The chancellor looked as if his head might pop right off. And he looked ready to order the two humans executed on the spot, but the sounds of the crowd’s reaction penetrated his rage. Indeed, this was being broadcast, andeveryonewas watching. Not only him, but this troublesome woman. An idea formed instantly, the seed planted, watered, and grown to maturity in a flash. He turned to where he knew the nearest video capture device was innocuously hidden. He’d selected its location himself, after all.
“Oh, we have a feisty one, eh?” he said, hamming it up. “It seems to be true, neither of these two women possesses the Dotharian runes?—”
The crowd gasped in disbelief. The chancellor raised his hand to hush them.
“But I think we should give them a chance to prove themselves, don’t you?”
The crowd roared yet again.
“And I will personally see to it they receive their runes at once, qualifying them to compete in the Husken Games!”
The crowd cheered, the die cast and the game afoot, and the chancellor’s smile blossomed bright and wide at what was to come. He stepped close, positioning himself so his face was off camera, signaling for the sound to be cut. As soon as it was, he spoke quietly to Ziana alone.
“You will be entertainment for my people, but know this. You are nothing more than a novelty. Disposable. And you will findthis may very well beworsethan a quick death. And when it all is done, when you are broken and lost, then I will look forward to you toiling your remaining days beneath me as my loyal servant.” He nodded for the sound to be turned back on. “This one has fire and drive. I think she will be a perfect match for Dorrin. What do you think?”
The crowd’s enthusiastic response sealed the deal, though it was settled even without them.
Maria looked at her friend, a look of utter confusion in her eyes. “Ziana, what have you done?”
CHAPTER FOUR
The two human women were hauled away through a tunnel under the bleachers to the fading sounds of a cheering crowd. Four additional members of their prisoner group were selected as well. Two men and two women, rounding out the total of six new additions for the unpartnered competitors.
Not a single one of them seemed at all happy with the selections they’d been saddled with, but none were more irate than Dorrin, the imposing man glaring hard as Ziana was led away with the others.
The two humans were pulled from the rest of the group and directed to a different part of the facility. After all they’d been through, being separated from the group was more than a little disconcerting, especially given the not-so-veiled threats from a certain chancellor on whose bad side Ziana had just firmly affixed herself.
She scoped out the corridor the tunnel eventually connected to. It was a T-intersection, one direction leading upward to what appeared to be a courtyard and series of surface level chambers, though their doors were closed. The other direction headed downward. Down, in her history, tended to mean bad things.Crappy basement apartments, dirty clubs, and, of course, the horror film meme of hidden torture chambers. The first two she could handle. The third even, if she had to. What was waiting for them, however, would be something completely different, and not in a good way.
“Where are you taking us?”
The guard leading the way walked on without a word.
“Hey, buddy, I’m talking to you.”
“I’m not to speak with you. Not until you have seen the Skrizzit.”
Ziana and Maria shared a look.
“So, you’re taking us to see one of those Skrizzit guys?” Maria asked.
The guard merely grunted but didn’t answer. It was good enough for her.
“I’ll take that as a yes, then.” She turned to Ziana. “Looks like we’re going to get more ink.”
“Oh, joy,” Ziana replied with a sarcastic smirk. “Just what I wanted.”
They continued on for some distance, finally arriving at a large circular intersection that felt fairly deep beneath the surface. The structure was quite robust, the alien tech making it all perfectly safe and sound, but the feeling of being underground was something the animal part of the brain somehow picked up on regardless, as if it could sense the weight of the world above just waiting to come crashing down on top of them.
But if humans could build solid structures underground, aliens with much more advanced technology could certainly do a far better job of it.
The guard walked them around the perimeter of the intersection, following the curved wall. The whole place was illuminated not by light fixtures but rather a gentle glow comingfrom the material of the ceiling and walls themselves, lending a surprisingly comfortable visual feel to the whole thing.
“In there,” they were directed, an ornate door sliding open silently.
Ziana stepped forward first. “Well, here we go.”
Inside the room, the women were rather underwhelmed. It was neither super advanced and high-tech, nor was it some kind of alien dungeon cell. It was just a room. A room with what appeared to be a sort of massage table, the hole for the face making its use pretty apparent. There was also a small table with several dark and a few lighter pigments in little jars resting atop its surface. And then there was the Skrizzit.
