Forced Handfasting (15 page)

              “Show yourself!” he shouted into the relief room. Seconds ticked by with no answer or movement. “I give you this one opportunity to step out where I can see you! If you make me come in after you, I will not show you any mercy.”

              Jahan glanced back at Niko, who had snuck on over without a sound to stand on the opposite side of the relief room door. Niko shrugged his shoulders as if to answer the burning question in his mind.
Who the hell was in there?

             
The sound of another scrap came from within the room but this time closer to the doorway. The faint whisper of a voice filtered into the large room, but he couldn’t make out what it was saying. It sounded more like a female’s voice if anything but he wasn’t sure.

              He was about to reach in, and grab whoever was on the other side but at the last second small, dirty fingers grasped the door to ease it open.

              “What the f...,” Niko began to hiss out but was stopped by Jahan’s wave of the hand.

              A young boy stepped out into the light with a look of pure terror on his grimy face. His wide blue eyes stared up at him as if asking Jahan not to hurt him.

              “What is your name, boy?” Jahan asked gently.

              “Wenn, my lord.”

              “Come here, Wenn,” he said. He wanted to let the boy know he was safe now, and would be taken to another location.

              Wenn stepped forward with his head bowed. “Please, my lord, my…my sister is also with me.”

              “You have a sister?”

              “Yes, sir. She is in there.” Wenn pointed to the relief room he just exited.

              “Call for her,” he said in almost a whisper. Two children! They had found two children that survived the attacks.

              “Quin,” Wenn shouted into the dark room. “You can come out. Come see who has found us!” The boy’s excitement was growing. A moment ago the young boy had been terrified beyond belief, and now he appeared to be filled with enthusiasm.

              A female of about three cycles stepped up next to her brother while she sucked on her dirty thumb. Her tear stained face broke his heart as he looked down into her upturned face.

              “There is nothing to fear, little one. I am going to take you someplace safe where you can get cleaned up. Is that okay?” He bent down until he knelt on one knee in front of the child.

              “Are you really going to help us?” Wenn asked. The young boy had come to stand beside his small sister, and put an arm around her shoulders.

              The pair looked pitiful. Was this what he was to face time, and time again? Children? Children with no parents? So far, three children had survived the onslaught of Rahman’s mad intentions. How many more survivors would he find?

              “My lord?” Tully called out to him from where he stood guard.

              “Yes?” he shouted back.

              “The other men have returned,” Tully stated matter of fact.

              Jahan scooped up little Quinn in his arms then nodded to Noki to do the same with Wenn. Together they left the office to return to the main room where Tully was waiting for them. Outside he could see several of his men waiting patiently for them to exit the dilapidated building, and return to the ship.

              “My lord, we were unsuccessful in finding any survivors.” Each group’s leader reported the same thing to him.

              “Alright then, let’s get move back to the ship. There are several more areas I want to check before we return to the command center.”

              The entire group made their way back to the ship that sat ready, and waited for them to return. Niko had left the ship running in case they needed to make a quick exit if they had been discovered by the enemy forces.

              Inside the ship, the children were strapped into a seat then given a protein pack to munch on as they continued their search. He would have to leave one of his men behind to watch over the younglings on their next stop. He wasn’t about to chance leaving them alone so soon after finding them. Maybe by some chance they would go to sleep the same way Bankee had when he had found her yesterday. Bankee had been so exhausted that she had slept the entire time he, and Marco had been out clearing the debris.

              Safely back in the air, Niko set a course for the next place he want to search. It was a large section on the mountain that had once held several homes. The last he remembered over one hundred people lived in that particular area. It was one of the major foods fields that supplied his people with fresh vegetables year round. He should have sent out a search party long before now but he thought there wouldn’t be anyone found alive, but the proof of survivors was event with the three children he had found so far. If the gods were good to him, and he prayed that they were, he hoped to find many more people alive.

Chapter 14

Sam was furious when she woke up to find Jahan gone. She had every intention of going out with him today, but he was slick, and made an escape without her. Not that she didn’t have anything else to do for the day, she just wanted to be with him in case he found any more kids.

Bankee slept for several more hours after she had risen. As she waited for her new daughter to wake up, she cleaned up their quarters then read on the tablet Jahan had given her in order to amuse herself.

The tablet was a fascinating electronic, more so than the ones found on Earth. The version of a tablet made the one she had on Earth look like a caveman’s tablet of stone, and the thing that struck her the most was the fact that it never needed charging. Jahan had informed her that it was powered by Pocoylium, an element found on the same world the Flox lived on.

“I’m hungry.”

Sam jumped at the sound of the tiny voice next to her ear. “Geez, you scared me! I didn’t even hear you get up!” She reached out to tug Bankee to her. “How did you sleep?”

Bankee rubbed her sleep filled eyes as she yawned. “Good. It felt nice to be warm again.” She laid her head on Sam’s chest.

Sam’s heart filled with joy. She loved the feeling she got when she was able to help a child out in need. It was one of the best feelings in the world, and there wasn’t much she could compare it to, other than being wrapped in Jahan’s arms!

“I am so happy to hear that, honey. Now, let’s get some food in your tummy!” She got up from the sofa she had been sitting on, and went to get Bankee a change of clothes. She had plans on leaving the little girl with Keena for a short time while she went out to find Jahan. She was going to give him a piece of her mind when she found him. She had only backed down last night because she was tired, and didn’t want to cause a scene in front of their new family member.

After they both had dressed, they headed to the dining room. It was not crowded because of the time of the morning it was, but there was still enough people, and kids there to make it hard to hear if one didn’t speak up.

She and Bankee waited in the line to get their breakfast that consisted of toasted bread, and what she had gotten used to calling scrambled eggs. Even though they were blue, the soft lumps tasted exactly like scrambled eggs cooked in butter. They talked while they ate their food, and Sam discovered that Bankee was eight cycles old, and didn’t have any brothers or sisters. For that matter, she didn’t have any family at all anymore thanks to Rahman.

A short time later Keena walked in with her infant son on her hip. She waved at her friend then sat back down.

“Hi!” Keena said with a smile. “And who is this?”

Bankee bowed her head in embarrassment. “This is Bankee, and she is going to be living with me, and Jahan from now on.”

Keena’s face lit up in surprise. “Wow!” When Bankee turned her head away, Keena gave Sam a questioning look.

“Jahan found her yesterday when he went out to look at the area above the generators.” Sam caressed Bankee’s head just like a proud mother might do when talking about one of her children. “She was all alone out there.”

Keena nodded that she understood what Sam was trying to tell her without words. She didn’t want to have to spell it out for her friend, and upset the child any more than Bankee probably already was.

“Well, what do you have planned for today?” Sam asked casually.

“Nothing but the same thing since we have been doing in here. I was going to see if one of the girls would watch my little guy for a while. Why?”

“Well,” she hesitated. She wasn’t sure if she should include Keena in her plans or go about it solo.
It might be easier if I had help.
“Want to go outside for a bit today?” She took the plunge and asked.

“Outside? How would we pull that off? I mean, sure we can get near the garage doors, but no guard is going to let you go through.” Keena spoke softly so that no one else would be able to overhear their conversation. “But,” Keena looked around before continuing, “It sure would be nice to get a few breaths of fresh air. You think we can pull it off?”

Sam leaned in towards Keena. “If we plan it right, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. From what I saw yesterday while we were in the garage, the main door to the outside is left open a sliver, big enough for you, and me to pass through. We would just need some kind of distraction in case someone sees us.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe, we could say one of the kids ran into the garage, and was hiding.”

Keena clapped her hands together. “Gods, that is so perfect! I feel like a teenager again! Plotting, and scheming while praying not to get caught!”

“So, you’re in,” Sam asked then held her breath.

“Are you kidding me? Definitely! Let’s go find one of the girls to watch the kiddos.”

Sam stood up and cleared off the table. She deposited their breakfast mess onto the disposal line then returned for Bankee. She took the little girl by the hand then she, and Keena left the dining room. The play area wasn’t far from the dining room, so it didn’t take them long to find a group of girls who were more than happy to watch the two younger kids. If there was one thing Sam found out about the residents of the command center, it was that they were always willing to help another out.

It didn’t take them long to make their way to the garage. Several of the ships she had seen in there yesterday were now missing, presumably out on missions. Not as many people were milling around either which was a good thing for the scheming women. They stood off to the side for a moment to fully take in the activity going on around them.

“Over there by the door there’s one guard. Let’s go. I got any idea.” Sam pulled Keena by the hand towards the open garage door. Her conscious started to talk reason into her as the pair crossed the stretched area.
You are acting irrationally, girlfriend! Why are you going to do something that you know is dangerous? You have never done anything like this before, so why now?

The guard near the door must have heard their footsteps. “I’m sorry, milady. You can’t go any farther.” The guard stepped in front of the door to prevent them from slipping out the open door.

Sam put on her best, and only performance in order to deceive a man. Acting breathless, she asked the guard, “Have you seen two little boys?”

“No, milady. Why do you ask?”

“There are two boys missing from the play area. No one has seen them for quite some time, and their mother is frantic. We are checking every nook, and cranny for them and…wait! Is that them?” She pretended to be looking under a ship that was currently being worked on by a single male. “Come here you two!” she shouted in the same direction she was looking.

“You found them?” Keena shrieked as she too pretended to see the missing kids. “There! Under the ship! How are we going to get them out?” Keena turned to the guard who was now actively looking for the two boys himself.

“I’ll go get them,” he stated as he set his weapon down on the table he had been standing behind. “Do you still see them?”

“Over there by the tail of the ship! Boys, come back here,” Keena was laying it on thick, better than what Sam had managed to do. Keena tried to look as if she was about to run after the boys but was stopped by a man who was more than three times her size.

“No, wait here. I don’t want you to get hurt. Lord Jahan would have my head!” The guard took off at a trot.

Guilt immediately flooded her as she watched the conned man run off on a wild goose chase. For a second, she debated not going through with her plan but when Keena roughly grabbed her arm, and pulled her to the door, all thoughts of abandoning the plan fled.

Before she realized it, they were through the doors and out in the open air. She took a good long deep breath then coughed! The air outside smelled like smoke. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all!”

“Oh, come on! You started this, now let’s go.” Keena was more excited about their little adventure than she was since she was now having second thoughts about doing something so stupid.

You got that right
; her conscious screamed at her.
You are one card short of a full deck right about now! You have never done anything like this before in your life! Not even at boarding school did you do anything bad! But you pick a fine time to try something daring when you are on a different planet married to a man who bought you at a slave auction!

“Shut up,” she said out loud.

“What did you say,” Keena asked as she led her by the hand to a rock formation near the end of the hidden passage that led to the garage door.

“Ummm.... nothing. Just talking to myself.” She glanced up at the mountain that rose up around them. “Where are we going? I didn’t want to go this far out.”

“When we were in here yesterday, I saw one of the guards park a roamer cycle over this way. I want to see if it is still there.”

“Why?”

“We can go for a short ride if it’s there!”

Sam stopped dead in her tracks.
Yep; this is getting out of control,
her conscious informed her. “I think we need to go back, Keena. If we get caught, Jahan is not going to be happy with us.”

“Of course
,
he won’t be happy with us, but what is he going to do? Forbid us from going out again? By the look of things out here, it’s a good possibility we won’t be going outside for a very long time!”

“Okay, let’s do it. If we are going to get in trouble, it might as well be worth it.” She started to jog to catch up to Keena, who had disappeared behind a rock formation.

******

Jahan’s ship returned to the garage late that evening with a total of sixteen survivors, nine children, and seven adults. The children had fared better than the adults, maybe because they were younger, and sturdier. It didn’t matter though; he was just happy he and his men had found more survivors while searching the countryside. The deceased they came across were given proper burials and laid to rest. He naturally assumed that most of the dead was incinerated in the fires that had consumed almost every building in the area. The market office building was the only partial one they found still standing.

              Jahan determined that once the ship returned to the command center, he would contact the Flox once again seeking their help. This time though it would be for a different kind of aid. He no longer wanted to fight Rahman, and his evil ways, but rather, he wanted to get the rest of his people off Uxslore. It was more of a rescue mission now more than anything. The safety, and well-being of his people were his main priority now since Rahman, and his henchmen had pretty much destroyed any re-establishment chances once this bitter war was over.

              The doors to the hidden command center came into view as the ship skimmed above the muddy ground in the pass that led to the garage. Niko had radioed ahead several minutes ago to inform them of their return, and to have the healer waiting because of the critically injured female they had discovered at their last stop.

              The ship landed safely within the confines of the garage. He breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the day was over, and he would soon be back in his Sam’s arms. He had to chuckle to himself when he thought about the anger he would probably face, but it was well worth it. There was no way in all the hells that he would have allowed her to go with him out on a mission that could have turned dangerous at any given moment. At least he had had the peace of mind knowing that she would be waiting for him to return along with Bankee.

              Niko and he exited the ship first then helped with the offload of the passengers. The healer was waiting as ordered, and rushed into the ship to get a first look at the female that needed his help. The poor thing was pregnant but suffered from burns on her legs, preventing her from walking, and finding food for herself. She was lucky she had been found because it was only by chance that one of his men had heard a faint cry for help right before they prepared to board the ship, and return home.

              The children that were found chattered noisily to each other as they left the ship. The nine children ranged in age from four cycles up to fifteen cycles, three females, and six males in total. The pregnant woman was the one with the four cycles old male who did nothing but cry the entire ride back to the command center.

              “Niko, I am heading to the command center. I want to contact the Flox.” Jahan set the last of the children down on the stone floor. “If you see Sam, tell her I will be home shortly.”

              “Sure thing,” Niko replied.

              Jahan left the group in the hands of Niko and the healer. With confident strides, he headed out of the garage and in the direction of the main control room. His stomach growled from lack of food, but it would have to wait. He needed to make a call to Flox before doing anything else.

              The control center was busy as always. Each and every station was occupied with a worker or soldier who was steadily doing his or her duty. Several children ran through the center causing a higher noise level, but he didn’t have the heart to shoo them out. Just the sound of their laughter made his mood lighten.