Chapter 9
SARAH
The blaring alarm jerked me from an exhausted sleep. My eyes snapped open as panic seized my heart. The guards' mandibles rapidly clacked in response to the urgent summons, a cacophony of clicking and grinding echoing through the cavern. Their communication devices were embedded within their jagged slits, the metallic pieces seamlessly integrated into the hard carapace of their faces.
The males halted their relentless hammering on the ore, forming a shielded cluster, their movements synchronized in a defensive stance as we waited for the swarm of guards that never came.
The last time the alarms blared, a horde of guards rushed in and closed off the main entrance into the cavern. Had the Valosian Queen Uri singled out on our first day escaped again? I sure hoped he got away this time.
Still barricaded behind our electrified bars, the other women stirred around me, their haggard faces pinched with worry as we huddled closer together for comfort as the harsh siren continued to blare. The shrill sound reverberated off the stone walls, we winced and pressed our hands against our ears in a futile attempt to block it out.
Four Gorken guards suddenly went silent. Their bulbous eyes glazed over as one by one, they reached up to claw at their throats. Dark, viscous fluid seeped between their scaly fingers. Within moments, they crumpled to the floor in a hideous chorus of gurgles and gasps.
I blinked at the gruesome scene, unable to process what I was seeing. The guards were all dead. Butchered without a sound or any visible trace of an attacker.
"What just happened?" Leah gasped next to me.
"I don't know." I shook my head, panic and hope warred within me.
The electrified bars between us and freedom flickered, then suddenly vanished. Instead of running out of our holding cell, we scrambled backward, pressing ourselves against the solid stone wall in a frenzy of confusion and fear as we tried to make sense of what was happening.
Three figures solidified before us. A blue female with the same strange tubular hair as Zorin, a massive horned male with golden skin heavily marked on his arms and chest with wicked black designs like tribal tattoos, and—Gunnox!
"You came back," I muttered. Joy and relief flooded my senses, threatening to overwhelm me. I took a staggering step forward, then broke into a run with tears burning my eyes as I flung myself into the stranger's arms.
Gunnox caught me effortlessly, his embrace strong and sure. I buried my face in the crook of his throat, breathing in his musky scent.
"We need to hurry!" Gunnox announced over the shrill alarm, not just to me but to everyone in the cavern. "The alarm has sounded too early. Tyrk, any word from Vennox?"
"Not yet?" yelled back the male with thick black horns.
I reluctantly eased away from the huge silver male, my trembling hands betraying the depth of my emotions. "Thank you," I managed to whisper, overflowing with appreciation, then remembered the wounds on his back. "Oh! Your back. I hope I didn't hurt you."
"You didn't. I'm almost healed."
"How?" I moved to look at his back only to see thin, dark lines where the whip had struck him. "How is that possible?"
"All thanks to you." Gunnox's gaze met mine, his soft smile sending a wave of warmth through me that weakened my knees.
"Me? What did I do?" My hand fluttered to the incessant tug behind my sternum made greater with Gunnox's presence.
He captured my hand in his and placed it between his rounded pectorals. "You breathed life into my ancillary heart. It pumps the adrenalyne that now flows through my veins causing me to heal faster than normal."
"I don't understand." I shook my head in astonishment, not just because his words baffled me, but also due to the surge of heat that ignited my blood from his innocent touch.
"You will, but now is not the time," Gunnox said, hastily. "We're not out of danger, and we must hurry. The window of opportunity for escape is fleeting."
"There will be more guards coming," I warned him. "Last time the alarms sounded, the Valosian who was taken by the queen escaped."
"Vennox," Gunnox nodded, "but he's done more than escaped. Those alarms mean he's killed the queen." His pointed ears cupped and perked. "I don't hear any guards approaching, but that doesn't mean they aren't on the way. Gather the females."
I pivoted toward the group of women huddled inside the holding cell and urgently beckoned them forward with a wavy of my hand and a determined nod. As I turned back, several Valosians had circled Gunnox, offering their forearms in quick clasping exchanges.
"That must be Zorin's wife." Bridget sidled up to me with a curious gaze at the embracing couple.
Zorin held the blue female close to him, her trembling form seeking solace in his comforting embrace. Tears streamed down her face, leaving glistening trails on her royal blue skin as she clung to him with fierce desperation.
"What's with you and the new guy?" Leah eyed me with a lopsided grin.
"I don't know." I pressed my fingertips to my sternum, worried over the tightening knot that felt as if someone was clamoring to be set free. "Something…"
"That was Vennox," the horned male called out over the blaring alarms and pointed to a boxy device he held high in the air. "The palace is being swarmed with Gorken, but he's made it inside the conveyor tunnel and is on the way. Anyone able to fight, take the weapons off the guards. Blasters out but let's try and get out of here without alerting every Gorken on the planet that we're here."
Our three rescuers brandished what looked like laser guns from a science fiction movie as the Valosians and Zorin stripped the guards of their whips and daggers they wore strapped to their spindly thighs. The rest of us who were weaponless were rounded up and kept in the center of the group while the horned male led the way out of the cavern we'd been slaving in for an eternity.
I glanced back to find Gunnox poised at the entrance of the conveyor tunnel, scrutinizing the length of the passage. "Come on, Vennox," he uttered.
I pushed my way out of the crowd and ran back to his side. "I'm not leaving here without you."
Gunnox cupped my face in both hands and peered down into my eyes with such reverence, my heart skipped a beat. "Vennox is on the way. I will not leave a warrior behind, but you must go with the others to the ship. I'll be right behind you."
I shook my head as Gunnox's elfin ears swiveled back toward the mouth of the conveyor tunnel as the male the queen had chosen raced out. "The guards are flooding the pupa chamber. We don't have much time."
"Let's go." Gunnox grabbed my hand and the three of us ran to catch up with the others. I stumbled unable to keep pace with the length of his strides.
Gunnox didn't miss a step as he swung me into his arms and cradled me against his chest. I slung my arms around his neck and hung on tight and within a few strides, we were moving in behind Lucy and Bridget.
We stuck close to the girls as we left our subterranean prison for the first time in what felt like forever.We were finally free!
"Thank you." I laid my head on the breadth of his shoulder.
"My pleasure." Gunnox squeezed me a little tighter and something I could only describe as a fevered zing swirled and knotted behind my sternum. I rubbed at the persistent press, tears springing to my eyes, consumed with a mix of emotions as I finally tasted freedom.
Excitement bubbled up within me, but there was something else stirring deep inside. My reunion with Gunnox was exhilarating, yet there was an inexplicable sensation that didn't belong to me. When our eyes met, his swirling silver gaze seemed to reverberate within my soul, connecting us in a way that went beyond words.
With stealth and speed, we raced through the tunnels, following the huge horned male. The air grew hotter as we ascended from the depths of the mine. My eyes had long since adjusted to the gloom, but after so long in captivity, the lack of light felt suffocating. The crowd quickened their pace, desperate to break free of this place and see the suns again, even on this desolate world.
After what seemed like an eternity, we emerged from the mine onto the rust-colored landscape stretching endlessly before us. I tucked my face into the crook of Gunnox's throat, cringing away from the blistering sunlight even as my skin rejoiced in the harsh kiss of heat.
"What the fuck?" Leah cursed.
I raised my head to see that the horned male was gone, and watched as Zorin and his wife vanish into thin air. I lifted a hand to shade my eyes and squinted as the Valosians ahead of us vanished one by one.
"Where did they go?" Hannah gasped.
"What's going on? I don't like this," Lucy wailed, her eyes wide with shock and confusion.
"The ship is cloaked," Gunnox said loudly for all to hear. "Don't stop. Keep going."
We ran through a wavy distortion. I cried out as a sleek spacecraft suddenly appeared before us. A ramp was descended and at the top, another one of those golden skinned, horned males.
Tears of joy and relief spilled down my cheeks as we raced up the ramp with the others. We were going home at last. The nightmare was finally over.