Chapter Twelve – Bianca
Would the warlord welcome them, or would he turn them away since they had the Rayne Five bounty on their heads? Bianca docked the ship, nerves churning in her stomach. Although maybe that was the morning sickness. Did it hit this quickly?
"Regretting the decision to give up fame and public adoration for this?" Gylden asked, the stress in his voice making his joke fall flat.
Bianca still smiled at his attempt. "Never. Well, it's time to face the music."
Gylden nodded. He held his hand to her, and she gratefully took it. Her hands trembled as they lowered the gangplank. The gladiator's sword was strapped to his back, a sign that he didn't want a fight. But the sight that greeted them as they exited the ship had them freezing. Half a dozen T'shav stood in a circle on the docks, all holding broadswords.
"Surrender your weapon and submit to a body search," one of them demanded, eyes narrowed.
Bianca's own T'shav pushed her behind himself, drawing his weapon quickly. He planted his feet firmly. "Not a chance."
"Gylden, please. They're our only chance." Bianca put her hand on his shoulder.
He gave her a tortured glance, then reluctantly lowered his sword. As soon as the first T'shav on the dock started up the gangplank, however, the sword was back in an attack stance. Their 'welcoming' party all tensed. Bianca twisted her hands. This was heading towards yet another battle. And if they didn't find Sanctuary here?
"Gylden," Bianca started again, but before she could plead for him to lower his weapon again, a seventh T'shav strode between those already there. He was tall and strong with a few grays in his black hair. Bianca stared, but not at him.
What surprised her was the human woman that accompanied him. The woman stopped at the foot of the gangplank, and the new T'shav turned to the guards. "Put away your weapons. These two are welcome here."
To Bianca's surprise, the other T'shav sheathed their swords at once. The human smiled up at her and Gylden, taking a small step forward and raising her hands.
"You don't have to be afraid of us. I'm Lisa, and this is my mate Zon. Welcome to the Sanctuary."
Bianca moved past Gylden. He tensed, but she put a reassuring hand on his arm before continuing. She stopped just in front of Lisa. This was the first human to have been woken up as a human in this strange world. The first human to take an alien mate and have an alien child. Bianca swallowed, suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed.
"Hi," she said. "I, uh… I mean we, we're looking for… sanctuary."
Lisa smiled and put an arm around her. "We know. We've been following the events that the Rayne Five Network has been presenting. We were actually preparing our son and a few of his friends to go pick the two of you up."
Gylden joined the two of them. He held his sword pointed downwards. When Zon stepped up beside Lisa, his hand held out, the gladiator reluctantly passed the sword to him.
"This will be returned to you after your assessment," Zon assured him.
"Why were you going to look for us?" Gylden snapped back, eyes narrowed in distrust.
Zon's black eyes glittered with a look Bianca couldn't decipher. "It has been Lisa's personal project to stop the gladiator games for almost a decade now. I have a lot on my plate keeping this Sanctuary safe, but we both believe you could be useful in ending the games for good."
"But only as far as you are comfortable with," Lisa added. She gave Zon a half-glare. "You are here first for your safety and peace of mind, not for my projects. You will be given time to adjust to life here before I present my proposal. And should you decide that you would rather not – which I would not blame you for – then we will find other ways for you to contribute to the Sanctuary."
"I don't want to fight," Gylden said. "I'm not going to kill anybody again."
"I'm glad to hear you say that," Zon said. "Because there is no fighting or killing permitted within the Sanctuary. If you do end up fighting, then you'll be exiled. It's as simple as that. But there will be time for you to learn all our rules. Right now, we need to get you both to our medical facilities and checked over."
"And there are all the legalities we're going to have to deal with, considering they're technically slaves." Lisa looked disgusted when she said the word. "Not that we're going to hand you back over to them. But it is going to take some finagling to get the Rayne Five Network to back off without the threat of a warship or two going to sort it out."
Zon smiled at Lisa as though she was the sun to him. It was the same sort of smile that Gylden always gave her. She leaned against him, turning to give her mate a smile. He squeezed her, and when Zon started away, Lisa at his side, they followed.
***
The medical checkup showed that both of them were in good health and that the baby was strong and developing nicely. When the doctors showed her and Gylden the vague blob that the scanners picked up and told them it was their child, Bianca had nearly burst into tears.
She had never really considered having children. There had been boyfriends in her past who she was certain that she did not want to have children with, but she had never thought about when she would actually have children. Now that she was pregnant, she was over the moon with happiness. And when she saw how happy Gylden was, well, that made it all better.
"These quarters are just temporary," Lisa told them as she showed them to a tiny room with a bunk bed and nothing much else. "These are usually reserved for troops, but unfortunately we just don't have any other rooms available right now. But your assessments ought to be processed within a standard week, and various occupations will be suggested for you. And you always have the option of going back to school, if that's what you want. By that time, we should have found a permanent place for you to live."
Bianca smiled at her. "Thank you. For everything."
Lisa nodded at her and slipped from the room. Gylden glanced around, looking a little wary, but when his gaze landed back on Bianca, a grin lit his face. In an instant he had her in his arms, kissing her deeply as he pressed her against the wall. Bianca giggled, kissing him back.
"Not that I'm complaining, but what's brought this up?"
"It just hit me. We're here. We made it. The network won't get their hands on us again, and we're free from being in the public eye. My life is mine. Forever and for good. It's mine. And I have a family. You and me and the baby. I have a family. And I'm not going to lose you again."
His tongue breached her mouth and Bianca laughed, pushing herself harder against him. For the first time in a long time, she was utterly at peace.
*****
THE END