Page 6 of Dark Prince's Captive

“Can I have more?”I ask, looking up at the lizard dude and mimicking an eating motion.

He shoves another piece of maybe-chicken into my hand.

Okay, I’m starting to change my mind about his a-holeness.That is, until my tongue lands on my empty tooth socket, and my bruised jaw begins to throb harder as I chew.Yeah, no.A-hole all the way.

I eat until I’m full, and then I notice the sky—at least I presume it’s the sky and not, say, a super-tall ceiling on an alien ship—starting to lighten.I squint, peering at the tree-like shapes that I can now make out around me.

My nose didn’t lie.Iamin some kind of jungle.Only it’s unlike any jungle I’ve been in.As orange and pink rays streak through the darkness above, painting it with a warm glow, I see that we’re in a sizable clearing ringed by enormous trees.Their black trunks look wider than an average single-family house, and their canopies are so high up they seem to disappear into the glowing sky.Lush green-and-red ferns of various heights cluster on the ground around them, mixed with purple, red, and pink-striped palm fronds.In a few places, brilliantly scarlet plants sprout from the ground in six-foot-tall clusters of tentacle-like tubes.

Tubes that, upon closer inspection, seem to expand and contract rhythmically, like arteries through which blood is pumped.

Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.

Or in Cleveland.

Or anywhere on Earth.

Okay, yeah, now I do feel dizzy.Probably because I’m hyperventilating.

Sucking in fast, shallow breaths, I drop my gaze to the ground—just in time to see a rat-sized spider-ant thing stroll casually onto my hand.I shriek and flap my hand in the air, shaking it off.Then I spot more of the same giant insects around me.

I’m on my feet before I remember that I’m supposed to be trying not to draw any attention from my lizard-ish captors.

Thankfully, the bastards just guffaw as I hop from foot to bare foot in a futile attempt to prevent the spider-ants from crawling onto me.They’re all around me, so it’s not an easy task.I hop closer to the fire, and that seems to do the trick.The insects stay a respectful distance away from the hot embers, and after a minute, the swarm of them moves on, crawling on their merry way to terrorize someone else.

I blow out a relieved breath and stop hopping around.My heart is still racing, and I feel shaky from all the adrenaline, but I’m safe.For now, at least.I can’t stop staring at the ground, though, and my gaze happens to fall on my feet.

They’re dirty, as expected.But they’re also skinny, like my hands.

I blink.

Yep, no swelling around my feet or ankles.

I bend over and touch my legs.

They’re my own.I recognize their shape from before my heart started failing.But there’s no swelling and, more importantly, no scar on my left calf from my melanoma surgery.

The scar is simply gone.

I straighten to stare at the lizard dudes.

Did they do this?

Did they heal me, right down to the old scars on my body?

They must have.It’s the only explanation.But how?And more importantly, why?Why bring me here and heal me?

What do they want from me?

They notice my staring, and the one who fed me says something in his guttural language.His buddies cackle-laugh—I’m guessing at my expense.

That’s it.I’ve had enough.

“What’s so funny?”I demand, placing my hands on my hips.“Who and what are you, and where the fuck am I?”

They guffaw harder.

My annoyance rises.Since waking up here, I’ve been stung, hit, attacked by giant spider-ants, and now they’re laughing at me?Granted, I probably look funny with my muddy clothes and bare feet, but still, have some fucking respect for another sentient being.

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