My mind races. Meanwhile, the two groups of gunmen march forward – closing in on us from both sides. Their steps are unsteady with fear, but they have both the advantage of numbers and guns.
“Drop your fucking swords!” The biggest guard, with the biggest rifle, screams out the warning.
The clattering sound of three Orb-Weapon hilts hitting the ground stuns me. I’d never have imagined the Aurelians giving in so easily.
Then again, this alleyway would be a terrible place to die. The puddles under my feet are small and shallow, and yet they look hungry for me to fall into them. I imagine the Aurelians are no more enthusiastic about meeting their end on these dirty, dingy cobblestones than I am.
Spur's men advance. Now the Aurelians have dropped their weapons, the human guards are in full control of the situation. As they approach, they look at me like a piece of meat.
Shit. Now I know I'm not going to go back to dancing. Now that I know Spur wanted to sell me, the stakes are higher than ever. He’ll be furious that the Aurelians betrayed him, and wise to the fact that I’ll try to escape given the first opportunity.
He'll have me carted off to the next slave auction – end of story.
That thought disgusts me to the core. Dancing for dirty, disgusting men was bad enough – but the thought of being forced onto a slave auction stage, wearing nothing more than a skimpy dress that hides nothing, fills me with dread.
Imagine the vilest of human men, Rogue Aurelians, and – oh, Gods – even Toads bidding on me! The thought is horrifying. I’ve already spent weeks in an Aurelian Harem – experiencing the powerful dominance of those towering aliens…
…that would be heaven compared to being stuck in a Toad harem.
"Calm."
The single word emerges from the lips of the leader of the Aurelians, Daccia. He speaks it so softly that I know the words are only for my ears.
Calm, he says.
Fuck, I’m calm already – look at me!
I'm not trembling, at least. I'm too strong for that. All I know is I'm not going to be taken alive. Spur’s men, these Aurelians – they’re all the same. These fuckers all think I’m just some weak-willed woman.
Let's see what happens when I grab one of their guns and jam it in their mouth!
I’m gearing up to do exactly that – knowing it might mean my end – when there's suddenly a low hum from above me.
A shadow passes overhead.
As one, all of us look up. Spur’s men gasp - their jaws agape as they see an Aurelian Reaver swoop down above them. The Aurelian attack ship is a dark menace, blotting out the sun. The twin cannons on either side of the ship track Spur’s men – both groups of them, at either end of the alleyway.
Oh, Gods!
They might be working for Spur – but nobody deserves to be blasted into nothing by the powerful Orb-Beams of an Aurelian warship.
I scream: "No!" – but it's too late.
Orb-Beams lance out from the floating ship. I hear the screams, but I can't look. Spur’s men are running away – the ones that aren’t killed instantly, at least. A moment earlier they were filled with bravado, thinking they had the Aurelians dead to rights…
…now they’re rushing to escape the bloodbath of the alleyway.
And yet, as they flee, I look up and see there was no bloodbath.
Somehow, none of Spur’s men were hurt. The Orb-Beams seared the cobblestones, and burned black marks across the walls, but in their mercy the Aurelians had let them flee like frightened children, rather than cutting them down like dogs.
"No reason to kill," growls Hadrian, the most brutal of the Aurelians. He’s kneeling on the ground, gasping from his injuries, but the slightest curl of a triumphant smile adorns his marble face.
I look up at the black shadow hovering overhead. The Aurelians had made their Reaver shoot in front of the men, not right at them – or through them.
The race of warriors known for their brutality had demonstrated a rare kind of mercy, instead.
Hadrian speaks again – his voice strained from the gunshot wounds.
“No reason to kill,” he repeats, “but I think a couple of them pissed their pants.”
I stand there, too shocked to even smile at his comment.
I would have expected these Aurelians to want to crush their enemies. Then, I'm reminded that – at their core – these three warriors still work for the Aurelian Law Enforcement.
Killing men – even men who haven’t been innocent since the day their mother spawned them – wouldn’t be tolerated by their authoritarian government of the Aurelian Empire.
Their laws may be cold, cruel and crushing…
…but they’re consistent.
The alleyway is now deserted – with Spur’s men long gone. The Reaver overhead slowly descends on autopilot.
I remember watching a safety holo-vid, back when I was ten years old. It was a three-dimensional representation of a kidnapping. I remember the harsh voice of the man who was leading the safety video.
He’d told us that if you're in a kidnapping, your chances of survival drop by 70% as soon as you get into the kidnappers’ vehicles. If you're taken to a second location...
…you're almost never seen again.
That’s not going to be me.
I use the distraction of the descending ship to wriggle free and run.
Or, at least, I try to…
I make it two steps before Kitos grabs me by – closing his huge fingers around my hand and yanking me back firmly I nearly stumble off my feet.
He grips on tight. I can't move a muscle. Then, Kitos looks down at me with his piercing, slate-grey eyes.
"You were told you’d be punished
