Page 45 of Souls of Steel
His hands went to my throat and he squeezed, his eyes glinting red with Tartarus’s power. His fingers burned my skin and my vision started to grow fuzzy. “You know, I’ve heard about you,” he whispered. “You’re quite pretty. I’ll make sure to visit Persephone’s Plaza when I’m on leave.”
He didn’t sound insulting. His voice was mellow and calm, like he was talking about the weather, about something natural. He truly believed that the only role I could ever have was that of a whore.
It pissed me off more than Jared Glass’s ugly words had, and that anger gave me strength. I grabbed his wrist and summoned the flickering traces of my tachyon power.
The outburst wasn’t controlled, not like the others had been. I didn’t have enough focus. Still, it did the job. The man let out a sharp cry. His hold on me loosened and he fell back, clutching his head.
I took advantage of the opening to shoot to my feet and knock him out. A solid blow to the head took care of the biggest threat I’d run into so far.
“Fuck you very much,” I croaked out as he fell. My voice sounded raspy and I rubbed my aching neck, grimacing. “I hope your dick falls off and never gets to touch another woman.”
The more I stayed here, the more disgusted I felt with everything I saw. But people like this guy, like Jared and every other man I’d fought just reminded me why my battle was important.
Once upon a time, when I’d been a child, my mother had found an ancient chest during one of her terra-forming digs. Most literature had been lost in the wake of the destruction left behind by the original attacks of the apsids, but some books had survived in underground bunkers where our ancestors had taken refuge. This particular book told the tale of a woman carrying a brand of shame on her chest, a brand in the form of the letter A.
I hadn’t been able to understand the book at the time, as it had seemed so distant and alien to me that most of it hadn’t made any sense. In hindsight, that had been stupid of me. I was carrying a brand today too, one that was supposed to shame me for being a woman, for being a Terran, for daring to defy convention.
They’d gotten it wrong. I would never be ashamed of my background or of my gender. If anything, they were the ones who should feel the burden of that feeling. They were the ones who abused people who couldn’t defend themselves and pretended they were superior just because they’d been born with different genitals. The numbers that burned on their chests marked them as much as my ‘1000’ marked me.
Whether they’d intended it or not, they’d given me a higher value. I’d prove to them that they hadn’t been wrong when they’d deemed me a threat. They just hadn’t realized I could take them on and win.
What concerned me most was the possibility of running into Brendan, Knox, August, and Pollux. In the book I remembered, the woman’s lover had ended up dying. It was too easy to imagine them in that position. They weren’t prone to giving up the fight out of shame, but my presence had obviously caused them trouble.
I had to find the exit to the labyrinth, fast.
“No, you don’t,”Sphinx whispered in my mind.“Breathe. Focus. Don’t panic. You have this in the bag. All you need to do is use the talent that’s at your fingertips.”
She hadn’t spoken to me much today out of the desire to not put too much strain on my mind and body, but apparently, she’d deemed her intervention necessary. I could see why and felt stupid for not coming up with the idea myself.
My true talent wasn’t in tachyon manipulation. The explosions were nice, true, and I’d managed to use it against my opponents so far. But the Sphinx had given me another gift, the same power that had allowed me to see my lovers’ plans. Using it, I could track down everyone near me and avoid Brendan, Knox, August, and Pollux at the same time.
“Be careful. Touching the minds of other people won’t be as pleasant as your experience with your lovers. Don’t prolong it. You’re not ready for extensive use, so don’t push yourself. Slow and steady is the key here.”
Slow and steady. All right. I could do that. I could pace myself. Sphinx was wise and her advice had never failed me before.
Taking a deep breath, I stopped walking and allowed my mind to drift. I moved slowly, seeking any nearby presences. I needed to keep going left to find the exit, so I had to press forward in that direction.
There was just one problem. Pollux wasn’t very far from me and if I followed that path, I’d run straight into him.
Shit, okay, I needed to choose another route.
Don’t panic, Selene, don’t panic.
I didn’t have the time to find a way around Pollux, so I decided to retrace my steps. At first, it seemed like a bit of a waste of time. But as it turned out, other people had had the same idea as me and were making their way to this area. I ran into three men one after the other, all from various star fleets. I took them out quickly, before they could see me coming.
This mental projection thing was pretty neat. The only problem was that the Sphinx was right and I didn’t enjoy touching their minds. Two of them felt slick, like touching an oily substance I couldn’t wash off. The third felt icy and deadly, in a way that paralyzed me and almost made me drop my sword.
When I sensed him, I had the overwhelming urge to run. The knowledge that I had nowhere to go forced me forward. I didn’t feel particularly proud when he fell under my blast. Without the element of surprise, he would’ve kicked my ass.
“That doesn’t matter, Selene,”Sphinx reasoned.“In battle, you use whatever advantage you have at your disposal. Your talent just happens to be more subtle. That doesn’t make you weaker.
“That man is one of the most experienced soldiers in the tournament, and his defeat is just another lesson for you. No one is unbeatable, no matter how much power they have.”
The thought encouraged me. Deciding to take a small breather, I activated the holographic display embedded on my uniform and checked my status.
The number of points that showed up was a very impressive 783. “When did I gather that many points?” I asked. I couldn’t remember the exact number of points each of the men had been worth, but they’d all been below 100.
“I believe that when you take out a person, you get that person’s points too,”Sphinx replied.
