As they resumed their journey, Varga noticed gratefully that there was little damage to the walls. Apparently, the tremors hadn’t caused any real damage to this section of the mines. They turned a corner, and another cell came in sight. Joan came to an abrupt halt, her eyes filling with tears.
“Oh my God. There’s another human here. Rummel, why didn’t you tell me?”
The male shrugged uncomfortably, avoiding her eyes. “Wouldn’t have made any difference.”
“Another woman,” Joan whispered.
He followed her gaze to the creature huddled against the wall and almost doubted her statement. The cell was filthy, the female equally so. Frightened, hostile eyes glared at them from beneath a wild tangle of hair.
“Hello there. I’m Joan. What’s your name?” Joan’s voice was low and soothing, but the female started to sob, and Joan turned back to him despairingly. “We have to get her out of there.”
He understood her desire to rescue the female, but the wretched creature wailing in the cell looked to be on the edge of madness. “Sweetheart, I’m not sure she’s capable of understanding what’s happening. She could endanger your escape.”
“I don’t care! I can’t leave her here. That… that could have been me.”
He found himself giving Rummel a helpless glance, but the other male only shrugged. “Can’t leave her here.”
Giving in to the inevitable, he used Ukhaan’s keys to open the cell door. When he started to step inside, the female began to keen in a low, penetrating wail. Joan hastily stepped in front of him.
“Don’t be scared. Varga isn’t going to hurt you. He’s my… boyfriend.”
Boy? Did she consider him a child? Before he could demand an explanation, the female started to laugh. The noise sent a chill down his spine—but at least it was better than that eerie wail.
“Boyfriend?” The voice sounded rusty, strained, but the words were clear enough. “This isn’t a fucking prom. He’s just another one of these animals.”
“No, he’s not. He came here to rescue me.”
The female snorted. “Lucky you.”
“I’m sure he would have come for you as well if he’d known. Isn’t that right, Varga?”
“I promised to assist the human females taken by the Derians,” he admitted. But how fortunate that he’d met Joan.
“You’re really going to get me out of here?” the female asked, a wild light in her eyes.
“Yes. Varga has a ship.”
A ship that was getting increasingly crowded.
“Which we need to get to as soon as possible,” he said firmly.
“Just a minute. What’s your name?”
“I was… am… I’m Polly.”
“Won’t you come with us, Polly?”
The female reared back against the wall, and he thought she was about to refuse, but then she nodded and climbed slowly to her feet. Fuck. She was naked, without even the thin gown that Joan was wearing, and the bruises and scrapes that marred every inch of her skin were clearly visible. How could anyone treat a female this way?
“Let me have your shirt please, Varga,” Joan said softly, and he silently obeyed.
She offered it to Polly, but the female backed away. “I don’t want anything from a male.”
“I understand.” Before he could protest, Joan slipped off her own gown and offered it to the other female. Polly studied it warily, then snatched it away and pulled it over her head. When Joan started to hand his shirt back to him, he shook his head and told her to put it on.
“We need to leave,” Rummel grumbled, darting a nervous glance up the tunnel. “It’s too quiet.”
“I know you,” Polly said, staring at the small male. “You brought me food.”
Rummel frowned at her. “Which you didn’t eat.”
“I didn’t trust you.”
Food? From the distressed look on Joan’s face, she had been the one sending it. He shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if Ukhaan had discovered her actions. But he wasn’t surprised that his female’s kind heart would have driven her to try and help others.
Wiping the sadness from her expression, Joan held out a hand to Polly. The other female shuddered and ignored it, but she made a few shaky steps in their direction. She got as far as the cell door before she froze, starting to moan again.
“It’s all right, Polly,” Joan said soothingly. “We’re going to get away from here. You’re going to be safe.”
Polly’s shoulders shook, but she finally stepped over the threshold, tears streaming silently down her face. “Safe,” she whispered.
Joan was crying too, and he put a comforting arm around her shoulders as they followed the other female down the corridor. Polly didn’t proceed in a normal manner. She would skitter ahead a few steps, then freeze and look around. Several times she huddled against the stone wall and Joan would have to talk her into moving again. Finally, Rummel grunted and fell into step next to her. Polly eyed him suspiciously, but he only grunted again and started spinning a long, convoluted tale about a traveling dice game and his misadventures with the Imperial fleet. She didn’t respond, but she listened, and her pace finally evened out as she kept step with the small male.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Varga said softly to Joan. “She’s going to need a lot of care.”
“We couldn’t leave her there!”
“No, I know. But she has to stay quiet and calm. If I have any reason to think that she will endanger you by her actions, I will do whatever is necessary to keep her quiet.”
She bit her
