Salvation (8 page)

The port c
onsisted of six wide semicircular structures surrounding a central dome. I had seen it the last time we were here and enjoyed the sight; it had been one of the first ports we had stopped in after I'd come aboard. From the air, it looked like a flower with the many crafts coming and going like small bees from the hundreds of landing platforms on the outer edges of the petals. Along the insides of each of the petals were all kinds of restaurants, shops, and bars.

I knew the way to
my new ship, the
Atlantis
, which was on the next semicircular petal. I walked slowly, wanting to take my time getting there. I guess subconsciously I realized that reporting for duty would be the final proof that he would no longer be my captain. I would be replacing him with Captain Finn, a man I already disliked even though we had never even met.

I passed ship after ship
on my left, and on my right were vendors hawking their wares from the front of their shops, but I didn't see any of them. I pictured the captain's face in my mind, the hardness of his gaze and the way his muscles relaxed when he smiled. The stubble of his beard when he hadn't shaved.

A yellow sign blinked
Cosmo's Bar at me from the right, taking me out of my reverie. I thought back on my evening drinks with the captain. It seemed fitting to drink one now, but the bar looked less than savory and my past experience hadn't endeared me to such places, even midmorning.

I walked past and then I heard a voice I'd hoped never to hear again.

"Ssimmonss..."

I wanted to run, but I saw two of his reptilian slugs step out
from behind the building ahead. Squaring my shoulders and widening my stance, I turned to face him. There were two more behind him, which were probably four too many for my limited skill with weapons, so I decided to try to bluff my way out.

"What do you want, Angorak?"

"Now, now, is that any way to treat an old friend?" His slitted eyes blinked and he looked around. "And where iss your father? Don't tell me he hass let hiss little runt run off without hiss protection."

I thought fast. "He disowned me, Angorak,
" I said, gesturing to my bags. "I'm reporting for duty on another ship. He won't care what you do to me." I looked around, but all of the vendors had magically disappeared and other bystanders were keeping their distance. Great, I thought, just like old times. No one had ever helped me with Raz's thugs, either.

His hissing laughter sent shivers do
wn my spine, and his crew joined in.

"
Sss, sss, sss. Ssure. But thesse familial dissputess passs with time. Bessidess, I think I can make him care...when I begin ssending your body partss back to him...one by one."

Even I knew when to run, so I
dropped my duffel and tried to sprint around him, but it was no use. There were at least six of them and I got about thirty feet before I was shoved against a shop wall and felt claws biting into my shoulder. Then I felt a pain in my neck and everything went black.

I awoke to find my hands chained above my head. There was a burning pain in my shoulders and I wondered about infection from reptilian claws. The thought was fleeting because I heard a sound from behind me.

"
Ahhh, you are awake." Angorak walked around me and held out his hands as if in welcome. I tried not to roll my eyes. This was a criminal psychopath if I ever saw one.

"
Are you looking for a standing ovation, Angorak? What are you going to do to me?" I tried to keep my voice from wavering. I didn't want him to think Morse's son was a pansy.

"
Sss, sss, sss. Ssuch a mouth you have. I ssupposse it makess up for...other thingss." He looked disdainfully at my small form. "But, ass to your quesstion, firsst, I am going to torture you...with the lassh." He held up a long whip and fingered it lovingly. "I know, it iss a crude and traditional weapon, but I find that I prefer the traditional methodss." He gestured behind him and I saw an array of axes, saws, snippers, and other things I didn't know the names for. At that moment, I was grateful for the lash.

He walked over to me and ran his claws gently down my back. "I find it
bringss a certain...clossenesss...between myself and my...prissoner." With that last word he allowed his claws to penetrate my skin at the base of my spine and I gasped.

Then, without saying anything more, he raised the whip and began flicking it against me. I bit my lip as the whip hit me time and again. But surprisingly, it was a pain I could take.

Then the blows slowly got harder, until I knew he was breaking the skin. Each lash burned, and my skin had already been sensitized by the earlier strokes of the whip. I bit my lips until they bled. I wasn't going to give this reptile the satisfaction of hearing me scream. Plus, I knew if I screamed, I would sound like a girl.

Finally, he paused and walked around so I could see him. "
Sso quiet, youngling."

"I'm not going to give you the satisfaction, Angorak," I grated.

"Sss, sss, sss. You mean because you haven't sscreamed? Don't worry, runt, that iss becausse I haven't been trying to make you sscream—yet."

My brain didn't have time to make sense of that last comment before he picked up the lash and whipped me once.
I wasn't expecting it so I cried out.

"You
ssee, runt," he hissed, "It'ss much worse…"
thwak
"…when you aren't expecting it."

He lashed me a few more times at varying intervals, each lash landing unexpectedly. To my shame, I cried out each time, despite my resolve.
Then he suddenly lashed me on my stomach and I couldn't stop my body from writhing madly, trying to get out of the chains.

He laughed and waited until my writhing had subsided to whip me again.
I knew my shirt was already in tatters from his whipping of my back, and when a lash hit across the tops of my breasts and my shoulders, part of my shirt and the bindings fell down, baring my right breast.

Angorak drew back
when he saw it, hissing angrily. "What is thiss? A female?" His eyelids opened and closed rapidly and I could tell he was thinking about what to do.

Finally, h
e flicked the lash one more time across my stomach with a contemptuous look on his face. I screamed again, although barely any sound came out because my voice was hoarse and my throat was parched.

"
Worthlesss," he hissed in disgust. He came closer to me - too close - and looked me straight in the eye. "If Morsse doessn't come and give me what'ss mine, I will tosss you out the air lock."

Then h
e hung the whip on a hook by the door and left.

Once he was gone, my first thoughts were that I should consider myself lucky he was from a race that didn't find humans attractive. At least if I were worthless, nothing worse than beating and a (hopefully) quick death would happen to me.

But then
my body started to relax and the pain was even more noticeable. Because of the chains, I was forced to remain standing with my arms above my head. Looking down, I saw beads of blood and bloody streaks where he had lashed me across my stomach. After a few moments I felt pain in my wrists and looked up. They were also bleeding, and I realized it must have been due to my writhing from the whip. My shoulders ached and I could feel drops of blood sliding slowly down my back.

I wanted to pass out to escape the pain, but each time I started to slump the pain my wrists would shoot through me and I would be pulled awake again. So I hovered there, halfway between wakefulness and unconsciousness,
the silence making each moment seem like eternity. The captain's face hovered before me and I knew I was hallucinating. I could almost feel the way his arm slung around my shoulders and the comfort of his strength. I should have told him the truth.

I imagined him receiving the news that I was a woman. Maybe he would be convinced that they had the wrong person and wouldn't come.
Or maybe he won't come because you've lied to him for the past year, I thought miserably.

But then a part of my mind that was still lucid thought that he shouldn't come. I didn't want him to sacrifice himself for
Angorak's pleasure, and he was sure to be killed if he came for me. Too many people depended on him. He should just let me die here, which probably wouldn't take too long at the rate it was going.

I must have finally blacked out, because the next thing I knew the door was sliding open and Angorak glided in, grabbing the whip from its post. He was followed by his two reptilian henchmen and, finally, by the captain.

My heart lurched to see him, and though everything in my being was bursting with joy despite my pain, I started screaming, "No,
Captain! Get out of here!" I struggled at my chains despondently and tears started slipping down my face. "Get out of here, dammit."

He ignored me and kept his eyes fixed on Angorak. He watched the reptilian's every move, his whole being still, giving it his complete focus. I stilled, too, despite myself, watching that singleness of purpose. I realized at that moment that the captain was probably just as deadly as Jeremiah, and maybe even deadlier.

Angorak walked over to me with the whip in his hand. I prayed that he wasn't going to whip me again, because I thought I might tip over the edge into insanity.

"I
have your price, Angorak." The captain's words seemed to echo in the silence. I saw that he was holding out a tiny black bag. "Let him go."

"Let
him
go, Captain?" Angorak hissed the laughter that I knew would haunt my nightmares from this day forward. He gestured at my body. "Nice try. Ssurely you don't think that by now, we wouldn't know your ssecret..."

The captain's eyebrows knitted together and then he turned to look at me for the first time. I saw his eyes rove down my body and then back to my chest.
I'd thought I could be in any more pain than I was already in, but I had been wrong. I could see the shock and horror in his eyes, and knew that I had never felt more suffering than at that moment.

His eyes blazed at me
and I cowered there, feeling as weak and worthless as Angorak had said. Then the captain looked back at Angorak and the only obvious outward signs he made were a clenching of his jaw and a narrowing of his eyes.

"Fine
." His green eyes were fixed on Angorak with a murderous rage. "You've found me out. Now take the bag and let her go."

He tossed the bag
and Angorak caught it in his clawed fist. I closed my eyes. Just a few more minutes and we'd be out of there.

Angorak must have truly been crazy, because he said,
"Let me give her a kisss good-bye." My eyes had been closed so I didn't expect the burning pain when the whip landed on my back once more. It ignited all of the other pain I had felt, and it finally drove me crazy because once I started screaming, I couldn't stop. My voice was almost gone but I shrieked and writhed blindly in the chains.

I heard a
high-pitched scream from someone other than myself, and opened my eyes to see a reptilian arm fly past me. Just the arm. The captain had picked up an axe and had already beheaded one of the guards. The other was looking in shock at his ruined shoulder, watching as it spurted out blood from the gaping hole where his arm had been. The captain beheaded him as well, putting him out of his misery, all the while keeping one eye on Angorak, who was moving toward the door.

The captain didn't waste time walk
ing across the room, but hurled the axe, which planted itself squarely in Angorak's chest. The reptilian stumbled and fell backward, his tail swishing in a futile attempt to keep his balance, until he finally fell over. I could see his eyes blinking in shock as he looked down at the axe in his chest.

The captain crouched over one of the guards on the floor and I heard the clanking of keys. He walked over and unlocked my chains. I had never been so
relieved in my entire life, but I didn't have time to express it, because my legs wouldn't hold me and I immediately fell forward.

The captain's
strong arms caught me just in time. He held me briefly by the upper arms, looking at the lacerations on my front and my back, and I knew he was trying to figure out how to carry me without causing me any more agony.

Finally, he leaned down and grabbed me around the waist, hois
ting me over his shoulder.

Just before we left the room, he walked to
Angorak, leaning down with me still over his shoulder and grabbing the black bag out of the reptilian's claws. When he turned back to the door, I saw that the reptilian's eyes were already glazed over in death.

I seem to remember this position
, I thought hazily as I bounced around on his shoulder in torment. His strides were quick and sure as he carried me back to the waiting carrier.

When we arrived, h
e took me off his shoulder and tried to place me in the seat, but I coudn't control my scream as the chair touched my back. I ended up kneeling on my seat with my shoulder and arm to the seatback so that nothing would touch my back or chest.