13 Thilar #3
“It wasn’t hard, you know,” she boasted.
“Our overlord wanted to know how things went. I told him. Then I asked for an extra meal and he offered one. Not the one I had in mind,” she shrugged, “But any male with a mouth on his dick is blind. You should have told me he still had that thing. I would have stolen it ages ago.” Sighing, she turned and started to walk away.
“I hope it’s a bloodbath,” she muttered. “The next game, I mean.”
I did as well. Monrians were taught not to be vengeful, but the desire to see that place burn was far too strong to ignore.
Perhaps that desire made me weak. Perhaps I’d been stripped of my teachings in that damn arena.
Without my crew. My ship. A mission. I was a fraction of what I was before I was collared and caged.
I yearned to put on my armor, dawn my weapons, and slice through that place.
I longed to rend it and let that darkened rock drift into space, empty and silent, a mere echo of its wrongdoings in a void that didn’t care to listen.
And I longed to take Penny out of that place with me.
Once more, my eyes drifted her way to see her staring into nothingness. She looked emotionless. Numb. Fatigued. The shadows under her eyes said she hadn’t gotten any good rest since her stay in my cell and I wanted to know why. Was her biome all wrong? Was it stress?
When we were all lined up to go back to our cells, I casually maneuvered myself behind her.
She noticed, but she said nothing. I walked two paces behind, listening to her heartbeat.
It was strong, thank the gods, but something was wrong.
Perhaps reality was setting in again for her after two rotations of being left to her thoughts in her own cell.
Perhaps she’d been thinking of the moment when Pek-Tol would call her for a “private audience.”
It didn’t matter, though. Pek-Tol would not get a chance and Penny would not have to know what any of it entailed. As far as I was concerned, we had both run in our last game.
“You should eat well tonight,” I said softly.
She almost looked back at me. “Can’t,” she said. “The food is upsetting my stomach. Tastes synthetic. It’s not agreeing with me.”
“They try to match our individual diets, but yes. It’s all synthetic.”
That’s when I noticed she hadn’t been crossing her arms over her chest. More over her belly as if she was unwell.
“You are not feeling well.”
She shook her head. “But if I say something, I have a hunch I won’t like what they’ll do. There’s no way I’m letting any alien fingers poke and prod at me in some medical examination. I’ll puke my guts out and die before I let that happen.”
I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Drink your fill tonight, then. And rest well. As well as you can.”
“Thinking there’s another game coming already?”
“We must always be prepared. But whatever happens, I will do my best to protect you.”
“Why?” Penny whispered, almost bitterly. “Why do I matter? You still can’t tell me that.”
“Because, Pek-Tol—”
“Yeah,” she cut me off. “Right.”
We reached the corridor lined with our individual cells and before we were shoved into our separate rooms, I repeated, “Stay hydrated and rest, Pennelope.”
Once in her cell, she spun to look at me through the glass of her wall, lips parted with surprise.
I hadn’t meant to use her full name, but I had seen it when I was sifting through her wrist cuff.
I was curious if I’d said it right, but judging by her expression, I had.
It was a beautiful name and one she looked surprised to hear.
I was tucked into my cell, barely in her line of sight. I was ready to plan our escape when two of the guards diverted toward me.
“Not you,” one said, threatening me with his shock stick. “Pek-Tol wants to see you.”
I walked obediently between them, curling my fingers over my khof kaar.
As I passed Sunhai, I saw her eyes flit toward me, hiding the alarm behind them like she thought I’d been found out.
But I knew Pek-Tol was not that bright. Something else prompted him to request my company. Something I likely would not enjoy.
When I reached his office, I felt my fingers itching to tear out his throat. That was the vengeance talking again. It was unlike me, but it was too strong to ignore. As usual, the guards stood by his door and I walked to Pek-Tol’s desk to face him.
“You can relax those tight shoulders, Tuross,” he said, once more using the name he had no right to utter.
“I only wanted to inform you that you have a sponsor.” I narrowed my eyes, asking a silent question.
“That’s right. You really did make an impression on those two valerian females.
They have paid for an array of better weapons.
” He swiped his desk, bringing up a hologram of weapon choices for me to choose from.
“In the next game, they want you to have a larger advantage. They rather enjoyed watching you ravage the human as well, but they would like you to target the valerian. I believe I only have one in rotation now.”
He swiped his desk again, sighing with boredom as he brought up Sunhai’s picture. She’d only just visited him and yet she was less than a number to him, like we all were.
“I know you’re not about to ask why,” Pek-Tol said. “But that’s the request and they’re paying plenty to see it done.”
“No,” I said, drawing his pointed stare.
“No?” he snorted. “I think more rutia will turn that around. It appears you liked it.”
My khof kaar warmed in my hand, eager and ready, but I knew that even with it activated, I did not have a chance on my own. I needed backup and I prayed someone was listening.
“Or, since I pride myself on being good at reading people, I can let the human sit out this game. Or rather, I can tie her to a post where nozun will flock to her. People will love it. Imagine, her frail body, secured like bait.” He started to stare off as if fantasizing, relaying his plans as they came to him.
“The first to reach her, gets her. But you must all fight for the prize. You fought three of them in the last match. I wonder if I should introduce more. They might just tear her apart. No,” he tsked.
“We can’t have that. She’s too rare a contestant.
But do not doubt that I will be jotting down ideas as soon as you leave this room. ”
He began sifting through files on his desk. Images of contestants. Prospective contestants. Map designs for upcoming games. He pretended I was not there and all the while, my fists were balling tighter, thirsting for an opportunity to drive right through his fragile skull.
Free of my restraints, Pek-Tol and his obnoxious guards stood no chance. I longed for the moment I could finally make them realize it.
When I left his office, my blood was running even hotter than usual with a need to act. I had faith that I was not alone. That my signal was calling to someone. I had to be patient, though. As a single soldier, I could not take down the entire asteroid.
Once I was back in my cell, my eyes swept past Sunhai. She was sitting on the edge of her cot chewing on a wrapper from whatever food she’d been left during feeding. I stood at my glass wall as my cell locked, waiting for the guards to leave. When they’d finally gone, Sunhai raised her brows.
“So?”
I did not answer. Instead, I let my eyes wander. Like me, she would have to be patient.
Sleep came easily when it was time. The anticipation of an approaching battle was nothing new to me.
Not like the Games. What was coming next was etched into my very being.
In preparation, I ate whatever was given and slept whenever the opportunity came.
I still had time before the next event, and I prayed it would be enough.
A breathy cough caught my attention, and my senses immediately locked onto Penny.
She had been quiet for the last day or so, barely pacing or moving within the confines of her cell. I leaned toward the glass barrier and found her curled in the corner nearest her window. Her gaze rested vacantly on the corridor beyond until she noticed my movement.
When her eyes met mine, she looked exhausted, drained in a way that went beyond mere fatigue. Yet the faintest smile still touched her lips in greeting.
“Hey,” she said.
I moved to lean up against the corner, mimicking her. “You look unwell, Penny.”
“You’re not supposed to tell a girl that.”
“Why would I keep that from you?”
Her brows bobbed. “It’s a stupid human thing. This,” she sighed. “Is what depression looks like.”
“Depression,” I repeated, attempting to recall what the word meant.
“Yeah. I’m just feeling a little hopeless.” She paused a moment, hugging herself with her arms. “How long have you been here, Thilar?”
“Too long.”
“What did you do before this?”
Sunhai huffed, interrupting our conversation. “He is monrian. They only do one thing, and that’s whatever they’re paid to do.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Penny asked.
“We lost our world long ago,” I explained before Sunhai could put her own spin on my peoples’ past. “Before the valerians went to war with the gek. Before they even took to space. We drifted for many cycles in colonies, unable to settle another planet. We lost many to sickness. Space was not like our home. We were dying, adrift in living ships. To survive, we evolved.”
“They bred the weakness out of themselves with experiments and mutation,” Sunhai added, her use of the human language broken. “Monrians are engineered. Not natural.”
“We are not mutations,” I corrected. “We are bred strategically to eliminate imperfections.”
“You’re not bred. You are grown,” Sunhai chuckled. “And in great numbers. Numbers enough to sell their soldiers to those willing to pay for contract.”
“You’re…” Penny said. “Soldiers for hire?”