Being captured by blue aliens was the worst thing that had ever happened to me, but that was before we ran into a monster that looked like a cross between a rhino, a toad and a walrus.It was thick necked, with a bony, almost skeletal head, broad tusks jutted out of its mouth, protruding from the corner of its wide jaw, like forklift tines.
Bulky, armored shoulders rose higher than its head, and its body was heavy with muscle that sloped down to low-set back legs.Its furless skin was a sickly yellow color and littered with old scars.
The monster had appeared out of nowhere, rising from the dirt, where its coloring had camouflaged it against the dirt when the sytos had walked past a series of shallow divots in the ground.
The syto in charge had screamed at a pitch that made my head throb and immediately started barking orders as the group retreated from the beast.Within seconds I was in the middle of a tight formation of aliens, their evil little batons bristling out in a shield around us.
And then Tovis appeared.But not a version of Tovis I’d seen before.His eyes were red, wide and glaring as he charged at us, and for a brief moment I was certain he was going to trample right over me along with the sytos.
He’d hit the sytos between us with the force of a car wreck, and screams and blood filled the air.The syto holding me, dropped me like I was on fire and bolted for safety.Leaving me dazed on the ground as Tovis attacked everything that moved.
I froze, afraid to crawl away and grab anyone's attention, but too scared to stay where I was while huge hooves and booted feet stomped around me.The monster joined the fray and suddenly everyone was fighting everyone.
A boot landed on my hand and I yelped, jerking my fingers free and scrambling on hands and knees as I did my best to dodge the wild blows and waving batons all around me.
As quickly as the fight started, it ended.The monster running off into the distance like its ass was on fire.I watched it go and looked behind me just in time to see the lead syto bludgeon his baton into the back of Tovis’ head.
He was already on the ground, his nose streaming blood, and I watched in horror as his body seized and he slumped face first into the dirt.
“Tovis!”I yelled.
A blue hand grabbed me by the shirt and my brief moment of freedom was gone.I watched, my chest tight, as the sytos cuffed his thick arms behind his back.He didn’t resist at all and I swallowed hard as a small pool of blood formed around his head.
“Is he dead?”I whispered.
The alien holding me snorted.
“We’re not that lucky.By the time he wakes up he’ll be fine.Turochs heal faster than they have any right to.”
I blinked the grit from my eyes and shuddered.I wasn’t cut out for this much peril and excitement.All I wanted was to go back to my clean, cool spa and my bubble of fake safety.
Tovis had come after me and now he was injured and just as trapped as I was.If a massive, muscle bound former gladiator couldn’t get me out of this mess, there was no getting out of it.
“Set up camp!”the leader barked.“We’re staying here until the slave is mobile.”
The slave, they meant Tovis.My heart sank.
Grumbles sounded from the others and the leader rolled his eyes.
“Which of you wants to drag that sack of meat all the way back to the Kwin?”
The grumbles stopped.Tovis was easily twice the size of any of them, if he couldn’t walk there was no way they could easily move him and they knew it.
“Set up camp, we have food at least.Consider it an unexpected break from your normal duties.”He shook his head and landed a brutal kick to Tovis’ unresisting body.“I’m the one the Kwin will punish when we’re late, one of you is probably up for promotion once she has me flayed.”
He said it with such bitter resignation that I didn’t think he was exaggerating.
I shivered.This was so, so bad.And I didn’t see it getting better anytime soon.
***
Iwatched numbly asthe syto in charge of me hammered a square metal stake into the dirt and tapped a button on the side.My cuffs vibrated and flashed a quick one, two of yellow light before an invisible force lifted my hands and held them hovering a foot from the stake.Invisible chains, awesome.
Two other sytos painstakingly rolled Tovis’ limp body toward the stake until he was laying on his side, his cuffed hands leaning against our shared tether.I tested my restraints and found I could move around the stake, but couldn’t get any farther away no matter how hard I pulled.
If they trusted the cuffs to hold Tovis, there was no way I could out muscle it, but it was worth a try.Their captives secured, the sytos scattered to continue setting up their camp, and I awkwardly maneuvered around Tovis until I was leaning against his legs.
He was unconscious and just as trapped as I was, but keeping close to him gave me a weird sense of security anyway.My hair was damp with sweat and sticking to my face, and I had to lean forward to wipe it out of my eyes.
