Hope you like this chapter!

DESERT DESTINY
Chapter 7
Sailor Galaxy

Serena stared at the two men who stood in front of her and Darien. One of them 
stepped forward, towards Serena, and she huddled back into the wall as if 
willing it to absorb her. The Pirate snickered as he ran his eyes over her. 
She warily watched him even as the other man took out a long thick key. Serena 
turned her attention to him as he unlocked the chain and grabbed her arm. He 
pulled her up roughly and Serena bit back a cry in alarm. Sensing her panic, 
Darien spoke up.

" What are you doing to her?"

The other Desert Pirate who stood just behind the first one and who had eyed 
Serena with hunger, spared Darien a glance but didn't speak to him. Darien 
tried again.

" Where are you taking her?"

The man who had hold of Serena's arm let out a sigh and turned towards Darien.

" She is going to go relieve herself. There will be no complaints for us on 
hospitality."

Darien looked at Serena, struggling to free herself from the iron grip of the 
man and he snorted in derision.

" You do not call this cell inhospitable?"

The other pirate finally spoke up.

" You really do not want to know what we call inhospitality."

Both sneered and then one of them let out a laugh.

" Your highness."

He added and spit the words out.

Darien didn't say anything in return but just stared at them. Serena could see 
that his eyes were darkening which meant that he was thinking about something 
and didn't like what he thought of.

" Let us go Lady. Any funny business and the Sultan here goes."

Serena nodded in fright and as her heart beat a wild taboo, she let the Desert 
Pirate pull her out of the small room. Her last glimpse of inside the room was 
of Darien staring after her and the other Desert Pirate's hand on his scythe. 
Serena frowned worriedly as she hoped that the man wasn't going to hurt 
Darien. She looked at the man who was with her. He was silent and staring 
straight ahead with a stony expression on his face and a set jaw.

" Are- are you going to hurt Darien?"

The man turned his head to look at her and Serena was surprised to see that 
the man's eyes held warmth. Well, maybe warmth was an overstatement. But his 
eyes weren't cold.

" Darien?"

He said Darien's name as if he found her saying it funny. He shook his head 
slowly as he obviously thought about something that amused him. Serena could 
swear that he smiled but she was too scared to properly notice. They continued 
to walk along the stone corridor and the light on the walls flickered because 
there were no windows there. Only large candles which burnt on intervals on 
the wall. 

" No. The Sultan will not be hurt."

The pirate glanced at her out of his coal black eyes and sighed.

" He will not be harmed if he co-operates."

They turned a corner and Serena slowed as she saw that there was a door in 
front of them which was slightly ajar. The Pirate pushed Serena in front of
him and into the room. He looked at her and grabbed the door handle. 

" Hurry up."

Serena nodded and turning away, looked around the room. It was a bathroom. 
There was a medium sized whole in the floor which was obviously for bathing. 
The sides were lined with stone. On the other side were a couple of taps. 
There were no windows. Not that she would have tried to escape with Darien 
still in the cell but at least then she'd have known more about the situation 
she was in.

She washed her hands, arm and face. A bath would have taken too long. Going 
over to the door, she turned the handle. She didn't expect it to open but she 
was trying so that it could attract the man's attention. But it opened! And 
when Serena peeked outside, there was no man! There was no guard!

She looked around but didn't see him anywhere. Her brow wrinkled as she 
thought about the fact that he couldn't have just left her here on her own 
could he? Why would he do that? Taking small hesitating steps forward, Serena 
took the turn and then immediately jumped back behind the corner. There were 
three Desert Pirates standing right in front of her with their backs turned to 
her so thank goodness they hadn't seen her. One of them was the man who had 
taken her to the bathroom. She inched closer in the hope of hearing what they 
were talking about.

Trying not to move noisily, and hardly breathing in case they noticed her,
Serena closed her eyes in an effort to hear better. They did say that if you 
were just using one sense, it would work better. The other senses wouldn't 
distract you. She froze when she heard their conversation.

" I say we kill the Sultan. What do you think Jumal? Seiya?"

" I say we kill the girl. She is not useful to us. Do you not agree Seiya? 
Afzal is too obsessed with the Sultan to even care about the girl. She is not 
important."

It was obvious that these Pirates were discussing Darien and herself and what 
to do with both of them. How could people do that? Talk this calmly about 
taking another person's life? She frowned as she heard the Seiya's voice. 
Evidently that was the name of the man who had brought her to the bathroom. 
She listened to what he had to say.

" I do not think we should kill any of the them. The Sultan or the girl."

There was silence for a few moments before the one named Afzal spoke up.

" And why not? That is why we brought them here. Or have you got another 
reason?"

" Not particularly. They are here as hostages."

Seiya spoke up again, evidently on behalf of Darien and Serena. Even thought 
their conversation wasn't exactly comforting, Seiya still didn't seem to want 
to kill the two. Why not?  

" Who will know if they are alive or dead?"

" Yes. I say we kill them."

She heard Seiya sigh. He was the nicer man. Not that he was nice. But he 
seemed less cruel than the other two. Not that he wasn't cruel himself. He was
because he had brought Serena and Darien here. But he wasn't as unkind as the 
others. Not that he wasn't unkind. He was. But it seemed as if he wasn't as 
violent as the other two. Not that he might not be. He might be one of the 
most violent men on the planet but...

" Look. Leave them for now. We will see what the boss says."

" What the boss says. What is he going to say?"

Afzal spoke up again. He spoke with disdain in his voice. Seiya didn't answer 
him but Jumal didn't keep quite.

" He makes decisions. He will have your head if he found out that we did 
something without his permission."

Afzal snorted.

" We have to do everything without his permission. He is so out of it that he 
is not capable of handling all of us."

The other two men didn't say anything. No sound came from around the corner 
and Serena was getting nervous. They couldn't just be standing there could 
they? Had they heard her or something? Were they just waiting for her to 
announce her presence before pouncing on her like cats on a mouse? 

Serena took a deep breath and looked around the corner. She gave a gasp and 
fell backwards. Letting out a stifled shriek, she tried to put her hand out to 
save herself. But it wasn't needed. For the man who was in front of her 
hurriedly stopped her fall by taking her in his arms. Serena's eyes made 
contact with dark, dark ones. Seiya. He'd saved her from a fall. But he also
knew that she had been eavesdropping. 

Seiya gently put her down and Serena put out a hand to support herself. The 
shock she had just had, had left her legs shaking and her heart pounding. 
Having a person appear in front of you so suddenly was sure to give any-one a 
heart attack. Serena took a step back and lifted her chin. The man, Seiya 
would probably punish her now. But she would take it. She wasn't going to say 
sorry for something that she had every right to do. Who did they think they 
were? Murderers, scoundrels. Not deserving of apologises. So he could forget 
the idea that she was going to apologise. 

But Seiya didn't say anything. He just remained as still as statue and 
continued staring at Serena. Serena's mouth opened but no sound came out. Why 
was he looking at her like that? Shouldn't he be summoning his companions and 
telling them that Serena had heard their conversation? Yes. He should be doing 
that. But why wasn't he? Why wasn't he doing anything?

Serena bit her lip and argued over whether she should say something or not. If 
she did, that might make the Pirate madder. If she remained silent, he might 
go on staring at her like that until the world ended. She decided on the first 
option. You never achieved anything if you didn't do something.

" I think we should go back now."

Seiya frowned and then shook his head as if trying to get his mind to clear 
again. He nodded at Serena, agreeing with what she had said.

" Yes. We should go back now. Latif will be getting impatient and that is not 
a good thing."

He grabbed Serena's arm and propelled her forward. They walked briskly back 
but just before they reached the cell, Serena stopped and put a hand on 
Seiya's arm. She felt his muscles tense beneath her fingers and knew that he 
wasn't to blame for that. He must think her really weird that she wanted to 
touch some-one who had imprisoned her. But she needed to ask this. 

" Why do you not want Afzal and Jumal to kill me and Dar- the Sultan?"

Seiya didn't say anything for a few minutes but then he lowered his eyes as if 
trying to hide the expression in them.

" If you heard that, then you also heard the reason why. You are hostages. W 
need you alive."

" Yes but the others-"

" Enough."

Seiya turned to Serena and she reared back as she saw that his eyes were 
blazing. What had she said? Why was he so angry? 

" That is enough. You will ask no more questions. You will do as told. And 
maybe if you obey us, you will live."

Saying that, he pushed Serena in front of him and marched her back the rest of 
the way to the cell. She entered the cell and sighed in relief as she noticed 
that Darien was fine. Or appeared to be anyway. Physically at least. Mentally,
she could see that he was very angry. The guard who seemed to be called Latif, 
shared Darien's anger. Both men had their hands clenched and were staring 
intently at each other. Serena could see a nerve ticking at the corner of 
Darien's mouth.

She frowned as she wondered what had happened. Other than the obvious of 
course. Men like Darien hated not being in charge of their own life. And he 
must have taken that out on the Pirate, who in return seemed to hate the 
Sultan. And he must have taken his dislike out on Darien. She hoped that the 
Pirate who had stayed with Darien didn't have to take him to the appear. It'd 
be too dangerous.

Apparently, Seiya noticed the hatred in the room as well. That might be the 
reason why, after he chained Serena's foot to the wall, he shook his head at 
Latif and went over to Darien to unlock the lock. 

" Latif. You stay here. I'll take this one."

Latif just nodded and Serena watched as Darien was led out of the cell. Their 
eyes met once. A look of mutual understanding passed between them. People were 
right when they said that there was nothing other than danger which brought 
people together. 

As the door shut behind Seiya and Darien, Serena turned her attention to 
Latif. He was staring at her with an unpleasant half smirk on his face. She 
bent her head and her eyes frowned worriedly. Would he do something to her? 
She had heard of the Desert Pirates. And among thievery and murder, they were 
also known as rapists. Young virgin girls, women, middle aged women. Any-one 
female fell victim to them. They always did it to cause hurt and derive 
pleasure from the victims' pain and pleas. She hoped that she wouldn't fall 
prey to any of them.

Serena's head twisted sharply as she heard Latif move. She tried to burrow 
into the wall as he came closer and her eyes widened when he hunkered down to 
her level. He brought his hand up to cup her jaw and smooth a calloused thumb 
over her trembling bottom lip. He smiled and Serena inwardly shivered at the 
blackness he radiated.

" So....."

He drew the word out and her eyes turned wary. 

" Has his highness had the pleasure of having a beauty like you in his bed? 
Would he mind if I tasted you? You look like somebody special, so I'm sure he 
wouldn't mind sharing."

Serena shook her head slowly but Latif just let out a laugh. Trembling, she 
noticed the way his eyes darkened as they wondered over her. Darien had done 
the same thing but it had been different then. Her heart had raced in 
anticipation, pleasure, excitement but it was so different now. Her breath was 
starting to come in short quick gasps and her heart beat in fearful 
nervousness as to what could happen next.

Serena gasped as Latif entered his thumb in her mind and she grimaced as the 
horrible taste of his skin filled it. She tried to move her head away but 
Latif lifted his other hand and buried it in the long strands of her silver 
hair to hold her head in place. Serena whimpered softly and at hearing the 
sound, Latif just laughed softly.

As he took his thumb out, Serena started to sigh in relief but that was short 
lived as she saw his head move closer. She desperately tried to avoid his 
marauding lips but his hand still held her in place. His lips met hers and 
Serena closed her eyes in disgust. As his tongue searched out the tender 
reaches of her mouth, her hands clenched.

Tears gathered in Serena's tightly closed eyes and her lips trembled under 
Latif's. Why did she have to suffer like this? What had she done? Oh, where 
were Seiya and Darien? Her eyes popped open when she registered the fact that
she had thought of Seiya's name before Darien's. How could that be? Seiya was 
one of the Desert Pirates. He had kidnapped her. Why did she feel that he 
would save her? Why had she thought of him first?

Those thoughts gave Serena her courage back. She opened her mouth wider and 
she heard Latif laugh. She knew that he was satisfied because he thought that 
she was responding to his advances but that's wasn't the reason. She needed 
more space to... bite him! Bringing her sharp teeth down onto Latif's tongue, 
she bit with all her strength even as Latif tried to pull back. Blood filled 
her mouth and only then did she let go. Her face contorted as she swallowed 
the blood. Ladies did not spit.

Serena smiled a little grimly as she saw Latif swear in disbelief. He rubbed 
his hand across his open mouth and as it came away smeared with blood, he 
lifted his hand and slapped Serena hard across the cheek. Her head flew to one 
side and her cheek burned with pain. She slowly turned to face Latif again and 
as he saw that she wasn't about to burst into tears and beg for her life, he 
snarled in fury and Serena was sure that he was about to hit her again. But 
his hand stopped in mid air as they both heard voices outside the door.  

Latif hurriedly got to his feet and retreated a few steps away from Serena who 
wondered why he did that. Wasn't he supposed to touch her? Or didn't he want 
the other Desert Pirates to know that he hadn't succeeded in doing what he had 
wanted to do? As the door opened, Darien and Seiya came in. Serena searched 
Darien's face but there was nothing on it to tell her anything. She looked 
closer and though his face was expressionless, she could tell that his eyes 
held a triumphant gleam. Maybe not triumphant exactly but it was satisfied. 
Seiya's face held the same pleased expression as Darien's. Once again she 
wondered about what had happened. But she had a feeling that she would know 
soon enough.

Serena frowned as she saw that Seiya had made no move to chain Darien to the 
wall again. Latif was staring at him with the same surprise Serena was 
feeling. 

" Seiya?"

The Pirate just shook his head at Latif and as he unlocked the chain which was 
binding Serena to the wall, his eyes focused on her mouth and he froze. Serena 
didn't move. Had Seiya somehow figured out what had happened? Evidently he had 
because as he straightened to look at Latif, she saw a hard look in his eyes.  
But he said nothing about that and instead informed Latif of something that 
made Serena's mouth go dry.

" We are to take these two to the boss. He wants to look at them and tell us 
of what we are to do next."

Serena's glance shot to Darien's face to see if he knew anything about that. 
Apparently he did because she saw no surprise on his face. But then he was so 
good at disguising what he was feeling. 

Seiya grabbed Serena's arm and together they walked out of the cell with 
Darien and Latif behind them. They were going to the boss. And even though 
Afzal had implied that the boss wasn't behaving as normal, he was still the 
leader of the Desert Pirates. Much more deadly, much more murderous and much 
more lethal than the average Desert Pirate. They were in trouble! 


What's the reason as to why Afzal said the boss is so out of it? Why doesn't 
Seiya seem to be as unfriendly as the other Pirates? And will Afzal get a 
chance to finish what he started with Serena in the future?

Sailor Galaxy

sailorprincessuk@yahoo.co.uk