I can’t have been unconscious for long, because the carnivorous cats have not started ripping me apart yet. I am lying flat on my back and am staring into two amber-colored eyes. It takes me a minute to realize that these eyes belong to a face that has human characteristics, because of the distant, and at the same time, amused, look in them is identical to that of the cats. I have the opportunity for direct comparison, because the two huge cats are sitting next to the man. They are waiting obediently with their paws in front of them, and their tails wound calmly around. Before I know what I am doing, I crawl backwards with the help of my elbows, out of reach of my three guards.
The man lets me move away from him. One of the cats wants to stop me, as I can see from the way it tries to pounce, but he stops the cat by holding out his hand and making a growling sound. When they are sitting, the predators’ heads reach up to the man’s shoulders. He has a strong build, no doubt about it, but in a one-on-one fight with one of those animals, he wouldn’t stand a chance, based on bodyweight alone. I correct my assessment of him when I see how he moves. Placing one foot in front of the other, he moves as elegantly and quietly as his feline companions. When he does this, you can see the impressive muscles in action. Even so, I wonder how he can control the cats. Now that I am not in close proximity to those razor-sharp claws, I can get a better look at them. With some form of terrified fascination, I see a frightening intelligence in their eyes. They appear to be as smart as their master.
The man kneels down on the ground next to me, and it is clear that I cannot underestimate him, especially in the presence of his cats. His nostrils flare as he examines my scent. I don’t dare look in his eyes, so I concentrate on his shoulders instead. His skin has a gold shimmer to it, and his bare chest is exceptionally muscular. These are not the hollow, pumped up muscles of a man who works out on machines. One can tell immediately that he knows how to use them. His upper body is covered in scars, old and new. Before I can let my eyes wander down further, he stands up. “Get up.”
The shock of hearing him speak my language takes my breath away. I had assumed that he belongs to a primitive race that communicates with hand gestures and grunts, at best. He must guess what I am thinking, because his straight eyebrows pull together, and he inspects me with disdain. “If you can’t run, then I will need to leave you behind.” His hand moves to the knife at his hip. “I can also offer you a quick death…” His deep, dark voice sends a shiver down my spine. He is dead serious. Never before have I jumped from a prone to an upright position this quickly.
The world is spinning in front of my eyes, and I take a few deep breaths before I can see clearly. The cats tower head and shoulders above me, and the man himself is still just as imposing from this perspective. Once again, I curse my small stature. But even if I were as tall as an Amazon, I still wouldn’t have anything that could counter my discoverer’s sheer strength.
“Where are you taking me? Are there other survivors?” He doesn’t dignify me with an answer. Instead, he starts to make his way deftly through the forest. I really don’t have a better option, so I follow him. His large steps make it difficult to keep up. Soon, the exertion of the last few days – or has it only been hours? – takes its toll. My legs won’t move anymore, and my side hurts. I fall behind, only to be prodded firmly in the back by one of his animals. I hadn’t even noticed that it had snuck in behind me. So I stumble on until, at some point, I fall in complete exhaustion to my knees, and can’t get up anymore. Instinctively, I hold back my tears when he comes back to look at me, literally from on high. I know I can’t reveal any sign of weakness in his presence, or he will leave me behind to die. Somehow, I need to make it clear to him that it would be to his advantage to take me with him. But how? I have no way of knowing what counts as important or worth having in his world. At this moment, I feel more useless than ever before in my life. I mean, really, what is so special about me? The time I spent on Earth, underground and in the fight against the Sethari, is nothing compared to what I have experienced in the last few days.
I found my true love and lost it again. I survived a space ship crash. Those are the main points of my life so far.
The man who now holds my survival in his hands does not make a single move to help me. I pull together the last ounce of strength I have left, and stand up. “This isn’t working,” I say, and cross my arms in front of my chest to hide the shaking of my hands. I take a deep breath and look him in the eyes. “I want to know where we are going.” I hold up one finger, and then the second one, and hope that he can’t see my nerves. “I want to know what you are planning to do with me. And third, I want to know your name.”
He squints a little, and the corners of his mouth twitch a little. My fate hangs in the wind, and my heart races. But what do I have to lose? Exactly. Nothing.
“For a small and weak person like you, your courage is admirable.” He stands so close to me that I have to tilt my head back to look at his face. He sniffs one more time, tilts his head to the side and then inhales deeply. “My name is Zeyliv,” he says at last, when he has made his decision. I would like to take a step backwards, to avoid getting a stiff neck, but I can’t be doing anything that could be interpreted as pulling away.
“I am Cassie Burnett,” I say. Zeyliv acknowledges this information with a nod. Since he doesn’t hold out his hand, I assume that this is not customary on Betania. I wait patiently for the next part of information I asked for, but he leaves me hanging until I can’t stand it anymore. “Well?” I prompt him.
“We are going to my village,” he says. The way he says my tells me a lot about him. He is definitely one of the most influential men there, if he isn’t their leader. He moves confidently, and is obviously not used to anyone challenging him. I myself would have not called me courageous, just because I wanted information about what will happen to me. Desperate would be more accurate. Be that as it may, I now know his name and our destination.
Suddenly, his eyes get unbearably intense, and I close my eyes. I won’t like what is coming next. I feel it in my whole body. “Concerning you …” His voice drops down to a confidential whisper. He draws the pause out so long, that I start to fidget. I consider slipping into his head, but something tells me not to. I am not strong enough to hide my intrusion, and I don’t know what kind of abilities he himself has. I know that I shouldn’t underestimate someone who can subdue a huge feline predator with one flick of the wrist.
At last he starts to talk. “There are three possibilities for you,” he says so softly that I have to strain to understand him. “You will be sold at the slave market, if you don’t have any abilities that are interesting to us.” He holds up one finger, and I know that he is making fun of me by imitating my gesture. “The second possibility is that we categorize you as useful and keep you. If you prove yourself to be docile and submissive, you will have a future as a house slave with us. If you are tough enough, but aren’t docile, then we will put you to work in the Allathium mines. The third possibility is that one of my warriors, or one of the hunters, would like to have you as his mistress.” He raises his eyebrows mockingly, to show me that he considers this last possibility to be highly unlikely. What would one of his men do with a weak thing like me, anyway?
This damned arrogance releases a flood of rage in me. I am so irate that I slap him in the face without hesitation. Well, I try to hit him in the face, but his hand catches mine before it ever gets close. With one smooth turn, he forces me to my knees. The growling on my right and left reminds me that the cats are still there, but it’s too late now to worry about being eaten by them. I do the only thing I have left, and bury my teeth in his thigh. The satisfaction I feel when he flinches gives way to a painful shock. He gives me the smack in the face that was originally intended for him, but it is clear that he isn’t using all of his strength. Even so, the world blurs before my eyes. I bite my tongue to keep from bursting into tears, not from the pain, but from the humiliation. However, Zeyliv humiliates me even further, and without much effort. He pulls me up, as if I weighed nothing, grabs me, and throws me over his shoulder.
Encouraged by the gleeful grins on the cats’ faces, he trots off.