Black Hearts, Part Twenty One
Jun. 18th, 2007 04:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalThis has been sitting on my hard drive for a while while I've worked on other projects.
Tags: PG, Leeza, Kareen
Leeza rolled over uncomfortably on her sleeping pad, trying to find a position that didn’t involve laying on a mass of bruises. As exhausted as she was, she just couldn’t find a position that didn’t hurt in one way or another. After a few more minutes of rolling around, she gave up and pushed herself up to a sitting position with her left hand, the right still bent at an uncomfortable angle from the sprain it had suffered while she’d been hanging from the ceiling.
She opened her good eye. The cell hadn’t changed at all, still consisting of three armored walls and a transparent but very solid door. The overhead light was on constantly, a deliberate ploy to frell with her sense of time, though she thought the meals were coming pretty consistently. Or at least they had been before two of Mavra’s pirates had strung her up and proceeded to beat her senseless.
And took pictures, she remembered. Why take pictures? To send to her father? If they think they’re going blackmail him with threatening my life, they’re going to be really disappointed.
“Hey, you’re awake,” she heard a voice call out. Leeza focused with some difficultly on the cell directly across from her. Staring back at was a tall blond woman in her early twenties, dressed in a conservative skirt and blouse that looked like they hadn’t been washed in several days.
“Was I asleep? It didn’t feel like it,” Leeza muttered, pressing her palm to her forehead. No, that only made her headache worse.
“Well, I wouldn’t call it sleeping, but you weren’t exactly conscious,” the woman said, cocking her head to look at Leeza more closely. “What did those goons do to you?”
“Punched, mostly. I think they hit me with a shock stick a few times. I lost count after the first two anyway.” She blinked her good eye and waved. “I’m Leeza Blake, by the way.”
“Kareen Vorkosigan, well, Lady Kareen Vorkosigan, but nobody calls me that outside of the capitol.” She smiled cautiously and waved back. “I don’t remember seeing you on the liner.”
“Liner? Oh no, that’s what all that maneuvering was about a few days ago? No, no, we were taken earlier. I was traveling with friends of mine when Chan hit us. I think she’d been tracking us, we were way off her usual hunting grounds.”
Kareen’s eyes widened. “You know the pirates that hit us?”
Leeza nodded cautiously. “She’s hunting a friend of mine. Used to be a pirate, not by his choice, and he managed to get away from her. That doesn’t happen very often, and she’s not exactly happy about it.”
The young woman began to look worried. “My husband Mark is with her right now. I think he’s trying to either negotiate our release, or buy some time for,” She glanced up at the ceiling, “something else.”
“He’d better be careful then,” Leeza said, then herself slump against the wall. Her vision was going blurry and she could feel her head nodding forward as a wave of lassitude ran over her. I think I got punched a little too hard somewhere…
“Hey, hey now, stay with me,” Kareen called out. “What about your friend? What’s his name?”
“Terinu. His name’s Terinu,” she mumbled trying to focus.
“Leeza? Leeza…!”
TBC
Tags: PG, Leeza, Kareen
Leeza rolled over uncomfortably on her sleeping pad, trying to find a position that didn’t involve laying on a mass of bruises. As exhausted as she was, she just couldn’t find a position that didn’t hurt in one way or another. After a few more minutes of rolling around, she gave up and pushed herself up to a sitting position with her left hand, the right still bent at an uncomfortable angle from the sprain it had suffered while she’d been hanging from the ceiling.
She opened her good eye. The cell hadn’t changed at all, still consisting of three armored walls and a transparent but very solid door. The overhead light was on constantly, a deliberate ploy to frell with her sense of time, though she thought the meals were coming pretty consistently. Or at least they had been before two of Mavra’s pirates had strung her up and proceeded to beat her senseless.
And took pictures, she remembered. Why take pictures? To send to her father? If they think they’re going blackmail him with threatening my life, they’re going to be really disappointed.
“Hey, you’re awake,” she heard a voice call out. Leeza focused with some difficultly on the cell directly across from her. Staring back at was a tall blond woman in her early twenties, dressed in a conservative skirt and blouse that looked like they hadn’t been washed in several days.
“Was I asleep? It didn’t feel like it,” Leeza muttered, pressing her palm to her forehead. No, that only made her headache worse.
“Well, I wouldn’t call it sleeping, but you weren’t exactly conscious,” the woman said, cocking her head to look at Leeza more closely. “What did those goons do to you?”
“Punched, mostly. I think they hit me with a shock stick a few times. I lost count after the first two anyway.” She blinked her good eye and waved. “I’m Leeza Blake, by the way.”
“Kareen Vorkosigan, well, Lady Kareen Vorkosigan, but nobody calls me that outside of the capitol.” She smiled cautiously and waved back. “I don’t remember seeing you on the liner.”
“Liner? Oh no, that’s what all that maneuvering was about a few days ago? No, no, we were taken earlier. I was traveling with friends of mine when Chan hit us. I think she’d been tracking us, we were way off her usual hunting grounds.”
Kareen’s eyes widened. “You know the pirates that hit us?”
Leeza nodded cautiously. “She’s hunting a friend of mine. Used to be a pirate, not by his choice, and he managed to get away from her. That doesn’t happen very often, and she’s not exactly happy about it.”
The young woman began to look worried. “My husband Mark is with her right now. I think he’s trying to either negotiate our release, or buy some time for,” She glanced up at the ceiling, “something else.”
“He’d better be careful then,” Leeza said, then herself slump against the wall. Her vision was going blurry and she could feel her head nodding forward as a wave of lassitude ran over her. I think I got punched a little too hard somewhere…
“Hey, hey now, stay with me,” Kareen called out. “What about your friend? What’s his name?”
“Terinu. His name’s Terinu,” she mumbled trying to focus.
“Leeza? Leeza…!”
TBC
