Chill (Klance Warmth series Book 2 of +4)

19: Heated Discussions

She came to when something fell on top of her, knocking the wind out of her. Her eyes flew open, shutting almost immediately when her senses were assaulted by light, sound, and movement. Her arms were held behind her back by a pair of metal shackles and she was inside some kind of ship. That much she could tell immediately.

When she could open her eyes again, Allura gasped and looked around her. Shiro had been what landed on her, protecting her from a box that had fallen from the pile behind them. It had struck her black paladin's back and fallen to the side. Shiro's arms were braced on either side of Allura's body using his own body as a shield.

"Shiro?" she gasped.

"I'm fine," Shiro grunted. "You alright?"

The princess nodded, staring up at the paladin for a moment longer. His hands were free. She wriggled her own wrists, testing the metal's strength. After a tick, she gave up. "Cut me loose," she ordered. "We're getting out of here."

Shiro sighed and shook his head. "I don't think we'll be going anywhere right no-"

Something slammed into the ship they were in, throwing them across the floor to slam into the far wall.

"What the quiznak?" Allura cried.

Shiro sat up quickly and activated his mechanical arm. "Stay still," he said, waiting for the princess to nod before slicing through the metal binding her wrists. "You good?"

Allura nodded, pulling her aching arms back to their proper position and rubbing them gingerly. "Yes," she said, looking around her warily. She braced herself when the ship shuddered violently again, this time with a shouted curse. "What is going on here?" she demanded.

"They tricked us," Shiro said, helping the princess to her feet.

When he was sure Allura could stand, he turned his attention to the ship's small bridge where their kidnappers sat doing their best to control the flight. He grabbed one of the shelves welded to the ship's walls with one hand and Allura's slim waist with his other.

"Nyma?" Allura breathed, recognizing the yellow skinned alien she'd traded with.

"And Rolo," Shiro said, nodding to the ship's main pilot.

Allura fumed. "How dare they-"

She started towards them when Shiro grabbed her and pulled her back into his arms just into time for another jolt to rattle the small craft. A glass case flung free of its straps and crashed to the floor nearby.

"What is going on here?" Allura demanded loud enough for everyone to hear her.

"Frak," Nyma cursed, looking back at them before returning her focus to what looked like weapons controls. "Rolo, they're awake!"

"I don't... Jurt it all," Rolo snapped. "Don't pay attention to them. Pay attention to that red lion. Frakin' pilot's got some serious skills."

"Red Lion?" Allura gasped, lifting her eyes to the view from the bridge's windows as well as the view screens.

Sure enough, a bright red lion darted across the view too fast for Nyma to shoot down, expertly moving from asteroid to asteroid. It vanished from view, only to reappear in the view screen as a flashing alert. A tick later, something slammed into the ship again, tossing them around.

"Hunk!" Shiro cried.

Allura looked back at the screens long enough to see the hulking image of the Yellow Lion fly directly for them.

"Hang on!" the black paladin said, pressing the princess to the racks and covering her with his body.

When the Lion impacted the ship, they were sent hurtling through space in an erratic tumbling motion that would have had Hunk puking his guts everywhere. Rolo managed to slow the roll only for something to hit the engines, knocking them out altogether.