by J. J. Green
When the water was above her nose, she woke up, at first relieved to realize she’d only been having a nightmare, and then despairing when she understood she remained in the metal box.
With some difficulty, she turned over in order to ease her aching body. She felt like crying again, but she was all out of tears. In all the dangerous and terrifying situations she’d been in since Carina had rescued her and her siblings from the Sherrerrs’ ship, Nightfall, she didn’t think she’d encountered any quite as horrible or dire as this.
As she lay down on her other side, however, she noticed something had changed. Something was different. She sat up and looked around, trying to penetrate the pitch dark that surrounded her. No chink of light offered itself, and no breath of current stirred the air, yet she was certain she wasn’t imagining the alteration.
She inhaled sharply. The floor was no longer vibrating.
Before she had time to process the fact, one side of the box suddenly fell open and hit the floor with a deafening clang.
Parthenia grimaced as light and chill air flooded in. She blinked and shivered, catching a glimpse of the interior of a chamber and, through an opening, a dark gray landscape beyond.
A Regian stepped in front of her, obscuring her view with its long, articulated legs.
She uttered a short scream and drew back.
The lid of the box lifted and the remaining sides collapsed. More Regians stood around her. She cringed, drawing in her shoulders and knees.
No eyes. No see. No eyes. No see.
The voices were coming from her comm. She still had the translator hanging around her neck.
No eyes, no see? What did the Regians mean? Were they going to put out her eyes?
Sheer terror overcame her. She leapt to her feet on wobbling legs and tried to run.
A pincered leg rose and pushed her shoulder, hard, and she toppled down, but not as hard as she expected. She realized she felt curiously light. The gravity on the Regians’ planet was less than standard.
Two more sets of pincers picked up the black bag lying on the floor of the box.
“No,” Parthenia said, “not that. Not that again! I’ll keep my eyes closed, I promise.”
But if the Regians understood her, they didn’t care about her horror of the bag. In another moment it was over her head again.
Pincers plucked at her clothes and then fastened on her shirt with a firm hold before dragging her upward. The curved tips of more pincers prodded her back and backside, encouraging her to move.
She managed to stagger upright and walk in the direction the Regians pushed her.
Walking in darkness knowing she couldn’t break her fall with her hands if she tripped was deeply unnerving. Where were they taking her and what would happen when she arrived? Did they understand that she needed elixir in order to Cast? How would she communicate the ingredients she needed or the process? And if she couldn’t make them understand, what would they do? She’d heard the Regians regarded humans as food. If they thought she was useless to them, would they…?
She swallowed and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. Almost as bad as her horror of being eaten alive was her concern for her brothers and sisters. Protecting her siblings had been part of her life for as far back as she could remember, first from their father and later from the many dangers that had faced them. But now they were beyond her care. Would she ever see them again?
She decided she would do whatever she could to survive. She would Cast for the aliens. They weren’t like her father. They didn’t understand the things mages could do. She would find out where Carina and her other siblings were being held, and they would escape the Regians’ world together, somehow.
Then she remembered Kamil. Was he already on the planet too? She needed to find him and the rest of the mercenaries. She couldn’t leave them all there to be eaten.
The stony ground she’d been walking across suddenly sloped downward, and she stumbled. Her knees impacted sharp edges that cut into her skin. She cried out in pain as Regian words came through her comm: Move. Walk. Step. Walk. Run.
She climbed to her feet, her breath puffing out the material of the bag, and felt blood dribble down her legs. She walked on carefully, trying to avoid falling again onto the ridged ground. The slope grew steeper until she was struggling to remain upright, though the ridges helped her to grip the ground.
As she’d been walking, a rustling noise had risen around her—a noise that was horribly familiar. She knew from the fight with the Regians in the Bathsheba’s gym that she was hearing the creatures’ bodies rub up against each other. She was clearly in some kind of Regian habitation.
After she’d been walking for about twenty minutes, the ground quickly evened out and she could tread more easily again.
A jab from a pincer to her right pushed her in another direction. A new, gentler slope appeared beneath her feet, and at the same time an odor arose from the base of the bag enclosing her head: a musty, cloying, sickening stench, like the local fungus her father used to like to eat on Ithiya mixed with the smell of rotting meat.
Something long and hard cracked against her shins and she tumbled forward, her face smacking into the ground. But it didn’t hurt badly. The low, sharp ridges had been replaced by a soft substance that cushioned her fall.
Before she could rise again, the bag was ripped from her head.
Chapter Thirty-One
“I told you once I was your nemesis,” said Mezban, smirking, “and I was correct.”
Carina knelt at the woman’s feet, held there by Pappu’s hand on her shoulder. She guessed the audience with Mezban and Lomang was a short stop on her way to somewhere else, in the company of the Regians.
The aliens crowded at the door of the small room where Mezban and Lomang sat. She could hear the creatures’ words through her comm: Bring them. Soon. Enough. Near. Finish.
“This isn’t over yet,” Carina replied. “You’re going to regret what you’ve done, and then we’ll see who’s the nemesis around here.”
“You’re right,” said Mezban. “It isn’t over. Though for you it will be shortly. But before you go to live out the rest of your sad life incarcerated on the Regians’ planet, I want something. Tell me where you’ve hidden the ember gems. I know you must have taken them from the Zenobia.”
Mezban leaned forward and her dark hair hung down, partially obscuring her face, but her eyes glinted like the precious stones of which she spoke.
Carina had almost forgotten about the jewelry Lomang had stolen from his wife, prompting her to follow his sorry ass all the way to another galactic sector. She’d only given a couple of the beautiful gems as payment for repairing and refitting the Duchess and upgrading the Black Dogs’ armor and equipment.
It took her a moment to recall what had happened to the rest, then she remembered: at the beginning of their journey, after the mercs had captured the Bathsheba, she’d put the stones in a safe in a storage room, along with the ancient mage documents.
“I don’t have the jewels anymore,” she replied. “I traded them all at Martha’s Rest.”
Mezban snorted with laughter. “For what? A city? A country? That’s their worth.”
“How was I to know their value?” Carina asked. “I got what I needed with them. That was all I cared about.”
The likelihood of her ever seeing the stones again was looking extremely remote, but she was damned if she was going to give them up to this despicable traitor of her own kind.
“So it was you who came after us in the destroyer?” she continued. “I thought it was the Regians.”
“It was indeed,” Lomang replied, his hands folded on his fattened belly. “We offered, you see, knowing only the Peregrine could catch you and incapacitate your ship.”
“You’re even stupider than I thought,” Carina said. “You did the Regians’ dirty work when you could have flown away freely.”
“That would have meant giving up the ember gems,” replie
d Mezban.
“But you would have gotten away with your lives. Do you really think the Regians are going to just let you leave?”
“They will.” Lomang nodded sagely, repeating, “They will. But you won’t see it. After you and your family are gone, we will return to our home world and live out our lives in peace. And perhaps one day we will have the opportunity to purchase another inter-sector ship, and we will journey again into your sector and relieve it of the best of its wares.” He winked at her.
“Not without my jewels, we won’t!” Mezban spat, giving her husband a deathly glare.
He ducked his head, immediately subdued.
Mezban rose to her feet. “Where are they?!”
Carina smiled. “I told you. I don’t have any left. And even if I did have some hidden away somewhere, what are you going to threaten me with if I refuse to hand them over? Imprisonment? Torture? My family turned into slaves? The Black Dogs consumed by monsters?”
The woman strode over and slapped her hard across her cheek.
“Is that the best you’ve got?” Carina asked, unfazed. “I’d leave the beating of the prisoners to your brother-in-law if I were you.”
“Tell me where you’ve hidden my gems!” Mezban stamped one of her little feet. “Or Pappu will batter you within an inch of your life.”
Carina shrugged. “It wouldn’t be for the first time, and he won’t actually kill me. You can’t afford to anger the Regians.”
Nai Nai had taught her mind control techniques that would enable her to shut out the pain from a sustained beating, though she would feel the effects as she recovered. She was more worried about her siblings, as well as Bryce, Jace, and the Black Dogs. She was the only one who knew the location of the gems. If Mezban got it into her tiny mind that someone else might also be privy to the secret, she might attempt to extract it from them by force.
Voices came through her comm: Finish. No wait. Bring them. Soon.
“So you’ve lost the Bathsheba, all the contraband you were smuggling, and the ember gems, and now you’re about to lose your miserable lives,” said Carina. “It might not look like it just yet, but I think I’m actually going to come out the winner here. My family and I will survive, and soon we’ll have our liberty too. The Regians might keep us captive for a short while but we’ll find a way to escape. It isn’t hard for mages.”
“We will not lose our lives!” Mezban seethed. “It is you who has lost. You’ve lost everything!”
Carina looked over her shoulder at the Regians who were gathered in the doorway. “You know what? Regians have been raiding the district where I grew up for hundreds of years, so long, in fact, they’ve become part of the local mythology. The same is true in your culture, right? That means they’ve been capturing humans and bringing them here for a very long time, easily long enough to learn our languages well. I bet they understand more of our speech than you think.
“My guess is they’ve overheard both of you talking about the ember gems, and the only reason they’re allowing us this time together is because they want to discover the stones’ location for themselves. If I were to tell you where I may have hidden them, they’ll have everything they wanted: mages, the Black Dogs, you and your soldiers, and, finally, the ember gems. As soon as I name the hiding place, they’ll probably come in here right away to grab you.”
Mezban’s features fell, and she glanced at her husband.
He returned her gaze with fear in his eyes.
“You have discussed the jewels around the Regians, haven’t you?” asked Carina.
Pallor overtaking the rich olive of her skin, Mezban returned uncertainly to her seat.
“It’s all nonsense,” said Pappu, his deep voice rumbling. “Your soldiers are armed, Mezban. The Regians would never have allowed them to carry weapons if they didn’t intend to let us leave.”
Lomang relaxed and grinned. “You’re right, dear brother.” He turned to his wife. “Pappu speaks the truth, my dear. We have nothing to fear. The mage is only trying to beguile us, as is her way. We mustn’t listen to her drivel.” He focused on Carina. “You have one chance remaining to tell us where you hid the gems, or suffer the consequences.” Leaning forward and narrowing his eyes, he said, “You can do your magic with only one hand, right?”
“Are you sure your soldiers are still armed?” she asked. “Do you even know where they are?”
Mezban started with alarm and peered beyond the Regians outside the room.
“Take no notice,” Lomang said. “She’s only trying to frighten and confuse us. I’m warning you, one final chance,” he said to Carina.
She sighed. “I guess there’s only one way of finding out which of us is right.”
“No,” Mezban blurted. “No, we no longer want to know where the jewels are. Lomang, we must leave now.”
“I’m telling you she’s fooling us, dear wife. She’s only angry she must give up the gems to us before she enters into slavery. She hopes to get her revenge by tricking us into leaving without them.”
“I do not want the stones!” Mezban exclaimed.
“You don’t?” Carina asked. “Oh, but I insist. Let me tell you where you can find them. They’re—”
“Be silent!” yelled Mezban. “Pappu, knock her out. I don’t want her to utter another word. Lomang, if you don’t come with me, I’m leaving without you. I’ll take the Peregrine, and the Regians can have you.”
“Pappu, don’t touch her,” said Lomang. “Let her speak.”
Pappu looked from the wife to the husband, as if unsure who to obey.
“You idiot!” Mezban shrieked at Lomang. “You cretin! Why did I ever marry you? You’ve brought me nothing but trouble. You’re too stupid even to understand how stupid you are! You’ve stolen from me, lied, cheated, dragged me into your ridiculous schemes, and ruined my life!”
The small woman was working herself into a paroxysm of fury. Her face glowed red, her eyes looked about to pop from their sockets, and her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides.
Despite her personal worries, Carina couldn’t help but chuckle. Lomang was dumb, sure enough, but so was Mezban, just in a different way. If the woman had been smart, she would have left a couple of minutes ago and been on her way to her ship. The Regians might have been caught unawares, and she could have escaped if she knew how to fly a starship.
But, instead, her temper had gotten the better of her. She’d missed her opportunity, and now she was going to pay.
Carina stood up. “I hid the gems in the viewing dome,” she said quietly.
None of the humans present heard her. Lomang was attempting to soothe his irate wife while she ranted and railed at him, hitting his chest with her little fists, and Pappu was watching them with sad resignation.
Carina cleared her throat and repeated herself, louder. “I hid the gems in the viewing dome.”
Mezban heard her and turned, her jaw dropping open, words drying in her mouth.
The Regians shifted restlessly, scraping their carapaces against each other.
Carina faced the aliens. “The viewing dome, at the top of the ship, where I set the bomb. I hid the gems behind the bar. They might still be there.”
Though Lomang and Mezban were out of sight behind her, she was sure she could feel them freeze.
The aliens stopped moving, and for a moment all was silent and still.
Then hell broke loose.
Regians surged into the room and grabbed Carina with their pincers, tugging her toward the door. She looked back.
Mezban screamed as the aliens reached her. Pappu tried to run and was drowned in a sea of black carapaces. Lomang gaped when the creatures descended on him, appearing amazed at this ill turn of fate against all his expectations.
As Carina was dragged away and the black bag was thrust over her head once more, she smiled a grim smile of satisfaction.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Parthenia vigorously rubbed the two pieces of organic, fibrous material t
ogether again. She’d lost count of the times she’d performed the same action, all with the identical result: no fire. Not even a thread of smoke. Her fingers were raw from her efforts, and her back ached from crouching over the shallow depression she’d dug in the floor of the pit where the Regians had put her.
The method had worked for Ferne on Ostillon when Carina had Transported them to different places on the planet, and she was sure she was doing it right according to what he’d told her. Perhaps the material was too damp.
Everything was damp down there in the Regian city. The air was so humid it was as if you could wring water out of it. Her hair had turned into a ball of frizz and her clothes felt moist to the touch. It was also cold. She was chilled to the bone, and she could almost feel the water in the atmosphere leaching the heat from her.
If only she could make a fire. It wouldn’t only allow her to Cast as the Regian king had commanded, the flames would also help to keep her warm. She was no splicer, but she knew her health would quickly decline in the conditions and she might only have days to live.
A shadow moved above her, shifting the meager light that penetrated her pit from the Regian metropolis above.
Her guard was checking on her again.
Ready. Now. King.
“No,” she replied. “I’m not ready. I can’t make fire. Can you bring me some type of fire? I need naked flames. If you can do that I’ll Cast for your king.”
Not word. Ready. Now. King.
“No!” she exclaimed, standing up. “I need fire! Fire, fire, fire! Why can’t you understand? How can you not know what fire is? One of the first things humans learned to do was to make fire, hundreds of thousands of years ago, when we were hardly more than animals. How can you build cities and starships and yet you can’t make fire?”
Not word. King wait. Anger. Ready. Infest family.