Page 295 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

Eoin

We couldn’t linger too long in this alley, especially not when I was bleeding, it would draw out the predators, the thugs that roamed this station.

There were far too many species with sensitive noses that would be drawn to the smell of a wounded, weakened target.

In a hole like Yengar, that meant feeding time.

They’d come to steal my credits, discover Tori and Novalee, and think they’d hit the jackpot.

Pushing Tori’s hand with the swath of black fabric away, I shrugged my bleeding shoulder.

“I am fine; I just need to replenish some of my resources. We need to get off the street and hide out for a bit.” I wasn’t going to take her only disguise; she needed to wrap herself—and Novalee—in that so nobody could tell what they were.

The eye roll I received was so sassy and dramatic that I wondered if she’d blinded herself.

Ignoring that, I started pulling the fabric back over her head and wrapping it around Novalee.

The baby didn’t help, tugging on the black cloth as soon as it came within range of her chubby hands, greeting me with a wide, gummy smile, her single sharp little tooth glinting at me.

“Fine, right! I’m sure your definition of fine is entirely different from mine,” Tori scoffed, but she grabbed the cloth from my fingers and, in a few quick motions, had herself and her child completely covered again.

Glaring up at me from beneath the improvised hood, she nodded down the alley.

“Pretty sure there are signs for rooms in that section. We should be able to find a decent place to rest.”

Following the direction of her gaze, I had to conclude that she was right.

Though half the signs were for brothels, the others were all for rooms. Swinging my arm around her shoulders to hold her close, I started in that direction, gritting my teeth against a sharp, stabbing pain that radiated up from my gut.

Good thing she hadn’t seen that wound, I was pretty sure she wouldn’t have stopped until I’d been wrapped up in her disguise, if she had.

Unlike the alley, the street was far more crowded, with females draping themselves in doorways and calling out in sultry tones to anyone who would listen.

Males of all kinds of species ducked into brothels or bars to be entertained.

Up ahead, I could see the flashing signs of a gambling den, a particularly rambunctious crowd of males standing out in front, most of them appeared to be Tarkan, from the looks of the many leathery wings.

“That one looks good,” Tori whispered, her hand reaching out from under her wrap to point at the sign of a room-for-rent place not too far from the gambling den.

We’d have to walk through the crowd of Tarkan to get there, but that was worth the risk.

Tarkan, as a rule, tended to be more respectful of women; their species being matriarchal.

“I agree, let’s go,” I urged her, my legs feeling a little weak in the knees with each step I took.

I had lost far too much blood; I needed to eat and sleep soon.

The quicker we got behind a locked door, the better, that way, I knew we’d be relatively safe.

I probably had just enough juice left to put a trap on the door so that nobody could enter.

As soon as we stepped into the tiny entrance to the hotel—as far as one could call a place like this a hotel—I knew this wasn’t what I wanted.

The Asrai behind the front desk was older, the white of his deathmask faded to gray, and his hair was thin, matted, and dirty.

He grinned at me, leered at Tori, and tapped claw-tipped fingers against the credit reader without saying anything.

I wanted to backtrack and find a cleaner place with a more reputable-looking employee, too late now, though.

I couldn’t take many more steps without giving away to Tori how not fine I actually was.

From the left, through an open portal, came the rowdy noise of a bar, smoke from Roka brew and other illegal substances wafted into the lobby area.

I rushed to get my two ladies past it, pressing my com device, with its inbuilt credit identifier, to the grubby reader.

I was fairly certain those rust-looking stains on the side were actually blood.

“Pay upfront for each night,” the Asrai barked at me in Trader’s Common. “You want the room for another night? You pay in the morning.” Then he held out a palm reader so he could key me to the room. My head was spinning, perspiration dotting my brow, which I hoped the old man couldn’t see.

As soon as my palm was keyed, I started to turn Tori toward the corridor behind the old man, intent on getting to that room.

She didn’t want to move, her hand sliding out from under all the fabric wrapping her and Novalee.

I saw how that Asrai shrewdly narrowed his eyes at the pale, slender palm she held out toward the palmreader.

Then he darted them to me, as if asking permission to grant her access to the room as well.

My gut was telling me not to, but that would be wrong.

Tori was not my prisoner, and in case of danger, she should be able to get out on her own.

At my nod, the Asrai held the palmreader to her fingers, his other hand coming up as if he intended to grab her wrist. I rumbled a low noise at him in warning, and he dropped his fingers, his red-tinted eyes glaring balefully up at me. “Food not included.”

I didn’t care. With Tori no longer stopping me from reaching our room, I stubbornly put one foot in front of the other and started walking.

That corridor felt like it was a mile long, though we only had to pass three doors before we reached the one assigned to us.

Lifting my arm to reach the palm reader, I was too slow, Tori beat me to it.

Then we were inside, the door sliding shut behind me.

My knees buckled so suddenly that it caught me by surprise. Fuck, I was worse off than I thought. When I touched my hand to my belly, it came away soaked in blood. I heard Tori’s shocked gasp, as if it came from very far away, and then everything turned black.

*

Tori

When Eoin collapsed the moment we stepped into that room, I was ashamed to say that I spent at least thirty seconds staring and hyperventilating. Then I got myself together, carefully put Novalee down on the thankfully clean sheets, and rushed to assess what medical supplies were available.

The first aid kit tucked under the sink was extremely limited, but there was one functional self-adhering bandage that I slapped over the still-bleeding wound on his belly.

The one that I’d seen on his shoulder earlier had closed just enough that I thought it would be okay to go without.

What he needed right now, anyway, was some good-quality metal—preferably several types—so he had the building blocks needed to heal himself.

I couldn’t possibly get him onto the bed by myself. Eoin was the heaviest person there was, though he was far skinnier and lighter than normal. Once he was loaded up on metals again, he’d weigh a ton, but even at his frightfully lightest right now, he was still too much for me to move.

I resorted to pulling him by the arms to the side of the bed.

It was barely wide enough for two people, and in the tiny room, that meant it was tucked up against the walls with only a narrow path free to the small bathroom.

Novalee could safely stay on the bed; if she rolled off it, she’d land on Eoin—and even passed out as he was now, I was certain that he’d wake up if she started crying.

His instincts wouldn’t let him do anything else.

Speaking of which, my baby girl had been an angel the entire time, but she was starting to fuss now.

I had no supplies for her, so if it was her diaper, she was out of luck until I could source some.

Thankfully, she was just hungry, and when I settled her down against my breast, she greedily ate until her eyes drooped and she fell asleep.

A burp—under protest—later, and I had her snuggled down on the bed, the pillows forming a barrier at the foot so she definitely couldn’t roll out.

Eoin was still out like a light, but his breathing was alright. His silver skin lacked the usual blue, green, gold, and copper streaks that decorated him. I needed to fix that if I wanted him back on his feet by morning. But how?

Old me—the one who’d lived in the shadow of five older brothers all her life—would have wanted to turn to someone for help, to let them wrap me up in their love and care, taking away my problems without any input of my own.

There was no one here but me to fix this, and for a moment, I let that awful realization wash over me.

I was all there was. Eoin was relying on me to help him, and Novalee had to rely on me for everything.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, watching the two people I cared about more than anything in the entire universe, I let that thought settle in my mind.

They needed me. This was my moment to prove to Eoin—and to myself—that I could do it, that he didn’t need to coddle me, because I could do what needed to be done when we were in a pinch.

But how could I get him the metals he needed?

Steal them from somewhere? I had no credits to my name, nothing to pay for them…

Novalee needed diapers, clothing, a blanket, and many more things.

She needed far too much to survive and thrive.

The first step was reconnaissance, I decided.

I couldn’t do anything if I didn’t even know where to get it.

What would Sunder do? How would he get the funds to get us the supplies we needed?

Gamble? An illegal fighting match? I couldn’t do either of those things, I had no poker face, and fighting was obviously out.

If Eoin were in good shape, he’d do one of those magical tricks where he made precious stones or metals out of thin air.