Faery Worlds - Six Complete Novels (33 page)

I could hear voices - Tony's and Spike's. Then I felt someone squeezing my hand.

"Wake up, Jayne, come on." Tony sounded worried. I wanted to squeeze his hand back, but my body was not obeying my mental commands at the moment.

Someone grabbed my foot and shook it gently. "Hey, Jayne, it's me, Spike. Come on, you're gonna miss all the fun, wake up."

Fun?
Was he nuts? Since when did sexual slavery sound like fun? The fog was clearing from my brain. I remembered seeing Ivar's face in mine and a sharp, stabbing pain in my arm.
Shit.
He'd gotten the jump on me. He was gonna pay, too, since I now realized that I was still alive.
Bastard should have killed me when he had the chance.

When my eyes were finally able to open about a minute later, I looked around me, but all I could see was Tony's face, worry etched in the lines above his eyebrows.

"She's awake! Hey, Jayne, I'm so glad you're back. You feel okay?"

I turned my head and saw the crew sitting at and standing around a wood table in the middle of a big room. I was lying on a couch in what looked like a log cabin ski lodge. There was even a big fireplace at the end of the room, not far from me. There was no fire in it now, though – probably a good thing since unless I'd gone into some sort of seven-month-long coma or had changed hemispheres, it was too hot outside.

I sat up slowly, waiting for the dizziness to stop. Whatever they'd stuck me with had really kicked my ass. I didn't remember a thing after my exchange with Ivar, not even any dreams.
And speaking of Ivar
... "Where is that motherfucker, so I can kick his ass?"

"Which motherfucker would you be referring to?" asked Jared, who had joined Spike at the foot of the couch.

"Ivar first ... then Dardennes."

Spike smiled, but I wasn't in the mood for his beauty, which showed how pissed I was.

"They're not here," said Tony.

"Where is 'here', anyway?" I asked, sitting up and looking around.

"We have no idea. We're in some sort of lodge in the forest. Chase and Finn went outside and looked around a bit, but didn't see anything or anyone."

The dizziness had subsided, so I stood up. Everyone seemed to be waiting for me to speak. "So what the hell happened? Last thing I remember is seeing all of you pass out around me and then getting into it with Ivar, before he stuck me in the arm with some needle."

Everyone looked at Jared for an explanation. "Well, the last thing any of us remember is saying 'Skal'. We all woke up here about a half hour ago. Whatever Ivar got you with must have been stronger than what we drank."

"So, what's the theory? Are we sex slaves now, or what?" I wasn't kidding but everyone laughed anyway.

"Yep, she's back," said Tony, giving me a quick hug. "I was so worried about you, Jayne. You were just so out of it."

"Yeah, well, see what happens to you after you're hit with an elephant tranquilizer ... hey, does anyone know what time it is?"

"No, none of us have our watches or cell phones anymore," said Finn, "but it looks like it's afternoon, if the sun's in the right place."

"Afternoon? What the hell? That means we were on that damn plane and passed out for ... how many hours?"

"There's no way of knowing, since we don't know what time zone we're in right now," said Jared.

I shook my head, not wanting to believe what the facts were telling me. "Where in the hell are we? And am I the only one who's pissed that we've been kidnapped?"

The front door of the lodge opened and Dardennes stepped through, followed by Ivar and Céline.

I saw red. Tony tried to grab my arm, but I slipped through. Spike and Jared noticed the look on my face and both moved to block me. Spike grabbed me in a semi-hug, gripping me across the shoulders with one arm while putting his opposite hand on my shoulder that was under his armpit. "Jayne ... "

I glared at him, angry as hell that he'd stopped me. "I hope you wore a cup today." I wasn't kidding. Anyone with balls was liable to get hurt with the mood I was in. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle Céline ... maybe punch her in the boobs until she begged for mercy.

Spike smiled in response, effectively taking some of the fight out of me.

Dammit. Why does he have to do that?

"Just wait and let's hear what they have to say before you take 'em all down, okay?"

I looked over at the rest of the crew. Everyone was standing stock still, frozen in place. I'd apparently surprised them with my G.I. Jayne act. I caught Chase's eye and he winked.
He winked!
Now I knew he had my back; and he was pretty big too, so that made me feel a tiny bit better. I looked over at Jared, but he was looking at Dardennes and Dardennes was looking back at him. I saw Dardennes give him a very slight nod.

What the hell was that all about?
I looked at Spike, but he was still staring at me, so he missed it. No one else said anything - everyone was waiting for me, I guess.

"Well,
shit
, people... are you just going to stand there while our captors come waltzing in to give us another shot of elephant tranquilizer?"

Spike released me, able to tell somehow that I was willing to wait a few minutes before unleashing my wrath on them. He stayed close, though, ready to give me another tough-love hug if necessary.
Man, I so wanted our first physical contact to include kissing. Now he's gone and ruined it. Guys are all jerks.
I glowered at him.

He grinned back at me, flashing those damn fangs again.

Argh.
He
had
to know what that was doing to me. There was no other explanation for that much smiling.

I felt Tony come up on my other side and take my hand in his.

I laced our fingers together, glad for his support. I think I was almost ready to fight to protect him, more than myself. It was my fault he was here in the first place. It was his chivalry awakened by my pitiful family problems that had made us runaways. "I'm so sorry I got you into this, Tones," I whispered.

"You didn't get me into anything, Jayne," he whispered back. "We're a team, we stick together. Just don't get yourself knocked out again."

Dardennes cleared his throat.

I couldn't wait to hear what he was going to say –
probably a bunch of lies
.

"Hello, everyone, thank you again for being here. I'm sorry if our methods for keeping our operation confidential were upsetting to you," he gave me a small bow, which made me want to pound him all over again. "But I assure you, it was necessary. All will become clear to you, eventually. But for now, we must commence the test, as we are running out of daylight. Please follow us outside." He and the other two turned, leaving the lodge through the front door.

I looked around at everyone, noticing Becky moving towards the door. I lost my cool again. "Oh, so we're just going to do whatever they say now, is that it? They say jump, we ask,
how high?"

Becky shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. What else are we going to do? We have no idea where we are ... ," she finished lamely, looking to Finn for help.

"Them people are our only way outta here that I can see. Chase and I checked the place out. We're out here in the middle of bumfuck Egypt," said Finn.

I looked over at Chase. He shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the front door, which was apparently his way of saying he was going to go see what they had to say. Finn and Becky followed him out.

Jared's eyes were aimed at the floor when I glanced over at him, but he quickly looked up and went to the front door too, not once even acknowledging me. I decided right then and there that there was something fishy going on with him; he was acting very strange. Maybe no one else had seen his little exchange with Dardennes, but I had.

Only Spike and Tony where left with me, and Spike made his move towards the door as it swung shut behind Jared.

"Et tu, Spike?" This was the surest sign I was stressed; now I was quoting from my Lit teacher's favorite Shakespearean tragedy.

He shrugged, his hand on the doorhandle. "Might as well. Beats sitting in here waiting for something to happen."

"Maybe ... maybe not." I turned to Tony. "So, what do we do? Go out there and face the music, or arm up and wait for them to storm the castle?"

Tony sighed. "I appreciate your concern, Jayne, especially since you were basically attacked while we all slept. But I think they're right; we're not going to get anywhere staying in here. At least out there maybe we'll get an explanation, or an opportunity to run away. In here, we're sitting ducks."

"Fine. Let's go, then. Just promise me you'll be ready to kick some serious ass."

"I promise. I'm ready - as ready as I'm going to be, I guess."

We followed Spike out the door, joining the others already standing in front of the lodge.

Chapter Eleven

Dardennes, Céline, and Ivar were joined by another one of their group. My parents always told me not to stare at people who look different than me, and for the most part I was able to control myself; but this time ... not so much. He was a dwarf. And I'd never seen an armed commando dwarf before, so it totally wasn't my fault that I couldn't look away.

He stood about three and a half feet high, wearing camouflage clothes and combat boots. He even had a black bandana tied around his oversized head,
and
a bowie knife strapped to his tiny thigh. It was only Tony's suddenly very strong grip on my hand that kept me from laughing out loud. I was totally on the edge right now – anything could have set me off; but seriously, no one could blame me for this one.

"This is Niles, your field contact. He will instruct you on the test conditions and supply your provisions."

Céline stepped forward. "We realize that you have arrived here under stressful conditions - some of you more stressful than others." She looked at me, and I gave her my best
screw you
look in return. "Be that as it may, I urge you,
we
urge you, to put that behind you and do your very best on this test. There is not only money at stake here. Those who complete the challenge, and do so in an exemplary manner, will qualify for additional remuneration."

Additional remuneration?
I wasn't sure what the hell remuneration was, but it sounded like more money, and that interested me. Not enough for me to stop being mad, but at least they had my attention now. I looked at Tony, and he nodded his head. We were both willing to listen.

Dardennes was talking again. "The object of this test is to make it through the course to the end."

Obstacle course. I called that one.
I looked over at Spike who was already looking at me. He nodded his head in respect.

"There will be four waypoints. At each waypoint, you will indicate your arrival by tying a flag to the waypoint marker. Each of you will have a set of colored flags assigned to you. There is no placing in this test, which means it doesn't matter who comes in first. It only matters that you reach each waypoint and finish the course."

Pfft
.
Easy as pie
.

Tony leaned over and whispered, "What's the catch?"

Exactly what I was thinking.

"This forest is not your typical forest," he continued. "There will be ... obstacles ... in your way; things designed to keep you from reaching your goals. You are permitted to use whatever is at your disposal to ... eliminate or incapacitate those obstacles."

Incapacitate?
What kind of obstacles needed to be incapacitated?
That sounded a little too ominous to me. I looked sideways at Tony and saw confusion on his face too.
Okay, so I'm not the only one lost here.
Chase looked like he always does, totally in control. Spike had a big question mark floating above his head. Finn and Becky were standing side by side, looking nervous, Becky hopping from one foot to the other like a little bird. I looked at Jared and he just stared straight ahead, his expression revealing nothing.
Sneaky bastard. He's up to something.

"The rules you are used to, the rules of our day-to-day society, do not apply here. You are very far from home. Consider this place to be ... a rule-free zone. The only rule is: there are no rules." He smiled, coolly.

Now, normally, I was a 'rules are made to be broken' kind of girl, but I was pretty sure he was talking about something more serious than curfews and smoking sections here.

Tony was whispering in my ear again. "Does he mean what I think he means?"