Alien Conquest: (The Warrior's Prize) An Alien SciFi Romance (22 page)

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, looking at his friend. “Dyhar agreed to help us. I don’t care who I’m partnered with. I’ll make it out of the pit today, Bath.”

Bathari nodded, indicating with a tilt of his broken antler towards the man standing across the pit from them, looking out at the sands through the gate. “That is Rua. You’re partnered with him. Rumor is if he wins today, he’s earned his freedom.
And
—” he leaned conspiratorially forward, “he’s a human. Like the donara.”

Vega looked over at the man. He seemed strong enough, and as he watched the crowd gathering through the gate, he was attaching long
curson
blades to his forearms.

“Has a human ever fought in the games?” he asked Bathari.

“Not in recent memory.” Bathari slouched back against the wall. “He was a slaver for the Ankaa, though. That’s all anybody knows about him. Only got to the barracks this morning. If he was working for the Ankaa, though, he’s probably tough as hell.”

“But he wants to end the day at the top of the lists,” Vega murmured. “And so do I. Only one of us can be in the highest spot.”

“Vey,” Bathari said, looking at him. “No. You just need to
live
. Let the bastard hit the top if that’s what it takes.”

Vega frowned. “I’ve two games left if I stay at the top, Bath. Two.”

“I think you’re so giddy from the idea of marriage that you’ve lost your senses,” Bathari said. “Just survive, remember? Just survive.”

Vega sighed, looking down. “Just survive,” he echoed the Jiayi cursu.

Just survive
.

He heard the roar of the gathered crowd fill the Arena beyond the gate and closed his eyes.
Just survive
. That sound, the way the crowd’s screams reverberated all through him, was almost like a drug. The call to blood and glory and freedom. It was going to be torture, he knew, sitting here through all the other games, waiting until it was his turn on the sands. But Bathari was right. He couldn’t think about freedom or glory. He had to focus on living through the fight, just surviving, so he could get to Alaina afterward. One fight. That must have been all the domina could do for him. She couldn’t keep him out of the games entire, but she’d only put him on the roster for that final fight.

It was hardly mercy. Only the fiercest champions fought in that final fight. He supposed he ought to be grateful for that, but he had a hard time feeling any kind of gratitude for Lennai. He listened to the thunderous call of the crowd, and imagined holding Alaina in his arms again.

Just survive.

Alaina stood at the edge of the House Chara terrace, looking out at the Arena. It was vast, so much bigger than she’d been able to perceive just looking through the gate in the pit. The sand itself was not so large, but the seating went up and up and up. All the great houses had terraces to themselves, like theater boxes only ten feet up from the sands, but stadium seating rose up hundreds of feet above them. Awnings the nobility privacy from the crowd, but the terrace’s proximity to the sands afforded them the best view of the fighting. Close enough to see the blood splatter, but just above the heads of the fighters themselves.

Alaina had thought she’d be in the pit again, but when the slaves came to dress her that morning, instead of the armor they put her into one of the sheer gowns. Gurun came to get her shortly thereafter, and he led her up into the palace. Lennai took her in the hovering phaeton, and they sat in uncomfortable silence for most of the ride to the Arena.

Just before they exited the phaeton, Lennai looked at Alaina and said, “I did what I could. I gave him the best chance. Atticon wants you to be visible from the sands, but not in the pit. So you’ll sit on the terrace with us and watch.”

Now she stood on the terrace as the seats filled up, with Lennai and Atticon seated on a sofa behind her. She turned when she heard the box’s door slide open, and the Jiayi couple from the day before strode in. It made sense that they would all watch together since the final game was about ending a conflict between their houses. When Yfia ducked in after them, Alaina actually smiled to see her again.

“Donara,” Atticon said curtly. “Go back and stand with the other slaves.”

Alaina bowed her head a little and went over to stand with Yfia, behind the sofas, but still with a perfect view of the sands. The Jiayi nobility settled on their sofa, greeting Lennai and Atticon with kisses and smiles despite the fact that men were soon going to kill each other to settle their differences.

“Did you make the alliance?” Yfia whispered to her, as they stood side by side behind their masters.

Alaina nodded a little. “I think so. Are you all right?”

Yfia smiled, shrugging her slim shoulders. “It was not the most pleasant afternoon I have had, but it was not the worst, either.”

“I don’t know how you do it,” Alaina admitted. “He’s revolting.”

“Even the most repulsive of creatures can be soothed,” Yfia said. “He is not as hateful as you think. Or perhaps he hates because he hates himself.”

Alaina grimaced and said nothing about that. Atticon was just evil in her opinion. But he didn’t seem to have hurt Yfia, and that was all that mattered for the moment. Alaina was just grateful she didn’t have to watch this play out alone. That Yfia would be with her, even if there was nothing either of them could do but stand there and let it all happen.

A deafening, shaking sound like a gong being struck passed like a wave through the Arena, and Alaina felt it hit her like a gust of wind as it went through the terrace. She swayed a little on her feet but Yfia caught her arm to steady her.

And the Master of Games’ voice echoed around the stadium. “Let the games begin!”

By now, Alaina understood there were to be five games in total. Each of the games on this day would be fought in teams —no single combat— because all of the conflicts were between great houses instead of lesser, or even just between individuals. She’d seen the roster on the info panel in her room, and knew that Vega wasn’t fighting until the very last game. Which meant she had to get through four bouts of watching men murder each other before she’d even lay eyes on him again. And it felt like forever since she’d seen him.

The crowd bellowed and Alaina stood there as the games started, trying not to think of all the cursii in the pit she’d saved before. Many of them, she knew, would be fighting again today, and she wasn’t down there to save anyone. She was up here, being made to watch instead.

And she did watch, and it was painful.

The first fight was a bloodbath. A dozen cursii versus another dozen cursii, and Alaina wasn’t even sure who was fighting whom, or why, just that they were tearing each other to pieces, wetting the sands with all the myriad colors of blood, and the crowd screamed joyfully while they did it. Atticon got up from his sofa a few times to go stand at the edge of the terrace for a better look. Eventually Alaina had to look down at her feet because it was too hard to watch the end of it. It came down to two cursii, an Errai man and an Ankaa woman, the last survivors on their respective teams. Alaina knew when it was finished, because the crowd started chanting
Ankaa Ankaa Ankaa
, that the woman won. But she hadn’t been able to watch the win.

The second fight was much faster, but no less brutal. Smaller teams, this time engaging each other with long metal spears and riding hovercraft like chariots. The third game was between House Chara and another Errai house, some lesser dispute that didn’t rate as worth inviting their opponents into the Chara box. Or maybe it did and they had opted not to come, Alaina didn’t know. But for this fight, both Atticon and Lennai got up from their seats went to the terrace’s edge to watch. So Alaina’s view was blocked at the start, and she couldn’t see the cursii who entered the Arena to fight.

But Yfia was much taller than Alaina, and she could see them, and she gasped as the Master of Games called the battle to begin.

“What is it?” Alaina asked, standing on her tiptoes, trying to see over the heads of her masters. “Is it Vega?”

But it was too soon. There were still more games before the final.

“No,” Yfia whispered, and Alaina saw tears fill her eyes. “It’s him. It’s Bathari. He’s alive!”

Alaina’s mouth fell open in surprise and when she looked again, she could just see the top of Bathari’s unbroken antler between Lennai and Atticon as he fought on the sands.

“Bathari is the cursu you’re in love with?” she wondered aloud, shocked.

Yfia nodded, wiping tears from her eyes, her attention glued to the fighting. “Yes. Yes! And he’s alive. I never thought I would see him again. Oh, Alaina, what if he dies right now? And he’ll never know I’m watching.”

Alaina took her hand, squeezing her fingers, and Lennai and Atticon parted a little more until she could finally see the fight itself. Three on three. Bathari was the only Jiayi among them, so he was easy to keep tabs on.

“He’s strong,” she told Yfia. “He’ll fight well. And he’s clever. He’ll be okay.”

But of course she had no way of really knowing that. None of them did. Any time a cursu walked out onto those sands, there was a chance he or she might not leave alive. Alaina’s heart broke as she watched, as Yfia gripped her hand, terrified for the man she loved and sold herself into slavery to be reunited with. And Alaina remembered Bathari’s story when they were in the cells. How he’d calmed her down by describing the girl he’d left behind at home, how much he still loved her and hoped to return to her one day. They were so close to each other now, and yet still so very far apart, and Alaina struggled to maintain her composure as Yfia cried beside her.

Bathari fought with small knives. He was faster than the larger Errai fighters, and he slid gracefully in between them all, his strikes swift and deadly. He presented a smaller target, too, always turning his body sideways so that they had less room to land a blow. He was smart in his tactics, and confident on the sands. He’d been fighting for a long time by now, Alaina knew, and he attacked with ferocity but never lost his concentration.

Eventually, it came down to him and a lavender-scaled Errai. The combat was so fast and furious Alaina had trouble keeping track. The crowd went nuts for it, shrieking, clapping, as Bathari and his opponent turned in circle after circle, Bathari a demon with his knives against a larger opponent with a gigantic sword.

And then the killing blow.

The Errai fighter swung the sword wide, aiming for Bathari’s neck, his intention plainly to lob his head off his shoulders.

But at the last second, Bathari ducked.

The sword cracked into his one unbroken antler, hacking it off nearly at the base of his skull. Alaina gasped and Yfia shrieked, hands covering her mouth to muffle it, and even her Jiayi masters got to their feet, shocked by the brutality of it. Watching Bathari’s antler fall to the sands.

Bathari dropped to his knees, screaming in pain, but his opponent stumbled as he overextended. Bathari struggled up, surging forward, and tackled the Errai cursu to the sands, driving both his knives into the fighter’s lavender-scaled throat. The Errai jerked and gurgled, his limbs shaking, until finally he went still with Bathari hunched over him. Bathari struggled up to his feet, reeling a little, clearly from the pain and the sudden change in his equilibrium, but the crowd was screaming for him and so he threw his hands up in triumph, still clenching silver-blooded knifes.

Yfia fell to her knees beside Alaina, sobbing in relief.

Alaina sank down and hugged her tight as she cried, as relief flooded through her as well, and one of the House Chara guards emerged onto the sands to help Bathari back to the pit.

“He’s all right,” Alaina whispered to Yfia. “He’s alive, Yfia. He’s all right. You have to stand up and stop crying, though, or you’ll get in trouble. Right? Come on.”

Yfia nodded, inhaling a deep, shaking breath, and then gripped at Alaina’s arms as she hauled herself back to her feet. “He’s alive,” she stammered, tears shining on her pale cheeks. “He’s alive.”

“Yes,” Alaina said, smiling a little. “And he won’t have to fight again today. That was his only game and he triumphed. Maybe he’ll even be called champion for it. And you know he’s alive, Yfia, and you also know exactly where he is.”

Yfia wiped at her face, reaching back to the serving board to pick up a linen so she could dry the tears from her cheeks quickly. “I have hope again that one day we’ll look into each others' eyes again. That is more precious than anything.”

Alaina wanted to do more for her, but wasn’t sure what could be done. They were owned by separate houses, separate races, and she knew that in all likelihood Yfia was going to have to watch Bathari fight again.

And she realized that even if Vega survived the final fight today, she would have to watch
him
fight again, too. Again and again. She wondered if she could survive it. If her heart could survive it. What a horrible thing, to feel this panic and this terror over and over again. She didn’t wish it for herself, and she certainly didn’t wish it for Yfia and Bathari. She had to find a way to bring them together and get them off this station as well. That was a dangerous resolution, she knew. It had been dangerous enough to want to escape with Vega. But she couldn’t stand to think of Yfia having to go through this again, alone.

Atticon and Lennai returned to their sofas, and the Jiayi couple sat back down again. They called for wine, so Alaina and Yfia picked up decanters and went to serve their masters. Alaina’s hands trembled a little as she poured the wine into first Atticon’s cup and then Lennai’s. The domina met her eyes, but said nothing.

They retreated back to the serving board, and Alaina tried to steel herself for one more fight before it was Vega’s turn. She could think of nothing, however, except Bathari’s scream and Yfia’s sob in the same moment.

Bathari was a mess when they brought him back into the pit, and Vega spent the second to last game helping Dyhar patch up his only friend.