Charming Charly (English Edition) (Lords of Arr'Carthian 3) (12 page)

But the creature suddenly let go of Lory’s throat and she would have fallen over if this monster had not grabbed her tightly by the arm to pull her along with him.
 

They were dragged to a lift and pushed in roughly. Charly banged painfully against the metal wall and the shock briefly took her breath away. The two hairy aliens followed them into the small cubicle and stood blocking the doorway until they had arrived at one of the upper floors – the doors opened with a hissing sound. Again they were grabbed roughly and pulled along a narrow corridor. They finally stopped in front of a wide door and one of the two aliens pressed a few buttons next to the door to open it.
 

“Ah! There you are, my beauties,” they were greeted by Ellyod Allegrass, who was grinning from ear to ear. “Come in and make yourselves comfortable. I’m pleased that you accepted my invitation.”
 

The two hairy aliens pushed them into the room before the doors closed behind them. Charly’s heart was beating as if it was going to burst. She could still smell the stench of the beasts. They were probably still standing behind them, but she did not dare look round. Her heart was beating violently.

“Invitation?” said Lory, laughing. “Yes, you could call it that, too. Great. Can’t stop laughing.”

Charly felt anger rise within her. This whole thing was barbaric. Now she really had had enough of being abducted over and again.
 

“What do you think you’re doing?” she shouted at the pirate. “Why have you abducted us?”

“But, but,” he responded. “Just take a seat now. I have something to drink for you and later we’ll eat together. I’ve told my chef to prepare something very special for my guests. No food from the meal generator. Only the best for my beauties.”
 

“I want to know what you’re playing at here,” Lory demanded to know. She looked very angry, which Charly was pleased to see.
 

“Let’s sit down, then we can talk better,” said Ellyod. “Come along here.”

He led them to a seating area consisting of six large armchairs with high backs ending in a point, with smooth, poisonous-green covers. The two women followed him somewhat reluctantly. Once they were seated he poured them an orange-coloured drink in tall, slim glasses. Charly stared indecisively at the drink in front of her.

“Don’t drink it,” Lory warned her. “There could be drugs in it.”

“No, there’s not,” Ellyod objected. “I’ve poured a drink for myself from the bottle, too. There’s nothing in it. You see?” He put his glass to his lips and drank a few sips before leaning back, relaxed, looking at them expectantly.

Lory took her glass and eyed up the liquid skeptically. After tasting it tentatively, she took another sip. Charly did the same as her friend and likewise drank. With surprise she discovered that it was delicious. It tasted a little of orange and melon, but also had a sharp, but pleasant aftertaste.
 

“Good?” asked Ellyod, who had watched them attentively.

“Yes, not bad,” said Lory. “But what’s the reason behind all this now? Why have you abducted us?”

“So have you forgotten?” replied Ellyod. ”We had an arrangement. I was beside myself with concern when I realized that you had been abducted.”

“Well, if that’s the case,” said Lory.”Let me reassure you. We are completely voluntarily on Karrx7. So you can beam us straight back to the ground.”
 

Charly doubted that this pirate was being honest with them. After everything that she had heard about this man from Amano, he was unscrupulous and sly.
 

 
“You don’t have any intention of taking us to earth, do you?” Charly joined in. “We know what you are now.”

Ellyod smiled weakly.

“And what am I, my little fire lady?”

“A pirate!” Charly shouted at him. “You want to sell us as slaves.”

Ellyod laughed. He threw his head back and laughed so much that he cried tears. The two women exchanged glances and shrugged.
 

“Me? A pirate? That’s too exquisite,” he said once he was calm again. “Tell me, have these cats bitten you?”

“What’s that got to do with you?” Lory asked indignantly.

“Well,” Ellyod continued. “… these false, devious beasts have a drug in their sweet little bites. You wanted to know whether I was going to drug you up with a harmless fruit juice, yet you’ve been drugged by the most inscrutable creatures in the whole galaxy. It’s a love drug, didn’t you know that? Didn’t you feel the drug enter your system and change the way you felt?”

“Rubbish!” Charly objected. “I already felt attracted to Amano before he bit me.”

Against her will, Charly felt some doubt lodging in her mind, despite her words. In fact he had bitten her before the actual act and it had done crazy things to her, of that there was no doubt.

 
“Yes,” replied Ellyod. “They’re good-looking devils, and charming. But isn’t it right that you still didn’t want to stay with them at first? And hasn’t anything changed since you were bitten?”

Charly blushed.

 
“I’m sorry,” said Ellyod with a hint of irony in his voice, “if I’ve had to shatter your illusion of true love, girls. But these shapeshifters are known for abducting women. They have too few themselves because their women are dying like flies. Giving birth is killing them. That’s because most of them have four or five boys in one go.”

Charly clutched her chest and uttered a quiet cry of horror. Had she been right after all? She could sense Lory looking at her.

“I’m sorry,” said Ellyod. “But you’ll get over it. The longer you’ve been without a bite, the weaker the dependency becomes. I’ll take you home, as promised.”

***

“Damn it, this can’t be happening!” cried Amano, as a space ship appeared in the sky. A sudden fear grabbed him and he clenched his fists.
 

Next to him, Kordan let out a growl. The space ship was hovering directly over his house. It was clear to Amano, too, what that meant.

“The females!” Kordan shouted, looking at Amano.
 

“We have to go back! Fast!” he snarled.

They shifted into cheetahs as they could cover the ground more quickly as cats. Again and again Amano looked into the sky with concern. When a beam shaft hit the ground Kordan uttered a blood-curdling roar. Amano joined him in.

Just ten minutes later they reached Kordan’s house, but it felt like an eternity to them. They were too late and knowing that almost sent Amano mad. It was obvious who the ship belonged to. Ellyod Allegrass, the notorious pirate. On Kordan’s estate everyone was in complete disarray. The men that they had left behind, and the servants, were running about in distress. Females were crying and wringing their hands. Kordan and Amano assumed their human forms.

“Warro, Spurka and Nanek, prepare the gliders! We’re flying straight to the palace,” Kordan called to his men. He turned to Amano. “We’ll get them back and we’ll deal at last with this son-of-a-bitch of a pirate!”

“I’ll break every bone in his body,” Amano snarled back. “I want his blood!”

“I want it, too,” snarled Kordan sinisterly. “I want it, too.”

Y-Quadrant

On board the Karragon

15
^th
Day of the Month of Manao in the Year 7067

Federation Time

They had been on board the Karragon for two days. During this time they had studied numerous star charts with Ellyod’s navigator, to find out where earth was – unfortunately in vain. How were they to find earth, anyway, when they had no idea where they were? Charly did not want to admit it to herself, but she was not very hopeful that it was possible.

 
In the meantime they were flying in the direction of Xevus3 because this was the point from which their destination lay one month away. So they would begin working out the possible direction afresh from there. At least, that is what Ellyod told them. He was very friendly towards them, but despite everything Charly was unsettled by a bad feeling. She did not want to believe that Amano was a rogue. All of that could surely not have been a lie. And even if it was, she had been happy. Would it not be better for her to live happy, yet with a lie, rather than return to her old, unpleasant life? She could not stop thinking about Amano.
 

 
“I still miss Amano,” Charly complained. “When is this stupid drug going to wear off? I feel as if it’s getting worse and worse, not better.”

Lory sighed.
 

“I feel the same. But I’m really angry, too. That was the first and last time that I’m going to let a man get so close to me. Damn it! I knew the bastard would hurt me. Guys that look as damn good as he does usually have a flaw.”

“I want to cry,” said Charly. “But I’m glad that I can no longer have five boys who’ll kill me at birth.”

‘If that’s really true,’
said a voice in her head.
‘One of them is lying. Either Ellyod or Amano. Damn it!’

“Well,” said Lory. “I don’t quite know what to make of that yet. It could well be that Ellyod was exaggerating a bit there. I can’t imagine that it’s true. For a start, Marruk only has one daughter and not four or five.”

“Yes, but where is her mother, huh?” Charly objected. ”She died. No one has contested that, have they?”

Charly simply no longer knew who or what she should believe.

“But Moreena’s not dead.” Lory pointed out. “And she only had two sons who are of different ages. So the description doesn’t apply to her either.”

“No idea,” replied Charly,”but I had a bad feeling straight away about having alien babies. Instinct, I tell you. No, as much as it hurts me right now, it’s better this way. And in a way I’m looking forward to being at home, too.”

‘Lie!’
said her inner voice.
‘That’s a damn lie, girl, and you well know that!’

Suddenly a loud siren boomed through the room and the red lights above the door began to flash. Charly and Lory looked at one another in shock.
 

“I think we’re being attacked,” said Lory.

“But by who? Pirates?” asked Charly, frightened.

Her heart was racing madly and she had a bad feeling in her guts.

Lory looked miserable and shook her head grimly.
 

“I hardly think so.”

“You don’t mean …? Do you think Amano and Kordan are after us?” Charly’s voice was wavering between hope and panic. Could it be? And if so, what would Amano do with her? What were his intentions?

“Yes, I think they’re not intending to let us go so easily,” thought Lory.

The ship was shaken, explosions could be heard and the
Karragon
was hit again and again. Lory went to the door, pressing the buttons to open it, but nothing happened.
 

“Shit!” she swore.

“What is it?” asked Charly, worried.

“We’re locked in.”

Charly swallowed anxiously.

“But that’s good, isn’t it?” she said uncertainly.”I mean, so none of the … Whoever’s attacking us can’t get in here. We’re safe here.”

“Safe?” snorted Lory. “We’re sitting here like mice in a trap. We’d be better off if we could run freely through the ship. And don’t think that they can’t get in here. They have laser pistols. With those they’ll definitely be able to override the mechanism somehow. No! I’d feel better if we could get out of here. I’ll try to short circuit the door.”

Lory took a good look at the small box with the keypad next to the door.
 

“Have you got a nail file?” she asked.

Charly thought it over.

“Yes, I saw one in the bathroom.”

She got up and hurried in there. She found what she was looking for and returned to Lory with the nail file. Fascinated, she watched her friend using the file as a screwdriver to open up the box. The ship was shaken again and again and Lory slipped and stuck the file into her hand.

“Ow! Shit!” she swore, putting the injured side in her mouth to stop the blood flowing. Charly went to help her, but Lory waved her away.

Quietly swearing and grumbling, she finally managed to unscrew the cover and expose the wires.

“Now comes the tricky bit,” said Lory. “Either the door will open straight away or …”

“Or what?” asked Charly.

“Or it’s well and truly locked!” groaned Lory, setting about the task.

Charly could only think about one thing: who was right? - Amano or Ellyod? Which was the good guy and which the bad one? Could she listen to her heart to answer this question?

“Bingo!” cried Lory triumphantly, as the door opened. “Now let’s get out of here!”

They ran along the corridor. Red lamps were flashing everywhere.
 
The siren was jarring on Charly’s ears, racking her nerves that were already stretched to the limit. Her head was aching, but she ignored that. They had to find a safe hiding place – and fast. Then she suddenly thought of a possibility.

“I know where we should go,” said Charly, out of breath. “Come on!”