Page 26 of Gladiator's Captive
Rager will never see them coming.
Fear raged inside me, wild and burning. This was not the paralyzing kind of fear, the one that made me hide under my bed as a child. No, this fear was like a hurricane boiling inside me, making my heart beat in a fast, furious rhythm and my legs shake with the desire to run.
I won’t be able to warn him in time.
The thought made a stone settle in the pit of my stomach. A stone made of grief and despair, a feeling I had never felt before.
They’re going to kill Rager.
And with this, I made my way into the night, alone and shivering. It seemed it took forever to come to the outcrop of rocks overlooking a small, one-story building made of whitewashed stones. The Imperial Outpost.
The guards were at the door, flanking the opening. By the way they held their prods high, their bodies flattened to the wall on each side of the wide open door, they knew someone was inside.
I might already be too late.
Then the guards disappeared inside the darkness of the outpost building and a silence made of dread covered the desert. I moved, my footing uncertain, dragging myself more than I was walking down the slope and closer to the outpost. My mind was a blank, fear wiping any thought from it.
All I could see was Rager. Rager’s face with its full, hard lips. Rager’s wondrous emerald eyes. Rager’s body on mine.
Rager dead, his insides melted by the incredible power of the electric prod.
Soon enough, I stood by the doorway, unsure what to do next. Then the sound of voices coming from inside made me move. It was dark inside the outpost, but by the dawn’s light, I could make out a small room and its spare furniture. A dining table with two chairs, a small kitchen area. There was another door at the back of the room, leading away through a dark hallway. This was where the voices came from.
I inched my way in, fear running along my skin like ants, making my limbs tremble and my motions uneasy. Never in my life had I been more afraid. My steps were silent as I shuffled all the way through the dark hallway and into what appeared to be a dimly lit garage. Two hover transports were parked side by side in the middle of the space and in between them stood the guards. The guards and a now familiar figure, kneeling. His broad back was turned to me, with his mane of fur reaching down all the way to his waist. His arms were raised above his head in a typical gesture of surrender as the guards pointed their prods at him.
I was sure they would not hesitate to kill Rager at the slightest provocation.
“I can’t believe it. Rager. The Breath of Death himself,” one guard said. “How did you manage to disable your implant?”
“Can you imagine the reward Arenius will give if we bring him back alive?” The other guard shook his head then chuckled with obvious delight. “And to think we were just smuggling a load of stolen weapons. It’s payday for both of us! We’ll be set for life.”
I swallowed through a closed throat. Those men were not about to pass by a fortune like this. Arenius would indeed offer them a reward that made even the star ruby my mother left me look like a common pebble in comparison. It would be the perfect excuse to get rid of Rager in a very public and lucrative way.
And he would have the perfect excuse to force any marriage on me. Or he could send me to the nunneries and forget all about me.
I shook the thoughts away. Now was not the time to lose myself on what might happen if I was returned to my father. What mattered right now was to save Rager. None of them had seen me yet, so I still had the advantage of surprise. I inched closer, my eyes scanning the room for something to use as a weapon. Anything.
As I approached Rager’s shoulders tensed and his head tilted slightly to the side. He had heard me, but the guards hadn’t yet.
Then my eyes landed on a long, curved piece of metal. I had no name for it, but I knew it was a mechanic’s tool of some sort. This would have to do. With trembling fingers, I bent, picking up the long tool. It was heavier than I expected and it slid through my sweat-damp fingers. I gasped and grabbed it, but not before it clanked on the metal frame of the transport.
Oh, no.
As though in slow motion, I turned my gaze to the guards, who were staring at me with wide, stunned eyes. Rager’s head turned fully and his eyes met mine. Stupor and shock filled the Muharib’s gaze, but it was soon replaced with something else. Something approaching rage.
“What do we have here?” the guard on Rager’s left said, a cruel half smile on his lips. “The Breath of Death brought a whore to defend him.”
“Let Rager go.” I spoke loudly, my voice full of doubt, fear as clear in it as the way the tool shook in my upraised hands. “You don’t need him. You can take me in his place.”
“Don’t.” Rager spoke, his back still turned to me, but his head tilted so I could see only half his face. “I forbid it.”
I hesitated, but only a moment. I could not allow them to take Rager back. The death Arenius would plan for him would be spectacular in its horror and pain. Someone as magnificent as Rager shouldn’t die like that.
Even if it cost me what mattered most to me. My freedom.
The guard on Rager’s right pushed his prod closer. Too close. It would take only a small mistake and then Rager would be cooked from the inside by a million volts. I had to act now.
“My name is Serena Alania Horacius, only daughter of Arenius Celcum Horacius.” Holding my head high and my shoulders stiff, I spoke in an even, controlled voice thanks to my years as a ward of the young girl’s school where Arenius sent me. The picture of a high-born lady, one not to be trifled with. “Let Rager go free and bring me back to my father. I will see that you are rewarded with more gold than you have ever dreamed of.”
