“You’ll see. Let’s just say, it’s why they call this place ‘Skull Rocks’.” Beardly gave a sinister laugh.
“You are too macabre, sister,” grunted Drek. He cleared his throat. “The things I do for entertainment amongst the rats and filth. So, how do you like it, fish? Many men have met their destiny here. I have shown them the way!”
There came a chorus of crazy, ecstatic shouts.
Drek lifted a hand. “Look around you, Miko. Men, and even some women—though you would never know it, with all the womanliness crushed out of them—have nothing to lose, or live for, but everything to gain.
“Dragar, for example, murdered my deputy and stuffed his head down a Skullrox drain. I caught up with him and had him punished. Since then he has become my local champion, rivalling even Murlag.” Murlag’s already horrible facial scars and twisted lips stitched up by crude tools contorted in a fiercer grimace. “Nevertheless, I have use for such men, men of cunning and depravity. Victus here who defiled and killed a virgin, then went for the mother. Tsk. Such debauchery, such degeneracy. I scratch my chin, wondering if there is no end to it, if they are not the army of vandals that will win me this war against the Skullroxers! The Skullrox pigs will fall!”
Sket leaned over and sighed. “A nutcase.”
Miko nodded in accord.
Drek’s eyes grew solemn. “I am humbled and indebted to all of you. Without you, I could not exist. In celebration of our victory, I will take my new acquisition, the Jakru queen, at my leisure. Beardly will not mind, will you Beardly?”
“Not at all, Drek. I am always amused at your rompings in the dark.”
Miko shuddered, deploring the fate of the Empress. He vowed he would see to the Empress’s safety, even if he must die in the attempt. His heart quivered on a faint hope. Enough to survive this ordeal, but what were the chances of returning to his own time—a man time-lost?
“Miko, you are not pleased with the situation. That’s easy to remedy, as things will right themselves in short order. I don’t hazard a doubt you will be occupied enough to take your mind off the injustice. You shall die, or learn to become a reprobate like myself—and the rest of my hoodlums.” He raised a bitter laugh, like a hyena’s cackle that was answered by the mob at the pit. “I see Fenli grinning out of the corner of his mouth like some cocksure jackal. Hurrah! He is already well on the way to becoming a killer.”
“What of the women of our company?” demanded Miko angrily. “The ones you speak so sordidly of?”
“Jingin, bring her.” Drek snapped a finger.
Miko saw a grimy figure, a grim-faced wretch being dragged out from a side passage—the girl who had once been Star. The street temptress was bruised, dishevelled and cut. Jagged scratches ran the length of her face and arms. She was dressed in scuffed brown leathers, ripped at the knees, thrust in beat-up boots, looking less lively than when he had last seen her. Miko’s heart skipped a beat. But it did not sink completely when he saw the fierce defiance shining in her golden eyes in a grimace of sneering hate. Fire was a good thing to have in this beasts’ den. He remembered such fires in his own eyes at one time long past, when he was bullied and kept alive like an animal by the creature Audra.
Beardly uttered an unlady-like growl, twisting her unkempt, tangled goatee. “What are we going to do with her?” She jabbed a jealous claw of a hand at the girl.
Drek twiddled his beard. “The Skullrox woman, I could take or leave. She’s a skinny witch. Better that she joins the ranks of these pathetic outlanders than make our lives miserable. She scratches too much.”
“And the crab?”
“The crab can join in the race!” bellowed Drek. “I’m betting the creature won’t last longer than an hour before being ripped apart, pincer by pincer.”
“You’re on!” croaked Beardly. “The lobster’s more mettlesome than he looks.”
“It’s your money, Beardly, if you wish to lose it. But I like your optimism. That’s why I enjoy your company, even if you are a wretched she-devil.”
Star snarled, wrestling in Jingin’s cruel grip.
Drek thrust out a finger.
Jingin tossed the girl into the prisoners’ ranks, scratching and yowling.
Miko caught her and her thin body shuddered in response.
“Long live the Unwanteds!” cried a rasping voice from the crowd.
A bellowing chorus erupted from the gathered wretches. “Unwanteds! The Unwanteds rule!”
Drek nodded in macabre acknowledgment.
Miko watched appalled as the motley crew of lowlifes raised their voices in the chant with two teeth glinting, eye patches and tattered rags, some leaping, jumping, dancing barefoot in the dirt.
Miko’s voice rose over the din. “What of the other woman, the Jakru in the tank?”
Drek called for silence. “Ah, the Jakru...” he frowned and gave a whimsical shrug. “She is something else. She stays in her water reserve for now...but not for long.” He toyed idly with his chin. “I do not want to arouse Beardly’s jealousy.”
Beardly snorted, a high squealing sound. “Dream on, Drek. So long as you leave some of the choice licking for me.” She clucked lasciviously.
“Enough already,” growled Dragar impatiently, drawing his wicked, gleaming blade. “Are we to trade quips here all night, or fight some Skullroxers? Let’s get on with this.”
Drek laughed, his head thrown back. “To the fight then...Head west, rogues. Fan out. You start in the catacombs. The fresh fish get a head start. Sket, go! You nursemaid these goons. I don’t want them dying in the first five minutes. Go now!”
His air pistol lifted, then a pellet ricocheted off the ceiling, bringing dust and pebbles with it.
VII
As B & D’s men gave way,
