“Yeah, they did. I’m Dax, by the way. And that’s Cleo, Branch—the giant—and Ben. We’ve been spying on the Travians and tracking you at the same time.” He jutted his chin toward Preen. “Your friend here led us right to you.”
Frey grinned. “Preen’s the best, and it understands a lot of what we say.”
“Good. Obviously it can come with us, but we need to hurry.” He looked around the room. “Do you, ah, have any clothes?”
In the heat of the moment, Frey had forgotten that he was buck naked, bruised and bleeding in a few places. He could tell what everyone was thinking. Their sympathy and, frankly, embarrassment rolled at him over Kuren’s corpse. He suddenly couldn’t wait to get dressed, except Kuren had ripped off the nice clothes Rone had given him. He searched the room for something he could use and spied Rone’s suitcase. Relief flooded through him. Of course, Frey’s old uniform was packed inside. He pushed up from the floor.
When Dax held out a hand to help, Frey shook his head. “It’s okay. I can do it myself. I’m fine.” He stood on shaky legs and eyed each of his rescuers. “I’m fine, really.”
Despite his brave words, he did feel much better once he’d managed to put on his uniform. Worn, yet comforting, it also gave him a kind of inner strength to get moving. The rescue wasn’t done by a long shot. He turned to Preen.
“Do you know where they have him?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”Frey went over to Kuren’s stash of weapons, trying not to limp, so that the others wouldn’t think him too weak to proceed. Picking up a handgun, he turned it over and over in his hand. “Do you know how to use this?” he asked Dax.
“Yeah, why?”
“Because I need you to show me. We’ve got another stop to make before we leave this ship.”
Rone went down again barely, before he got to his feet. One eye was clogged with blood from his head while the other was shut almost entirely from a more direct blow. It was gettingalmost impossible to avoid that fucking prod and the asshole wielding it. The guards, who were supposed to be observing only, still chose to kick him back into play any time he strayed too far from Avith’s range. If there was any spot on his body that didn’t ache, burn or bleed, he was hard pressed to identify it.
Avith’s leering face came into view. “You’re working for High Command. Admit it and all of this stops.”
Sure, permanently. Not. Going. To. Happen. “Fuck,” he wheezed. “Fuck off.”
Avith raised the prod again, searching no doubt for a virgin spot to hit. He never got the chance. The storage room turned torture chamber swished open. Laser fire pulsed through, taking out the guards first. Through his limited vision, Rone saw…humans? With a painful shake of his head, he tried in vain to clear his vision. It didn’t help. He still saw humans, then one in particular, and he knew he wasn’t seeing things. Frey raised the gun in his hand and dropped Avith. The moment he did so, the boy seemed to collapse.
He fell by Rone’s side.
“Oh, shit. What did he do to you?” Rone’s gaze raked his boy, and what he saw broke his heart. “What did Kurendoto you?”
Frey didn’t answer. Instead he leaned over Rone and worked the restraints free. The pain of blood returning suddenly to his numb hands was excruciating.
A large human male, with only light stubble where hair should be, interrupted. “Look, guys, I hate to break up this frankly really fucked up reunion, but we have to go. Our luck is running out, and I don’t like our odds if the rest of the crew trips to what’s going on.”
Rone glanced at the male, then back at Frey. “Who is this and do you trust him?”
“What’s he saying?” the human demanded.
Frey shook his head in frustration then assured them—each in his own language—that he’d explain it to both of them later. He turned toward Rone. “Come on, master. Can you stand?”
“Master?” the male spit out. “Are you sure you want to bring him along?”
Frey turned on the guy with a growl that made Rone proud. “I told you before, I’m not leaving without him.”
The male put his palms up. “Fine. Branch, come over and help. No way you’re lifting this naked mountain by yourself,” he added to Frey.
Although it hurt his pride, Rone allowed the human males to lift him onto his feet and didn’t protest when the largest of them slung one of Rone’s arms around his shoulders. It helped that Frey took up the same position on the other side. His small pet didn’t have the height or the strength to provide much support, but the closeness comforted Rone, regardless. As they passed through the open door, Rone tried to ignore that a female seemed to be with them, getting an embarrassing eyeful. Then he spotted Preen and all of his worries slipped away.
“Good to see you in one piece, friend.”
“Not sure I can say that you are in the same condition.”With one of its throaty little sounds of happiness, the creature scampered off, leading the way.
The trip was short, passing surprisingly the shuttle bay and ending instead in the cargo bay. How had the humans entered here? The answer came to him when they stopped by a small, open hatch in the floor. The leader of the humans eyed the hole, then Rone.
“He’s never going to fit through there.”
