by LW Browning
Claire was not afraid; she should be. She just did not find it in her at this moment. In fact, she was almost giggly that Robare would miss hearing her beg because her mouth was gagged. Was the man stupid? Her heart was broken. She was still reeling from being sent away by Koda. Robare was going to hurt her, probably kill her, but he was no match for the hurt Koda had dealt her. She knew she had to fight the hysteria welling up inside.
One of the soldiers entered the outer and then the inner cage. When he got to her, he cut the gag, nicking her cheek in the process. He slapped her hard across the face, knocking her to the floor.
Claire saw the blow coming, but was unable to avoid it. Her eyes watered with the sting of the slap. All her efforts to sit up and now she was on the floor again. Claire struggled to a sitting position. The soldier left her alone in the cage.
"Ahh. Now we can hear you beg," Robare continued, "the STS know how to handle your kind."
These were men from the Special Threat Squads. For the first time, that fact seeped into Claire's consciousness. Careful not to show her alarm, she looked at Robare.
"What? No begging? Not yet? That's good. That will make this more fun."
Claire flinched from the smile on Robare's face. She was looking at a man gone insane from his own hatred. There would be no reasoning with him.
"We want to know about the Krystiles. Where does Koda keep them? Who is able to access them? Tell me all that you learned while you were Koda's whore." Robare smiled at the guards close by. "Those barbarians sure know how to use a whore, don't they? Frankly, I'm surprised that you survived his – attempts at lovemaking or did he just rape you?"
Robare turned his attention back to Claire. "Koda sent you away as soon as he had no more need of you. He has other MX now to warm his bed. You might as well tell us what we want to know." He sighed when Claire continued to look at him with no expression on her face. "You are on a ship, heading away from Koda at high speed. And Koda has problems of his own."
The viewer mounted on the far wall outside the cage came to life. Claire watched as the STS thugs rushed Koda and his warlords in the Trade Council Chamber.
She allowed no emotion to show on her face. Denying Robare the reaction he wanted was going to cost her. She did not care.
The vid stopped. Koda and his warriors were outnumbered. If they had been slaughtered, the vid would not have stopped.
Claire kept her level gaze on Robare. He was not a bad looking man. His black hair was cropped short and close to his skull, Roman nose, white skin that never saw the sunlight, and thin lips set under flat cheekbones. It was the hate seething just underneath like a nest of poisonous snakes that made Clare wary of him.
"Koda thinks you betrayed him. We made sure he heard that you came with us of your own accord. He believes you are telling us everything we want to know about the Krystiles. You can't go back to Koda. He'll kill you himself. Your only chance is to tell us what we want to know."
"I cannot help you. Koda did not confide in me," Claire kept her voice soft and even.
"Tell us what we want to know, slut. Tell us, or die."
"A ridiculous threat, since you are going to kill me anyway. I do not have the information you want. I cannot tell what I do not know," Claire said.
She thought Koda might have planned it that way. Just in case she were captured or had in fact been sent to him to betray his secrets, he had made sure she had no secrets to tell. Koda was crafty that way.
The other possibility was that Koda just did not think enough of her to speak with her about anything important. At this point, Claire was not sure which was worse. It no longer mattered.
When Claire continued to sit and look at Robare, he ordered the STS into her cell. Three of them came in. Two of them held her while a third gave her a painful injection in her arm. They waited only minutes. It felt like minutes.
The STS thug slapped her and began to ask questions. She refused to tell even the things she knew, names of the warlords, layout of the castle, how Koda kept things hidden from orbiting satellites. Claire tasted her own blood in her mouth and closed her eyes as another stinging backhand slap met her cheek. She was going to die, but she was not going to do anything to aid her executioners.
Koda leaned back to survey the situation. His warlords had won against the STS force. His reinforcement warriors had arrived to help contain the vast staff that helped run the Trade Center. Mack and Revi herded the council members inside the cages they reserved for the MX. They were not gentle. The room with the cages was large with the cages along one long wall and the remainder of the room left vacant except for rings set into the opposite long wall and ceiling. Around the perimeter of the room metal grids were in the floor to make cleanup of blood easier. There were three metal tables outfitted with rings and chains. Koda sat at one of the tables. "Regular little torture chamber they have here," Var said.
The Warlords lined the STS up along the wall and made use of the hooks. Foord got to use his knives. The frightened traders watched the interrogation from the cages. When Koda had the information he needed from the STS, he gave his warlords the order to slit their throats. The Trader who had contacted the STS and engineered the trap was also killed. The remaining traders were informed that they were being sold into slavery in the mines. Dare sent the vid of the entire process to a select few who were guaranteed to spread it like wildfire throughout the Conglomerate as well as the societies the Conglomerate shunned. It would be a long time before anyone else thought it was a good idea to betray Koda.
Dare tracked the transports that had left after Lodi to find which one Claire was on. When he was going through the camera vids, he found one of Claire talking to Calks. The vid showed Claire from the back, but they recognized her voice. It was her.
Dare brought the vid to Koda's attention. She recited very basic information about Koda and his people. Everything she said was common knowledge. The vid was short. She might have gone on to give Calks more information, but there was no way to know for sure.
"The MX betrayed us," Ache said.
Dare frowned and rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "I do not think so. She gives him basic information about us. This might be a vid of Calks briefing her for the assignment. I need more time to investigate."
Vix came in with news that Lodi and Destiny were on their way back to Trade Central.
Dare sent off a message to one of their black market merchants offering the Traders to anyone who needed slaves. Though they seldom dealt in slavery, they had connections with slavers and Dare had no problem selling the Traders.
Koda appropriated the Trade Chamber for his command center. Lodi came in with Destiny. She gasped when she saw Koda and the warlords. They had a lot of blood on them from the battle.
"It is good to see you in one piece," Koda turned to Lodi.
"We are fine. The STS fired on us. I managed to evade them long enough to get behind our incoming fleet," Lodi reported.
"How is our guest?" Koda indicated Destiny with a nod of his head.
"She is fine." Lodi held her upper arm.
"She is fine," Destiny said. "And she is here, a sentient being who understands your language, and can speak for herself." She tried unsuccessfully to jerk her arm out of Lodi's grasp. Finally after a stare from her, Lodi let go of her arm.
"What do you know of Claire?" Koda leaned back in his chair.
"She stopped as we were heading to the craft. We were separated by the soldiers who attacked us. She did not make it to the ship." Destiny's voice cracked on the last sentence.
Koda leaned back in his chair.
"She and Destiny were holding hands. When the STS attacked, I still had Destiny. When I turned back, Claire was standing still. She did not make a sound, she just stopped. There was no time to go back and get her, else I would have lost Destiny too. I called out her name, but she did not look at me. She did not try to catch up to us," Lodi rubbed his neck.
Koda nodded, focused on Desti
ny again. "If you know why she stayed behind, it would be best if you tell me now."
"Is she alright?" Destiny wrung her hands. "What happened to her?” Destiny's voice was stronger now, a little higher in pitch.
"Dare found a vid. Claire is giving information about us to the Calks," Var said.
"I don't believe it," Destiny said. "Never. No MX will help those whose goal is our end."
Koda was silent for a moment. "Mount up," he said to Lodi as he left the room, "We leave immediately."
***
Rough hands hauled Claire up. She was moved from one craft to another. They locked her in a room on the second craft, but since her hands were still bound behind her and her feet tied together, she had little hope of escape. She needed every ounce of strength to survive as long as possible. If she had the opportunity, she decided to end her own life rather than have it taken from her. Koda was not coming for her. Death was darkness, but she was certain death would bring freedom from the heartache of Koda sending her away from him. It was little comfort, but it was all she had.
She had no idea how much time passed when two STS guards returned to pull her up. A third put a bag over her eyes. They dragged her off the ship and inside a building. They changed direction several times. Claire tried to remember the turns. If she managed to get free...
Without warning, she was pushed to the floor, her head hit hard. A chain was attached to the cuffs that held her hands behind her. They did not bother to remove the bag from her head. The cage door slammed shut and keys jingled in the lock. The place smelled dank and musty. If they used keys, she must be inside an old building. Koda was not coming for her. It didn't matter where she was.
***
Koda and the warlords boarded the transport with Destiny. Dare set a tracking device to follow the coordinates transmitted from the Krystile in Claire's lavaliere. Inside the transport, with their course set, Lodi escorted Destiny to a large room where he grabbed a straight back chair and positioned it in the center of the room. "Sit," he said to Destiny.
Koda stood back and nodded to Lodi. "I would know what happened between you and Claire."
Destiny focused on nothing, perhaps she was thinking. Koda smelled her fear and apprehension. He did not trust himself to question her.
"I asked you a question," Lodi said.
They needed information, not to scare her out of her wits. Koda moved, but Lodi gave a bare shake of his head.
"I um – what do you mean?" Destiny asked.
Lodi tilted his head and softened his voice. "Why did Claire stop before she boarded the shuttle with us?"
The girl's face flushed until she pinked from her cheeks down to her chest. The signs of her panic and smell of fear grew stronger.
"I do not know. We were holding hands and she was there and then, she let go of my hand," Destiny answered.
"Look at me," Lodi commanded.
Destiny jerked her gaze up to meet Lodi's light blue stare. Koda wondered if all MX were so high strung.
"Continue," Lodi said.
Destiny's lower lip trembled. "I – we were running for the craft and I did not – was not able to look back for Claire until we were on the ramp. It all happened so fast."
Lodi regarded her with a frown. "Yet you can communicate with each other without touching or speaking. What did she say?"
"She said nothing," Destiny wrung her hands together.
"You called out to her. What was her reaction?"
"She had no reaction. It was as if she did not hear me," Destiny shook her head.
"And she did not speak to you with her mind?" Lodi asked.
"She did not," Destiny said.
"That is very hard to believe," Ache said. He moved closer to Destiny and Koda heard her heartbeat speed up.
Destiny shook her head. "She did not reach out to me with her mind. I was too upset, perhaps. It happened fast. I did not reach out to her with my mind either."
"So you cannot communicate with each other constantly?" Lodi asked.
"No. We – it is sometimes difficult."
"Difficult how?" Lodi said.
"We don't – we can't... If we are upset, if our own emotions fill us... We cannot use our abilities if we are overloaded."
"Interesting," Var said.
"Why are you afraid to tell us about your abilities?" Lodi asked.
Destiny was looking at her hands in her lap. She sighed before turning her green eyes up to Lodi. Her voice was soft. "We are being hunted and put to death because we are empaths."
"Why should we believe her?" Ache's question was directed at the warlords.
"You are too paranoid, Ache," Mack said.
Destiny shook her head again as if searching for answers that did not come. "I was captured and sold, promised freedom only to be sold and caged, waiting for execution by the STS. I escaped and found Claire. I have lost her. Now, I am in a room full of suspicious barbarians who still wear the blood of those they recently slaughtered." She stood up. "Do what you will. I have told you what I know. You choose to believe me or not. You choose to end my life or not. You choose to save Claire or not. The choice is yours, but I will not be called a liar, I have no reason to lie. I have no reason to help you except to save Claire. You decide not to hear the truth. That is your decision." Her chin came up and her light green eyes blazed with a fire that was on the verge of turning violet.
Var gave Destiny a hard look. "I would know why you are so secretive about your – gifts."
“She has already answered that,” Lodi said.
Destiny looked down at herself and spread her hands out before meeting Var’s gaze. "Look at me. I have no sword. Do you think I am able to win against any of you in a physical fight? My abilities are all that I have to help me survive. You want my trust, but offer none of your own," she whispered.
That sounded familiar to Koda.
Ache moved toward Destiny, but a look from Lodi stopped him in his tracks.
Dare broke the tension when he looked up from the crystal in his hand. "We will be in range to land soon. Do you want to go in stealth or fighting? Their transport stopped in a location near the place of commerce. I tracked Claire's signal and triangulated a position. They are headed to a sports arena."
Destiny gasped and sat down in the chair.
Koda turned his piercing gaze on her. She was pale. "I would know why this concerns you," he said.
Destiny's eyes filled with tears.
Koda fixed her with a stare and waited.
"I have h-heard about a p-place. MX are executed in barbaric ways while an audience watches. Wealthy people pay to watch. I read the STS who talked about it when they caged me. I saw what they saw. It is too awful to speak. They called it an arena." She wrapped her arms around herself and rocked slightly.
Koda watched her. The girl’s fear was real. He had also heard rumors about an arena. Koda answered. “Stealth for now. Let them think they lost us. We need time to locate her and discover what is happening at that arena."
"The place is swarming with STS and guards. There has been a lot of external traffic that arrived there in the last TP," Dare reported.
"What kind of traffic?" Koda asked.
"Wealthy pleasure craft," Dare answered.
"Best guess," Koda said.
"A select clientele is assembling for whatever they plan to do with Claire and any other MX they have," Dare answered. “I am also picking up chatter about a show.”
"Will you go after her?" Destiny asked.
Koda turned his ice blue gaze on Destiny. "Claire is mine. My mate. No one takes what is mine. I have made vows and – promises to her. I will have her." Koda said.
They landed unnoticed on the far side of the arena. Dare pulled up the blueprints of the facility and was going over them with Koda and Var on the viewer.
"This place is huge and we have no idea where Claire is within it," Dare said. “The place is a maze. I have the blueprints on my handheld, I will help you navigate it," Dare
said.
"We will go to the arena and the STS will bring her out in the open for us," Koda said.
"That may be a better plan," Lodi agreed.
“We should take Destiny. She can communicate with Claire," Vix said.
"See to Destiny," Koda nodded to Lodi.
Lodi brought his closed fist to his heart and moved to Destiny’s side. He arranged the cloak on her and covered her hair with the hood.
“I am glad you will try to save Claire,” she whispered.
Lodi’s look was fierce. “We are warlords. No one takes from us.”
“No one who survives,” Vix added.
Var looked at Koda, "I hope these MX do not prove to be the death of us."
"How is that looking so far?" Revi said.
***
Claire heard the STS coming. Her stomach turned at Robare's smug voice. "Koda thinks that you betrayed him. He has the MX from Trade Central and even now interrogates her to find out why you did not get on the transport when he sent you away."
Claire boosted her shields and tried to ignore his words.
Robare continued, "I know you did not get the full story of how the warrior society works. They’re barbarians, but they have rules." Robare was so full of himself. Claire wanted to shut his words from her mind.
"To attack the Warlord Leader is to forfeit one's life. Their justice is swift and final. Oh, and brutal too. Very brutal and bloody. Betrayal deserves lethal force by the warlords. Barbaric people, as I’ve said. Very violent. This is a little vid we left for Koda." Robare played the vid for her. It was part of her training session with Calks.
On the vid, she recited details about Koda and his people to Calks. It was a routine part of her preparation for any assignment. Would Koda think she betrayed him? He sent her away. He very well might interpret this vid as her betrayal.
Robare's eyes were bright from his madness. "Koda will not forgive you. Nor will he help you. In fact, he’ll kill you on sight as will any of his warlords. Stupid savages, they will easily believe you betrayed them," Robare continued. "The Conglomerate will take them over and all their energy resources will belong to us. The Krystiles are wasted on stupid barbarians. And I – I will be rewarded for my foresight in acquiring the Krystiles and slaughtering Koda's backward people."