“Globber the Slimerian?” Chloe choked, horror filling her as she looked at his mottled greenish skin and yellow, tusk-like teeth. And don’t forget his rapey tentacles, whispered a horrified little voice in her head.
“It isss I, Earth girl,” Globber burbled. His wide lantern eyes were glowing at her. “I have come for what isss rightfully mine.”
“But…but you’re dead!” Chloe exclaimed. “I saw Tark kill you!”
“He merely blasssted one of my heartsss.” The Slimerian flicked a tentacle negligently as though this was a minor problem. “I have ssseveral others, you know. As sssoon as I regenerated, I tracked you here. I wanted you from the moment I sssaw you aboard the Commerciansss’ station and now I ssshall have you.”
“No!” Chloe gasped. She fishtailed her body, trying desperately to be free. “No, you can’t sell me to him!” she shouted at Zaroni. “You’d better let me go right now. If Tark finds out what you’re trying to do, he’ll kill you!”
She knew that for a fact. They might have had an extremely confusing encounter just now but the big Kindred was very protective of her. He would never let this little asshole sell her or allow Globber to buy her if he knew what was going on.
“He’ll kill you,” she repeated. “Slowly. You’d better let me go or you’re going to be so sorry…”
“That’s enough from you, bitch,” Zaroni snarled in her ear, clamping his arm around her throat tightly again. He squeezed so hard Chloe gasped and gagged, clawing frantically at his arm. But the junior monk was definitely stronger than he looked. Though Tark could have broken him in half with one hand, Chloe couldn’t get away—couldn’t do anything while Zaroni and Globber agreed on a price.
“Done,” burbled the Slimerian at last. “The credit isss being transssfered to your ssspecified account.”
“Then the girl is yours.” Zaroni smirked. “I hope you enjoy her.”
“Oh, I fully intend too.” Globber’s huge yellow eyes glowed with lust and a long, slimy tongue, studded with the same tiny suckers as his tentacles, lolled from his lipless mouth. “I intend to enjoy her immensssely.”
“Good—here.” Zaroni loosened his grip for a moment and Chloe saw her chance.
“Tark!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs. “Tark, help!”
And then she was pushed roughly through the shimmering dimensional curtain and into the horrible tentacles of the Slimerian.
She turned her head once more to shout through the curtain, hoping to attract Tark’s attention—or anyone else for that matter. But the wall was already back in place as solid as though it had never moved and flowed and become transparent.
Chloe stared at its hard, shiny surface and felt tears of disbelief and horror rise like bile in her throat. Her worst nightmare had come true—she had been bought and sold, just as the Commercians had intended when they first took her.
And Tark, the only man in the entire universe she could depend on, had no idea what had happened to her or where she had gone.
Chapter Eighteen
“Why are you taking the Resonite Rainbow-faceted Crystal?” Monk Aaroni repeated, frowning up at Tark. “What possible use do you think you can have for it?”
For a moment—just a moment—Tark thought about simply taking the jewel and running. But they were deep underground, cut off from his ship and he didn’t have Chloe with him. He couldn’t risk it—couldn’t risk making a mad dash without her.
So he simply growled down at the old monk, “I-I n-n-n…n-nuh-need i-it.” As always when he was stressed, his stutter got worse. He could barely get the words out. His hand clenched into a fist of frustration around the jewel.
“You need it?” Monk Aaroni lifted his bushy reddish-gray eyebrows and frowned. “Whatever for?”
Tark started to try and explain—to talk about the prophesy—but the old monk shook his head.
“If you will permit me, my son, it would be easier if I simply read you.”
He reached up and placed his fingertips against the side of Tark’s temple and closed his faded orange eyes.
Tark wanted to jerk away—this reminded him entirely too much of letting the priestess in the Sacred Grove “See Into” him—an extremely uncomfortable process which involved having all his memories—good and bad—scanned.
But he found he couldn’t move—the touch of the old monk held him as still as if he’d been encased in stone. What the hell was the old bastard doing to him and how was he doing it?
“To answer your questions, pilgrim, I am simply using the resonite robes which you wear to hold you still,” Monk Aaroni said, without opening his eyes. “The part which you perceive as cloth is only a small percentage of the actual robe—it has a network of fine, invisible fibers woven all over your body and each and every one obeys my command. That is my gift.” He frowned and seemed to concentrate again. Then his glowing eyes popped open and he pinned Tark with an accusing look. “Ahh—I see now. You and your female are not here to work on your relationship at all! Your whole purpose was to steal a jewel to heal your faltering speech.”
“Y-yes,” Tark said simply. There was no use in denying it—the other male could see inside his mind to his true intentions. “B-but i-it’s not Chloe’s fault,” he added quickly. “Sh-sh-she was only h-huh-helping m-me.”
Monk Aaroni nodded. “Yes, I see that too. And I see that you have done her a great wrong just now, participating in a class the two of you had no business taking!”
Tark felt his cheeks flush a dull, heated red with shame.
“Yes,” he said again. Then his jaw clenched. “B-but I w-wouldn’t have if your G-G-Goddess-damned gella m-muh-mattress hadn’t f-forced us t-to-together!”
“Hmm…” The monk frowned. Leaving Tark standing frozen where he was, he went to examine the mattress, which was completely still and quiescent now, and then came back to look at the jewel still clenched in Tark’s hand.
“I see,” he said at last. “You interfered with the control crystal before the class even began, didn’t you?”
“C-control crystal?” Tark frowned.
Monk Aaroni tapped the jewel. “This. The Rainbow-Faceted Crystal is what relays commands to the gella. If you hadn’t tampered with it, your gella would not have become so aggressive.” He sighed. “I am sorry for this misunderstanding and for what happened to your female—from your memories I see that she was quite upset.”
“Of c-course she was!” Tark growled. “A-after what that d-damn thing m-muh-made me do to her…”
Aaroni shook his head. “Well, as I said, you had no business taking the Advanced Oneness class in the first place. By lying to get into our resort, you have lost what you came for.”
Tark felt sick. “Y-you m-mean the j-juh-jewel.”
“Oh, no.” The monk shrugged. “You may keep the Rainbow Crystal. That is not what I am referring to. In fact—”
Just then Tark heard a panicked scream—someone calling his name.
“Tark! Tark—help!”
Chloe! His heart began to pound but he was still frozen, caught in the invisible resonite web.
“L-luh-listen,” he said urgently to Aaroni. “Ch-Chloe! Sh-she’s c-cuh-calling f-for me!”
The old monk frowned.
“And how do I know this is not some kind of ruse?” he demanded. Just then one of the other monks rushed in.
“Master Aaroni,” he exclaimed, his orange eyes wide. “The Dimensional Shift—someone has tampered with it! The wall between dimensions has been disturbed and someone has gone through it.”
“What?” Aaroni looked startled and disturbed. “But who would dare?”
“This one, would, Master.” Monk Taroni came in with the struggling junior monk who had been his apprentice. He was holding the younger version of himself by the scruff of the neck. “Tell the Master what you admitted to me, Zaroni!” he snapped.
“I sold her!” the younger monk snarled. “She got me into trouble—you were going to kick me out without a cred
it to my name. But I fooled all of you—I sold the girl and had the credit transferred to an off-planet account! You’ll never find it!”
“S-sold her?” Tark demanded, his heart pounding. He glared at the monk, feeling a low growl rise in his throat. “Y-you sold Chloe?”
The younger monk blanched some when Taroni prodded him, he answered.
“Yes, I sold your female. It was only fair after what she did.”
“Wh-who did you sell her to? Wh-where is sh-she?” Tark could feel the protective Rage that overtakes all Kindred when their female is threatened trying to cloud his vision, but he fought it grimly. He was no good to Chloe as a mindless beast. He had to find out where she had gone—what had happened to her—so he could find her and save her.
The younger monk shrugged negligently.
“There was some Slimerian who wanted her. He said she was rightfully his anyway and that you stole her from him. So I set things right.” He lifted his chin virtuously, as though he had done a good and noble deed.
At that moment if he had been free of the resonite web, Tark would have torn the little bastard’s head off his shoulders. But he wasn’t free and despite his fury, the death of the monk would make no difference. He had to go after Chloe—had to get to her before Globber did something horrible to her!
“Let me g-go,” he growled urgently, looking at Aaroni. “Let m-me go—I have to f-find her!”
“Yes, of course.” The old monk made a distracted gesture with one hand and Tark suddenly found he was free to move.
The first thing he did was grab the little bastard who had sold Chloe by the throat.
“Where,” he growled. “Where i-is she? T-tell me or I’ll fucking kill you!”
“I don’t know,” Zaroni gasped and choked. “I sent her through…through the Dimensional Door.”
“Wh-where is that?” Tark demanded, shaking him until his limbs flopped like a doll’s. “WHERE?”
“Be still, my son.” Aaroni put a wrinkled hand on his arm. “Let the clone go—he will be adequately punished, I promise.”
Tark didn’t want to listen—he wanted to squeeze the life out of the bastard who had hurt Chloe. But Aaroni frowned and shook his head.
“There is a way to track her if we hurry.” He looked at Taroni and pointed to the other monk’s ex-apprentice. “Take this one to the pit and be certain he does not escape.” He shook his head. “This is what comes of cloning a clone. I told you it would have consequences!”
“Yes, Master.” Taroni bowed as his ex-apprentice began to howl.
“Not the pit! Please, Master—not the pit!”
“Be quiet! You are getting only what you deserve.” Taroni dragged him off and Aaroni nodded at Tark.
“Come.”
The old monk led him down a narrow, shadowy passage that ended in a high, glittering wall made of the same stuff as the crystal Tark still held. Apparently it was also resonite.
“This is the Dimensional Doorway or Shift as we call it. It is pure resonite.”
Aaroni placed a hand on the shimmering wall and closed his eyes, concentrating. When he opened them, he nodded.
“The pathway is still clear.” He looked up at Tark. “You have a choice to make, my son.”
“Wh-what choice? There is n-no choice—I have to s-save Chloe!” Tark exclaimed.
“Yes, but listen well—the rainbow crystal I have given you will indeed cure your stammering speech. Or…” Aaroni put a single finger in the air, as though lecturing. “Or you can use it to open the Dimensional Doorway and the path which leads to your female. It cannot do both. You much choose—will you use the single priceless crystal I have gifted you to cure your own affliction…or to find the female?”
There was no choice at all, as far as Tark was concerned. Though he knew this was his only chance to cure his stutter and was sure that Chloe probably hated him and wanted nothing to do with him after what had happened between them at the Oneness class, he still couldn’t leave her.
“I l-love her,” he said to the old monk. “T-tell me how to save her.”
“Ahh.” Aaroni nodded. “Yes—well you must place the crystal against the Dimensional Shift and concentrate upon her. Imagine seeing her again and you will be taken to the dimension where she is.”
Tark was already lifting the crystal to press against the shimmering wall when a question occurred to him.
“H-how do I b-bring her back?”
“The crystal works both ways—you may use it to open the Dimensional Doorway going and coming back, but that is the limit of its power,” the monk told him. “Go and be safe.”
Tark pressed the lump of crystal against the glimmering wall and said a silent prayer.
Goddess, let me find her—let me save her before it’s too late. Before that bastard hurts her—please!
Then the wall began to flow like water and it somehow became as transparent as fabric.
“Go,” Aaroni urged. “Quickly—the doorway does not stay open for long!”
Tark looked down at himself. He was still wearing only the resonite robe-trousers and he had no other clothing—not even boots to wear. It occurred to him that he wasn’t armed either, other than the resonite crystal in his hand—which did have some sharp facets on one side. But a hard, sharp rock was hardly his weapon of choice.
Of course he had the tools attached to his metal gauntlet—that was something. But they had to be used up-close and personal to have any effect. Getting too close to the Slimerian’s long tentacles and razor-sharp sucker teeth was a good way to get killed. Using a blaster from a distance was much safer.
But there was no time to stop and think or wish for the blaster he had left back in their room—he would have to make do with what he had. This was his one chance to get to Chloe.
Taking a deep breath, he plunged through the curtain and into darkness.
Chapter Nineteen
“Let me go! Let me go!” Chloe gasped as Globber wrapped one long tentacle around her arm and began dragging her into the darkness.
“I think not, my sssweet,” the Slimerian burbled thickly. “Just a little further on and we ssshall reach my ssship. Luckily it hasss a dimensional drive made of resonite and ssso is able to ssslip through dimensionsss. Otherwissse I would never have found you.”
“I don’t want to go with you—you disgust me!” Chloe shouted recklessly. “You’re slimy and oozy and you look like a cross between an octopus and a snail! Plus it looks like you haven’t brushed your teeth in like…ever. So let…me…go!”
But her insulting words seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the slimy bastard. Instead of letting her go, he looped an extra-long tentacle around her waist, securing her arms to her sides.
“Do you know what we Slimeriansss call this tentacle my dear?” he asked conversationally as he continued to drag her along.
Chloe looked at the muscular, slimy arm wrapped around and around her waist and arms. It was paler green than the others and it wasn’t mottled as the rest of his tentacles were.
“It isss called the ‘tender mother’ arm,” Globber went on, obviously not at all put off by the fact that she hadn’t bothered to answer him. “We call it that because it hasss none of the sssuction cups or sssucker-teeth presssent on all our other tentaclesss. It is far more gentle than the ressst of my appendagesss.”
It didn’t feel gentle to Chloe—it was horribly strong and muscular. In fact, except for the thin layer of slime that coated it, being held in the “tender mother arm” was what she imagined being wrapped in an elephant’s trunk might feel like.
“I ussse it on you because I do not wish to injury your delicate ssskin. You are too valuable—you sssee. You have already cossst me quite a large sum of credit,” Globber hissed. “But that doesssn’t mean that it isss not useful in sssubduing a prisoner.”
The smooth, slimy tentacle around her waist suddenly crept higher, looping around her shoulders…then her neck…and finally, horribly, around her mouth.
r /> “Mmph! Mmph!” Chloe objected strenuously. But it was clear Globber didn’t care about her comfort. He chuckled, a sound like someone drowning horribly, and continued to drag her towards his ship.
Chloe fought and struggled but her feet weren’t even on the ground at this point. The tentacle wrapped around her was smooth and slimy and she kept hoping she might just slip out of it but every time it felt like she was slipping down, it readjusted and tightened again until she could barely breathe.
I wish I had one of those blaster guns like Tark and I could shoot out this damn thing’s heart like he did, she thought desperately. Only I wouldn’t stop with just one—I would have shot him so full of holes he'd never be able to come back!
But thinking of the big Kindred filled her with despair.
Oh Tark, where are you? Do you even know where I am?
No, of course he doesn’t, whispered an acrid little voice in her head. How could he? You’re in a whole different dimension!
It reminded her of a horror movie she’d seen once about a girl who was being chased by these awful, headless demons made of pure darkness which could only get her if she fell asleep. The poor girl tried everything she could to stay awake but in the end, her well-meaning boyfriend gave her a sedative to help her “calm down” and she couldn’t keep her eyes open a moment longer. So of course, the demons got her.
The worst part of the movie, in Chloe’s opinion, was the end. The headless demons carried their intended victim away into a darkened mirror and she had to watch her boyfriend on the other side of the glass calling and searching for her while the hungry demon surrounded and overpowered her.
Chloe felt like that now—like she was on the wrong side of the mirror looking out, begging for Tark to find her and knowing there was no way he could. Knowing she was lost forever…
Then she saw something—something big coming silently towards her out of the blackness. At first she shrank back, unable to see what it was—what new horror was this? She was still thinking of the movie about the girl captured by headless blob demons. But then the thing got closer and she saw it was…