by L P Peace
The alien sat forward in his seat. ‘Oh, I insist.’ His eyes landed on Rhona. ‘And why don’t we have the human sit next to me?’
Everything seemed to still. Devorak’s hold tightened around Rhona. Kenian was suddenly at her side, and they were surrounded by the crew. Makios leaned forward on the table until he was in the alien’s face.
‘You want to reconsider this current course of action.’
‘Do I?’ The alien smirked. ‘It’s a nice disguise, but I can smell human on her, even with Kathen stink all over her. If you want me to keep my mouth shut, here of all places, you’ll sit down and have a drink with me.’
‘Or I could gut you here,’ Makios growled.
‘The information I have can only be accessed by me. If you want to go away without the coordinates to the Goedan, feel free to try.’
‘Sooner or later, there will be nothing between you and I. When that time comes, I’ll kill you.’ The voice Makios spoke in reminded her somewhat of the roar in the cages. It was a terrifying sound. The alien continued to smirk.
‘Put the little human between you and me.’ He looked at Rhona once more.
‘Like vrok,’ Makios said, moving to sit in the booth.
‘Put the female between us, or everyone will be between her and you.’
As Rhona watched the two males, she became aware of something pressing into her side. She looked down and saw a small, sheathed knife. She looked up into Devorak’s eyes; they were filled with worry and something else. Confidence, she realised, in her. She took the knife and slipped it up her sleeve.
‘I’ve had enough—’
Rhona walked to Makios’s side and put a hand on his arm. He stilled immediately and looked at her. ‘It’s okay. You’re here. It’s okay.’
‘Rhona,’ the word came out on the faintest breath.
She smiled, even knowing he couldn’t see her lips. ‘I’m okay, Makios. Don’t worry.’ With that, she slipped into the seat.
The alien watched her intently. When she stopped more than a foot from his side, he slid closer to her. She pressed her arm against her side, feeling the hardness of the knife against her hip.
‘Back off a little, or the Kathen will be the least of your worries,’ Rhona hissed at him. There was a moment of shock before his head fell back and he roared with laughter. When the laughter quieted, and everyone was sitting at the table, his eyes turned on her once more. She held his gaze, repressing her fear. When he saw the look on her face, there was a moment of hesitance in his. An arrogant smirk curled his full lips. He inched away before resting his arm on the back of the booth, his arm falling casually over the back of the seat, above her shoulders possessively, without actually touching her.
‘Hmmm, human. I could get so many credits for you on the flesh market.’ He reached out and pulled the scarf down in one tug. Rhona glared at him and pulled it back up again before Makios’s hand snapped across her vision and he was holding the alien’s throat.
‘Touch my mate again, Huan, and I will end you here.’
‘Perhaps I should just let the denizens of this bar know about the—’ The alien looked down at the blade Rhona had pressed into his gut.
‘That’s a terrible idea,’ she said quietly.
The alien looked from Rhona to Makios and back again. She could see the calculating look in his eyes before a grin appeared on his face.
‘Your mate. I thought you’d brought her here as a bonus. My mistake.’ The alien, Huan, moved away from Rhona, glancing down at the knife as it followed, still pressed into his stomach.
‘Let’s get on with business, shall we?’ Rhona smiled sweetly at the Huan.
Danithor stared at her for a few moments, then nodded. ‘The ship is good. I just need the codes to get it working.’
Makios shifted in his seat, then stopped when a green-skinned alien, the same race as the alien at the jump gate who tried to buy her, delivered drinks. The Ledaan, a female, watched them as she dropped the drinks on the table. A moment later, she was gone.
Makios pulled a small terminal out of his pocket, and Danithor pulled something similar out from under the table, but Makios was the first to place his on the table. The Huan tapped something on the side and dropped it a moment later. They each picked up what the other had deposited and looked at the screen.
‘Hidinus?’ Makios said, pulling Rhona closer to his side.
Danithor nodded. ‘In Goedan space. I crewed on a ship that brought them regular supplies there. I skimmed their records before I left their employ.’
‘Not a rare occurrence for one of your kind, I’m sure,’ Makios said, tapping something. ‘Those coordinates are close to Enhari space.’
‘In it, according to the Enhari, though they haven’t moved to take it back.’ Danithor’s face clouded with anger in the wake of Makios’s statement about his people.
Makios nodded. ‘The ship is yours,’ he said, pulling Rhona along with him as he made a move towards the door.
‘In a rush? Our drinks only just arrived.’
‘I’ve had enough of you,’ Makios growled. ‘Our business is done. This is where your part ends. Take your ship and leave Caras.’
‘Perhaps I’ll see you out there.’ Danithor smirked.
‘You better hope not,’ Makios growled. He indicated Vella take the lead.
Rhona looked back at the Huan. His lilac eyes met hers. They watched each other until Makios stepped between them and broke her line of sight.
The return through the station was quicker than the journey to the bar. Before Rhona knew what was happening, she was at the centre of a tight circle of Tala crew as they walked through the flesh market.
The events with the Huan replayed in her mind. He’d talked about selling her so casually, as though she was nothing. He didn’t even consider her a person, just a commodity to be traded. How were humans ever meant to be safe out here?
As they walked, Rhona kept her eyes down, afraid of the things she’d see. The market seemed to be closing up for the day, but from the way her compatriots moved around her, the way they kept their eyes out, watching every corner, the way Devorak kept her close at his side, she knew they were still in danger.
When they returned to the dark bazaar, the circle loosened somewhat around her, and she let out a small sigh of relief.
‘All is well, child. We’ll be back to the ship soon,’ Devorak said, patting her hand.
A horned male with glowing yellow eyes, snake-like pupils and blood spilling from several wounds on his face barged through Vanoor and Sidha. His hand snatched out, and he grabbed the hood of Rhona’s cloak and pulled it from her head, grabbing a fistful of her hair and pulling her head back with it.
He grabbed at Rhona’s hand, but Devorak pulled her away from him. Rhona grabbed the strange alien’s hand and tried to pry his fingers from her hair.
Makios turned and rammed bodily into the bleeding alien, jerking him from her. His grip tightened on her hair, and Rhona was shunted with him, forcing Devorak to stumble after her rather than let go. Behind the snake-eyed alien, another one, this one with massive red and green wings, stepped into view. He grinned at Rhona, then launched at Makios.
‘Behind you!’ she yelled too late. The winged alien landed on Makios and pulled him away from the fight. She screamed before the bleeding alien stepped closer to her, blocking her view.
‘I’ll take her and the Mvari, Cealin,’ he growled.
‘You’ll die, and be glad it was quick,’ Devorak said in a voice she hadn’t heard him use yet.
Neither Devorak nor the alien was letting go of her. She was pulled between the two of them as they circled each other, their eyes fixed, each waiting for the other to attack.
The alien roared in Devorak’s face. Devorak hissed, and for the first time, she saw how sharp his teeth and claws were. He looked more like the Cealin of The Violation than ever, running through the streets and hurting people.
The alien jerked her towards him, and she ha
d no choice but to move where he wanted her or lose a significant chunk of her hair and possibly part of her scalp.
His hand lifted away from her head and Devorak pulled her away gently to him. Suddenly, and she found herself in Deyuul’s arms.
‘We have to go,’ he said.
‘We can’t leave Kenian,’ she said, feeling the bite of panic.
‘Go,’ Devorak called. ‘I’ll bring the Mvari.’
The bleeding alien seemed to become aware that he didn’t have Rhona anymore. He looked around for her at the same time as Devorak growled low in his throat and launched at him.
That was the last thing Rhona saw before arms wrapped around her, and she was raised from the ground, higher than Deyuul’s six and a half feet. Instead, she was looking down as two huge grey-blue legs stepped out from behind the Uunda.
‘What is that?’ she screamed, trying to turn and see where the threat was.
‘It’s me,’ Deyuul whispered calmly into her ear. ‘I have you. We’re going up.’
‘Up?’ She was turned in Deyuul’s arms and instinctively wrapped her legs around him and clung on around his neck.
Over his shoulder, the strange hump she had noticed before had unfolded into four huge legs.
‘I can’t climb and hold you,’ Deyuul said urgently. ‘Hold tight.’
Rhona wrapped herself around him and looked at the strange legs that had been a hunch moments before.
‘You’re going to have to explain to me how this works when we get back on the ship,’ she said. She crossed her ankles behind him and wrapped her arms tighter to him, locking herself around him while looking over his shoulder.
One long leg reached up, followed by another. Rhona stared at them. There were long, black claws on the ends of them, and as they hit the wall above, there was a loud screech of metal as they dug in. Deyuul pulled and raised them up more than a dozen feet from the ground. Two more legs raised to repeat the process.
‘Oh!’ Rhona gasped as they were raised from the ground. They continued up, moving past the legs gripping onto the wall and rising over twenty feet from the fighting below. They passed a balcony where aliens were turning their eyes from them to the floor that was falling farther and farther behind at every moment. There was another screech of metal and a jolt as Deyuul raised them up even higher.
Rhona looked down and saw Makios snap one of the wings of the winged male who’d been staring at her and preparing to take off. He screamed and lashed out at him. She saw Makios take a strike to the face and fall before Deyuul pulled them over a balcony to an empty floor.
‘Makios!’ she cried out as he disappeared from view. ‘Deyuul?’
‘He’s fine,’ he whispered. ‘He’s already up. We have to get you to the ship.’
‘We’re not leaving without them,’ she sobbed.
‘Only if we’re in immediate danger,’ he promised.
The next few minutes passed in a haze as Deyuul used his ability and extra limbs to find a safe path to the ship. He used his long limbs to speed through halls so quickly Rhona got impressions of colour and a blur of aliens before they were gone. He used his size to elbow aliens aside or step over others before they were finally on a shopping level. There, he pulled them over one of the balconies that overlooked the airlocks and climbed out into that chasm. Rhona closed her eyes and clung to him trying to avoid looking at the hundreds of feet to the massive airlocks beneath her. Instead, she concentrated on saying every prayer she knew in the hopes Makios and the whole crew, Devorak included, made it back safely.
‘You can look now,’ Deyuul said. He hauled them onto a floor. She opened her eyes when she heard deck plating beneath his… feet?
Tala was still in place on its berth. She looked across the ship and found her eyes sliding off it.
Please let Makios and the crew be okay. Please let Devorak be okay.
Deyuul straightened Rhona’s cloak over her. He lowered. Behind him, his legs deflated and folded away.
‘That’s so weird,’ she whispered.
‘I was hoping you’d think it was “cool”,’ Deyuul said. He moved her so that she was lying in his arms and carried her to the ship.
‘Have you completed the inspection?’
‘All done,’ said the familiar voice of the Ajnia. ‘Trouble?’
‘Riot,’ Deyuul said. ‘The Cealin’s daughter was injured. I’m taking her for treatment.’
There was a grunt, and the footsteps moved away as Deyuul stepped up on the ship and Rhona heard the door close. She pulled back her hood and looked at Deyuul. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be concentrating.
‘We are alone,’ he said.
‘Makios?’
‘They have help,’ he said. ‘I’m waiting for instructions.’
Rhona slipped out of Deyuul’s arms and followed him to the bridge. Deyuul took the pilot’s seat, and Rhona sat in the co-pilot’s seat.
Rhona covered her face with her hands. They trembled against her. She took a deep breath in and out, which sounded loud in the space her cupped hands allowed. She felt her breath warm her face, then folded her hands in her lap.
‘Will you let me know if something happens?’
‘Of course,’ Deyuul said.
They sat there in silence for over an hour.
Every few minutes, Deyuul would answer her unasked question. Though for him, it must have felt like she was screaming it inside his brain.
‘They’re on their way,’ He whispered. Then feelings of reassurance would blossom and fade as though he were stroking them into her mind.
What if something happened to him? What if he died? What if he left her all alone, just as she found him?
Finally, he looked at her.
‘They have reached the bazaar. He wants you to know they are close.’
Rhona nodded. She pulled her knees against her chest and wrapped her arms around it. More time passed.
She calculated the time it took to get from the ship to the bazaar, and when that time slipped by without word, she began going through all the worst-case scenarios
‘Where are they?’
‘The place you referred to as a cross between New York and Persephone.’
The cityscape place. Rhona nodded.
Rhona rested her chin on her knees and closed her eyes. Never in her life was she ever as frightened as she was right now. The thought of something, anything happening to Makios—
‘This is how he felt when you were on the Amaran’s ship,’ Deyuul said quietly. ‘I’ve never known him to experience such overwhelming fear.’
Rhona opened her eyes and looked into the multi-faceted black jewels of Deyuul’s eyes. The shaking began but she held it all in, adding guilt to the tumult of emotion when she realised she was projecting everything she felt onto the Uunda.
Cooling, calming waves of reassurance slowly pushed the inner storm back until it was like watching a storm far out on one of Earth’s seas.
‘They’re close. But they need help. You will be safe alone for a few minutes.’
Rhona nodded. ‘Bring him back,’ she whispered. ‘Bring them all back.’
Deyuul nodded and stood. ‘I’ll lock the ship up,’ he said. ‘No one will get in.’
Rhona watched him casually walk across the bay, ignored by the aliens who seemed ignorant of what had happened in the bazaar below. He disappeared through a side door right in front of several people, but while they moved out of his way, none of them acknowledged or even seemed to notice him.
That kind of power was awesomely terrifying. Good thing he was on their side.
Without the ebb and flow of Deyuul’s reassurance, Rhona’s nerves felt like there was a lightning storm in them. Her stomach twisted and lurched with every movement outside. Her mouth was dry, and she licked her lips to bring them some much-needed moisture, but there was nothing there to share. As the minutes passed, her nerves rose and, unwillingly, she began to imagine a future without Makios in it. It was worse than a fut
ure without her parents, without her little brother, without her uncle, who died to save her only a few weeks before.
Pulling her knees up to her chest, Rhona forced herself to steady her breathing. ‘He’s fine,’ she whispered. ‘They’re fine. We’re all going to be fine.’
Rhona kept her eyes on the door since Deyuul disappeared through it, expecting him to come back the same way. As one, the group of aliens standing around it looked up, turned and filed through the door.
‘Wait. What? What was that?’ She jumped up and moved to the far end of the viewscreen, trying to catch a glimpse of the space beyond the door. They moved like they’d heard something. Was it Deyuul and Makios? Did they hear them? Were they going there to check out the noise? Or had they heard about the dark bazaar? Three more aliens left by the same door.
‘Oh no,’ Rhona whispered. ‘No, no, no, no.’ She kept repeating as she moved onto the console, trying to avoid the controls while also trying to see further into the hall beyond the door.
As she watched, the last of the deckhands disappeared.
Rhona looked around the bridge. She knew there were weapons on board, but she had never asked where they were stored or how to get to them.
She caught movement out of the side of her eye and turned to find the red snake-man from earlier slithering onto the deck. He was looking at the ship, and even though there was no way he could see her, Rhona felt like he was looking straight at her anyway. Behind him, the purple snake-man appeared and then a black one. They moved towards the ship.
The only weapons Rhona knew how to handle, were the ship’s guns. She looked down at the panel and flicked on the engine of the ship. The guns wouldn’t work without them.
The snake-men slowed, staring at the engines as they cycled up. It took about forty seconds for the weapons to become ready as the engines warmed. Rhona took a deep breath, terrified of the idea of taking any life, but she had to find a weapon, get off the ship and find Makios. If she couldn’t find him, if something had happened, nothing else mattered.
Rhona stared at the snake-men as they got closer. They were looking around the ship, ducking and weaving as they slithered. Taking it all in. Looking for something. Her?