The Shadow Order: A Space Opera Read online

  Seb shrugged.

  “Why didn’t you finish her? She always finishes her opponents.”

  At that moment, Seb addressed Moses rather than the announcer. “Do I need to finish her?”

  Moses shook his head.

  “Then that’s why. Why kill someone when you don’t have to? This is a sport. I needed the purse, so I fought her. I don’t care whether she lives or dies, just about when I get paid.” Another glance at Moses. “When do I get paid?”

  The creature in the suit smiled, but he didn’t reply.

  “Don’t worry,” the fight announcer said, “we’ll get you the credits, of that you can be certain. So tell me, how was it fighting her?”

  Seb stared at the microphone the fight announcer had shoved in his face and then up at the crowd. Hundreds of expectant looks stared down at him, awaiting an answer. Sod them; they didn’t deserve anything from Seb. Without another word, Seb spun on his heel and walked out of the ring.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Not only did Seb’s face and limbs ache, but the hairs on his body ached too. If Mathusa had caught him one more time, she would have put his lights out for sure. As he lay on his back on his bed in his crappy hotel room, he looked at the streak of diluted light that came through the window and ran across the cracked ceiling. Even if he’d wanted to clean it, the salt probably wouldn’t come off the pane anyway. From a cursory glance, it looked like the crusty white layer had fused to the glass and had now become a part of it—he wouldn’t have had a great view out of it anyway. If he never saw a rolling sea again …

  An abrupt knock snapped through the room and Seb looked at the door. He turned a little too quickly, which sent a sharp twinge up the back of his neck and into the base of his skull. With his hand wrapped around the pain, he winced as he said, “Come in.”

  The door opened and one of the lizards Seb had seen cleaning the ring floor stepped into the room. A buzz of anxiety pulled Seb’s stomach tight.

  The lizard nodded at Seb before it stood aside to let Moses in. The large suited creature had to duck to enter. At easily ten feet tall, he had the kind of physique that could block out the sun. Once inside, Moses stood with a hunch so he didn’t bash his head on the ceiling. It made him look even larger, and he glared at Seb through his dark eyes.

  Wincing as he sat up, Seb breathed a relieved sigh when Moses held a hand up to him. “Don’t get up.” He then pulled a credit card from his top pocket. “I’ve come to deliver this to you. Well done in the fight today. I nearly didn’t let you into the ring, you know.”

  When Seb gulped, he tasted the copper tang of his own blood. “Oh? Why’s that?”

  “Well, look at the size of you compared to Mathusa.” He tapped one of his fat fingers against his temple. “I took my time in making my decision because I needed to work out if you had all of your marbles. I guess I made the right choice.”

  “Or the wrong one if you were hoping to keep Mathusa as the champion.”

  The dark eyes fixed on Seb and a cold expression pulled Moses’ face taut. “I’m all for competition, Seb. Fighters come and go. That’s the nature of the fighting pits.”

  A shrug ran electric pain through Seb’s torso and he dragged a sharp intake of breath through his clenched teeth. “I guess it is.”

  After Moses had placed the credit card on the bedside table, he looked around the room. “You like staying here?”

  “What do you think?”

  Moses smiled, although the potential bite contained within his wide mouth held a warning, and Seb felt the ice creak and groan beneath him. “You may want to consider how you talk to me, boy.”

  The pair stared at one another in silence before Moses said again, “Do you like staying here?”

  When Seb didn’t respond, Moses shook his large and scarred head. “Didn’t think so. How would you like to stay in a much more luxurious place than this?”

  “That depends.”

  “On what?”

  “On what I would have to do to get said luxurious accommodation.”

  Moses inhaled to speak, but Seb cut him off, “I’m not fighting again.”

  The large suited man tilted his head to one side. “But you’d make a killing … I’d make a killing. People who hadn’t seen you fight would bet big against you. We’d clean up night after night.”

  “I’m not interested. I promised someone very dear to me that I wouldn’t fight any more.”

  “So why did you fight today?”

  “I needed the money. Someone robbed me and I can’t find her to get back what she stole. I need to have enough credits to stay here while I track her down, and then I’m getting off this damn planet. I hate it here.”

  Moses’ laugh seemed to shake the walls. He threw his head back and exposed his rows of razor-sharp teeth and thick pink tongue. With one snap, he could bite Seb’s head clean off should he so desire.

  The mirth left him and he fixed Seb with his dark stare again. “Are you sure you can’t be persuaded?”

  Seb shook his head.

  “I understand.” The large creature leaned toward Seb. He stank of fish. “Although, understand this; I haven’t given up on the idea yet, and when I want something, I usually get it.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  A shake of his head and Moses linked his hands together in front of his chest while he smiled a predatory grin. “I’ll see you around, Seb. And congratulations again on the fight.”

  Moses left the room first, followed by his lizard assistant. They didn’t look back. When the lizard slammed Seb’s door shut, silence filled the room. The aches somehow felt worse now than before. Seb dropped his head back against his wafer-thin pillow and closed his eyes. What had he gotten himself into?

  Chapter Twenty

  Seb walked down the spaceport, searching for Sparks. He looked at the sealed-off cargo holds of the many ships that pointed his way. The sharp and salty wind burned his eyes, stung the sores that spread across his skin, and damn near deafened him as he scanned the shadows for the rat. Once he found her, he’d take back what belonged to him and get the hell off Aloo.

  As Seb walked, he made eye contact with every guard for every ship. From small to large, they spanned the rainbow in the colours of their skin. Some seemed a physical impossibility, yet there they stood, one leg and a top-heavy body, or a head so large, the neck shouldn’t be able to carry it. Hostility emanated from every one of them, and every one of them had one weapon or another that they seemed more than willing to use. Blasters, all in different shapes and sizes, they wore them loud and proud.

  Another strong breeze rattled into Seb and he pulled his coat tighter around himself. Despite the aches from his fight with Mathusa and the assault from the wind, he walked with a bounce in his step. The rush from the fighting pit remained with him. The burden of guilt he should have felt because he’d fought again had also been lifted from his shoulders. He had no choice but to fight the previous day. Even his dad, were he still alive, would have understood that. With no money and no hope, it was what he had to do—but not again.

  Sleek, reflective, and shaped like arrowheads, some of the ships looked as though they could cut through space like a fish through water. Some of them, awkward, rusty, and cumbersome—like The Bandolin—seemed like they’d been docked for an eternity and it would take a gargantuan effort to get them going again. Although, all of the posted signs made it clear: miss a docking payment more than once, and your ship either left or it got toppled into the water. They’d either paid a fortune to keep them docked for an age, or the apparent write-offs still had some life left in their decrepit husks.

  The sounds of the waves continuously lapped against the spaceport. Surrounded by water, whenever Seb’s focus drifted, he expected the ground beneath him to sway with the tide, and a small lurch leapt through his stomach in anticipation of it.

  Despite the perceived hostility from the beings in the docking bays, the more Seb looked at them, the more he noti
ced that not every creature looked like they wanted to murder him. The pit had been packed yesterday, so some of them must have seen what Seb could do when backed into a corner. Regardless of the blasters in their hands, some of the guards seemed slightly more hesitant about a confrontation with him.

  Seb stopped outside one docking bay. Two creatures stared at him. Both were brown and had a frill of a fin that ran from between their eyes, all the way over their heads, and down their backs. With their webbed hands and feet, they looked better equipped for the sea than out in space. At first, he only heard the sound of their argument, but as he stepped closer, he made out their words.

  “You let her do what?”

  “I didn’t let her do anything. She came over and talked to me, and the next thing I knew, she’d taken everything.”

  “Everything?”

  “Not our cargo, but all of our personal belongings.”

  “And you did this all in the hope of getting a piece of tail?”

  “Urgh,” the one on the defensive said. A shake of his head and he added, “I didn’t want a piece of her tail; she looked like a human. A horrible little thing, she had purple eyes and wore broken glasses.”

  Each docking bay had a garage-type area with a cover over the top of it. When Seb stepped into this one, it blocked off the fierce breeze and his shoulders instantly relaxed from having been clamped up to his ears.

  The two guards stopped talking to one another and stared at him.

  “Oh,” Seb said. “Um, I—”

  “What do you want?” one of the creatures said—the one who’d been angry with his mate for letting Sparks rob them.

  “I couldn’t help but hear you two talking about a girl.” With a hand held just above his hip, Seb said, “She was about this tall, right? Glasses, purple eyes, her hair cut so sharp it could slice through steel.”

  “Yes,” the other one said before its mate jabbed it in the ribs, clearly annoyed that it had answered.

  The more aggressive of the two then looked back at Seb. “And what of it?”

  Seb stepped forward and the aggressive creature raised its blaster. “I think you’ve come quite close enough.”

  Before Seb could reply, recognition dawned on the face of the other one and he pulled on his mate’s arm. “You know who that is, right?”

  With its blaster still raised, the aggressive one of the two shrugged. “No.”

  “The fighting pits. Yesterday.”

  The tension that had gripped the creature’s amphibious features slid away and it lowered its blaster. As it re-holstered it, it said, “I’m sorry; I didn’t recognise you.” With its attention now on the floor, it said, “Sorry. How can we help?”

  A sharp nod and Seb stepped forward again. His closeness clearly made both creatures uncomfortable, and the less aggressive one glanced over its shoulder into their cargo hold as if nervous to reveal what they carried on their ship. But they kept their weapons lowered. “Where did she go?”

  “If we knew that”—the creature pointed at a steel bar that ran over Seb’s head—“she’d be hanging from there.”

  Seb looked at the other creature, the one who’d seen Sparks. “I don’t suppose you saw any jewellery on her, did you?”

  “Jewellery?”

  “A silver necklace—”

  “That looked like a snake?”

  “Yes.”

  “Yeah, she had it on. Nice piece.”

  “It’s mine.”

  The creature visibly shrank. “Oh.”

  “I want it back from her. So any information you have on where I can find her would be great.”

  The vacant creature somehow turned more vacant in front of Seb. Its jaw fell loose, its eyes glazed, and its tongue lolled from its mouth. If the thing had started to drool at that moment, Seb would have assumed he’d slipped into a coma. “Okay, I’m guessing you know nothing, then?” Seb said. “Well, if you find her and you get a chance to get my necklace back, I’d appreciate it.”

  “And the girl?” the more assertive of the two asked.

  “Do what you want with her. I just want my necklace back.”

  Both creatures nodded, and when Seb backed off, they seemed to relax a little. Who knew what the different ships carried? In Aloo, you didn’t ask questions like that.

  Once Seb had stepped back out onto the walkway, the wind crashed into him like it had before. It rocked him on his heels, and he pulled his coat tight again. With his scowl fixed against the wind, Seb looked at his surroundings. Wherever Sparks had got to, he’d find her.

  When Seb rounded the next bend, he saw the back end of it as it ducked into one of the cargo bays. One of the tall lizard-like creatures that followed Moses everywhere, it had clearly been following Seb. Even now, as it hid in the shadows, Seb saw that it had its attention on him. Seb stared straight at it for a few seconds before he shook his head and walked off.

  The sooner he left Aloo, the better.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Now Seb had seen the lizard-like creature—and the lizard-like creature had seen that Seb had seen it—it abandoned its stealthy pursuit of him and followed about twenty metres behind as he strode down the walkway in between the docked ships. It no doubt had to report everything to Moses. They needed leverage to get Seb back into the pit, and the lizard had clearly been tasked with finding that leverage.

  Just a few minutes after he’d left the cargo area, Seb’s eyes watered again from the salty wind, and new stings ran across his bottom lip as it dried out and cracked. Too long on this planet and he’d be human jerky.

  The bar Seb had visited the first night he’d arrived in Aloo sat at the end of the walkway. A handwritten sign on the outside read ‘open’. The one that would have been lit up still didn’t work. When Sparks blew something up, it stayed blown up. Quite impressive if she weren’t such a deceptive little troll.

  A crowd of creatures gathered at the side of the bar; it was a huge mass unlike any Seb had seen in Aloo, other than in the fighting pit. He walked over to check it out. It seemed that Sparks left a trail of chaos behind her, so maybe she’d done something again.

  As Seb closed in on the crowd, a few creatures turned to look at him. Before long, the entire pack had turned his way.

  No doubt many of them had seen his fight because as he stepped closer, they all parted for him.

  Driven by his curiosity, Seb walked around the side of the bar to the back. He found a small patch of fenced-off land. It had an archway at the front of it that read ‘RESERVED FOR THE FIGHTERS IN THE PIT’. Moses must have owned the useless plot of land and turned it into a graveyard in a half-hearted gesture to ease his conscience at profiting from the deaths of hundreds. Covered in weeds and tough grass, the scratchy plot clearly couldn’t be used for anything else.

  The thick metal fence that surrounded the graveyard had been painted black and had large spikes along the top. When the last of the crowd parted, Seb suddenly understood the commotion and he lost his breath. “What the …?”

  One of the crowd—a small green being with wings that beat so fast they turned into a blur—flew up to Seb and nodded in the direction of Mathusa. “She jumped from the roof of the bar. They found a note she’d written in her accommodation to say she should have died. She should have been given a warrior’s death, but because she didn’t get that, she’d have to end her life herself.”

  Bent over the top of the fence, the thick black spikes had been driven through Mathusa’s lower back and punched up through her stomach. The dark spears glistened in the Aloo sunshine. With her legs hanging down on one side of the fence and her head hanging down on the other, she lay broken over the top of it. Blood pooled on the ground beneath her and her eyes had rolled back in her head. Her mouth hanging wide open and her skin looking paler than ever, she’d clearly been dead a while.

  With the attention of the gathered mass on him, all of them clearly awaiting a reaction, Seb sighed, spun on his heel, and walked back through the crowd. />
  Seb marched through the bodies with his head bowed and knocked into several large creatures on the way. He passed the lizard that had been following him and glowered at it.

  It spoke quietly enough so only Seb could hear. A hiss rode its words. “Now she’sss gone, Mossses will want you even more.”

  Seb kept his head raised and walked as if the creature hadn’t said anything to him.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  With the words of the lizard creature still in his mind, Seb walked away from the graveyard and the dead Mathusa. The lizard hadn’t said it, but it seemed clear that they blamed Seb for Mathusa’s death. He’d won the fight, nothing else. He hadn’t told the crazy fool to kill herself.

  Back out in the open again, Seb screwed his face up against the elements and did his best not to scratch the sore spots that grew larger with every passing moment. To touch them would be to break the scabs and invite in a rush of stinging wind. The salt stung ten times worse than the electric buzz he currently had to endure.

  Away from the docking bays, Seb circumnavigated the area completely and walked along next to the ocean. The wind barrelled into him, damn near deafening him, and rocked him as he moved. Despite the lack of windbreaks, a different way back to his hotel would give him a better chance to find Sparks. She had to be somewhere. Not even someone as devious as her could get off Aloo that quickly, especially as she seemed incapable of making friends.

  The bright sun reflected off the rolling ocean, and the heavy wind threw stinging droplets of salt water at Seb every time a wave broke against the spaceport. As he squinted to see better, Seb looked around for signs of Sparks. An occasional glance behind and he saw that nothing followed him. The lizards must have given up on their pursuit of him for now. They’d said their bit; maybe they thought that would be enough.

  When Seb rounded the corner, his heart raced at the sight of the fighting pit. Having not come at it from this side, he stared at the back of it. When he got close enough, the huge cylindrical structure provided enough shade for him to relax the squint on his face, but just being in its presence sent a jagged anxiety rattling through his chest. This place had given him some hope of getting off the planet, but it had also clamped a ball and chain to his ankle.