I sighed in relief as the alarms finally quieted. I wondered what they’d been for—had something happened in the empress’s realm to warrant such a warning? We needed to get to Lise and Morph. We couldn’t wait until tomorrow.
If it is safe to use my wings. He hesitated, responding slowly, his scent glands going slightly rancid in his worry.
“Won’t let anything happen to you, buddy.” I clapped him on the jointed shoulder and his pincers opened and closed nervously.
The keys to the breeder pens were kept across the room, hanging on a wall next to where the four guards sat playing an unusual game with a pile of carved stones. I’d not seen it before, and I wondered briefly if it would come to the trading post casinos at some point. If I watched and learned now, we’d have a new con to run.
What are we doing exactly, my egg sac and chitin sharing warrior as one?
“Evik, that’s foul.” I covered my nose and raised an eyebrow. “Just trust me, okay? Have I ever led you wrong?”
My partner in crime gnashed his mandibles together, passionately beginning to click and bug spray all of the times that I had, in fact, led him wrong. He got so animated, that he started to draw attention to us.
“Okay, okay. I got it. So maybe I don’t have the best track record.” I took a deep breath, waving at the other captives, who seemed to be every species imaginable from everywhere possible. They eventually lost interest as Evik and I stood huddled together.
He still smelled terrible.
“Look, you kick up a good dust cloud, and I’m going to go all ooey-gooey and slide my way through the bars. I’ll knock out the guards with a little lightning magick, grab the keys, and we’re out of here.”
Your lightning magick fried our last ship, Evik grumbled, stepping back from me and looking like no convincing in the world could make him go along with the plan to get us out of here.
“If we can escape this place and find somewhere to hole up near the auction house, then it’ll be easier to save Lise. More the better if we can get Morpheus out of prison first. He’s the one we want in a fight. You know that.”
Evik gave a little dip of his head, his scent finally calming down to be a light odor of bog swamp instead of a full-blown dung heap.
Crouching down on the ground, I began to draw into the dirt with my index. “Now, here we are.” I made an ‘x’, then drew a line and several left and right turns, then a second ‘x’. “One of the groups I talked to said the prison for people who have really pissed off Empress Frog Bitch is right below her main chambers. She likes to have access to them through a viscous tunnel system. I won’t be able to dive through it, that shit’s laced with their venom, but I think you’ll be fine with your exoskeleton. Not sure about Morph, so getting him out might be a pain.”
My companion stood stoically, watching what I was doing with narrowed eyes.
I do not like your half-conceived plans.
“Well too bad, buddy. My half-cocked plans are all we got right now.”
We should wait here until we are taken to the auction house.
“And what if they sell the breeder stock first, Evik? Lise will be gone before we’re even led into the building.”
That may present… an issue, Evik conceded, his scent shifting again to something nauseatingly awful.
“We’ve got to get Morph first. You and I are good at what we do, but he’s the best tactical fighter.”
Our egg sac and chitin sharing warrior as one is quite impressive in a fight.
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t say it in front of him. He’s got a big enough ego.” I glanced up, seeing the guards beginning to stand and dumping the game stones into a big leather sack. “It’s almost time. Are you good?”
Evik nodded slowly. Do not let this be another time that you have led me astray.
“No promises,” I smirked, winking at him and then moving casually to the bars.
It didn’t take much to get my juices flowing. Thinking about Lise, her pert body tucked into the fitted flight suit, was more than enough. I visualized her in double braids, long hair swinging down her back. Perfect for tugging and pulling and getting leverage during an intense coupling session. Now, that would be magick. Forget nature powers. Lightning shocks wouldn’t hold a candle to a night with Lise, of that I was sure.
Save Morph.
Save the girl.
Be a hero.
No woman could resist a hero. She’d be lapping me up in no time.
The aphrodisiac chemical I held inside my body rose like lava, pushing through my pores to cling warmly to my skin. Oily, damp. Just enough lube to help me force my way through the narrow bars.
I turned around and nodded at Evik, who clicked a sigh before raising his exterior wing shields and revealing the lace-like extensions underneath. He beat them fast, and furiously, until not only our cell was filled with the dirt storm, but so were the adjacent cells. The flurry pushed past me, reaching out into the areas beyond, burying the guards in a brown fog.
Pressing between two bars, I worked my way out. My limbs screamed at me, the pressure more than I expected. But, then again, I was twelve inches of pure meat and muscle trying to fit through an eight-inch gap.
But we fae are… flexible.
My joints cracked and protested, but they relented, popping out of place only to pop back into place once they were past the barrier. I blinked furiously, as blinded by Evik’s efforts as anyone else. Yet, I was fairly sure where the guards’ table was, oriented to where I’d started. I worked my way slowly, lubrication-damp hands in front of me.
“Hey, who
