headed, she took the clothing from him—a top, pants and shoes, unlike anything she’d seen the guards or the rulers wear. With her chest still heaving, she asked, “Where did you get these?”
“Nikoli’s woman, Regina. Hurry.”
She wanted to, but fatigue and overwhelming dread of what they still faced kept her pace clumsy and slow. Lukan dressed quickly. Arez studied each of his moves to see how to pull on her clothing, since she’d never worn any. “Who is this Nikoli you keep speaking of?”
“A friend of Meelo’s. Another scientist who can open portals at will. He’s going to help us flee to the realm he shares with Regina. There we’ll be safe.”
Arez turned from side to side. “He’s here in this jungle waiting for us?”
“No. He’s—” Lukan stopped and shook his head. “I’ll explain everything to you later when we’re at a safe place. You need to hurry.”
“I’m trying, but I don’t know how to work these.” Her shoulders slumped. She didn’t know how to do anything he did.
Lukan dropped to his knees, lifting the thin strips of fabric on her shoes. Like the clothing, they felt constrictive and unnecessary. It wasn’t as if they and the garments could hide her and Lukan from the guards or the rulers.
“These are called laces,” he explained, pulling them tighter so the shoes conformed to her feet. “When we have the chance, I’ll teach you how to tie them.”
He expected her to wear shoes other than just today? She fingered her top, guessing he wanted her in it too. The fabric wasn’t as soft as the silk on her bed, but it had a pleasant fragrance. “Will you also teach me to read symbols?”
“Words,” he said.
She made a face. “How can you hope to teach me anything if I don’t understand what you’re saying? If you have to constantly correct me?”
Finished with one set of laces, he cradled her cheek in his hand. “That’s how one learns. I’ll teach you all that I know. You’ll study what was never allowed.”
Arez found it impossible to believe. In the Palace, they seemed the same, slaves born to please and serve. She knew differently now. He had so much more knowledge than she ever would. Lukan had never been anyone’s chattel. He’d always been on a par with the rulers. Perhaps even more intelligent than them.
“I will,” he insisted, running his thumb over her bottom lip.
It continued to tremble. “Why did you ever want me?” she asked, embarrassment heating her face. “I know nothing of the things you’ve seen and talked about. Do you pity me so much?”
He frowned. “Pity?”
“Yes,” she shot back. “I won’t have it. I may not be as knowledgeable as you, but that doesn’t mea
n I can live without your respect.”
“You have mine,” he insisted.
She turned away.
With his fingers beneath her chin, he made certain she looked at him again. “Never doubt my feelings for you, Arez. I love you. I always have. Of all the slaves, you alone watched me when you thought the guards wouldn’t notice…when you didn’t think I did. That’s why I chanced speaking to you that first time. I knew you’d answer. I knew you wouldn’t tell anyone of my indiscretion in the hope of getting more food. And if that wasn’t enough, your courage in saving me was more than I had ever expected. That’s why I want and adore you. Arez, you noticed me above all the others when no one else ever had. You starved yourself to help me.”
His praise was nearly more than she could bear. “All I did was give you a bit of my food.”
“You put my well-being above yours,” he countered. “Even after a lifetime, I won’t be able to measure up to the person you already are. I’m honored that you decided to come with me.”
Despite their situation, she nearly laughed. “Would you have allowed me to stay in the Palace?”
Lukan fought his own smile. “No. But that’s beside the point.” He finished tying her other laces and helped her to her feet.
She slipped her arms around him, cuddling close, proving her love as she hadn’t been able to do in the Palace.
Lukan allowed it for only a moment before he said, “We have to go.”
“How long are we going to run?” she asked before he started again. “Where are we going?”
“To a hiding place Meelo told me about. It’s on the map.”
She looked at the creased paper now stained brown from the dank substance beneath their feet. “Will it protect us from that creature we just saw? Are there others out here that are even worse than it?”
He slipped his satchel onto his shoulder. “I’ll keep you safe.”
His answer told her there were more monsters to worry about. “You said the rulers leave slaves out here to starve. Do the animals ever attack and eat them?”
He grabbed her hand. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
But other slaves had; she heard it in his tone.