Amy

AMY

I braced myself on Razov's shoulder, burying my face in his flesh because I couldn't bear to see the final cut. I held my breath and counted my heartbeats. I was up to seven when Razov's body relaxed and he let out a long sigh.

"There we go. All finished."

"It's done?" I looked up to find the countdown clock had gone dark.

"Yeah, mostly," Razov said, taking the bomb apart further. "Let me just absolutely ruin this detonator unit, grab the explosives and we'll be on our way."

He tore something out of the bomb, a mass of wires and metal splints. Razov tossed it down the maintenance tunnel and then turned to me.

"Are you ready to get out of here?"

"In the worst way," I replied.

"Then let's go."

He took my hand, and a smile formed on my face without me even thinking about it. A warmth blossomed in my chest, and I thought that maybe there was more going on between us than just two people thrust together by circumstance.

I'm not a big believer in fate, or destiny, or any of that crap. But it did kind of feel like providence that I ended up with my Vinduthi warlord.

We slowly made our way down a maintenance tunnel, slowed down by my shaky legs and Razov's injuries, beaten and bruised, but my heart felt light as a feather.

Half an hour, an hour. We were almost out of this maze, almost free.

That is, until we came around a bend in the tunnel and found ourselves faced with Kalak and a dozen armed Nazoks.

"I just knew that when my bomb didn't go off, it would be because of you, " Kalak spat at us. "I can see that my penchant for the theatrical has delayed my plans. Only temporarily, I assure you."

"Amelia, run," Razov said, stepping in front of me and using his body as a living shield.

"I can't leave you."

The sound of footsteps behind us made a glance behind us. Sure enough, seven more Nazoks made their way toward us.

"Nowhere left to run, I'm afraid," Kalak snapped. "You've only delayed my plans. You can take that knowledge to your graves."

"It's over, Kalak," I said, stepping out from behind Razov, my towering Vinduthi protector. "Your bomb is ruined, your plans are ruined. The only thing you can do right now is try to minimize the damage and get yourself out of here before something happens to you."

Kalak laughed, the sound echoing off the tunnel walls.

"Oh my dear, you are definitely not in a position to make such proclamations."

My stomach clenched, but then I felt a familiar movement on my shoulder.

"Hey little guy," I whispered. "This isn't a safe place right now. Wherever you disappear to, you should go back."

"What in the world is that disgusting bug doing on your shoulder?" Kalak asked, aghast.

As if the caterpillar understood him, it got up on its hindmost appendages and moved its mouthparts and I heard a thin, barely audible keening noise. Kalak grimaced and held a hand up to his ear.

"What's it doing? You know what? I don't care. Shoot them?—"

I tried to piece together what happened next afterward. Everything seemed to happen so fast, and at the same time, it was like I was moving underwater. The world had a surreal quality almost like a dream in those moments.

One moment, the hallway between us and Kalak and his henchmen was clear. The next, three eight foot tall, quadrupedal insectoids stood facing our enemies.

"Zeqnids," Razov hissed. He did not sound happy, and why should he? From what I'd pieced together, the Zeqs were bristling for trouble with the Vinduthi after the weapons shipment went missing.

Only, they didn't seem to be there for us instead charging into the midst of the Nazoks. The Zoks fired their guns, but it was of little avail, all their energy beams and projectiles just pissing the big aliens off.

A Zeq put its foot through the body of a Nazok, while another used mandibles the size of my forearms to slice the head off of another. Kalak screamed as a giant warrior bore down on him. His scream got cut unexpectedly short when the Zeqnid put a foreleg through his heart.

I heard a hubbub behind us, and found that two more Zeqs were taking care of our Nazok problem from the rear.

"What's going on?" Razov asked, his gaze darting about as if he could hope to keep all of the newcomers in his view at the same time.

"They saved us from the Zoks," I replied.

"Yes, but who is going to save us from the Zeqnids?"

The caterpillar on my shoulder made the keening sound again and soon we found ourselves surrounded by the towering aliens. Razov drew himself into a fighting stance.

"I will hack through blood and steel to protect my Amelia," he hissed. "Back away."

His Amelia? I liked the sound of that on levels I dared not contemplate. However, I didn't think we needed to fight.

The caterpillar inched its way down my arm. On impulse, I lifted my hand in the air, and the critter made it all the way out to my middle finger. If I didn't know better, I would say it was communicating with the Zeq.

The biggest Zeq abruptly turned to Razov. Its mandibles moved, but the mechanical translator unit on its chest did the actual talking.

"Things are not settled between our peoples, Fanged One. But today, we will spare you, as your mate has rescued our princess from torture."

"Princess?" Razov sputtered, staring at the caterpillar. "I thought it was just a bug."

"I had my suspicions it was sentient," I said. "In fact?—"

The Zeqs were gone, just like that. The two of us stood alone in the hallway, Razov and I.

"Where did they go?" I asked. "Did you know they could do that?"

"No, I had no idea." Razov stroked his chin thoughtfully, looking at the space on the floor where the insectoids had just been. "I've never seen them pull that stunt before. I think maybe it was your bug friend…er, the princess. It explains why it…she…always vanished when there was trouble."

"I want to know why she didn't summon her big bad cousins until now," I grumbled.

"Maybe she wasn't able to," Razov offered. "You said the bug was in pretty bad shape when you found it. Perhaps the Zeq princess needed time to recover before she could summon her kin?"

"Maybe. Or maybe she's some kind of puppet master pulling all of our strings." I shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I'm just glad that for once, my good deed went unpunished."

"What?" he frowned.

"It's a human expression, big man. Come on, let's get back to somewhere more civilized."

"I don't know if you can call the Fallen Star civilized, exactly, but that is our destination."

I chuckled, though I don't think he was making a joke. Razov was a real study in contrasts, I realized.

When we set foot back on the Promenade, we gathered nothing but stares. It wasn't hard to guess why. The two of us were covered in dirt, dried blood, and bruises. My dress was in tatters, barely decent.

Not that anyone said a thing to us, though. The Vinduthi reputation draws a lot of water on Thodos III.

The Fallen Star didn't look so foreboding from the outside, which was understandable, considering it was a night club meant to entice patrons inside. A Mondian bouncer stood outside, arms crossed over his barrel chest.

When he saw Razov, the bouncer stepped to the side and gestured grandly for us to enter.

"Welcome back, Master Razov. I see your mission was a success."

"Not the way you think. This isn't Mera."

The bouncer took another look at me. "Well, she's lovely in any event. A good find."

What did that even mean?

Razov led me inside the club's dimly lit interior. I saw a human dancer stripping off her bottoms as we entered the club floor. She gave me the briefest of sour looks before plastering on her fake smile for the clientele.

She no doubt thought I was there as a new dancer.

And really, she might not be wrong. I actually had no idea what my fate would be. My legal status was murky at best.

Like Razov said, I wasn't Mera.

I began to fret and worry as Razov led me through the crowded club toward a stairwell in the rear of the lounge. What was going to happen to me? And more importantly, what would happen between me and Razov now that circumstance no longer forced us to be together?

I thought there was something between us. Something strong, stronger than anything I had ever experienced before.

What if it was a one way street?

When Razov made love to me, I had no doubts where his heart lay.

But now, surrounded by the evidence he could literally have almost any lovely woman he wanted, I felt self-conscious.

We went down the stairs. The lower level had a simple floor plan. There was a door to our left, and another fifteen feet down the hall. We went through the one on the left.

The door slid open to reveal a Vinduthi with purple tracery locked in a passionate kiss with a human woman who shockingly also had purple tracery down her bare arm. My mouth fell open, because they were going at it like it was an adult triVid, even though both were fully clothed…for now.

"Ahem," Razov said, clearing his throat.

The purple tracery-bearing Vinduthi spun his chair around to face us. The woman remained in his lap, offering me a reassuring smile, and didn't seem the least bit embarrassed by our having walked in on them.

"Ah, Razov. I see you were successful?—"

"That's not Mera, Alkard," the woman said.

"Oh." Alkard closed his mouth, and turned to Razov. "Who is your…friend, Razov?"

Razov gestured at me.

"This is Amelia," he growled. "And she is mi…she is a friend of Mera's. They were imprisoned together. Alkard, I have much to report."

"Very well."

Alkard looked at me and something inside me died a little as his lips twisted in distaste.

"A lovely being such as you should not be in such a bedraggled state. You can go up to the bar and find the Mondian there. He will see to it you have a place to clean up. The girls can loan you some clothing, such as it is."

"Thank you," I said. "I'll go talk to him now."

I didn't want to leave Razov.

But maybe this is how it ended between us.

With nothing at all.