“What?”
“Listen.” Nick whispered.
I fell silent and strained to hear what he was talking about. Sure enough, in the distance there was a faint commotion. It was steadily growing louder and I jumped up. I started to peel back the heavy cloth that served as a door to the hut, but Nick pulled me back. He peeked his head through.
“Shit! Fuck!” He hissed. He turned around to face me. “Well, here comes our rescuers.”
I pushed around him and looked towards a bunch of moving torches. Sure enough, in the center of a group of natives was Howie, Kevin and AJ. Two of them were walking with Kevin, one had ahold of each arm. “Shit. What’s their deal with Kevin?”
“I don’t know. They probably have their eye on him too. Maybe they can tell he is related to Brian.” Nick suggested grimly.
The natives marched the guys right past our hut and over to the same place in front of the same stone throne where the chief sat before. I squinted in the darkness and recognized the chief as he approached his throne. Kevin started to yell and all three guys were pushed down to their knees like Nick and I were. Kevin kept yelling and one of them struck him, causing my stomach to wince with him. The arguing continued, but I couldn’t make out any words. Suddenly several heads shot in Nick and I’s direction.
“Oh, that can’t be good.” I muttered, backing away from the flap. Nick stood upright too and backed up with me. I started to get beside him, but he pushed me behind him again.
“Lizz stay behind me.” Nick ordered.
Normally I would have argued, but a wave of fear washed over me as I heard the angry voices grow closer. Suddenly it didn’t seem so fake anymore and I started to shake. That sole factor alone unnerved me even more. I never shook, ever. Unless of course it had to do with that bond Nick and I shared. I remembered talking about it with Brian one day and I sort of discovered that I never ever shook. I could be on the brink of total hysteria and I still didn’t shake. Except now, when it had to do with Nick, I shook. I had a death grip on the back of his shirt now, backing up and pulling him with me. Like that was going to do any good. Right, Lizz, keep dreaming.
The natives burst through, grabbing ahold of Nick and prying me away. I screamed and threw a fist out, panicking. It connected somewhere and one of them started yelling, probably swearing in Fijian. There was just enough light to barely see the fist coming and I tried to dart away. The blow landed just below my collar bone and I dropped like a fly. Rough hands picked me up and hauled me out of the tent. I heard Nick struggling against them too and we were dragged before the chief. Both of us were thrown to the ground, again. Did they enjoy that? I was almost beyond the pain from fear now as I stared up at the angry face of the chief.
“YOU DECIDE NOW!”
As I was being dragged towards the chief, my eyes scanned the surroundings quickly. The group of people that stood holding torches, were comprised of men, the women appeared to be resigned to a section of the meeting grounds, further back. I quickly decided that the men were held in higher esteem. I decided I would use this to my advantage.
“I WANT YOUR DECISION! NOW!” The chief’s voice boomed.
“GO TO HELL,” AJ shouted. His reprimand was a swift blow to his stomach, causing him to collapse onto the onto the ground in a coughing fit.
“YOU SPEAK ONLY WHEN SPOKEN TO!”
“I’ve made my decision,” I hoped that my voice didn’t sound as shaky and unconvinced as I felt at the moment. I was sort of afraid to meet the chief’s gaze but I was guessing at this point I really had nothing more to lose. “It’s a deal I want to make with you, but I would prefer to talk to you in private.”
“Nick!.... don’t!” Lizz warned quietly.
Two men grabbed me by the arms and I was ushered over towards the chief’s quarters. I could hear the rumbling of the crowd as they were trying to decide what I was going to do. I managed a glance back towards my four friends, kneeling before the stone altar. Kevin threw me a wary look and I quickly looked away for fear I would lose my nerve to do what was necessary.
Once inside the chief’s quarters, I was again forced to kneel onto the straw mat that covered the packed dirt floor. One of the men pushed my head forward so that I wouldn’t be able to make any eye contact with their head leader. I swallowed nervously when I heard the rustling of the seed necklaces that the chief wore around his neck.
“Your decision?”
The calmness in his voice took me by surprise, I was prepared to hear the shouting. I decided to sound submissive, thinking that this would be the way to get him to agree with just about anything I wanted to propose. I quickly licked my lips. “Permission to look up?”
“DENIED.”
Shit, that was all I needed to hear. I wanted to make eye contact to get my point through to him. I decided to plunge into my proposal. “I want to save my friends and I want to make a deal with you. I am willing to be not only a breeder for your group, I’m willing to become a slave if this will ensure their lives.”
It was too quiet for me. I was beginning to worry if this man would be impossible to reach. Suddenly, he spoke some words that were complete jibberish to me, but the quick movements of the men that escorted me into the chief’s quarters led me to believe otherwise. Before a verbal answer was given, I got a physical answer when shackles were clamped onto my wrists and then my ankles.
“I accept you offer but your friends will remain kept here until I have seen your williness to be an acceptable slave or breeder,” the chief stated in an unusually quiet voice.
The details about me backing out on the breeding thing would happen when the time came, I had that part of the deal figured out. My primary worry was over Brian at the moment.
“Before you lead me away, can I see my friend that was shot with the poison arrow?”
“That request is usually denied, but I don’t see any harm in it. Take him to the hut to take a look at his friend and then to the worker stables.”
The chains clanked nosily as the men helped me up to my feet. There wasn’t any way I was going to make eye contact with my friends at this point knowing full well that they wouldn’t agree to the arrangements I had just made. We made our way out of the chief’s hut towards where Brian was being held. I kept my eyes focused in front of me but I know I distinctly heard AJ mutter ‘what the fuck’ as I was led by them and Lizz’s cries asking what I had done to deserve that type of punishment.
The hut that I was led into was very different from the chief’s hut. This one had lit candles lining two shelves, incense burning and a small bed covered in dark blue down-filled blankets. Although the bed was small, Brian’s body looked dwarfed by the down blankets. His face was glistening in sweat, a soft moan escaped his lips breaking the deafening silence in the hut.
As I reached a hand up to gesture my desire to go over towards Brian, the chains clanked loudly and Brian’s eyes quickly opened. His eyes shifted back and forth until they finally focused and rested on my face.
“Nick?”
Brian blinked, sure that he was hallucinating. “Nick?” He asked again.
“Yeah, it’s me.” Nick said softly, a lump forming in his throat. Brian still didn’t look very good, but Nick had to trust that the natives would keep their word and pull Brian through this. “How are ya feeling buddy?”
Brian managed a small smile for Nick’s benefit. “I’ve been better. What’s going on?”
Nick hesitated. He knew full well that Brian wouldn’t like the decision that he made, but he wanted to be the one to tell him, not some native.
Brian immediately picked up on Nick’s hesitation. “Nick, what did you do??”
Nick sighed. “I, uh...” He stopped and took a deep breath. “I traded myself for everyone else. I’m going to be their breeder or slave in exchange for your lives.”
Brian opened his eyes wider and tried to sit up. “Nick you didn’t!”
Nick gently pushed Brian back down onto the blanket. “There was no other choice. Don’t worry, I’m working on figuring something out.”
Lelani watched as the two men talked quietly, their words no longer audible. She was absolutely seething at the new change in plan. She wanted so bad to be the one that would get to mate with Brian. And now this other man had ruined it! The more she thought about it, the more her blood boiled. She would have to make him pay for taking her Brian away. Lelani thought furiously for ideas. This “Nick” obviously didn’t care that much about himself since he just sacrificed himself. Causing him physical pain wouldn’t be the most effective, although satisfying. His weakness appeared to be his friends. He cared too much and was willing to destroy his life over them. Something that could easily be exploited. Lelani noticed immediately that he was very close to her Brian. Of course she would never hurt her Brian just to get top Nick. Then her eyes lit up as she remembered the young woman that was with Nick. He was quite protective over her. In fact, this other girl was supposed to have been part of the deal and somehow Nick had managed to save her. Lelani smiled. This was a weakness of his that could be exploited much more easily than causing harm to her Brian.
Nick jumped when a young girl appeared out of the shadows of the tent. She gave him a hard look before turning to the natives that were accompanying Nick. She said something to them in a rather harsh tone. Nick observed, with mild shock, that they immediately obeyed her words. She must hold an important role in the tribe. Before Nick could resist, they grabbed him and started to pull him out of the tent.
“NO! Wait, I wasn’t ready yet!” He struggled against them. Brian also voiced his protests from inside the tent.
The girl stepped out of the tent and stopped in front of Nick, glaring at him coldly. Nick stopped his struggles and looked at her expectantly.
“Know your place slave. You will pay for your decision.” She told him, her voice low.
Her words chilled Nick even though he didn’t what she meant. Although, he figured he would find out soon enough. The men that were restraining him began to drag him away and just before they rounded a corner, he saw her head towards the chief and where the rest of his friends were. It gave him a sinking feeling in his stomach. Not even ten seconds later he heard Lizz scream for him, followed by more yelling. He tried to turn around, but the natives increased their grip, forcing Nick further away.
