Being Asar's top dog had its perks, Burke had to admit. He got something to eat, for a change - and as long as he didn't dwell too long on the question of the meat's origin, he was fine - and they had even given him a bottle with some green stuff and a rag for his bloodied face. The stuff was mercifully odorless and had gotten icy cold when he put the drenched rag on his face; it had taken away both the pain and the swelling at a remarkable speed.

Later that day, Asar's two goons had returned and had taken him out of his cage - at gunpoint, of course - and while one of them had steadily trained his gun on him, the other had thrown him face-first into the dust and started to give him a not too gentle massage.

That had been... difficult. Lying prone on his belly with an ape behind him wasn't a position Burke felt comfortable in, to put it lightly. Not even the threat of a bullet to his head had made a difference; they had to chain him to the floor, and then it had still taken a long while before he had realized that they hadn't stripped him down, and were only kneading his legs.

And then it had taken still longer for him to be able to relax sufficiently so that the ape could dig into the tissue.

The guy was good at his job, Burke conceded grudgingly while he stared into the darkness before him. His muscles weren't stiff and aching anymore, and whatever match they were carting him to now, he felt at least moderately prepared to win.

Hell, winning meant surviving. He had to be more than just 'moderately' determined to win!

Except he wasn't interested in winning matches for the bastard. Not that he had been eager to do so before, but now he wasn't looking for a chance to escape anymore, either.

No, escaping was no longer enough.

Burke continued to stare absently into the darkness of his covered cage as it slowly swayed through the streets of a sleeping Etissa. In his mind, Tulko's big body crumpled again without a sound. Burke's fingers flexed unconsciously as he remembered the weight of the knife in his hand.

I killed the damn gorilla.

He had killed apes before - some chimp sentries whose throats he had cut. They hadn't heard him sneaking up to them - well, that was the idea, after all - and it had always been a quick, clean job. None of those kills had left a lasting impression on his mind.

But this time... this time he had been on his knees, beaten and outnumbered, and he'd still done it.

He'd done it.

I killed a goddamn gorilla.

And if he could kill one gorilla…

But first, he had to kill yet another goddamn monkey - the one that kept pitting him against desperate humans whose only chance of survival was to kill him.

The only question was how. Burke hadn't found an answer to that not unimportant detail yet, and he had a feeling that his time was running out. Once he was in that pit, he'd have to focus all his skill and cunning, all his energy and determination on whatever poor bastard they had thrown into the arena with him. And afterwards - assuming there was an afterwards for him - he'd be too exhausted to take on that pig Asar.

On the other hand, he had been beaten to a pulp and totally out of his mind when he had killed Tulko. And he hadn't had a plan ready then - he'd just taken the opportunity that had presented itself.

Of course, now that they had witnessed how he had dealt with Tulko, the apes were more cautious around him. Always keeping a gun pointed at him, ready to split his skull if he so much as breathed wrong. Burke obediently crawled out of the wagon once it stopped. He wouldn't have a chance out here, no need to alarm his wardens. Let them think he was fearing their mighty firesticks. Let them think they had tamed him.

But if he survived tonight's match - then Asar would come down into the pit to him, like the other owners did for their champions. He'd put his hand on his neck, and let the blood-drinking crowd celebrate him.

He'd be close. So close. And no thug with a gun anywhere.

At least now I have an incentive to win this fight.

They were meeting in the basement of a distillery this time; Asar's thugs led Burke down to a huge room with massive brick walls that swung up in bold arches like an underground cathedral. Hard to believe that apes had made it; maybe humans had built it, centuries ago, and the monkeys had stolen it, like they had stolen the whole damn planet, and used it for their own purposes.

Torches along the walls were not just lighting, but also heating up a room that was already so overcrowded with apes that they had to press their backs to the walls. The air was hot and stale, stinking of tobacco and alcohol and animals. Burke felt his heartbeat pick up, from panic or rage, he couldn't say.

Asar was joining them now, casually resting his heavy hand on Burke's neck, but Burke's hands were still shackled behind his back and he couldn't make use of the opportunity. The apes were gaping and pointing at him, bookies accepting stacks of the small white tiles the monkeys used for money; in the far corner of the arena, another chimp - who looked as if he had soaked in too hot water for too long - was locking eyes with Asar now, and demonstratively kneading the arms and neck of his human.

The human was a tank.

All thoughts of putting Asar out of his misery fled from Burke's mind as he gaped at the monster of a man that was hulking in the opposite corner. The guy had to be almost seven feet tall, and almost as wide. Not an ounce of fat anywhere - and he didn't wear any clothes, so Burke could see that yes, everything but his dick was pure muscle, and he didn't want to speculate about the dick.

He could see now that the ogre's owner didn't just massage those muscles to draw attention to them. He was spreading some ointment on his fighter - oil? Is he oiling that fucker? What does he think we'll do, wrestling?

"Jus' so you know," Burke growled quietly, "I'm not gonna strip and marinate myself."

"You'd do exactly that, if I told you so," Asar said just as quietly. He sounded amused. "But don't worry, I'm not going to send you in there naked and shiny. That's Latis' kink, not mine. He just wants to show off his human."

"Is that thing even human?" Burke muttered.

Asar huffed a laugh. "The referees seem to think so, or they'd have disqualified him a long time ago."

Burke turned his head to glare at the ape. "How long ago?"

"About fifty kills ago," Asar said amicably. "I trust you to break that series. It ran long enough, for my taste."

Fifty- "How the hell am I supposed to kill that thing with my bare hands?" Burke hissed. "You need armor-piercing ammo for the Hulk!"

Asar ruffled his hair. "You killed ol' Tulko," he said with a wink. "I trust you to come up with something that'll pierce The Butcher's defenses."

And with that, he took off Burke's shackles, and pushed him into the middle of the little makeshift arena.

Burke stumbled towards the center and caught himself just in time. A few people whistled their annoyance at his less than professional entrance, and Burke considered flipping the finger in their general direction, but decided against it. He'd need all his attention focused on the mountain that was rolling towards him now.

The Butcher, huh? Name's somewhat suggestive...

Asar had probably alluded to his stabbing of Tulko's eyes. It was a good tactic if your opponent was much stronger than you, but Tulko had been on eye level with him, while this guy's head was looming somewhere in the stratosphere. His eyes would be hard to reach, which meant he'd have ample opportunity to lock Burke's arm, and break it off at the elbow. And his knees looked as if they had been made from tree trunks, so good luck with breaking the joints.

Burke silently cursed his luck and took a cautious step back. So far, he hadn't discovered a weakness in his opponent. The guy was just massively built. As soon as the ref gave the signal, the Hulk would swing his huge fist towards him like a mace...

And still, he almost did miss the referee's signal, and almost got his head ripped off because of it.

Because in the split second before the chimp made that cutting motion with his arm and stepped back, Burke had discovered a face in the crowd: tense and fearful, nose twitching violently, staring at him with such intensity that he hadn't been able to tear his own gaze away.

... but it couldn't have been, it was just a random face, a desperate fantasy...

Galen?

The Dripping Orchid. Some people try too hard to be subtle.

Zana leaned against the wall behind her and tried to convince herself that it was just moist from the constant fog, not slimy from whatever filth this town seemed to be sweating out through every pore. She felt strange - light-headed, and not entirely herself.

Well, I don't think the girl from last summer would recognize me as herself anymore. Lurking in the shadows, armed to the teeth...

After her almost fatal run-in with the murderous chairwoman of Sapan's human shelter, both Peet and Galen had insisted that she'd get her own knife. Alan hadn't said anything, but he had made her a sheath that could be strapped to her left arm, fitted so perfectly that most of the time, she wasn't even aware of it. His way of agreeing with the other two, Zana supposed.

And now she was also carrying the small gun under her robe that Galen had purchased in Etissa after Peet had gone missing. She was more heavily armed than she'd ever been before, and those weapons didn't even make up her entire arsenal now...

Zana felt strangely detached as she watched the last drunken patrons being chased into the street. She'd have to catch the barkeep after the last straggler had left the establishment, but before he closed up the pub.

Better to risk a lone drunk in there than banging against an already barricaded door. She pushed away from the wall, strode across the street, and checked shoulders with the last guest just as she stepped over the threshold.

"Pub's closed-"

The Chimp swallowed his words when he saw the gun in her hand and slowly raised his arms, his eyes huge.

Zana stared him down while she pushed the door closed behind her with her foot. "I'm not here for a drink."

The Chimp took a step back and smiled nervously. "If you came looking for your man, he's not here."

Zana followed him, straining to detect any furtive movements in the darkness from the corner of her eyes. If the barkeeper wasn't alone, this situation could get very ugly for her.

Why in the white wastes didn't I think of that beforehand? "Now that you mention it, I am wondering where he is. You wouldn't know where he went to, after he wasted our good money on your swill?"

The Chimp vigorously shook his head, retreating yet another step towards the bar. "Stay where you are," Zana ordered, and he froze.

"My man was here to bet on a manfight," Zana said. "I'm not going to stand by while he gambles away our money. So where did he go?"

"Very sorry, ma'am, but I have no idea what you're talking ab-"

For the second time during their encounter, the ape broke off with alarm. He stared at the bottle in Zana's other hand, then back at her. "Wha-?"

"You know, the thing about pubs is that they're selling highly flammable stuff," Zana said conversationally. "Of course, if someone wants to burn down an establishment like this, the fire has to start somewhere."

She held up the small flask. "I'm not telling this to every ape in the street, but my name means 'spark of lightning'. I'd never have thought I would take it literally, but right now, you're this close from learning what lightning looks like when it hits you."

She dropped the bottle and watched the ape flinch as it shattered on the floor. A sharp, balsamic scent engulfed them. Zana reached to her left and plucked a still burning candle from the nearest table.

"It's really quite simple," she said. "You talk, and I'll leave. You try to string me along for just one more moment, and I'll burn your filthy pub down to its foundation. I imagine the value of this quarter will jump up as a result, and the infection rates go down, so maybe I should do it anyway..."

"Nono," the Chimp said hastily, "no. No need to, uh, make rash decisions. I, uh, happened to overhear some conversations... they have a match scheduled for tonight, in the old distillery..."

"Is that so?" Zana mused, still holding the candle stump over the shards of her bottle. "How do I know you're not lying?"

"I swear it's the truth," the Chimp said desperately. "You just go there, you'll see..."

Zana raised her brows. "You really think I'll go all by myself into an abandoned building where a bunch of criminals outnumber me? Or worse, where that fight isn't happening, but Mothers know what kind of creeps are lurking in the darkness? Just how dumb do you think I am? Careful what you say now..."

"Nonono, I don't think you're dumb at all..."

"My man told me I shouldn't roam these streets alone," Zana said sweetly. "It's much too dangerous for a woman, especially after dark." She stepped aside and jerked her chin towards the door, keeping the gun steadily pointed at the ape's chest. "So be a gentleman and accompany me."

The ape made two hesitant steps towards the door, looking askance at her.

"You go first," Zana said, still smiling. "Clear the way for your lady."

She stayed close behind him, brushing the muzzle of her gun against his back from time to time to let him know that he was still moving in her crosshairs, but keeping her distance otherwise; she didn't want him to turn around all of a sudden and wrestle the handgun from her.

I never even thought about how close I came to passersby in the City. Any of them could've robbed me, force-walked me into an abandoned alley and killed me there...

Whatever else could be said about Urko, but the Chief General of the Cesarian city police had made things like this unthinkable. The City really had been an island of law and order.

"Tha... that's not the way to the distillery," her victim dared to point out as she directed him around a corner.

"No, it's not," Zana affirmed. "You didn't really think we'd go there, did you?"

"But they're really there!"

"One more reason not to go there with you."

She didn't elaborate further, and the Chimp kept silent from now on and obediently followed her directions - until he saw the green-and-black lamp of the Etissan town watch. He stopped dead in his tracks.

"Move!" Zana hissed. "Or I'll blast your head off and drag your body to their steps like a dead rat."

Mothers, I sound like Peet! And what was worse, she was entirely serious right now.

This isn't like me...

She didn't dare to linger on that unsettling realization as they climbed the two steps to the main entrance. In the middle of the night, the watch would only have a limited crew, and some of the guards were hopefully out to walk the beat. It would make the second part of her plan a bit easier. Or so she hoped.

The guard at the desk closest to the entrance barely glanced up when she stopped right at the door. "What can I do for you two?"

"Kneel!" Zana whispered to the barkeeper, and when he obeyed, she pressed her gun to his temple so that it was clearly visible for everyone.

"You can call out whoever is in command of the night shift," she said to the gaping officer. Her voice was trembling ever so slightly; hopefully nobody but her was able to hear it. Why do I have to get nerves now ?

"I'm here." Another officer had appeared in the door of the chief's office, maybe alerted by the universal police instinct that went off as soon as trouble was brewing in the vicinity.

Zana nodded at him. "I'm terribly sorry to barge in like that, but I need you to break up a manfight."

The officer crossed his arms and leaned casually against the doorframe. "Why don't you put down your weapon, and we'll talk about that."

Zana pulled her lips into a tight smile. At least she hoped it came out as a smile. "Your chief told me that he has tried to break up that manfighting ring for the last three years, without success. Do you know what that tells me?"

She didn't wait for his answer. "It tells me that they have a mole in the police department. And since I have no way of knowing if that mole is you, my gun will point to this man's head until I have my human back, and you've locked up the bastards who took him and forced him to fight for his life."

The officer narrowed his eyes, but otherwise didn't move. "I don't negotiate with hostage-takers."

Zana regarded him for a moment. He reminded her of Rogan somewhat, although he wasn't as good-looking. But then nobody was as good-l...

"Fine," she said. "Let's try this differently. Let's assume not all of you are in Asar's pockets."

If anyone flinched at that, she didn't see it. "This gentleman here wants to make a statement," Zana continued. She prodded the Chimp when he didn't react. "Isn't that right? You wanted to tell the nice police officer everything about how your establishment serves as a betting booth for these fights. And where tonight's fight is taking place."

"I-i-in the old distillery," the Chimp stuttered. "Asar's got a new fighter..."

"My human," Zana interjected grimly.

"... a-and he's fighting against Latis' Butcher..."

The officer raised his brows at that. "Latis? As in the Etissan Herold's Latis?"

The Chimp nodded, and the officer shook his head. "The pillars of our community... Very well." He glanced at Zana. "Put your weapon away."

She hesitated - what if he arrested her?

Well. Only one way to find out. Zana gently thumbed the hammer back into place and tucked the weapon under her robe.

The officer watched her with an unreadable expression, but didn't ask her to give up the handgun to him. Zana hoped that it was a good sign - that he was willing to cooperate with her. Even if he was the mole, she had enough witnesses among the town guard now that he wouldn't be able to derail tonight's mission.

"Well," she said, propping her hands on her hips and sweeping her gaze over the half a dozen officers. "Time is of the essence, gentlemen. Who's willing to earn a promotion tonight?"