The Rebellious Slave Ch. 02

"Get down!" Kara cried, and it was the last thing anyone heard for a while.

As the uncoupler went off, Kara could feel a sudden swell of heat behind her. There was an intense, burning pain shooting through her calf, but she dared not look back. Hunks of metal and wood flew in all directions and not a second later, the rest of the bombs followed suit. The uncoupler hadn't been particularly powerful—its only job had been to detach a set of railcars—but those other bombs were a different story. They had been designed for absolute devastation and when they also went off, the whole earth shook. For a brief moment, the sky was lit with a fire so blindingly bright that the stars disappeared and the landscape was as clear as day. When darkness returned to the world, Kara could see only dazzling splotches of light against the blackness and there was a loud ringing all around her. Stumbling to her feet, she tried to cover her ears and block out some of the noise, but of course, that didn't help. She screamed for her teammates, but even though her lungs were burning, no sound came out.

Nauseous and disoriented, Kara turned around and watched as every cargo car in succession exploded into angry reds and yellows and blues, throwing flaming debris into the air and then raining down from the sky. Something huge, half-melted, and utterly mutilated crashed into the tracks just behind them, warping the metal beyond recognition and sending a jolt through the entire train. Kara almost lost her balance then, but she quickly leaned into the nearest wall and braced herself against the wood. Her nostrils were singed with gunpowder and she could barely stand, but in spite of the pain, she couldn't look away. The cargo cars were derailing now, sending sparks in all directions as their wheels fought to stay rooted to the tracks. As Kara saw them fading into the distance, they tumbled into the snow and the giant, smoldering heap that was left behind blotted out the sky with thick, grainy smoke.

It was beautiful...and it was terrible.

Then there was a crash and a bang and the door in front of them finally gave way. Against her better instincts, Kara turned to look in the doorway and that's when she saw him. There was a short, stocky man standing in front of her and his face was contorted with fury. He held a gun in his right hand and, as if in slow motion, pointed it towards the trio of shell-shocked soldiers. Kara only looked at the man for a second and certainly not more than two, because she couldn't afford to spare anymore time. As a series of poorly fired shots ricocheted off the walls, one of her teammates pulled her to her feet and pushed her toward the back of the car and the opening there. Kara could see white rushing below her and, as gunfire exploded all around them, heard the red-haired girl screaming "Duck and roll!" before pushing her out of the train.

"You remember me now, don't you, slut?"

Oh, fuck, Kara thought, groaning inwardly. Fuck, fuck, fuck...

Even if her life depended on it, Kara wouldn't have been able to pick the man out of a crowd. She'd barely gotten a look at his face, but somehow, he could still place hers? How was that possible? In spite of all the chaos and after so much time had passed?

But it's definitely him, Kara thought, feeling sick. And he definitely remembers me.

Grinning sadistically, the prospective buyer strode over to the clipboard beside Kara. He picked it up slowly—so as to savor the anxiety in her eyes—before taking a pen from his pocket and writing down his bid with an almost menacing flourish.

"I'm Commander Belvodeil, by the way," the man told her, eerily nonchalant. "I was in charge of providing ammunition to Gardok's east side. Now, let's see, I think I can afford this..."

Just as the woman in red had done with Elandra, the buyer lifted her clipboard until she could read what he'd written there. It took a minute for the numbers to register, but when they did, Kara's face instantly fell.

Three hundred and fifty qualid? Three times the minimum? Kara thought, hardly able to believe it, but it was right there in black and white and suddenly, she understood. Oh god, he's trying to reserve me for himself...

"Do you have any idea?" Belvodeil began, grabbing hold of her chin and forcing her to look up at him. "Do you have any idea—any idea at all—how embarrassing it was to explain over twenty million qualid in munitions damages to my superiors?"

"Come now, Belvodeil, surely it wasn't that bad?"

"Hu!" Instantly, Belvodeil let go of Kara. He made a noise in his throat that was half-squeak and half-gasp, then spun around to the face the voice. It all happened so fast, it would have been comical if not for the look of complete and utter panic in his expression."My...my lord!"

Truth be told, Kara had never been too terribly invested in the politics of war. She'd been far too busy saving its victims to worry over the finer details of bloodshed and bureaucracy. While her fellow soldiers had sat huddled around the campfire at night and argued over big name diplomats and their battle tactics, she'd been practicing her sutures. Still, she recognized Lord Arlington the instant she saw him. It would have been impossible not to. He'd been responsible for taking over Gardok's east side and for nearly a year, his face had plagued nearly every newspaper she'd managed to get her hands on and almost every active news station still running by summer's end. Kara had always thought he looked fearsome in print, but it was nothing compared to his presence in person. Something about the way he held himself immediately demanded respect and a certain degree of reverence, too.

At a solid six feet tall and then some, Lord Arlington was a monster of a man. He wasn't bulky by any means, but Kara could definitely see more than a hint of muscle shifting underneath his clothes and swallowed hard. Dark, raven-black hair framed his face and there were three thin, parallel scars cutting across his left cheek. They seemed to have faded long ago, but given Isleydor's incredible medical technology, the mere fact that she could see them at all meant that they had been deep. Yet despite all the danger in his demeanor, there was elegance, too. Not to be outdone by the rest of the company, Lord Arlington wore a fine navy dress cloak with a white button-down shirt and black trousers. They looked plain, but Kara could tell even at a distance that the material was expensive. His fingers were covered with rings, but she was most entranced by the longsword on his belt. The handle was incredibly intricate and the cross-guard was dotted with tiny gemstones, green and blue and white.

Isleydor's colors... Kara thought, looking up, but it was a mistake. Cold, calculating blue eyes were burrowing straight through her and they were so unnervingly steady, it chilled her right down to the bone. She hadn't realized that she'd been gawking until that moment, but Lord Arlington had clearly noticed and was happy to return the favor. Please blink... Kara thought, hardly daring to breathe. Please, please blink...

"I like to think of myself as a merciful man," Lord Arlington continued, and thankfully, he turned away from her. "It could have been much, much worse for you, Belvodeil."

"But of course, my lord, and am I ever grateful for your mercy," Belvodeil quickly conceded, bowing low. "Nevertheless, this woman has caused me quite a bit of distress and once I get her home, I intend to wring an apology out of her."

Arlington snickered. "Come now, Belvodeil. You should have had every crate of cargo inspected prior to having it loaded, as you'd been told to do many, many times. It's not the poor girl's fault you aren't capable of following basic protocol, no matter how often it's been drilled into your skull."

Looking contemplative, Lord Arlington stepped toward Kara and as Belvodeil reluctantly moved out of the way, looked down on her with an uncomfortable degree of interest.

"So, this is the little wretch responsible for the Eastern Ammunitions Incident," Arlington drawled, and his lips formed a thin, firm line. "Do you have any idea how cold it is in your god-forsaken country? I had hoped to be out of there by mid-August, but alas, you can't capture a city without guns, can you?"

Oh god, the Eastern Ammunitions Incident? Kara thought, and she could suddenly feel her stomach drop. They've given it a name?

Kara had always assumed that in spite of her best efforts, her work on the death train had done little to delay Callihistra's eventual defeat and had certainly done nothing to stop it. After leaping from the smoldering train into the snowy banks below, Kara and her two companions had traveled back to Gardok all on their own, only to find it captured. At the time, there had been no reason to suspect that the attack was anything more than a minor inconvenience for Isleydor's forces.

"Uh, my lord?" Belvodeil interrupted. "Have you put in a bid for General Tamius Sue? She was your primary opponent during the war, was she not?"

"Indeed, she was," Lord Arlington nodded, and he leaned casually against the platform beside Kara, skimming through a copy of the event catalog he'd pulled from his pocket. "But, as I suspected, Tamius will end up going live. I'll have to snag her then. In the meantime, I thought I'd see who else was available from the east side."

"You're in the market for a another, my lord?"

"And why not?" Arlington shrugged, glancing up for just a moment before returning to his catalog. "After all, Tamius won't break easy. If I do manage to buy her, I'll probably have to keep her in solitary for a few weeks, so as to soften her up. It would be nice to have another piece to work with while I wait."

Kara watched in morbid fascination as Arlington flipped through page after page of human merchandise, thumbing past a number of names and faces she recognized and many more she didn't. Then eventually, he stopped and Kara spotted her own picture, squashed between those of Avonna Lence and Cayla Moore, a couple of Naval Officers. She watched as Arlington carefully read over her entry with a bemused expression on his face, then frowned thoughtfully. Trying not to be too conspicuous, Kara leaned over to get a better look, but the print was too small and Arlington was partially in the way.

"What about Elandra?" Belvodeil suggested, looking twitchier and twitchier by the second. He kept glancing at her and then Arlington, and Kara was starting to get concerned. "She's a Commanding Medic from the east side. She might be entertaining."

"No," Arlington told him, and he shook his head. "Charlotte has made it very clear to me that Elandra is hers. Apparently, they have a very complex history and I wouldn't want to get in her way. And well now, what's this?"

Lord Arlington paused then, double-checking something in Kara's description which seemed to intrigue him, a slight grin disturbing the smooth features of his face.

"Well, I'll be damned," Arlington chuckled, gesturing toward the catalog. "Will you look at this? The little wretch is related to Florence Querren. I swear to god, if you let that man get his hands on a fucking ketchup packet, he'd find some way to make it explode."

"You knew my Uncle Florence?" Kara asked, but she immediately regretted it. She hadn't thought Arlington's vicious grin could get any wider, but it did.

"My dear," he told her, setting the catalog face down upon the platform. "I've come close to killing the man a few times."

At first, Kara was too stunned to speak, but her shock quickly turned to anger and then raw, visceral hate. Uncle Florence had been a godsend to the west and south sides during the war and the mere thought of someone as slimy as Arlington getting his hands on him instantly sent her into a rage.

"How dare you!" Kara hissed, her voice low and deadly at first, but before long, it had morphed into a full-on scream. "You're lucky my hands are tied, bastard! Vile, loathsome bastard!" The commotion caught the attention of several bystanders and as half a dozen heads turned in their direction, Kara felt herself growing even more bold. "It doesn't matter that you've won—that you think you've won—my uncle is ten times the man you'll ever be!" Now she was really drawing a crowd and from across the hall, Kara could see a Martkorp handler turn toward her and then, as his eyes met Lord Arlington's, pale and break out into a run. "You are...nothing! Do you hear me? Nothing!"

"My lord, I am so s-sorry!" the handler cried, finally coming to a halt in front of them and doubling over to catch his breath. "If you'd like I c-could have her gagged?"

"Don't bother," Arlington replied, and he waved his hand dismissively. "She'll wear herself out in a moment anyway." Turning toward Kara, he grinned devilishly at her and to her horror, she realized that he was enjoying the outburst. "They're simply adorable when they scream like that, wouldn't you agree?"

It really gets their dicks hard, Alyssa had told her. This is all a game to them. A spectacle. A show.

Maybe Alyssa was right and reluctantly, Kara shut her mouth. Ultimately, she'd rather stay silent than allow Arlington to take pleasure in her torment, but he wasn't finished with her yet.

Still watching Kara curiously, Arlington stepped toward her and as he approached, she honestly wasn't sure whether to feel anger or fear or something else entirely. She didn't want to be touched, but all she could do was lean back farther and farther and farther, until her chains went taut and she was trapped. There was less than a foot between them now. Kara cringed away, but Arlington took her face in his hands and forced her to look at him. His grip wasn't painful, but it was close. Turning her head from side to side, he studied her as thoroughly as if the meaning of life were hidden somewhere behind her eyes and she could hardly stand it.

"Don't touch me," Kara hissed from between clenched teeth, and Arlington chuckled. "Asshole!"

"You know, this one is quite obstinate for a no-name medic from the countryside," Lord Arlington observed, finally releasing her. "Even for a relative of Querren, I'm rather surprised by the nerve. She'd look absolutely stunning strung up in my living room, screaming her little lungs hoarse."

Then to Kara's complete and utter horror, Lord Arlington picked up her clipboard, put down a bid, and signed his name. Poor Belvodeil looked like he'd been punched in the gut, but his lord hardly seemed to notice.

"Really, sweetheart," Arlington sighed. "It was rather a nuisance having to deal with that train incident. Still, I'm rather curious. I'd never heard of you before this evening, but Belvodeil assured me that you were a highly trained weapons specialist with an elite team and that even the best preparations wouldn't have prevented the Eastern Ammunitions Incident. Care to enlighten me?"

"Honestly?" Kara replied, still seething. "Tamius wouldn't even give me a fully loaded pistol."

"Marvelous," Arlington sneered, and he glanced sideways at Belvodeil, who by then was looking positively horrified. "Just marvelous."

"M-my lord, I can explain..."

"Oh? Can you?" Arlington growled, but before he could really lay into Belvodeil, Alyssa interrupted him with an obnoxious, obviously fake little cough. Arlington stiffened as if he'd just been bitten in the ass, then turned around sighed. "What do you want, Terrance?"

"I'm right fucking here!" Alyssa spat, looking furious. "I'm five feet out of your way, and you weren't even gonna say hello?"

"Hello, Terrance," Arlington groaned, as weary as if he had lived a thousand years and never once closed his eyes. "Now, will that be all?"

"No," Alyssa told him. "No, it won't. Where's Greenwood?"

"I don't know why Alan bothers with you," Arlington commented, and he crossed his arms over his chest in a most indignant fashion. "If he wanted a challenge, fine. I'd have been happy to give him a recommendation. But you—"

"—yeah, yeah. I'd be better off in front of a firing squad, or something like that. You're not still sore about last November, are you?"

"Not at all. I didn't even need stitches."

"But you did need a new assistant and, if my memory serves me correctly, a new pair of pants."

Kara couldn't believe how wide Alyssa's shit-eating was and it just kept getting bigger and bigger, threatening to swallow them both. She expected Arlington to unleash hell on the lot of them, but he only raised an eyebrow condescendingly.

"Very mature, Terrance. As always."

"It's the truth, isn't it?"

"You keep telling that story without any context, just to get a rise out of me, but quite frankly, I've got bigger problems than you and your mouth," Arlington hissed, stepping toward Alyssa and bending down so that their eyes met. "Speaking of which...you've been disconcertingly quiet this evening. I don't suppose you plan on behaving for once?"

"Meh. I'm saving my voice for the live auctions."

"Lovely..." Arlington groaned, and he rubbed the bridge of his nose, then gave Alyssa a mean sideways glance. "You know, I was told they found you in tatters, cowering in a ditch just outside of Gardok and smelling of death."

"Who told you that!?" Alyssa cried, and her expression suddenly turned sour. "Who?!"

"It was Demson, actually."

"Of fucking course he did, that lying prick!" Alyssa snarled. "I'll have you know that Martkorp cashed in at least five life insurance policies the day they found me in that ditch. There was no cowering, and Demson knows it!"

"Temper, temper..." Arlington chided, and he shook down his sleeve to look at his wristwatch. "I can't believe it's been... Wow, an hour and fifty minutes? And you haven't gotten yourself gagged yet? I must say, I'm impressed."

"Careful, Arlington, you keep being nice to me and we're gonna have a problem."

They squared off then, with Arlington glaring at Alyssa and Alyssa glaring right back, until she finally gave him a sadistic little smirk and squashed her boobs together with her elbows.

"Care to make a bid, my lord?"

"Ugh," Arlington shuddered, and he took a step back, eyeing her from top to bottom with a disgusted little frown on his face. "I hardly think you'd be worth the effort."

"Aww, how sweet; you really know how to make a girl feel special, you know that?"

But Arlington only rolled his eyes and before Alyssa had a chance to reply, he turned his back on her and disappeared into the crowd. Kara was hoping that was the end of it, but Belvodeil was still there and he wouldn't stop staring at them. Snatching up the clipboard beside Kara, he took note of the bid his lord had made and instantly, all the blood drained from his face. Cursing under his breath, Belvodeil took one last look at his stolen prize before storming off, perhaps to get something to drink.

"Nice," Alyssa observed, nodding her head in approval. "Very, very nice...there's few greater pleasures in life than watching Arlington's subordinates squirm." But Kara wasn't listening. "Hey, you okay?"

"Oh my god..." Kara whispered, still trying to process what had just happened. "That was...that was the Fourth Lord...the Fourth Lord of Isleydor..."

"Yeah, I know. Small world."

"Oh my god...oh my god...oh my god!"

"I always wondered who they recruited for that suicide mission," Alyssa laughed, and looking over, Kara saw that she was positively beaming with pride. "Didn't think it'd be a medic, but hey...great job! You could have told me you were involved in the Eastern Ammunitions Incident. I wouldn't have tattled."