by Roxie Ray
Then everything went black.
18
Zark
I woke up in a dank cavern with my arms chained above my head.
Valkredian eyes have superb night-sight, since Valkred's nights last eighteen hours – yet it still took a long time for my vision to adjust enough to get even the vaguest sense of our surroundings. In the interim, I tried to use my other senses as best I could: I heard faint footsteps, sets of armored boots patrolling a short distance away. A strong, mossy, musky scent filled the air, one I recognized well. I'd smelled this same vegetation before, several times.
“We're on Macur,” I said softly.
I heard Miranda inhale sharply right next to me. When I turned, I could barely make out her shape in the darkness. “Thank God you're awake,” she sighed, relieved. “I was starting to go a little crazy – I tried reading your thoughts, but I couldn't, so I didn't know if you were even here or if they'd separated us.”
“That's because their blasters were set to heavy stun settings,” I explained. “They zap out all detectable brainwave patterns, except for the ones that control vital organs. Are you all right? Have they done anything to hurt you?”
“No. So far, no one's even come to check on us… I've just been listening to them march back and forth in one of the nearby passages. They haven't even spoken to each other.”
“So Torqa does plan to keep us here while she's preparing her assault on the Mana home world,” I mused.
“Yeah? And what happens after that? She leaves us to rot while she goes on to conquer Valkred?”
“Not exactly. If I know Torqa – and, regrettably, I do – she plans to swing back here first to kill me, so she can use my dead body to demoralize Akzun and rally her supporters on Valkred. Which means she'll kill you, too. She'll have no reason to leave you alive at that point, and she's not known for her fondness for human females. Not since one of them stole Akzun from her.”
“You're telling me she was jealous of Carly? She wanted Akzun for herself?” Miranda let out a low whistle. “Wow. ‘Hell hath no fury,’ huh?”
“You'll have to explain what that means,” I replied, “once I've figured out a way out of here. I'm assuming your arms are shackled above you, as well?”
“'Fraid so,” she answered glumly. “Got any bright ideas on how we can get free?”
I tried to concentrate, to come up with a plan – but the crushed-glass feeling in my joints and extremities was worse than ever. I used the last of my focus to peer into her thoughts, her memories, to see if there was anything there we could use.
“On Earth, you were a… what's the term? You helped people hone their physical and athletic skills?”
“In a manner of speaking, sure. I was a fitness instructor. Nothing special, just helping flabby yuppies work off the extra weight from their big dinners at fancy restaurants, that kind of thing.”
I didn't understand half of what she'd just said, but I grasped the basics. “Part of that training involved strength and tremendous flexibility, is that correct?”
“Yeah, kettle bells, yoga, core workouts, all that stuff. Why, what are you getting at?”
I searched the ground beneath her, straining my eyes in the gloom. I remembered that one of the trees that grew underground on Macur was a Tug'Liian Conifer – long, thin, strong needles sprouted from its limbs, ones that fell off and grew back on a regular basis. When my brother and I had explored the caves during our last diplomatic mission, I'd noticed that the ground was littered with them.
Well, perhaps “noticed” wasn't the most accurate term: Actually, I'd stepped on a cluster and they went right through my boot, stabbing me through the foot. Akzun hadn't been able to stop laughing at me for hours afterward.
And despite all of Torqa's boasting about “bleeding-edge technology,” the shackles around my wrists felt like basic metal clamps with simple locking mechanisms. Why not? Why waste advanced tech on me, given how stupid and helpless she thought I was?
I swore to myself that I'd make her regret that if it was the last thing I ever did.
“Zark?” Miranda asked again. “What did you have in mind?”
“Do you suppose that you might be able to use your training and flexibility to pick something up with your feet and raise it up to your hands?”
“Um… maybe? It'd be damn difficult, but if it's the difference between trying or ending up a pair of skeletons hanging from the wall, I'm up for it.”
“Excellent. There are several organic needles on the ground near you. If you can transfer one to your hand, you can use it to pick the lock on the shackles and free yourself.”
She laughed mirthlessly. “Okay, well, a couple of problems there. First, it's too dark for me to see anything. Second, I have no idea how to pick a lock.”
“Neither of those things matter – I can see, and I know how to pick a lock. All you have to do is merge your thoughts with mine, and allow me to guide you. Together, we can do it.”
She took a deep breath. “All right, let's give it a shot.”
I reached out with my mind and felt hers extend toward mine in return, our thoughts lacing together like outstretched fingers. I focused my vision on the conifer needles under her.
“Wow, this is wild,” she said. “Seeing through your eyes, I mean. It's kind of disorienting.”
She kicked her boots off and slowly, carefully explored the ground with her bare feet. The point of one of the needles punctured her big toe, and she hissed with pain. I admired her for resisting the urge to cry out – it might have attracted the attention of the guards, and then we'd have been in real trouble.
A couple more tries, and she was able to successfully grip one of the longer needles.
“Here comes the hard part,” she murmured.
As I watched, she brought her leg up until it was almost parallel with her upper body, then reached forward with her hand and grabbed the needle.
I was awestruck.
I could fly, I could see in the dark, my physical strength was almost double that of an average human (when I wasn't wracked with spasms due to a curse, of course), but she had none of that and still managed to succeed. Remarkable. More than that, I had to admire the taut lines of her body, her natural grace. If our situation weren't so dire and my body weren't in total agony, I'd have wanted to make love to her right then and there.
“Outstanding,” I commented. “Well done. I'd applaud, but…”
“Ha ha. You want to show me how to handle these locks, smartass?”
I closed my eyes and concentrated on everything I knew about lock picking. Miranda inserted the tip of the conifer needle into the lock and rotated it carefully, trying to feel around for the tumbler in the mechanism. When she found it, it took her a few tries – during which I fervently hoped she wouldn't break the needle and need to retrieve another one – but she was finally able to lift it. The lock clacked, and the shackles sprang open.
Miranda stepped forward, rubbing her wrists. “Nice teamwork,” she said, handing the needle to me.
I fumbled with it, but I could barely make my fingers work – the stabbing sensation in them was unbearable. This was a delicate task, and time wasn't on our side. We needed to get out of this damned cave and find Torqa before she could make her next move.
I jabbed the tip into the lock, and twisted it around – first one way, then the other, until I found the tumbler. I tilted it up, but it fell back into place almost immediately. My hands were numb from being suspended for so long, and the mechanism felt impossibly heavy. Sweat was pouring down my face and stinging my eyes.
Miranda put her hand on my chest gently. “I believe in you.”
She believed in me. I couldn't let her down. Not now. Not after everything we'd been through together.
I raised the tumbler again, and this time – after a few seconds of maddening suspense – the shackles opened and my arms were released. They swung down so quickly that I almost stabbed myself in the thigh with the needle.
Miranda threw her arms around my neck, kissing me passionately. “Never doubted you for a second. Now what? Find our way out of the caves without letting the guards hear us?”
“You're half right. We are getting out of these caves… but those guards have something we'll need.”
“Oh? What's that?”
“Weapons. And not just for protection against Torqa and her people. There are plenty of other dangers down here, and we'll need to be ready for them.”
I motioned for her to follow me and started creeping toward the area where I'd heard the guards patrolling. Again, Torqa could have placed all sorts of motion sensors and remote surveillance devices in these narrow caverns in case we managed to get free, but she hadn't. She'd been sloppy in underestimating us, and she'd pay dearly for that.
We made our way to an opening in the rock, then shrank back against the shadows of the stone wall, waiting to see who would pass by. A pair of heavy metal boots clomped toward us, and when I saw whom they belonged to, the blood in my veins turned to ice.
Skovakk the Unyielding.
The only bounty hunter in the galaxy more feared and dangerous than Zurum.
Perhaps Torqa hadn't underestimated us after all. No amount of security devices would stop us as surely – and permanently – as a tussle with Skovakk.
A renegade Xehrulian, he stood even taller than the other members of his species, with huge, broad shoulders and arms as thick as tree trunks. His copper-colored hair hung in heavy braids down to his waist, with barbs woven into each. (It was rumored that these barbs were painted with fast-acting nerve toxins, to slow his opponents down during battles.) Eight different types of blasters were clipped to his belt – trophies taken from his enemies. He'd been known to use them when he needed to… but his main weapon, his trademark, was the massive laser-axe slung over his shoulder. Those who spoke of him said he stopped putting notches in the handle to signify his kills years ago, having run out of room for new ones.
And worst of all, his race had psychic abilities which were often on par with those of the Valkredians. Which meant most of the time, he knew what his enemies were going to do even before they did.
I cussed under my breath in Valkredian. This was going to be even harder than I thought. Under normal circumstances, I might have prevailed against him. But with this curse sapping my strength, dulling my reflexes…
Skovakk stopped, sniffing the air. His thick lips pulled back in a grin, revealing his broken, jagged, yellowed teeth. “Oh my,” he said in his gravelly voice. “Are my prisoners being naughty and trying to escape? We certainly can't have that.”
He started walking again, poking his head into each cavern as he passed it. “I know you're here, little piggies. I can hear your thoughts. I can smell your fear. I should alert the other guards… but then they'd only interfere with my fun, wouldn't they?”
A few more steps, and he'd practically be right on top of us. I could feel Miranda trembling next to me. The fact that this beast was scaring Miranda this way filled me with a simmering rage.
“Torqa thought you might find a way to undo your shackles and try to flee,” he went on. “She gave me a message for you. She told me to let you know that this means you've violated the terms of your deal with her. Now I have orders to take my time mutilating the female and forcing you to watch, Zark. She's even paying me extra to do so… not that she'd need to, since I happen to enjoy the perks of my job.”
I couldn't take it anymore. Whether we moved or didn't, he'd find us in a matter of moments. I lunged out of the cave, hoping I'd at least be able to surprise him for a split-second and throw him off.
It didn't work. He grabbed me by the front of my tunic and added his own considerable strength to my momentum, slamming me against the opposite wall. The stone surface smacked against my skull, and I saw stars.
“There you are!” he cackled. “Going to make a fight of it, eh? Good! I could use a bit of exercise. Not that it looks like I'll get much from a scrawny blood-sucker like you.”
He advanced on me, activating his laser-axe. The blade glowed and hummed as he swung it back and forth ominously – like a pendulum on a clock, ticking away our final seconds of life. He was closing in fast. Could I somehow get past him? Lead him away from Miranda, to give her a better chance of escaping?
“No, there's no way you'd be fast enough to get by me, and the girl has no chance of successfully evading me,” Skovakk chortled, tapping the side of his head. “Any plan you try to come up with, I'll know, remember? Now, stop trying to be clever, stand up like a man, and hit me head-on! I'll even give you the first one for free!”
I tried to raise my mental defenses, to block his psychic probing – but it was no use. The pain from the curse was too overwhelming for me to focus on anything but my immediate survival.
Suddenly, Skovakk stopped in his tracks with a frown, his nose wrinkling. “What trickery is this? Why can't I read your thoughts anymore? Do you have some sort of scrambling device to nullify my probes, like that armored dung beetle Zurum?”
I heard Miranda's voice in my head: No, but it looks like I can use my own abilities to block his psychic powers – even though it's taking all my concentration to do it. That should level the playing field for you a little, at least.
With renewed vigor, I punched him in the jaw, busting two of his teeth out of his mouth and sending him reeling backward. I advanced, delivering a kick to his legs to take advantage of his momentary loss of balance – but he'd already found his footing again, and he didn't budge. It was like kicking a tree trunk.
He spit blood, grinned, and delivered an uppercut to my jaw that made me see stars.
My vision doubled, and then tripled as Skovakk lumbered toward me. I swung wildly with my left, and then my right, trying to keep him at a distance while I recovered. Both punches connected solidly with his sides, and I felt his ribs give way. His grunt of pain turned into a laugh.
Normally, that would have been enough to take him down. But thanks to the curse, my hands and wrists felt like someone was taking a rusty saw to them. And if I didn’t stop him, Skovakk wouldn't rest until he'd mashed me into paste.
No armor, no weapons, my physical strength waning because of this damned curse… so what advantages did I have? What could I use against him?
Then something in my mind clicked into place. Odds were, a big, bad, high-priced bounty hunter wouldn't have had many reasons to frequent a primitive, backwater planet like this one before. After all, it wasn't as though tribal Macurians tended to make a lot of galactic “Most Wanted” lists, was it?
Whereas, thanks to my diplomatic missions, I knew quite a bit about this world.
Especially its native vegetation.
I ducked out of the way just as Skovakk brought his axe down where my head had just been. The laser-blade carved a sharp divot of stone from the side of the cave. He turned, smiling malevolently as I backed up against a mossy wall.
“Duck and run, skitter and scamper, it makes no difference in the end,” he sneered. “Not for nothing am I called ‘the Unyielding.’”
He swung the axe and I leaped to one side, holding my breath. The blade sliced through the thick patch of moss – which instantly released a thick cloud of purple spores right in Skovakk's ugly face.
“Yield to that, motherfucker,” I spat, retreating to a safe distance.
Skovakk coughed and sputtered as massive, blotchy hives appeared on his face and neck. His skin stretched tight as it swelled up, and he started to choke to death, clawing helplessly at his rapidly-closing throat. After a few more moments, he stopped moving and slumped down on the ground face-first, dead.
Miranda crawled out of the passage warily. “What was that?”
“One of the more interesting plants that grows on Macur,” I replied shakily, trying to catch my breath. “Its spore clouds protect it from infestations that would harm it, and they're deadly when inhaled by most humanoid life forms. Their range is short, though, and
the spores desiccate within roughly thirty seconds, so we're not in any danger.”
“Wow! That was some quick thinking!”
I kissed her. “I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you.”
“Hey, no need to thank me… I'm just shocked that it worked! It looks like my abilities are still developing in weird ways. By the time they're done, who knows what the hell I'll be capable of?”
“If I didn't know how fond you were of me, Miranda, I'd be positively terrified,” I quipped, crouching down over Skovakk's body. “Now, let's grab ourselves some weapons. I'll take his communications array as well. It's a long shot, but perhaps I'll be able to use it to send a signal to the nearest Valkred ship and call for reinforcements once we reach the surface.”
19
Miranda
We evaded the remaining sentries posted in the nearby caves, following any trace of sunlight or fresh air until we finally reached the surface. As soon as we did, the harsh light nearly blinded me, and the heat hit me like a blast furnace, stealing my breath away.
“It's the three suns,” Zark said, panting hard as sweat poured down his pale face. “Like all planets, Macur only orbits one star – but there are two others close enough to this system to bathe Macur in intense heat and solar radiation. It's why so many of the native plants grow underground. Otherwise, they'd dry up and die in less than one sun cycle.”
“Jesus, it's fucking unbearable!” I rasped, licking my lips. “How can anyone live on this planet?”
“The Macurians physically adapted millennia ago. And even so, they still spend the hottest hours of each day under heavy canopies made from the wide, thick leaves of the Ku'Vuuka trees.”
He pointed across the parched wasteland of baked red clay, to a tree on the horizon. It was the size of a skyscraper, with massive gnarled branches reaching out in every direction and leaves like huge orange sails.
“I'm surprised anything can grow up here, especially something so big,” I said. My clothes were already sticking to me, and I was starting to feel light-headed.