Beastly Bonds
Chapter I
Hazel eyes snapped open at the clash and banging of metal against metal and a knife in the same grip was tightened. As Jack sat up, she ran a hand through her hair that had become mussed during her rest. She snorted at the thought of rest in such a hellhole but she stood anyway, walking to the very edge of the cliff that overlooked the center of Crematoria. Sure enough, the horrid sound was to alert the occupants there was a new damned soul. Jack looked at the man being let down by rope and judged him immediately. He wouldn't last a fortnight. Crouching, she watched him hit the ground and immediately struggle to get out of the bonds. Miners had already climbed from their rocky crevices in the ground and circled him, as if a sort of group meeting.
The same interrogation Jack was put through was given to this new inmate, who spat on the ground and ordered to be released. The prison became silent. No one had ever treated their 'home' this way and Jack was quite sure it wasn't to be taken lightly. Lucky for her, a few inmates had seen her as a slaved out kid wild with fear and had taken her in as their charge. They trained her even more but over time they had been killed or died. Shaking the somewhat fond memories from her head, Jack wondered what would be done when she heard her name called.
"KYRA!"
With a glare she saw that she was being called to judge this pathetic excuse of a man and with a few easy jumps and loping strides, she had taken off from her cliff and landed next to a miner.
"You called?"
"I did, what do you think should happen to this bastard?"
As Jack decided, calls from above shouted for immediate death or torture then death. Yet she had other ideas in her mind, more along the lines of death, but not by their hands. The cries grew louder as she circled the still hanging man who did little to cover wrath based lust that rolled off of him in waves. With a snarl she used the hilt of her knife and slammed him in the face, effectively breaking his nose. Shouts of approval rang out as blood dripped from his face. Jack held up her hand in a gesture of silence and soon the prison was quiet again, waiting for his sentence.
"He did disrespect our home, private hell, whatever you want to call it. But, they'll have a good guess as to whoever killed him and they will be punished. Things don't get much worse than this, so we don't need extra punishment. So, let's leave him for feeding time, eh?" Jack asked, her inner beast howling with excitement at the prospect of live bait. But even her raging animal was drowned out by the agreement of the inmates of Crematoria. She raised her hands again and silence reigned.
"But I don't think a bloody nose will be enough to attract our friends to this…free meal." His arousal clearly died at this statement and fear began to run amuck in his body. "Krent, Litman."
Two of the stronger miners stepped forward. She was relatively good friends with these two and they weren't bothered by her power at all.
"That extra line or so of chain, we still got it?"
"For this 'ere bastard? I believe we do." Litman answered, a manic smile lighting his hard and dark features. "I have to say, Kyra, I love your thinkin'."
"Me too, be a joy and go retrieve it. Krent, is it possible to build in a hanging device from one of the stronger parts of the stone?" She asked, glancing back to see Litman descending into the mines and Krent still standing at ready. He looked up and with calculating eyes, raked the stone over and seemed to find a perfect spot.
"Aye."
"Good, once Litman brings the chain, attach it to that spot. But, our gentle and kindly keepers," she heard a resounding bark of laughter from the nearby inmates, "won't be keeping this chain here long, so anyone who is up to it has the joy of taking him down and off. Tie 'em up, beat him til he is barely conscious, do what you like but don't kill him and don't knock him out. Guard him, watch him and I want him hung up ten minutes before feeding time." Jack ordered, watching the inmates take up various weapons and cutting tools. Backing up, she looked up to see another inmate letting down a rope for her.
Grabbing onto it she easily climbed her way up. Seeing a hand held out to her and against her better judgment she clasped it and jumped over the side. As she looked up as to who her helper was, she smiled to see it was Tipner, a long time inmate who was blind in one eye. He was old and grizzled, but knew Crematoria inside out. His skin was darkened and worn with age, looking like leather stretched over a well-muscled body. Jack guessed he had as many scars as he did bones and for each one he had a different story. Many inmates respected and looked up to Tipner as a sort of wise and all-knowing guardian, but just like the rest of them, he lived to survive.
"Good to see you, Tipner." Jack greeted, clasping his hand and arm again. He nodded and pulled up the rope, wrapping it about his arm.
"And you to, Kyra. I see you've gained some superiority in this…hierarchy." He waved the scene below, where the once hanging man was now being thoroughly insulted and beaten. "Come, let's talk. We've got some time before the feeding." He raised his hand for her to follow him and she did, feeling a sense that a paternal and philosophical discussion was to follow. She felt sometimes that Tipner was sort of her substitute for Imam, who she had thoughtlessly left behind.
Following him through the strong bars that had held those cats back for years, she waited for him to be comfortably seated in a well-worn hollow in the stone before she herself fell into a sort of kneeling position on the floor. One knee bent up, the other leg tucked through that one and her hand rested on her knee while the other supported her.
"So, you wished to speak to me?" She asked, as if she were receiving orders. He waved it aside with a slightly annoyed face, but the age was clear as he breathed louder and heavier.
"No, just to talk. Just to talk. So, talk." He gestured for conversation to begin and she wasn't sure where to start.
"What do you mean, talk?"
"Oh don't be stupid, just talk. Fine, let me start." He heaved a sigh and leaned back into the stone, closing his eyes. Jack saw with a stab of pain that he was in his last days.
"Alright, go ahead."
"What is the one thing you most wish for?"
This took her completely by surprise and her position smoothly changed as she crossed her legs and straightened her back. What was it that she wished for? Did she even have wishes anymore?
"The obvious, that is to get out of here. And bring you, too. Then get some private transport out of here and settle on some nice secluded planet…then…well…" she trailed off, knowing Tipner knew the rest. He had been the only one she had ever told about her past with Riddick and he had been shocked at first, but believed it entirely.
"Ah, of course. Kyra, have I ever told you of my past? And why I'm stuck in this horrible place?" He suddenly changed the subject, as it seemed a certain energy had revitalized him momentarily. "Of course not."
And with that he revealed his history to her, only to turn around and give her a small chip and an old earth key. The chip contained his story and the key was to a vault he claimed was still stowed away somewhere on old earth. Jack tucked both items away and was touched when he said that she was the closest thing he had to an apprentice and daughter. Jack was about to open her mouth to reveal her past when she heard an unavoidable noise outside.
Tipner moved to get up but she held a hand up and he settled back. With a slight growl she unsheathed a blade and backed up, closer to the old man. Knowing that time was running short, she knelt quickly and turned to him.
"Take this. I'm going to send up Krent and Litman to protect you, but just in case." She said, closing his hand around the blade she had placed into it. With a tired smile he nodded and closed his eyes, needing rest. Walking out of the semi-livable quarters, she stood on the ramp and looked down, where she saw the inmate making trouble. With a sharp whistle that only Krent and Litman recognized, she saw movement and waited until they were next to her to leave. They knew this was their duty, regardless of how unaccepting of help Tipner would be.
"Kyra, this bastard deserves it. But, watch the beasts." Litman advised, following Krent into Tipner's prison cell and efficiently locking the door with chains and other objects. With a nod, she began a long journey down the ramp until she found a suitable place to jump onto the chain that was holding up the inmate. Leaping from the ramp, she was glad for her thick gloves that prevented her hands from hurting as she slid down the metal links. He had obviously heard her for he looked up and only a few seconds later his scream was followed by a sickening crunch of finger bones. Jumping from him to the ground, she stood and observed his condition.
"You're nothing but a filthy prison slut! Whore! Cunt!" He yelled, receiving a blow with a rusted metal bar that ripped open part of his chest, leaving a path of shredded flesh behind.
"Watch your mouth." She advised. She was about to continue when the alarm blared through the prison and she violently swore. They were letting them out early this time and she wasn't entirely prepared. The miners dropped out of sight and the others ran to the ramps, being shoved and pushed. Jack saw that really had no way out of this one. The ramps were too dangerous, the miners wouldn't let her in and she had no sufficient rock to climb up that the cats wouldn't chase her. With a growl she also decided she wasn't about to climb up that chain holding the doomed inmate, since it was very difficult to jump from a hanging chain to a ramp, that would most likely be filled with running prisoners.
Unsheathing her blades, Jack turned to face the scraping and agonized scream of the natural metal of the cat's bodies with the unforgiving rock of Crematoria. All the cats but one leapt off into different areas, sensing easier meals there. Yet the one that remained was the largest one, the alpha Jack guessed but she wasn't about to ask. The cat approached her, turning a scarlet red like swords being beaten into deadly weapon in a forge. Clenching her jaw, Jack stamped out every last scent of fear from her and decided that if she was going down, it would be in glory.
"Yo bitch! It's your turn now! Gonna get ripped up and eaten alive by that nasty freak cat thing! Haha, I'm laughin' at you, you stupid slut! You ain't gonna survive another minute!" The inmate crowed and mocked her from his position and it seemed that the cat was more bothered by this then Jack was. The beast narrowed its eyes and saw that this was just talkative hanging food. With a roar of starvation, the feline launched itself from the ground and sank its claws and teeth into the body of the inmate who began to scream.
Slowly backing up Jack almost tripped on a shuddering form partially hidden by rocks. Looking down she saw one of the younger inmates, a kid no older then fifteen but thrown in here in stead of his father, who had died before he had been able to be sent to Crematoria. Jack had no idea what fucked up government had decided this was the proper way of working things, but she suddenly felt that this wasn't his way to go. Thinking fast, she remembered his name as Meth. It wasn't his real name but they had given the bullshit reason he was in Crematoria for trafficking serious amounts of the drug.
"Get up, Meth! Now!" She snarled, grabbing his arm and dragging him behind her, his footsteps at first unsteady but soon he kept a good pace with her. Jack looked up to see that no beasts had gotten near Tipner's cell and was about to start on the ramps when the same cat that had checked her out as a meal earlier landed directly in front of her. Most inmates would've shoved Meth in front of them and run in the opposite direction, but Jack had different ideas. Showing she was armed, she raised her lips in a definite snarl. The feline did the same in return, showing it wasn't disarmed or backing down. The metal scales rose in defiance as Jack didn't give up her space or Meth. As it continued, she knew that the cat looked at Meth as a defenseless cub and Jack as a protector, probably high beta or alpha. With this hierarchy in place, it was against both of their natures to back down.
Finally it seemed that they had reached a sort of understanding when Jack felt Meth's presence behind her suddenly vanish. With a cry of rage she turned to see another cat had bitten deep into his leg and was attempting to drag him away. Yet before Jack got close to him, she was knocked flat by a blur of solid sleek strength. The alpha she had just been facing down suddenly let out a mighty roar, causing the cat to let Meth's leg go, which was bleeding quickly. He struggled to move closer to Jack and she ungracefully stumbled up to help him. The cat stepped forward to retake its meal but the alpha body slammed it into the rock, shaking Crematoria to its core. A short fight ensued as Jack safely got Meth in her arms and while checking his wound, looked up to see that the cat that had attacked him was now cowering beneath the looming shadow of the alpha. What had happened between the alpha and Jack, neither Jack or Meth knew, but it was significant.