Corsairs: Kaspar (Corsair Brothers 2) - Page 104

Something pricks in my frantic mind. "Glads?" I ask. It's hard to think without drawing in a deep breath. Without Alice here. I want to race to the nearest tree and just shake it, hoping she'll fall out and into my arms. My vision gets fuzzy and I have to pause and take deep breaths, the way she would want me to. All the while, Gloom talks, but I can't hear him. It's just noise while I try not to think about asphyxiating on my own dying lungs.

Breathe.

Breathe.

Deep breaths, Kas.

"…probably fed him to Crulden by now. That guy just looks like a mean piece of work. He's got these horrible tusks and just…yuck."

Breathe.

Breathe.

"…never met a praxiian I liked. Mean bastards."

Breathe.

"…never made sense to me why they'd bring an aquatic race out as a gladiator but he's really strong…"

Breathe.

Wait.

I suck in a deep, clear breath. "What…did you say about aquatic race?" My voice feels tight. "What race?"

"You know. The moden." He makes a gesture with his arms, indicating a large body. "I was told they live in tidal areas because it takes some of the stress off their joints. That's what my dad always said." He tilts his head and frowns. "Uh…I guess he wasn't my dad. He was me. Man, it's confusing being a clone."

A moden. It's not a species I've run into often, but I immediately know what he's talking about. They're a very broad, heavily built race from a higher-gravity planet. Not extremely tall, but thick. So thick that there are jokes about moden being like walls. I think of four arms and a beaky snout. I think of big, heavy, lumbering bodies…and I think we're right next to a keffing river.

I whirl around and stare at the rushing, wild surface of the water. I think of the heavy footprint, and the four toes dug into the mud.

"Is the moden out here?" I ask, voice sharp. "Is he one of the glads hunting you?"

"He might be. I don't know for sure." Gloom is quiet. "And we are next to the river, aren't we? That's bad."

FUCK.

The moden gladiator must have grabbed Alice.

I'm going to kill the keffing bastard.

71

ALICE

I am in so much deep shit I might as well be a sewer.

The big, wide gladiator rubs my head like I'm a dog, and I try not to think about all the terrible things I've heard about gladiators and what they do to their human “prizes.” Kaspar has shared a few stories with me, but always breaks off when he talks about the fate of the humans, not wanting to upset me. My imagination fills in the blanks, though, and I'm not liking my odds.

Especially not with a big, strong, four-armed goon rubbing my head.

"I've never had a human of my own," he says thoughtfully. "I haven't won enough bouts yet."

Lucky me. Maybe I can turn this ship around, though. "We're great companions," I chirp happily. "We sing and dance and tell stories."

He makes another one of those honking sounds. "No one wants a human for stories." And he touches my cheek.

Nope. My ship just ran aground.

I decide to play this helpless, then. "But…that's all I can do." It's not hard for me to drum up tears, and I let them roll down my cheeks like I'm the saddest panda ever. I can cry at the drop of the hat, and I've got a dozen reasons to blubber right now. "I've got my period and I'm going to be unclean until it ends."

I'm hoping he knows nothing about humans.

"Period?" he asks, frowning. "Is this a sickness?"

I think quickly, trying to come up with the most plausible and yet terrifying situation I can. "It's when a female human's body is shedding the biological material of her last lover to make ready for the next one. We bleed a lot when the vestigular teeth come through the uterine canal to protect the vulvatic thyroid." I make up all kinds of shit in the hopes that it sounds legit. "It takes seven days and then once the remnants of the last male have been completely shed, the body's ready for a new lover. It's part of our reproductive cycle." I make my eyes very wide. "I'm surprised you've never heard of it."

He stares down at me, and I wonder if he realizes I'm completely full of shit.

"That's why humans aren't offered at every fight. Our bodies take time to get ready. The teeth in our vaginal canal have to recede."

The stranger finally grunts. "I knew that." He touches my cheek. "But I think you're lying."

My heart stops. "Why would I lie? My job is to be a prize for one of you big, strong types." And I press my cheek into his hand and smile up at him. "The bigger and stronger the better."

"Then why don't I smell blood?"

Tags: Ruby Dixon Corsair Brothers Fantasy
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