Madeline gasped quietly and Lore pressed a hand to her mouth.
“Blaine.”
Her lips moved against Lore’s palm. So this was the man from Earth. He was far bigger than the females.
“Move it, Earth scum.” One of the guards jammed a fist into Blaine’s side.
The man moved fast. Faster than Lore thought possible. Blaine spun and thrust a fist into the guard’s face. It was brutal, violent, and hard. The guard flew backward with a cry, and fell into the mucky, foul water.
The other guard moved forward, snapping out a stun baton. He slammed the device into Blaine’s gut, and a flash of blue electricity lit the tunnel. Drak. Lore pulled Madeline closer, praying they weren’t exposed.
Blaine’s body jolted, all his muscles straining, and his teeth snapping together. He dropped to his knees.
The first guard dragged himself out of the water, his body dripping, a dark scowl on his face.
“Don’t antagonize him, Taoul. I’ve lost track of how many guards he’s killed.”
Both guards flanked Blaine, grabbing his arms, and dragged him away.
“I’m going to enjoy watching you fight the dag’tar,” the wet guard snapped. “It’ll tear you apart with its giant cock.” The guard let out a nasty laugh. “They’re going to toss the females in with you. Make you watch what it does to them, first.”
Lore’s jaw clenched. This was beyond depraved. While fights in the arena above could get wild and bloody, no one was killed. But this…
“Come on.” Madeline stood and slipped out of the alcove. “We have to gather more intel.”
Lore followed her, and they snuck deeper into the tunnels. Not far ahead, the tunnel ended, and they stepped out into a giant cavern.
This looked natural. Lore studied the rock walls of the circular space, lit by burning torches. He looked upward and noticed a faint circle of light far above. “They must have used the sewer system to link up with the underground caves and sinkholes.” Carthago was riddled with caves.
They hugged the wall and ahead, he saw cells carved into the walls with metal bars.
“That way.” Madeline pointed. They left the wall, moving quietly across the large space.
She moved ahead, toward a darker area in the center. The lighting in the cavern was sporadic at best, the place draped in darkness. But as she took another step, Lore realized what he was seeing.
“Madeline, stop!”
She took one step, not realizing the darkness was a giant hole. She made a strangled sound, starting to pitch forward. Lore grabbed her and yanked her back.
Down below, a beast roared.
“Jesus.” She clung to Lore, staring down in horror.
He heard something moving around deep below, grunts and snuffles echoing up, but it was too dark to see what it was.
Then Lore looked across the hole at the rock wall. It was honeycombed with cells, all covered in bars.
And in the closest one, he spotted three women, huddled together on the dirty floor.
“Look.”
Madeline stared across the gap and took a sharp intake of breath. “They’re definitely human.”
“Do you know them?”
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen them before.”
Voices echoed behind them, accompanied by footsteps. Drak. “Someone’s coming! We have to go.”
But Madeline tugged on his hand. “We have to get the women out.”
“We can’t. Not now. We’ll come back.” He grabbed her arm and yanked her back toward the sewer entrance.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” an alien guard yelled at them.
Drak. Slowly, Lore turned. Three big alien guards were bearing down on them.
They were all as tall as he was, and broad across the shoulders and chest. One had faint green skin, while the other two were some sort of reptilian race.
He tensed, getting ready to fight. He wished he had his sword right now. He could take them, but it wouldn’t be pretty, and it was going to hurt.
Then Madeline stepped forward. “We just delivered food to the other guards. Do you need anything?”
One of the reptilians let out a grunt. “Mutaba knows he isn’t allowed to get servers down here. Lazy drak needs to collect food from the kitchen himself.”
Madeline glanced at Lore, before she bowed her head. “As you wish.”
Lore quickly lowered his gaze and followed her lead.
“Get out of here before Vashto or any of the Srinar catch you.”
Madeline elbowed Lore, and together they turned and calmly walked back to the sewer entrance.
Lore’s pulse was racing. He was used to fighting his way out of every tough situation. But Madeline’s quick thinking had saved them a hard fight.
He glanced down at her as they slipped into the tunnel. “You were brilliant.”