The Gauntlet (The Cage 3)

The insult didn’t seem to faze Ellis. She signaled to her deputies. “Help load the slaves he’s purchased onto his ships. If Dane gets a punch or two in the process, I won’t object.”

“Err, no!” Bonebreak interrupted quickly. “We’ll load them fine ourselves. No need for you to go anywhere near the ships. Better for you all to keep a distance from them altogether, actually, for no particular reason at all. Now, I’ll be on my way—”

He was interrupted by a loud ringing from a piece of equipment on one of the tables. Everyone went quiet.

It rang again.

Ellis pointed to one of her guards. “Hand me that intercom.”

The deputy picked up the communication device as though it might bite and passed it to Ellis, who pressed a few buttons and then put it to her ear.

“Yes,” she said.

For a tense few moments, no one spoke. Cora could barely hear a voice on the other end but couldn’t tell if it was human. A worried feeling took root in the pit of her stomach. They were so close to being free. Just another few minutes and Bonebreak would conclude the negotiations. They’d be racing across the desert to his fake fleet of ships.

Ellis continued to listen to the voice, expressionless. “I understand.” She hung up the intercom and turned to Bonebreak.

Cora’s worry grew.

“Okay, okay, fifty extra tokens,” Bonebreak said in a rush. “You drive a hard bargain.” He must have sensed, like Cora, that whatever Ellis had heard on that intercom might be trouble. “Fifty each and seventy-five for the pink-haired girl, that’s two hundred seventy-five tokens, quite a payday. Anya, my slave, fetch the tokens and we’ll be on our way, stench and all—”

“No,” Ellis said quietly. “I don’t think so.” Slowly, her lips curled into a smile. “That was the Kindred transportation officers we liaise with. Their supply shuttle wasn’t scheduled to arrive until tomorrow, but it’s come early. It’s docking at the transport hub as we speak. And as it turns out, they informed me that these humans, who so suspiciously appeared out of nowhere, are fugitives. The Kindred are willing to pay well to have them back.”

“You can’t give them to the Kindred!” Bonebreak yelled.

“Oh, I’m not giving them to anyone. I’m selling them to whichever party offers the most, you or the Kindred.” She smiled. “We’re going to have a bidding war.”

8

Cora

A BIDDING WAR?

Cora couldn’t read Bonebreak’s face behind his mask, but from the way his body went rigid, she knew he must be as panicked as she was. More of Ellis’s deputies came in, followed by three uniformed soldiers who were nearly seven feet tall. Her breath vanished.

Kindred.

At first they were just silhouettes against the early morning sky. Two women and one man. Muscles like granite. Dark hair pulled back or else cut close to the scalp. They moved in the stiff way that revealed their emotions were cloaked. The flames in the fire pit cast a harsh light over their copper-colored skin, making it almost glow.

The male Kindred faced the fire-pit platform. Cora bit back a curse.

It was Fian, the Intelligence Council official who had pretended to be Cassian’s friend and confidant, but who had actually been a Council spy. He was the reason Cassian was being tortured and the reason she’d fled to this desolate moon.

Her fingers sparked with rage.

“Ah,” Ellis said. “The other bidding party has arrived.” She motioned to the bench on the opposite side of the platform from Bonebreak. “Have a seat, Kindred guests. Deputies, corral the rest of the wards. We can’t have them trying to escape. They’re our bargaining chips.”

Ellis’s deputies prodded Nok and Leon into the corral. Cora gripped the wooden bars, glaring at Fian.

“You know that one?” Nok whispered.

“Unfortunately,” Cora said tightly. “He works for the Council. He’s been trying to stop me from running the Gauntlet.”

On the platform, Ellis narrowed her eyes at the Kindred. “You aren’t the transport supply officers we normally deal with. Where are Titian and Malessi?”

“This is no routine supply drop,” Fian said coldly. “I am here on official Council business. I have come for those wards. They are Kindred property. Hand them over to us now.”

At seven feet tall, few creatures were more intimidating than Fian. But Ellis only smiled grimly, the firelight glinting off the badge soldered to her cheek. She jumped down from the fire-pit platform and reached between the corral bars, grabbing Nok’s fist.

“Kindred property?” She held out Nok’s bare hand. “I see no tags. I see no paperwork.”

“A technicality,” Fian said impatiently. “They escaped before they could go through the proper processing.”

Ellis raised an eyebrow, shaking her head. “They are untagged and on neutral territory, which means they’re free humans. And as the lawmaker who supervises all free humans on Armstrong, it is my authority to govern them.”

“We granted you that authority. We could take it away.”

“The Kindred didn’t grant me anything,” she countered. “The sheriff’s position has been designated by the Intelligence Council at large: Kindred, Axion, Gatherers, and Mosca. As only one-fourth of that, you have no more power or authority here than he does.” She threw a finger toward Bonebreak. “And so you see, we’re at an impasse. But I’m a reasonable person. Take a seat and we can discuss the fate of these wards.”

She motioned to the platform’s bench opposite Bonebreak.

The wrinkle in Fian’s brow deepened. He exchanged a few words with his colleagues in their Kindred language. He and the other Kindred sat on the platform stiffly. Though their faces were perfectly calm masks of indifference, Cora could practically feel the rage burning deep beneath Fian’s emotional cloak.

Ellis just smiled.

“Excellent. Let the bidding begin.” She climbed back up on the platform and paced before the fire pit. “The rules are simple. This needn’t take long. Whoever pays the most tokens gets the wards.” She turned to Bonebreak. “The Mosca has already offered two hundred seventy-five.”

“What do we do,” Nok whispered to Cora, “if the Kindred win?”

Cora shook her head, uncertain. “We’ll cause a distraction and make a run for Bonebreak’s ship. As many of us as can make it. Leon, you’ll grab Mali and head for the shuttle dock.”

He nodded.

On the platform, the negotiations continued.

“We only want the blond one,” Fian said, signaling to Cora. “We’ll give you one hundred tokens for her.”

Cora shivered as his black eyes met hers. For a second, she felt a flash of connection. His emotional cloak slipped for the quickest instant, revealing a glimpse into his head. She felt roiling panic there that he was desperately trying to hide. Panic that seemed completely un-Kindred-like. She saw an image of the aggregate station in chaos. Kindred soldiers dead. The marketplace in shambles. But she didn’t know what any of it meant.

“They’re a package deal,” Ellis said flatly. “And the price has just gone up to three hundred.”

“Three fifty!” Bonebreak answered.

“You don’t have three fifty,” Fian said flatly. “That isn’t even a real suit of shielding. It’s holographic, just like that fleet outside the encampment. These humans may not be able to see through your tricks, but we can.”

Bonebreak jumped up, outraged. “I have never been so insulted!”

Fian’s face remained calm outwardly, but his fist was flexing. His patience was growing thin.

“Enough!” Ellis said. Her voice thundered through the tent, silencing even Fian. “Deputies, fetch me that one—the girl with pink hair.”

Nok’s eyes went big as two deputies swung open the corral gate, reaching in and grabbing her. Other guards held Rolf and Leon back with guns. Nok twisted as they dragged her up to the platform, where the fire sent shadows flickering over her frightened face.

“I’m tired o

f these games,” Ellis said. She grabbed Nok by the hair, forcing her to stand in front of the fire pit. “I want final offers. And if they aren’t high enough, I’m going to toss each of these wards, one at a time, into the flames until your bids are high enough. The blond one you both want so much burns last.”

Nok let out a scream, trying to claw out of Ellis’s grasp. Though Ellis was strong, she was a good six inches shorter than Nok, and Nok flailed so violently that Ellis had to widen her stance to hold on to her.

“You can’t!” Rolf yelled. “Stop!”

Nok screamed again, twisting so hard that Ellis nearly fell over. Ellis let out a frustrated growl and tossed a look to the knives on Bonebreak’s trays of sliced cheeses. She jerked her chin, and the knives rose telekinetically. They glided eerily through the air to where Nok struggled. Two of them hovered on either side of her head, blades pointed at her temples.

Nok, breathing hard, stopped struggling.

Cora glanced at Fian. This was what he and the Council had most feared: proof of humanity’s growing abilities. It wasn’t just Anya and Cora who had perceptive skills—if Ellis did too, then there had to be more. Humans all over the known universe, in menageries and enclosures and maybe even back on Earth. But Fian didn’t flinch at the psychic display.

He already knows, she realized. That’s why he’s trying so hard to stop me from running. One last desperate attempt to silence us.

“It’s a pity,” Ellis said, admiring Nok. “She’s a pretty girl.” She shoved Nok an inch closer to the fire, the floating knives moving with her.

Rolf yelled, “She’s pregnant!”