Imminent Danger

**Angro’s POV**

I needed to get word to Shaira that I had recovered the helmet. The poor girl must be having a hard time with the uncertainty and anxiety, but I couldn’t head to Sagoria the very next day after promising Amari I would forget about the issue with the eteri. So, it wasn’t until the following day that I managed to convince her of the necessity of going and informing Shaira about what had happened.

“Alright, love, I understand, and I know you’re right. That poor girl must be wondering what’s going on. Just promise me you’ll come back tonight.”

After promising Amari what she asked of me, I left her house and headed toward Sagoria. When I reached the village exit, I found Zania, fully recovered from the exhausting ordeal she had endured.

“Planning to leave without inviting me?” she asked, arms crossed over her chest, leaning against a wall.

“I’m going to Sagoria, to let Shaira know what happened with… you know, with that.”

I didn’t dare to mention the existence of the helmet.

Zania smiled. “I heard what happened. Want me to come with you?”

I shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

We left the village under a sun that promised to clear away any clouds that might dare to cross the sky. Although we weren’t in nearly as much of a hurry as two days ago, I still wanted to keep my promise to Amari and be back in Zuwua by nightfall. Halfway there, we encountered a familiar face.

“How’s your wound, trader?” I asked after Zania had greeted Assu. While it looked like it was healing, something in his expression was off.

“It’s healing well, though I fear my wound is the least of my worries.”

I knew something was wrong with Shaira the moment I saw Assu without her. He told us what had happened after we parted ways—the near-fatal blood loss, the arrival of the eteri doctor at his home, Shaira’s sacrifice to save his life, and where she was now.

“And you’re just leaving her in the house of a stranger, who could try to take advantage of her at any moment?” I said, my anger rising as I felt the urge to run straight to that doctor’s house.

“My options are quite limited. I’m not the son-in-law of a chief,” Assu responded, sarcasm lacing his words. “And she’s not as defenseless as you think.”

“What do you mean?” I demanded.

Assu explained what he and Shaira had discovered after he gave her the knife to defend herself. His suspicions only confirmed what Zania and I had already surmised.

“Even so, her position is still highly vulnerable,” I said, unable to contain the rage and unease growing inside me knowing Shaira was in the house of a potentially depraved eteri. “I’m going to that doctor’s house and making sure Shaira never has to return there.”

“Wait,” Assu said, placing a hand on my shoulder when he saw I was ready to run. “You’re acting impulsively. Remember, you’re about to threaten an eteri doctor. What you’re about to do could have consequences for the opranchi of Sagoria.”

“All you care about is her paying off the debt you incurred,” I spat angrily. “You’re the one who should be at that eteri’s house cooking his meals.”

“Do you think I didn’t try? That I didn’t offer to pay the debt myself? But he insisted, as I’ve explained, that it had to be Shaira, that she would be the one to pay off the debt with her work.”

“That’s even more reason to go rescue her. That bastard only wants to abuse her—that’s why he chose her for that work.”

I wasn’t interested in hearing any more reasons. Assu could do or say whatever he wanted, but he had already shown himself to be a coward, and I would deal with him later to ensure he kept his promise to annul the marriage he had with Shaira. For now, the most urgent matter was to free her from that doctor’s house where she had been forced to sell herself.

I hadn’t saved Shaira from Omawit just to let her fall into the hands of a depraved eteri.

“I’m coming with you, Angro!” I heard Zania say.

I didn’t pay attention and kept going. If Zania wanted to follow me, she would have to keep up with my pace or fall behind.

Once again, I found myself running at full speed, with only one image in my mind—Shaira’s.


**Shaira’s POV**

I was brought back to the living room of the house under the suspicious gazes of the three soldiers surrounding me—men who, just a few days ago, might have been my allies, even my subordinates.

“Sit down, girl,” the doctor ordered. “Were you really thinking of escaping?”

“I needed to go to the river, sir,” I said, offering the excuse I had hurriedly come up with as I entered the house. “I realized the water coming from the faucet was quite dirty.”

“And you didn’t carry a bucket to collect it?” asked my interrogator.

“I wasn’t planning on collecting water, sir, at least not yet, not until I had checked if it was clean.”

By the look in his eyes, I knew the doctor didn’t believe my lie, but he didn’t press further.

“Where are you from, girl?” the man, whom I recognized as the sergeant from his insignia and tone of voice, asked. “You speak our language too well, and there’s no doubt you’re not native to this planet.”

“I’m from Sagoria,” I answered without hesitation. I needed to be confident, not hesitate, and be the first to believe in my own story. “My parents were eteri colonists. They taught me the language, but they died shortly after I turned nine, so I was also raised among the opranchi.”

The sergeant eyed me suspiciously, as did the other two soldiers.

“I’ve never seen you around Sagoria, yet somehow, I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere else.”

“You must have your memories mixed up, sir,” I said, fully immersed in my role—the only thing that could save me at this moment.

“I’m sure she was trying to escape, sir,” said the soldier to whom I owed this whole mess. “She must be a spy.”

The sergeant gestured for the soldier to shut up.

“How long have you lived in Sagoria, girl?”

It was a question I hadn’t prepared for, so I hesitated for a moment, and that instant of uncertainty seemed to be enough for the sergeant to realize I had been lying from the very first question.

“Ten, no, eleven years, sir.”

“Who rules the Heavens, girl?” he asked suddenly.

“What?”

“You’ve lived among the savages for eleven years, girl—you should know, because even I know, and I’ve only been on this damned planet for six months.”

It must have been a question about opranchi religion or mythology, one for which I had no prepared answer. There was no way for me to know.

“I… uh…”

I paled.

“She’s a damn spy! Restrain her!” the sergeant ordered with the most sinister smile I had ever seen in my life. “I don’t know who you are, girl, but we’re going to have some fun before we take you to the fortress and let the interrogators ruin that pretty face of yours.”

The corporal and the soldier, eager, grabbed my arms before I could even stand up.

“Sergeant, what are you doing? You can’t! This girl is mine!” the doctor protested.

“We’ll leave you some of her. Don’t interfere.”

I saw the doctor lunge at the sergeant to stop him, but the officer simply pulled out his ion pistol. I thought he was going to kill him, but he only hit him in the face with the butt of the gun, knocking him unconscious.

I tried to reach my knife, hidden in the folds of my skirt, but my arms were held tightly by two strong men who wouldn’t let me even bend my elbows.

“Don’t resist, sweetheart. It’ll be easier that way, and I won’t have to hurt you as much,” the sergeant said as he unbuckled his belt.

You didn’t have to be an opranchi or an eteri to know what these three intended to do to me.