Indentured (Book 2 of the Dana Halliday series)

RITUAL. ROUND ONE. UNDENIABLY EARTHY.

Evening fell, cool but somehow tense. There was an alarming amount of security on the compound, and two Champions had been posted at Liti's dwelling, as if the little Fenn was going to pull a Uis and escape. I thought about the I'une and wished him well, wherever he was.

Liti emerged from her dwelling, which was a cavelike structure similar to what the Nessians had. She ignored her guards most admirably, and offered her bag to me. "You will take this home for me?"

I was unable to answer for a moment as my throat tightened. I swallowed and made it relax. "Of course. I'd love to see your homeworld."

Liti smiled faintly. She bowed, as Flynt had. "Thank you, p'lia."

I backed away from her gate as Kez, his entourage, and a gaggle of Champions approached. My camera drone was making huge, slow circles about twenty feet above us, and had been joined by a half-dozen others.

Emhallet led the Pemlo'hban, head down and chanting in his familiar low rumble. Mennu walked close behind him. A zillion tourists were lined up along the other side of the walk, strangely quiet as they listened to the priest.

Kez looked eager and charmed. I fought down an urge to throw a rock at him; instead, I slung Liti's bag over my shoulder, keeping my head down to conceal my face. Her bag settled against my backpack.

Emhallet stopped and gazed down at the tiny Fenn girl, and his chanting ceased.

She lifted her chin, head tilted, eyes wide and unafraid. "What do I have to do?"

"Remove your clothing. That fabric gives you an unfair advantage." Emhallet hesitated, then continued, "It wasn't my idea. Orders from Crae Kez."

I started to protest. The evening air was comfortable enough to me, but the Fenn tended to feel temperatures as though they were a good thirty degrees warmer than they would be to an Earther. I also wanted to point out the obvious, that the warrior was probably four times Liti's size.

Liti shot me a quick, quelling look. "If you wish," she replied to Emhallet, and complied.

A ripple of amusement spread through the Sturv crowd. Liti's pale skin was blinding next to the dark Pemlo'hban—like male Fenn, she had no body hair—and she was all lean, wiry muscle. They looked even more mismatched than Flynt and Cua.

Emhallet spoke a few more spiritual-sounding words, and drew a couple of symbols on her flat chest with the green paste he'd used on Dross and me. Then he dabbed her forehead with it, again as he had with me. Liti didn't move.

Mennu released a subdued grumble. He was a hairy mountain of tension and anger. Emhallet said something in his own language that didn't sound very priestly, and Mennu subsided.

"Now, just follow me. There is a minor ritual to perform, then I will say this," and he spoke a couple of gruff words, "then the fight may begin."

I didn't spare Emhallet my glare. He met my eyes for a second, then turned, but not before I saw a wounded droop of his heavy lids. Liti followed at his heels, Mennu walked at her side, and the rest of the Champions fell in around them. The Fenn looked no bigger than a child walking through a redwood forest.

"Ridiculous," I muttered, and followed the crowd.

* * *

Along the way to the arena, I ran into Rav, and we continued into the stands where we'd watched the fight with the Qir. The place was packed to the gills with celebrating spectators, making me glad the sun was setting. The desert furnace gave up its heat and turned to a desert fridge quickly once the blue star started its slide into the west. That was something, at least.