A thing with skin the color of copper clawed its way onto the sand, spindly limbs that ended in wicked blades stabbing the ground to pull it forward. Another hopped out like a frog, which might have looked funny if its wide mouth, lined with silvery teeth the size of daggers, weren’t perfectly positioned to snap up anything it landed on. Something so dark I couldn’t make out any details followed it out, a shapeless terror swallowing all light that fell on it.
More followed, and I looked away. I stood no chance against any of them, and I didn’t intend to gawk at them until they tore me limb from limb. There had to be something I could do. Some way to help Varok fight.
I didn’t dare look at him either. There was no more distracting man in the universe than my beautiful idiot, and I didn’t dare focus on him. But what else was there? Above us, the audience looked down through the shimmering forcefield, shock on their faces. No one there would help. Even if they wanted to, no one would join us against the hordes of monsters spewing forth from the arena pits.
The walls? Bare crystal, hard as diamond. No chance of climbing it, and nowhere to climb to. Whatever trick had gotten my mate out of the gallery, I doubted it would get us back through the field. Pointless.
My gaze tracked down to the jellysquid, impaled on the lilac sand, limbs twitching erratically. Collector crystal gleamed under the ichor of its split-open body, the hook on which the poor creature had danced.Wait. Maybe…
The light flickered behind me, and I smiled as I heard something roar in pain. Varok had found his mark, and I’d found my target.
My plan was insane, improvised, and probably wouldn’t work. Even if it did, it might kill us both. But at least we’d go down fighting.
26
VAROK
The sword blurred in my hand, and I thanked the Void for my parents’ training.When will I ever need a sword?I’d demanded of them.I have my strength and claws and wits.They didn’t listen, forcing the knowledge into my thick skull, and now it paid off. Ducking under a swinging, clawed limb, I struck upward and sliced through tendons, leaving my attacker crippled behind me as I charged a lizard creature making for Penny.
After all this, I’d run out of clever ideas. All I had left was killing until I died, or my human love pulled something wild out of her beautiful brain. My shoulder struck the lizard below its center of mass, lifting it off the sand. Hooked claws caught my side, tearing skin and flesh, but I stabbed under its limb and into the soft meat beneath.
“The datachip,” Penny shouted. “Give me your damned datachip!”
What in the Void is she thinking?There was no time to ask, so I tore off my comm bracelet and threw it to her. That momentary distraction almost cost me my life, and worse, Penny’s. A monster made of blades and teeth stabbed at me with four razor-sharp limbs. One I dodged, two I beat away with mysword, and the last punched a neat hole through my right thigh before flicking to the side, carving through muscle and sending me to the ground.
With a terrible shriek of triumph, it reared over me, but I got my sword up in time to lodge it between two gleaming ribs. The creature struck down at me, its own weight impaling it on my blade before it could strike me.
I rolled to my feet, tearing my sword out of the collapsing monster as I went. A glance back reassured me that Penny was safe. I had the Collectors’ focus now, which suited me. The circle of monsters closed around me, no two the same. The only things they had in common were their crystal growths and their thirst for blood.
Wary of the threat I posed, they held back. I let them take their time—the longer they took, the longer Penny had for whatever insane plan she was working on. If these monsters mounted an organized attack, they’d overwhelm me in an instant, and there would be nothing left of me to defend her.
“I wonder if anyone will immortalize this moment?” I wondered aloud, hoping to add to the delay. “Some of the greatest artists in the galaxy are watching, seeing how themightyCollectors cheat at their own games. Or will you settle this one-on-one, as a fair fight?”
Of course they wouldn’t. I knew that, but thought discussing my offer might slow them down. I hadn’t counted on their networked brains. They didn’t even exchange glances, just rushed forward in unison.
If they’d trained together as a unit, they’d have overwhelmed me. They weren’t used to fighting a warrior, though, nor did they have practice working together in such numbers.
I leaped to the side, and the horde tried to turn with me. Instead, they collided with each other in a tangle of unfamiliar limbs. That gave me the opening I needed to dive under thelargest of them. The vast void of darkness so black it seemed like a hole in space, an absence rather than a presence.
I passed between the monster’s forelimbs, a pair of legs like pillars of night, and relished the crashing sounds as the other monsters slammed into it.
It took the monster’s Collector a moment, but it made the smart move. It simply dropped at me, tons of weight falling straight down, and my only escape was to keep rolling. I got out just in time.
The impact sent a choking cloud of sand into the air, and when I bounced to my feet, I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. I grinned, laying about me with my sword. Chaos favored me in this battle. Fighting alone, everyone else was a target. The Collectors were surrounded by allies and had only one enemy. Cries and howls all around me proved they weren’t being careful enough. An outraged shout on my left gave me a target, and I stabbed, feeling the blade connect with flesh and carve through a tough hide, silencing the screamer.
The sand-cloud wouldn’t last long, but while it lasted, the enemy couldn’t coordinate. Victory remained impossible, but I’d bought my beloved some time to work. Would it be enough?
Yes. It has to be.
27
PENNY
Dissecting an alien jellyfish isn’t easy, especially when your only cutting tool is a fuckingspear.Fortunately, I didn’t need precision. Memories of cutting up frogs in science class came back as I peeled open the thing’s squid-body. I took care to keep my back to the fight. Nothing I saw there would help—I’d either get caught up in the beauty of Varok’s fighting style or I’d watch him die.
The thought of the beautiful silver-skinned alien dying to protect me was almost too much, but I focused on my work, exposing a crystal structure growing from its brain. That had to be how the collectors controlled their pets, and it was awful. This was my first brain surgery, but I didn’t need experience to recognize the careless job the Collectors had done.
Behind me, a creature roared in agony, and another screamed a moment later. Varok carved his way through them to protect me, and I winced at the thought, a stab of sympathy lancing through me. Horrible monsters they might be, but they were also innocent. It wasn’t their fault the Collectors created them for murder.
