In Enemy Territory - Shannon West Page 0,46
prisoners on Gatifrey had been legendary for keeping razor blades in their mouths, in case some gang fight broke out. In one of the fights that could spontaneously erupt at any time, the ability to spit out a razor and slash someone with it was like a magic trick. Spitting razors had become such a problem by the time the commandant had first arrived that he had directed the guards to immediately punch inmates in their mouths with their fists or even the butts of their disruptors as soon as any argument started, with no regard for injuries, bleeding, or broken teeth. Many inmates were walking around with teeth knocked out and infected cuts on their tongues and the roofs of their mouths because of it.
The result had been fewer arguments in the public areas, but also fear to even talk much when they were in the dining hall or out in the yard—or at least never to raise their voices. It made the inmates sullen and fearful, but the sadistic guards inside the dining hall seemed to like them that way. In fact, they seemed to like keeping the prisoners off-guard and on edge. It was like the wolves were guarding the sheep.
Rasc had to know all this too, but when Kylon was threatened by the guard, he totally lost his temper and reacted badly to the guard’s threats. Instead of retreating or backing away, he turned and snarled at them. “Get away from us. We’re not doing anything, you asshole!”
Since Kylon was standing right next to Rasc, the guard, who wasn’t overly choosy about who received the blow, slammed their weapon butt first down toward him. Since Rasc had already slotted himself neatly in front of Kylon, he took the full brunt of the blow, not on his face, but on his upper chest, near his neck. He gave a soft grunt of pain, and his knees buckled as Kylon pulled him quickly away and over toward one of the benches to sit him down.
“What’s the matter with you? Why did you do that?”
Rasc gasped, his lips white with pain. “Seemed like the thing to do at the time. That fucking bastard,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at the guard.
Kylon pulled him around to face the table. “Shh… They’ll come over here again. Let it go.” He slipped an arm around Rasc’s waist protectively. He felt a fierce possessiveness over him, like nothing he’d ever felt before. “Serves you right for jumping in front of me. I can handle myself, you know. You’re lucky that guard didn’t break your damn jaw.” But he still couldn’t help rubbing his cheek quickly against Rasc’s shoulder. Rasc groaned and winced as he tried to move.
Setin had brought his meal and come over quickly to sit on the other side of Rasc and hunched close to him in solidarity. Quickly the entire table filled up, with each newcomer taking his place and carefully looking over at Rasc as if to check how he was and then glancing curiously at Kylon. They wolfed down their food as their eyes darted back and forth. A small, dark man of indeterminate age, who looked disreputable and maybe a little dangerous, sat down across from Kylon and nodded carefully at him. Kylon opened his mouth to ask if he was Selinias Pax, but he frowned and shook his head at him, glancing up at the two guards who had come to stand behind their table, as if expecting trouble. Kylon flashed a quick look back at them and subsided, staying quietly next to Rasc, who was still breathing harshly and was clearly in pain.
“He’s hurt. I need to get him out of here, so I can look at his injury,” Kylon finally whispered anyway, despite the presence of the guards.
The dark man across from him shook his head shoveled in a mouthful of food and whispered back, “There’s no way. He can endure it for a few more minutes. Now be quiet—they’re looking at us. No, don’t react. Just be quiet.”
The next minutes seemed to pass excruciatingly slowly, with Rasc breathing more and more heavily and sagging on the bench next to him. At last the loud horn blew a harsh note again and the prisoners all stood up to take their trays to be dumped and placed on racks at the end of the room. They filed slowly out afterward. As they left, Kylon chanced a quick look over at the guard who had