Page 34 of Hooded

The mirth dies and her fingers stop.

“They sent you to fight until you died?” Her voice hitches in her throat.

“To a place no one would look. This galaxy is far away from my home world, Ustokos,” I say. “A place I’ve never even seen. I was the only one ever sent here. When I didn’t come back…”

I push away the pain I feel at the lack of care from the Gryn. They saved me only to abandon me again.

“I knew my command was a risky one, but I had hoped…” Fern’s fingers start up again, and bliss overtakes me. “When I found the others in the dome, I thought maybe there was hope. But there wasn’t. There was only the fight and biding my time until my moment came.”

“Your moment?”

“For escape, but the longer it took, the more the life of the gladiator appealed.” I growl because, despite her touch, despite how good it makes me feel, I’m confronting the darkness in the depths of my heart. “I was abandoned by my own kind, again. We all were. I didn’t want to trust anyone or anything ever again.”

FERN

Klynn and I are in agreement, we’ve been held here for three nova-weeks. In that time, he has been made to fight in the holo-arena on several occasions, each time being returned to me in a worse state than before.

I’m beginning to dread the bright immobilizer beam.

However, our nest has remained undisturbed. In fact, on a few occasions, we have been provided with some additional nesting material along with our daily rations.

At least I think it’s nesting material. Whatever it’s supposed to be, Klynn spirits it away and it appears in our nest. He’s added some of his feathers too, and the entire thing smells of his spiciness. I love it. I just wish it could be anywhere but here.

We’ve gone nearly three days without a fight for him when I wake one morning, clutched in his arms, nausea rolling in my stomach. I escape the nest with some difficulty, making it to the sanitary area just in time.

By the time I’ve finished, Klynn is by my side, wings shivering with concern.

“Little mate?” he queries as I rest my head against the cold metal wall.

“I think this place is getting to me,” I say, taking his hand, my entire body feeling weak. “That’s all.”

There’s an alternative. It’s one I don’t want to think about and one I am not going to voice to Klynn. If I’m having a bad time, he is having a worse one. We need to get out of here, but since his escape attempt, our captors take more care, with copious use of the immobilizer beam and stun pulsars if he doesn’t comply.

But our nights remain undisturbed. And it is the nights I live for. In his arms, under him, on top of him. Klynn is endlessly inventive and, despite everything, insatiable. His ability to make my body sing is never ending.

I get unsteadily to my feet and drink some water. It seems like it’s going to stay down, so I shoo him into the cleansing area as I sit on the ledge next to the nest and contemplate the cell.

We have to get out of here. Klynn’s next fight could be the one which gives him an injury he can’t recover from, or worse. I don’t want to think about worse, but I have to.

The single guard above us, one of very few we see these days, looks down and slams the butt of his pulsar rifle on the metal grid underneath him, as if he wants to raise hell.

Klynn appears at the sound almost instantly, looking like thunder, ready for the fight.

“What is it, my mate?”

“Nothing. He’s trying to get you riled up. Ignore him.” I sigh. “You know how some of them like to see you hurt.”

Klynn narrows his eyes at the forcefield.

“This place…it’s not good,” he huffs.

He sits next to me. His feathers are still damp from the shower (which he hates but tolerates) as he hasn’t had time to preen yet, something I love watching him do. The scent from them surrounds us.

“Until they land somewhere, we’re not going to get away, and this type of pirate—they might not make landfall for a nova-year,” I murmur.

“I overheard something, the last time I fought,” Klynn says. “I did not tell you because I didn’t want to upset you, but Lord Halfen intends entering me as his champion in the games on Kelion, a place which makes Tatatunga look like a school for younglings.”

I’ve heard of Kelion. My heart twists in my chest. More than lawless, if you manage to survive the night there, you’re considered one of the select few.

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