Sweet as Sugar

Sweet as Sugar Chapter Forty Two

Disclaimers Apply

A/N Foxfeather is a Goddess. 
Jstyle='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing my
admittedly erratic posts of this fic! I really appreciate
it like you wouldn’t believe.  Spoilers for
the entire series this far, rated M for mature themes.

            class=SpellE>Bara inhaled deeply and imagined the cool waters of home,
the darkness that swallowed him when he dove deep, wrapping him in blessings.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Water was never silent, he knew, not even at
the greatest depth a being like him could reach.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  It throbbed, it moved, it hissed and gurgled
and bubbled and strained.  He frowned,
the dull ache in his head growing sharper, more pronounced, as the throbbing
continued to muffle his hearing.  class=GramE>That was, he realized after a long moment, his own heart pounding.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  He was hearing his pulse, feeling the blood
moving in his veins.  Where *was*
he? 

            “Do not
move,” a soft female voice ordered him.  “We’re
almost there.”

            class=GramE>“Where?” he breathed, his throat raw and tongue thick.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “Where are we going? Am I to finally die?”

            The Acolyte
pulling the float pallet snorted delicately. 
“That is not for me to decide, Lord Bara.”

            He blinked class=SpellE>muzzily, his vision clearing more with each passing
moment.  They were in the dark
passageways beneath the Domes, the places hidden from tourists’ sight, places
where only the Lady and her Acolytes might pass.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  He recognized them due to their
unfamiliarity.  “You have already made
decisions that outstrip your rank as an Acolyte,” he noted, careful not to move
and overset the small transport on which he was precariously balanced.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “You rendered me unconscious, you have stolen
a pallet reserved for municipal use, you are
apparently trying to stop the Lady…”  He
trailed off, aware of the stiff set of the Acolyte’s shoulders, her suddenly
increased pace.  “Who were you, before? You
were someone powerful, weren’t you, to be so confident in your decisions, in
your defiance…”

            She did not
slow down or even glance over her shoulder at him as she spoke, her tone
clipped but soft.  “I am of no
importance, Lord Bara.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  I serve the Lady.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  It is my duty and calling to serve her as
best as I am able and this…defiance, as you call it…
is the best thing for Her.  class=GramE>For all of us.”  She
swallowed back further commentary and slowed as they reached a junction in the
tunnels.  “Silence now.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Let me speak and you do not move, no matter
what occurs. Is that understood?”

            He raised a
brow but did not comment, merely murmured assent.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  She was, he knew in his heart of hearts,
someone used to giving orders, someone used to being obeyed, more so than the
obedience she received as a chief Acolyte. 
Bara closed his eyes again and slowed his
breathing until it was almost nonexistent, letting his body slip a still state
of awareness.  He could smell metal and
ozone, bitter oil and dry dust.  Storage,
he realized; there was no sound other than the hum of the pallet and the soft
slap of the Acolyte’s bare feet on the hard, synthetic stone floors.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  If it had been a workshop or maintenance,
there would be mechanical sounds…  The
Acolyte swore softly under her breath and rattled at something that sounded
like wood on metal. Bara chanced it and opened one
eye to a bare slit.  All he could see was
blue.  The Acolyte towing him rattled the
thing again and this time threw in a fluent swear session in a dialect class=SpellE>Bara recognized as native Venusian.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  She rattled the thing one final time and he
felt a blast of cool air as whatever it was opened.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  The scent of Earth honey and something acrid
but not unpleasant assailed his senses as the pallet was towed over a
rise.  “Little one,” he murmured, barely
giving voice to his words.  “Where are
we?”

            “I said do
not speak,” she hissed.  “We’re in your
friend’s conveyance but we are not alone.” 
She settled the pallet and turned off the controls, letting it hit the
floor with a thump.  “There is another on
this…vessel…”

            class=SpellE>Bara felt rather than saw her move away from the pallet,
giving him the chance to open both eyes and look around.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  They were in the device the Doctor and Jack
had referred to as the TARDIS.  It seemed
empty enough to his sight but he, too, felt the other with them, something moving
and watching as he lay still on the pallet, as the Acolyte made a slow circuit
of the space.  “Why did you bring me
here?”

            “For help,”
she said, nodding to herself as if affirming that her choice had been a good
one.  “You need help.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  I…I need help.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  The Lady has…become intolerable.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  We are slaves now, not here from choice.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  We are fodder for her desires.”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  She swallowed hard and dropped to her knees,
bringing herself to Bara’s eye level.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “She kills us all, one by one, looking at us,
making notes, using us as if we were broken conveyances and putting our innards
into these…machines!” 

            class=SpellE>Bara reached out and laid a massive hand on her slender
arm.  “Shhhhhh…”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  The Acolyte was shaking, her body barely held
in check against the panic so obviously rising. 
“We will figure something out. 
The Doctor…Jack… they will be able to get you away from the Lady.”

            “And you?”

            He smiled
thinly.  “I don’t know how to work this
device.  Let us find this other and see
if we can convince it not to kill us…”