Page 39 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

There was a moment of stunned silence among the three of us, a moment which Frek gave us to let the news sink in.

“I think a human can last four minutes without oxygen before permanent damage sets in. Your time starts now. I’m waiting!

” He spoke with such malicious cheer that it almost sounded like he wanted to kill the pregnant female.

No! We couldn’t let Tori die, but to have all our lives locked back into slavery? To have Pu’il die for nothing? That was intolerable, too. I had only to glance at the collar around Abigail’s throat to know how much I abhorred the thought of her in slavery.

Abigail squirmed in my arms. “Put me down! We need to hurry to the cellblock. I know the access code!” I spun, disobeying her order, and started running.

Sunder had already rushed out of the hangar bay ahead of us the moment Frek spoke his hateful words.

“We’re faster like this,” I said and leaned into the sprint, claws digging at the floor with each leap.

I followed Sunder’s scent, knowing he was headed the same way, and soon recognized the hallway leading to our previous prison.

Sunder was at the door panel, claws dug into the frame, trying hard to somehow yank the bulkhead open.

It was no use—I’d tried that very thing on the other side of the door when I’d made a break for it, when they first brought us here.

My horns had made two nice little dents in the panel on the other side, but the door hadn’t budged.

Skidding to a stop, I let Abigail down, and she dove for the access panel, her slender fingers typing in the ten-digit code as if she were a native of the Krektar numeric system.

Sunder and I both held our breath in anticipation.

The moment the door slid open, the air was sucked into the oxygen-deprived room in a rush.

When the crack was big enough, the stone-skinned male hurried through.

Tori had been locked in the first cell on the right, and she had slumped against the front bars.

Since Frek had vented her oxygen from the room, about a minute had passed, and she was sluggish and weak.

Fearing that Frek would attempt to lock us in again, I stayed in the open door panel and watched as Sunder strained to break the bars on her cell.

A few cells down, the bond-broken Ferai beast let out a plaintive howl as if it felt sympathetic to the poor female’s plight. Then, it started pacing, having managed the no-air situation far better than the small, pregnant human.

As soon as Sunder bent two bars apart far enough to reach for the female, he pulled her to safety, and then we all retreated. “Shit, that was close!” Abigail said while she crouched on the dirty floor beside the female and checked her pulse and breathing. “Tori, are you okay? Can you hear me?”

The small female nodded weakly, and I could see her pulse flutter in her throat.

Sunder rumbled at her, “I’m going to pick you up, female, and bring you to the doctor.

Just to make sure.” Tori didn’t say a thing, just pressed her mouth into a thin line and allowed Sunder to carry her.

Her skin was deathly pale, almost white, and with her long blonde hair, she looked almost like a wraith, especially in contrast to Sunder’s nearly black, stone-like skin.

I eyed Abigail, who was standing on the dirt-encrusted floor in her bare feet.

“I assume you’ll want to stay by Tori’s side?

” She needed to calm the female and help her.

I knew I needed to get to the bridge and help the others decide on our next course of action, especially now that Kitan could not fly this ship.

Mind made up, I lifted her into my arms and hurried after Sunder and his burden; I needed to check in with the Doc anyway, before I could make any informed choices. More than anything, I also wanted to see the pain collars removed from Abigail and me.

The doctor looked up when we entered, relief evident on his face.

He was still working on Kitan, with Jakar standing across from him, kitted out in gloves as well—dark red blood staining the tips of his fingers—promoted to nurse, it seemed.

“Put her over there. How long was she without?” the doctor said, checking off a final thing on the panel of the medical bot.

Then he was hurrying over, stripping his gloves as he came to assist Sunder in putting the female down on the second cot, one without the medical arm.

A flashlight was procured, which he shone in her eyes, and he started scanning her with his handheld. “All is well,” he said, but he pulled out an oxygen mask all the same to administer some extra. “Keep that on for five minutes, Tori.”

Then he stepped back, letting Abigail and Sunder fuss over the pregnant female, and addressed me. “I understand Kitan was supposed to fly this ship?” At my nod, he sighed. “I’m afraid he’s not going anywhere for the next three days at least. Guess that means we’re dead in the water?”

I pointed at my collar. “How quick can you get this off?” Those fathomless black eyes didn’t blink; he just reached for some tools and his scanner and immediately got to work, long-fingered hands deftly working on the clasp around my neck.

“Soon,” he said. “What’s next? How are we getting out of here?” It was clear the Adarian male was worried. His eyes darted from fumbling with my collar to where Kitan was stretched out, unconscious on the medical cot while the surgical arm was working on him.

“I can fly small craft, so I can probably figure this out,” I said with more confidence than I felt.

The collar dropped away from my throat with immense satisfaction, and I grinned.

“Thanks, Doc. Get back to your patients. I’ll take Sunder and talk with the other two still on the bridge. We’ll get this sorted.”

***

Abigail

Ziame had left for the bridge the moment his collar had dropped from his throat.

I only knew he was gone because his tail had uncurled from my leg, but he hadn’t said a word.

I wasn’t sure if I was feeling hurt over that or not; he had important things to take care of, and I knew Tori needed me to stay with her.

Except she fell asleep shortly after, clearly exhausted from all that had transpired, and Jakar and Luka had finished with Kitan, so the Doc was now working on getting Jakar’s collar off.

Once it dropped away, I swear it looked like the big gladiator actually struggled not to cry.

He took in a deep breath, looked at Luka and me, and then left.

After that, Luka had me watch closely while he took off the collar still around Kitan’s throat and then insisted I return the favor for his own collar.

My hands shook as I did the work; a surgeon or mechanic I was not.

Luka was all business afterward, working on releasing the collar from my neck with quick, practiced moves—nothing like how he’d struggled when working on Geramor.

“Go on, get to the bridge now. I’ll take care of our patients,” Luka told me when I was free.

I had to admit that even I felt a little emotional after the hated thing dropped from my skin.

I’d only been a slave for three days; Ziame, for example, had been one for three years.

It must have been quite something to finally be free.

I fully understood why Jakar had looked like he’d been filled with emotion when he was released.

Finding my way to the bridge took far longer than I expected; I got lost three times and had to backtrack.

The ship was big, with many twists and turns; there were three decks and endless hallways to traverse.

I thought that most of them held crew quarters, one even sounded like someone was banging on a door.

I’d also walked past something that looked kind of like a science lab, and I wondered just what kind of ship this used to be.

When I finally located the bridge, I found all the gladiators who were up and running standing around it, discussing options.

Ziame was leaning over one of the many consoles that lined the half-round room.

“Near as I can tell, I should be able to engage the autopilot that will fly us to the already-set destination. Xio.”

The others fell silent and shared long looks.

I didn’t know what Xio was, but I gathered nothing good.

As I stepped further inside, Ziame settled his green gaze on mine, dipping his head and flicking his ears in greeting.

Unsure of my place in this meeting, I started his way and was happy when he stood and easily tucked me under his brawny arm, his tail finding its usual spot, curled around one of my ankles.

“Abigail, glad you joined us,” he said, his deep voice rumbling against my side.

I wasn’t normally the type who wanted to have her boyfriend constantly touching her, propping her up, but it was nice to have Ziame include me like this.

I didn’t know where I stood with any of these other males; some still looked pretty feral and terrifying to me.

“Hi,” I said, and then I added, “I think maybe we should do a round of introductions first. I don’t know any of you, but if we’re going to be sharing a ship for now, I’d like to.” Maybe it was silly to say that, but honestly? What was I going to do? I needed to get to know these guys.

There was some chuckling, and then Sunder, who was the only one whose name I knew by now, spoke up. “Good idea, Abby—a round of names. Real or gladiator, whatever you want us to address you as. Plus, if you have an applicable skill, maybe mention that too.”