Axen

by Arcadia Shield

  “It repulses you?” Eloise tried to step back from Axen, but he held onto her.

  “Anything but.” Axen’s fingers tightened on the top of her arms. “I find it intriguing. You are intriguing.”

  “What do Vorten women smell like?” Eloise couldn’t help but feel a tingle of pleasure as Axen held her tightly in his arms. And he liked her smell. She thought she smelt dreadful. She’d been running through a rainforest and hadn’t had a change of clothes with her. Whatever Axen was smelling, it couldn’t be good.

  “They smell different to you.” Axen leaned forward and pressed his lips to Eloise’s forehead. “Stay safe. I will do my best to keep you that way as well.”

  Eloise blinked up at Axen. His lips had felt like fire on her skin. “Won’t the Fraken have seen some of what happened? They will have seen you kill the crocodile beast. They could even have seen you help me out of the drop after I fell.”

  “I am one of their most trusted gaming warriors,” said Axen. “If they want to know why am doing it, I will tell them it’s all for show. It’s prolonging the fun of their game by saving you temporarily and making you trust me, only to throw you into an even more dangerous situation. They will understand. They know their audience likes excitement. I expect they watched with interest as I dispatched the creature. I will assure them that your death will be worthy of their viewers.”

  Eloise couldn’t help but shudder at those words. “I am not going to die.”

  “No, you are not.” Axen led her to the cave entrance, handed her a small blade, and then gave her a gentle push. “Be safe. I will be watching.”

  Eloise hurried away. Those last words should have worried her. But she was pleased to know Axen had her back. She believed what he said. He had no love for the Fraken, and he wanted to get out of this game as much as she did. She felt a sense of cautious optimism as she dashed through the trees. There was now a chance she was getting out of this alive. And she would have a Vorten warrior by her side if she did so.

  And Axen had a gentle side to him, a side she liked more than his tough warrior facade. And what was that kiss about just then? There had been no need for him to do that. Maybe it was just for reassurance. But his touch had been gentle, and she’d felt comforted by it. More than that, she hadn’t wanted him to let her go. When he was close to her, Axen felt like a safety blanket she wanted to wrap around herself. Nothing could harm her when he was close, and the farther she got from him, the more her optimism slid away.

  This Fraken rainforest was huge, full of dangerous unknowns and traps around every corner. Without Axen, she was going to fall into one of them easily, one that might kill her.

  Eloise’s pace increased as the sky above darkened, and a flash of lightning shot through the clouds. She wouldn’t mind some rain. The steamy environment of the rainforest sapped her energy. But a full on tropical storm, she could do without.

  She headed deeper into the trees, using the foliage as a natural canopy, just in case the rain began. She’d negotiated a deal with Axen, one that could potentially save both of their lives and get them out of here. But what then? Would Axen stay with her? They would both be fugitives, and the Fraken would want them dead as punishment for escaping the game.

  Eloise gritted her teeth and pushed on. She couldn’t think about that now. She had to focus on surviving the next few minutes. Had to play a good game and convince the Fraken she was terrified. That wasn’t going to be hard.

  ***

  Axen glanced up at the increasingly dark sky. The Fraken could manipulate the environment within their games, and it seemed they wanted to add some dramatics to this one. He wasn’t surprised. They would be seething at the lack of action. One thing that did surprise him was that they hadn’t contacted him yet. He should have been summoned by now to explain what was going on in the game and why he hadn’t already killed Eloise.

  He was easily tracking Eloise, but taking his time, as he slowly negotiated around trees and over water. He was in no hurry to catch up. Axen still needed to think through the logistics of getting them both out safely. He also needed to make sure the game was convincing, and the viewers had an entertaining show to encourage them to place more bets. If there was one thing that swayed the Fraken, it was lots of e-credits. They traded in all currencies across the galaxies, even in slaves when they needed to. It was something he found particularly distasteful.

  As if the Fraken had been monitoring Axen’s thoughts, the collar around his neck gave him a painful shock. It was the summons he’d been waiting for. Axen’s fists clenched as he changed direction. The comms links were hidden at key boundary points in the games. They emitted a low sounding hum and flashed a red light when they were active, making them easy to find.

  Axen spent a few moments tuning into the familiar unwelcome hum of the nearest comms link before tracking a mile to locate it. Along the way, the Fraken who wanted to talk to him zapped him several times with the collar. It was their way of telling him to hurry up.

  “Why don’t you try doing that when I’m standing in front of you,” growled out Axen. “You might think twice when I snap your neck.”

  He reached the comms link and punched it with a fist. An image of a Fraken sprang up, his cold yellow eyes boring into Axen. He recognized this Fraken. Among his warriors, they called him Death Wish. It was after some ancient Earth film they’d streamed one evening. And it was an appropriate nickname for him. Every Vorten warrior wished to take this Fraken’s life. Death Wish was cruel and sadistic.

  “What do you want?” asked Axen.

  Death Wish’s eyes narrowed. “What game are you playing?”

  “The game you asked me to.”

  “The human woman is still alive.”

  “Barely.”

  “You have saved her.”

  “For your entertainment,” said Axen. “We’d been in the game for less than a day when you sent the water beast to eat her.”

  “It would have been entertaining to watch.”

  “And it would have been over too quickly,” said Axen. “Wouldn’t you like to see me kill her?”

  Death Wish glanced away from the screen. He was looking at the statistics on the number of bets placed that Axen would kill Eloise. “That is acceptable.”

  “I was tracking her when you called me.”

  “She’s been injured,” said Death Wish. “You will find her easily.”

  “I will.”

  “You came to her assistance when she fell down that drop.”

  “I kept her alive to ensure the game did not end too soon,” said Axen. “But her arm is badly broken. She has been disabled by it.”

  “So, she will be even easier to dispatch.”

  “That’s the plan.”

  “No weapons.”

  Axen looked down at his weapons harness. “You mean—”

  “You kill her with your hands.” Death Wish smirked at him. “Since you’re all about giving the audience what they want, that will be a popular choice.”

  Axen gritted his teeth. Eloise’s own words about him killing her with his hands came back to him. “It can be done.”

  “It will be done,” hissed Death Wish. “The gamblers want that outcome. You hunt her down, and you dispatch her. And make it entertaining.”

  “What do you want to see?” Axen took a deep breath to calm his heart. If he could, he’d reach through the comms link and rip out the Fraken’s heart.

  “Paint yourself in her blood as you ravish her,” said Death Wish. “Destroy her mind, body, and spirit. There is to be nothing left but her remains scattered on the ground and the roar of your success ringing in the gamers’ ears.”

  Axen ground his teeth together. He never took a woman against her will, and his kills were always swift and merciless. The gaming audience would be disappointed with the outcome of this game.

  “Is there a problem?” Death Wish sneered at him.

  “No problem.”

  “The audience demand results.
You had best make this your most magnificent kill to date, or I shall question your loyalty to us.”

  “I am loyal to my Elders,” said Axen. “They have insisted I take part in these games. My loyalty is to them.”

  “You do our bidding,” said Death Wish. “And just in case our audience becomes bored, I have sent you a little entertainment.”

  “Another beast?” Axen had to force himself not to look around.

  “Something much more fun,” said Death Wish. “Some targeted lightning. It is a storm you will not forget easily. Neither will your little human.”

  Chapter 13

  The rain started not long after Eloise began walking and had been falling as a steady torrent for hours. Even though she’d stuck to the tree cover, she was soaked through, miserable, and hungry. The storm was not letting up, and the lightning was striking the ground with a ferocious blast every few moments. It seemed to get closer to her with each blast.

  She let out an exhausted sigh as she discovered a small cave. Eloise sped into it and sat on the ground, curling her knees up to her chest, her body shivering with tiredness. She almost wished Axen would catch up with her. He might help to keep her dry or, at least, tell her what he planned to do next. They hadn’t decided on how long he would track her. But if this went on for much longer, she wouldn’t be able to walk. Her feet were blistered, and her muscles ached. The water in her bottle was running out, and if she remained soaking wet, she’d get sick.

  “Enough of the pity party,” she muttered to herself. “This will be over soon.” Eloise clung to that hope. She believed Axen had been honest with her when they’d talked about getting out. She just had to hold on until he found the way out for them both.

  Her thoughts drifted to the women she’d left behind in the Fraken cell. She still felt sick as she remembered Sonia being killed. She’d been desperate as she’d run along that corridor, with no idea how she was going to get out. Eloise never wanted to let things get that bad for her. But what about the others, Melody, Grace, and Jessie? Were they still clinging on, waiting in the cell for their turn to take part in a Fraken game? She hoped they’d find some kind of savior in their own game, someone like Axen.

  Axen was different to the image Eloise had of Vorten warriors. And maybe there were more like him. They could be in the games right now, making deals with the others, helping them to get out as well. She shook her head. It sounded so foolishly optimistic when she thought about it. Axen must be a one-off. He had an agenda of his own, and it meant she could survive this.

  He was still such a mystery to her. Vortens fell into the warrior category when it came to the different alien races. She’d met peacemakers, warmongers, scientists, and healers. The alien races were diverse and had different strengths and weaknesses.

  Vortens exceled in protecting the most valuable assets in the galaxy and beyond. The most important thing in her own galaxy was the Vortex. She knew a little about the Vortex, the wormhole that jumped ships into different galaxies. It wasn’t a single jump starships made when they went through. There were docking points through the wormhole, places to re-fuel and rest. And a trip through a wormhole was always a jumpy experience. Eloise had done it once, and the bone jarring, sick inducing experience was one she didn’t want to experience again too soon. But when the trip had been completed, and she’d entered a new galaxy, it had shown her just how tiny and insignificant Earth was.

  Eloise had never been to Vorten, but she knew it was a rugged and difficult terrain to live in. The Vorten people trained hard and fought hard. They protected their planet viciously, but offered their services to others, providing they could pay. Vortens relied on trade deals for some of their vital food resources, including sufficient access to clean water and metals to make their weapons. It could be the reason the Fraken had them in their debt. But Eloise had sensed there was more to that tie. Axen had hinted at a deeper debt. If she survived this, no, when she survived this, she was going to find out more about that debt.

  A blast of lightning smashed a few feet away from the cave, and Eloise shielded her eyes as the smell of burning wood filled her nose. That felt targeted. The Fraken could have seen her slip into this cave and wanted her out. Well, tough, she wanted to wait out the rain. They could try to scare her as much as they liked with lightning, but she’d always enjoyed a good storm. Back on Earth, rain always helped wash away the grime and make her devastated planet look cleaner and more hopeful.

  She ran her hands through her wet hair and pulled it off her face. Everyone on Earth had been so desperate to get help after the last war, and sending that distress call had really been their last hope. There had been rumors for years that signals of unknown origin were filtering through to Earth, but no one paid them much attention.

  So, when the first ship full of aliens arrived, people had been shocked, and panic had slashed through the war torn remains of Earth.

  Negotiations had been brutal, and Eloise still tasted bile in the back of her throat when she thought about how quick Earth had been to surrender to all the demands issued, including several cargo holds of humans sent into space. No one ever knew what happened to the first humans who left on those ships. The ending couldn’t have been good for them.

  Another blast of lightning smashed into the ground, and Eloise jumped to her feet. Her head cocked to one side as worry punched at her stomach. Among the rumbling roar of the thunder overhead, she was sure she’d heard Axen cry out. It was a cry of pain. He’d been hurt.

  ***

  The trees overhead appeared fuzzy and out of focus as Axen opened his eyes. He was on his back in the middle of the rainforest. Pain lanced down his right side, and he was unable to move. He cursed himself as a moan slid from his lips. He’d been distracted, his thoughts on Eloise and getting to her to make sure she was safe.

  The Fraken must have noticed and decided to focus their lightning storm on him, instead. An accurately directed lightning bolt was all it needed to knock him off his feet and take him out of the game.

  He had no doubt that Death Wish was targeting him as punishment for his sharpness during their last communication. He’d tried to remain neutral and act as if he didn’t care about the outcome of the game, but his veins had been on fire when he’d been ordered to destroy Eloise.

  After he’d ended his communications with Death Wish, he’d strode back into the rainforest. The rain was relentless, and he’d seen how the lightning had snaked through the sky, seeking its target. He knew that target was Eloise, and he was determined the Fraken would not get to her. Lightning storms were lethal, especially when they were directed by the Fraken and their twisted idea of entertainment.

  Axen shifted around, trying to get his limbs to work again. He must have blacked out after the lightning struck him and didn’t know how much time had passed. His arms tingled and throbbed as his system went into overdrive. Something was wrong. He couldn’t feel his legs. They weren’t working. They were useless. He was useless.

  He roared, a mixture of pain and helplessness pouring through him. How could he save Eloise now? He shouldn’t have let himself be distracted. She was capable of looking after herself. But the Fraken were ruthless. They would stop at nothing to see their game end in success. What’s to say she wasn’t already dead, having been struck in the chest by a lightning bolt? This could all be for nothing. He could be fighting for someone who was already gone.

  Agony lanced through Axen’s heart at the thought Eloise was dead. He’d only known her for a few days, but she’d changed the way he thought about things. She challenged him about beliefs he’d stood by for cycles without questioning them, and he liked that. For so long, he’d blindly followed the ways of his Elders. But, what if they weren’t always right? What if there was another way? That treacherous thought had seeped into his own mind more than once recently.

  Shaking his head, Axen knew the lightning bolt was making him think ridiculous things. Eloise was just a human woman, and his Elders were always right.
They had never made a bad decision. What he was doing now would be seen as disloyal, and he would be punished for it. But he hated the games, and he loved the way Eloise made him feel. It was a different kind of alive than he felt when doing battle against an enemy. It made him feel hot, and confused, and excited, as if he really could change things and make things better.

  Axen groaned again; his brain had been fried. He had no hope of getting out of the game now.

  He collapsed into blackness again, and strange visions took over his thoughts, images of Eloise, her scent filling his nose, and her worried voice in his ear. He dreamed he was fighting against a vicious enemy, and wild animals were picking over his remains, stripping the flesh from his bones as he lay there unable to fight back.

  Then his nightmare shifted, and he saw himself naked with Eloise, his mouth on hers, his fingers buried in her hair as they embraced. She was pressed against him, making sounds of pleasure as they explored each other’s bodies. His hands moved down, and he pulled her to him. She was naked and gave herself willingly to him, allowing him to slide into her deep, warm wetness and lose himself in his desire for her.

  Then he was fighting, a knife in his hand, slicing through the air. He was slicing at Eloise, and a chunk of her hair flew off as his blade cut through it. And then everything went black again.

  Chapter 14

  Eloise scrubbed at the dirt on her skin. She was bruised, angry, and confused. As well as being filthy, again.

  Part of her wanted to kick Axen. Eloise had dashed out of the cave she’d been sheltering in as soon as she’d heard his cry of distress, and after hunting through the rainforest, she’d discovered him unconscious on the ground, with a large burn mark on his chest.

  Eloise had flung herself to the ground, checking Axen was still breathing. She’d held her own breath for fear of what she might find. And when she’d found him still alive, she’d panicked. She needed to get Axen help, get him treated for the injury he’d suffered, but she had nothing with her and didn’t want to leave him so vulnerable in the rainforest. So, she’d risked moving him. And as she’d moved him, he’d fought back. Well, fought her and kissed her.