Daughters of Lyra: Heart of a Mercenary (7 page)

Nostra held his hand up
and Sasue stopping firing. Miali looked through the gaps in their
legs at the market ahead of them. There was a fight. One male with
a laser gun was facing off against three others. Several dead
bodies lay at his feet in a creeping pool of blood. Another blast
lit the air and the remaining male fell to join his comrades. A
matter of seconds later, the market was back to normal, as though
nothing had happened.

Kosen pulled her up onto
her feet and held her wrist again. Sasue dropped back and grabbed
her other arm. Again, she was walking forward towards her fate. She
glanced down at the dead men as they passed, forcing herself to
look at them and see what was happening in the universe. Their skin
was charred black from the blasts of the laser guns. Blood coated
the floor and their bodies. Lifeless eyes stared into
infinity.

“
Come,” Kosen
said close to her ear and Miali realised that she had slowed down
while she had been looking at the dead males.

Miali turned away from
them and held her head high, blinking away her tears as they
entered an open square. There were several cages in the centre.
Their walls of solid steel bars held the females they contained
captive while giving the males milling around a perfect view of
them. The females were nude, all huddled together in the middle of
the cages, desperately trying to cover themselves. Males patrolled
the area, occasionally prodding the females with long poles to make
them come out of their huddle. In the midst of the cages was a
raised platform. She knew what happened there. If Kosen couldn’t
save her, she would soon be in one of these cages, naked for every
man to letch over, and then she would find her fate on that stage.
Her heart continued to beat hard and fast, adrenaline and fear
making her shake. Kosen had to save her. She didn’t want to become
some sick male’s property.

The group stopped and
Kosen’s hand again tightened around her wrist. She frowned at
Nostra as he spoke to someone a short distance away. The slim blue
hairless Sekarian male glanced across at her, running his gaze down
her body, and nodded as though in approval. A twisted smile touched
his dark blue lips and a satisfied look entered his all-black eyes.
Nostra grinned along with him. Eryc moved past her and Nostra
glared at him as he spoke to the Sekarian. She wished that she
could hear what they were saying. They were discussing her fate.
She wanted to know what it would be if she couldn’t
escape.

Her heart picked up speed
when all three men turned to look at her. It jumped against her
chest when Sasue pushed her forwards and she walked towards the
Sekarian. His grin widened when she reached him and he moved around
her. She turned her head, trying to see what he was looking at and
flinched when he placed his hands on her, patting and touching
every part of her.

“
Well?” Nostra
said in Sekarian, an impatient look on his face.

“
I will bill
her,” the Sekarian said and moved around in front of her. He
preened a hand over his bald head, stroking it as he smiled. She
hated the thought that he had placed those hands on her. He stepped
forwards and she tried to back away.

Her stomach turned when he
cupped her breasts and looked as though he was considering opening
her flight suit to inspect them.

“
She will need
medical,” he said and released her breasts. “We make sure you not
lie.”

Sekarians were an ugly
race with an ugly language that she was starting to wish she didn’t
understand. Some of the languages that the crowds around her were
speaking were unrecognisable without her translator. She stopped
herself from looking at Kosen. How many languages could he speak?
Could he speak enough to get them off this backwater spaceport and
across the galaxy to somewhere safe?

“
Who is medical
officer?” The Sekarian looked at all of the men.

“
I am,” Kosen
said and stepped forwards, bringing her with him.

“
Come, come.”
The Sekarian waved his hand and started walking towards the edge of
the square.

“
Make sure she
checks out for the highest price,” Nostra ordered.

“
I want to go
with them,” Eryc said and went to move towards her but Nostra’s
large hand pressed against his chest, blocking his path.

“
Sekarians do
not like company. Only the medical officer can go with her. Kosen
knows what he’s doing.” Nostra’s look darkened and he pushed Eryc
backwards when he tried to get past him. “Kosen will take care of
her.”

“
Yes, Captain,”
Kosen said and pulled her roughly towards him. There was a hint of
apology in his eyes when she flinched, the wrist cuffs biting into
her arms. “Come with me.”

Her heartbeat didn’t slow
as they approached the hut at the edge of the square. If anything,
it beat faster. She looked out of the corner of her eye back at
Nostra and Eryc, afraid that Eryc might try to follow them. If he
did, would they still be able to escape? She wished that she knew
what Kosen’s plan was. At the moment, she couldn’t see how they
were going to get away.

When she entered the hut,
the Sekarian was waiting by a dirty inspection table. The black
covering had seen better days and was stained and ripped in places.
The thought that he had inspected all those poor females in here
made her sick. She glanced back at the door, filled with an intense
sense of sadness that she wouldn’t be able to save them. If Kosen
managed to free her and she tried to save them, she would only be
caught again. Nostra would kill Kosen. As much as she wanted to
help the females, she couldn’t risk anything happening to Kosen.
She needed him.

Kosen lifted her onto the
table and she lay down, grimacing when her hands dug into her back
and trying to remain calm. His eyes met hers, the hint of concern
still shining in them. He touched her arm, the brush of his fingers
so light that it told her everything that he couldn’t. He was
sorry, he cared about her, and he wouldn’t let anything happen to
her.

The apology wasn’t because
she had hurt herself. It was because he felt responsible for her
being in this position to start with, facing a future as a slave.
He was sorry because of the things that had happened to her since
they had met. He was sorry about how they had met. He was sorry for
everything. She didn’t hold his past against him. If she hadn’t
been royalty and someone had taken her brothers as slaves then she
would have done whatever it took to free them too. He loved his
sisters. He had subjected himself to a life of torment and misery,
living with the terrible things that he had done in order to free
them.

“
We begin,” the
Sekarian said and picked up a gleaming silver tool that she didn’t
like the look of. If he was going to try to put that where she
thought he was, then he was going to have to get past her feet
first. She would kick him before he even got close.

It dawned on her that the
Sekarian was going to be involved in the examination too. Kosen had
said this was their best chance of escape. How were they going to
get past the Sekarian?

Her gaze shifted to the
laser gun hanging by Kosen’s hip. Was he going to shoot the man?
Laser pistols were notoriously loud. Nostra and the others would
hear.

Kosen nodded to the
Sekarian and then calmly opened a square pouch on his belt. He
withdrew a small injection gun and the Sekarian frowned at
it.

“
What is
this?”

“
She’s part
Dazkaran,” Kosen said, no trace of nerves in his voice or his
expression. “It will make her more sensitive to positive emotions.
We want her to look her best so she fetches a good price. The
better the price, the bigger your cut.”

The Sekarian looked
thoughtful for a moment and then nodded, grinning.

He walked towards her
feet. Kosen grabbed him from behind and pressed the injection gun
against his neck. There was a hiss of air as it fired. The Sekarian
convulsed, his eyes rolled back into his head, and then he slumped
forwards. Kosen lowered him to the floor. Miali wriggled into a
sitting position and looked down at the male.

He was dead.

“
What was in
that?” she whispered and looked at Kosen.

He tossed the injection
gun onto the table of tools and then grabbed another
device.

“
Mercury.
Sekarian’s are allergic to it,” Kosen said in perfect
Lyran.

Miali stared at the dead
Sekarian. His blue skin had become mottled with grey and had
swollen. She would say that his reaction had been a little more
than simply allergic. The mercury had killed him.

“
We have to
move fast,” Kosen said as he rounded the table.

She was about to ask him
what he had planned when incredible heat blasted against her back
and the smell of tin filled the air.

“
Keep still,”
he whispered and she tried to look over her shoulder. He had some
sort of cutting device. The heat of it made her skin feel as though
it was going to blister right off her bones.

“
Are you sure
you know what you’re doing?” she said as the blazing blue flame of
the device touched the metal cuffs and heated them, singeing
her.

“
I used to work
in a mine. I know what I’m doing.” The flame touched the cuffs
again. “Just keep still. I’m sorry if this hurts.”

She wanted to tell him not
to apologise. He was doing this to save her after all. She would
rather suffer a few burns on her wrists than a life of torture at
the hands of some sick pervert.

The metal cuffs dropped
off her wrists but before she could move, Kosen’s hands were on her
arms, stopping her. She hissed in a breath when something cold and
wet touched the sore skin of her wrists. A soothing, pleasant cool
feeling followed a moment of pain. She kept still as Kosen wrapped
her forearms and hands in something. When he released her, she
brought her hands around and rolled her shoulders as she looked at
the thin black bandages covering her.

“
Thank you,”
she said, feeling a strange lightness inside her, warmth that made
her wonder if her Aunt Kayla had felt something similar when she
had escaped from her life as a slave.

“
Don’t thank
me,” he said and rushed across the room. She sat on the edge of the
inspection table, wondering what she could do to help. He grabbed
two thick black blankets from a stack on top of a cupboard and
walked back to her. He unfurled one of the blankets and draped it
over her head like a hooded cape. She zipped her flight suit up and
pulled the black blanket closed around her. Kosen tucked her hair
behind her ears, pushing it out of sight. “I haven’t saved you
yet.”

He put the second blanket
over himself, covering his head and body with it.

“
Come,” he said
and reached out for her hand.

She slipped hers into it,
her heart pounding as she hopped down off the inspection table and
followed him. How were they going to get out of here without anyone
seeing them?

Kosen picked up the device
that he had used to remove her wrist cuffs and used it to cut
through the bolts holding the metal panels together at the back of
the hut. He caught the one he had been working on as it fell
towards him and carefully placed it to one side.

Beyond it was darkness.
Miali followed Kosen into it, tightly holding his hand as though
her life depended on it. She couldn’t see where they were going but
evidently Kosen could because a few minutes later they had come out
of the maze of narrow black alleys into the market. She pulled the
black blanket forward to cover her face and stayed close to Kosen.
His fingers interlocked with hers and her hair threatened to rise
when warmth crept up her arm from their joined hands.

His thumb brushed
hers.

“
Keep going,”
he said.

She gasped quietly when
she looked up and saw several Minervan military officers heading
towards them. Instinct told her that they wouldn’t help her if she
asked. They looked as dark and menacing as Nostra and his crew.
Kosen ducked down a side alley, dragging her with him. This place
was a maze. She felt as though any moment now they would end up
back in the square where they had started.

“
I have a
confession.”

She didn’t like the sound
of that. It made her heart beat painfully hard.

“
What?” she
said, hoping that it wasn’t that he was going to sell her anyway
and take all the money for himself.

“
I can’t
pilot.”

She had thought that they
would take Nostra’s ship but perhaps they were going to charter one
instead. That didn’t seem so bad.

“
So?” she said,
struggling to keep up with him as he strode through the market. She
flinched every time that someone shoved her out of the way. Why was
she was being pushed around and he wasn’t? When she came up beside
him again, she realised that the answer to her question was simple.
He looked as though he was ready to kill anyone who came near
him.

His eyes narrowed, his
black irises menacing in the low light. His jaw was set and his
black eyebrows met in a frown so intense that it was clear that
murder was on his mind. He bore his teeth at a passing group of
males who were staring in her direction and they avoided her
completely.