He nodded. “I’ll get you out as soon as I can.”
Her blue eyes met his. He could see the tremble in her chin, even through the thick panel. “I love you,” she whispered.
“I will not fail you, Mahasani.” Words that he knew, as soon as he’d spoken them, were a lie. He’d already failed her by letting her get taken in the first place.
Chapter Six
The truck pulled to a rough stop. Kelan got to his feet. There was no door on Fiona’s half of the truck, so they were going to have to come through him to get to her. He braced his feet and waited.
A panel in the door slid open. “Put your hands through,” someone ordered.
Kelan stayed put.
“There are six of us out here. You don’t think you’re a match for us, do you?”
He didn’t answer. He had a more defensible position inside the rig than he would out in a wide-open space. And with him out of the truck, they could get to Fiona. After some debate amongst themselves, along with a cryptic comment about needing to get him into “the arena,” the steel panel at the back of the semi slid open.
Two men jumped inside. Kelan prepared for their attack. The one on his left jabbed straight at his chest. Kelan blocked that thrust then slammed his boot sideways on the guy’s calf, breaking his knee. As the second guy slammed Kelan back against the wall, two more men jumped into the truck, one with a cattle prod, one with a dogcatcher’s loop. Kelan couldn’t dislodge the guy holding him pinned to the wall, so instead of fighting for release, he jammed the guy’s head against the steel wall with his elbow.
While they fought, the man with the cattle prod managed to zap Kelan’s side. The pain stunned him temporarily, long enough for the man with the dogcatcher loop to slip that wire over his neck and pull tight. Kelan turned his attention to the wire, giving them a chance to slap a pair of cuffs on his hands. When he still struggled, the man with the dogcatcher loop tightened it until he hit his knees. A couple of the other men went inside and unlocked the big acrylic panel, letting it swivel open. They rushed in and grabbed Fiona.
She tried to resist, but her strength was no match for theirs. As they walked her past him to the truck opening, Kelan jabbed his elbow into the groin of the man holding the cattle prod. Yanking the prod from his hand, he used it to zap the man holding the choke wire about his neck.
He freed himself from the wire loop then tossed that man out of the truck, into a new fighter. He kicked yet another oncoming fighter in the head, then leapt out of the truck. A whole new circle of fighters stepped into formation around him.
Someone clapped. The man wore a black beanie and dark sunglasses, even though night had fallen. Kelan watched behind the guy as Fiona was taken inside a large steel building. The man leaned close and whispered to Kelan, “Save your strength for the competition. If you win, you will have a night with the princess.” He shrugged. “If you lose, someone else will have a night with her.”
Kelan recognized his voice—it was the same as the one on the speaker before he got into the truck.
The guy stepped back and glanced at one of the men circled around them. “Take him into the arena.”
“He won’t go.”
“Oh, he’ll go. And without resistance. Uncuff him.”
“Are you crazy? Have you seen what he did here?” The guard held his hand out, indicating the prone and groaning men.
The man in the sunglasses turned to the guard. “Do you challenge me?”
The guard made a rapid attitude adjustment. Was he King? Kelan stared at him as the handcuffs were removed. Freed, he took two long steps toward him before two men blocked him.
“Good. Good.” The man smiled again. “You still have some fight in you.”
Kelan never changed his expression. All this chitchat was keeping him from Fiona. He turned away and started toward the structure where they’d taken her. The circle of men made an opening for him to pass through. The man in the beanie fell in step beside him.
Kelan looked around as they went to the arena, taking stock of his whereabouts so that he could bring the team back here. There were no other buildings he could see besides the big steel arena. The place looked like it got a lot of use. A thick row of cedar shrubs surrounded the area, and a cluster of huge cottonwoods provided the building and dirt parking area with a windbreak in winter and dense shade in the summer.
*
Fiona was wobbly on her feet. They must have drugged her. The last thing she remembered was being taken from the cathouse. They’d done something to her hair. She was wearing an unfamiliar gown that clung to her body and was so fine a silk that it was almost translucent. The men walking on either side of her cut a wide swath through the crowd. She didn’t see any women anywhere.
She glanced back to check what was happening with Kelan. He’d gotten off the truck and was standing inside a circle of men. She couldn’t see his face, but she knew he watched her. And then, without ceremony, she was yanked inside the steel building. Lights were scarce. Four bare bulbs hung on long wires, illuminating four sets of bleachers. One larger set of spotlights hung down over an empty area in the center of the bleachers. It had no ropes or stages, just the bare, compacted dirt floor.