“I will get us out of here Zaya. You’ll see.”
I looked back at the charzbos and was surprised to see him smiling. He laid down on the cushions, straightening out and stretching. I rolled my eyes. Maybe Curans were known for delusions of grandeur. Then again, maybe that was what made them great warriors. Maybe he would figure out something that I couldn’t. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to be nice to him. If he did figure out a way to escape, and he took me with him, I could always just figure out a way to escape from him next.
There was no way I would let myself be a barbarian’s captive.
Three
Cartari
There really wasn’t any other way. I had tried to think of other options, but this was going to be the only way out. I had never tried this before, other than as a silly kid, which all Curans did to each other. I had never tried it on someone that wasn’t a telepath, though. I had never tried it on someone that it might actually work on…
The guards had come back to our cell three times since Zaya’s seductress attempt. Twice it had been just to shoot me with the tasers. One of those times, they had left food for us, which was cold by the time I regained my faculties and was able to eat it. The third time they came back, they were armed with tasers, but I kept my eyes closed and pretended I was asleep, reading their minds instead, to avoid the electric shock.
Through reading their minds, I discovered that a judge was due into this precinct in two days to make a decision about Zaya. I wondered what she had done to warrant going before a judge, to not just have a black-and-white sentencing handed down by the typical clerics. That same judge would decide what to do with me. The guards were placing bets that I would just be placed on an exile order and sent back to my spaceship. But they wanted to tase me some more, first.
Sadists.
I also heard their fairly impure thoughts about Zaya. I knew that her seductive show from before was still on Tellison’s mind. If he came back alone, she would be able to get the keys from him again, easily. My skills might be with weapons and telekinetics, but hers were with womanly wiles.
They left without electrocuting me that time, for which I was thankful, but that did make me firm in my decision: it was time to get out of there. I would have to use Zaya to do it, but it was worth the risk. I didn’t have any loyalty to her. Besides, it would be getting her out, as well.
It would just be without her permission…
It took a few hours of restless waiting, but by the evening of the next day, Tellison found himself too intrigued by Zaya. He meandered back toward us with our dinner. I pretended to be asleep again, snuggled under one of the blankets.
Then, with the skills of a surgeon, I inserted the tiny tendril of mental Will into Tellison’s brain and managed to make him approach us even closer as he slid our food under the cell bars.
It was a bizarre feeling of connection, telling someone to take steps their mind wasn’t making them take. It was like controlling a robot, yet a robot who could turn around and kill me if I messed up in any way. The stakes were high, and I knew that I was messing around in the brains of another sentient being in a way that shouldn’t be permissible; it wasn’t something done on Farian, because we were all telepaths. It was awkward, disgusting, nauseating… But, I had to get us out of here.
It was an awkward command of his Will, but I made him gesture to Zaya. She looked up at him, confused. I held him there, steady. Then, without looking her way too obviously, but with my other hand, I directed some of my other Will and, feeling a bit nauseated but relinquishing that feeling into the intention of the Will, I flooded her with the need to escape, the desire to do anything she had to, to leave, to get out, to flee… And I made her stand up, then smile, then I slunk slip toward the guard where he stood at the gate, mouth gaping open, eyes wide, devouring her with his gaze as she strode closer and closer through the dim light.
Zaya’s own inhibitions fought me for a moment as she was confused at what she was doing, realizing it was against her own will, but I flushed my Will through her again, overpowering any of her desire and made her mind focus on what we had to do: “get out, get out of the prison. Do anything you have to do. Do everything you have to do.”
There was a slight spike of guilt as she passed me, her eyes wide and terrified, but I ignored it, intensifying the drive she needed to feel. I swept the desire she had to have through her, forcing her to feel what freedom would be like, making her taste what it would be like to be outside the cells: the wind, the snowflakes on her face, the depths of liberty within her soul. She had to want it, nothing could stand in her way.
Her pace picked up, almost of her own volition. She neared the bars, placing her hands on Tellison’s hands against the bars. She breathed in deeply, smiling, dark hair cascading across her cheeks. They both were breathing hard, and I could sense the bewilderment inside their minds, but also their desire to give in to my Will, my overpowering, far too strong, Curan, charzbos Will…
I refocused on Tellison. I poured intention into him: “want her… Want to touch
