Emma's Heart (Brides of Theron 3) (24 page)

“I am so sorry, Emma. My parents both died when I was young. I was raised by my two aunts. Leaving them behind on earth was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life.” Avery’s eyes filled with tears as she spoke of her aunts.

“Avery, are you okay with being here? Being with Zeb and all?” Emma was tracing the veins on a leaf that had fallen off one of the branches above her head with her finger.

“Well, I still miss my aunts if that’s what you mean. Brylon helped make it possible for me talk to them. I spoke with my aunts before we left earth’s orbit, and they were supportive of my decision to come here with Zeb, even though I really didn’t have much of a choice. None of us did. Given our situation, I figured I had better make the best of the situation or I was going to end up living a very miserable life. As we got to know one another I realized that no man on Earth had ever made me feel as complete as Zeb does. I had been in a few relationships, but there was always something missing and I could never figure it out. Now, when Zeb touches me it’s like little shocks of electricity that shoot through my entire body. I can just feel it in my heart that he is the one for me. The one I have been waiting for all my life.” Avery took a breath of air before asking Emma, “What about you? What are your feelings for Brylon?”

Emma turned her head to look out at the sky that was getting darker by the second. She thought for a moment before answering that question, but when she did, it was the truth. “I don’t know how I feel. I am so confused about everything. One minute, I want to give him my heart and move on with my life. But, in the next minute, I just want to go home.” A sad feeling came over her as she talked. “It’s really hard because on earth my life would just continue to be sad and lonely. Here on Theron, it totally opposite to everything I had on Earth. But, on earth, I was completely on my own.  Maybe, that is what I miss.  That when I was alone, I never had to answer to anyone but myself.”

“All you can do Emma, is take it one day at a time. I think you will eventually feel something for the big guy.” Avery winked at Emma.

Emma could feel the heat of the skin on her face heat up as she thought about how her body reacted to Brylon’s touch. “Oh, I definitely feel something alright! Especially when he touches me! Mama Mia, he definitely knows how to use that body of his!” She giggled like she was telling a secret to a school yard friend. “Let me tell you, I have never seen an…a… you know, as big as the one he’s got! I thought he was going to rip me in half when I first saw it!” Emma covered her face with her hands when she thought of the size of her mate’s cock. It was the truth though. She looked over to Avery through the space between her fingers. Suddenly, they both busted out laughing. They laughed so hard that tears had started to run down each one of their faces.

“Oh my God Emma, I am so happy that we have become friends. You make me laugh so hard. Gracie is going to love you, whenever she gets a chance to get her ass over here and meet you.” Avery was wiping the tears from her face as the first roll of thunder sounded off in the distance.

“I hate to end our chat, but I think I am going to venture home before this storm moves in any closer. My little rewas might get scared.” She stood up to leave.

Avery squealed at her statement, “You have a rewa too! I got mine on the ship.”

“Actually, I have three of the little creatures. Brylon got me one on the ship and I bought two at the market.”

“There’s a market that sells rewas? I am going to kill Zeb for not taking me there yet! I have been so freaking bored with him gone for most of the day since we got back. I can’t believe you got three rewas. Maybe we can go to the market one day soon. It would give us something to do.” Avery stood up and led the way back to the front door of the tree house.

“I think that is an excellent idea. A girls’ day out shopping sounds like a plan to me.” Emma hugged her friend, “Why don’t you come over tomorrow and we can go.”

“That sounds good to me. Get on home before the storm starts to unleash its fury.” Emma ran across the yards that separated the two tree homes.  When she made it to the porch and opened the door she looked back to Avery’s house. Standing in the doorway, Avery must have kept an eye on Emma to make sure that she made it home alright.  She never really had a girlfriend before besides Beth, and that relationship was more of a mother-daughter one.  She looked forward to getting to know Avery and maybe even Gracie.  She did know that laughing with Avery sure did feel good.  She waved over at Avery before she shut the door behind her.  She was so happy she had two friends now.

After working in the prison camp for five weeks now, Lars decided he had had enough of the grueling hard labor he was forced to work every day. The twelve hour shifts that he spent digging through massive rock that lined the walls of the dark cavern was a back breaking task.  And, even that wasn’t as difficult as it was to take the larger rock debris to the dumping pits and toss them over the side.  He found it a bit upsetting that very little progress had been made in the development of the escape plan even though it was the only topic of conversation the group of men had every evening.

Every part of the plan was
in place for the escape, except for escape craft. It was looking as if was going to be impossible for any one of them to befriend one of the Drylon guards in order to gain access to one of the starships on the landing pad. Zirlo was always trying to make conversation with the guards throughout the day, but very rarely got a response, and when he did it was usually, “shut up and work”. The Drylons were hard people to get through to.

Lars and Zirlo were making
steady progress on a new line of gold that had been discovered the week before. Whenever a line of gold was found embedded in the rock, guards were stationed within viewing distance of the workers to ensure that none of the prisoners tried to steal any of the gold. But, what the guards didn’t realize was that small flakes of the gold would drift to the dirt floor intentionally. Then when the guards weren’t paying to close attention, Zirlo would stoop down as if picking up a tool and a gently pick up the flake on the tip of his finger and place it within a tiny slit  he had made in the hem of his shirt. It really was an ingenious idea. For the past week they had managed to smuggle about an ounce of the precious metal into their clothing, and then transfer it to a small container that one of the women had stolen from the kitchens.

Zirlo had planned on usi
ng the stolen gold either to pay willing guard to help them escape, or as a form of payment to a Drylon soldier who would fly them to Theron or the nearest ally once they had escaped. Zirlo had every intention of collecting every flake of gold he could in order to help pay for the rebellion that was brewing among a faction of the Drylon citizens.  He would do everything in his power to help make it happen as soon as he got off this rock.

The group was just finishing up the midday meal
, when a new shift of guards came into the prison. Among them were a couple of new faces that none of the men had seen before, this gave them hope.

“Alright
, let’s move it. Get back to work.” The first guard was regularly stationed in sector 6 in the prison camp, but the one standing next to him, watching the group pick up their bowls and utensils from the midday meal, was a new guard. Everyone in the group eyed Zirlo to see if he had noticed. Zirlo gave them a tiny shake of the head to acknowledge that this guard was definitely new. This meant that Zirlo would do his best while he worked to try to befriend the guard immediately. Zirlo really did have a way with people.  He usually could strike up a conversation and sometimes get some of the guards to laugh at his jokes, but when it came down to following the Emperor’s instruction they were still loyal.

“I see you are a new recruit,
” Zirlo said to the guard as he walked past him to return to his work area. “I hope you like standing on your feet all day.”

The new gua
rd just stared at Zirlo with a blank face, like he didn’t know what to say.

“I’m Zirlo and this here is Lars.” He waved to Lars who was n
ow chipping away at the rock around the gold that was shimmering in the dim light.

The first guard spoke to Zirlo, “You need to stop your useless chatter, Zirlo
, and get to work. No one wants to hear your Theron chatter.” The guard nudged the new guard in the ribs and laughed.

“Awe, come on guys. It makes the shift go by so much fast
er when we chatter. It sure beats standing here in silence.” Zirlo baited the guard. “Nuy, you have been with us now for what a year? And you still won’t talk to us. Really Nuy, where are we going to go? Lighten up, why don’t you?” Zirlo was chuckling and shaking his head as he went back to work.

“Just get back to work, Zi
rlo,” Nuy said.

A couple of hours had passed by when Nuy’s communicator had gone off. All eyes focused on him as he spoke in the device that was strapped to his shoulder.

“I will be right there.” Nuy turned his attention to the new guard. “There’s a fight in quadrant five that I have to help break up.  Can you handle these guys until I get back?”

“Sure not a problem,
” the new guard said as he pointed his weapon at the working prisoners.

“I will return as soon as
I can.” Nuy left the area at a run.

Lars and Zirlo both eyed up the new guard. Now was a perfect time to feel him out and see where he stood.

“What’s your name? Most of the guards will at least tell us their names,” Zirlo spoke as he worked on digging out a small pellet of the gold.

At first the new guard didn’t answer
, but after a few minutes of silence he spoke his name, “Carel Fenwick.”

Zirlo stopped chipping the rock and faced the guard, “Carel?”

“Yes, my name is Carel.”

“Are you new to the prison or just been moved over here?”

“I have just been transferred to the prison. I requested to be transferred here.” Carel watched Zirlo suspiciously.

“Strange request I must say. Most guards want out of the prison. They say it’s too boring for them. No action.”

Carel continued to study Zirlo and vice versa. There was something different about this guard. Zirlo got an odd feeling when he looked the man in the eyes. He looked from the guard to Lars who was standing off to the side watching the scene unfold.

Carel smiled the said in a low voice, “Let’s just say
, that I hope to see some action soon.”

Zirlo nodded his head as if he were agreeing with the new guy. Maybe it was a test or a trap that
Gatton was playing at to see if there were any hints of rebellion among the people in the prison that were anxious to escape. Zirlo knew better than to fall for the bait so quickly. It would take some time to feel this guard out and see where his loyalties truly lied.

****

“What do think about the new guard?” Lars asked Zirlo that evening after they were back in the sleeping area.

Zirlo was chewing on a pie
ce of dried unidentifiable meat. “Truthfully? He’s our man.”

The group sitting around the low fire quieted down to listen to what Zirlo had to say. Their hopes had been high for so long that they were afraid to believe that a rebellion might not be that far off in the future.

“What are your plans then?” Hator asked the former commander.

“I am going to try to get him talking more and see if he i
s willing to help us. He appears to be our best option right now. None of the others guards have ever hinted to anything along the lines of what he did this afternoon. So, I am going to take it slow and see where we might end up. It might take me a little while to get a good grip on him but at least it’s a start.” Zirlo felt confident that Carel was their man. There was something about him that Zirlo sensed he could trust, but for now he was going to have bide his time and make sure that he didn’t get caught.

“I thought that I specifically asked you to wait at Avery’s house until I came to get you.” Brylon was scolding Emma like a child for not listening to his instructions to the letter. “I was sure I made my intentions clear.”

Emma stood in the middle of the bedroom in her red Mickey Mouse pajama pants and a white tank top, arms folded across her chest. “Are you serious, Brylon?”

His voice held a hint of anger as he said to her, “I am serious about everything I say and do. I told you to remain at Avery’s and I expect you to follow my instructions.”

“Give me a freaking break. It’s like a hundred feet from door to door. The storm was moving in
and I wanted to come home to take care of the rewas before I got stuck over there. You are making a big deal out of nothing Brylon.” She left him standing in the bedroom undressing while she went down to the kitchen to get something to eat. She had not eaten very much that day, and was paying for it now as her stomach growled loudly in protest.