Stolen - Nhys Glover Page 0,25

stand and run away. Or fight. It was ludicrous!

What did they want with me? Why come into the dangerous domain of the Danan to kidnap one lone woman? It didn’t make sense. I was nobody. Less than nobody.

Sitting back on my heels, I tried to think of a plan. But my head hurt so much I couldn’t put thoughts into logical order, no less come up with a plan to escape an unknown adversary on an unknown planet.

My mind threw up the last image I’d seen of Rian, his body cut to pieces, his life’s blood soaking into the ground around him. Only his face had looked like him. His eyes had stared up at the sky, dark, where only moments before they’d been white starbursts exploding with life.

My fault. It was my fault he died. He had been too young and inexperienced to take on those six-armed monsters, yet he’d done it anyway. Because of me. Somehow, I knew he wouldn’t have dashed into battle, outnumbered as he was, if it had been any one of the others who’d been taken. In a very short time I’d become important to him, just as he’d inexplicably become important to me.

Tears trickled down my hot cheeks. When had I started crying? I brushed the traitorous wetness away. There was no time for grief now. If I wasn’t to become a slave to these ugly females, or an unwilling bedmate to the Keeda, I needed a plan. I’d think about what I’d lost once I was away from here.

Opening the flap a little more, I peered out to get a better idea of the location of my hut in relation to the others nearby. Was I on the edge of the village or near the centre? If it was the first, I might be able to escape.

To where? What lay beyond the primitive settlement, under the brown and bilious sky?

Even with my head completely out of the flap, I couldn’t see much more than I had before. No one seemed to be nearby, so if I had any chance of escape I had to try for it now.

Inching out further, still on hands and knees, I began to crawl around the side of the hut. Everywhere I looked I saw more tiny huts, each probably big enough to house a small family. Yet there were no men or children to be seen anywhere.

I’d made it to the rear of my hut and could see that, yes, my shelter was on the outskirts of the village not far from the midden heaps. Beyond them loomed barren, rocky cliffs that rose miles into the murky sky. They reminded me of some fantasy citadel.

A cry went up! Then another. Before I realized what was happening, I was surrounded by the horrendous little females, all yelling and gesticulating at me at once. One lifted a stick and brought it down on my back. I huddled into a ball, trying to protect my head from a beating. My head was already splitting, I couldn’t take anymore.

Arms reached out and grabbed at my colorful kaftan, dragging me back the way I’d come. I caught words, then, my language implant translating for me.

“Get back where you belong, dog!”

“Don’t think to escape!”

“The Master wants you!”

“Just you wait until he comes!”

Each statement was made by a different female, and was accompanied by expletives my implant couldn’t translate.

I didn’t know who their master was, nor did I want to. This was bad. Really bad. Was I to be this master’s bedmate? Was he so gross that they needed to find a captive ‘dog’ to mate with him?

Why did my mind have to go to sex all the time? There were a dozen purposes a woman like me could be used for. It was probably because of my past experience.

My butt hurt as I was dragged backwards across the rough ground to my hovel. It took only moments, but I could feel the places where my skin had been shredded away. Luckily— or was it unluckily—I was still wearing the gown made from the magic fabric that never seemed to get dirty. Although I didn’t think even it had been able to keep up with my body’s evacuations. I smelled like a baby in need of a nappy-change.

Once I was alone again, and the door was sealed closed from the outside, I crawled back onto the filthy animal skin I’d woken up on. I let the pain and fear overtake me. Loud, raw