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Aeryn noted every single turn, door, nook and window in the labyrinth Svarstaan and Adaair were taking her through, committing them all to memory. Maybe they hadn't seen her take out the stunning rod.  They hadn't made any move to take it from her boot.  The lights were dim here, as they had been in the chamber.  As they passed several other Narjaain, she wondered what John was doing.  Probably blaming himself.  Funny how she had come to understand the workings of his mind.  Well, some of them at least.  But, she couldn't afford to take the time to worry about his feelings right now.  She was in a dren-load of trouble and with John still locked up, she was very much alone right now.  Her eyes darted upwards, noting circular access ducts covered with metal grids.  They were located at least every fifteen feet apart throughout the corridors.  She could only guess at their function.  Heating? Illumination conduits?  Repair access points?  At least they were there and she could consider them as potentially useful means of escape.  If she escaped.

Aeryn tried to pull herself out of the Narjaain's grasp again.  < Too frelling strong > she thought with dismay.  She wasn't even sure if a pantak jab would knock one out.

Svarstaan looked down at her.  He was a full head and a half taller.  "I see what you're doing, Officer Sun.  Marking the territory with your memory.  I would do the same myself.  I can see you are a worthy opponent...for a female."

"Save your empty compliments, Narjaain," Aeryn spat.

"General Taraviaan will like her," Adaair said quietly.

"Shut up," Svarstaan replied.

Aeryn noted the tone of derision in Svarstaan's voice.  It wasn't the first time she had sensed tension between her two captors.  Something else she could use.  Hopefully.  Svarstaan's elbow rubbed against her arm and she felt the soft white cloth draped over his arm touch her skin.  He still intended for her to wear this.  She saw it out of the corner of her eye.  It appeared to be strong material, a short robe from the looks of it, with long sleeves and pleats along the bottom.  Something which she hadn't noticed before peeked out from the white folds.  A leather strap with metal rings spaced evenly along it in a horizontal pattern.  Some sort of belt for holding things.

Aeryn looked straight ahead again, in time to see them turning a corner and approaching a large, metal, circular doorway etched with symbols of the Narjaain language.  She could hear a light hum behind the door.  A hum like that of many voices...and weapons.

Svarstaan directed her towards the door and stopped.  He hit a keypad next to the door.  Aeryn's translator microbes told her it was a combination of same double digits.  1-1.  4-4.  8-8.  Ridiculously easy to remember.  They seemed to be inviting her to try to escape.

The door groaned and swung outward.  Aeryn resisted the urge to step back as the full force of many voices and clashings of metal rushed towards her.  The air was alive with the same scent she had smelled when Svarstaan stopped at the fountain.  She drank in the floral aroma and looked through the door...

*****

"Wait up!" Chiana yelled out, stumbling slightly in the ankle-high snow drift.  They had landed the transport pod behind a hill two and a half metras away from the stronghold, a distance D'Argo deemed reasonably safe from detection.  At least, immediate detection.

D'Argo swung back and stopped so suddenly, Chiana bumped into him.

"Hey!" Chiana exclaimed, rubbing her nose.  "Watch it.  That hurt."

D'Argo looked down on her and growled under his breath.  "You call yourself a thief?  If you talk any louder, they'll be able to hear you all the way back to Nebari Prime.  Stealth and caution are required."

"I know that you big-"

"Mmmmmm," D'Argo growled again.  "Be quiet and stay low.  We're approaching their command structure now."

"Uh-huh.  I can see that."

D'Argo rolled his eyes and ignored her this time.  He looked at the large edifice rising naturally from stone against the mountain.  It was behind an expansive stand of trees, but still visible.  Of course, it was only visible to him because Pilot had told him the coordinates of the Narjaain shuttle's landing site.  If not, the edifice would have simply appeared to be what it was: ancient stone pilings erupted ages ago from the side of the mountain. They had deliberately charted a route east of the edifice, directly opposite to the landing site of the Narjaain shuttle.  John would have called it the back door.  But back door or not it left them out in the open for the time being.  The trees were still at least another quarter of an arn's walk away. And it was cold.  Freezing in fact.  Chiana had been right.  Aeryn wouldn't fall victim to heat delirium here.  At least, not from the climate.

The thought of John and Aeryn spurred D'Argo to move more quickly.  A small sigh of disgust escaped Chiana's lips.  D'Argo smiled to himself and sped up even more...

*****

Aeryn felt Adaair prod her forward with the pulse rifle.

"You really don't need to push," Aeryn said.  "I have feet."

Adaair answered her with another push.

Aeryn opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it.  There was little point to more sarcasm.  She walked forward at gunpoint and her feet touched the top step of a long flight of stairs leading downward.  The stairs were only one among many flights going downward towards an expansive circular pit of dark earth ringed by stones.  The huge underground chamber was brightly lit in comparison to the corridors they had traveled through to get here.  Aeryn regarded the pit with curiosity.  It's diameter was at least eighty meters wide.  Huge.  And now she finally understood her purpose here. At least part of it.  She looked from Adaair to Svarstaan with distaste and nodded at the pit.

"I take it those are the prisoners not currently in their cells. Battleprizes."  She looked down upon several pairs of Sebaceans engaged in combat in the pit.  The source of the voices she had been hearing.  Narjaain soldiers were ringed around the pit, guarding doors along the perimeter.

Svarstaan nodded.

"And you intend to put me down there.  To fight."

Svarstaan nodded.

"I will not fight my kind in this manner.  It is barbaric."

"We will see," Svarstaan replied.  "Come this way."

Aeryn's thoughts ran wild as Svarstaan dragged her along the upper ring of stairs until they reached the opposite side.  Another door identical to the circular door they had entered before loomed above them.  He punched different digits into the keypad and they quickly went through the door, leading onto another corridor, this one much wider than those on the other side.  Rectangular metal doors lay at regular intervals along the dark passage.

Svarstaan shoved the clothes into Aeryn's hands and pulled her towards one of the doors.  He opened the door and walked her inside.  "Take these and dress."

Aeryn looked up at him.

Svarstaan's eyes flashed.  "If you don't dress yourself, I will do it for you."

Aeryn's nostrils flared.  "You.  Wouldn't.  Dare."

Svarstaan stepped backwards and began to close the door behind him.  "I will be back in a quarter of an arn.  If you are not dressed by then..."  He left it at that and slammed the door shut.

Aeryn heard the definite turn of a lock.  "Frell you!" she yelled out, realizing the stupidity of it.  She dropped the clothes and then dropped to the floor herself.  She needed to think.  She wondered if John had been taken out of his crate as well.

*****

John turned quickly on his heel and paced all of five meters across his crate and turned again.  He wondered where Aeryn was now...what they were doing to her.

"Tell me what they're doing to her," John called into the darkness, aggressively approaching the bars.

The Delvian emerged from shadow and looked at him.  "As I said, time will tell."

John's eyes flashed anger.  He was about to lose his cool.  He could feel the adrenaline of panic coursing through his body.  "Screw your 'time will tell' dren!" he spat.  Muttered complaints about the noise emanated from the surrounding crates, but John ignored them.  "The time to tell is now.  So fess up lady."

She looked at him patiently and tilted her head.

"And don't pull that Delvian peace sign mumbo jumbo on me," John cursed.  He couldn't believe he'd said that.  He respected Zhaan's practices and all but this was more than he could take at the moment.  He struggled for composure and calmed his voice.  "Just.  Please.  Tell me.  At least...tell me who you are.  How you got here."  He could feel his pulse slowing.  "Please."

The Delvian nodded and answered calmly.  "I am Marreill.  As for how I got here...I do not remember."

"You don't remember?"

"The last thing I remember before being here...is being on a commerce planet. I do not know how I...arrived here."

John chewed on that info for a moment.  He and Aeryn must have woken up earlier from the stunning than the Delvian had; he and Aeryn had memories of the journey.

"What's the first thing you remember?"

Marreill's eyes glazed over a bit.  "The first thing..." she began to say, then her voice faded.

John watched her struggling to remember.  "You don't remember.  Do you."

The far-away look in her eyes dissipated and she looked at John.  "I only remember the fighting."

"The fighting?"

"Yes.  The fighting.  I am a battleprize.  I fight.  And I win."

John frowned.  "Battleprizes fight?  Fight who?"

Marreill's brow twitched.  She gave him a 'you don't know?' look.

John shrugged with an impatient jerk of his shoulders.

"Battleprizes fight each other," Marreill answered calmly.

John gripped the bars.  "Battleprizes fight each other," he repeated.

Marreill nodded.  "I just told you."

John gripped the bars more tightly.  "And what happens to battleprizes who lose?"

"It is not a desirable option," Marreill answered, her voice distanced, haunted.

John wrapped his mind around this new information.  They had taken Aeryn away.  They had brought her a strange outfit.  What if the clothes were some sort of uniform...for fighting...not what he and Aeryn had originally thought.  He didn't know whether to be relieved or more scared.  Aeryn could fight.  No question.  But for how long?  And what did they want with him?

John looked back at Marreill.  "I'm a battleprize too.  Do they expect me to fight?"

"Of course.  You will fight your friend if she defeats another first."

John froze.  He stared at Marreill.  "Please tell me you're joking."

Marreill shook her head.  "I am not capable of humor...anymore."

"Damn it," John muttered.  If he had to fight Aeryn, one of them would certainly lose, and he was willing to bet it would be him.  "What happens to the loser?" he asked calmly.

"The one who loses dies."

John rested his head against the bars and sank to the floor.  "Damn it."

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