by Maia Starr
“Good, I am glad that you see it is best,” he said. Then he moved his eyes back to the windshield and flew the ship.
We were quiet for about two hours. I kept glancing over at him periodically. I wanted to burn his memory in my mind. I knew that in a day or so we would be back on Earth and I would be back to sitting with my girlfriends at lunch and wondering if the man I was currently dating liked me for me and not because I was the daughter of the president. It was ironic that on Earth, being the president’s daughter caused me to not know true love because all the men tried to use me to get to my father. Yet on another planet, being the president’s daughter was the one thing that this Draqua did not want me to be. He wanted me to be just some normal human girl that wouldn’t cause global news if she disappeared. It seemed that no matter which planet I was on, I was in a no win situation.
“Picking up object on radar,” the computer said. It brought both me and Cylo out of our dazes.
“Identify object,” Cylo said.
“Object unidentified. Measurements are those of a ship with a flight path to intersect us,” the computer said.
“What? What does that mean?” I asked panicked.
“Stay here, Melody,” Cylo said as he quickly jumped from his seat and then ran to the back of the ship.
“You’re starting to scare me,” I said. He ran to the back and looked out a small porthole window.
“I don’t recognize the ship source. It is not a Draqua ship. But it is coming for us,” he said.
“What? Why?” I asked.
“Maybe just to steal our ship and bounty; who knows out here. Anything goes in space,” he said.
“You mean like pirates?” I asked with wide eyes. He ran back to his seat and strapped in. “Hold on,” he said.
“Computer switch to manual control,” he ordered.
“Switching to manual control.”
He took control piloting the ship and began to fly in erratic crazy patterns. “Whoa! What are you doing?” I asked.
“Seeing if they are really following us or if it is just coincidence that we are on the same flight path.”
As soon as he said it, blaster rays went by the ship.
“Shit! They’re firing at us!” he shouted.
“What?!” I screamed. I held on for dear life as Cylo maneuvered the ship in an evasive action trying to lose the ship. I was in complete shock. Who would come after us like this? Did they know that he was a prince? Would they take us hostage? So many thoughts ran through my mind. A large red and orange planet came into view, and our ship steered toward it.
“I’m going to try to lose them behind one of those moons orbiting that planet,” he said. I was quiet and breathing heavily. I did not want to distract him. Blaster rays continued to fly by us, and it was extremely frightening.
BAM! “We’re hit!” he shouted.
“Oh my god!”
“We’re going down,” he said calmly.
“Oh god, we’re going to die,” I said.
“No. No, we’re not. I’m just going to emergency land on that planet,” he said concentrating on piloting the ship. “I have to let it drop fast so that the attacking ship can’t follow us. Hold on. It’s okay if you pass out,” he said.
“What? Why would I…” then before I could finish the sentence the ship started to fall into the planet’s atmosphere. We were spiraling out of control, but it seemed to be exactly what Cylo wanted as he held his hand hovering above the control, but not grabbing it. He was allowing this free fall. He was either a really good pilot or an idiot that was going to get us killed. I held on to the side of the seat in complete fear. Pink clouds filled the windshield.
“Altitude reached and firing engine,” Cylo said to himself. He hit a button and took control of the steering and the ship kicked to life and straightened itself out. “We’re going down, but I can land this,” he said.
I looked ahead as we came into tall trees. “Ah! Look out!” I shouted.
The ship skirted right over the top of them. It was a close call. Then the trees gave way to a large lake. The ship was heading right for it. “Dear god, we are going to crash in the water,” I said wondering what kind of alien monsters could be dwelling in those deep waters.
“Put your head in your arms and cover your face,” he said.
“What? Oh my god!” I said realizing we were going in.
Bam! The ship skidded over the top of the lake like a rock skipping over water. Then it finally stopped. I looked at Cylo. He grinned, but it wasn’t over yet.
Whoosh! The entire windshield broke, and a wave of water hit us hard. It hit me so hard the breath was knocked out of me, and I struggled to recover as water rushed at me. Cylo was out of his seat and at my side. His hands grabbed the seat belts, and he ripped them out. His arms encircled me, and in a flash, he shifted inside the ship. He swam fast and hard darting through the water through the windshield. In seconds, we were at the surface.
“Melody! Are you all right? Breathe!” he shouted at me as I coughed and gasped for air.
“I’m all right, I’m all right,” I whispered between coughing.
“Hold on to me!” he shouted. The sinking ship next to us was pulling on my body, trying to take me down with it. But then, swish! Cylo was in the air with me in his arms. We were flying above the lake and above the wreckage. He flew to the shore of the lake and set me down on the sand of the lakeside beach.
“Are you all right, Melody? Are you hurt? Speak to me,” he said frantically as he looked over my body. His hands moved up and down my legs examining them. He looked at my belly. Then he held my face in his hands. “Does anything hurt? Are you bleeding?” he asked frantically again.
“I think I am fine. Nothing hurts. I think I’m okay,” I said trying to catch my breath. He let out a sigh and stood up.
“Good, I’m glad. I’m sorry we had to crash like that. It was the best way to…”
“Aagh!” I screamed as a monstrous tentacle about as thick as a tree emerged from the water and quickly wrapped around Cylo. It wrapped tight as he let out a lot of air as though it was crushing his lungs.
“Cylo!” I screamed as I got to my feet. But the creature’s tentacle had him in the air waving wildly about. Cylo’s wings flapped wildly as he tried to fly out of the creature’s grip, but it wasn’t working.
“Aagh! Aagh!” I screamed out of fright. Then a large gray body slick and full of barnacle-like spots emerged to the surface of the water. It let out a loud horn-like sound that reminded me of a whale. Cylo was fighting at the tentacle as hard as he could. He looked down at the creature, and we both saw what was coming. A mouth the size of a car with razor sharp teeth appeared.
“Get back! Get back!” Cylo shouted at me.
“No!” I shouted.
“Run!” he shouted. But I could not run. I could not leave him like that. But I did not know what to do. I picked up a few rocks and began to throw it at the creature. Whoosh! Another tentacle appeared from the water and came at me. I fell backward losing my balance, and the fall caused the tentacle to miss me. I was relieved, and I quickly scampered backward, not daring to stand up. I knew that would make me an easy target for the creature.
I scampered back and hid behind a boulder as I watched the creature wave Cylo in the air in its tentacles. Then I saw a glow of light. It was Cylo. Fire shot from his mouth at the tentacle that held him. The creature let out an excruciating scream and sank into the water, but it did not let go of Cylo. In seconds, both Cylo and the creature were gone.
“No! No! Cylo!” I shouted as I climbed on top of the rock that I hid behind. I was searching every single inch of the surface for any sign of him. “No. God no,” I cried. Tears streamed down my face. I couldn’t lose him. I did not want to be on this planet without him, or any other. “Cylo!” I shouted. There was just an eerie silence.
Whoosh! Cylo shot straight into the air.
“Yes! Yes!” I shouted and jumped up and down on the rock. “Wooho
o!” I shouted. I was so damn happy that I could not contain myself. Then there was another loud sound adjoining my cheers. It was the sound of the creature making that whale horn noise. I looked at the shore to see it emerging from the water. It wasn’t just surfacing, but it was using its tentacles to hoist itself onto land!
“Aagh! Aagh!” I screamed as the creature slithered onto the banks and came toward me. I jumped off the rock and ran as fast as I could. I could hear the creature screaming behind me. I was so terrified, and I felt like my legs couldn’t carry me fast enough.
Whoosh! I was picked up from the surface. I thought this was it! The creature had me by the waist, but only for a split second as I realized that it was Cylo. He flew straight up. The creature's tentacles whizzed by us briefly until Cylo was high enough and out of range of the creature. I looked down to see the creature making its way back to the water.
“Cylo! I thought I lost you,” I cried.
“No. I won’t leave you. I’m here,” he said as he flew toward a cliffside. He landed on the rocky surface far away from any trees or hidden spots were creatures could grab us. He set me down on my feet, and I stayed wrapped around his body. “I’m so glad you’re alive. I thought you were gone. I thought it had killed you. I was so scared,” I cried.
“I know. I know. I’m sorry. It was a tough battle, but I got away from it. Remember, I am a dragon,” he said.
“Yes, I remember,” I said with a smile as I looked up into his arms. He leaned in. His mouth was only an inch from mine, and he lingered there. I wanted him to kiss me, but then he grabbed my arms and peeled me off of him. He stepped away.
“I should get a fire going for now. Until we figure this out. I don’t know what other creatures are out here or how long the daylight hours are,” he said, moving to a few tree limbs on the ground and gathering them up.
I was disappointed. I was so glad that he was alive that I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted to kiss him badly. But he pushed me away again just as he had the night before. I took a deep breath and tried not to think of it.
“What the hell was that? I’ve never seen anything like it,” I said as I began to gather tree limbs with him.
“I don’t know. I have never seen anything like that. I don’t even know what planet we are on. There are many surprises like that waiting for us so we must stay alert.”
“Yes, of course, you are right,” I said.
CHAPTER EIGHT
CYLO HYDROS
That damn water creature had the best of me. But I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. No creature or dragon took me down ever, and it was no different now. Even though the creature caught me off guard, I was well aware of the screams that were coming over the water. Hearing Melody scream like that was too much to bear. I knew that I had to get loose. I could not leave her on this wild island without me.
Now, as we sat around the fire in the safety of the rocks high above the lake, I was able to access the situation better.
“What can we do now?” she asked me.
“I am not entirely sure yet. I will come up with a plan when I have more information. It seems that we are on a fairly wild planet, or if there are villages, we are far from them. For now, we will stay the dark hours here and set out at first light,” I said to her.
“I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe that we were shot down,” she said playing with a stick as she stuck it in the fire.
“Yes, I can’t believe it either. It seemed to be too deliberate to be a general space thief. This pilot was flying with purpose. Space thieves don’t shoot down the ship and cause it to crash. What’s the point in that? There will be nothing to gain from that. Space thieves get close enough and disable a ship with a magnetic pulse and then bring it in and take it apart. They use all that they can and sell the rest. They take the hostages into the slave markets on slave planets. There is a formula to it, and this pilot did not follow that formula.
“But who would want to shoot us down?” she asked.
“Maybe not us, but me. I am a prince. But there is one thing that I am thinking of. It could be the opposition. There have been whispers of the opposition turning from just arguing about opposing the hybrid breeding to actually taking violent action against it. I hope that is not true, but it could be what we experienced,” I said sadly.
“No. That would be a civil war amongst the Draqua. That would separate everyone. It is such a peaceful village; I cannot see that happening,” Melody said. I admired her love for the village, but I knew that true hearts of dragons.
“Yes, it seems that way, but you forget it is a village full of dragons and dragons have tempers. They are fire breathers, and they are fire thinkers,” I said.
“Yes, I suppose you are right. You would know. I was only there for a very short time. I do not know anything of the Draqua, but I have seen the temper of a dragon,” she said.
“I am sorry about that. My brother should have never scared you like that. It was very wrong of him. He will pay for it when I return,” I said.
“It is okay. I understand his suspicions. But yeah, he was a dick about it,” she said.
I laughed, “Yes a dick.”
“I just don’t understand why the elders would care about this human breeding if it is going to save your race. What has happened to the female Draqua? Is breeding with a human female just a choice or a necessity?” she asked.
“It is a necessity. We need you. You see, about twenty years ago the female Draqua started to have problems with breeding offspring. Many of them died in the process. Many of them could not get pregnant at all. We thought it was something they were eating or some unknown disease, but we were never able to figure it out. So that was when the king made the decision to seek females outside of Kelon. The human females turned out to be perfect. Not only was the mating successful but the hybrid dragon warriors the union bore turned out to have powers. It was perfect. But as the powers grew and more and more hybrids were born, the elders, the ones that can only shift into full dragon form, started to become jealous of the powers,” I said.
“But your brother is a full dragon. Is he jealous of your powers?” she asked.
“He has never said so. But I have suspected so. I remember the first time I discovered my power. I was very young, and he was very angry about it. We wrestled on the beach about it. It was a strange time. But now hybrid is considered completely normal, and there are hundreds of us. But the opposition continues to grow, and there are more of them than there are hybrids.”
“But that doesn’t make sense. If the female Draqua can’t have offspring at the moment, then the opposition should embrace this. Otherwise the Draqua will die off,” she said.
“Yes, those are wise words, Melody. But the dragon are stubborn. They would rather die a pure race than this new hybrid race. It is a messy situation. It is one that worries me,” I said.
“So you think that someone from your own planet shot you down? That is treason where I come from. You are the prince,” she said.
“Yes, it is very bad where I come from too. It worries me. If they came after me, then that means the unrest on Kelon is greater than I knew and as you said, it could be civil war. It could have erupted already. I need to get back there as soon as I can,” I said.
“I’m sorry. I am sorry that I had to take you from that,” she said.
“No, don’t blame yourself. This is not your fault. This is my fault. I am the one that took you. This is all on me,” I said.
“What is that?” she said as she stood up.
I followed her gaze,” What? What do you see?” I asked.
“There, look, a light,” she said pointing at the sky.
“That is a ship,” I said seeing the blinking orange and white light. It was flying over us and into the west. “That is good news. That means that there is a village, or civilization nearby. It looks like that ship is going lower; it’s going to land to the west. That is where we will go to at first light.”
“But what will we do when we get there?” she asked.
“Buy a ship and get you home and get me home,” I said.
“Buy? How? Is there some sort of space credit that you have out here as a prince?” she asked.
“Good point,” I said as I walked over to the edge of the cliff thinking. I stared at the lake where we had crashed.
“Stay here,” I said to Melody.
“What?! What the hell are you talking about?” she said as she stomped toward me. She was ready to strike me with her feisty remarks. But I cut her off. I pulled her to me and planted a kiss on her lips. She stopped talking. She melted against me.