Lurin's Surrender (14 page)

“I’m joking, Lurin. Stars, get a grip. Mara will be fine. It’s you we need to save.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?”

“Sernal, a neighbouring peacekeeper. He owes me a favour. As soon as he and his men show, we can tie this up.”
Gren rolled his neck, the tension in the room obviously affecting him.

Lurin felt slightly queasy himself. The effort to control Sara had worn his energy down so much that his safeguards had weakened, causing him to suffer from the brutal animosity and dark energy brewing between mother and daughter.

He swayed on his feet, disrupting the fight. Then to his alarm, his vision greyed before blackness enveloped him.

* * * *

Gren stared at Lurin with real concern, not understanding how his grand plan could unravel so quickly.
Dammit.
He needed Lurin to control Sara. Gren couldn’t handle both Sara and her mother, not with all the hatred surging in the room.

He’d done extensive research on Nobless Cari prior to taking this job, and what he learned made him cringe. Cari was not Thesha by any means, but she had a powerful darkness of spirit that could consume a lighter being if not countered effectively. Even now, he felt her drawing part of him to her, like a spell master from the gates of hell.

Forcing himself to focus, he followed Cari’s order and carried Lurin to her bed. Vendon clumsily bent to help and ended up knocking into Gren, pinching his thigh.
Grabby little bastard.

Glaring at the sycophant, Gren watched Vendon scurry back to Cari’s side with satisfaction.

The woman glowed, bubbling over with coils of malicious intent strengthened by Theshan healing. “Sara, go see how our prisoner, Captain Mara, fares below,” she ordered, countering Sara’s refusal. “Don’t worry, Lurin will still be here when you return, as will Captain Gren. Won’t you, Captain?”

“As you wish.” Gren bowed, waiting for Sara to leave. Only he, Cari and Vendon remained, along with an unconscious Thesha who’d be no help at all. Time for Gren to take charge of the situation. Except he had a nasty feeling he’d missed something important. Cari looked extremely pleased with herself. And Vendon hadn’t blinked for a full minute.

“Gren, I hear you’ve been most inhospitable to Vendon.”

Cari and Vendon stared at him. A burning sensation flared from the pinch in his leg throughout his body, slowing his heart rate and clouding his mind. Vendon’s clumsiness had not been an accident.

“What the hell did you do?” he asked angrily and stalked Vendon.

He lifted the
drun
off the floor by his collar. Vendon moaned with what should have been fright, but instead sounded like arousal.

“It’s a funny thing, Gren,” Cari said. “I have yet to see you naked, but I’d be willing to bet you have no blue marking on your groin.”

Gren wavered and dropped Vendon, his strength suddenly deserting him. He sank to his knees. His vision blurred, and an incessant buzzing sound made his head throb.

Cari knelt beside him, stroking his hair. “There’s nothing about you that even hints at the possibility you might be Thesha, yet I have a strange feeling that won’t go away.” She pushed him to his back on the ground, and weak as he was, he didn’t resist.

“What did you give me?” he managed, feeling incredibly woozy.

“It’s called
shei
-root, a priceless and unique herb I found on a sprawling freighter on the outskirts of the System. It’s supposedly from the Theshan homeworld. Strange that it should affect you.”

“Please, Cari,” Vendon whined as he hovered near. “You promised.”

She smiled, her eyes bright with victory. “So I did. You may disrobe him, but do nothing else. Not yet.” Gren watched helplessly as Vendon eagerly stripped him of his clothing. “Can you imagine, Vendon? Two Theshas at my beck and call? I’ll be more powerful than any other noble in the System!”

Vendon’s greedy hands lingered over Gren’s flacid cock until Cari reprimanded him.

“Don’t try me, Vendon. You can look, but you can’t touch. Not until I’ve broken him in first.”

“Yes, nobless.” Vendon bobbed his head, still focused on Gren’s naked flesh.

Cari ran her hands over Gren’s chest and down his abdomen. She rested her palm over his cock, and he couldn’t help his groan when he hardened despite his resolve not to.

“Didn’t I tell you, Gren?
Shei
-root not only disarms, but also acts as an aphrodisiac. You’ll be a rock all night long,” she ended in a whisper. “Just wait for all the lovely things I’m going to teach you.”

Gren managed to roll his head to the side, only to see Lurin still unconscious on the bed. He didn’t understand how he’d failed so miserably, when his plan had been working so well. He could only hope Mara found a greater success in her situation.

With one final effort, he closed his mind and body to the world around him and sent his spiritual self on a quest to find help,
fast
.

Chapter Twelve

Mara cursed Felan and Maltor with an extensive vocabulary built over several years of hunting the scum of the System. For the most part, they ignored her, but when they finally reached their destination, instead of dropping her and leaving, they closed the door behind them and ogled her with reptilian grins.

“I think she needs a lesson in manners, Maltor. What say you?” Felan leaned against a black stone wall lit dimly by
charel
crystals.

The room was larger than the prison cell she’d expected. But when she saw the reason why, she couldn’t contain a gasp of horror.

Maltor crossed his arms over his chest and blew her a kiss. “I agree, Felan. Captain Mara, you shouldn’t have struck our Mistress.”

He idly crossed to a rack holding various tools designed specifically to inflict pain. Reaching up, Maltor grabbed a short whip studded with spikes along its tip.

“This is one of Nobless Cari’s personal favourites.” Maltor flicked the whip to within an inch of Mara’s face. “It will definitely leave scars, in case you were wondering.”

Mara swallowed the knot of fear choking her and told herself she’d been in worse situations. None came to mind at present though, and then her mind completely blanked when Felan dropped his trousers, his cock stiff with excitement as he eyed Maltor and the whip.

“Do it, Maltor,” he said and began stroking himself.

Maltor laughed. Several lightning-fast strokes later, Mara wore a tattered shirt. A small cut welled with blood above her left breast, now exposed due to Maltor’s handiwork. That she hadn’t been cut much at all spoke of his expertise with the weapon.
Perfect. A crazy pervert with a whip. Just how I’d planned on spending my day. So much for Gren’s plan.

Talking to herself wasn’t helping, but she needed something to keep her mind off the nasty whip and her guards’ apparent lust. She’d just discovered the pleasure and beauty of sex with Lurin. To dirty what she’d experienced with a rape… She didn’t think she could handle that.

They neared and she braced herself for the worst, prepared to fight to the death if need be. She raised her fists and balanced on the balls of her feet when a most welcome interruption arrived.

“Who dares command my cell?” the gravelly voice preceded the menacing form that entered the dim room.

Shadows played across the
krell
skull he wore over his face as a mask. The
krell’s
large horns and three rows of teeth made the intruder seem more demon than man. He wore a thick black vest and tight black trousers. The boots at his feet were gray and tipped with what looked like human bone. Mara wanted to run screaming from the room. Talk about going from bad to worse.

Felan and Maltor bowed respectfully.

“Forgive us, Master Utal, but Nobless Cari ordered us to bring the woman here. We thought to teach her a lesson for her earlier disrespect to our Mistress,” Maltor explained.

Utal’s eyes looked black under the mask, and his next words confirmed that he had no soul. “Then use the hooks instead of that pussy whip.” He nodded to a black, three-pronged hook barbed at the ends that hung on the rack.

Maltor handed him the whip in his hand and turned with Felan towards the rack.

The whip in Utal’s hand cracked. It cracked again and a second thin line of blood trailed down Felan’s face, then his back as more strikes landed in astonishing speed. Felan dropped to the ground in silence. Maltor finally shook off his surprise and ran towards the rack, only to receive a similar punishment, which left him too wounded to move.

Mara stood frozen in shock, not wanting to move and draw attention to herself. But when Utal bent over Maltor, she knew she’d never get a better opportunity. She gathered her courage and bolted for the door.

Master Utal moved in a blur. Caged by his massive strength, Mara fought for freedom, ignoring his words until he shook her hard.

“Relax, Captain, it’s me,” Catam’s voice sounded hollow from inside the skull.

Almost afraid to hope for salvation, Mara stopped resisting and looked into his eyes. He let her go, reached up, and removed the skull, breathing deeply as he did so.

“Damn thing itches like crazy,” he muttered, and unable to help herself, Mara laughed out loud with relief.

His gaze travelled over her with concern. “Uh, Captain?” Catam waited until she composed herself. “Are you all right?”

She nodded and wiped at the blood smeared over her chest.

“Why don’t you take this vest?”

She graciously accepted the garment, belatedly aware that her ripped shirt showed more than Catam should ever have seen of his captain.

As if he read her thoughts, he grinned. “I can’t say I wasn’t hoping to one day see you with your clothes off, but this isn’t what I’d had in mind.”

His light-hearted teasing did wonders to ease her mind.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what the hell are you doing here?”

Catam flushed. “Blame Gren. It’s a long story. I would have been here sooner, and I’m sorry I wasn’t.” His eyes narrowed on her chest. “You should never have been hurt. It’s my fault, really. Nu and Set are steamed I assumed Master Utal’s role. They’re currently busy occupying Sara and at least a half dozen Elaran torturers a few doors down.”

“Shouldn’t we go help them?” She tugged the surprisingly soft black vest around her, the fading heat of Catam’s body warming her, soothing the chill that had threatened earlier.

“Trust me, Mara. They’re more than fine. I deliberately riled them to make them stronger. You know how rough Raggas can get when their blood is really pumping.”

“I can’t tell you how glad I am to see you, Catam.”

“Same here. When Captain Gren ran into us a few days ago and explained things, I thought he was half-crazed. But when he introduced us to the real Lady Sara, we knew we had to go along with him.” Catam paused and frowned. “I’m sorry there was no way to tell you what was happening. I’ll bet Gren’s arrival shocked the hell out of you on the ship.”

“You could say that.”

Felan groaned, and she and Catam shared a look. After taking care of him and Maltor, making sure neither guard would wake any time soon, she and Catam exited the cell. They locked the door behind them as they left.

“This way,” Catam said and guided her to the loud noises behind an overly large metal door. He banged on the door, and it opened slowly.

Nu peered out at them. A relieved grin lit his face when he saw her.

“She’s here, Set,” he told his brother. “You can let that one go. He’s not going anywhere.”

Nu opened the door wider to allow them entrance. Mara gaped at the sight that met her eyes. Set dropped an Elaran soldier to the ground in a pool of his own blood. Several men appeared to be dead, while a few groaned pitifully amidst the torture racks and chains all around. Sara lay unconscious on the floor.

“Captain Mara,” Set exclaimed and grabbed her in a massive hug. He set her down after Nu socked him in the ribs.

“She can’t breathe, you idiot.”

“Sorry, Cap’. We were worried maybe things weren’t going so well for you.” He glared at Catam. “But that whoreson Mardu wouldn’t let us help you. Instead he stuck us with this mess.”

Mara eyed the littered bodies. She counted more than the six Catam mentioned. She counted twelve, including Sara.

Catam shrugged. “You did a decent job taking care of them. What’s the problem?”

“We’ll settle up later, Catam,” Nu promised in grim voice. Mara had never appreciated her crew as much as she did right now. “But first I want to hear about the captain. And what the hell happened to Vez? How did you get down here, Cap? The only thing Catam would tell us was that we had to cut liberty short to settle up some score.”

Fear for Lurin returned, and she urged Catam and the others to follow her. “Not now, Nu. I’ll fill you all in once we’ve saved Lurin and Gren.”

“Lurin? You mean captive Vez?” Set asked in astonishment.

“Who’s Gren?” Nu asked, glowering. “Catam, you and I are due for a serious talk.” He cracked his knuckles, a sure sign Catam was in trouble.