The Arrival: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Paranormal Romance (9 page)

Of course, nothing was ever as easy as it appeared, and Sorrin got to the top of the ladder and then found himself surrounded on all sides.

It was all wrong.

The Camadors were just as he remembered them.

They stared down at him with their cold golden eyes, and the one in the middle smirked slowly. "Take him to the cages. You know what to do."

The last thing he saw was them closing in.

When he woke, he was lying on something soft, his arms bound behind him. The side of his head ached, and he knew he'd been hit with something. Warrior training kicked in as his head cleared, and he waited before he sat up, listening to see if he could hear anything.

There was breathing, the sound of someone else close by. If it was an enemy, it stood to reason that he'd be dead already, so he inhaled slowly and then cracked his eyes open.

All he could see were bars at first, and when he shifted his muscles so he could sit up, it became apparent that he was in some kind of cell.

Also in the cell, with her back to the marbleized wall was a human woman.

She was interesting looking for a human. Pale skin, fiery hair that was shaggy and falling into her eyes. Her arms were wrapped around her drawn up knees, and she had her face pressed against them. Her clothes were dirty and ripped in places, and it was clear that she was a prisoner. Just as he seemed to be.

Sorrin cleared his throat, and her head snapped up. Interestingly, her eyes filled with something like anguish when she saw him, but she glanced away before Sorrin could get a good look.

"Where are we?" he asked, trying to keep his voice from cracking out like a whip. This was the second time he'd underestimated the Camadors and let his emotions get the better of him. If there was a third time, then he'd probably end up dead.

The woman flinched a bit. "In their prison," she said softly. And then, "You're not human."

"No," Sorrin replied.

"Then...have you come to help us?"

He opened his mouth and then closed it again, unsure of how to answer. Saving the people of Earth was a secondary goal if he was being honest. First and foremost he wanted to take down the Camadors, and if that helped the people here, then so much the better. His goal and his vengeance was what had brought him here.

But he needed to get out of this cell, and he might need her help to do it, so he nodded. "Yes."

To his surprise, she didn't seem overly enthused at the prospect.

"How?" she asked. "If you're trapped in here?"

"I'm going to get out," Sorrin replied as if it were obvious, which in his mind it was. "And then I'm going to come up with a plan."

"Oh." She didn't move or say anything else, and Sorrin shook his head and got to his feet, superior balance making it easy enough even though his hands were still bound.

There were no guards posted, which was either very stupid or purposeful. Maybe they didn't think he could get out, but that would be their downfall. Underestimating him was going to get them all killed.

"How often do the guards come in here?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Just to bring meals," the woman replied. "Every few hours. I'm not sure of the exact timing."

Every few hours. Sorrin could work with that.

"How long have I been in here with you?"

"About an hour, I'd say? Maybe a little more? I don't have a clock."

She sounded annoyed, but Sorrin ignored that. If he escaped from here, he'd leave the door open and she could follow once he was gone if she wanted. It was in her best interest to help him.

"Are you breaking out?" she asked, and Sorrin turned to look at her.

"I said I was. I don't have a choice. I can't kill them from in here."

"Will you..." She averted her gaze, seemingly unsure of what she was about to ask. "Will you take me with you?"

"No." That was an easy question to answer, and Sorrin continued his examination of the door.

“What do you mean, no?” she demanded.

“Just what I said. It’s not my responsibility to get you out of here. I’m opening the door for myself because I have a score to settle.”

The woman snorted, managing to sound disdainful even with the desperation in her eyes. “Right,” she said. “You’re going to take on these things all by yourself? That sounds like it’ll go well.”

“Excuse me?” Sorrin stopped his investigation and turned to look at her. She was a slip of a thing, shorter than him by at least a foot and a half, with no muscle tone whatsoever. Some of that could have been due to her being held captive here for however long, but he was willing to bet that she’d never fought anything in her life. And she was questioning him?

“You heard me,” she said, leveling a glare at him. “You got caught. You’re in here with me, and in case you haven’t noticed, your hands are tied behind your back.”

Sorrin didn’t speak, but he made a point of holding her gaze and then flexing, straining just a bit as he broke the ropes that held his wrists. He’d been hoping to avoid that, wanting to conserve his strength for other things, but she’d left him very little choice in the matter with her flippant tone.

Still holding her gaze, he massaged his wrists, taking some degree of pleasure in the way she was gaping at him. He might not have been in his prime, but he was surely still impressive when it came to a human. She’d probably never seen someone as large and strong as him.

“Wow,” she breathed, and Sorrin shrugged a shoulder.

“They cannot hold me.” As if to prove his point, he wrapped his fingers around the bars of the cell and gave a mighty yank. If there were any flaws in the design, then this would show them. It was standard training for a warrior, being able to get out of traps and prisons in the event they were captured, and he was sure the Camadors couldn’t best his training.

Sure enough, with a slight groan, the door popped out of place enough that he could work it open, and he smiled, satisfied. Not that he would admit it, but getting captured had been a blow to his pride, however short his imprisonment would actually be, and he was glad that he wasn’t completely rusty when it came to his former skills.

The human woman was watching with her mouth open now, and when Sorrin glanced back at her, something flickered in her eyes. She moved closer to him, looking like she was one step away from bursting into tears.

Great stars, he didn’t want to deal with that.

“Please take me with you. I...I haven’t seen my family in months. I don’t even know if they’re alive or dead or what. I don’t know anything that’s happening down there. I just want to get out of here.” She paused, biting her lip and looking down once more. “I can help you, you know.”

“Help me,” he said, voice dry. “And how will you do that?”

“Unless you plan to take them on all by yourself, you’re going to need human help. Humans aren’t going to just trust you because you say they should. You’re not from here, and we’ve all learned a hard lesson about how people from other planets are. We’re not so trusting.”

“You’re trusting me right now,” Sorrin pointed out. “Or trying to. How do you know I don’t mean to kill you once we’re away from here?”

“Because you’re their prisoner, too. And right now, any enemy of theirs is a friend of mine. You don’t know what they’re like.”

Sorrin snorted softly, shaking his head. “Yes,” he said, deadly serious. “I do. I know more than you how they can be.”

“They’re so…” The woman trailed off with a shudder.

“I know,” Sorrin replied. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his head. He wasn’t meant to get involved with the humans, but she had a point. The Camadors had gotten stronger in the time since he’d last fought with them, and they had been plenty strong then, too. There was no way he would be able to take them down all on his own. Humans weren’t made for this kind of fighting, but the girl had a point. The humans had a grudge now, which would make them powerful allies. Perhaps if he contacted Halphia… She’d be pleased he’d come to his senses at least, and could do something about getting them some help. It didn’t set well with him, since he wanted this revenge for himself and not for anyone else to help with, but he could mull that over later. For now, he—
they
—needed to get out of there.

"Fine," he said, relenting. Letting her out with him didn't mean he was agreeing to help her or the rest of the humans. It just meant that he wasn't leaving an innocent woman in the clutches of evil creatures who deserved to be burned alive for the atrocities they'd committed. At least she wasn't insisting that they go and rescue the rest of the humans on top of it.

Sorrin pulled the door fully open, wincing when it scraped against the floor with a grating sound that was sure to alert the Camadors to their presence.

He waited, holding a hand up to the human woman so she wouldn't move. After a few long moments, it became clear that no one was coming. A stroke of luck.

"Did you see where they put my weapons?" he murmured to her, not looking at her as he scanned the room, trying to see if there was a window or something to help their escape. Jumping out of it was not the best plan, and he was hoping for something else, but if it came down to it, he'd take a broken arm over being trapped here.

"Yes," the woman said, and she eased past him and out the cell door on light feet.

Sorrin wanted to hiss at her to come back, but she darted out quicker than he would have expected and then made her way to the corner where there was a chest. Judging from how she popped it open with very little effort, it wasn't even locked.

He bristled at the insult of that. As if they didn't even have to lock things down to keep him out of it. Underestimating him was going to be their downfall.

With his weapons back in hand, he felt better, and he made his way to the window, peering out of it to see how far of a jump it would be.

Pretty far, as it turned out, and he made a face, putting that firmly in the 'last resort' category.

“You’re not serious,” the woman whispered, looking at him with alarm. “We can’t
jump.
It’s gotta be pretty high up.”

“We’re not jumping,” Sorrin assured her. “Yet.”

Judging by the look on her face, she was less than reassured. “What if they catch us?”

“They won’t.”

Confidence went a long way with being a warrior. Sorrin had seen plenty of fights end because one party was better at intimidating the other with the sheer amount of confident bravado they exuded. Some of it was warranted, and, as always, some of it was not. Sorrin was hoping that his confidence would be enough to keep his human companion from getting too concerned about their safety. Now that he had agreed to get her out, he meant to do just that.

Speaking of, he couldn’t continue to think of her as ‘that human woman’ because it was inconvenient, mostly. If they were going to escape together, and Sorrin was going to let her help, then they were going to have to be on a first name basis. Or at least a name basis.

“What are you called?” he asked her as he opened the door to the room they had been held prisoner in and peered out. No guards. Curious.

“Abigail,” she replied softly. “Abby.”

“Abby,” Sorrin repeated. Odd name. “I am Sorrin.”

“Sorrin. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Mm.” They didn’t really have time for more pleasantries than that, and so they kept moving. It was curious and a bit concerning that there were no guards down the hall they were walking through. Nor were there any at the stairwell that led them to the lower floor of the building they were in.

In fact, they made it all the way outside without running into a single guard, and Sorrin found that perplexing.

His instincts told him that something wasn’t right. It was never this easy to break out of a place, and it should never have been this easy to get past the Camadors.

More than likely there was going to be some kind of trap waiting for them, the same way there had been a contingent of Camador guards waiting for him when he climbed the ladder up.

Going back down the ladder wasn't an option, so they were just going to have to try to get as low as they could and then jump for it. He decided to wait until it was clear that there was no other option before he mentioned it to Abby.

In the end, there was no trap. There
was
jumping, but Sorrin wrapped Abby up in his arms and managed to get them on top of a relatively flat roofed building just under the floating city. He was a bit bruised from the landing, hitting his shoulder hard, but Abby seemed to be fine, and more importantly, they were free.

It was easy work to make their way down and out of the building, and Abby looked somewhat overwhelmed to be standing on the ground again. She looked around her with wide eyes, taking in the sights, and Sorrin wondered how long it had been since she'd been captured.

Something to ask her later, perhaps. For now, they needed to move before the Camadors snapped out of whatever strange complacency they were in and decided to come after them.

"Is there somewhere we can go?" Sorrin asked. They could head back to his ship, he supposed, but that would be the first place anyone would look for them. It was better to try and blend in. To be as inconspicuous as possible until they had a plan.