Page 18 of Beast Unburdened

The growl was out before I could stop it, “He was going to eat you?” I should have known, she must have been so scared. She shrugged, “If I wasn’t pregnant.” Then she wiggled her eyebrows at me, “Which I’m not, I think we need to get some practice in on that.”

My body flushed with heat and I was suddenly far too aware of all the points of contact her body made on mine. Her side pressed against my belly, the curve of her bottom on my hip. Her legs draped over my arm, the soft curve of her breast pressed against my ribs. Her luminous eyes as they stared straight into mine, without flinching.

Sunder coughed, “Hate to interrupt but eh… Did everyone make it? Is the ship secure?” His words doused the flames, Kitan’s life was still in the balance and Frek had barricaded himself in the ready room. The ship was in fact not secure at all.

I explained both these things to them and informed Abigail of the sad loss of Pu’il’s life in the first skirmish down in the gym. Then we discussed various options on how to get Frek out of that room and either dead or off the ship.

A voice came through over the ship’s intercom, Frek cackling gleefully. “I know you think you’ve won, you bastards,” he said. “But you haven’t. I’ve got the cellblock isolated with one pretty, pregnant human inside it. Stand down now and surrender and I won’t deprive her of her precious oxygen.”

There was a moment of stunned silence among the three of us, a moment which Frek gave us to let the news sink in. “I think a human can last four minutes without oxygen before permanent damage sets in. Your time starts now. I’m waiting!”

No! We couldn’t let Tori die but to have all our lives locked back into slavery? To have Pu’il die for nothing? That was intolerable too. I just had to glance at the collar around Abigail’s throat to know how much I abhorred the thought of her in slavery.

Abigail squirmed in my arms, “Put me down! We need to hurry to the cellblock. I know the access code!” I spun, not putting her down, and started running. Aware that Sunder had already rushed out of the hangar bay ahead of us the moment Frek spoke his hateful words. “We’re faster like this,” I said and leaned into the sprint, claws digging at the floor with each leap.

I followed Sunder’s scent, knowing he was headed the same way, and soon recognized the hallway leading to our previous prison. Sunder was at the door panel. Claws dug into the frame, trying hard to somehow yank the bulkhead open. It was no use, I’d tried that very thing on the other side of the door when I’d made a break for it when they first brought us here. My horns had made two nice little dents in the panel on the other side, but the door hadn’t budged.

Skidding to a stop I let Abigail down and she dove for the access panel, her slender fingers typing in the ten-digit code as if she was a native to the Krektar numeric system. Sunder and I both held our breath in anticipation, the moment the door slid open, the air got sucked into the oxygen-deprived room in a rush. When the crack was big enough the stone-skinned male hurried through.

Tori had been locked in the first cell on the right and she had slumped against the front bars. Since Frek had vented her oxygen from the room about a minute had passed and she was sluggish and weak. Fearing that Frek would attempt to lock us in again I stayed in the opened door panel and watched as Sunder strained to break the bars on her cell.

A few cells down the bond broken Ferai beast let out a plaintive howl, as if it felt sympathetic to the poor female’s plight. Then it started pacing, having managed the no air situation far better than the small pregnant human.

As soon as Sunder bent two bars apart far enough to reach for the female he pulled her to safety and then we all retreated. “Shit, that was close!” Abigail said while she crouched on the dirty floor beside the female and checked her pulse and breathing. “Tori are you okay? Can you hear me?”

Tori nodded weakly, “I’m okay.” Then Sunder rumbled at her, “I’m going to pick you up female and bring you to the doctor. Just to make sure.” Tori didn’t say a thing, just pressed her mouth in a thin line and allowed Sunder to carry her. Her skin was deathly pale, almost white, and with her long blonde hair, she looked almost like a wraith, especially in contrast to Sunder’s nearly black stone skin.

I eyed Abigail who was standing on the dirt-encrusted floor in her bare feet, “I assume you’ll want to stay by Tori’s side?” She needed to calm the female, help her. But I knew I needed to get to the bridge now and help the others decide on our next course of action, especially now that Kitan could not fly this ship.

Picking her up I hurried after Sunder and his burden, I needed to check in with the Doc anyway before I could make any informed choices. More than anything I also wanted to see the pain collars removed from Abigail and myself.

The doctor looked up when we entered with relief evident on his face. He was still working on Kitan, Jakar across from him was kitted out in gloves as well. Promoted to nurse it seemed. “Put her over there, how long was she without?” the doctor said, checking off a final thing on the panel of the medical bot. Then he was hurrying over, stripping his gloves as he came to assist Sunder in putting the female down on the second cot, one without the medical arm.

A flashlight was procured which he shone in her eyes and he started scanning her with his handheld. “All is well,” he said but he pulled out an oxygen mask all the same to administer some extra. “Keep that on for five minutes Tori.”

Then he stepped back, letting Abigail and Sunder fuss over the pregnant female, and addressed me. “I understand Kitan was supposed to fly this ship?” At my nod, he sighed, “I’m afraid he’s not going anywhere for the next three days at least. Guess that means we’re dead in the water?”

I pointed at my collar, “How quick can you get this off?” He reached for some tools and his scanner immediately and got to work. “Soon,” he said, “What’s next? How are we getting out of here?” It was clear the Adaren male was worried.

“I can fly small craft, I can probably figure this out,” I said with more confidence than I felt. The collar dropped away from my throat with immense satisfaction and I grinned, “Thanks Doc. Get back to your patients, I’ll take Sunder and talk with the other two still on the bridge. We’ll get this sorted.”

*

Abigail

Ziame had left for the bridge the moment his collar had dropped from his throat. I only knew he was gone because his tail had uncurled from my leg, he hadn’t said a word. I wasn’t sure if I was feeling hurt over that or not, he had important things to take care of and I knew Tori needed me to stay with her.

Except she fell asleep shortly after, clearly exhausted from all that had transpired and Jakar and Luka had finished with Kitan so the Doc was now working on getting Jakar’s collar off. Once it dropped away I swear it looked like the big gladiator actually struggled not to cry. He took in a deep breath looked at Luka and me and then left.

After that Luka had me watch closely while he took off the collar still around Kitan’s throat and then insisted I return the favor for his own collar. My hands shook as I did the work, a surgeon or mechanic I was not. Luka was all business afterward, working on releasing the collar from my neck with quick practiced moves. Nothing like how he’d struggled when working on Geramor.

“Go on, get to the bridge now, I’ll take care of our patients,” Luka told me when I was free. I had to admit that even I felt a little emotional after the hated thing dropped from my skin. I’d only been a slave for three days, Ziame for example had been one for three years, it must have been quite something to finally be free.

To find my way to the bridge took far longer than I expected, mostly because I got lost three times and had to backtrack. Also because this ship was far bigger than I expected, there were three decks and endless hallways to traverse.

When I finally wandered inside I found all the gladiators who were up and running standing around the bridge discussing options. Ziame was leaning over one of the many consoles that lined the half-round room. “Near as I can tell I should be able to engage the autopilot that will fly us to the already set destination. Xio.”

The others fell silent and shared long looks, I didn’t know what Xio was but I gathered nothing good. As I stepped further inside Ziame settled his green gaze on mine, dipping his head and flicking his ears in greeting. Unsure of my place in this meeting I started his way and was happy when he stood and easily tucked me under his brawny arm; his tail finding its usual spot curled around one of my ankles.