They man carrying her only slowed, though. He continued forward at a walk. She didn’t realize how much the walls had closed in around them until she felt her knee brush rock. She jerked fearfully at the touch until she realized what it was, clenching her legs more tightly around the centaur to avoid the abrasive cut of the rock. He shifted a little until her knee was no longer bumping the rock, but she knew it had to be very, very narrow.
After what seemed hours she began to notice from the sounds that the tunnel-like passage they’d been following had widened again. Her heart, which had settled as time passed and no new threat had arisen, again began to pound out a rhythm of fear. When the centaur carrying her began to gallop, she felt her heart match the pounding rhythm of his hooves on the hard dirt that replaced the stone.
She heard sounds in the distance that she couldn’t quite identify, but as they drew closer to their destination, at least some of those sounds became recognizable—people, or rather centaurs—and the sounds of a city. She could almost imagine it as any city she was familiar with.
The centaur carrying her slowed and then stopped—walking. He didn’t stop moving. Untying her hands, he grasped her arm and dragged her from his back. Her feet touched something moving and she threw her hands out for balance instinctively. The man steadied her and then reached up and removed her blindfold. She blinked, trying to dispel the blurriness and bring her vision into focus. Her eyes watered from the brightness of the light after so much time in darkness. Finally, she began to pick out the things around her.
She discovered she was standing on a people mover with a jolt of amazement. She didn’t doubt that Colwin and Aydin were even more amazed, but it was hard to tell from their expressions when she searched, and then found them. Their eyes were moving assessingly over their surroundings, but they both grim faced.
She glanced up at the man who still held her and discovered that he was watching her keenly. Questions rose to mind, but she tamped them. He’d ignored any attempt to communicate with him before.
In any case, she’d had a hard time understanding him. He was speaking English just as Colwin and Aydin did, but the dialect required mental translation. Maybe he had as hard a time understanding them as they did him?
It was abundantly clear when she looked around that they were a technologically advanced people—so far they almost seemed like aliens compared to the hoonans. They even had motorized transport, although it looked as if they favored walking. The vehicles moving along the streets seemed to be primarily for transporting goods.
Most of the people she saw were dark skinned and dark haired like Aydin, and the leader of the men who’d captured them, but she saw a wide variety of hair color and skin tones.
Except red, like hers, she thought in disgust. Even here she stood out like somebody waving a flag. Everyone they passed, or so it seemed, turned to look at her.
Then again, maybe she was just paranoid? Maybe it wasn’t the hair at all but the fact that she was clearly not one of them?
How would they know that, though? If they could shift into human form like Colwin and Aydin, how would they know?
Colwin and Aydin both had remarked on her hair. She’d figured that was how they’d immediately known she wasn’t just a centaur in human form.
Well, her skin color was different, too—fish belly white and freckled didn’t seem to be a popular color here—but she’d just figured Colwin had a golden tan. He was fair. She didn’t look
that
different, did she?
Or was the scent, she thought abruptly? Aydin had indicated they had senses humans didn’t and most animals seemed able to pick up ‘different’ without getting particularly close to whatever it was that was different.
These people, though—it seemed to her that they must be far more advanced than any of the other tribes on their world. Otherwise, where would the legends have come from? And that being the case, didn’t that also imply evolution? Or did it? Were they just like everyone else on the planet except that they’d somehow collected together the most brilliant minds and built this city for themselves? Or were they sort like the Greeks and the Romans? Their culture had made it possible?
It was probably the most confusing thing she’d encountered since she’d arrived. They appeared more advanced, but were they really? Attacking them and taking them prisoner certainly seemed more like the act of barbarians than civilized people.
They’d reached the heart of the city before her captor led her off of the moving sidewalk and onto another going off in at a ninety degree angle. They weren’t on that long at all, however, before they again stepped off and she was dragged up a set of wide steps and into a building.
It was bizarre how much it reminded her of a busy metropolitan police station—except with centaurs walking around everywhere.
The man pulled her to a stop beside a desk. “Out-worlders. Three of them.”
It got so quiet so suddenly Emma felt a shiver creep down her spine. The man he’d spoken to gaped at her and then at Colwin and Aydin.
“This one is hoonan. The other two primitives.”
Anger erupted inside Emma. “I’m human, not hoonan! I’m not even from this world! And Colwin and Aydin aren’t primitives—asshole! I demand to know what we’re being charged with! And we want lawyers!”
Everyone turned to look at her as if she’d grown two heads. Emma felt the creepy sensation again, but they couldn’t consider themselves civilized and not have some sort of law, she reasoned!
“You are out-worlders. We are not required to provide you with representation,” the man holding her said coldly.
“Well! Don’t turn your nose up at us and call us primitives!” Emma snapped. “Where I come from even outsiders have rights, by damn! And I’ll have you know we didn’t come here! You dragged us here and you have a hell of a nerve charging us with trespassing or something like that when we didn’t want to come here in the first place!”
“I should have gagged her,” the man commented, but there was a trace of amusement in his voice. “I am going to take them down to the holding cell until the council is ready to see them.”
Emma was feeling far more subdued by the time she got a look at the hold cell he’d spoken of. It didn’t look anything like she imagined a holding cell on earth would look like. It looked like a dungeon cell.
She was relieved when they shoved Colwin and Adyin in behind her because the cell was already occupied by nearly a dozen centaurs—all male.
She launched herself into Aydin’s arms. He tightened his arms around her for a moment, but his focus was on the other occupants of the cell. After a moment, he pulled away and led her to a corner. There was filthy bench there. He pushed her toward it and then he and Colwin stood in front of her.
As relieved as she was that they’d blocked her view and prevented the others from staring at her at the same time, she would’ve liked it better if one of them had volunteered to cuddle her while the other stood guard. “I guess this must be the city of the lost tribes,” she murmured after a few minutes.
Colwin glanced at her. “That would be my guess,” he said wryly.
“They don’t seem terribly civilized for an advanced race if you ask me,” she muttered.
“I did not ask,” Aydin said sharply, “and I do not think it wise to antagonize them.”
Emma felt her face heat. Unfortunately, he had a point. “You’re right, I know, but I certainly didn’t see that it would be a good thing to let them keep thinking of me as hoonan when everybody hates them!”
“No one on Mearth
knows
of the other world except us,” Colwin responded tightly.
“Oh.”
“She’s an other-worlder?” one of the prisoners on the other side of the cell asked abruptly.
Emma craned her neck to see who’d spoken, but since Colwin and Aydin shifted when the man spoke, she discovered it was useless. “You know about other-worlders?” she asked.
“I will gag you myself if you do not shut up, Emma!” Aydin growled.
The other prisoners had begun to mutter, however, and seemed to be working themselves up to something. It didn’t take long to figure out what that something was. They began lobbing insults at Colwin and Aydin about primitive out-worlders. Aydin seemed to ignore them, but Colwin’s expression became harder and harder.
Aydin finally sent him a look. “Ignore it,” he said under his breath. “They are trying to lure us into a fight to get to Emma.”
The comment wiped the fury from Colwin’s face for a split second. He threw a glance at her over his shoulder, and then turned to stare at the others stonily.
“Oooh! He’s smart for a primitive!” one of the men commented. “How about we just kick both your asses and take the pretty flame haired one for ourselves? I haven’t ever fucked a hoonan. I’ve heard they squeal real shrill-like when you fuck them, though.”
Fear made sweat trickle down Emma’s spine. She wished abruptly that she’d put on the dress regardless of her bruised ribs. At least she would’ve been better covered and it might not have instantly leapt into their minds to rape her.
On the other hand, it
was
a prison cell. There was no telling what they’d been arrested for.
“Keep it down in there!” someone bellowed from down the corridor.
A modicum of relief flickered through Emma, but it didn’t last. Whoever had called out was clearly too lazy to actually walk down and check on them.
None of the prisoners paid him the least attention which told her that the guards generally ignored them and they weren’t worried about interference. They got up and began to move slowly closer.
“Save yourself the pain, friend, and hand her over. You can have her back when we’re done with her.”
“I am not your friend,” Aydin said grimly. “And I do not care for the way you speak of our mate.”
Several of the men guffawed lewdly. “You took a hoonan to mate? Pickings must be slim on the outside.”
“Aw, their primitives. Stupid, ignorant in-breeds! They’d fuck their mother! Wouldn’t you blacky? You fuck your mother? How about you, blondy? Fucked your mother lately?”
Aydin’s hand clamped on Colwin’s wrist when he tensed. Colwin glared at him and then flung his hand off, but he didn’t move.
The men got tired of trying to provoke them. Three of the surged forward in a rush. Neither Aydin nor Colwin moved. They waited until the men were close enough before they countered he attack.
“Stay with us, Emma!” Aydin growled.
Emma immediately surged up from the bench and wedged herself between them, placing a palm on their rumps so that they knew where she was. She was too scared to make a sound, too afraid of distracting Aydin and Colwin as they other centaurs piled in behind the first wave, trying to get in close enough to punch at them.
They guards
had
to hear the noise they were making, Emma thought a little hysterically! Why hadn’t they come?
It dawned on her after a moment that they couldn’t possibly have failed to hear. They hadn’t come because they had no intention of stopping it.
Chapter Eleven
Aydin and Colwin had waded through more than half of the other centaurs and those left standing had decided the better part of valor was to retreat before the guards finally strolled down the corridor to see how things were going.
Emma couldn’t contain herself. The moment she saw them rage flew through her. “You bastards! You sorry good for nothing pieces of shit! Do you get
paid
to stand around with your thumb up your ass?”
Colwin grabbed her, clamping a hand over her mouth. Emma was too furious to relent, however. She tried her best to fight loose from him. “Let go of me!” she raged against his palm. “I’m going to kill those cowardly sons-of-bitches!”
“Be still, Emma! You are safe!” Aydin growled.
That took the wind out of her. She turned to look at him. He was bruised and bleeding from dozens of punches and Colwin didn’t look any better. In fact, she thought he looked worse.
She burst into tears. Colwin took his hand from her mouth and gathered her close. “It is alright,” he said grimly. “We will keep you safe.”
Didn’t
either
of them understand that she was furious because they were hurt? If she’d just been afraid—for herself—she wouldn’t have felt like she wanted to kill the bastards! “They’re savages!” she wailed, turning her head to glare the guards. “Complete savages! They’re worse than the ogres! At least those animals were after food! They’re worse that the hoonans! They just don’t stink as bad!”
“What the fuck is going on here!” someone bellowed from down the corridor.
The guards on the outside turned at the voice, shifting uncomfortably. “The savages attacked the other prisoners.”
“You liar!” Emma screamed at them. “Cowards! If I had a gun, I’d shoot you, you lying, cowardly excuse for a man!”
Colwin clamped a hand over her mouth again.
She grabbed his hand, trying to wrench it from her mouth.
The man who’d captured them appeared on the other side of the cell. He surveyed her, Aydin, and Colwin and then turned to look at the other centaurs sharing the cell with them. “Open the door!” he growled.
The guards gaped at him.
“I said open the gods damned door!”
Sending the man a resentful look, the guard complied, unlocking the door and pulling it open. “You three—out-worlders—come with me.”
Fear replaced Emma’s anger so quickly she felt faint with it. She sent Aydin and Colwin an apologetic look and moved toward the door. “Cuff those two.”