Redemption (eBook)

Tenis was slumped in the corner of his frigid cell. He raised his hand and noted his fingers had progressed from blue to black. He felt for his pulse, but there was no sensation in his dead fingertips. No matter. As a physician, he already knew his heart rate was irregular. It wouldn’t be long now. At least he wasn’t shivering anymore. Hypothermia was courteous that way. It allowed a false feeling of warmth before it killed you.

Tenis laughed at his facetious thoughts but was interrupted by a round of noxious coughing. His chest and throat felt as though they would crack wide open. He swallowed the blood that erupted and wiped the sludge from his nose onto his filthy sleeve. 

A guard slid open the cover to the small, barred window in the steel door. 

“No . . .” Tenis protested. But it was too late. The guard had already turned on a hose and drenched him with ice cold water for the third time that day. He tucked himself tighter into the corner and wished for death to hurry.  

He glanced at the rotting corpse of his friend and cellmate, Benauk. “You’re lucky.” 

It had been months – or was it only weeks – since he and Benauk had been intercepted escaping Covenant, where they had been stranded for almost 20 years. They had arrived at the planet as strangers in chains, kidnapped and enslaved by their own people to work at the deadly uranium ore mining compound, which had irradiated the region. Tenis had been taken for his medical knowledge and required to keep the slaves alive as long as possible. Benauk had been taken for his skill as a demolition specialist.  

The Dragons and Kaando of Covenant had killed their captors long ago and destroyed all the shuttles in the process. Tenis and Benauk were the only survivors and had been living in hiding with two Kaando, or so they thought. Eliza – or was it Ero – had known about them all along. Eliza had provided a way off the planet in exchange for nothing more than a simple request to warn Creetans to stay away from Covenant.  

His new captor, a Baalyac named Seraut, had promised he and Benauk would be taken home to Creetan if they told everything they knew about Eliza – or the ‘winged woman’ as Seraut liked to call her.

But they had refused. Ero – or was it Eliza – could have tracked them down and killed them long ago. Instead, Ero had shown compassion and let them live.

Tenis and Benauk didn’t know what Seraut wanted with Eliza, but Seraut was an untrustworthy and warmongering Baalyac. Death would surely befall Eliza if Seraut found her. Tenis and Benauk weren’t going to betray her mercy.   

The torture began shortly thereafter. Benauk’s assigned punishment was daily beatings while Tenis had been stripped naked and denied food except for a few scraps now and then to keep him alive until he was ready to talk.  

Weeks ago – or was it days - Benauk was still alive when they flung him back into the cell after the day’s beating. Tenis had waited a moment until he was sure the guards were gone before crawling to where Benauk lay motionless and felt for a pulse while his fingers were still alive. 

“I’m not . . . dead yet,” Benauk had whispered between staggered breaths. 

Tenis had thought death would be a relief.  

“Did you tell them anything?” Tenis had asked.   

“No . . . won’t help . . . the Baalyac . . . scum.”

Tenis sank down onto the cold floor. “We’re going to die here.” 

“We were dead . . . the moment . . . we left orbit.”   

“We were so close to freedom.”  

“I’m sorry . . . old friend.” 

Tenis had held Benauk’s hand and waited as his breaths grew weaker. When he was sure Benauk was gone, he removed Benauk’s soiled clothing and boots and put them on. 

Since Benauk’s murder, Tenis had contemplated all the ways he could take his life and end his misery, but Seraut was a shrewd torturer. Benauk had not been wearing a belt and his boots didn’t have laces, nor were there any beams in his cell to hang himself from.

What if he told Seraut everything he knew? He didn’t know very much about Eliza – or was it Ero – but he knew a lot about the Kaando from living among them all those years. Maybe Seraut would find something useful about it and take him home.  

Hope ignited at the prospect of reuniting with his family. He wondered what sort of person his daughter had become. She was just a little girl when he had been kidnapped. She would be almost . . .  he had trouble figuring out how old she would be. Was she married now? Maybe to the fine young Creetan who lived next door? Was he a grandfather? He tried to imagine how she looked as an adult.  

He thought of his wife. His heart surged with longing. Had she given up on him and remarried? He hated the thought of returning to find they had both forgotten him.  

Tenis scoffed at himself. What did it matter? He was too far gone. He would be dead soon. All he could hope for now was they had moved on and were happy and safe. 

He heard footsteps approach his cell door and braced himself for another dousing.

Instead, two guards entered and hauled him to his feet. He screeched at the pain from his rigid joints.

The guards dragged him down a long hallway before entering a room at the end. They shoved him into a chair and shackled his hands to the chair leg.  

The room was far too bright. Tenis was sure Seraut knew Creetans were nocturnal, and the lights had been turned up intentionally. He considered there were no bounds to Seraut’s cruelty, but he was wrong.

A servant pushed a cart into the room piled high with food and set a plate in front of Tenis. He instinctively reached for it but was stopped by the shackles. He leaned forward and dove his face into the plate, but a guard shoved it out of reach. He swallowed the only bite he was able to grab without chewing and ran his tongue around his lips to capture every crumb. 

He heard the door open again behind him, but he didn’t need to turn to see who had entered. He smelled the repulsive stench of the Baalyak.  

Seraut sat across from Tenis and placed a folder on the table. “Have you considered my offer?”  

Tenis didn’t respond. He observed the expensive clothing and jewelry of the bald, fat, pompous warmonger and felt a hatred he didn’t know he was capable of.  

Seraut’s jaw tightened. “I’m on a deadline. I need 10 healthy male and female Dragons, 20 hatchlings, and 200 Kaando. Fully matured, the Dragons would be formidable weapons and very profitable. The worthless Creetan we sent to collect them, Danook, got himself killed, but he said the winged woman controlled them. All you need to do is tell me where to find her, and I’ll take you home. I’ll even share the profit with you. We’re planning a breeding program. It would be endless wealth for us both.” 

Tenis remained silent.  

Seraut opened the folder and removed several sheets with images. He slid them across the table for Tenis to see.

Tenis’s weakened pulse came alive when he recognized the matured face of his beautiful daughter with two children. He was a grandfather, after all. 

“I’m afraid your wife has remarried. I would show you images of her, but that would be cruel.”  

Peace settled over Tenis. His family was safe. Seraut didn’t understand he had given Tenis a gift. He was ready. 

Seraut leaned forward. “Don’t you want to be with your daughter? Your grandchildren? All you have to do is tell me what I want to know. We’ll let you eat and see our doctor. You’ll get fresh clothes and a shower, which, might I add, you need. You smell terrible.” 

Tenis took a breath and paused, as if thinking of the right thing to say. Instead, he forced a hard cough and spewed blood droplets on Seraut’s face and shirt, staining the fine silk.  

Tenis laughed at Seraut’s stunned reaction to this final act of defiance.  

Seraut took a fine-woven handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped the blood from his face. He nodded at the armed guard standing next to Tenis, who finally relieved Tenis of his misery. Tenis slumped, and the chair tipped over. 

“Bring the girl,” Seraut said. 

Moments later, two guards hauled a terrified young Creetan woman into the room by the arms and shoved her down into the same chair Tenis had been shackled to. The woman sobbed at the sight of Tenis’s body being dragged away. 

Seraut slammed his fist on the table. “Stop crying!” 

She did her best to quiet, but she was shaking violently, which seemed to anger Seraut further. 

“You Creetans are pathetic,” Seraut said. “But don’t worry. I’m going to give you a chance to do what your incompetent father couldn’t and redeem yourself. I’m taking you to the planet. There’s a woman there who controls the Dragons and Kaando - a winged woman. She’s the only one of her kind. You’re going to find her for me.”  

A guard grabbed her arm and attached a jeweled metal bracelet with pointed barbs that jabbed her wrist. 

“This bracelet contains a poison. If you attempt to remove it, it will inject the poison. It will be a slow, painful death. Do you understand?” 

The woman nodded. 

“The bracelet is also a communication device. When you’ve found the winged woman, press the jewel and it will send a signal. We’ll take it from there. Do you understand?” 

“W-what if I...