Page 357 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

They became some kind of brawling, wildly moving mass as the two engaged in combat.

I backed away, as did some of the other patrons, but most—especially those whose food or drink had been spilled in the chaos or those already there still trying to get their hands on my money—dove into the fight.

This was a horribly dangerous spot to be in as a small human girl.

Now more than ever, I was aware of just how fragile and tiny I was compared to many of these aliens.

Ducking out of the way, heart pumping, adrenaline roaring, I didn’t feel fear or stress; I felt elated.

I felt alive. I knew that was crazy, but I’d been an adrenaline junkie long before I’d gotten abducted; I wasn’t going to deny that.

I was steadily managing to dodge and weave my way to the exit.

I felt a little bad for abandoning Akri back there, but there was nothing I could do to help him.

The door opened, and I caught a glimpse of the outside world.

The streets of Akrod, smelly and ugly as they were in this district, called to me like a siren’s song.

I realized the newcomer who had opened the door was none other than Bacli, the Health Inspector whom Drova regularly bribed to stay in business.

Horror washed through me when he was followed in by a set of surveillance drones.

They were there to watch his every move, mostly as a precaution when he walked these dangerous streets.

Normally, the inspector turned them off as soon as he entered the bar…

today, that was impossible; he was immediately sucked into the fight.

Grabbing an empty plate from a nearby table, I raised it over my face as the nearest drone panned over me. The last thing I needed was to be caught on tape while I tried to escape, with my pain collar exposed around my neck.

Something yanked hard on my ponytail, and I stumbled back, a pained scream escaping, more from the shock than anything else.

I reached up to grab my hair back, twisting in the grip of whoever had me.

It was the bodyguard from by the door, he’d abandoned his post when the brawling started, but he hadn’t forgotten about me.

A big Rummicaron, his face that of a shark, down to the maw filled with razor-sharp teeth—held onto my hair, dragging me back into the brawling mass. I fought to free myself, then frantically started searching for a knife. If I couldn’t get my hair out of that grip, I’d cut it, damn it!

In the chaos, I couldn’t see Drova anywhere, but Akri was a beacon my eyes were instantly drawn to.

He was poetry in motion, reminding me of the main character from one of my all-time favorite movies.

He was even wearing a long black coat. All he had to do was bend over backward impossibly far and dodge a barrage of bullets to complete the image.

His eyes met mine, cutting through that crowd, through the chaos, as if it were just the two of us in this room.

Then he made an agile jump, sliding over a table, and nimbly snatched the laser pistol right out of the bar inspector’s belt.

Flashes went off as the laser pistol fired, but in the roar of the fight, I couldn’t hear the whine of the laser.

The guard holding me dropped like a stone, his death grip on my hair forcing me to go down with him.

Down in the sawdust, all I saw were legs and downed bodies.

I was at serious risk of getting trampled, so I freed my hair and dove beneath the nearest table for safety.

I couldn’t see what was happening from here, but I could see the open door to freedom.

With no money, my chances of avoiding detection out there were lower, but I had good survival skills. I was going to try.

Now that I knew Akri was one hell of a fighter, I didn’t feel so bad about trying to escape without him. I’d forever be grateful that he’d shot that Sythral’s bodyguard and freed me. That had definitely been on purpose.

Judging the crowd, I timed my leap well, rushing up from beneath the table and toward the exit.

I wasn’t the only one, at this point, trying to get outside, and some of the fighting had even spilled into the street.

I dodged between two big bodies, my fingers curling around the doorpost for leverage, and then I took my first step outside.

One of the health inspector’s camera drones buzzed straight into my face, and I stumbled.

An arm curled around my middle, yanking me back up.

“Got you, sweetheart,” a cultured voice said in my ear in English.

“Let’s blow this joint.” Akri sounded almost like an entirely different person, but I gladly let him help me.

He turned sideways as we passed through the door, the laser pistol in his hand whining as it fired.

I saw the shot hit Laimeil in the center of his chest, and the evil loanshark started to fall. His hand rose, a gun of his own firing in our direction. Somebody moved in front of us, stumbling, and the shot hit that male in the back, downing him and sweeping him beneath the feet of the brawlers.

Akri didn’t check his results; he just tightened his grip around my waist, one of his long tentacles slung around my shoulders.

He was boosting me down the steps, urging me to greater speed as we left the bar.

He didn’t need to tell me to run. He might not be concerned, but I was pretty sure that the Bacli—the inspector—had just met his maker.

I was pretty sure I knew who was getting the blame for it; his drones were following us.

We had to shake them as soon as possible.

I was panting from exertion, running full tilt. Akri was right beside me. He was no longer holding me tight, but keeping up with an easy, long-legged stride. One tentacle curled around my arm, but he wasn’t pulling me in any direction. It was more like I was the one who was leading him now.

I was filled with this sense of camaraderie, like he and I were partners in crime in this.

Maybe we were. He had not hesitated to come to my defense.

I was still in awe of his fighting skills.

No wonder he had seemed so unconcerned, stepping into a seedy place like Drova’s.

He probably didn’t worry about much; he fought like he was invincible.

Drova had occasionally let me go outside, running errands for him.

I had a basic sense of the layout of this district, and I’d made sure to study the maps available to me.

There were “tourist” maps I could pull up of the city on my order tablet.

That didn’t mean I knew where I should be going right now.

I’d decided long ago that I should try for the port if I ever got out, but, right now, I was just focused on getting as far away from the bar as possible.

We came careening around a corner, and ahead of us I saw a skyscraper rising up to the clouds. On it were giant billboards that normally showed many different colorful commercials and ads. This time… I stumbled to a halt in shock, gaping up at the sight of Akri and myself plastered all over.

The picture showed him holding me as he aimed that pistol.

He looked fierce and dangerous, and I looked scared; I looked like a freaking damsel in distress.

Worse than that, the pain collar was clearly visible around my neck.

It looked like Akri was caught in the act of killing someone and stealing me at the same time. This was bad.

“I calculate that this might be detrimental to our survival,” Akri said calmly. Yeah, you think? Everyone and their mother was going to be looking for us. Our odds couldn’t be worse.