CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
AN: It's 4:42 in the morning and I can't sleep. Go figure. So here's another chapter. Also, a quick review reply;
REVIEW: from Hikaru69
Thanks for the update, I noticed a mistake, misplaced word, where Riddick's pack is freaking out, you put make at the end of the sentence when it should be between 'not a'. Thought I would point that out to you, over all, great chapter, can't wait for more."
I had to read my chapter over a few times before I caught what you were talking about. However, the way I worded that sentence "...did not a happy Furyan make" is actually NOT a grammar-mishap, rather it's an old-English way of speaking; think Shakespearean.
Thank you everyone for your condolences and wonderful reviews! Please keep them coming!
Praises to the Lord, as usual, for giving me ideas.
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Out of all of them (with the exception of their alien captors) Riddick was the only one able to see in the dark, to make out where they were going; the rest simply had to stumble around in the dark, prodded by their captors spears. But, even tied and restrained, Riddick found ways to support his pack; using his body as a support when his mate or pup tripped, managing to caress Cassie's side here, give a reassuring nudge to Jack there.
The carcass of Paris had been tied up as well (though there was no way the man would be attempting to escape seeing as he was dead) and his corpse was dragged along behind one of the ruthless monsters their captors rode, the grue.
Jack was shaking as they trudged along blindly. "Wh-where are they taking us?"
"Does it really matter?" Zeke grumbled, but it was Riddick, of course, who answered.
"Probably to where they live; underground." The convict said in his deep, rumbling voice.
"And what will they do with us there?" Imam asked, ceasing in his praying for a moment.
Riddick shrugged, even though none of them could see it. "Dunno. But there'll be time to escape."
"Yeah, and when will that be?" Johns snarled out, cursing as another sharp spear-point nudged his side.
Riddick gave a cruel, completely confident smirk. "Make no mistake, Johns. If I wanted to get out now I could, no problems."
"Yeah?" The hatred and loathing was easily recognized in Johns response. "So what's stopping you?"
"I could escape, but not with anyone else," Riddick explained. "and a good alpha doesn't desert his pack." That was a definite jab at Johns leadership abilities, and they all knew it.
"Who says you're our alpha?" Johns demanded, and Zeke managed to aim a kick towards his voice, pleased when he heard a grunt that indicated he had hit his mark.
"Shaddup already, Johns."
"We're getting close to the entrance now," Riddick instructed, viewing everything in his purple-glowing-shine-job vision. "There's a low ceiling. Make sure ta duck your head."
CTUK
He didn't know what the uplanders were saying and, really, it didn't matter. What mattered was the sport they would give. There was no doubt that the big one, the alpha, would be the best contender. The coward, the one who had run, would be sent to the kitchens to be butchered and served up as a meal, perhaps even to their contenders (a last meal was always included for the fighters before the games, in order to have them in the best shape possible). If Gnoosh ordered it, there may even be a time of training for those they had captured, so they would give better sport.
Curious about this, Ctuk nudged one of his companions, Floth, in the side. "*Do you think they will be trained or simply thrown into the arena?*"
Floth twitched his fingers (the Juunani version of shrugging). "*Perhaps. It depends on whether or not Gnoosh thinks they will give a better fight with training, if they can even be improved.*"
"* I would not mind fighting the big one,*" one of their rather cockier companions commented. There was some good-natured laughter and teasing on that note.
"*What makes you think you could take him on, Jood?*"
"*The uplander would have your guts for boot-laces!*"
"What in the world are they talking about!" Johns hissed.
"I think it's best we don't know." Was Carolyns surprisingly wise reply.
They were all lead down some surprisingly steep steps which descended into a network of caverns supported with natural-looking pillars. Of course, not that any of them could see this; it was pitch black, though to the Juunanis senses and Riddicks eyes, things were perfectly visible.
Riddick took note of the women and children he saw, all with grey, slimy skin, completely black eyes and albino white hair. It was an almost disturbingly normal scene; children clung to their mothers legs while the mothers carried baskets of some strange, foreign fruit, bartering in their clicking language with one-another. Almost all, though, paused in whatever they were doing to watch the procession with excitement. Riddick could have sworn he saw bets and deals being made at the sight of them, a strange kind of pebble-like currency being exchanged, maybe betting on who would be killed first.
They passed through more caverns, between more pillars, till Riddick saw a very large archway coming up, and through it something of a intricately carved throne made out of some black stone (ebony, maybe?) sitting on a dais. And on that throne was obviously the head honcho; a juunani with the trademark grey skin, white hair and all-black eyes, but this one wore a crown of bleached bone (from human or some other creature, Riddick couldn't tell) and held a tall, stone spear that seemed to double as a scepter.
Riddicks rag-tag pack (and non-pack human members) were marched up to that throne then stopped.
The Furyan felt his mate and pup stagger to a stop behind him, nearly pitching into him and he managed to steady them with his body. They were tired, exhausted, and they still hadn't eaten. The thought added to the Furyans already building anger.
"Lean up against me," he ordered to Cassie and Jack in a low growl. "Try to rest a bit."
"Wh-where have they taken us?" Cassie panted out softly, taking him up on his offer and leaning up against his reassuring bulk.
"Looks like some kind of throne-room." Riddick answered, eyes scanning his surroundings. "and the head-honcho's sittin' right there."
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VOCABULARY:
CURRENCY: another term for money
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CITATIONS:
Gladiator. (2014, January 27). Retrieved from wiki/Gladiator
