Renegade Magic (Star Renegades Book 1) Page 4

  “Where are you going?”

  Wasn’t it obvious? “I’m going to drag them both back here before they get themselves killed.”

  5

  Dania

  The human men whispered in the dark somewhere in the bushes off to the right. Most Earthans didn’t realize that enforcer hearing was better than a human’s. In most cases, she could pick out a conversation in a crowded room if she concentrated hard enough.

  She stood, wiped away her feigned tears, and stumbled to the doorway. She didn’t have to act. Her legs still ached from the beating she’d received. It didn’t take much to look vulnerable.

  The man from the bar, Ty, stepped out in front of her. “Are you okay?”

  A human woman would be embarrassed or angry if she’d been taken advantage of. Dania decided to act somewhere in between the two emotions. “I don’t want to discuss it.”

  She attempted to pass him, but he placed his hand on her arm.

  “I sort-of wanted to talk to you about something else,” he said.

  Of course he did.

  She looked down at his hand and then back to his face. He smiled sweetly.

  He’d seemed so kind in the bar. How many young enforcers had fallen prey to that fetching grin? Dania looked forward to slowly removing those lips, so he’d never be able to take advantage of anyone again.

  His smile turned to a frown. “I’m sorry.”

  She narrowed her eyes. She was sure he wasn’t sorry, but he would be before she was done with him. The other man moved behind her. His coppery hair whisked about as she pretended to struggle.

  Ty grabbed her and the other man pulled her arms behind her back. Fifteen years of instinctual training kicked in. Her knee came up and caught Ty in the groin. He shouted a typical human expletive and backed away just as the other man managed to click something around her wrists.

  Cursing again, Ty straightened, his face red. “I told you I just wanted to talk.”

  Dania twisted away from the other man. “Then what are these?”

  She sent a trickle of energy through the restraints, testing their resolve. She’d allow them to think she was captured, allow them to think they’d won, and then…

  A deep cold ran up her arms. She sent another jolt of power to the restraints, and the energy ebbed away, lost as if it had never been there.

  Dania’s breath caught in her throat. The restraints were fashioned from Palian steel.

  These atrocities were manufactured for a single purpose: to drain the energy of an enforcer, making them more like a human.

  The king had destroyed all deposits of this steel years ago. These trappers must have purchased these shackles illegally, probably from this very facility.

  Once she’d executed these miscreants, she’d need to come back and deliver a slow and painful death to whomever had sold them these blasted monstrosities.

  The shackles hummed, tingling her skin, drawing in her power. Her stomach turned, imagining a new enforcer, trapped, feeling the energy granted to them by their royal sponsor drained away to nothing…wasted.

  Dania’s skin beneath the bindings chilled slightly. Within hours, she’d be at a fraction of her strength. Fortunately, even at a quarter of her power, she’d still be able to decapitate these imbeciles with a flick of her wrists.

  This narrowed her window of opportunity, though. She needed to get free as soon as possible.

  She twisted, calling up tears, trying to appear as helpless as possible. “What’s happening? It hurts.” She fell to her knees. “What have you done to me?”

  Ty got down on one knee and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not permanent. It’s just to make sure you don’t freak out and kill us while we’re trying to talk to you.”

  She twisted away from him. “Please don’t hurt me.”

  Stars, she wanted to strike these men down and make an example out of them. Maybe Alexander had been right. He may have been a better target. His first reaction was never to execute a criminal.

  Dania worked to slow her breathing. In order to do the job her prince had assigned to her, she needed to quell her base instinct to eradicate all lawbreakers, but it was hard when every ounce of her screamed for justice.

  A tall man ran into the aviary, a gun in one hand, a tracking device in the other. He wore the thick, odd blue material on his legs so many humans seemed to covet, and a tight black T-shirt that appeared to be real cotton imported from Earth. Expensive—the type of garments worn by people who profited from the sale of sentient beings.

  His pale blue eyes widened, and his warm skin tone paled when his gaze fell on her. A gamut of emotions erupted on his face. Fear. Hate. Anger. Loathing. This man had come in contact with this uniform before, and it hadn’t been a pleasant experience for him. Which wasn’t a surprise if he spent time in the company of trappers.

  Something about his sharp, angular features seemed somewhat familiar as his face twisted into a sneer.

  “Are you two out of your star-brained minds?” The newcomer pointed to the man behind her. “Ethan, get those things off of her.”

  The man who’d shackled her, Ethan, apparently, backed away. “Cal, if we take these things off now, we’re goners. We need to explain first. She’ll get it and then we’ll be home free.”

  Get it? Get what? Humans grew more perplexing every time she encountered them.

  The newcomer slipped the tracking device into his back pocket and dragged his hands through his overly short hair. Her memory focused and centered.

  Eyes, nose, lips…match.

  He’d changed his hair, cut his dark locks short to avoid detection. Smart, but not smart enough.

  Calvin Espinoza: wanted for the murder of Prince Geron’s best friend, Filluck Palogivan.

  Her skin heated, tingling with power. Up until a few days ago, Calvin Espinoza had been the top target for every one of Prince Geron’s enforcers. Their directive was to kill him slowly and painfully, and then place his head, and only his head, at the feet of their prince to prove justice had been served. Geron wasn’t normally a vengeful prince, but he hadn’t taken lightly to his friend being slaughtered.

  Had Espinoza added sentient trafficking to his long list of crimes?

  Ty held up his hands. “I swear, I’ve talked to her before. She’ll listen. I think we can get you off the hook.”

  Off the hook? If anything, she’d draw him in more quickly. Luckily for them, her prime target was not Espinoza at the moment. First, she needed to eliminate this trafficking ring. She’d allow them to bring her back to their leaders, and after she’d executed them all, Espinoza would feel her sponsor’s wrath.

  Dania was already Prince Geron’s general, his most prized enforcer. When she brought back Espinoza’s head, no one would question why her prince had selected her to lead his guard.

  She stared at Espinoza and held back her smile, imagining Geron’s delight to finally see justice served for his friend. Geron deserved that closure, and she’d gladly give it to him.

  Dania tested the restraints again and her arms cooled. She shivered at the thought of sacrificing more of her power. She needed to find a way out of these monstrous restraints before she had no more strength to fight.

  6

  Cal

  Cal’s hands clenched as he stared at the handcuffs holding the enforcer on her knees before them. That wild, silvery-white, living hair floated about her face as tears streamed down her cheeks.

  Bile built up in the base of his throat. This wasn’t who he was, terrorizing a helpless girl. But he needed to remember that this girl was not really all that helpless, and the second she got those cuffs off, she’d be gunning for them.

  He couldn’t believe Ty and Ethan would do anything so foolish. At the same time, he was damn impressed they’d managed to get handcuffs on a trained killing machine.

  The cuffs glinted in the low lighting. He needed to figure out how to…

  Wait a minute. Were those made of…Palian steel?
<
br />   He pointed to the cuffs. “Where in the name of Jupiter’s moons did you get those?”

  Ty smirked “You know me: Mr. Resourceful.”

  Yeah, but this time, his resourcefulness might get them all killed.

  “Please let me go.” The silver-haired girl sniffed. “I promise I won’t hurt you.”

  Was she serious? “That’s not going to happen.” Because they’d be dead before those cuffs even hit the floor.

  Her eyes darkened like a cornered predator before the expression whisked away again. She looked like a scared girl underneath that mass of swirling hair and opal white uniform, but they all needed to remember what she really was.

  Cal grabbed Ty’s shoulder. “We have to let her go.” The question was, how?

  “Can we at least try to talk to her?” Ty asked.

  He had to be insane if he seriously thought this girl was capable of seeing past any of their crimes.

  A blast of light shot past Cal’s head. Heat seared across his skin as one of the trees exploded in flames. Cal grasped the girl in one hand and Ty in the other and pulled them out of the way. Another blast hit where Ty had been standing, and Ethan leapt toward them, rolling behind a tree.

  “What the heck?” Ethan’s red hair glowed as another laser bolt exploded not far from them.

  Cal peeked out from behind a bush as at least a dozen armed mercenary-types flooded into the dark. They flared up laser pointers. They probably had night vision, too.

  The girl seemed oddly calm, but Cal kept her close anyway. “Were you guys gambling again?”

  Ty shook his head. “No. I swear.”

  They ducked as lasers scanned over their heads.

  “Then what do these guys want?” Cal whispered.

  Ty looked at the girl, and cursed.

  “What?” Cal asked.

  “I’ve heard rumors.” Ty peeked through the trees.

  Was he seriously going to leave it at that? “Are you going to elaborate?”

  “They say there’s a black market for enforcer slaves.” He looked down at the handcuffs. “I think that’s what those shackles were actually created for.”

  Enforcers? As slaves? Everyone in this galaxy had lost their minds but Cal.

  The girl’s jaw dropped. She looked at Ty, then Cal, then in the direction of the guys with the military tech. Any other time Cal would have wondered what she was thinking, but he had worse things to worry about at the moment.

  Ethan army-crawled to them and pointed to a simulated tree painted on the wall. “We need to get over there. That’s a maintenance entrance.”

  “Are you sure?” Cal asked.

  Ethan shrugged, but at the moment, that was all they had. They bolted for the painting. Ethan ran his hand along the edge.

  “Hey. Stop!” a voice called.

  Ty pressed against the outer line of the inked leaves before a flash ignited, blasting a hole in the door and lighting Ty’s shirtsleeve on fire. Ethan slapped the fire out with his palm, and then spun to the door.

  “Let’s go!” Cal pushed the enforcer forward through the smoking opening. She twisted in his grip, but the shackles must have been working because she wasn’t fighting with anywhere near the vigor he would have expected.

  “They’re after the girl?” Ethan looked over his shoulder as they sprinted down the hall. “Then leave her.”

  Cal glared at him. “And condemn her? You idiots made it so she can’t defend herself.”

  Ethan stopped, pulling out a key. “Then let her go.”

  The wall behind them exploded in flames.

  “Come on!” Cal grabbed the girl’s arm and dragged her down the hall.

  By now, Alanna and Doc would have the ship ready. They could get to the Renegade, let the girl go, and then blast out of there.

  The enforcer would be too busy fending off the mercenaries attacking her to turn that power on Cal and his crew. By the time she’d eliminated her own problem, the Star Renegade would be long gone.

  It was a haphazard plan, but it was something. There wasn’t time to come up with anything better.

  Cal handed his gun to Ty, and his first mate shot over his shoulder. Hopefully, any civilians had run for cover by now. The enforcer scowled at Ty, but she continued to run. Cal guessed she’d decided they were the lesser of two evils. Too bad that probably wouldn’t save them once they set her free.

  “Almost there,” Ty called.

  They rounded the corner, and there she was, the Renegade, already moved into position for takeoff. When he got on board, he was going to give Alanna a long overdue raise.

  Crews stepped back, letting them pass, while others shouted expletives. Not that he cared all that much. He didn’t plan on coming back to this hole anytime soon.

  Shots came from behind, and the dock workers leapt for cover. Hopefully, Alanna would see her crewmates running toward her and lower the entry ramp.

  Another shot flashed right in front of Cal’s face. He stopped short as another blast crossed their paths. What was happening? The bad guys were behind them, not out here.

  “Ambush!” Ethan ducked behind a different ship.

  Several meters away, the Renegade’s landing platform began to lower. Doc stood at the entrance with a particle distributor in his hands.

  Damn, that was overkill, but at least Cal knew no one was getting on his ship without permission.

  Ethan made for the ramp. A blast sliced across his jacket, and he fell, rolling. Doc shot, covering him as Ethan crawled up the platform to safety. Good. One down.

  “Go!” Ty called, covering Cal with several shots into the flanking attackers.

  Cal looked down at the enforcer, then back to the dozen or so attackers entering the docking bay, and the several points of fire coming from behind the storage containers.

  His ill-conceived plan to free her had required a key, but the key had just made it to the ship with Ethan.

  Another shot blasted over their heads.

  The easy thing to do would be to leave her, to toss her to the wolves and make his escape. After all, she was most likely all they wanted. The enforcer stared back at the people firing at them with an unnerving coldness in her eyes. She was probably calculating all the wonderful ways to kill them. Heck, she was probably including Cal in that list.

  If he left her there, though, stuck in those handcuffs, they’d take her. She was only a year or two younger than Cal, and there were just too many. If Ty was right, and these people were going to sell her as some kind of expensive party favor—well, he just couldn’t do that to another person, even if she’d execute Cal either way.

  Ty jumped on board, and he and Doc fired out, trying to clear a path for Cal to join them.

  There were far too many weapons discharging to get through to them, though.

  Ty yelled something to Doc, and Doc disappeared into the ship, probably to help prep for departure.

  That was probably a good call. Cal would need Ty for liftoff, but for now, Ty was a far better shot than the doctor.

  Cal wiped the sweat from his brow. This was a no-win situation. Bringing a restrained enforcer on board would put a target on the Renegade bigger than Jupiter. But leaving her to slavers was out of the question.

  Cal took a deep breath and gripped the girl’s arm. He hoped they’d all live long enough to regret this.

  7

  Dania

  Dania ducked as an intensified honing beam exploded over their heads. Alexander had pointed out an annoying number of times that no matter how strong she was, a well-placed shot with any number of weapons could disable her. And multiple hits would kill her, if she wasn’t healed in time. She dearly didn’t want to prove him right.

  She pulled against the bindings. If she could only break free of them, she could eliminate dozens of trappers in minutes. That would leave the leaders free, though, and her goal unattained.

  Another shot rang out, and Espinoza ushered her farther along the wall of shipping containers they’d hidd
en behind.

  She was still baffled that these men who’d subdued her weren’t the criminals that she’d been sent for. Why would Espinoza’s men want to bring an enforcer right to him? Did they want to overthrow their captain and take the ship for themselves?

  Espinoza pulled her down as another blast shot over their heads. The bindings itched behind her back. Did any of these men filling the hangar bay know where Matara was? Did it matter?

  Her jaw ached and Dania loosened her clenched teeth. She wished she could unleash her power and take down all these people who had been responsible for the suffering of dozens of young enforcers. They deserved death, and she’d give it to them in time.

  First, she had to allow the plan to progress as far as possible. By now, news of the ruckus must have reached Kile. He would come and at least pretend to rescue her. If only there was a way to tell him that she wasn’t with the real trappers. That way, he could deal with the fifty or so criminals raining fire on the innocents in this chamber while she took care of Espinoza herself.

  She’d have to hope she’d trained her men well, and that they would realize what was going on. She’d be more than happy to give her commander the glory of stopping the trapping ring because deep down, executing Calvin Espinoza was far more important to her sponsor, no matter how many enforcers the royal family had lost.

  Of course, she and her people had to comply with the king’s decree, but in private, her prince had deemed Espinoza’s death to still be his top priority, and she would see it done.

  Three of the trappers came out from behind the storage containers, guns raised. When Espinoza looked back to his ship, she turned slightly, balled her fists, and sent a wall of energy at the attackers.

  Dania winced and unfisted her hands as a blast of searing pain stung through her arms.

  She took a deep breath and held it, glaring over her shoulder, even though she couldn’t see the steel bindings. The burn intensified, and she closed her eyes.