Blayn

BLAYN

“ Y ou must help this gladiator!” I yell loudly at the guards while Rych writhes on the floor clutching his abdomen, blood covering his hands. “He’s badly injured. He needs a medic.”

A pair of eyes appears at the slit in the door to our cell, where we’ve been locked for the past nova-day due to our transgressions. They widen when they see the state of Rych.

“Gakking Gryn have been fighting again!” I hear a voice call out. “One of them has been hurt bad.”

I hear the locks chime as they’re disengaged and stare coldly down at Rych. “You can overdo these things.”

He opens one clenched eye. “You wanted them to believe you.” He gives a half shrug from his position on the ground. “Although you don’t take much believing. I’ve been got by you on multiple occasions. So has Maxym.”

“If you weren’t so slow…”

A pain spears through my head, cutting off my words and causing me to fall to my knees as the door to the cell opens. Rych goes for the guard, calling out my name, and it’s all I can do to stumble after him, my wings knocking me off balance as I shake my head, attempting to rid myself of the pain.

We make it through and out into the training arena where there are the rest of the indentured gladiators. The pain spike drops to a low throb, and I stand straight again.

They are a motley collection of Xnosson and Haalux. All of them will have some reason to have forsaken their homelands and come to this place, given the stigma which will follow them should they ever decide to return home.

No one comes to a dome with an intention of going back to their former life. I have to hope these creatures have some honor left within them, gladiators or no.

“Gryn.” A large Xnosson bull bares his teeth and stamps a hoof. “You here to train?”

“No, we’re escaping,” I say as Rych grabs the shoulder of my wing.

“What my colleague means is we’re getting out of the dome for an hour or two. Presumably that’s straightforward?”

A Haalux warrior, his bright blue markings flashing in the light, inspects a training sword.

“It’s not too hard…for us.” He’s sporting a fresh wound on his upper left bicep, and I inwardly cringe when I remember giving it to him. “But for you…” He shrugs. “Maybe.”

“We’re in need of wine and females,” Rych says, throwing an arm around my shoulders as I growl. “It’ll make my friend here all the sweeter.”

I growl louder.

“I don’t want a female. I want my female.”

Rych glares at me.

“What did he say?” The Xnosson bull moves closer. “About a female?”

Rych’s arm tightens around my neck. “Nothing at all.” He releases me, shoving me to one side and unsheathes his claws, moving into a fighting stance, slowly, deliberately but without looking like he wants a fight. “We’re looking for a good time, an escape,” he says evenly.

I might have let go of everything when I was in the dome, but Rych is calculating, swift, and deadly. I’ve always known what lies behind his eyes and sparkling jewels. He’s a killer, like me, and he howls in the dark like me too, even if he pretends he does not.

I would not trust Rych, not in the way the rest of these gladiators are in this moment. In fact, I’m already planning how best to get away from him.

“Does he have a mate?” the Haalux asks.

“No,” Rych says.

“Yes,” I say at the same time.

“Which is it?” the Haalux demands.

“I have a mate. The procurator from the dome in Tatatunga sent me here, and I want to get back to her,” I say as Rych covers his face with his hand. “I need a way out.”

The Haalux and the Xnosson look at each other.

“Is she your fated one?” the Xnosson asks.

I feel the spike of pain again, like something wants to pull me into the air using my brain.

“She is my eregri ,” I force out. “I nested for her. She is mine.”

The Haalux balances the sword on the tip of his finger. The Xnosson lowers his formidable horns. Beside me, Rych’s feathers ripple.

I stand firm. I do not wish to fight the other gladiators. All I want is my Izzy.

The Haalux cracks out a laugh like a whip. “We’ve all been there, haven’t we, Pilot?” he says to the Xnosson.

“Love and mates, eh?” he replies with a grin. “They’ll drag a male further than any pulsar cannon will fire him.”

“It’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” The Haalux slams his large shoulder into the Xnosson. “To forget.”

Neither of them look like they have forgotten anything.

“I’m Sye. This is Pilot,” the Haalux says. “The rest of this lot don’t have names, do you?” he calls out at the other gladiators.

There’s a chorus of laughter.

“So, you need to find your mate?” Pilot asks. “And you need to leave the dome?” He narrows his eyes.

“We’re not trusted here. Indentured or not, both procurators know we are here against our will,” Rych says. “We don’t get a pass.”

Sye chuckles. “Neither do we. It’s more of a providing the right amount of credits to a guard situation.”

I look at Rych, and he smiles a very wicked smile. “The guards are open to bribes here?”

“Yours are not?” Pilot says incredulously.

“They get thrown to the ziggurag if they’re caught, so no,” I reply.

Both gladiators burst out laughing. “Looks like we picked the right dome, brother.” Pilot claps Sye on his back.

“And which guards do we need to bribe?” Rych asks.

“Come with us. We’ll arrange everything,” Sye says, beckoning to us as he walks across the dusty arena.

A few guards hover in the shadows, but they’re not attempting to put us back in the cell. Possibly more trouble than we’re worth.

I hope so, because I’m getting out of here today and making my way back to my mate, no matter what.