Whose Body Is It, Anyway?

by Brandy Dewinter

Chapter 11 - My Champion

     "I know I've seen this corridor before," I whispered.

     "Isn't that the idea?  We're supposed to be going back the way we 
came," Titania asked.

     "No, I mean I've seen it already tonight, since we got out," I 
explained.

     "That's not good," Titania observed, too distracted herself to notice 
my irritation at the obviousness of her remark.

     "Didn't you pay attention when they brought us this way?" she asked.

     "I was too busy paying attention to my feet so that I didn't trip on
that damn hobble chain," I growled.  "Why didn't you watch for us?"

     Titania sniffed, hurt at my accusation that she had failed her host, 
"I can only see whatever *you* look at, remember?"

     "Yeah, well, you could have counted our steps or something, and the 
turns."

     "And how would knowing how many of those tiny little steps you took 
before help us now that your walking normally?" Titania asked in a voice
that held nothing but simple curiosity.  Nothing of sarcasm.  Nope, not a
bit.  

     The pointlessness of our argument was excused by the fact that it 
didn't have any effect on my attempt to move swiftly through the big
building.  There were several dark corridors and I was desperately afraid 
that one of them was the one we needed, but after trying a few and finding 
dead ends, I decided the main passage corridors must be the ones that had 
at least some lights burning.  Twice, we heard the heavy steps of a pair 
of strolling guards.  Each time, I quickly stepped into the nearest shadow 
and effectively disappeared, helped by Titania's careful matching of 
displayed colors to background.  That wouldn't work if we were looked at 
from two different directions at the same time, but in the shadows and 
with bored, inattentive guards we might as well have been a thousand miles 
away.

     After the second pair had disappeared down a crossing corridor, I
stepped out and continued, but I was becoming more and more worried.

     "It's only a matter of time until someone finds that guard we 
smashed," I fretted.  "And even these rocket scientists won't take long
to figure out that we must be headed to our ship."

     "So what do we do?" Titania asked.

     I sighed, clearly not liking the idea.  "I think it's about time 
to kidnap someone and force them to tell us where our ship is."

     "Can you do that?"

     "Well, Ti, it has become clear that there's not much I can do on my 
own, but with your help, I think we can manage," I replied ruefully.

     Just then we were approaching yet another junction of the larger
passageways they had been exploring.  I stood uncertainly in the 
intersection for a moment, trying to decide which way to go next.   My
distraction kept me from being the first to notice more approaching 
footsteps.

     "Quick, hide," Titania said.

     I looked around and realized this was a large enough intersection 
that there weren't any handy corners to hide in.  I crouched against the 
darkest wall and listened.  Not that it did an awful lot of good, the 
echoing corridors confused the sounds.  

     "Which way are the steps coming from?" I asked my symbiont partner, 
all the while trying to look in all directions at once, pointing the 
captured sidearm as though it were a flashlight that would illuminate
the threat before my own eyes could see it.  The steps grew louder and 
louder, as though magnified by the fear that pounded in my heart.  
Titania chose that moment to take a more active role, and froze me in 
position by making my whole jumpsuit as rigid as the fist had briefly 
been.

     *What are you doing?!* I squawked, but silently, for Titania had
locked my jaw as well.  

     "You need your adrenaline, for now, so I can't force you to be calm.
But if you keep jerking around, you'll catch someone's eye for sure.  You
need to be still." Titania explained.

     The sense of being trapped kept my emotions at an overheated 
intensity, but I could see the wisdom in Titania's action.  My symbiont 
could release me as swiftly as she had locked me into place.  That didn't 
stop my muscles from straining at yet another restriction to motion, a 
fight that allowed the oncoming walker to appear before I even had a clear 
idea of which corridor he traveled.  

     *It's Eryx!* I yelled in my mind.

     Then, "Damn it, Titania, stop that!"

     "I'm not the one who is doing it," Titania claimed once again.

     "My damn tits just popped up again, and you're saying you didn't
have a thing to do with it?"

     "Well, in my general improvements to your body, I've made it more 
responsive to all internal biochemicals, but you're the one who has 
triggered the particular hormones that are bothering you."

     My erect nipples were not the only sign of the arousal that had 
captured me, but before I could examine my reactions any further, Eryx 
had stepped down yet another corridor and I felt Titania release me from 
my rigidity.

     Titania prodded her, "Well, are you going to do it?"

     "Do what?" I asked in confusion, the images that had intruded into 
my thoughts having little to do with escaping.

     "Caught you!" Titania snickered, "but what I was asking about was 
whether you were going to kidnap him.  He's all alone."

     That didn't help my state of arousal at all.  Thoughts of kidnapping 
Eryx had a fascination I definitely did *not* want to consider, but 
anything would be better than wandering around aimlessly.  I started after 
Eryx, my silent steps denying the sharpness of my heels thanks to 
Titania's cushioning technique.  Since Eryx seemed to be merely walking 
casually, I quickly caught sight of him again and tried to follow 
discreetly.

     "Aren't you going to kidnap him?" Titania asked.

     I stalled, "Let's see where he's going first."

     I tried to keep far enough back that I wouldn't give us away by 
blocking out some light behind us, so at times Eryx would disappear 
around a corner.   When that happened, I would run quickly to the corner 
and then peer cautiously around before moving out once again.  This 
occurred several times.  On the next time I peered around an obscuring 
corner, Eryx was nowhere to be seen!

     *Where did he go?* I gasped.

     Titania was unhelpful, "How should I know?  You're the one who's 
controlling our eyes."

     I slipped around the corner and drifted down the passageway, trying 
to decide how my quarry might have gotten away.

     A deep voice said, "Jonesy should have given you a map."

     It startled me so much that I whirled and almost fired by reflex into 
the dark alcove from which the voice had emanated.  

     "Come out of there," I ordered, still on the very edge of doing
something very loud and dramatic.

     Eryx stepped casually from the darkness into the still-dim corridor.  
He held his hands wide, showing no weapon of his own.  Once it was clear
that he wasn't going to be shot immediately, he crossed his arms and 
leaned against the wall.  The smile on his face never wavered and it was
clear he wasn't worried.  

     "What did you say?" I asked.

     "I said, 'Jonesy should have given you a map,'" he said with a grin,
pleased at his own wit.

     "Who?" I stalled, a ploy so transparent that Eryx didn't even bother 
answering.

     "You missed your turn quite a ways back," he explained.  "It's taken
me half the night to find you."

     I twitched in surprise, "You were looking for me?"

     "Of course," he said firmly.  "You didn't really think I'd let that
pig Hernia have you, did you?"

     "Hernia?" I repeated with a parrot-like lack of comprehension.

     Again, Eryx didn't dignify that with an answer.  Even Titania 
understood that one.

     "Herne, you dolt!" she shouted inside my head.

     The combination of my own sense of stupidity and Titania's yelling
made me shake my head in confusion.  Then I straightened my shoulders and 
said, "I'm not going back!"

     "Of course not," he snorted.  He was about to say something more, 
but instead he just leaned a little more casually against the wall, 
looking at me with an invitation to catch up a little.  His grin showed
even in the dim light as he enjoyed seeing my struggle.

     I decided to try and get back on top of things by taking them on
one at a time.  I started by asking, "Why do you think I know this, 
'Jonesy'?"

     "Oh, come now, my lovely lady, you're obviously not an effete 
Federation tourist.  Only someone as stupid as Herne could ever have 
bought that line.  No rich woman has ever visited Machovia alone.  If
she were that stupid, she wouldn't stay rich long enough to make the
trip.  And you're obviously not one of the idle rich, either.  Do you 
know that in 4 years, Palomino has not lost a single race until today,
uh, yesterday?  And you didn't even break a sweat."

     *Oops, forgot about that,* Titania and I thought in unison.

     Eryx stood up from his lean against the wall and said "Look, we're
wasting time.  Even here we're not too ignorant to know of Admiral Jones 
and his agents.  No one but a Federation field agent could do what you've
done.  I can't even begin to imagine how you got free of Herne's no-doubt
diabolical restraints, nor how you managed to find such effective clothes
for hiding in the shadows."

     "Not that I mind, you realize," he interrupted himself with another 
grin.  "They certainly do you justice."  

     He gestured politely for me to precede him down the corridor, an
invitation I refused with a shake of the weapon still in my hand.  He
smiled again and moved out first while he continued, "I came back this 
evening to find that you had freed yourself, which I suppose I should 
have expected, and to find a guard who will next see several of his teeth 
when he passes them in a few days.  After making sure he would live, I 
started looking for you.  You're obviously lost."

     "The guard will live?" I asked in surprise.

     "Yes, though he wouldn't have, if you had decided to hit him a few
inches higher.  What did you hit him with, anyway?"

     *Right like you were that careful,* Titania snorted.

     *Shut up,* I snapped back.

     When he received no answer, not realizing it was because I was 
distracted, Eryx shrugged and continued with his own narrative.  "I 
figured you'd head for your ship, but when I got there the guards had
seen nothing.  I went back to the cell and tried to find you somewhere
in between, but it took me a while to figure out where you missed your 
turn."

     "Where was that?" I asked, like it mattered or something.

     "It's about halfway to the shipbays.  You have to make two right 
turns in succession, and you only made the first."  

     "Look," I said, "that doesn't matter.  We need to get there now!"

     He nodded, once again gesturing for me to precede him.  I frowned
but instead of moving on, he just pointed at the overhead.  It showed the
number of the shipbay where the Robin had landed.

     "At your service, lovely lady," he grinned.  

     I moved toward the door to the bay, but Eryx held me back, 
saying, "I told you there were guards here."

     He pointed toward a dark alcove and then opened the door himself.

     "You there!" he called in an authoritative voice.  "Come here!"

     I could hear the sounds of at least two sets of feet walking quickly 
toward Eryx from inside the bay.

     "No admittance, sir," a man's voice said.

     "Do you know who I am?" Eryx asked imperiously.

     "Yes, Champion.  You are twice Grand Champion Eryx of High Plateau."

     "Then you should know that Winner Jorn himself has decreed that I 
can go where I will on Machovia."

     "But Magistrate Herne said, . . ."

     Eryx sharply interrupted the guards report, "I don't care what he 
said earlier.  I'm trying to tell you what he wants now!  A prisoner has
escaped!  All guards are to join the search.  You need to report to cell
block 15 immediately."

     I couldn't hear anything for a few seconds, then Eryx repeated 
himself, "Immediately!"

     "Yes, Champion," the guard's voice replied.  

    In another second, four men filed from the shipbay and headed down 
the corridor.  As soon as they were out of sight, Eryx was motioning 
me to join him in the bay.

     "Have you seen Herne since I escaped?" I asked in confusion.

     "No," Eryx replied, his grin again in place.  "But I can see the 
question in your eyes.  No, I won't get in trouble.  In the first place,
I told the guard what I thought Herne 'wanted', not what he said.  I 
can defend that judgment if I need to.  But more importantly, Winner 
Jorn owes me a few favors.  It seems he thinks the fact that he's in 
charge of our government has something to do with the fact that I 
didn't run against him.  I expect he's right."

     As we entered the bay, Eryx strolled with his easy nonchalance over 
to the hatch of the Robin.  When he got there, he turned to look at me.  
I tried to reach past him to key the lock in the hatch, but he moved to 
keep me from the panel.

     "There is a toll," he said.

     I froze, my internal tension leaving me as little freedom to move 
as any restraint I had endured.  "What do you mean?"

     "Why do you suppose I wouldn't claim Protector status over you this 
afternoon?" he asked.

     "What?" I asked, unable to follow the non sequitur.  

     Eryx leaned closer to me, as though imparting as secret, and 
whispered, "It's because of the restrictions on what a Protector and 
charge can share."

     "What?!" I repeated, but my body seemed to have a very good idea of 
what he meant.  

     After a trembling second of indecision, I raised my weapon toward him 
and said, "Let me pass."

     "Not till you pay the toll," he smiled, not afraid at all.

     "I mean it," I threatened, pointing the pistol toward him.

     "So do I," he replied, moving with impossible speed to catch my wrist 
in his hand and lift the gun toward the overhead.  

     I tried to pull my hand down but it might as well have been set in 
concrete.  I tried to twist away, with no more effect.  His arm was 
pulling me close and he was . . .

     "No," I gasped.  "This is wrong."

     "No it's not!" Titania shouted inside my ear.

     "No, it's not," Eryx echoed the sentiment he couldn't hear.  "You 
owe me a kiss."

     "No, I can't," I tried again.  "I'm not who you think I am."

     "You don't know what I think," he denied my argument, and leaned
closer.

     "Dammit, Xora, you do this or I will NEVER speak to you again!" 
Titania threatened.

      But her word went unnoticed, unheard by Eryx, unable to penetrate 
the fog of emotions that had captured me.

     His lips claimed mine as a lion claims its prey, hungrily, powerfully, 
undeniably.

     And then I wasn't trying to deny them, but was instead seeking his 
lips as avidly as my own were sought.  

     *Oh, Titty, help me!* I cried to my partner as my legs buckled under 
me.  Only Eryx's hand in my back kept me from falling.  

     Titania's giggle echoed in my mind as my symbiont said, *You asked 
for it!*

     An explosion of sensation consumed me, burning with white heat, yet
sending shuddering tremors through my body.  I molded myself against my 
champion, trying to bring about a union that had been unthinkable until 
I had been swept beyond thought into something higher.  Something
impossibly distant until it was inescapably everywhere.  

     As yet another shudder wracked my body, a pounding at the locked 
door brought an angry grunt from Eryx and a helpless moan from me.

     "I'm sorry, my lovely, but it would appear that we won't have enough
time for any further . . . tolls."

     "Huh, what?" I stammered in confusion.

     "Despite your quite, uh, involved response to our kiss, I'm afraid
it will have to be enough.  For now," he said.  "The Enforcers are at the
door and while I can hold them off long enough for you to make your 
escape, I *will* have to attend to it."

     "Escape?" I said, still dazed.  With a shiver that was reminiscent 
of the shudders that had consumed me, yet at the same time was such a pale 
shadow that it was in fact a recovery, I found my balance on my towering 
heels again.

     "Yes," I murmured.  "I have to go."  

     "When will you return?" asked my champion.

     "Return?" I replied.  

     "Herne and his type are on their way out.  That's why we have asked 
for admittance to the Federation.  With the evidence of your imprisonment, 
I can get him removed from office.  There are others like him, too many, 
but we are taking care of them."

     "Those games of yours are barbaric," I sneered.

     "Are they?" his sardonic grin refused to argue.  "We don't often have 
injuries as severe as those you witnessed today.  Yet even in the 
Federation, injuries in sports are not that uncommon."

     "Still," he continued, interrupting my retort.  "I knew you'd plan on
doing something after what you saw, if you were indeed a Federation field 
agent, so I decided to sponsor you and get you out of there."

     He continued in more precise tones, clearly sending an official 
message to the Federation through their agent.  "I'm not promising to
change our basic way of life.  We prefer our women to be exquisitely 
feminine, and find that they are generally more focused on their duties 
if the consequences of inattention are quick and uncomfortable.  But
there is no excuse for careless injury, or for deliberate pain.  I'm 
sorry that you chose to visit during Herne's tenure, but perhaps it is 
for the best.  I'm sure that your report will not support our petition 
for admittance at this time, and we do have some further housecleaning to 
do.  But the time will come when we will qualify by your standards, and 
we will be better for it, all of us including those who are already in 
the Federation and desire our resources."

     I stood straighter and nodded my head.  "I expect that you will be 
able to come into compliance.  However, you must realize that my current 
report will not make that happen immediately."

     Eryx stood back as I moved to the entrance keypad.  His grin was 
back in place as he said, "Perhaps you will be the one sent on the next 
investigation."

     The memory of our kiss, and of what Titania had done to my body 
brought two very sharp reminders into focus between us.  I could feel 
heat ignite my cheeks, but I nodded and said, "Perhaps."

     The pounding on the door had gotten louder, heavier, as though 
something other than fists were being used.  The sound caused Eryx to
lift his head and start moving directly toward the door.

     "Be well, my lovely pony," he said.

     "Be well, my champion," I whispered, but the message that passed
between our eyes needed no more voice than one to Titania.