Chapter 6
GILLIAN
I’m clinging to the cage of claws, each one slightly too large for me to get a hand around. I’m being taken by a dragon like some flipping fantasy princess only without the ridiculous hair and dress.
This princess has a very flappy blanket to contend with, and it isn’t doing well.
I’m not sure whether my brain is really processing what’s happening to me because I feel like I should be far more frightened than I am.
After all, a dragon has me and so far all my experiences away from Earth have been, frankly, terrible. Perhaps it’s because I have yet to be made to fight in a pit and sleep in the open. Perhaps I’m the one with Stockholm Syndrome…
Dalox…or rather Dalox the dragon…puts on a spurt of speed, and I see, above us, there is an exit where the sun shines through.
In no time at all, we’re outside of the enormous hangar space, and the heat hits me.
Down below, I catch a glimpse of silvery metal which stretches away behind us and then sand.
So much sand. The dunes are spread out beneath us. Here and there are dotted rocky outcrops with the hint of vegetation, green, blue, and red like flowers, but then they too are gone and we are swinging over and back towards the ground which seems to be coming up all too fast.
The cage of claws tightens around me, and even if I don’t mean to, I hear myself let out a scream as it seems like my dragon has a death wish and we’re about to slam into the sand, when a huge, dragon-sized hole opens up, and we’re inside a cave.
Walls flash past, lit with something that isn’t light but still illuminates the interior.
Above me there is a burst of flame, and everything is visible for a second or two.
All the tooth-like structures of this vast place.
And then my eyes are blinded when we return to darkness which wraps itself around my head like cloth.
The ride becomes bumpy, but I can’t see what’s happening.
All I can do is cling on as I hope this isn’t the part where I’m eaten.
The wind around me lessens, gets stronger, and then dies away.
I think we might have landed. Above me there is a deep, low, wide rumbling, and a light flickers on, illuminating a metal floor and rough stone walls with an inset metal door.
The claws are gone almost as swiftly as they were grasped around me, and for a moment, I don’t move at all. My mind rushes to catch up.
Dalox moves into the light. He still has the tail, and the height, and the cheekbones. He raises his chin and his eyes glitter.
“The other females call us dragons,” he says, releasing a stream of smoke from his nose. “We are Sarkarnii, and this galaxy belongs to us.”
“I don’t belong to you.” I straighten up, planting my feet, ready for another attempt at abduction. “I am not from this galaxy, and neither are they.”
Dalox rumbles something in his chest, something which possibly could be laughter. It makes my blood boil.
“Do you think this is funny?” I fire at him, well aware he could probably bite me in half without a single thought…although I’d like to see him try.
I put my hands on my hips before thinking better of it.
“Not at all, little spark,” he says. “Not you, at least, more how you have brought a warlord to his knees.”
“You telling everyone I have to have your permission and then abducting me again is hardly bringing you to your knees,” I snarl. “And if you give me a fair fight, I will do so, should you so wish, but not in the way you would want.”
Dalox takes a step towards me. I hold my ground, glaring at him, shifting my stance into one which can take almost anything thrown at me, even by a creature as large as this male.
“My warriors know I brook no insubordination, and yet here you are, my little fighter, ready to take on the one Sarkarnii no one has ever beaten.”
“The bigger you are, the harder you fall,” I growl.
He throws his head back, and this time the laugh is more distinct. “Truer words were never spoken, little mate.”
Dalox takes a step back and does something I’m not expecting. He bows, sweeping his arm (and his tail) towards the doorway, which spins open like a camera lens.
“Perhaps it is time you found out more about the Sarkarnii,” he says.
“If you’re in a generous mood, perhaps you’ll return me to Earth.”
Dalox fixes his gaze on me.
“That is what you want?”
“Yes.” I manage, just, to stop my voice from cracking. “My mum…my mother…she died. I need to go back to…” I swallow hard, all the emotion I’ve had built up inside me rising like a volcano in this moment. “I need to go back to continue her legacy.”
Dalox straightens slightly. He cocks his head on one side, and his gaze, if not less intense, has a curiosity which wasn’t there before.
“Sarkarnii know about legacy for our ancestors. Perhaps you should tell me more,” he suggests. “And perhaps I can assist you after all.”
I mean, he is a warlord. They have technology. I’ve already seen it. Maybe, just maybe, this is my chance, my only chance at not only getting back to Earth, but back to the one thing which has kept me going all this time.
My mum. The woman who taught me everything I know about mixed martial arts, who couldn’t fight against the cancer which took her, even though she tried as hard as she could.
Who told me the one thing I could do, the only thing which mattered to her, was to continue with her school and pass on what I’d learnt from her to other women and girls.
To make us all strong. Like her.
“Perhaps you can.” I stroll past him and through the door to my fate.