THREE DAYS LATER

It has been days since I was taken. Three days to be exact. I spent a night and a day in that dreadfully cold cave prison before they threw me into this cage and took me even further away from the ship. At least I can sit somewhat comfortably while they pull it through the snow like a huge sled. Definitely an upgrade to traveling over the shoulder of one of the brutes.

The cold is starting to get to me. I’m to the point where I’ve been cold so long that I don’t think I’m ever going to feel warm again. The cage is open to the elements and as I’ve quickly discovered, the natives of the planet don’t need fire to keep themselves warm. Their bodies are several degrees warmer than humans. So I do my best to huddle inside of my jacket. My hood is covering my head and I’ve tucked my hands inside of my sleeves. It’s enough to keep me from getting hypothermia or frostbite but I’m still shaking from the cold.

I’m also starting to lose hope that Lodyn is coming for me. Maybe my instinct is wrong, maybe he died in the attack at the ship. Maybe I’m all alone now and no one is going to come and help me. Those thoughts threaten to defeat me but I can’t let myself give up. I think about the women on my team that are counting on me and the people back on Earth that are praying for a successful mission. I can’t let myself be sold to the highest bidder on the slave markets when I have a job I need to finish.

I’m a resourceful woman, I always have been. I know I could fight my way free from these creatures but I don’t know where I am and I don’t know how to get back to the ship. I need to find someone who can help me get back but how the hell do I know who I can trust on an alien planet?

We’ve been traveling for quite a while when we suddenly stop. When I look around there’s still nothing to see, but a cave entrance and a lot of tracks leading inside. I have a bad feeling that this is where they’re taking me. Now we’re here and I’m out of time. I frantically look around the cage again for something to aid in my escape. I’ve looked continuously since we left but I guess I’m hoping that by dumb luck something will come to me that I haven’t thought of yet.

Eventually I just grab ahold of the bars and start shaking them. They don’t budge so I lay back and use my feet, kicking as hard as I can, trying to crack or loosen one of the bars.

“Enough,” one of the Salthu shouts at me, pounding on the bar closest to my head.

“Let me go!” I shout back, slamming the bar in retaliation.

“We will let you go soon enough,” a different one says. “But not until our pockets are heavy. You will bring a good price, female.”

“You fucking bastards,” I say, enunciating every word. The sight of them used to chill me to the bone but now that I’m about to be sold off I know they won’t kill me. This realization makes me bold and I’m filled with defiance and anger.

“Careful,” another one says menacingly through the bars. “You’ll sell whether or not you’re covered with bruises.”

His words send shivers down my spine but I don’t look away and I won’t cower.

Eventually they turn away from me and we continue on. I close my eyes and sit in the middle of the cage, concentrating on my breathing and concocting my own plan. My eyes snap open when the cage falls forward, like we’re going downhill. We’ve entered the cave and we’re following a winding dirt path that is leading us into the belly of the planet. I blink my eyes a few times to try to adjust to the darkness. Except for a few torches on the wall of the cave as we move, it’s really hard to see anything.

We continue our descent until I start to hear noises. They grow louder and louder like we’re about to walk into a stadium of people. The sight in front of me when we reach the bottom is unlike anything I could have imagined. There are huge cages lined up down the middle of the cavernous space. Creatures straight out of fairy tales roam through the cages as casually as if they were shopping at a market.

The chains on the cage start to rattle and then the door is thrown open. “Out,” the Salthu says, stepping aside so I can jump down.

I do and land on my hands and knees on the ground.

The beast towering above me grabs me roughly by the arm and pulls me to my feet. Then once again, I’m being dragged forward. Looking at the cages as I’m dragged past, I can see they are filled with various kinds of creatures. To me, they look like animals unique to this planet. I don’t see anything else that looks even remotely human.

I’m being led to an empty cage. My heartbeat is pounding in my ears but not from panic. There’s a calm that sweeps over me and I know that this is the moment I’ve been waiting for this entire time. This is my chance to make a move or end up as someone’s pet—or worse.

The Salthu holding me stops to talk to a dirty, orange-colored alien with huge eyes bugging out of his skull, wearing a strange-looking suit. They speak to each other in a language that I don’t understand but with the way they keep gesturing toward me, makes it obvious that they’re negotiating terms.

Eventually my captor grunts and nods before pulling me forward to an empty cage. When one of his hands releases me to open the door, I use the bars on the cage as leverage as well as the hand that is still holding me to run my feet up the side of the bars. When I flip my body over him, catapulting my feet through the air before wrenching my hand from his grip, I land solidly on both feet with my hands free, shocked looks on their faces staring back at me.

I take off running back where we came from. Dodging in and out through the strange creatures, I use them to block the Salthus from their pursuit. Adrenaline is pumping through my veins, fueling me on as I run as fast as my body is able, back up the winding paths to the entrance of the cave.

The light is blinding and I pause for a moment to catch my breath and look around me. I’m struck with confusion when I see guards from the cave entrance lying dead on the ground. Their weapons lay useless at their sides, what look to be deep claw marks the cause of death. I spin around, worried that there’s some sort of Attalan beast that has attacked the guards and now I’m standing here, vulnerable, out in the open.

From above, something launches into the air. I don’t wait around to see what it is, I run. I hear the soft thud in the snow as whatever it is lands behind me.

I haven’t gone far when I hear, “Margo,” being called behind me.

I gasp and turn around, immediately recognizing that voice. “Lodyn,” I say, turning back and running straight into his arms. “We need to go, right now.” Any moment now the Salthu will make it to the entrance of the cave. I grab onto Lodyn’s hand and try to pull him with me away from the cave.

“Wait, this way,” he says, pointing above us, over the top of the cave entrance.

I let him direct me to the incline on the side of the hill leading to the top of the cave entrance. I’m able to pull myself up with his help and by the time the Salthu emerge from the cave, we’re above them, looking down. We hide back against the side to keep from being seen as they yell and search through the snow, looking for our tracks. They don’t think to check on top of the cave and a swell of pride flows through me as I look over at Lodyn and our eyes meet for the first time in over three days.

He squeezes my hand and that small gesture eases the storm inside of me. I follow his lead, my body pressed against the cliff wall, barely allowing myself to breathe. After a moment, he motions to me and I follow. We walk over the top of the cave and wind through the cliffs, the sounds of my captors growing more faint as we continue to climb.

Lodyn makes sure to cover our tracks but the snow is helping us as well. It’s falling harder now and even though it’s quickly chilling me to the bone again, I welcome the coverage. He’s leading me through terrain that is rocky and full of twists and turns. We’re following paths higher into the mountains, passing numerous caves on our trek.

I’m starting to tire the further away we get but I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining when I’m just happy that Lodyn is alive and he came after me. As if reading my mind, he says, “We’ll stop soon for the night. The caves will provide sufficient cover and protection.”

“Awesome,” I say, completely winded and exhausted from everything that has happened to me over the last few days. “I don’t want to complain, but I’m exhausted. I don’t think I’ve really slept in days. I was too worried about what was going to happen to me,” I continue, “And I was so cold I couldn’t stop shaking. This planet just might kill me one way or another.”

For the last leg of our climb, I’ve been following behind him. Now, he falls back in line next to me and takes ahold of my hand again. “I’d never let that happen,” he says.

And I believe him. I have so many questions that I want to ask him. I want to know what happened after I was taken. How did the rest of the warriors fare in the battle? How did he manage to get away? Is the ship still in one piece or am I going to have a lot of explaining to do when I eventually meet up with my crew again? But I don’t have the energy tonight. All of my mental power is going to putting one foot in front of the other.

“This is it,” he says. I look around but it isn’t obvious where he’s pointing. He walks forward and crouches down. Then I finally see it. A small opening in the rocks. “Stay here while I make sure the cave is empty.” He slides his body through the opening and then drops down into the cavern below. While I wait at the entrance, I look around. He’s right. This is the perfect spot. No one would ever notice that it’s even a cave just from walking by.

Lodyn appears at the entrance a few minutes later. “It’s safe. Slide your feet over the rock and I’ll help you down.”

I do as he says. His arms wrap protectively around me as he sets me gently on the floor of the cave. It’s dark and quiet and I haven’t felt this safe since I left Earth. We stand together, simply touching each other’s arms. Then, regretfully he steps back, takes my hand and leads me further into the cave.

“I’m going to retrace our steps and make sure our tracks are covered. You’ll be safe here while I’m gone.” He sets his bag down in front of us and starts to take out supplies. I fight the urge to beg him to stay. At this point, I don’t want to let him out of my sight again. This experience was way too close for comfort. I don’t want to think about how close I was to being sold as property to a creepy alien.

“Here’s a blanket, it’s thin but made out of a material that will keep you warm while I’m gone.” He shakes out the blanket and drapes it over my shoulders. I pull it tight and savor the warmth it brings to my chilled body. “And, I have food. It’ll hold you over until I can hunt.”

“Oh, I can’t stomach any more raw meat. Maybe we could hold off on hunting?”

“I’ll cook the meat. For you and myself.” He lightly brushes his finger over my cheek and his touch sends tingles through my body. “But we won’t be able to make fire until we’re sure we’re not being followed.”

“Oh, thank you.” I exhale a deep breath of relief. “If I never see an animal being torn to shreds and devoured again, I’ll die a happy woman.” Trying to distract myself from how he makes me feel, I look down at the food he has offered me. “This looks good, though,” I say, looking at the mixture of jerky, nuts, and dried berries.

“Good. I have water as well,” he says, handing me something that looks similar to a canteen. “I’ll boil more for us when we have a fire so drink as much as you need. I’m sure your needs were not tended to while you were held captive.” He looks down, taking deep breaths, as if it pains him to even think about how I was treated while I was being held prisoner.

Reaching over, I set my hand on his arm. When his eyes meet mine I say, “Thank you.” It comes out as a whisper, all of the emotion I’ve been bottling up since this whole ordeal began threatening to spill out. “Thanks for coming for me.”

“I’ll always come for you,” he says, taking my hand and bringing it to his lips. Before we’re swept up in the emotions flowing between us, he kisses my hand before letting it rest back on my leg and then he gets to his feet. “I’ll be back before you know I’m gone.”

He hoists himself up and over the ledge and then he disappears from my sight. The warmth that he makes me feel, physically and emotionally, remaining all around me long after he’s gone.