Alien Chronicles 2 - The Crimson Claw (7 page)

Understanding his warning, Ampris knew better than to glance up in search of the surveillance device which must have been activated. She wondered how he knew. He would have to show her how to tell also.

Backing her ears, she said, “A bath sounds wonderful. Prepare it at once.”

An appreciative gleam entered Elrabin’s eyes. Bowing to hide his smirk, he did as he was told. Seconds later, she heard the rushing sound of water coming from the bathing chamber.

Ampris ate her fruit, smacking her lips over its ripe, exotic taste. She couldn’t remember when she had eaten this well, yet the meal had not been heavy. She would sleep well tonight, and the good rest would help prepare her for whatever she had to face tomorrow.

While she wandered around the sitting room, opening table drawers and exploring, Elrabin returned to clear the remnants of her dinner.

She watched him work. His slender hands were deft and quick. He made almost no noise. Every movement was economical and efficient.

“What will I do tomorrow?” she asked. “I was supposed to see the grounds today, but Ylea put a stop to that. Will you show me around?”

Elrabin kept working, sweeping the cloth off the table with an expert flick, then folding it into a small bundle. “Me? No. Ain’t allowed on the training grounds,” he said. “Probably you’ll hit the outside ring, show off what you can do. The next day you’ll do weights and endurance in the gym. Then tumbling. By the end of the week, maybe the master will let you meet the others.”

“Are they all like Ylea?”

Elrabin kept his head down and his expression hidden, reminding her that they were still under observation. “The Blues are a good team,” he replied in a neutral voice. “The best. You’ll see.”

She hated being spied on, hated the feeling of violation, of having her privacy stripped away. Of course they would spy on her, watch her to see how she behaved in private. They would want to know if she complained or plotted or sought escape when she thought herself alone. It took effort for her not to back her ears, but she kept them erect and forward.

“It’s a big honor to fight with the Blues,” Elrabin said.

He glanced up then, met her eyes, and rolled his.

Ampris had to cough to conceal a laugh. Unable to mouth such platitudes in return, she changed the subject. “So what’s in the vid cabinet? When will I be allowed to leave my quarters? I’d like to take a walk, stretch my legs. I’ve been cooped up too long. I need to move.”

“Tomorrow you’ll get to move plenty,” Elrabin told her. “There’s a couple of vids in the cabinet. You let me know what you like, and I’ll see that you get it. The better you fight, the more rewards you get.”

Picking up the heavy tray of dishes, he pulled out a transmitter and unlocked the door.

Watching, Ampris wondered if he would give her that transmitter if she decided to escape.

“Elrabin,” she said, then stopped, not knowing what she wanted to ask.

He glanced over his shoulder and gave her one of his sidelong grins. “You’ll get used to it, Goldie,” he said softly. “Now, bathe and get some sleep. You need to be fit, in case you run into Ylea in the morning and she decides to sit on you again.”

So that was to be a standing joke. Good enough. Grinning back, Ampris watched him go through the doorway, quick as smoke. Her amusement lasted until she heard the locks snap on. Then her grin changed to a silent snarl.

She paced around the sitting room, restless and far from sleepy. She intended to do what she was told. For now, she would be a good gladiator, a quiet gladiator. She would perform her practice drills. She would obey her orders. She would stay fit and sleek.

But there had to be a way out of this luxurious prison. Someday, hopefully soon, she would find it.

CHAPTER
•THREE

An insistent tapping roused Ampris from deep, dreamless sleep.

She rolled over, refusing to open her eyes, and burrowed deeper beneath the coverlet.

“Ampris!” said a voice. A hand gripped her shoulder and shook her hard. “Hey, Goldie, wake up!”

Startled, Ampris sat bolt upright and looked around wildly. For an instant she did not recognize where she was. “Where’s the bell? How long till inspection?” she mumbled, rubbing her face.

“What inspection?” Elrabin countered. “Flash those big browns around and figure out where you are.”

But by this time Ampris already had. She lifted her arms and stretched deep and long until her joints creaked. The smell of food tickled her nostrils, and she sneezed in anticipation.

“Is it morning?” she asked, looking toward the small window and seeing only darkness.

Elrabin flung open the doors of the chest and rummaged through drawers. Pulling something out, he rolled it into a ball and threw it at her.

Ampris caught the clothing just before it hit her in the face. “What kind of service is this?”

“Hurried. Get moving,” he said, pulling out a training harness. He turned with it jingling in his hands and bared his teeth at her. “It’s daybreak. You have to be on the training grounds by the time the suns top the horizon. If you’re late, I get the beating. So move your fur, will you?”

But Ampris was used to having less time to roll out, throw icy water in her face to smooth down her fur, and bolt down cold, unappetizing food before heading at a run for practice.

Here, she didn’t have to worry about making her bunk. She didn’t have to wait in line for the hygiene closet. Her breakfast was served hot and delicious on a spotless platter.

Garbed in the unfamiliar coverall that Elrabin had given her, Ampris found it clung too tightly to her body, making her fur itch underneath. It was made of a strange, stretchy fabric, web-thin, yet incredibly tough and resilient.

She plucked at her sleeve. “What is this?”

Elrabin crossed the sitting room with her training harness in his hands. “What do you think?”

“Sensor web?” she guessed.

He nodded, intent on adjusting her harness to fit her better.

She’d heard of sensor suits on vidcasts, chiefly because of controversy over whether they should be allowed in arena competition, but there’d been none at Bizsi Mo’ad. “Does it work?”

Elrabin finished with the last buckle and held the harness up against her to see if he had the size right. “No, you have to wear it because the master likes the color. Of course it works! Everything here is state of the art, see? At least when it comes to you fighters.”

Nodding, she went back to her breakfast, swallowing the last flavorful morsel and letting the taste linger on her tongue. “This is so good. I haven’t eaten this well since—” She broke off abruptly and stood up, making her amulet swing around her neck.

“Better tuck that piece of fancy inside the web,” Elrabin advised her. “Especially if it’s your good luck. You don’t want to lose it in training. And don’t let Ylea try to take it from you.”

Ampris narrowed her eyes. “No one will take it from me,” she said grimly. “It’s an Eye of Clarity, and it—”

Elrabin grimaced suddenly and tilted his head away from her as though listening to something.

Puzzled, Ampris stared at him. She heard nothing, but perhaps his ears were keener. “What is it?”

But he was already straightening and turning to face her. He stood erect, with his thin shoulders pulled back. His eyes grew veiled.

“Time’s up,” he said. He held up the harness and helped her shrug it on.

Realizing that the surveillance of her quarters must have been switched on, Ampris found herself dying to ask him how he knew it, but she dared say nothing that might get him in trouble.

Elrabin finished buckling the harness for her. It fit too snugly over the sensor web, and she backed her ears in annoyance, not liking it. She slid her fingers under the straps, tugging.

“Too stiff,” she said. “Too tight.”

“It’s new. You’ll break it in soon enough,” he replied without sympathy and gestured toward the door.

As she headed to it, he pulled out the transmitter from his pocket and disengaged the locks.

“Good training today,” he said formally, bowing as she stepped across the threshold.

Ampris glanced back at him. As he started to close the door behind her, he stepped close and whispered in her ear, “Watch your back. Ylea’s blaming you for her whipping.”

“I knew it—”

“Hush!” He lowered his voice even more. “She won’t get to you today, but Ruar’s on her side.”

“He—”

“Don’t trust the old
odger,
see? Now forget him. He’s nothing as long as you keep an eye on him.”

“Thanks,” she said, feeling nervous about what lay ahead of her.

“Yeah. And watch your step with Halehl. He’s meaner than you think.”

She drew breath to ask him questions, but his expression changed and he straightened away from her.

“Hey, Ruar,” he said. “Good daybreak to you.”

Hastening up with a long leather strap coiled in his knobby hands, Ruar scowled and grunted a response.

“Hello, Ruar,” Ampris said.

Shaking back his scraggly mane, he ignored her and clipped one end of the leather strap to her harness.

Affronted, she stiffened in protest. “I don’t have to be led. Take this off at once.”

As she spoke she reached for the snap, but a tiny spark jumped from it and bit her fingers.

Wincing in more surprise than pain, she glared at him and shook her smarting fingers.

Ruar curled his broad lips back from his teeth and held up a transmitter. “I control your restraint collar too, so no bad talk from you today, no trouble.”

Fuming, she opened her mouth to tell him what he could do with his transmitters and collars, but Ruar waved the transmitter at her in warning, and she remained silent.

Her temper, however, was boiling. There was no need to leash her and restrain her like some wild animal.

“Today, I take you where to go,” Ruar said, leading her away.

Ampris glanced back over her shoulder, certain Elrabin was watching her humiliation, but he had already vanished inside her quarters with a firm snap of the door.

“Tomorrow, you will know,” Ruar went on, tugging at her to quicken her steps. “Tomorrow you will go by yourself. Nowhere else will you go. You will be trusted, and you will cause no trouble.”

He glanced at her as though to make sure she understood.

She hated it that they all seemed to think she lacked intelligence. “Yes,” Ampris said impatiently. “I understand.”

They went down the steps into the courtyard where she had met Ylea yesterday. Unconsciously Ampris tensed herself, but the bulky Aaroun was not lying in wait to ambush her again.

They crossed the courtyard quickly in the chilly, gray dawn air. Inside her web sensor suit Ampris felt perfectly warm. But her ears quickly grew cold, and the damp air stung her eyes, making them water. She lengthened her stride, crowding close on Ruar’s heels and making him strike an irritated trot in order to stay ahead of her.

To her right lay the entrance gate and the long road they had flown along in the transport yesterday. Ampris looked that way, considering how hard it might be to get past that gate.

A floating vidcam hovered just on the other side of it, flashing at her. Ampris backed her ears. “Is that a news-cam?” she asked.

Ruar didn’t even bother to look. “Maybe,” he said, his voice sour and impatient. The light was growing rosy and clearer, and ahead she could see streaks of muted gold beginning to spread across the dusky sky. “Maybe news. Maybe spy. Maybe thief, wanting to steal high-priced gladiator. Always someone there. Always trying to get past shields.”

He glanced up at her and curled back his lip. His rheumy old eyes held a momentary glimmer of amusement. “Nothing can record past your sensor web. Waste of spy money, trying to see what goes on in here. No news on the Blues till they
win.
Hah!”

They went through another gate, and Ampris saw a huge compound stretching out before her. Several utilitarian, rectangular buildings were on the left. According to Ruar, they contained the gyms, indoor arena, and pool. To the right, she saw a spacious open-air arena, ringed with slat-rail fencing of indigenous wood. Instead of sand, the ground was covered with some kind of wood shavings, fragrant and soft, packed down slightly underfoot by the cold dew sparkling on everything.

Halehl stood waiting at the center of this arena, clad in a hooded web sensor suit of his own that fit him like a second skin and glimmered wetly with every movement. A deep, square box hovered off the ground beside him.

On the opposite side of the ring, a group of Aarouns clustered near the fence. Her heart sinking with dismay, Ampris glanced at them and wished she didn’t have her new teammates for an audience. She was nervous enough, and anxious to do well. She knew that she must learn to fight in their style, not her own. She must work hard to integrate herself into the team. None of them looked as young as she. They had that scarred, bored, well-seasoned slouch to their muscular bodies, and she felt increasingly self-conscious.

Then she noticed that each of them was tethered to the fence by a leash similar to hers. Somehow, that failed to make her feel better. Were they tied like animals to keep them from attacking her as Ylea had done yesterday? Or was it a game of humiliation, designed to shame them and remind them of their place? Either way, the sight of these intelligent adults standing tied up like beasts of burden depressed her.

She did not let herself look at them again, not even when the criticism and jeers started.

“Look at her!”

“Let her walk the walk. Prance, golden cub. Strut your stuff!”

“Did they buy her for her looks or for her muscle?”

“Muscle?” Ylea’s voice rose above the rest. “She puny, a weakling.”

“She walks like her arms and legs have been tied together. Wait till she gets to Ceunth Siltr and hits
that
gravity.”

“She’s hopeless. There isn’t enough time.”

“Pretty, though.”

“You think any female in fur is pretty.”

“Want to wager there’re stripes under that sensor suit?”

“You’re on!”

“She won’t fight,” Ylea said caustically. “She’s a freezer. She’ll freeze in the ring. I’ll bet on it.”