The pain was too much, and my head flung back as I screamed towards the ceiling, wishing that the last thing I saw in this world wouldn't be the boring metal of the Den of Bounty. I always dreamed my last moments would be staring at the moons, showered in their glow as I returned to the ground that gave me life. That wasn't supposed to be today, I thought wistfully, as my energy to hang on drained. I was overloading my loh. I knew that from the way my skin felt like it was melting, being drenched in my own blood seeping from the seams around each jewel.
Still, I didn't let go. I didn't stop pulling the radiation from the male that wished to take my freedom, my skin, my life. My throat grew hoarse, and my screams became silent, though the air still pushed from my lungs in an effort to be heard. Someone hear me... I thought with disappointment that Lord Zorn was winning, even when I was taking his life. My own would follow him into the void.
I felt the flow of radiation weaken and knew I didn't need to continue anymore. He had less radiation in his loh than I did the day I crawled to the trader with the largest loh from my feet dug from my flesh, begging for the radiation pack that saved my life.
Funny, I thought with a smile, as the feeling in my arms tingled and something tore my hand from Lord Zorn's back loh. I didn't even care that I felt my melted flesh tear apart, sticking to where I gripped him.
Lord Zorn got exactly what he wanted. My freedom, my skin and… my life.
Numbness crept up my back and my knees shook from my own weight. Pressure pulsed up one of my arms, but I couldn't see anything through the haze of radiation.
"Forgive me," I heard the whisper of Yueril's deep voice. It was a strong sound, and I smiled, knowing that he would live. As if that confirmation was all I was waiting for, I collapsed and allowed the light to take me.
Chapter ten
Yueril
Everysteppoundingagainstthe dirt ground felt like lifting a mountain to move us both from the vulnerability of being in the open. I'd made it out of the Den of Bounty, but my limbs were tingling, and my movements were molasses, sticking and making each decision a chore. I needed to make it to the shuttle.
Belder was still unresponsive to my communications, and I couldn't connect with my ship. The signal was blocked, and I knew that was the planning of Lord Zorn to disable any frequencies while he handled his "business".
I stumbled and hissed as a young unGor grabbed for me from an alley between buildings. I couldn't spray him while my treasure was too exposed from her cracked and bleeding jewels. They were a species that respected the Galactic Authority and its laws, but they preferred to keep to their own planet's diplomacy. It was odd to see an unGor this far out in the sector of outlaws. No stranger than finding a new species on this barren rock and one of them being a notorious outlaw that had a whole ring of heartless bastards cowering in fear and compliance. I wasn't fooled into thinking killing Lord Zorn would be the end of things.
"I can help her," the young unGor placated quickly. "You can't return to your shuttle—it's been sabotaged."
"How do you know this?" I narrowed my eyes to slits, untrusting of this out-of-place unGor.
"Because I'm the one that was ordered to sabotage it. Lord Zorn always has someone who double checks my orders, so I couldn't just leave it alone. My brother is the best pilot I know. He can bring you into the hangar of Lord Zorn's ship without being traced."
"And why would I want to do that?"
This youngling was out of his mind if he thought I would bring her straight to the ship of the very male who was responsible for the state we were both in. I didn't trust anyone on the ship to keep her safe when my body finally hibernated to heal. She would return to my ship, not a slaver vessel.
"Because Lord Zorn has a radiation chamber created to simulate the moons of her planet that will help her heal, and a special injection I've seen him use to repair his loh even after near death. He's feared not just for his ruthlessness against those who disobey him, but because no one has been able to kill him. Many have tried."
"He won't be recovering this time," I stated matter-of-factly, and I watched for any signs that this unGor had any remorse or anger for knowing his leader would not be returning.
"Then you have nothing to worry about spending a rotation on the ship before returning to your own. He came in his smaller vessel so your crew wouldn't be on alert. Your warfleet could easily destroy it, but that would alert the other ships if you attacked."
"Why are you willing to help us?"
"Not you, Hazel," he corrected, while motioning his chin to my treasure. "If Lord Zorn knew who she was, he would do worse than kill her, but if he found out after killing her or someone else doing the honor, he would destroy many lives. He is not right in the mind."
Hazel, I thought of her name, and irritation flowed through me that she had gifted this outlaw with her name, yet not once offered it to me in return. It was against her own rights to privacy to use her name without her giving it to me of her own will. I would be forced to continue to call her Treasure until she told me the name herself, but I clenched my teeth together at how this lowlife was granted such an honor. I used my tail to sneak up and wrap around his throat with the claw pointed at his chin.
"You will not use her name on your tongue," I demanded as I lightly pressed the claw into his skin, and squeezed my tail around his throat for a small reminder that I may have been injured, but not incapable. The tincture oil would numb his neck, but not enough to stop him from speaking. I was still too dry to completely subdue him, but he didn't need to know that.
The youngling lifted a brow, and his small braids twitched at his neck. He was too young to use his tentacles to reach my tail and help loosen my hold. The unGor used their hair to hide the appendages from their head, but they've been part of the Trillume Galactic Authority for many cycles now. We knew of their anatomy. One day, the male would grow to have long tentacles that could rival my own tail, though they didn't have any claws or spines in them.
"She is Lord Zorn's offspring," he croaked out.
"How do you know this?" I released my tail on his throat, but kept it wrapped in case I needed to squeeze the life from him.
"He never looks at the medical files of slaves. What's the point if he's just going to send her to be skinned alive? She shares his DNA. He's incapable of having offspring, so I thought it was impossible, but there's no mistaking it. She's from his seed, perhaps before he lost his mating loh?"
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because Lord Zorn's empire is hers if he is truly dead."
