Page 7 of Rescued

Carefully, he withdrew a small holo disk and held it in the palm of his hand. A flick of his thumb and a holo of Sonya, only about twelve inches high, appeared hovering above the coin-sized disk. It had been taken only a few days before her death and she was laughing and smiling, with her hands on her beautiful full hips.

“Yes! Yes, I saw her—I’m sure of it!” Commander Lan’ara nodded eagerly as she looked at the holo. “She was in line, three prisoners behind Nate! Your mate and mine—they’re on the same ship!” Then she paused, blushing a deep purple. “Well, at least, he will be my mate if I can find him and heal him. And if he wants me,” she added quietly.

“This must be the will of the Goddess,” Commander Sylvania said firmly. “She must intend for the two of you to work together, in order to find and rescue your mates.”

“I’d be more than happy for any help,” Davrik said at once. Though Commander Lan’ara was petite by Kindred standards, he was certain that having an Empath along on his quest to find Sonya would come in handy.

“I’d be happy for help as well,” Commander Lan’ara said quietly. She still looked rather flushed, Davrik thought.

“Then what are we waiting for? Come on—let’s go find that ship!” Commander Bairdida exclaimed.

Davrik felt a rush of relieved excitement—finally, it was happening. Finally he was going to see his Sonya again!

FIVE

DAVRIK

He was considerably less excited three solar weeks later. They had found the trail of the ship which they believed was carrying both his own mate and Lan’ara’s…and then they had been led on what the humans called a “wild geese chase” or something like that, Davrik thought bitterly.

The ship had seemed to go in circles and every time they thought they were going to catch up, they lost the trail and had to stop and find it all over again. At last they had followed it to the worst possible place—the Flesh Bazaar.

“Well, this is what I was afraid of,” he muttered, as he pulled his long-range shuttle into a docking space near the entrance of the massive complex. “In my universe this is the biggest slave center in the galaxy.”

“It’s the same here,” Lan’ara confirmed grimly. “Nate and Sonya must have been brought here to be auctioned off. But unless we’re very lucky, they’ve already been sold to the highest bidder by this time.”

“Well, we know the owner of the ship was a Saurian called Grieb’lick,” Davrik said. (This was knowledge they’d picked up at a space station during one of their stops to find the trail again.) “We just need to find where he sells his slaves and hope they can tell us who Sonya and Nate were sold to.”

“I hope they’re all right.” Lan’ara looked troubled. “What if they sold Nate to the Blood Circuit? He’s a warrior—they would be happy to have him there!”

“Haven’t you had any more dreams of him?” Davrik asked, frowning.

She shook her head.

“No—not since the one I had where he had broken loose from his chains and was going after the slavers on the ship. That dream faded to blackness and then…nothing.” She bit her lip, looking troubled. “I would worry that they killed him but I can still feel him out there, somewhere—it’s just that his emotions are so faint now. Barely there at all.”

“We’ll find him—we’ll find both of them,” Davrik said, trying to comfort her. She was a quiet female and not very talkative, but they had shared some with each other in the weeks they’d been traveling together. Mostly he talked about Sonya and she talked about Nate. And both of them spoke of their longing to see the mates they cared for so desperately.

“Have you dreamed of Sonya at all?” she asked as he locked down the ship and they prepared to exit it and enter the atmosphere bubble that encased the immense complex which was the Flesh Bazaar.

Davrik shook his head.

“Afraid not. I wish I could but I didn’t Dream-share with her—or with the Sonya in my world—either. I think it had something to do with the night terrors she experienced sometimes—they blocked any other kind of dreams from getting through.”

He wondered if the Sonya of this universe also had night terrors. If so, was there anyone to hold her and comfort her? To wake her from her dreams and cuddle her in their lap and kiss away her tears? He wanted so much to do that for her again—to care for her and love her and cherish her and call her “baby girl.” His arms ached to hold her.

Lan’ara put a hand on his forearm, her lavender fingers cool against his skin.

“I can feel how much you miss her,” she said simply. “And you know how desperately I want to find Nate. Let us say a prayer to the Goddess that we may find them before we go into the Bazaar.”

“Good idea.” Davrik nodded and bowed his head. “Goddess—you know how badly we need to find our mates—the ones you set aside just for us. Please help us in our quest—let us get to them before harm befalls them.”

Lan’ara murmured agreement and when she raised her head, her dark purple eyes were bright.

“I feel better,” she said. “Let’s go find them.”

Davrik nodded and felt his heart swell. The Goddess might not have answered their prayer directly, but he still felt that her hand was on this situation.

He and Lan’ara left the long-range shuttle together.

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