Fighting Lory (English Edition) (Lords Of Arr'Carthian 2) (2 page)

“Hm, not bad,” judged Keela.

Lory and the other women agreed with her.

“The lemonade is tasty, too. Tastes a bit like lemon … no! Lime juice with a hint of … of … oh, yes, a hint of mango!”

There seemed to be a silent agreement amongst the women not to discuss what lay before them. Right now none of them wanted to think about the fact that they were to be sold at a galactic slave market.

***

Kanavirius System, Xevus3

Betzlawk

8th day of the month of Jakus in the year 7067

Federation Time

They had landed on a desert planet where they were to be sold at a slave market. The spaceport was modern and equipped with everything that travelers would expect: hotels, bars and other entertainment, as well as shops and market places. The further they went from the spaceport, though, the more dilapidated the area became. Their guards led them into a compound containing several shacks. Lory and the other women were pushed into one of the huts and the door was bolted behind them. It was dimly lit inside, but light enough for them to realize that they were not the only ones. In this small space there were already four women and girl of about ten. They moved a little closer together to make space for the new arrivals. One woman was clearly older than the others: she was already grey and had a few wrinkles, too, but her figure was slim and muscular and she appeared to be anything but fragile. She gestured to the women to sit down.
 

Lory remained standing, her arms folded, whilst Keela, Charly and Amber sat down. Lory cast her eyes over her fellow prisoners. The girl had black hair, tied up in six thick plaits, and unusually intense turquoise-colored eyes. She was wearing a turquoise-colored tunic over cream-colored leggings made of soft leather. The other women had simply-cut dresses made of colorful material. They were visually different from the girl: the back of their heads went into a point and they had strangely rounded ears that protruded from their black hair.
 

“I’m Ayakala,” the older woman introduced herself. “These are my daughters, Jukuzala and Niminita. And that’s Bebenile. And the little one is Solima.”

“I’m Charly, that’s Keela and Amber, and this is Lory,” Charly took it upon herself to make the introductions.

Jukuzala passed the women a bottle of water and they gratefully quenched their thirst. Only after they had finished drinking did the old woman speak again.

“We’re from Uluah2. Solima is from Karrx7. Where are you from?”

“We’ve been abducted from planet earth,” answered Charly.

“Earth? I don’t know that one!” said the old woman, shaking her head. “But that doesn’t mean anything – I don’t know many planets.”

“How is this place guarded? How many men come when they bring food? Are they armed?” asked Lory. It was good to gather as much information as possible when planning an escape. Because one thing was certain: Lory was not going to wait until she was flogged to the highest bidder. She was determined not to give in to her fate without a fight. There must be a way of escaping from here.

Ayakala looked blankly at Lory.

“Why do you want to know?” she asked.

“It must be possible to escape,” said Lory, irritated. “I can easily knock out two men without weapons – if I could get hold of something to use as a weapon, then more than just two.”

Ayakala and her daughters shook their heads.
 

“Even if you get out of this hut, you still need to get through the gate, and that’s guarded. You don’t stand a chance,” declared the old woman.

“When we were brought here there were only two men stationed there,” interjected Charly.

“There may be only two guards, but there are at least another six sitting in the hut next to the gate,” explained Ayakala. “Anyway, where would you go? Outside Betzlawk there’s nothing but desert for miles and miles. Even if, by some miracle, you were able to get to one of the other towns, you wouldn’t be made welcome there. But it’s suicide, anyway, going out into the desert. It’s even hotter there than it is here and there’s no water for miles and miles. You’ll be hunted down. They’ll find you sooner or later in the town and there’s no way into or out of the spaceport without being checked, and what’s more you can’t book a journey without money. So it’s better to hope that you’ll find a good master who treats you well. Believe me.”

“I’d rather die than let myself be owned by some damn alien,” Lory snarled angrily.
 

“She’s right,” said Amber. “We’re never going to get home again anyway. It’s hopeless. Who knows how far from earth we are, and where are we going to find someone who’ll take us back?”
 

“I can think about that when I get out of here,” Lory insisted. “Anything is better than being bought by a damn alien and bearing its little monsters.”

The very thought of being sold to one of the various aliens that she had seen here on the streets of Betzlawk made her blood boil. Most of them did not look even vaguely human. Besides, she would definitely not give herself to a man that she did not want. And Lory was choosy where her sexual partners were concerned. They had to have style and moral fibre. And of course they had to deal with the fact that she knew her own mind and stuck up for her rights. No! She would most certainly not be anyone’s sex slave. Not as long as she still had a spark of life in her, and right now she had a good deal. She would get out of here, whatever the cost.

***

Hours passed by and no one came. The conversation amongst the women had long since stopped. Lory had not taken part anyway. She was walking up and down like a tiger in a cage, thinking about her situation. She simply could not sit still, knowing that they were planning to sell her to some monster.
 

“Can’t you just sit down now?” said Keela, irritated. “You’re making me completely dizzy, walking round in circles.”

“I don’t understand you lot,” Lory blurted out angrily. “How can you sit here, totally calmly, waiting till someone flogs you to the highest-bidding slimy or hairy alien? I certainly do not intend to give up without a fight.”

“Perhaps it’ll be easier to escape once we’ve been bought,” interrupted Keela. “If we appear to be weak and helpless, maybe the one that buys us will be less watchful and when the right moment …”

“If, if, if!” Lory interrupted Keela. “If you wait for someone to serve you the return ticket to earth on a golden platter, you’ll never get it.”

Lory was not one of those people who waited for everything to possibly work out. She was used to taking things in her own hands. She would rather die trying to escape than allow others to order her around.
 

“Someone’s coming,” warned Amber urgently.

The women fell silent and they could indeed hear footsteps approaching the hut. The door was unlocked and two men appeared with a woman carrying a tray of food. The men were largely humanoid, if one overlooked their green skin and the small, wart-like pockmarks on their foreheads and temples. They were large and powerfully built, but they were not carrying weapons. That was good. Lory did not doubt that she could deal with them both. She studied the situation and prepared herself to attack at the right moment.

Once the woman had put the tray in the middle of the room, Lory picked her moment. She grabbed the man standing closest to her and smashed his head on the doorframe three times till he became limp in her hands, then she simply dropped the unconscious man onto the ground. The other guard threw himself at her and they exchanged a few hard blows and kicks. As the surprise effect had passed Lory did not have an easy time of it with this well-trained man, despite being well trained in close combat herself. The alien was an evenly matched fighter and he was not making it easy for her, but she loved the fight. It was better than sitting and waiting. Both of them were dealing heavy blows and taking heavy blows. Her opponent was already bleeding from his mouth and nose and breathing heavily, but she was not faring any better. With a yell Keela, Charly and Amber suddenly threw themselves at the guard. Charly climbed onto him from behind whilst Amber and Keela helped Lory by kicking and thumping him until he fell to the ground.
 

Once both of the guards were lying motionless Lory turned to the other women. The woman who had brought the tray was standing in the middle of the room, her mouth agape and her eyes wide, and she seemed incapable of saying or doing anything.
 

“We have to act quickly, before anyone notices what’s happened,” said Lory, and the women, including Ayakala, her daughters and the girl, followed Lory outside. Only Bebenile and the woman with the tray stayed behind.

There was no one to be seen in the yard. Everything seemed to be silent and deserted, but they knew that there were more guards in the hut next to the entrance, not forgetting the two guards outside the gate.

“We’ll try to find another exit. I think we should be able to get over the wall over there,” whispered Lory, and they quickly crept across the yard to the side opposite the gate.

Lory felt euphoric. She was thrilled to have fled from the cramped hut, despite knowing that her escape was a long way from getting her back to earth. But it was a start. She could think about what to do now once she was in safety somewhere.
 

Suddenly loud shouting and footsteps could be heard behind them.

“Shit! They’ve caught us,” cried Lory. “Come on, girls. Faster!”

They now ran as fast as they could. Lory was the first to climb over a barrel onto the roof. She glanced back hastily. Ayakala and her daughters, as well as the small girl, had stopped. They clearly thought that they did not stand a chance any more. There were at least ten men behind them – four were dealing with the women who had stayed behind and the other six were pursuing Lory and the others. Lory carried on climbing quickly, Charly close behind her, but Amber and Keela seemed to be having problems.

“Hurry up!” shouted Lory on reaching the wall.

She jumped and Charly immediately did the same. Lory glanced up at Keela and Amber, who seemed to be hesitating. She gesticulated wildly to them to jump.

“Shit,” she heard Keela murmur quietly.

Keela closed her eyes and jumped. Amber landed with a quiet “Ow! Fuck!” next to her.

“Come on!” Lory urged the others to hurry and ran with Charly along the narrow alley that they had landed in.
 

Chapter 2

“I think they’ve caught Keela and Amber,” gasped Charly. “They’re not behind us anymore.”

“That’s bad luck but we must keep going or they’ll catch us, too. Come along here,” replied Lory, turning into a narrow alleyway between two houses.

She hoped that they were vaguely going in the direction of the spaceport. She had lost her bearings a little and was not a hundred per cent certain. She actually had no idea what to do next, but the most important thing right now was that they escaped from their prison guards. Then they somehow had to figure out how things worked on this damn alien planet. She had seen that the entrance to the huge spaceport area was closely guarded. People had to identify themselves with either a handprint or a type of permit. Inside there were then what appeared to be different classification sections.
 

“Please! I need a rest,” Charly panted behind her, and she stood still.

“A little bit further,” she said. “But we don’t need to run anymore. I think we’ve lost them.”

They continued at a normal pace and Lory steered them into a quiet alley filled with junk. They sat down among a few crates where they could take a rest, shielded by the rest of the crates and pieces of furniture, so that no one could see directly to them.

“What are we going to do now?” asked Charly. “Do you have a plan?”

Lory shrugged.

“We’ll see what happens and improvise. The most important thing right now is that we’re free. The next step will be to find out how we get into the spaceport and where we can spend the night.”

“Do you think these men have given up the search? I mean, they might put out a kind of APB on us or something. We don’t know how things are done here,” Charly objected.

“I have no idea, but it would be good if we could fake our ID somehow. We may need to change something in our appearance or something. We should keep going now. I don’t know what the time is or how quickly it gets dark here.”

“I think we’re very close to the spaceport,” said Charly after a while. “You see that tall building there? I think that’s one of the hotels in the up-market area of the spaceport. I remember the strange shape of the windows.” She was pointing at a tall building that was several stories higher than the rows of houses in front of them. The windows were shaped like an upturned heart with a slightly bent point.

“Yes, you’re right. I remember that building, too. We have to be especially careful near the spaceport. You’re right, they may have set up a sort of APB because of us. I wish we had some sort of weapon.”

“No! What do you want from me?” a woman’s voice could suddenly be heard nearby.

“Your credits and the girl,” replied a man’s voice.
 

Lory and Charly looked at one another, then they both nodded and crept quietly into the corner, carefully looking into the narrow alley from where the voices were coming. They could see an elegantly dressed woman and a young one in simple clothing. The young girl had hidden herself in fear behind the slightly older woman. Two sinister figures, humanoid in form, but with orangey-red skin and blue hair, had planted themselves in front of the two women.

“You can have my credits, but please leave the girl alone,” begged the older of the two women.

Just as Lory had decided to get involved, she saw one of the figures draw a long dagger and stick it onto the woman’s abdomen. He slit her stomach from the bottom to the top and blood sprayed everywhere. The woman uttered a stifled cry of pain and the girl behind her screamed. Whilst the older woman slowly sank to the ground, Lory rushed over to attack the two bastards. She had the element of surprise on her side, so she was able to grab the man’s blood-covered dagger. She stuck the blade into his throat and performed a karate chop on the other man’s neck, as he was about to attack her. As he fell to the ground she grabbed his blue hair and pulled his head back. In one move she had cut his throat. The girl had stopped crying. Lory turned to her. Their eyes met. After a little hesitation the girl ran away.