Page 15 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Yashan

I was certain now that the Beast was more than he seemed.

He had waited for us at the exit to this space, and when we approached, quietly swung open the door.

His eyes searched the ceiling of the cell-lined corridor ahead of us—just like me—searching for cameras.

No, this guy was smart; he’d been tricking our captors.

The first two cells we passed were filled with some of my gladiator brothers, many of whom I’d trained beside.

I pulled Jasmin to a halt by her small hand and appraised the nearest lock to see if I could get it open.

It wouldn’t be right to leave them behind.

The Beast had paused midway down the corridor, looking back at Jasmin and me, its tail flicking.

His ears swiveled back to point at our only exit.

In the cell were Sunder and one of the newer additions, a young male who hadn’t spoken a single word.

The talk in the stables was that he wouldn’t last long out on the sands, this kid had none of the instincts to make it as a gladiator.

I met Sunder’s eyes; the Tarkan male was always in his battle-form, his skin hard as rock, but his eyes were glittering dark pools full of expression.

“Go, rescue the female,” he said, gesturing toward Jasmin, who was staring, worried, at the inhabitants of the cells around us.

“But the kid, Jas and I should take him,” I said.

“I can’t just leave all of you behind!” That felt tantamount to failing my tribe again.

We might have to occasionally fight each other out on the sands, but we were all in this together.

Most of these males felt like me. Whether we knew each other or not, our shared fate made us brothers.

The others in the cells had come to the front to look at what was going on, but they flinched back when Beast approached like a silent shadow.

He didn’t say anything, just growled and rumbled deep in his chest, the spikes all over his spine and tail flaring up in agitation.

I backed away in a hurry, and so did Jasmin.

Beast set his horns into the hinge on the door, heaved with his massive head, and broke the entire thing off.

It made a loud groaning sound as the metal came under stress.

We all froze—except Beast, who yanked apart the top half of the door, working to make the space big enough for the youth to crawl through.

He didn’t seem to want to come with us. The teen male was all gangly blue limbs with shimmering silver lines and dots, and huge luminescent eyes dominated a delicate face.

I thought the only reason he’d been sent to gladiator training was his height and wide shoulders.

Whatever he was, they clearly thought he’d grow into that body.

Sunder bodily picked up the youth and pushed him through, even though Beast was still working on the opening.

I could hear terrified panting coming from his slender chest. Then a scream cut through the tense atmosphere.

I spun and immediately realized that Jasmin had gotten too close to the one cell she should have avoided.

Geramor, the flesh-eating Hoxiam, had sole occupancy of the place, and he’d gotten a clawed hand around her neck and pulled her against his body, pressing into her from the other side of the bars. “Get that monster to let me out. Now!”

Shit, how was I going to resolve this? It needed to be quick, at any moment, guards could notice the commotion down here or decide it was time to do a round of checkups.

The Beast had frozen where he was, green eyes flashing in the direction of the Hoxiam, the trembling youth draped over one shoulder.

Jasmin had gone perfectly still, her body hanging precariously in that grip, her eyes fixed on my face.

That look never wavered as I raised my upper hands in a placating gesture.

“We are freeing all of you, you could have waited your damn turn.” I didn’t point out that I felt like he was the monster here, not Beast. This Beast had acted to free us instead of bolting himself, and he’d acted to free the young one.

He might not speak… but I had a feeling he didn’t enjoy eating sentient species the way Geramor did.

I drifted a little closer to Geramor’s cell, aware that I had to make my movements small and slow so he wouldn’t notice.

To make sure his attention was focused on what I wanted him to see, I moved my hands as I spoke.

It worked, drawing his eyes. “You need to step back so he can get at the hinges.” I swung one hand to the side to point the hinge out to him, struggling to hide a grin when his eyes flicked up.

I leaped, my lower arms snapping out to yank Jasmin to freedom, while one upper arm landed a crushing blow to the wrist around her neck.

My right upper hand struck the male in the nose with the heel of my open palm, slamming his head back with a crunch.

He wailed—loud, furious—and every hair on my head stood on end.

There was just no way the guards hadn’t heard that. We were screwed.

Sunder hadn’t managed to get out of his cell yet; the hole was not big enough to accommodate his wings.

At the sound Geramor made, he pointed with his hand.

“Go, get them out.” His eyes held resignation; he was in an only marginally better position than I was.

He pressed a fist to his sternum in a gladiator salute, and I briefly returned the favor.

I picked Jasmin’s slight body up in my lower arms and cradled her to my chest. Then I jogged after Beast, who had already gone up the steps to the exit.

We met half a dozen guards in the room beyond, but they’d only just started to mobilize, and Beast and I barreled through them with our charges sheltering in our arms. At the last obstacle—a huge Kertinal—the green-scaled male dipped his head low and skewered the guy with his horns.

He shook the male off with one practiced head toss, and then we were crashing out the door to the sound of furious shouting behind us.

There was no time to pick a direction other than simply forward.

I pinned my eyes to the swaying tail of the Beast running in front of me.

The two of us pounded through the mud, the monsoon rains still crashing from the sky above.

“Could you fly in this?” I demanded of Jasmin, her face pale as she clutched her arms around my neck and gazed over my shoulder at the entourage of shouting guards chasing behind us.